Sherborne is pleasantly situated, partly on the side of a hill and partly in the fertile vale of Blackmoor. The parish is very large, being about three miles and a half in length, and two and a half in breadth. The soil in this parish is chiefly loamy sand, in some places stony, called here stone rush. The town was of great note and antiquity in the Saxon age, when it was called Scireburn; from the Saxon words scire, clear; and burn, a spring or fountain; a rivulet or brook of this description running by it, supposed to be a branch of the Yeo or Yoo. In the Saxon times, Ina, King of the West Saxons, fixed an episcopal see here, A. D. 704. The celebrated Asser Menevensis who wrote the life of Alfred, and assisted him in his literary pursuits, was a Bishop of Sherborne. In 1075 the see was removed to Old Sarum. At the dissolution, the revenues of Sherborne Abbey were rated at 612l. 14s. 73/4d.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the manor of Sherborne, and all other estates in the hundreds of Sherborne and, Yateminster, which until then belonged to the see of Sarum, were alienated by the then bishop; and were granted immediately in fee to the celebrated Sir Walter Raleigh, and another person.

After Sir Walter Raleigh's attainder, the manor passed from his family to that of the ancestors of the present possessor, the Right Hon. Edward Digby, Lord Digby of Sherborne.

During the time the episcopal see was established at Sherborne the town was very flourishing; it afterwards became a very inconsiderable place. In Leland's time it revived again, being then "the most frequented town in the county, and its woollen manufactures turned to the best account." A silk manufactory, and the making of shirt buttons, haberdashery wares, and bone lace, constitute the chief business of the town at present. Sherborne has about 47000 inhabitants.

In 1611 there was a great mortality at Sherborne, nearly 300 persons dying between June and the following September. In 1685 twelve persons were executed here fox being concerned in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion. In 1688 the Prince of Orange visited Sherborne, and was joined here by George Prince of Denmark, the Dukes of Ormond and Grafton, Lord Churchill, and other persons of quality, who deserted King James at Salisbury.

In several records relating to this town, mention is made of vineyards, which occur in Doomsday Book only here and at Durweston. Vineyards in England, though now very rare, were formerly very common, as may be gathered from several which yet retain that name in divers parts of the kingdom, and from ancient records, which testify that great quantities of ground were allotted for that purpose to the abbeys, for their wine.

The rich and valuable possessions of the church of Sarum, in Sherborne and its environs, soon drew the attention of courtiers and favourites; and during the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. arid Queen Elizabeth, the bishopric of Sarum suffered greatly. The rich manor of Sherborne, and many lands, &c. in the environs, were alienated from it. The see was twice vacant some years, during the latter reign, which intervals were certainly employed to find a fit person, who would comply with Sir Walter Raleigh's terms.

Queen Elizabeth seems to have obliged John Piers, bishop of Sarum, elected in 1578, to lease Sherborne, and other lands belonging to his see, to her for 99 years. She, the same year, by virtue of a long lease recited in his patent, grants all her right in the manors of Sherborne, Wotton Whitfield, Burton, Holnest, Yateminster, Candel, Bishop Castleton, Newland, the hundreds of Sherborne and Yateminster, the castle and park of Sherborne, the rectories and advowsons of the rectories, vicarages, and chantries, to Thomas White.

On the translation of Bishop Piers from Sarum to York, 1588, there was a vacancy in this see for three years, during which time the lands before mentioned remained in the crown, or its grantees. Bishop Coldwell succeeded 1591, who 34 Elizabeth, 1592, granted the manors mentioned in White's grant, (except the manors of Burton and Holnest, and the rectories and advowsons which are not mentioned) to the queen by lease for 99 years, reserving a yearly rent of 2001. 16s. 10d. to himself and his successors. She conveyed the premises to Sir Walter Raleigh.

