Listed Building record MDO2381 - Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne

Established around AD 705 as a house of secular canons associated with the newly created Sherborne Cathedral, although there may already have been an early Christian settlement here of some kind under the name of Lanprobus. Converted to a Benedictine monastery in AD 998. Raised to the staus of independent abbey in 1122. dissolved in 1539. A number of late medieval buildings survived the dissolution. These include the Abbey church, now the parish church of of St. Mary; The Slype, now part of Sherborne School; Sherborne School library, formerly part of the west claustral range; the gatehouse; and the conduit head, now in the market place but formerly attached to the north cloister walk. Evidence for the chapter house, cloisters, infirmary and Saxon church have also been revealed through excavation. Evidence for an early christian presence on the site of the Abbey has recently been provided by burials in the Slype and Infirmary areas, dated by radiocarbon to before the establishment of the Saxon monastery.

Established c. AD 705 as a house of secular canons associated with the newly created Sherborne Cathedral, although there may already have been an early Christian settlement here of some kind under the name of Lanprobus. Converted to a Benedictine monastery in AD 998. Raised to the staus of independent abbey in 1122. dissolved in 1539.

A number of late medieval buildings survived the dissolution. These include the Abbey church, now the parish church of of St. Mary; The Slype, now part of Sherborne School; Sherborne School library, formerly part of the west claustral range; the abbot's lodgings and kitchen, now the school chapel and studies; the gatehouse; and the conduit head, now in the market place but formerly attached to the north cloister walk.

Evidence for the chapter house, cloisters, infirmary, fishponds, precinct boundaries and Saxon church have also been revealed through excavation.

Evidence for an early christian presence on the site of the Abbey has recently been provided by burials in the Slype and Infirmary areas, dated by radiocarbon to before the establishment of the Saxon monastery. (1)

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

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1972, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1971, 197-210 (Serial). SDO71.

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. …’

Thurlby, Malcolm, 2001, Aspects of Romanesque Ecclesiastical Architecture in Dorset: Wimborne Minster, Sherborne Abbey, Forde Abbey Chapter-House and St Mary's, Maiden Newton. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 6-11 (Article in serial). SDO15330.

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

Record last edited

Apr 17 2025 10:32AM