Sherborne Abbey, otherwise the Abbey Church of St. Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England church in Sherborne in the English county of Dorset. It was formerly a Saxon Catholic cathedral (705–1075) and a Benedictine abbey church (998–1539), before becoming a Church of England parish church in 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries. In England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) by Simon Jenkins, it is one of only 18 churches given a five-star rating.
History
This site has been occupied since Roman times. During the restoration of 1849–58, excavations were carried out in which part of a Roman mosaic pavement was found deep beneath the floor, as well as evidence that the Saxon cathedral of AD 705 had been built on the site of a previous church.
It is possible that there was a Celtic Christian church called Lanprobi here as early as AD 658, when it was part of the Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia, and Kenwalc or Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons, is believed to be one of its founders. However, it is probable that this church was actually on the site of modern-day Castleton Church.
Cathedral (705–1075) and abbey (998–1539)
The Saxon Diocese of Sherborne was founded in 705 by King Ine of Wessex to relieve pressure from the growing see of Winchester. He set Aldhelm as first bishop of the see of Western Wessex, covering Dorset, Somerset, Devon, with his seat at Sherborne. Aldhelm was the first of 27 bishops of Sherborne. Cornwall was added to the diocese at the end of the ninth century, but in 909 the diocese was divided in three to create the new bishoprics of Wells, covering Somerset, and Crediton, covering Devon and Cornwall, leaving Sherborne with Dorset.
The twentieth bishop was Wulfsige III (or St. Wulfsin). In 998 he established a Benedictine abbey at Sherborne and became its first abbot. In 1058, the Sherborne chapter elected Herman, Bishop of Ramsbury, to be also Bishop of Sherborne. In 1075, Herman unified his two bishoprics into a single see with its seat at Old Sarum, so Sherborne remained an abbey church but was no longer a cathedral. The bishop (in Old Sarum) remained the nominal head of the abbey until 1122, when Roger de Caen, Bishop of Salisbury, made the abbey independent.
From 1122 until dissolution, Horton Priory (founded as a Benedictine abbey in 961, but reduced to priory status when the bishopric moved) was dependent on Sherborne. Also, Kidwelly Priory (later abbey) in Wales was made a cell of Sherborne Abbey, which was at that time a cathedral priory, c.1110 and was dissolved at the same time as its mother-house.
Parish church
The Benedictine foundation at Sherborne ended in the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, when the abbey was surrendered to King Henry VIII. Various properties at Sherborne were bought from the king by Sir John Horsey, who then sold the abbey to the people of Sherborne, who bought the building to be their parish church (as people of many other places did), which it still is. The original parish church alongside the abbey was demolished, although the foundations are still visible. In 1550, King Edward VI issued a new charter to the school that had existed at Sherborne since 705, and some of the remaining abbey buildings were turned over to it.
Architecture
The abbey is a Grade I listed building. It has several distinct architectural styles throughout. Like much of Sherborne's historic centre, it is built of honey-brown hamstone.
Saxon
When St Aldhelm built his cathedral (starting after about 705, and prior to his deathin 709), it was to the west of the current building – the west wall of the current church is the site of the east wall of St Aldhelm's. In c.1050 Bishop Ælfwold II built a new cathedral and abbey church on the current site that was, apparently, one of the largest in England. Of this, the known surviving parts are the west wall and the core of the columns supporting the two westernmost arches. At the west end of the north aisle, a Saxon doorway from c.1050 survives. This would have led into a large porch flanking a west tower as was conventional with Saxon church-architecture. Roger of Caen rebuilt much of Ælfwold II's church c.1130, replacing it with a much larger Norman-style church on the same site, completed c.1180. This is the reason why the nave is shorter (only five bays) than the typical Anglo-Norman church nave.
Norman
Most of the walls of the crossing, the north and south transepts, and the outer walls of the nave aisles date from c.1140. The walls of the Wykeham Chapel, and some of the wall of the north quire aisle were also built at this time. The entrance porch dates from c.1180, though the upper story was restored in 1851. The Norman choir stalls extended west of the central tower (as was then usually the case) and this can be seen in the stonework of the east and west tower arches were the shafts stop short of the floor to allow space for the stall-work. The area of the nave west of the Norman quire was used as the parish church until the building of All Hallows' Church later on.
Early English
The outer walls of Bishop Roger's Chapel (now the choir vestry) as well as the remains of the old Lady Chapel date from this period, c.1240.
Decorated
In the mid-14th century St Aldhelm's church was pulled down and in c.1360 a new chapel-of-ease was built, dedicated All Hallows. This church was demolished c.1542, but the arches of the old nave can be seen projecting out, and the wall of the old north aisle remains intact.
Perpendicular
From c.1380 to 1500 the abbey was greatly rebuilt. In the late 14th century the chapels of St Katherine and St Sepulchre were built. The former was altered in the 15th century and contains examples of early Renaissance classicism architecture. The rebuilding was started by Abbot Robert Brunyng. The quire was almost entirely rebuilt from 1425 and was completed (including the vaulting) around 1430. In the late 15th century much of the old stonework in the nave was covered over in stonework of this style (hence their substantial thickness) and the two easternmost arch pillars were rebuilt. The fan-vaulting in the nave, by William Smyth, was finished around 1490. In his praise of the ceiling, Jenkins says: "I would pit Sherborne's roof against any contemporary work of the Italian Renaissance." A consequence of having the new Perpendicular clerestory sit atop the old Norman pillars is that the two do not line up. However, this is not really noticeable from the outside.
