Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SHERBORNE

SHERBORNE, a town, a parish, a district, a hundred, and a division, in Dorset. The town stands on a hillslope, and on the London, Yeovil, and Exeter railway, 5½ miles E of Yeovil; was known to the Saxons as Sciraburn; acquired an abbey or minster before 700; was the seat of a bishopric from 705 till 1075, when the see was removed to Sarum; suffered devastation by Sweyn the Dane, in 1003; was given by William the Conqueror to Osmund de Sels, afterwards Bishop of Sarum, who built a castle at it; passed to successively the Crown, the Montacutes, the Duke of Somerset, Sir Walter Raleigh, Prince Henry, and the Digbys; sent members to parliament in the time of Edward III.; became an important seat of trade before the time of Henry VIII.; was described by Leland as, in his time, "the most frequented town in the county;'' sustained a siege of 16 days, resulting in capture and in the demolition of its castle, by Fairfax, in 1645; gave lodging for a night to the Prince of Orange, on his way to London in 1688; numbers, among its natives, Bishop Winniffe who died in 1584, the engineer Engelbert who died in 1634, and the theologian Dr. Towers who died in 1799; is now a seat of sessions, and a polling place; publishes a weekly newspaper; coinprises several good streets, regularly aligned; includes a market place, with an ancient conduit; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, three chief inns, a poor town hall, a splendid church, three dissenting chapels, a recently-formed ultra-mural cemetery, an endowed grammar-school with £883 a year, three other endowed schools with £70, £40, and £25, national and British schools, an ancient endowed alms-1ionse hospital with £666 a year, a recent handsome hospital called Yeatman's, a workhouse, and general charities £207. Ruins of the castle still exist, to the E, on an eminence near the town. A mansion, called S. Lodge, stands near the ruins; consists of a centre and two projecting wings; presents a quaint and antique appearance; and is the seat of G. D. W. Digby, Esq. The church occupies the site of the ancient minster; includes some portions of the ancient cathedral, in Norman architecture; was mainly rebuilt in the time of Henry VI.; underwent complete restoration, partly in 1849-50, partly in 1855-8; received further improvement in 1866; presents an appearance similar to that of several cathedrals; is cruciform, with a tower 100 feet high; and measures 200.feet from E to W, and 100 along the transepts. Some remains of a Benedictine abbey, constituted out of the original monastery in 1139, are on the N side of the churchyard, and consist chiefly of the refectory, crypt, and other buildings used for the grammar-school. The latter, as an institution, dates from 1550,-as an edifice is a quadrangular structure, recently restored; and has four exhibitious at the universities. The ancient hospital was refounded by Henry VI., for 16 men and 8 women; and is a venerable structure. Markets are held on Thursday a cattle market, on every alternate Thursday; and fairs, on 8 May, 18 and 26 Ju1y, and the Monday after 10 Oct.; and there are silk-throwing mills, employing about 600 persons. The town, within the limits of its local board of health, comprises part of S. parish and all Castleton parish. Pop. in 1861, 5,523. Houses, 1,072.

The parish comprises 6,467 acres. Real property, £24,603; of which £150 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 5,242; in 1861, 5,793. Houses, 1,119. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £300.* Patron, the Crown.—The district comprehends also the sub-districts of Yetminster and Bradford-Abbey, and comprises 40,018 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £7,258. Pop. in 1851, 13,081; in 1861, 13,463. Houses, 2,761. Marriages in 1863, 102; births, 430,-of which 33 were illegitimate; deaths, 291,-of which 107 were at ages under 5 years, and 7 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,052; births, 4,095; deaths, 2,687. The places of worship, in 1851, were 29 of the Church of England, with 6,024 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 985 s.; 6 of Wesleyans, with 894 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 137 s.; 1 of Brethren, with 100 s.; 2 undefined, with 40 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 30 attendants. The schools were 22 public day-schools, with 1,125 scholars; 32 private day-schools, with 462 s.; 30 Sunday-schools, with 2,062 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 30 s.-The hundred contains 19 parishes and an extra-parochial tract; and is mainly in S. division, but partly also in Sturminster and Cerne divisions. Acres, 27,873. Pop. in 1851, 9,598. Houses, 1,914. Acres of the part in S. division, 24,324. Pop. in 1851, 9,174. Houses, 1,740.-The division contains also Ryme-Intrinsica liberty, and parts of the hundreds or liberties of Tollerford, Yetminster, and Sutton-Pointz. Acres, 34,312. Pop. in 1851, 11,366; in 1861, 18,556. Houses, 3,826.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a district, a hundred, and a division"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Sherborne AP/CP       Sherborne Hundred       Sherborne RegD/PLU       Dorset AncC
Place names: SCIRABURN     |     SHERBORNE
Place: Sherborne

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