fortified palace of its bishop, and in troublous times of Danish inroad
its site was a safe one. The story that Swegen ravaged the town rests
on nothing like contemporary evidence; on the other hand, the safety
of its position, coupled with the fact that it was once the second
city of Wessex, accounts for its being chosen by King Æthelbald for
his capital, so to speak, when Winchester, in 860, was laid waste by
the Danes; indeed, the change may have taken place soon after 856.
Sherborne continued to be the capital of Wessex till about the year
878. During a considerable part of that time we may well believe
that King Alfred spent his boyhood here, almost certainly during
King Æthelberht’s reign; and here, in this centre of education which
Ealdhelm had founded, he may well have received such education as he
got during his boyhood. There is no other centre of education which has
so good a claim to him; here were buried his two brothers, Æthelbald
and Æthelberht, who successively reigned before Æthelred and himself.
Æthelberht was his guardian after his father’s death. Alfred must have
known Sherborne well; he was a benefactor of our church, and we claim
his boyhood.
[Illustration: Sherborne Abbey
_Sidney Heath_]
But besides Alfred and Ealdhelm, early Sherborne claims other heroes;
Ealhstan, our bishop, the first West Saxon general to win a decisive
victory over the Danes, was the right-hand man of Kings Ecgberht,
Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, and Æthelberht; he was the most powerful man
of his time. Here, in Sherborne, he lies buried beside Æthelbald and
Æthelberht.
We claim, too, among our Sherborne bishops, St. Heahmund, who fell
fighting against the Danes at Merton (probably Marden, Wilts.);
Asser, the biographer of King Alfred, who is said to lie buried among
us; Werstan, another warrior who fell in battle; St. Wulfsy and St.
Alfwold, names rather forgotten now, but great and famous in their day.
St. Osmund, who compiled the _Use of Sarum_, was one of our abbots; and
St. Stephen Harding, the author of the _Carta Caritatis_, and the real
founder of the Cistercian Order, is the earliest scholar of Sherborne
School whom History records as such.
Nor can Sherborne forget what it owes to the great Roger Niger, that
dark, stalwart Bishop of Sarum, who built the Norman Castle here and
the Norman part of our Abbey Church, who organized the English Court
of Exchequer, was the trusted adviser of the “Lion of Justice,” Henry
I., and deserved a better end than to break his heart in a contest with
such a poor creature as King Stephen.
Our Abbot, William Bradford, will not be forgotten by lovers of
architecture, for under his rule in the fifteenth century the choir of
our Abbey Church was rebuilt; while to another Abbot, Peter Ramsam, we
owe, later in the same century, the restoration of our nave. To Abbot
Mere we are indebted for a little building, which every visitor to
Sherborne knows, the Conduit, which stands in our old market-place, now
called by the somewhat affected name of the “Parade.” This conduit,
though it was built, as we have said, by Abbot Mere (1504-1535), is
described by one of those omniscient gentlemen who have lately been
enlightening us about the beauties of Wessex, as “a structure of the
fourteenth century.” It originally stood on the north side of the nave
of the Abbey Church, inside the Cloister Court, which is now a part of
Sherborne School; but it was removed to its present site, or nearly
its present site, by the school governors in the latter part of the
sixteenth century. It is to this day the property of the school.
And so we are brought to the time when our ecclesiastical lords, the
Bishop of Sarum and the Abbot of Sherborne, passed away from us, and
their places were taken by lay lords. Here, too, we meet with famous
names. We have the Protector Somerset, to whom, indirectly, Sherborne
School may owe its post-Reformation endowment. We have, also, Henry,
Prince of Wales, that “young Marcellus of the House of Stuart,” the
eldest son of James I., whose hatchment, as that of a squire of
Sherborne, still hangs in our Abbey Church; we have Walter Ralegh,
that restless, strenuous soul, whose dearly-loved home Sherborne was,
where he would gladly have been buried; we have John Digby, first Earl
of Bristol, whose name stands high among those of English worthies in
the reigns of James I. and Charles I., a man worthy to have lived in a
better age, and to have hazarded his all in a better cause. And another
name insistently presents itself to anyone who has followed Sherborne
history—that of Hugo Daniel Harper. To him Sherborne town and school
owe much that is precious and enduring. That a little town like ours
has kept something of its ancient state, that here we can still so
easily call back the past of Wessex, can still see standing in beauty
and dignity these buildings which the Middle Age has left us—all this
is in no small degree owing to that famous headmaster of Sherborne
School and to his successors.