In 1437, during this renovation, a riot in the town caused a fire that damaged much of the work. The heat brought out the iron in the stone, resulting in pink seen today. The outline of the medieval pulpitum can be seen where the pink stops in a vertical line at the east end of the nave. The fire and its effects also caused the design of the nave to be altered.
A section of a 15th-century wooden screen from the abbey is now located at the church in Sandford Orcas, Dorset.
Restoration
The abbey was heavily restored by the Victorian architect R.C. Carpenter in 1850, who added the two lower rows of lights in the west window, and the "somewhat fanciful" neo-Norman upper storey of the porch, which formerly had 15th-century windows.
Lady Chapel
The Lady Chapel is on the site of two earlier chapels: the c.1250 then Lady Chapel and the c.15 Chapel of St. Mary le Bow. These were taken over by the governors of the newly founded 'Edward VI Grammar School' (now known as Sherborne School) in 1550 and were partially demolished and converted into a dwelling for the headmaster in 1560. It remained in use by the school until 1921 when plans were drawn for the grafting of a new Gothic-style Lady Chapel onto the remaining section of the medieval chapel and was completed in 1934. The original Lady Chapel was built slightly south of the centre of the church, so the 15th century vaulting in the ambulatory does not align with the arch into the chapel. The remaining section of St. Mary le Bow's Chapel contains a fireplace mantel from when it was a domestic dwelling.
The Lady Chapel contains the oldest candelabrum in England, dating from 1657, and probably came from the Netherlands. It is brass with a double-headed eagle at the top, and two tiers of branches and a globe beneath. The globe is inscribed recording the gift of Sherborne grandee, Mary Whetcumbe, with a shield-of-arms. Originally, it hung in the presbytery, but it fell during the Second World War. In 1962 it was restored and rehung in the Lady Chapel.
Almshouses
St Thomas' Hospital
The first almshouse at Sherborne, the Hospital of St. Thomas Becket (or St Thomas-a-Becket's Chapel), existed in 1228, though its foundation date is not known. It was probably a royal foundation and was situated on the site of what is now 'The Old Green', formerly 'The Angel Inn'. In the early 16th century it was still standing but disused and by 1547 it had been pulled down.
Wardens of the St. Thomas' Hospital
1395 John de Wendelyngburgh (died in the same year)
1395 Nicholas Slake
1405 John Brunyng (later Abbot of Sherborne)
1540 John Horsey (purchased along with the abbey after the reformation)
St Julian's Hospice
The Hospice of St Julian, possibly named after St. Julian of Norwich, was founded on the east side of The Green in c1405 (along with the 'George Inne'). It was given towards the endowment of the St Johns' Almshouse in 1437 and remains in their ownership today. The George Inn was rebuilt in the 16th century, but the hospice and passageway are largely original. It is now used as a shop.
St Johns' Almshouse
In 1406, William Dodill chartered a new almshouse situated in Hound Street. However, by the 1430s larger and better premises were needed, so a new Sherborne almshouse was started by the old trustees of Dodill's almshouse. In 1436/7 a Royal charter was issued by King Henry VI to the Foundation, and this became the first fully licensed corporation in Sherborne.
The site of this new almshouse – St Johns' Almshouse, or fully, "The Hospital of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist" – is the south west corner of the Abbey Close, probably on the site of an earlier hospital of St Augustine. The building was completed in 1448, consisting of a chapel (1442), ante-chapel with a door onto Trendle street, a dining hall, and dormitories above. It is the best surviving example of a medieval almshouse in Wessex. In 1858 some cottages in the Abbey Close were purchased and demolished so that the premises could be enlarged. In 1866 the east wing was built to create additional dormitories and a room with an oriel window called the board-room, together with other improvements.
In the 15th century, the abbey already had an almshouse situated at Castleton (demolished in the 18th century), so it is likely that this building was for All Hallows Church (c.1360), not the abbey. Also, it is unusual for an almshouse to be so close to its respective church, and a possible reason may be that it was symbolic of the parishioners' growing resentment towards the monks for restricting their use of the abbey. However, this idea is difficult to substantiate.
Masters of the almshouse
1448 John Deen
1454 William Smyth
1468 Henry Borman
Monastic buildings
Some of the monastic buildings were demolished following the Reformation in 1539. Most of those that remained are now incorporated into the Sherborne School buildings.
Cloisters
The principal buildings of a Benedictine abbey were always grouped around the cloister garth. They are usually built to the south of their respective abbey, but at Sherborne they were built to the north, probably for easier access to water from the Coombe Stream.
Sherborne's cloisters were built by Abbot Frith (1348–1373) and this is where the monks took their exercise, walking around the square arcade, in silence, with their hands buried in the long sleeves of their black habits.
The remains of the 14th-century pilasters against the south and west walls of the cloisters remain from which the ribs of the vaulted roof once sprang. On each side of the cloister were eight bays with six windows looking into the garth.
Some time around 1553 the cloisters were pulled down and in 1569 two large buttresses were built to support the abbey (one on the west wall of the north transept, the other on the north wall of the north aisle) and were built using stone from the old castle.