On this bishop's death the see was again vacant two years. In 1598 Doctor Cotton was elected bishop, and he completed the total alienation of the estates in Sherborne, from the see of Sarum. They were immediately granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh in fee. Upon the attainder of Sir Walter Raleigh, in the reign of James I. his manor and park of Sherborne, and other estates there, were granted to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. Soon after the earl forfeited these lands on his conviction for being accessory to the murder, of Sir Thomas Overbury : and 14 March, 14 James 1. all or most of the lands mentioned in the grants of the 6th, 8th, 11th, and 18th of James I. were granted for 10,000l. to Sir John Digby, and confirmed the 27th November, the same year. Carew, son of Sir Walter Raleigh, made "several attempts to recover his paternal estate. His petition to the House of Commons contains some curious particulars relating to the before mentioned grants; he alleges that his fathers lands and offices were seized on his condemnation; but it was found that his castle and lands in Sherborne, were entailed on his children, and that he could forfeit it only during his own life: that the king gave him all he had forfeited, but kept him prisoner in the tower : that seven years after his imprisonment he enjoyed Sherborne, till Sir Robert Carr became favourite, when the conveyance of Sherborne was questioned in the Exchequer Chamber, and for want of a single word, which yet was found in the paper book, and was only an oversight of the clerk, it was pronounced invalid, and Sherborne forfeited to the crown, and given to Sir Robert Carr; Lady Raleigh, and her children, in vain petitioning against it. Prince Henry desired Sherborne might be given him, pretending to like the strength and beauty of the place; but with an intention to give it back to Sir Walter: his request was granted, and Sir Robert Carr satisfied with 25,0001. but Prince Henry dying soon after, the king gave Sherborne again to Sir Robert Carr, and on his condemnation to Sir John Digby. Mr. Raleigh, after his father's death, spent five years at Oxford, after which he made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain some redress. He afterwards travelled abroad till the death of King James I. On his return he petitioned the Parliament to be restored in blood, to enable him to inherit his father's lands. The petition having been twice read in the House of Lords, King Charles sent for Mr. Raleigh, and told him he had, when Prince, promised the Earl of Bi stol to secure his title to Sherborne against the heirs of Sir Walter Raleigh, for which he had 10,0001. and was obliged to make good that promise now he was king; and that unless he would quit his right and title to Sherborne he would not pass his bill of restoration. At length being sensible of the impossibility of contesting with the king's power, and that not being restored in blood, he could not possess or enjoy any lands, he submitted to the King's will. On this an act passed for his restoration, and together with it a settlement of Sherborne on the Earl of Bristol; and for some recompence 400l. per annum during his life, after his mother's death, which was paid to her in lieu of her jointure.

After the alienation from the see of Sarum, a chief rent of 260l. per annum had been paid to the see of Sarum. In 1645 it was sequestered with the rest of Lord Digby's estate. In 1648 it was sold to Thomas Brown, Esq. for 2,730l.; but after the Restoration it reverted again to that see.

The manor now consists of 7000 acres, and includes all the other manors and tithings in the town. Lord Digby holds two court-leets in the Town-hall, at Lady Day and Michaelmas.

The Church of Sherborne is situated near the west part of the town, and was anciently the cathedral of the Bishops of Sherborne. On the removal of that see it became the conventual, and on the dissolution, the parochial church. It is a venerable regular structure, the large stand best in the county, and adorned with excellent workmanship within and without, in the improved gothic style, which took place under Henry the Sixth, the time of its rebuilding. It is built in the form of a cross, of good freestone, found near the town, and was first erected by Bishop Adhelm, and dedicated to All Saints. According to Dean Chandler's register, it was the mother church to many chapels of ease in this neighbourhood dependant upon it, the great tithes whereof belonged to the prebend or rectory here. Anciently all or many churches near great monasteries were only chapels of ease to the conventual church, in which, or the cemetery belonging to it, they buried; but all other church rites were performed in the respective chapels. This was the case of several churches in this neighbourhood r viz. North-Watton, Over-Compton, Nether-Compton, Folke, Haydon, Bere-Hacket, Pymford, Obourne, Candle Marsh, Burton, Polnest, Lellington, Thornford, all the chapels in this town, and perhaps very anciently Yateminster.

The dimensions of the present fabric are as follows : the whole length 207 feet; breadth 102; height 100; length of the nave 182 feet by 32, and height 109 feet. The north and south aisles 198 feet by 15, and 24 feet three inches high each. The transept 202 feet long, and 102 feet wide. The tower 154 feet high; the length and breadth 80 feet by 32. The height of the body, from the paving to the vaulting, 109 feet. The whole is supported by eight arches, over which are as many large windows on each side.

In the chancel is an handsome altarpiece of Norway oak; 32 feet broad, and of a proportionable height. It composes a pediment, supported by four fluted pillars of the Corinthian order, and was the gift of the late William, Lord Digby. Behind the altar is a vacant space, or passage, fifteen feet broad, which was probably an entrance into a part of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; which in most cathedral and conventual churches, stood at the east end of those fabrics. Tradition says, there was a chapel where the school now stands. In the chancel still remain some of the monk's stalls, as also, at the west end of the church. The north and south aisles are vaulted with stone. The roof of the nave is for the most part vaulted with stone, and enriched with mouldings and other ornaments.

