Sherborne is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

almost east of

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northeast of Cirenceste ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Sherborne is a

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

, extending more than a mile along the valley of Sherborne Brook, a tributary of the

River Windrush The River Windrush is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and flows south east for via Burford and Witney to meet the Thames at Newbridge in Oxfordshire. The river gives its name to ...

. The place-name 'Sherborne' is first attested in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086, where it is spelt 'Scireburne', and means 'bright stream'. This is a reference to Sherborne Brook.

Manor and church

In Memory of James Legge and Lady Elizabeth

Coenwulf of Mercia Coenwulf (; also spelled Cenwulf, Kenulf, or Kenwulph; la, Coenulfus) was the King of Mercia from December 796 until his death in 821. He was a descendant of King Pybba, who ruled Mercia in the early 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son ...

, who reigned from AD 796 to 821, is credited with giving the manor of Sherborne to

Winchcombe Abbey Winchcombe Abbey is a now-vanished Benedictine abbey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire; this abbey was once in the heart of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom at the time of the Heptarchy in England. The Abbey was founded c. 798 for three hundred Benedi ...

.Elrington, 1964, pages 120-127 The

records that the abbey held Sherborne in 1086. Edward I stayed in Sherborne in 1382. In 1539 the abbey was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

took its lands. Sherborne had a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

by 1175, when it was listed amongst the property of Winchcombe Abbey. The original church building no longer exists, but a 19th-century cottage at the east end of the village incorporates two

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

doorways and other detailsVerey, 1970, page 398 said to have been recovered from an orchard at the same end of the village. The present Church of England parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene is in the centre of the village. Its bell-tower and spire were built late in the 13th or early in the 14th century. The church is next to Sherborne House, which was built for Thomas Dutton after he bought the manor of Sherborne in 1551.Verey, 1970, page 395

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

stayed at the house in 1592. John Dutton had the house re-faced in 1651-53,Verey, 1970, page 396 and

James Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne James Naper Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne (22 October 1744 – 22 May 1820), was a British peer. Background Sherborne was the son of James Lenox Dutton (originally James Lenox Naper), of Sherborne, Gloucestershire, by his second wife Jane, daug ...

had alterations made to the church between 1743 and 1776, including the addition of a

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

portico. In 1850-59

John Baron Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne John Baron Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne (24 January 1779 – 18 October 1862), was a British peer. Background Sherborne was the son of James Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne, of Sherborne, Gloucestershire, by his wife Elizabeth Coke (1753–1824), da ...

had the medieval

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

of the church demolished to allow more light into Sherborne House, and had a new nave and

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

built further north. The church contains numerous ornate monuments to members of the Dutton family. The tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of six bells. The oldest is medieval; three more were cast in 1653 and the remaining two are 18th-century. In 1624-40 John Dutton acquired land southwest of the village to create a deer park. He had The Lodge built as a viewing stand to watch deer being coursed by greyhounds. In 1898 it was extended for Susan, Lady Sherborne and converted into a house. The

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

now owns the Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate. Sherborne House is converted into privately owned apartments and is not open to the public.

Economic and social history

In 1086 the village had four

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s on Sherborne Brook. By the end of the 19th century only Duckleston Mill, at the west end of the village, remained, and it was disused. In 1961 it was still standing but had been converted into a farmhouse. The

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

James Bradley James Bradley (1692–1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of th ...

was born in Sherborne in 1693. More than half of the parish was farmed under an

open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acr ...

until 1777, when the

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

s were

enclosed Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

. The farmhouse at Stones Farm at the east end of Sherborne village was designed by Richard Pace and built in 1818. The 2nd Baron Sherborne established two schools for boys in 1824. They were merged in 1862, and a schoolhouse was built for them in 1868. By 1906 it had been enlarged to take 165 pupils, but by 1938 attendance had fallen to 80. By 1961 it was a junior school. It is now a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

primary school. Until the 1880s Sherborne was noted as a centre of

Morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...

. Sherborne still has a village shop and tea room which incorporates an outreach Post Office.

Sources

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References

{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Cotswold District