Sherborne

The town was named scir burne by the Saxon inhabitants, a name meaning "clear stream", after a brook that runs through the centre of the town,[5] and is referred to as such in the Domesday Book.

The Conduit

In 705 the diocese of Wessex was split between Sherborne and Winchester, and King Ine founded an abbey for St Aldhelm, the first Bishop of Sherborne, which covered Dorset, Somerset, and Devon. King Alfred the Great's elder brothers, King Æthelbald and King Æthelberht, are buried in the abbey. The large Sherborne diocese lasted until about 909 when it was further sub-divided into three sees, with Sherborne covering Dorset. In 933, King Æthelstan granted land at Sherborne to the nuns of Shaftesbury Abbey under the condition that they would recite the Psalter once a year on All Saints' day and say prayers for the king.[6] The bishop's seat was moved to Old Sarum in 1075 and the church at Sherborne became a Benedictine monastery. In 1437 the Abbey was damaged by fire after tensions between the town and the monastery came to a head, but much of the Norman structure stands today. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1539, the vacated monastery buildings were bought by Sir John Horsey and became the parish church. Sherborne was the centre of a hundred of the same name for many centuries.

In the 12th century Roger de Caen, Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England, built a fortified palace in Sherborne. During the English Civil War, the palace was destroyed in 1645 by General Fairfax. Its ruins are now owned by English Heritage.

In 1594 Sir Walter Raleigh built an Elizabethan mansion in the grounds of the old palace, today known as Sherborne Castle.

Sherborne became home to Yorkshireman Captain Christopher Levett, who came to the West Country as His Majesty's Woodward of Somersetshire, and who remained in Sherborne when he turned to a career as a naval captain and early explorer of New England.[7]

In the UK national parliament, Sherborne is within the West Dorset parliamentary constituency. As of 2021, the Member of Parliament (MP) Chris Loder of the Conservative Party. In local government, Sherborne is administered by Dorset Council at the highest tier, and Sherborne Town Council at the lowest tier.

In national parliament and local council elections, Dorset is divided into several electoral wards, with Sherborne forming two of these: Sherborne West and Sherborne East.[8][9][10] In county council elections, Dorset is divided into 42 electoral divisions, with Sherborne's two wards together forming Sherborne Electoral Division.[11]

There has been a school in Sherborne since the time of King Alfred, who was educated there. The school was re-founded in 1550 as King Edward's grammar school, using some of the old abbey buildings, though it is now known simply as Sherborne School. The school is one of the independent schools in Britain, with alumni such as Alan Turing, Jeremy Irons, Chris Martin, John le Carré, Hugh Bonneville and John Cowper Powys. Sherborne School operates Sherborne International, a school which seeks to integrate international students into the British public school tradition.

Leweston School was founded as St. Anthony's in 1891 by the Sisters of Christian Instruction, Sacred Heart nuns from Belgium with Jesuit principles, who originally operated a full boarding school for girls in Sherborne town. The senior school moved to the Leweston Manor estate in 1948 and became known as St Antony's-Leweston; in 1993 the Preparatory school, which has since grown to include a nursery, followed. Leweston transitioned from a girls only school to fully co-educational in all years during a four-year transitional period from 2018 to 2021. The 2022 ISI inspection report described the quality of pupils' personal development in the senior school as excellent. The early years provision was described as outstanding in every category of inspection. Notable alumnae include businesswoman and conservative life peer Dido Harding, Baroness Harding of Winscombe and actresses Kristen Scott Thomas and Serena Scott Thomas

Sherborne School for Girls, often simply known as Sherborne Girls was founded in 1895. Its notable alumnae include the opera singer Emma Kirkby and the scientist Rosa Beddington.

Sherborne Preparatory School is located opposite Sherborne School, and many of its pupils choose to go on to Sherborne School or Sherborne Girls.

Until 1992 there were also two grammar schools, Foster's School for Boys and Lord Digby's School for Girls. Both schools merged with another local school to form The Gryphon School.

The town also has two primary schools, Sherborne Abbey Primary School and Sherborne Primary School.

Sherborne House

Notable historic buildings in the town include:

The almshouses of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist: founded in 1437 and building completed in 1448. It was expanded in 1866 in indistinguishable medieval style architecture;

The conduit: originally built in the Abbey Cloister c.1520 as the Monks' wash place, but moved to the Market Place in 1560;

Hospice of St Julian: founded in c.1405;

The Abbey Gatehouse, once the east gatehouse to the former Benedictine monastery. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the building was sold off and used for secular purposes. Since 1966, it has been occupied by Sherborne Museum.[14]

No. 101 Newland: built 1297;

Lord Digby school, now known as Sherborne House (designed by Benjamin Bastard). Sherborne House, famed for its mural by Sir James Thornhill,[15] was a subject for the BBC's Restoration programme in 2004, and was sold in 2008 by Dorset County Council to a developer, Redcliffe Homes, for £3 million.[16] Its renovation included rebuilding an unstable rear wall.[17]

St Emerenciana's Chapel (now known as Nethercoombe Farm); built in the late 14th century. The only building in the country to have been dedicated to this saint.

There are 378 listed buildings within the town[18] and 23 in Castleton (considered to be an inclusion of Sherborne),[19] totalling 401, including 14 Grade I listed buildings and 21 Grade II* listed buildings.

The parish church, known as Sherborne Abbey is the most prominent building in the town.

There is a Catholic Church, Church of St Aldhelm and the Sacred Heart, on Westbury.[20]

Cheap Street Church is a joint Methodist and United Reformed congregation.[21]

• Mike Davis, a rugby player and coach with England.
• The social reformer and moralist Rev Sir James Marchant died here in 1956.
• Olympic sailor Andrew Simpson (1976–2013) lived here.[22]
• Olympic field hockey player Michael Walford lived and worked here for many years before his death in 2002.

The Almshouses

Sherborne has an active green community, with various environmental and sustainability organisations in the area. The Quarr Local Nature Reserve at the northern end of the town makes use of an old quarry and landfill site, Sherborne Area Partnership oversees a successful environment forum and, in 2009, Sherborne became an official Transition Town,[23] running a number of projects and events as a community response to climate change and peak oil.

The town has for centuries hosted an annual street fair, Pack Monday Fair, starting on the Monday following 10 October (Old Michaelmas Day). Originally an agricultural fair, it is now devoted to stalls, sideshows and a funfair.[24]

Sherborne has a non-League football club Sherborne Town FC, a cricket club (Sherborne CC), and a rugby club, Sherborne RFC.

Sherborne is a founding member of the Douzelage, a town twinning association of 24 towns across the European Union. This active town twinning began in 1991 and there are regular events, such as a produce market from each of the other countries and festivals.[25][26] Discussions regarding membership are also in hand with three further towns (Agros in Cyprus, Škofja Loka in Slovenia, and Tryavna in Bulgaria).

Sherbourne Street, Toronto and Sherbourne (TTC) subway station was named after the town, as it was the birthplace of Upper Canada official and Toronto resident Thomas Ridout.

• Sherborne Hundred for more on the history of the hundred

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sherborne.

• Town web site
• Sherborne at Curlie