The tower stands near the middle of the church, supported by four arches, and contains six large belli besides the fire bell, and the little saints' bell. The tenor, or sixth and largest, is said to weigh 60,000lb. and to have been brought from Tournay, and given by Cardinal Wolsey, who was once Rector of Lymington in this neighbourhood. It was new cast in 1670, and on it is this inscription : "By Wolsey's gift 1 measure time for all, To mirth, to grief, to church, I serve to call." In the 14th year of the reign of Henry VI. 1436, this church was almost entirely destroyed by fire; but was rebuilt in the course of the three following reigns. By an ordination made between the Abbot and Convent of Sherborne, and the parishioners, it appears that the monks complained that, though there had been in the body of the church of the monastery, from its foundation, a baptismal font, in which the infants of Sherborne parish were commonly baptized, yet Richard Fowle, Thomas Draper, John Toker, Walter Paskely, John Ashly, and other their confederates, erected another new font in the lower part of the church, where the inhabitants used to hear divine service, on pretence of the bells ringing to matins, and of the strait entrance of the door in the wall, between the place of the parishioners and the body of the church. At the procession to the font at Easter and Pentecost, a contention arose between the abbot and monks and the townsmen. The monks desiring that the font might be removed to the ancient place, no one opposed it, and proclamation being made for that purpose, the bishop ordered the bell to be rung to matins after the sixth hour, according to the abbey clock, the font to be replaced in the ancient place, the door and entrance for the procession of the parishioners to the font to be enlarged, a partition to be made in the nave near the choir, that there might be a distinct separation between the monks and parishioners. The putting this order in execution was probably the cause of the riot, that ended in the burning of the church, of which Leland gives us the following account: "The body of the abbay church dedicated to our Lady served untill a hundrith yeres sins or more for the chife paroche chirch of the town. This was the cause of the abolition of the paroche chirch there: the monks and the townsmen felle at variance, by cause the townsmen tooke privelege to use the sacrament of baptisme in the chapel of All-Halowes. Whereupon one Walter Gallor, a stout butcher, dwelling yn Sherborne defaced clene the font stone, and after the variaunce growing to a plain seditione, and the townsmen, by the means of an Earl of Huntingdowne, lying in these quarters and taking the townsmens part, and the bishop of Sanesbyri the monkes part, a prest of All-Halowes shot a shaft with fire into the top of that part of St. Marye Chirch that divided the est part the monkes used, from that the townsmen used, and this partition chancing at that time to be thacked yn, the rofe was sitte a fire, and consequently all the hole chirch, the lede and belles melting, was defac'd. Then Bradeford, Abbat of Shirborne, persecuted this injurie, and the townsmen were forcied to contribute to the reedyfying of this chirch. But after this tyme All-hallowes chirch, and not Saint Maries was usid for the paroche chirch. Al the est part of St. Mary chirch was reedyfyed in Abate Bradeford's time saving a chapel of our Lady, an old peace of work that the fler came not to, by reason that it was an older building. Peter Ramsunne, next abate saving one, to Bradeford, buildid & fundament is al the west part of St. Mary chirch, as appears by his name and rebus in several places. Ramsunne abbate, sette a chapel, canlled our Lady of Bow, hard to the south of the Old Lady chapel." In a note at the beginning of his Itinerary, he says; "John, Samme (f. Saunders) abbate, did build the est part of the abbaye chirch, and Peter Ramessun, abbatt there buildid the west part of the same chirch not many years sytis.'' Among the many curious and ancient monuments in this church, there is one very superb, in the south transept, erected at the expence of l,500l. to the memory of John, Earl of Bristol, who died in 1698. It is composed of various kinds of marble, the work of J. Nost. Ou it is the statue of the. Earl standing in his parliamentary robes, holding a coronet in his right hand. On his left stands his first lady Alice, daughter and heir to Robert Bourne, of Black Hall in the county of Essex, Esq, holding in her left hand a burning lamp; on his right hand his second lady, daughter and coheir of Sir Hugh Wyndam, of Silton, Knt, holding in her right hand a flaming heart. On the pedestals of these statues are their names, and the dates of their births and burials; at the sides two weeping-Cupids. A vein in the marble of the left leg, which is naked, represents the mortification near his knee which occasioned the Earl's death. Over the whole is a noble semicircular pediment, supported by two fluted columns of the Corinthian order, on which are two lions, and between them the arms of Digby, Az. a fleur de lys, A. crest, an ostrich, A. holding a horseshoe O. supporters two man-tygers, sab. collar'd with an Earl's coronet O. On one side A. three chevanels Sa. between three lions passant of the second, Bourne on the other side Az. three lions heads, erased O. Wyndham. Underneath is a pedestal with proper compartments, containing this inscription, composed by Dr. Hough, Bishop of Worcester." John Lord Digby, Baron Digby, of Sherborne, and Earl of Bristol, titles to which the merit of his grandfather first gave lustre, and which he himself laid down unsullied. He was naturally inclined to avoid the hurry of a public life, yet careful to keep up the port of his quality; was willing to be at ease but scorned obscurity; and therefore never made his retirement a pretence to draw himself within a narrower compass, or to shun such expence as charity, hospitality, and his honour, called for. His religion was that which by law is established,and the conduct of his life shewed the power of it in his heart. His distinction from others never made him forget himself or them. He was kind and obliging to his neighbours, generous and condescending to his inferiors, and just to all mankind. Nor had the temptations of honour and pleasure in this world strength enough to withdraw his eyes from that great object of his nope which we reasonably assure ourselves he now enjoys.