We now proceed to write more particularly of the most interesting of
these ancient buildings and institutions. They are four in number: the
Abbey Church, the School, the old Castle, and the Almshouse.
With the exception of a small part of the west front of the Abbey
Church, there is, so far as we can tell, not a single piece of wall
standing now in Sherborne which was standing in the year 1107, when
Roger of Caen became Bishop of Sarum and Abbot of Sherborne. We know
that the doorway, now blocked up, on the north side of the west front
of the church, and, therefore, also some of the adjoining wall, is
older than Bishop Roger’s time; but with that exception, we are
forced to admit that the Norman from Caen pulled down all the rest of
Ealdhelm’s church. If he left any more of it, either time has destroyed
this, or he so used the walls that they cannot now be recognised with
any certainty. At the same time there is a piece of outside wall at the
north end of the north transept, in the old slype, which looks very
like pre-Norman work.
The church which Roger built extended as far east as the present church
does, excluding the lady chapels; for the lady chapel of the thirteenth
century must have abutted on the Norman east end, just as it now does
on the Perpendicular ambulatory. The church extended probably rather
further to the west than the present church does, for there exists
evidence to show that, before the parish church of All Hallows was
built on to the west end of the Abbey Church in the fourteenth century,
the west front of the Abbey Church was embellished with a large porch
of Norman work.
The chief traces of Roger’s work still existing in the church are the
piers and arches that carry the tower, the transept walls, the arches
leading from the transept into the side aisles of the nave, and the
walls of these aisles. Other interesting traces of Roger’s work will
be found in the little chapel which projects eastwards from the north
transept; also in the south and west walls of the early English chapel
on the north side of the north aisle of the choir, commonly called
Bishop Roger’s Chapel, and now used as the vestry; these Norman walls
were outside walls of Roger’s church before this early English addition
was made. There is also the jamb of a window to be seen on the outside
of the east wall of the south transept, the only relic which gives us
an idea of what the Norman clerestory was like.
The choir of Roger’s church extended west of the central tower, and to
allow room for the stall-work, the shafts of the east and west tower
arches were corbelled off above the line of the stalls, as may still
be seen in the existing church. That part of the Abbey nave which lay
to the west of the Norman choir was used, until the building of All
Hallows, as the parish church; and the fine Norman south porch, which
has been rather over-restored in the nineteenth century, was, no doubt,
a parochial porch, for it faces the town, not the monastic buildings,
which are on the north side of the church.
The tower up to the floor of the bell-chamber is Norman. Over the
pier-arches which carry it, except on the east side, there is a passage
in the thickness of the wall, with an arcade of semi-circular arches
resting on circular and octagonal shafts, eleven inches in diameter.
On the east side the Norman pier-arch was removed at the rebuilding of
the choir in the fifteenth century, and the removal of this arch so
weakened the tower that its condition in the course of years became
dangerous. The tower was made secure in 1884-5, and these shafts on the
north-west and south sides of the lantern, which had been concealed by
the fifteenth century masonry, were again displayed to view.
A large lady chapel was added in the thirteenth century; the fine Early
English arch, by which it was entered from the church, may still be
seen in the east wall of the ambulatory. The centre of this arch is to
the south of that of the fifteenth century arch, and hence the corbels
of the Perpendicular vaulting do not correspond at all with the Early
English arch; one of them is actually constructed to hang as a pendant,
free of this arch altogether.
