Monument record MDO2343 - Roman building beneath Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne

A portion of Roman pavement was alleged to have been dug up, with foundations of more than one building resting on it, 'a long time prior' to 1877. There is no corroborating evidence for this discovery and no further details are available.

R. D. Carpenter delivered a paper on the history of Sherborne Abbey Church to the Royal Institute of British Architects during 1877. He maintained that ‘…on the site of the church, a long time ago, a portion of Roman pavement was dug up, with foundations of more than one building resting on it…’. [1]

The recounting of this discovery was mentioned again at the Sherborne meeting of the DNHAFC: on 28 and 29/8/1890, Mr. R.D. Carpenter ‘…observed that a portion of the Roman pavement found on the site of the Abbey some time ago, carried the history of the church back to a period anterior to the Anglo-Saxon time of the…eighth century…’ [2]

'(1) Pavement. A portion of Roman pavement is said to have been found on the site of the abbey "some time ago" (P.D. Carpenter in Dorset N.H. and Ant. F.C., XII, p.xxii). [6]

No further corroborating evidence for this putative Roman building has as yet been found. Keen and Ellis note that none of the recorded excavations in the area of the Abbey have produced any Roman material. this is despite the fact that Keen’s own excavations produced six fragments of re-used Roman tegulae [3] and a Roman key was reported to have been found in 1903 from the Old School/ Abbey [4]. Nevertheless the fact that no residual Roman pottery has been recorded from the Abbey area is perhaps suggestive. Keen and Ellis propose that the supposed Roman pavement may in fact be a Saxon floor re-using tesserae from a Roman building in the vicinity (3). Hall, however, maintains that Sherborne Abbey was built on the site of a Roman building [5].

<1> Carpenter, R H, 1877, On the Benedictine Abbey of S. Mary, Sherborne, with notes on the restoration of its church, p.137 (Article in serial). SDO10259.

<2> Stuart, M A, 1891, The Sherborne meeting; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, p.xxii (Article in serial). SDO10262.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 199 (Monograph). SDO97.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1959, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1958, 95-96 (Serial). SDO58.

<5> Penn, K J, 1980, Historic Towns in Dorset (Monograph). SWX1202.

<6> Hall, T A, 2000, Minster Churches in the Dorset Landscape, 21 (Monograph). SDO10264.

<7> Keen, L, and Ellis, P, 2005, Sherborne Abbey and School, 4 (Monograph). SDO10263.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:09PM