Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
VISITOR INFORMATION
The
Tourist Information Centre,
Digby Road
(
&
01935/815341;
www.westdorset.com), is open April to October Monday to
Saturday 9am to 5pm, and November to March Monday to Saturday 10am to 3pm.
Exploring Sherborne
Provincial Sherborne's compact center is a delightful place to stroll for an hour, and
the tiny cluster of surviving medieval buildings around the abbey (see below) are
especially atmospheric.
Church Lane,
leading from the Conduit (a hexagonal build-
ing where the monks washed their clothes), seems transplanted from another era.
St.
Johns' Almshouses,
Half Moon Street, were built in 1438 to house 12 poor men
and 4 women, although the cloister is a later neo-Gothic addition. You can see inside
from May through September between 2 and 4pm.
Sherborne Abbey
ABBEY This monumental abbey church, founded in a.d.
705 as the Cathedral of the Saxon Bishops of Wessex, dominates the 21st-century
town. In the late 10th century, it became a Benedictine monastery, and since the
Dissolution it has been Sherborne's rather grand parish church. Look immediately up
to see the soaring, intricate
fan-vaulted ceiling
stretching the full length of the
nave. Fan vaults were peculiarly English, and a particularly graceful solution to
spreading the weight of a large ceiling, originating in the West Country in the early
15th century. Sherborne's was added by Abbot Ramsam around 1485. In addition to
being staggeringly beautiful, it's notable for the intricate carved bosses and corbels
that were so high up that they escaped the destructive iconoclasts of the English
Reformation. Pack binoculars to appreciate them fully. There are more fine monu-
ments at ground level, including Purbeck marble effigies of medieval abbots, as well
as Elizabethan “four-poster” and canopied tombs. In the south transept, a 1698
baroque statue of the Earl of Bristol stands between his two wives.
Abbey Close.
&
01935/812452.
www.sherborneabbey.com. Free admission (donations for upkeep
welcomed). Apr-Sept daily 8am-6pm; Oct-Mar daily 8am-4pm.
Sherborne Castle
HISTORIC SITE “Castle” is in fact a misnomer for this
Elizabethan residence, built for Sir Walter Raleigh after he decided that it wouldn't
be feasible to restore the Old Castle (see below) to suit his stately needs. The original
1594 residence was a square mansion; 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 was bought by Sir John Digby, and has been the
Digby family home ever since. The mansion was enlarged by Sir John in 1625, and in
the 1750s, the formal Elizabethan gardens and fountains of the Raleighs were altered
by Capability Brown, who created a serpentine lake between Sherborne's two castles.
The 8 hectares (20 acres) of lawns and pleasure gardens around the lake are a delight-
ful spot to stroll. Highlights of the house's interior include paintings by Gainsborough,
Lely, and Kneller; an intact basement kitchen dating from 1595; and a portrait of
Raleigh said to be an accurate likeness.
Off New Rd. (1 mile east of center).
&
01935/813182.
www.sherbornecastle.com. Castle and gardens
£9.50 adults, £9 seniors, free for children 15 and under; £5 grounds only. Apr 1-Oct 31 Tues-Thurs,
Sat-Sun, and bank holidays 11am-4:30pm. Closed Nov-Mar.
Sherborne Old Castle
CASTLE The town's original castle was built by
the powerful Bishop Roger de Caen in the early 12th century, but was seized by the
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