The changes made inside the church in the fourteenth century were so
slight as to need no mention. Outside the church, however, a great
change took place, for towards the end of this century the church of
All Hallows was built. The great west porch was pulled down so that
All Hallows might stand directly against the west front of the Norman
church. There are still to be seen remnants of All Hallows, viz., the
lower part of the north wall of the north aisle, and four responds
built into the west wall of the Abbey Church. When All Hallows was
standing with its pinnacled western tower, one would have seen a church
some 350 feet long, with a central and a western tower. This latter
tower had a ring of bells of its own, at least five in number; and it
was to this ring of the parish, not to the Abbey, that Wolsey gave our
great bell.
In the fifteenth century Sherborne saw great things in the way of
building; not only was the Almshouse then built, but the church also
underwent those changes which gave it the appearance it keeps to-day.
The choir was taken down during the last year or two of Abbot John
Brunyng’s rule, and rebuilt from the ground by his successor, William
Bradford (1436-1459). During this same century the smaller lady chapel,
called the Bow Chapel, was built, and the nave restored in the style
of the time by Abbot Peter Ramsam (1475-1504). To these two men we
owe our present splendid fabric. Any visitor to Sherborne Abbey can
for himself easily perceive the differences which mark off the choir
as a building from the nave. The choir from floor to vault is one
harmonious piece of work, so lovely, so complete, that the wit of man
could scarcely design anything finer; while the nave is a compromise,
for in the nave yet stand the old Norman piers cased in Perpendicular
panelling, and the effect which the nave gives us is that of two
stories distinctly marked off the one from the other, the lower story
bearing strong traces of its Norman origin, the upper or clerestory
plainly a Perpendicular work, and worthy of the companion clerestory
of the choir. The pillars of the southern arcade of the nave are not
opposite those of the northern arcade, and the arches are of different
widths; the clerestory arches of the nave, on the other hand, are of
equal widths, and hence the clerestory arches are not directly above
the arcade arches. This compromise has, however, been effected so
cleverly that few people notice the irregularity.
The rebuilding of the Abbey Church choir in the fifteenth century
recalls to our mind the great quarrel between the Abbey and the
townsfolk, which came to a head in the year 1437. It has already been
noted that in ancient times the townsfolk had been allowed by the Abbot
and Convent to use the western part of the Abbey Church nave as a
parish church. Thus the Abbey Church had become a divided church—part
was conventual, part parochial. But as time went on this arrangement
ceased to please one or other, or both, parties, and the consequence
was that All Hallows was built at the west end of the Abbey Church
for the use of the parishioners. After this addition was made, the
large Norman doorway at the west end of the south aisle of the Abbey
Church nave was narrowed by the insertion of a smaller doorway. Now,
All Hallows had not the _status_ of a parish church; technically, the
parish church was still the western part of the Abbey Church nave, and
here it was still necessary for all Sherborne children to be baptised
in the font, which originally stood where the present font stands. The
parishioners, to get to the font, had to enter All Hallows’ Church, and
pass thence into the Abbey Church through the Norman doorway, which
had been narrowed. This the parishioners regarded as a grievance. It
appears, also, that the Abbot had moved the font from the place where
it now stands to some other site which the parishioners regarded as
inconvenient. The parishioners, therefore, in 1436, took the law into
their own hands, and eight of them are charged before the bishop with
having set up a font in All Hallows. The Abbot, of course, regarded
this as a usurpation of the rectorial rights of the Convent; he
complained, also, of another grievance, to wit, that the parish bells
rang to matins at too early an hour, and disturbed the morning slumbers
of the monks. For though they got up at midnight to sing matins and
lauds, they went to bed again, and slept till the hour for prime,