Near the former, on a black marble tablet, fixed in the wall under the great south window, is this inscription, by Mr. Pope : To the Memory of Robert, second son, and Mary, eldest daughter of William Lord Digby. "Go, fair example of untainted youth, Of modest reason, and pacific truth, Go just of worth, in ev'ry thought sincere, Who knew no wish but what the world might hear; Of gentlest manners, unaffected mind, Lover of peace, and riend to human kind; Compos'd in sufferings, and in joys sedate; Good without noise, without pretensions great; Go, live, for Heaven's eternal year is thine, Go, and exalt thy mortal to divine.

And thou, too close attendant on his doom, Blest maid! hast hasten'd to the silent tomb; Steer'd the same source to the same quiet shore; Nor parted long, and now to part no more.

Yet take these tears, mortality's relief,. And till we share your joys, forgive our grief; The little rites, a stone and verse, receive; 'Tis all a father, all a friend, can give." At the Reformation this church was purchased, as Mr. Coker tells us, by the townsmen; for effecting of which they pulled down two other churches. This owed its preservation to its being but lately finished. "The feast of the Annunciation of our Lady being the Shere Thursday in Cena Dne, A. D. 154031. H, VIII. the monks being expelled, and the house suppressed by the king's auctoritee, Master John Horsey, Kt. counsellor to the said Kings grace, bought the said suppressed town to himself and his heirs in fee for ever, and then the said Mr. Horsey, kt. sold the said church, and the ground to the vicar and parish of Sherbon for 100 marks, to them and their successors for ever, and the same vicar and parish took possession of the same on the day and year abovesaid.

The Castle of Sherborne stood on an hill in the eastern part of Castleton, to which it gives name. Few castles in these parts were stronger or better situated. It commanded all the adjacent vale, on the north and west, and the whole ridge of hills on the south. It was fenced for the most part with a large moor, which being not long since drained is converted into a rich meadow and fishponds. It was built in form of an octagon, moted round, and over the mote were several drawbridges, and on the north a subteraneous passage into the adjacent vale. Leland says, "The castle of Sherbourne is in the cast end of the town, upon a rocky hillet. It has, by west northwest, and by est south-est, morisch ground. Roger lePoure, Bishop of Saresbyri, in Henry the first's time, builded this castle,. and cast a great dyke without it, and made a false mine without the dyke. There be four great towers in the castle-wall, whereof one is the gatehouse. Every of them hath three lodgyngs yn hight.. The great lodgyng is in the middle of the castle-court, very strong and full of vaulters. There be few peaces of worke in England, of the antiquity of this, that standeth so whole and well couched. One Bishop Langton made of late tyme, a new peace of worke, and lodgings of stone at the west end of the haul: other memorable peaces of work was none set up since the first building. There is a chapel in a little close without the castle by est. There lyeth at the end of the castle a mote, that some tyme hath been much larger than it is now, as choked up with fiagges and wedes. There cummeth a river unto the mere [that rises at Horethorn."] This was the ancient Palace of the Bishops of Sherborne, and on the removal of the see was given by William the Conqueror to Osmund, Bishop of Sarum and Earl of Dorset, who annexed it to that see. A building, called the New Jnn at Sherborne, is of very considerable antiquity. It formerly belonged to the Durnford family, but was lately inhabited by Mr. Beale, master of the Bristol and Weymouth Waggons. There are various traditions and conjectures concerning the purposes of this building.' It has been supposed to have been a courthouse and prison belonging to the forest of Blakemore; by others the Treasury of the Abbey; but .the internal appearance gives it the character of an Hospital or religious house. The parapet wall on the outside towards the street is ornamented with quatrefoils, without shields, similar to those round the leads on the east end of Sherborne Church. Under a bay window is the figure of an angel, holding a shield charged with three spears.

Sherborne Castle being reduced under Cromwell in August, 1645, after a siege of sixteen days on the 16th of August, the soldiers kept a great market with their booty : on the 21st the Parliament ordered the castle to be demolished, which work was completed in October following. The town of Sherborne also suffered during this siege very severely.

A little to the north of the ruins of the old castle is Sherborne Lodge, the seat of the Right Honourable Henry Lord Digby. Out of the ruins were built Castleton Church, part of the present seat, or lodge, (the middle part being built by Sir Walter Raleigh) the stable, and part of the garden walls. On the north side of the house is a noble piece of water, which has all the appearance of a fine navigable river, and has indeed a small rivulet running through it, over which is a very handsome bridge. The house is built in the form of the letter H, and contains many capital paintings, by the first masters: The late Lord Orford very justly observes, that "the ruins of the Castle, Sir Walter Raleigh's grove, the house built by him, the grove planted by Mr. Pope, and the noble lake, all concur to make this seat one of the most venerable and beautiful in England." It is surrounded by a large Park, which Leland tells us, was, in his time, enclosed with a stone wall. The park contains 340 acres, and is generally stocked with not less than 400 head of deer.

