Listed Building record MDO2380 - Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne; Saxon cathedral church

Remains of the Saxon Abbey and Cathedral church at Sherborne survive in the fabric of the present church of St. Mary. These remains include the west wall of the church and the north wall of the west end of the north aisle. Other elements of the Saxon fabric have been revealed piecemeal from 1849 during restoration work to the church and various archaeological excavations. These include a west central tower and north transept at the west end, attached to the north side of the tower.

King Ine established a new see at Sherborne and William of Malmesbury records that Aldhelm, the first bishop (705-9) constructed a new church there. Malmesbury was writing c.1125 and claimed to have seen this original church. In 998 Wulfsige III confirmed the conversion of the cathedral from an establishment of secular canons to a Benedictine monastery with the bishop as abbot, and built a cloister and conventual buildings. Bishop Aelfwold conducted building works in 1045-58. In 1122 the monastery was raised to the status of an independent abbey and a new phase of building work, attributed to bishop Roger was begun. This 12th century phase of work was substantial, destroying much of the original fabric of the Saxon church. Some of the fabric survives in the present church, notably, the west wall and the west end of the north aisle wall. (1)

Remains of the Saxon church have been discovered on a number of occasions. Restoration work conducted between 1849 and 1877 revealed the foundations of the Saxon tower. The restoration entailed the demolition of the south porch and its reconstruction; the nave and transepts were restored and the west window was lowered. It was during this work that remains of the Saxon church were revealed outside the west of the Abbey church.

‘…remains…have been now however uncovered, and there are visible remains of a plinth or base course of a building 29 feet wide outside, the centre line of which corresponds exactly with the nave. This ancient porch was pulled down either in Norman days, or to make way for the later Allhallows Church of the fifteenth century, and nothing now remains of it above the floor line of this church.’ (2)

Furthermore, during 1849 in lowering the perpendicular west window R.C.C. Carpenter discovered a double row of small pillars and arches of early date opening from an upper floor of the tower to the nave, an arrangement peculiar to Saxon churches. (3)

The late Sir Alfred Clapham conducted excavations for the RCHM immediately to the west of Sherborne Abbey Church during 1949 in order to ascertain if there was evidence for the previous existence of a west axial tower.
‘the excavation revealed the massive south-west angle of the tower and a portion of the outer edge of the foundation of the west wall near the axial line.’ It projected c. 25 ft west of the church and sat on a massive foundation with a 2foot 6 inch offset. As no inner face to the foundation could be found, he concluded that it formed a solid raft under the tower. significantly he also uncovered the foundation of another wall running south from the SW corner of the tower and butted against it; both this wall and the tower foundation were bound with similar mortar. Unfortunately no notes or photographs of this excavation survive. (3)(4)

J.H.P. Gibb conducted excavations for the Sherborne School Archaeological Society between 1964-1973. These comprised the digging of four small trenches; the NW corner of the Saxon West tower in the graveyard outside the west front of the church; the west wall of the NW transept or porticus (exploratory dig during 1964); the north wall of the NW transept and the interior of the NW transept.immediately west of Sherborne Abbey church during 1964 and 1965 in order to gather further information on the appearance and structure of the parish church of All Hallows. The first trench was excavated in the summer of 1964 to the north of the east end of the extant north aisle wall of All Hallows, and immediately south of the SW corner of the Sherborne School library. This small trench unexpectedly revealed a plinth constructed from cut Ham stone and thought to represent the foundations of a pre-conquest porch attached to the north end of the Saxon cathedral tower.
This trench also revealed the west wall of the northern side chapel of All Hallows parish church, constructed on top of the Saxon plinth, and bonded with the extant north aisle wall at its southern end. (3)(5)

At some time between 1964 and 1973 a small excavation was undertaken on the area formerly occupied by All Hallows church, Sherborne in order to try and expose part of the earlier Saxon church known to have existed on the site. Initially an area of c. 9ft x 6ft of the NW corner of the Saxon west tower was exposed. Unfortunately little stratification had survived the 300 years use of the site as a graveyard. Further walls were exposed one of which was interpreted as forming part of a narrow porch or narthex built against, and contemporary with the tower’s west face. Unfortunately the excavated area was too restricted to be sure of stratigraphical relationships.