somewhere between 6 and 7 a.m. Abbot Bradford, therefore, appealed to
the Bishop of Sarum, Robert Nevile, who came to Sherborne and held
an inquiry on the 12th November, 1436, in what is now the chapel of
the school, but was then the Abbot’s hall. He examined one hundred
or more of the parishioners, many of whom had not approved of the
high-handed course taken in the matter of the font. After a thorough
investigation, the Bishop, by the advice of his counsel learned in the
law, gave his decision from his manor of Ramsbury, on the 8th January,
1437. It was to this effect—(_a_) that the font in All Hallows was to
be at once utterly destroyed and removed and carried out of the church
by those who had caused it to be set there; (_b_) that the ringing of
the bells to matins for the parishioners throughout the year was not
to be made till after the sixth hour had struck on the _clocka_ or
_horologium_ of the monastery, except on the following solemn feasts:
All Saints, Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter; (_c_) that the font of
the Abbey Church was to be replaced in its old accustomed position,
and all infants born or to be born in Sherborne were, as of old, to be
baptised therein; (_d_) that the intermediate door and entrance for the
procession of parishioners to the font was to be enlarged and arched
so as to give ample space and bring it to its original form; (_e_)
that the manner of the procession and other ceremonies about the font
were to be observed in the old and wonted way; (_f_) that there must
be made, at the expense of the monastery, in the nave of the monastic
church, close to the monks’ choir, a partition, so that there should be
a distinct line of separation between the monks and the parishioners;
(_g_) that the replacing of the Abbey Church font in its wonted place,
and the enlarging of the door, must effectually be completed before the
following Christmas.
This admirable judgment was not received by the disputants with the
respect which it deserved; delays and evasions on both sides brought
about a violent termination of the dispute. The monks induced “one
Walter Gallor a stoute Bocher dwelling yn Sherborne” to enter All
Hallows, where “he defacid cleane the Fontstone; the townsmen, aided
by an Erle of Huntindune lying in these Quarters ... rose in playne
sedition ... a Preste of Alhalowes shot a shaft with fier into the
Toppe of that part of St. Marye Church that divided the Est Part that
the monks usid; and this Partition chauncing at that tyme to be thakked
yn the Rofe was sette a fier, and consequently al the hole Chirch, the
Lede and Belles meltid, was defacid.” After the fire the monks were
induced to agree to the legal transformation of All Hallows’ _Chapel_
into the parish _Church_, in order to get rid of the parishioners
altogether.
The monks never removed the smaller doorway by which the old Norman
entrance was narrowed; there it stands to this day, a monument of that
stormy time, and connected with it there is still a curious tale to
tell. Among the eight parishioners who, “casting behind them the fear
of God,” set up the obnoxious font in All Hallows, and complained of
the narrowed doorway, there was a certain Richard Vowell. Anyone who
now examines this doorway will notice that the wall, which now blocks
it up, is almost wholly occupied by a large monumental tablet to the
memory of Benjamin Vowell, who died in 1783, and to his three wives;
thus, as Professor Willis neatly showed, the doorway which in the
fifteenth century Richard Vowell felt to be too narrow, Benjamin Vowell
in the eighteenth blocked up altogether. The “partition” referred to,
which was being thatched, must have been the tower, which was being
raised in height, and was covered with a temporary roof of thatch to
keep out the rain; no doubt, also, the new choir, which was already
built as high as the springing-stones of the vault, was also thatched
for the same purpose. The reddened stones in the choir and tower still
bear witness to this fire.
John Barnstaple, last Abbot of Sherborne, surrendered the Abbey into
the hands of King Henry VIII. on the 18th March, 1539. He received a
pension of £100 a year, and the Rectory of Stalbridge in 1540; this
living had been in the patronage of the Abbot and Convent. He died in
1560; we know neither the place of his death nor of his burial, but
he certainly was not buried at Stalbridge; he left a small legacy to
Sherborne School.