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SHERBORNE is a market and union town, on the southern side of a hill, on the river Yeo, and on the borders of Somersetshire, with a station on the London and South Western railway, 18 miles north-north-west from Dorchester, 6 east from Yeovil, 11 north from Cerne, 2 ½ south-west from Milborne Port, and 118 from London by rail, in the Northern division of the county, hundred end petty sessional division of its name, county court district of Yeovil, rural deanery of Shaftesbury (Sherborne portion), archdeaconry of Dorset and diocese of Salisbury. By the Act 14 and 15 Viet. c. 98, parts of Sherborne and Castleton were constituted a Local Government district, and the town was governed by a Local Board until the establishment under the “Local Government Act, 1894,” of the present Urban District Council. In 1863 the portions of the two parishes not included in the old Local Board district were added to the Sherborne highway district. The town is lighted with gas by a company, and the supply regulated by the Urban District Council.

The original Castleton parish is now merged into Sherborne; and a new Castleton parish has been formed comprising the portion beyond the urban district of Sherborne.

Sherborne was for 370 years a cathedral city, having been constituted the head of a bishop’s see in 705 by Ina, king of the West Saxons: in the year 905 the see was divided into several portions, one of these being formed into the bishopric of Wilton, the seat of which was sometimes at Ramsbury: Herman, 11th and last bishop of Wilton, on the death of Elfwold, became 26th bishop of Sherborne, and having united the two sees, transferred them to Old Sarum about 1075, whence the see was removed to Salisbury by Bishop Poore in 1218. Between 1122 and 1139 Bishop Roger of Salisbury amalgamated the Benedictine priory of Horton with Sherborne, which then became an abbey, and was rebuilt, only the western doorway of the north nave aisle, and part of the adjoining wall being suffered to remain; this bishop erected the piers of the central tower, the eastern chapel of the north wing of the transept and the south porch, the choir being arranged under the tower, with a rood loft: in the 13th century the Lady chapel was rebuilt, and in the 15th century cloisters were erected on the north side, and the present west doorway built by Abbot Ramsam: in 1436 the church was partially consumed by a fire, of which some traces are still left; Abbot Bradford rebuilt the presbytery, forcing the townsfolk to contribute, and eastern transeptal chapels were added, and the choir aisles extended to form other chapels: after 1459 the remains of the Norman triforium and clerestory of the nave were removed, and a new clerestory in the 15th century style was substituted, the south aisle refaced and new windows inserted; the aisles were vaulted in 1475 and the Norman base story rebuilt. The abbey was surrendered March 18, 1539, in the time of the twenty-third abbot, there being then eighteen monks, with a revenue of £682 yearly. After the Dissolution the church was sold to the inhabitants by Sir John Horsey, knight, of Clifton Maybank, the grantee of the Crown, for 100 marks (£66 13s. 4d.), in place of the dilapidated parish church of All Hallows, situated at the west end of the minster, and subsequently taken down.

The existing church consists of choir and presbytery of three bays, with aisles and clerestory and five chapels, nave of five bays with clerestory, aisles, transepts, south porch and a central tower of two stages: the choir and presbytery, Perpendicular, have peculiar fantraceried vaulting, richly gilt, and decorated with shield of arms and foliage work; some of the bosses of the groining are carved with a fiery arrow, indicating the manner in which the church was set on fire: portions of stone traceried screens divide the choir from its aisles, and under the south tower arch are remains of a canopied chantry: the stalls and canopies have been restored: the east window exhibits in its glass the three orders of Martyrs, and the clerestory windows are stained: the reredos, of Caen stone, designed by Mr. R. C. Carpenter, is enriched with carvings of “The Last Supper” and “The Ascension,” executed by Forsyth; eastward of the presbytery is the Lady Chapel, originally of three bays, and south of it the chapel of St. Mary le Bow, both of which until lately formed part of the headmaster’s house: on the floor of the presbytery is a brass with inscription, placed over the grave of Ethelbald and Ethelbert, brothers of King Alfred the Great: in the choir is a brass to the 2nd Earl Digby, who died May 12, 1856, when the earldom became extinct; there is also a memorial to Beatrix (Walcot), wife of John, first Earl of Bristol; she died in 1658.

The north choir aisle contains a fragment of the tomb of Abbot Clement, 1163, dug up in the churchyard about 1860; it includes the head of the effigy and a portion of a pastoral staff, and is encircled by an inscription: Bishop Roger’s chapel, so-called, Early English, and now used as a vestry, is entered from this aisle, and contains monuments collected from the nave and choir: the Wickham chapel adjoins it on the west, and is entered from the north transept; the ceiling is vaulted, and the south and east walls are relieved by arcading; in this chapel is the restored tomb of Sir John Horsey, knight, 1546, and son, 1564. Attached to the south choir aisle is the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, with a groined roof and piscina: St. Catherine’s or the Leweston chapel is also vaulted and contains a canopied tomb, with effigies to John Lewston esq. 1584, and Joane his wife, 1579, erected by Sir John Fitzjames, knight; and the tomb of Abbot John Myer or Mere (1504-35), with effigy in black marble, bearing a pastoral staff.