A further excavation was undertaken during the winter of 1967-8 in the interior south ground floor room of the School library. The discovery of dry rot had led to the floor being removed. This building had originally been the monastic outer parlour. At a depth of 2 ft below the floor, almost the whole length of a two-coursed plinth was uncovered, along the north internal face of the south wall. This plinth returned towards the south beneath the library wall and along the interior edge of the west wall of the church. This was interpreted as the north wall of the NW transept of the Saxon church. Furthermore, 3 ft north of the south wall of the library, a mass of large stones pitched into wet clay were interpreted as part of the massive foundations of the west tower and narthex of the Saxon church.
A fine 15th century Ham stone fireplace was also revealed on removal of the 19th century dado on the west wall. Also the area of the library appears to have been used as a pottery in the 17th century with a cobbled stone floor, fire blackened in places, and post-holes for potters’ furniture. Many sherds of pottery, some possibly wasters were also found.
Evidence for the east wall of an earlier west cloister range was also found running N-S at the east side of the library.

The Archaeological Society of Sherborne School also excavated in an open area, which had previously been the site of the north chapel of All Hallows church. Green and yellow floor tiles associated with this chapel were uncovered along with two courses of the stone altar base. Following the demolition of All Hallows a cottage had been built on the site, the north end south wall of which was also uncovered. The mortar floor of the Saxon transept lay 3ft 3 in below the All Hallows tiled floor, at the same level as the Abbey church floor. It had been destroyed to the west by later graves and by part of the All Hallows foundations. A much corroded iron key, three pins, part of a whetstone and a fragment of course pottery were found in the mortar floor. Broken pieces of plaster were found on the surface of the floor and may have formed part of a broken plaster box, possibly a reliquary. The Saxon north wall of the transept sat directly on top of gravel. This gravel lay above hard packed and pitched stones in clay seen below the library to the north. This rubble foundation layer contained a sherd of 13th century green glazed pottery, although it is possible that this sherd is intrusive. The stone rubble foundation layer could not be bottomed for safety reasons.

Part of the Saxon church was exposed within the present church during an excavation in June 1990. the floor of the west end of the north aisle was opened up prior to repaving and the archaeology recorded by Keen. The wall of the Saxon aisle was recorded and shown to be exactly the same thickness (0.79m) as the surviving Saxon west wall of the present church. Its width and position suggest that it was the outer wall of the north aisle of the 11th century catheral. A surface to the north may have been the floor of the south walk of the Saxon cloister. The Saxon aisle floor was also observed. (6)

Abbey of ST MARY, SHERBORNE. The bishop's see of Wessex W. of SELWOOD was established in SHERBORNE in 705. The ch. remained a Cathedral till the removal of the see to OLD SARUM in 1075.

In 998 (c.993) the minster was brought under the rule of ST. BENEDICT being reconstituted for Benedictine monks instead of secular canons. In 1172 it was elevated to the rank of Abbey. In 1152 there were 50 monks at SHERBORNE, but in 1539 - at the dissolution - only the abbot and 14 monks were noted. <10>

Rebuilding and alteration of the ecclesiastic buildings took place in the 12th, 13th - 14th cents. (in the latter cent, ALL HALLOWS Ch. was built), major restoration also took place in the 15.c.

After the dissolution the buildings were granted to Sir JOHN HORSEY, he sold the abbey ch., less the eastern chapels, to the townspeople in 1540, at which time the ph. ch. of ALL HALLOWS was demolished HORSEY sold the eastern chapels to the hospital, which in turn sold them, in 1560, to the school.

The general reconstruction of the church was begun in 1849 extending into the 20th. Cent. <11>

Keen, L J, 1976, Sherborne; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 60 (Article in serial). SDO10320.

