In Sussex, a knucker is a water dragon that lives in a knucker hole, a deep pool of water. There are said to have been knuckers in Binsted, Lancing, Shoreham and Worthing, but the most famous Sussex knucker was the Lyminster knucker near Arundel in West Sussex.
It is told say that the Lyminster knucker lived in a knucker hole close to the church and would emerge to swoop around and eat Sussex maids … because knuckers could also fly. So distressing was this that the King of Sussex offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who killed this watery dragon. In answer to this promise, legend says that a local lad, Jim Puttock, baked an enormous pie which he transported in a horse-drawn cart to the knucker hole and that the knucker then ate the pie, the cart and the horse before dying of indigestion. Some say the pie was poisoned and some say that Puttock himself died of poisoning, either from the pie (when he accidentally wiped a bit of the poison from his hand to his mouth) or from the knucker’s blood (because he chopped the knucker’s head off)! Others say it was a wandering knight who slew the beast.
In search of the Lyminster knucker
The Lyminster knucker hole is a short walk from St Mary Magdalene’s Church. Allegedly, the six bell ropes of Lyminster church were tied together and let down to try and find the bottom, but never reached it. Because, of course, a knucker hole is bottomless. These days, the Lyminster knucker hole is owned by the Sompting Estate. In 2014, the Estate restored the hole but fenced it off with hedging, high fencing and locked gates. A peep through a hole in the gate reveals a deep pool and if you look carefully through a gap in the trees, you can see Arundel Cathedral in the distance.
The church and the Slayer’s Slab
The earliest record of a religious building at Lyminster is of a nunnery in 1178 (where a farm now stands opposite the church). Parts of the current church are Saxon with the nave and chancel probably dating from the late 10th century, while other parts date from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries.
A plain-looking slab of stone inside the church is said to be the Slayer’s Slab and the tomb of Jim Puttock. Next to this is an impressive glass screen (the Wyatt Family Baptistry Screen) with two angels, one holding the sun, depicting day and one holding the moon, depicting night. In the middle is Jim Puttock and the knucker and in the background are six bells (representing the pub where Puttock went after he killed the knucker and before he died).
There are lots of other references to the knucker in the church, although they refer to the hero of the day as Jim Pulk and say it was the local Lord of the Manor who offered his daughter’s hand. Either way, it’s rather nice to see a church embracing the local folklore.
It’s a beautiful little spot and an interesting church, but I never did find the Lyminster knucker.
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