In the north transept, which is boldly groined, and displays the finest bosses in the church, is placed the organ, erected at Easter, 1856, at a cost of £1,106, and repaired in 1878 at a cost of £300, raised by subscription ; the south transept has a roof of Irish oak, with gilt bosses, brought here from Ireland by the Earl of Bristol: the very fine stained window illustrating the Te Deum, was designed by A. W. Pugin; here is a marble monument by J. Noel to John, third and last Earl of Bristol, who died September 12, 1698; and a tablet to two children of William Lord Digby, with inscription by Pope.

The nave, five bays in length, Perpendicular, has a very fine vaulted roof, described at length by the Rev. J. L. Petit, in the Arch. Soc. Pub. 1850; the north aisle retains four Decorated windows; in the south or St. Mary’s aisle, is a memorial window to George Medd Butt esq. formerly M.P. for Weymouth, and a native of Sherborne, presented by his wife.

The piers and arches of the tower are Norman, and broader from north to south, than from east to west: the tower itself is Perpendicular, the upper stage receding on a set-off; it is at present 109 feet in height, with two windows, divided by buttresses, in each face, but was in 1885-86 completely restored from the designs of Messrs. Carpenter and Ingelow, architects, at a cost of about £4,000: much of the work has been rebuilt, and the parapet entirely renewed, with twelve crocketed pinnacles, instead of the former six, in accordance, it is believed, with the original design of Abbot Bradford. The tower contains a clock and 10 bells, of which the tenor, weighing 62 cwt. 23 lb. and recast in 1865, was brought from Tournay and presented to the church by Cardinal Wolsey, and has the inscription:

“By Wolsey's gift I measure time for all.

To mirth, to grief, to church, I serve to call.”

The first and second bells were added by subscription in 1858 as a testimonial to the munificence of the late Mr. Digby; here is also a sanetus bell, a fire bell of 1652 with the inscription:

“Lord quench this furious flame.

Arise, put out the same.”

The nave and transepts were restored in 1851, at a cost of £13,868, under the direction of Mr. R. C. Carpenter, and the choir in 1858, by Mr. W. Slater, at an outlay of £17,847: and of the total amount nearly £18,000 was given by the late George Digby Wingfield-Digby esq. and about £8,000 by the last Earl Digby.

The total length of the church is 200 (once 241) feet; width, 60 feet; length of the transept, 95 feet; height, about 60 feet. The remains of the abbey buildings now form part of the Sherborne School: the abbey has sittings for 1,600 persons. The register dates from the year November, 1538. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge £152, gross yearly value £352, net £140, with residence, in the gift of John Kenelm Digby Wingfield-Digby esq. M.P. and held since 1868 by the Rev. William Hector Lyon M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, canon and prebendary of Salisbury, vicar of Castleton, rural dean of Sherborne portion, & surrogate.

In 1884 a monument to George Digby Wingfield-Digby, of Sherborne Castle, in the form of an Eleanor cross, was erected in the Abbey yard, on the site of the old town hall, and stands on octagonal steps. The base is of Ham Hill stone, moulded and with traceried panels; the upper part is of Ketton stone, and is beautifully moulded and carved and adorned with small shafts and pinnacles and flying buttresses, surmounted by a crocketed spire, rising altogether to the height of 29 feet. The details are in strict keeping with the abbey. At the south-west angle is a bronze figure of Bishop Aldhelm, founder of the abbey; on the north-west of Bishop Roger; on the north-east is Abbot Bradford, the builder of the main part of the present Perpendicular work; and on the south-east Sir Walter Raleigh, the builder of Sherborne Castle; in the centre of the south side, in a circular panel, is a medallion portrait, in bronze, of the late Mr. Digby and below a plate with shield of arms and an inscription. On the west side are the arms of the diocese of Salisbury, on the north those of the abbey, and on the east those of Sir Walter Raleigh. The work has been carried out from the designs of Messrs. Carpenter and Ingelow, of London.

There is a Catholic church dedicated to the Sacred Heart and St. Aldhelm, in Westbury.

Union Congregational chapel. Long street, founded in 1662, has 300 sittings.

Providence Baptist chapel, Abbey lane, restored in 1884, has seats for 130 persons.

The Wesleyan chapel, near The Abbey, has 800 sittings.

The Brethren have a meeting room in Halfmoon street; it will seat 120 persons.

A Cemetery of about 6 acres, near Horsecastles, was formed in 1856, at a cost of £4,000; it contains two mortuary chapels and is under the control of a Burial Board of 9 members.

Sherborne was formerly a place of note for the woollen manufacture, on the decay of which button and lace making were carried on, which have been succeeded by silk mills; these are now in a flourishing state, are furnished with improved machinery, and employ a large number of hands.

The market days are Thursday and Saturday. The fairs are held on May 8, July 18 and 26, for cattle and sheep, and a large fair, well known as Pack Monday Fair, on the first Monday after the 10th of October.

Technical schools of science and art have taken the place of the Macready Literary Institution, and J. A. Ffooks esq. is secretary. There is also a reading room in Cheap street, in connection with a Church of England Young Men’s Society, and an Institute in connection with the Wesleyan body was established in 1887. There is also a club for Young Women.