‘Sherborne School. Excavations in the Lower Library, carried out by Messrs Gibb, Gem and Keen in advance of alterations in what was the west range of the medieval abbey, uncovered an insubstantial north-south medial wall. The substantial north wall of the range was located, cut through by the north-west/south-east trench for the town’s original water-supply. …

Excavations within and around The Slype by Messrs Keen, Thackray and Gem, in advance of consolidation and repair, were concluded. Further evidence of the pre-conquest monastic layout was found and more of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth-century work in the north wall of the Abbey exposed. The south wall of the twelfth-century Chapter House was also uncovered. During repairs to the tops of the north and east walls many pieces of moulded stone were found. These included several vault ribs and also a substantial part of a late twelfth-century enriched door arch, possibly from the Chapter House. …’

<1> Keen, L, and Ellis, P, 2005, Sherborne Abbey and School, 4-5 (Monograph). SDO10263.

<2> Carpenter, R H, 1877, On the Benedictine Abbey of S. Mary, Sherborne, with notes on the restoration of its church, 140 (Article in serial). SDO10259.

<3> Gibb, J H P, 1975, The Anglo-Saxon Cathedral at Sherborne; Archaeological Journal (Article in serial). SDO10316.

<4> Dufty, A R, 1949, Sherborne, the pre-conquest Cathedral; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 67-8 (Article in serial). SDO10292.

<5> Gibb, J H P, 1971, An interim report of excavations carried out at the west end of Sherborne Abbey in 1964 and 1965. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO10267.

<6> Keen, L, and Ellis, P, 2005, Sherborne Abbey and School, 14-15 (Monograph). SDO10263.

