Sherborne, Gloucestershire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sherborne | |
|---|---|
  Sherborne Location within Gloucestershire | |
| Population | 309 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP1614 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cheltenham |
| Postcode district | GL54 |
| Dialling code | 01451 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Sherborne Parish Council |
Sherborne is a village and civil parish almost 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Northleach in Gloucestershire. Sherborne is a linear village, extending more than a mile along the valley of Sherborne Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush.
The place-name 'Sherborne' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is spelt 'Scireburne', and means 'bright stream'.[3] This is a reference to Sherborne Brook.
Coenwulf of Mercia, who reigned from AD 796 to 821, is credited with giving the manor of Sherborne to Winchcombe Abbey.[4] The Domesday Book records that the abbey held Sherborne in 1086.[4] Edward I stayed in Sherborne in 1382.[4] In 1539 the abbey was suppressed in the dissolution of the monasteries and the Crown took its lands.
Sherborne had a parish church by 1175, when it was listed amongst the property of Winchcombe Abbey.[4] The original church building no longer exists, but a 19th-century cottage at the east end of the village incorporates two Norman doorways and other details[5] said to have been recovered from an orchard at the same end of the village.[4]
The present Church of England parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene is in the centre of the village. Its bell-tower and spire were built late in the 13th or early in the 14th century.[6] The church is next to Sherborne House, which was built for Thomas Dutton after he bought the manor of Sherborne in 1551.[7] Elizabeth I stayed at the house in 1592.[4] John Dutton had the house re-faced in 1651–53,[8] and James Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne had alterations made to the church between 1743 and 1776, including the addition of a Doric portico.[4] In 1850–59 John Baron Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne had the medieval nave and aisle of the church demolished to allow more light into Sherborne House, and had a new nave and sanctuary built further north.[4][7] The church contains numerous ornate monuments to members of the Dutton family.[4][7] The tower has a ring of six bells.[9] The oldest is medieval; three more were cast in 1653 and the remaining two are 18th-century.[4]
In 1624–40 John Dutton acquired land 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of the village to create a deer park.[4] He had The Lodge built as a viewing stand to watch deer being coursed by greyhounds.[8] In 1898 it was extended for Susan, Lady Sherborne and converted into a house.[10] The National Trust now owns the Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate.[11] Sherborne House is converted into privately owned apartments and is not open to the public.