The charities distributed in money and kind amount to £190 yearly. There are charities for distribution, amounting to about £120 yearly, which are administered either by the parochial officers or by a body of trustees, and are given to the poor by annual distribution in money, or in kind, following as nearly as circumstances will allow the wishes of the donor.

The Yeatman Memorial Hospital was erected in 1865, in the higher part of the Abbey Precinct, at a cost of about £4,262, and a new wing added in 1869, at a cost of £500: this is a monument to the late Rev. Harry Farr Yeatman, of Stock House, chairman of quarter sessions, and was raised by a general subscription in Sherborne and in the county: it is supported principally by voluntary contributions, and contains 24 beds; the number of patients in 1893 was, in-patients, 154; outpatients, 255.

The Hospital of SS. John the Baptist and Evangelist was founded by the Benedictines on the site of an earlier Augustinian house, in the 7 Hen. IV. 1405-6, and refounded by Robert Nevill, Bishop of Salisbury, in 15 Hen. VI. 1436-7. The oldest portions are the chapel, with its ante-chapel, the hall and dormitories: the chapel has a south window of ancient glass : the ante-chapel opens into Trendle street and the doorway is flanked by bold niches, once containing figure of the patron saints: the room used for the meetings of the hospital masters contains a fine triptych, representing the miracles of Our Lord, removed from the chapel: the domestic buildings are separated from the chapel by a Perpendicular arch, inclosing an ancient oak screen: the buildings were enlarged in 1858, and the chapel restored and reseated in 1861 under the direction of Mr. Slater: divine service is held daily in the chapel, the vicar of Sherborne being chaplain: considerable sums of money have been bequeathed to the hospital at different times, including a benefaction of £4,000 left in 1865 by Mr. James Short. The hospital masters consist of twenty brethren, out of whom are elected a master, sub-master, steward and warder. There are 27 inmates, 18 males and 9 females.

The manor of Sherborne went with the bishop’s see till the reign of Elizabeth, by whom it was alienated and given to Sir Walter Raleigh. Sherborne Castle, the seat of John Kenelm Digby Wingfield-Digby esq. M.P. was originally built by Sir Walter Raleigh, who erected the body of the house, on which, over one of the windows, appears his arms and the date 1594. After his attainder it passed to the ancestors of the present possessor, and the two wings were added by George Digby, 2nd earl of Bristol K.G. after the Restoration: it is in the Elizabethan style, and in plan resembles the letter H: the apartments are decorated with some fine paintings, among which may be particularly mentioned the famous picture on canvas, representing the procession of Queen Elizabeth to St. Paul's after the destruction of the Spanish Armada; there are also several fine portraits of the great Sir Kenelm Digby, and many other family portraits. A good description of the castle is furnished by Pope, who says:-“The house is in the form of the letter H, the body of which was built by Sir Walter Raleigh, and consists of four stories with four six-angled towers at the ends. These have since been joined to four wings, with regular stone balustrades at the top, and four towers more, that finish the building. The windows and gates are of a yellow stone throughout, and one of the flat sides towards the garden has the wings of a newer architecture, with beautiful Italian window frames, done by the first Earl of Bristol, which, if they were joined in the middle by a portico covering the whole building, would be a noble front. The finest room is a saloon 50 feet long, a parlour hung with a very excellent tapestry of Romans, which was a present from the King of Spain to the Earl of Bristol in his Embassy there.” William III. was received here on his way to London in November, 1688, after landing at Torbay. The dairy has a tesselated Roman pavement, discovered at Lenthay Common. A fine lake, bordered with trees and shrubs, separates the house from the castle ruins; there are numerous swans and other fowl. In the upper park there are fine herds of deer, numbering over 2,000. The park extends over an area of 470 acres and has five lodges-at Sherborne, Castleton, Crackmore, Haydon and Gainsborough Hill. The surrounding country is very fertile, and varied with woods and hills. A splendid view is obtained from the hill known as " Jerusalem,” the summit of which is covered with pines and other trees planted by the hand of Pope.

The area of the parish of Sherborne is 6,446 acres of land, of which half is meadow and orchard land, and 51 of water; rateable value, £10,082; the population of Sherborne in 1891 was 5,690, including 74 officers and inmates in the workhouse and 25 in Yeatman’s hospital of the urban district, 5,001.

Overcoombe is a tithing, 2 miles north-west; Pinford, a tithing, 2 miles north-east; Nethercombe, a quarter of a mile north; Westbury is a quarter of a mile south; Hail, a quarter of a mile south-west; Clatcomb, 2 miles north; Lenthay, 1 mile south-west.

Petty Sessions are held at the Police court every Monday & Thursday noon. The following places are included in the Petty Sessional division:-Beerhackett, Bradford Abbas, Castleton, Caundle Bishop, Caundle Marsh, Caundle Purse, Chetnole, Clifton Maybank, Folke-cum-Allweston, Haydon, Holnest, Holwell, Leigh, Leweston, Lillington, Longburton, Nether Compton, North Wootton, Oborne, Over Compton, Ryme Intrinseca, Sherborne, Stoekwood, Thornford, Yetminster.