Henry VIII. sold the Abbey Church, and the demesne lands of the
Abbey, to Sir John Horsey, of Clifton Maybank; Sir John, in 1540,
sold the Abbey Church to the parishioners; the lead, however, with
which the church was roofed, had not been granted to Sir John, and
the parishioners had to buy that through him from the King. The
parishioners appear to have begun at once to sell All Hallows for
building stone. The parish accounts for 1540 and 1541 are missing, but
that for 1542-3 shows the process of selling going merrily on, until,
finally, in the account for 1548-9, we get the last of it in such
entries as these: “George Swetnam, for vi. yerds off one syde off the
Tower, xxs.; Robert ffoster, for foundation stones of ye Northe Syde of
ye Tower, xiiis.; Mr. Sergyer, for a yard off the grace table off the
sowthe syde and for the dore yn the north syde off ye Tow^{r}, xs.”!
It may be interesting to set down here what the parishioners paid
for the Abbey Church and lead. We have already noted that the parish
accounts for 1540 and 1541 are missing. They were not missing,
however, in the eighteenth century, as is evident from an entry in
the parish account book in use from 10th April, 1721, to 4th April,
1809. This entry is due to Francis Fisher, a Sherborne attorney, who
was steward to the Governors of the School during the years 1720-1730.
He tells us that by an indenture made the 28th September, 1545,
between the King on the one part and Sir John Horsey on the other, the
parishioners paid £230 for the body of the church and tower and for
the lead. He adds that the parish account rolls give us the following
information: In 1540 the parish paid £40 for the church, in 1541 £26
13s. 4d. for the same, in 1541 £17 17s. 6d. for the bells of the
Abbey, in 1542 £100 for the lead, in 1544 £80 in full payment for the
church and lead. So that, if the King got in 1545 £230, and the parish
actually paid £264 10s. 10d., Sir John put into his pocket the balance.
However we may regard this matter, the parishioners of Sherborne made
an excellent bargain.
No man can doubt but that the dissolution of the monastery meant
serious loss to Sherborne. Its Abbots had ruled wisely and well, as
far as we can judge, a strip of territory stretching, though not in an
unbroken line, from Stalbridge to Exmouth. Anyone who will make for
himself a map of the manors in Dorset and Devon belonging to our Abbey,
will see that this is so; and besides these, our Abbey held other lands
as well, so that when Sherborne ceased to be the _caput_ of this fair
estate, much that had once come our way ceased to come hither any more.
Though the presence of the school here has in later times done much to
redeem this loss, one cannot say that it has entirely done so.
[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO SHERBORNE SCHOOL.]
Of all the ancient institutions in Sherborne, that one which has kept
its dwelling-place longest, which is to-day what it was before Wessex
became one with England, is Sherborne School. The old Castle is a ruin,
the Almshouse dates only from the fifteenth century, the Abbey
Church became the parish church only in 1540. But the School, though it
suffered pecuniary loss in 1539 by the dissolution of the monastery,
suffered no breach of continuity; it was in existence when the
Almshouse was founded, it educated St. Stephen Harding in the eleventh
century, and we have no reason to think that its existence suffered
any break from Ealdhelm’s day till then. A school with such a history
may well call forth some reverence from those who love Wessex and know
something of its history. Our school has roots which stretch down into
the very beginnings of things Christian among the West Saxons, and
there is certainly no existing school in Wessex that can rival its
claim to antiquity.
Sherborne School is fortunate in possessing many ancient documents
illustrative of its history; among these special mention must be made
of a series of accounts commencing in 1553 and continuing to the
present time. Only eleven are missing. Till towards the end of the
eighteenth century they are written on rolls of parchment, and are for
the most part in excellent condition. Besides these there are a few
early court rolls of the school manors at Bradford Bryan and Barnesby,
Lytchett Matravers and Gillingham, and schedules and leases of its
other lands. Among these documents, too, are records belonging to the
old chantries, with the lands, of which Edward VI. endowed the school;
some of these go back to the reign of Henry VII.
There is no existing minute book of the governors’ proceedings older
than that which begins in 1592; but, luckily, a draft of minutes exists
relating to the years 1549 and 1550, relating, that is to say, to the
time of transition from the old condition of things which obtained
before the dissolution of the monastery, to the new condition created
by the charter granted to the school by Edward VI. The series of minute
books from 1592 onward is complete.