Knights of St John West Parley

The Knights of St John used this church, now called All Saints West Parley, Dorset as one of their staging posts before embarking on their crusades to Jerusalem from Poole quay. Here they would gather to worship Christ and receive His blessing.

On the doorpost of the Church is where they would anoint their swords by sharpening them on the stones.

They left other signs behind them of their presence here, by the three foot cross that is outside the Church, leaning against the porch.

Also carvings of one of their favorite saints St. Catherine, a wooden wheel carved in wood, and a sword striking the wheel, representing the Word of God, which freed Catherine when she was tied to the wheel to be martyred.

Although not a lot is now left of the Knights existence, yet there is still enough to tell us that they have been here, and remind us of their great bravery and loyalty to Jesus Christ. For without their great sacrifice, Christianity would not be as wide spread as it is today.




St.Catherine, a wooden wheel carved in wood,


Knights Templar Rose


Splash Cross


Spear head


Knights Swords Crosses






Knights embarking on their crusades to Jerusalem from Poole quay.



Knights Templars nine hundred year old wood carving found in All Saints Church. West Parley, Dorset.

A carvings of one of their favorite saints St. Catherine, a wooden wheel carved in wood, and a sword striking the wheel, representing the Word of God, which freed Catherine when she was tied to the wheel to be martyred.

Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr initially sentenced to death on the wheel. When she was fastened to the wheel, she cried out to Jesus and her bonds were miraculously loosed and the wheel itself broke, its spikes flying off and killing some of the onlookers. She was then beheaded, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains.
Hymn of St. Catherine.

"O Jesus, your Lamb Katherine cries out to You with great love: ÔO my Bridegroom, I long for You in great pain, I am crucified with You, and in baptism I am buried with You. I suffer for Your sake in order to reign with You, I die for You in order to live in You. Accept me as an immaculate victim, since I am immolated for Your love'.

The Monastery of Mt. Sinai was erected by Justinian I in 549 where tradition says is the site of the burning bush of Moses. Justinian built a castle around the monastery in 530, for the protection of the monks of the vicinity.

The one mountain peak of Mt. Sinai is 5,014 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by massive granite walls. It is, as it were, a fortress. Many devout Christians from many countries, before and after the Crusades visit there.

Knights of St. Catherine.

The Knights of St. Catherine were protectors of the Monastery on Mount Sinai, said to be the oldest in the world.

The Order was like the Hospitallers or Templars. There mission was to protect pilgrims in their journey across the lands controlled by the enemy.

They guarded the Monastery and its caravan-lines in the Crusader period, and were vaguely associated with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, into which the Palestine branch of the Knights of St. Catherine was eventually absorbed.

An active order of Greek Orthodox monks still lives at Mount Sinai, under the Archbishop of Sinai, who maintain the world's second largest collection of manuscripts, icons and reliquaries.