Sharborne Union

The union comprises the following parishes, viz:-Beer Hackett, Bradford Abbas, Castleton, Caundle Bishop, Caundle Marsh, Caundle Purse, Chetnole, Clifton, Maybank, Folke, Goathill, Haydon, Holnest, Holwell, Leigh, Leweston, Lillington, Long Burton, Nether Compton, North Wootton, Oborne, Over Compton, Pointington or Poyntington, Ryme Instrinsica, Sandford Orcas, Sherborne, Stockwood, Thornford, Trent and Yetminster. The population of the union in 1891 was 12,383 area, 40,813; rateable value, £87,000.

Board day, Thursday, fortnightly, in the board room at the union, 11 a.m.

Places of Worship, with times of services

Abbey Church, Sherborne, 8 & 11 a.m.; 3.15 & 6.45 p.m. ; daily at 8 a.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.; Wed. & Fri 11.30 a.m.

St. Mary Magdalen, Castleton, 11 a.m. & 6.45 p.m. (Rev. Canon William Hector Lyon M. A. vicar; Rev. John Augustus Mayo M. A. & Rev. Arnold Edward Wm. Manvell B. A. curates.

St. Paul’s Mission Church, Coombe, Rev. William Hector Lyon M.A. vicar; Mr. H. Newlyn, lay reader; 11 a.m.& 6.30 p.m. ; Thur. 7.15 p.m.

Church of the Sacred Heart & St. Aldhelm (Catholic), Westbury; Sundays, mass 11 a.m. evening service & benediction, 6.30 p.m.; week days, mass 7 a.m.; Wed. benediction, 7 p.m.; Holy days of obligation, 7.30 a.m. & benedicition 7 p.m.; Rev. Louis Dynodt, priest.

Baptist (Providence), Abbey lame; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thurs. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational (Union), Long street, Rev. Joseph Ogle, Coldharbour; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Abbey, Rev. James H. Marqutand & Rev. John W. Denham (Milborne Port); 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.15 p.m.

The Brethren, Halfmoon street.

Undenominational Chapel, Westbury.

Schools

Sherborne School was re-founded as a Free Grammar school by letters patent of Edward VI. May 13th, 1550. In 1554 the governors acquired the Lady Chapel, the Chapel of St. Mary-le-Bow, the Chapter house, & other buildings belonging to & standing on the north side of the Abbey Church ; a part of the Lady Chapel has been converted into a residence, & now occupied by one of the masters. This building was, about 1850, re-conveyed for the sum of £3,000 to the late G. D. W. Digiby esq. who then erected for the school a new headmaster's residence. The old school room was built in 1676, on the site of the Abbey school house; it contained a statue of Edward VI. now in the dining hall: to the left are the Bell buildings, a block of dormitories & other apartments. On the west side of the court are the Digby buildings, consisting of a library &c. & chapel, placed at right angles to each other; the former was the guesten-hall of the abbey, the latter was the abbot's hall: both have fine open oak roofs: the chapel stands on a vaulted Norman cloister leading to the class rooms & studies: it was consecrated Feb. 17th, 1853, & has six stained windows: there are three smaller school rooms & forty studies, constructed from a portion of the abbey formerly used as a silk mill, but presented to the governors by the late Earl Digby in 1853, & restored from designs by Mr. R. C. Carpenter, at a cost of £5,000. In 1879 a new school room was opened, which together with a lavatory & cloister, now occupies the west side of what is known as the Great Court. There are eleven class-rooms, besides a chemical laboratory & lecture room, drawing schools, & museum, particularly rich in Dorset fossils. There is also a fine armoury, fives courts & a large swimming bath, & 3 minutes walk from the school a cricket ground of 15 acres. The headmaster’s house was erected in 1862, at a cost of £4,500. The school has four exhibitions of £40 a year to the universities, tenable for four years; one being given each year: the governing body consists of 16 members, of whom 3 are ex-officio, 5 representative, & 8 co-optative: there are 18 masters, 5 of whom are in holy orders: the number of boys at present is 200, inclusive of the preparatory school: the income from the endowment is about £800.

SCHOOL.

Foster’s Grammar School, Hound street, built in 1874, for 120 children (endowed school) headmaster, A. P. Irwin.

Abbey, National, built in 1855, at the cost of £2,500, for 600 children; average attendance, 380 (boys 150, girls 130 & infants 100).

British (mixed), Long street; erected for 250 children; average attendance, 200.

Digby, for girls, upper elementary, founded in 1743, for 100 children; average attendance, 63 ; & has a grant from William Lord Digby.

Infants’, Newlands, built in 1854, for 200 children; average attendance, 100.

Convent school (boarders & day school) (Catholic), Mapperton house, Westbury.