Sherborne

One of the most beautiful towns in England, Sherborne beguiles the visitor with its serene atmosphere of a cathedral city, although it is not a city and its lovely Abbey no longer enjoys the status of a cathedral. Back in AD 705 though, when it was founded by St Aldhelm, the abbey was the Mother Cathedral for the whole of southwest England. Of that original Saxon church only minimal traces remain: most of the present building dates back to the mid-1400s which, by happy chance, was the most glorious period in the history of English ecclesiastical architecture. The intricate tracery of the fan vaulting above the nave of the abbey looks like the supreme culmination of a long-practised art: in fact, it is one of the earliest examples in England. There is much else to admire in this majestic church: 15th century misericords in the choir stalls which range from the sublime, (Christ sitting in majesty on a rainbow), to the scandalous, (wives beating their husbands); a wealth of elaborate tombs amongst which is a lofty 6-poster from Tudor times, a floridly baroque late-17th century memorial to the 3rd Earl of Bristol, and another embellished with horses’ heads in a punning tribute to Sir John Horsey who lies below alongside his son.

In 2005 Sherborne celebrated 1300 years since St Aldhelm founded the Abbey with a great festival. A statue to St Aldhelm was commissioned and placed in a niche over the porch. As well as founding the Abbey, St Sldhelm is also credited with establishing Sherborne School, which numbered among its earliest pupils the two elder brothers of King Alfred (and possibly Alfred himself). Later alumni include the Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and the writer David Cornwell, better know as John le Carré, author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and many other thrillers.

Perhaps the best-known resident of Sherborne however is Sir Walter Raleigh. At a time when he enjoyed the indulgent favour of Elizabeth I, he asked for, and was granted, the house and estate of Sherborne Old Castle (English Heritage) and now a ruin. It is well worth a visit for its scenic views and perfect picnic spots. Sir Walter soon realised that the medieval pile with its starkly basic amenities was quite unsuitable for a courtier of his sophistication and ambition. He built a new castle alongside it, Sherborne New Castle, a strange three-storeyed, hexagonal structure which must rate, from the outside, as one of the most badly-designed, most unlikeable mansions to be erected in an age when other Elizabethan architects were creating some of the loveliest buildings in England. Inside Sir Walter’s new castle, it is quite a different story: gracious rooms with elaborately-patterned ceilings, portraits of the man who single-handedly began the creation of the British Empire, and huge windows which at the time Sir Walter ordered them proclaimed a clear message that its owner had the wealth to pay the enormous cost of glazing such vast expanses. After Sir Walter’s execution, the castle was purchased in 1617 by Sir James Digby and it has remained with his descendants ever since. They added exquisite gardens designed by ‘Capability’ Brown and in the late 1800s re-decorated the interior in Jacobean style. Amongst the castle’s greatest treasures is the famous painting by Robert Peake depicting Elizabeth I on procession, being carried on a litter and surrounded by a sumptuously dressed retinue. The old cellar of the castle is now a museum housing an eclectic display of items, most gruesome of which is the skull of a Royalist soldier killed in the seige of 1645. A bullet is still lodged in his eye socket. Sherborne New Castle, incidentally, is one of several locations claiming to be the genuine setting for the old story of Sir Walter enjoying a pipe of tobacco and being doused with a bucket of water by a servant who believed his master was on fire. Sherborne Castle is open from April to October, and also offers visitors an attractive lakeside tearoom, a well-stocked gift shop, and various special events throughout the year.

This appealing small town with a population of around 9,300 has much else to interest the visitor. The Almshouse of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, near the abbey, was founded in 1437 and the original buildings completed in 1448 are still in use as an almshouse, accepting both men and women. The almshouse chapel boasts one of the town’s greatest treasures, a late-15th century Flemish altar triptych, which can be viewed on afternoons (except Wednesday and Sunday) during the summer. Close by, the Conduit House is an attractive small hexagonal building from the early 1500s, originally used as a lavatorium, or washroom, for the abbey monks’ ablutions. It was moved here after the Reformation and has served variously as a public fountain and a police phone box. The Conduit House is specifically mentioned in Hardy’s The Woodlanders as the place where Giles Winterborne, seeking work, stood here in the market place ‘as he always did at this season of the year, with his specimen apple tree’. Another striking building is the former Abbey Gatehouse which frames the entrance to Church Lane where the Sherborne Museum has a collection of more than 15,000 items relating to local history. Particularly notable are two major photographic collections recording events and people in the town since 1880.

To the south of Sherborne, near the railway station, Pageant Gardens were established in 1905 using funds raised by a great pageant of that year clebrating the 1,200th anniversary of the founding of the town by St Aldhelm.

About 2 miles north of Sherborne, Sandford Orcas Manor House is a charming Tudor building with terraced gardens, topiary and herb garden. Since it was built in honey-coloured Ham Hill stone in the 1550s, only three different families have lived here. The present owner, Sir Mervyn Medlycott, whose family has lived here for more than 250 years, personally conducts guided tours in May, and from July to September on Sunday and Monday afternoons that take in the manor’s Great Hall, stone newel staircases, huge fireplaces, fine panelling, Jacobean and Queen Anne furniture and family portraits.