Sherborne House is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. in Newland,

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England.

History

Sherborne House was built c.1720 for

Henry Seymour Portman Henry Seymour later Portman (c. 1637–1728), of Orchard Portman, Somerset, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England and then Great Britain almost continually between 1679 and 1715. Early life Seymour was the fifth ...

as a halfway house between his properties in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

(

Orchard Portman Orchard Portman is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 150. The parish includes the hamlet of Thurlbear and the nearby Thurlb ...

) and Dorset (

Bryanston Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an ind ...

). John Hutchins in his 'History of Dorset' reported that the house was designed by 'Mr Bastard of Sherborne' (

Benjamin Bastard Benjamin Bastard was a British architect during the first half of the 18th century working in the Dorset area of England. A member of a notable family of west country architect-surveyors and masons, he was related to the Bastard brothers who rebu ...

), but, given the date if its building, it was more likely that the Bastard company of Blandford Forum only provided the internal joinery. Michael Hill in the Dorset edition of

The Buildings of England ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

suggests that Sir James Thornhill may have been the architect. The House, which incorporates an earlier 16th century north wing, is three storeys high and seven bays wide and rendered in stone rubble and brick with a slate roof. The staircase features a mural painted a year or two after the completion of the house by Sir James Thornhill, which depicts the

Greek mythological A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

characters

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, grc-gre, Μελέαγρος, Meléagros) was a hero venerated in his ''temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Ho ...

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

and the hunt for the

Calydonian Boar The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

. Following the death in 1728 of

, Sherborne House was purchased by Francis Seymour, MP, and from 1799 it was owned by the Toogood family. On 25 July 1816, Sherborne House was purchased by

Edward Digby, 2nd Earl Digby Edward Digby, 2nd Earl Digby (6 January 1773 – 12 May 1856), known as Viscount Coleshill from 1790 to 1793, was a British peer. Digby was the eldest son of Henry Digby, 1st Earl Digby, and Mary Knowler. He succeeded his father in the earldom in ...

for £2,000. From 1824 until 1849, the house was occupied under lease by the banker Samuel Pretor. In 1850, the house was leased by the recently retired actor manager

William Charles Macready William Charles Macready (3 March 179327 April 1873) was an English actor. Life He was born in London the son of William Macready the elder, and actress Christina Ann Birch. Educated at Rugby School where he became headboy, and where now the t ...

, whose friend the Plymouth architect

George Wightwick George Wightwick (26 August 1802 – 9 July 1872) was a British architect based in Plymouth, and possibly the first architectural journalist. In addition to his architectural practice, he developed his skills and the market for architectural ...

adapted the house for the family. In 1854, Macready's friend

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

visited Sherborne and gave a reading from A Christmas Carol in aid of the Sherborne Literary and Scientific Institution, of which Macready was president. Macready left Sherborne in 1861 and the lease of Sherborne House was taken over by Robert Willmott, a silk throwster. Subsequent tenants were Major Andrew Cathcart Bogle VC of the 23rd Foot, General Sir Julius Richard Glyn KCB, Colonel Grant, Major D.S. Browne, and Colonel C. Kindersley Porcher. At the suggestion of school governor Littleton Charles Powys, in 1930 the Education Committee of

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

approved Lord Digby's School for Girls taking over the lease of Sherborne House. Lord Digby's School moved in to Sherborne House on the 9th November 1931 and the School was formally opened on 18 February 1932 by Miss

Lynda Grier Lynda Grier, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 May 1880 – 21 August 1967) was a British educational administrator, policy advisor, and the principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, from 1921 to 1945. Born in Staffordshire, Grie ...

, principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. In 1962, a film for HTV was made of John Betjeman's visit to Sherborne and Lord Digby's School, entitled 'John Betjeman in the West County'. Lord Digby's School moved out of Sherborne House in 1992.

Recent events

In 2004, Sherborne House featured in the second series of the BBC TV series '' Restoration''. The council was also unsuccessful in obtaining a £3 million National Lottery grant that would have helped to repair the roof. By June 2006, Sherborne House was shrouded in scaffolding and the Thornhill-designed mural was beginning to show signs of

water damage Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

. Sherborne House was put up for sale the following year. In 2011, plans were announced to turn Sherborne House into a tourist attraction with an arts centre and restaurant. In 2012, International Fine Art Conservation Studios carried out restoration work on the Thornhill mural, which featured in the BBC TV series ''Restoring England’s Heritage'' (2013). In 2018, Sherborne House was purchased under the Sherborne House Trust, with the aim of 'restoring, preserving and maintaining Sherborne House, Sherborne, Dorset, including the Thornhill Mural, promoting and advancing the education of the public in the arts, including (a) promoting and providing facilities for participation in the arts, and (b) fostering and promoting the improvement and development of artistic knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts'.

References

{{Coord, 50.9506, -2.5151, display=title, region:GB_scale:2000 Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Grade I listed houses Country houses in Dorset Sherborne