Listed Building record MDO14964 - The Conduit, Market Place, Cheap Street, Sherborne

The former conduit house, which now stands in Cheap Street, was built for Abbot Meere (1503-35) to house the monk’s lavatorium. It originally adjoined the north walk of the cloister, probably opposite the entrance to the refectory and was re-erected on its present site at the south end of Cheap Street in or about 1553.

(ST 6388 1651) The Conduit (NAT). (2)

The Conduit. Originally on the North side of the Abbey cloister, built by Albery Mere (1504-35), it was moved to its present position and restored. (1)

The Conduit. Hexagonal stone structure with moulded string and parapet coping. Original two-centred in the West front. Grade I. (3-4)

Scheduled: Dorset 7.

The former conduit house, which now stands in Cheap Street, was built for Abbot Meere (1503-35) to house the monk’s lavatorium. It originally adjoined the north walk of the cloister, probably opposite the entrance to the refectory and was re-erected on its present site at the south end of Cheap Street in or about 1553. The present west face was originally an internal face to the cloister walk (6).

Terrain Archaeology conducted an archaeological watching brief during repair and conservation works on the conduit, Market Place, Sherborne in September to October 2004.

‘The repair works disturbed very little of the structure and very few additional details of the structure were revealed. The major discovery was that the area above the vaulted ceiling had been filled with concrete and the lead roof lowered about 0.3m, at some time during the second half of the 20th century.’ (5)

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 214 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(9) THE CONDUIT (Plate 36) is on the W. side of Cheap Street, opposite Long Street. It is a partly restored stone structure built as a lavatory in the cloister of the abbey by Albert Mere (1504–35). It is a hexagonal structure with buttresses at the angles and a plain parapet. The present W. face has an archway with moulded jambs and two-centred head; it formed the original entrance from the N. alley of the cloister. The other faces have each a window with the mullions removed and the sill cut away to form an open arch in four faces; in the fifth the mullions have been replaced and the sill restored as a modern fountain; the windows are each of four elliptical-headed lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred-head. The interior of the conduit has a ribbed lierne vault springing from angle-shafts with foliated capitals and moulded bases; at the intersections are foliage-bosses but the large middle boss is carved with a shield-of-arms of the abbey with angelsupporters.'

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1964 (Map). SWX1197.

(ST 6388 1651) The Conduit (NAT)

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 382 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> DOE (HHR), 1973, List of Buildings of Special Historic and Architectural Interest: West Dorset Urban District of Sherborne, 51 (Scheduling record). SDO17491.

<5> Bellamy, P, 2004, The Conduit, Market Place, Sherborne, Dorset. Observations and Recording, Sept-Oct 2004 (Unpublished document). SDO10428.

<6> Keen, L, and Ellis, P, 2005, Sherborne Abbey and School, 101-5 (Monograph). SDO10263.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 887399 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:03PM