Sherbourne Travel Guide

One of the few complete examples of a 15th cenutry Almshouse remaining in England which still fulfills its original role. Founded by Royal licence of King Henry VI in 1437 today it serves as a home for 20 old people from Sherborne and its environs.

The original building, built between 1440 and 1444, consists of a chapel, antechapel and dining hall on the ground floor. Above were the 'chamber of Accomptes' where the brethren met and kept their 'strong coffer' and a large dormitory for the old men which had no east wall but ended in a balcony overlooking the chapel below, so that the sick could still hear mass from their beds. A two-floored North wind (now rebuilt) contained the old women's dormitory, the housewife's room, kitchen and offices. The architect was Robert Hulle, master mason of Winchester Cathedral and chancel of Sherborne Abbey.

In 1864 a legacy enabled the brethren to build a considerable extension to the north of the old building. This makes a delightful addition with its intimate cloister, buttresses and chimneys and fine oriel window plus it enables the residents to have their own rooms.

The castle was built by the powerful Bishop Roger de Caen in the early 12th century, but it was seized by the crown at about the time of King Henry I's death in 1135 and Stephen's troubled accession to the throne. The castle was given to Sir Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth I. The gallant knight built Sherborne Lodge in the deer park close by (now privately owned). The buildings were mostly destroyed in the civil war, but you can still see a gatehouse, some graceful arcades, and decorative windows.

Sir Walter Raleigh built this castle in 1594, when he decided that it would not be feasible to restore the old castle to suit his needs. This Elizabethan residence was a square mansion, to which later owners added four Jacobean wings to make it more palatial. After King James I had Raleigh imprisoned in the Tower of London, the monarch gave the castle to a favorite Scot, Robert Carr, banishing the Raleighs from their home. In 1617, it became the property of Sir John Digby, first earl of Bristol, and has been the Digby family home ever since. The mansion was enlarged by Sir John in 1625, and in the 18th century, the formal Elizabethan gardens and fountains of the Raleighs were altered by Capability Brown, who created a serpentine lake between the two castles. The 20 acres of lawns and pleasure grounds around the 50-acre lake are open to the public. In the house are fine furniture, china, and paintings by Gainsborough, Lely, Reynolds, Kneller, and Van Dyck, among others.

One of the great churches of England, this abbey was founded in A.D. 705 as the Cathedral of the Saxon Bishops of Wessex. In the late 10th century, it became a Benedictine monastery, and since the Reformation it has been a parish church. Famous for its fan-vaulted roof added by Abbot Ramsam at the end of the 15th century, it was the first of its kind erected in England. Inside are many fine monuments, including Purbeck marble effigies of medieval abbots as well as Elizabethan "four-poster" and canopied tombs. The baroque statue of the earl of Bristol stands between his two wives and dates from 1698. A public school occupies the abbey's surviving medieval monastic buildings and was the setting for the classic film Good-bye, Mr. Chips.