SDO10414 - Melrose, Hound Street, Sherborne. Appendix 'B', Archaeological Assessment

Laurence Keen conducted an archaeological desk top assessment of Melrose, 43 Hound Street during 2001 prior to the granting of planning permission for two small extensions. Keen notes that the property lies in the new borough of Newland created by Richard Bishop of Salisbury in 1227-8. The existing house is described as having ‘18th century extensions to the W and S. The drawing room has 18th century panelling and the staircase, of the same date, has a ‘dog-gate’’. The dwelling is grade II listed and dates from the 17th century with 18th century additions. No references were found of any archaeological finds ever having been made at Melrose. Keen goes on to describe the archaeological background to the Sherborne area in which he makes a modification to his theory that the Old Castle site, with its associated chapel of St. Probus, was the location of the British monastery of Lanprobus. He notes that burials within the abbey precinct, to the north of the abbey church, have recently been carbon dated and that one of them probably pre-dates the AD 705 foundation of the bishopric of Sherborne. This, together with the report of the discovery of a roman pavement from beneath the abbey site, suggests that the abbey may indeed be the site of the British monastery. Keen however, suggests a polyfocal settlement model for the early religious community, encompassing both the Old Castle and Abbey sites as well as possibly others. Keen also notes that Hound Street is not marked on a late 16th century view of Sherborne, and that this has been used to suggest that the original line of the street was lost, despite medieval documentation attesting to its early formation. Keen mentions medieval components to buildings on the present Hound Street frontage, which suggest that the present street line might be medieval in origin after all. Katherine Barker has suggested that Hound Street is on the line of a circular vallum enclosing the British site of Lanprobus. Melrose is depicted as a single building block on 18th century maps with a T or L shaped building to the rear. Later extensions are shown on 19th century maps.