Monument record MDO2418 - St Andrew's Church, South Street/ Ludbourne Road, Sherborne

An entry in the Sherborne Abbey Cartulary dated to 1145 mentions a mill next to the church of St. Andrew. The position of St. Andrew’s Mill is known from maps dated 1570 and 1733, suggesting that the site of St. Andrew’s Church was at the South end of South Street, possibly in the area of Ludbourne Road.

Lindsey Archaeological Services conducted an archaeological desk based assessment of land at South Street/ Ludbourne Road, Sherborne during 1997 in advance of re-development of the site as Sainsbury’s Supermarket.

Documentary research revealed that an entry in the Sherborne Abbey Cartulary (British Musem, Add. 46487) dated to 1145 mentions a mill next to the church of St. Andrew [1][2]. The position of St. Andrew’s Mill is known from maps dated 1570 and 1733, suggesting that the site of St. Andrew’s Church was at the South end of South Street. A silk mill took over the site of St. Andrew’s mill in 1814 [1].

A subsequent watching brief on the Sainsbury’s development site recorded that stonework 1.6m below the floor of the later silk mill was momentarily exposed but it was not possible to record it fully. This lay outside the store footprint, approximately 4-5m SE of the corner of the silk factory and Olde Cottage, and was not removed. The archaeologist present thought it possible that this represented remains of the old St. Andrew’s Mill, [3] although it might equally well represent remains of St. Andrew’s Church. ‘…the exact site of the church is not known but thought to lie higher up South Street.’ [3]

<1> Field, N, 1997, South Street/ Ludbourne Road, Sherborne, Dorset. Archaeological desk top study. (Unpublished document). SDO10390.

<2> Mills, A D, 1989, The place-names of Dorset, Part 3, p.368 (Monograph). SDO10391.

<3> Tann, G, 1998, South Street/ Ludbourne Road, Sherborne, Dorset. Archaeological monitoring during groundworks for a supermarket development (Unpublished document). SDO10393.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:10PM