<9> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 212-214 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(8) SHERBORNE SCHOOL, and remains of Sherborne Abbey, stands to the N. and N.E. of the church. The remains consist of the W. range of the cloister, a block of buildings to the N. of it, the School House and the Abbey gateway. The Cloister stood on the N. side of the nave of the church and seems to have been rebuilt by Abbot Frithe (1349–71); the remains of the S. alley have already been described under the N. aisle of the church. The E. range has been destroyed except for one bay of building at the S. end adjoining the N. transept of the church under which it has been described; this was the dormitory-range with the chapter-house and other buildings below it. The N. range included the frater which has been destroyed; on this side of the cloister was the lavatory which projected into the garth near the frater doorway; it was taken down at the Dissolution and re-erected in the town (see Monument 9). The W. Range (Plate 36), now used as a library, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roof is covered with stone slates. The range was built probably in the 13th century and was the Cellarer's range with a hall above, perhaps the Guest Hall. On the E. face of the ground floor the wall is divided up into eight bays by the triple wallshafts of Abbot Frithe's late 14th-century cloister; adjoining the N. and S. bays of the former cloister there are pairs of these shafts to support former cross-arches; above the shafts are remains of moulded two-centred wall-ribs with weathered bosses at the top; there are some remains of the core of the former vault and above run the corbels and weathering of the former roof; in the S. bay is a 14th-century doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred head, but the remaining openings at this level are modern as are the flying buttresses. In the upper storey of the E. wall are five much restored 15th-century windows, each of two cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with shafted splays and a label with returned stops; further S. is a blocked doorway with chamfered jambs and segmental-pointed head and a pointed 13th-century loop lighting the staircase. The openings on the ground floor of the W. wall are all modern; on the first floor are five very much restored windows similar to those in the E. wall; N. of the second window is a sloping weather-course, said to be that of a former external staircase. At the S. end, at the upper floor level, is a window of four cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head; it has been entirely restored externally; level with the base of the gable and near its W. end is the springer of an arch of one chamfered order; if in situ it must have been connected with the N. wall of the former All Hallows church. The interior of the ground floor has been entirely modernised. The upper floor has a 15th-century roof (Plate 201) of nine bays with collar-beam trusses, curved braces forming two-centred arches and curved wind-braces; in the three northern bays the timbers are chamfered but in the six southern bays they are moulded, the wind-braces are cusped and the upper wall-plates are embattled. The 15th-century doorway from the stair-turret has moulded jambs and two-centred head.
Across the N. end of the W. range is a second range in continuation of the former Frater-range. It is of two storeys and the upper floor is said to have formed the hall of the abbot's lodging. The ground floor has been largely rebuilt but seems to have been of late 12th or early 13th-century origin. It is now of five bays with a quadripartite stone vault and a row of cylindrical columns down the centre; the columns have moulded capitals and moulded corbels support the vault against the walls; in the N. wall is a reset doorway with chamfered jambs and segmental head, but the rest of the work seems to be largely modern. The upper floor has been incorporated in the modern Chapel. It has no old features except perhaps part of the roof which is of 15th-century character and similar to that over the library. Adjoining this range on the N.E. is a further range of buildings (Plate 36), much restored and rebuilt but of 15th-century origin. The building now forms the School House Studies and the S. wall is entirely modern. The building is of two storeys and of L-shaped plan with the wings extending to the N. and W. The N. wing contains a former kitchen with an old chimney-projection on the N. side; built into it are four cusped panels, much defaced but enclosing carvings which appear to have been the symbols of the Evangelists. In the E. wall are four windows, completely restored but perhaps representing 15th-century features. The W. part of the W. wing is gabled towards the N. and seems to have formed a porch; in the N. or outer wall is a completely restored doorway with moulded jambs, two-centred arch, crocketed label and finial; the doorway is flanked by small buttresses and on either side of the head is a niche; the doorway is now blocked and above it is a restored window, perhaps of 16th-century origin; it is of four transomed and four-centred lights in a square head with a label. The staircase-bay has a moulded cornice and gargoyles. The windows in the staircase-bay and in the wall to the E. of it are generally of one or two cinque-foiled lights with labels; those of the lower range are transomed; some of the work is of the 15th century including one head-stop, but much of it is restored or modern.
The Old School house (Plate 36), immediately N.E. of the church, is a one-storey building of local rubble with a roof of stone slates. The School was re-founded by charter of Edward VI in 1550 and housed partly in the E. cloister-range. The schoolhouse was built or rebuilt in 1608, restored in 1670 and again extensively in 1886 when the S. wall and the roof were reconstructed. The S. wall has a balustraded parapet, two restored 17th-century windows of four transomed lights and a modern bay-window; the doorway has a four-centred arch in a square head and is flanked by Ionic side-pilasters supporting an entablature and a panel with the arms of Edward VI made by Roger Moore in 1608, all very much restored; below the arms is the chronogram "tecta Draco custos Leo vinDeX fLos Decus auctor reX pius haec servat protegit ornat aLit"; the capitals when added singly give the date 1670 and when added in pairs the date 1550. There are three ornamental lead rain-water heads, one of which bears the date 1660. In the W. wall is a restored four-light window similar to those in the S. wall; the N. wall has a similar window with a blocked doorway to the W. of it. Inside, the hall has much late 17th-century panelling with a central feature on the E. wall at the back of the dais, with an enriched frieze, cornice and brackets; there are numerous names, dates and devices cut by former scholars; in the E. wall is a recess containing a painted figure of Edward VI, made by Godfrey Arnold in 1614. At the W. end of the N. wall is a late 17th-century doorway with a four-centred arch in a square head and a door of the same period. The Wing running N. from the hall was built in 1670 and is of two storeys; a tablet on the W. wall is inscribed "John Whetcombe ye elder Warden 1670". The wing retains a number of more or less restored 17th-century windows with square heads and labels. The upper room, formerly the library, is lined with 18th-century and later panelling and has a plaster barrel-ceiling. The N. end of the wing was altered and extended in the 19th century.
The Gateway in the passage between Cheap Street and the Churchyard was no doubt the Cemetery Gate of the abbey; it adjoins the house (see Monument 14) now the Senior Common Room of the school. The gateway was built in the 15th century and has moulded jambs and high four-centred head; it is rebated on the W. face; above it on the E. face is a string-course and three niches. The middle niche has side-shafts but the canopy is missing except for part of the vaulted soffit; the N. niche is filled in but the S. niche retains its side-shafts and segmental head under an ogee crocketed and finialed canopy. S. of the archway is a three-stage buttress.'

<10> Knowles, D, and Neville Hadcock, R, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Monograph). SDO11249.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199458 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

A Bishop's See and minster was established in Sherborne in 705, with the minster becoming a Benedictine Monastery in 993, and a Benedictine Abbey in 1172. The See was moved to Old Sarum in 1075. The monastery was dissolved in 1539. Several buildings still remain, the principal building being the Abbey Church. (ST61NW126). Dependencies: Horton Priory and the Hospitals of St Thomas the Martyr, and of St John the Baptist in Sherborne.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:09PM