Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/458

Rh SHEPTON-MONTAGUE. 446 SHERBORNE. SHEPTON-MONTAGUE, a par. in the hund. of Norton-Ferris, no. Somerset, 2 miles N.W. of Wincan- ton, 5j from Evercreech, its post town, and 2 S. of the Burton railway station. The village, -which is of small extent, is situated on the Burton and Sherborne road. Tho inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The surface is undulating, and the land nearly evenly divided between arable and dairy farms. The soil is light and stony upon a subsoil of oolite. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of 223. The living is a vie. in the dioc. of Bath and Wells, val. 62. The church, dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket, or to St. Peter, ia an ancient stone structure with a tower containing three bells. The register dates from 1560. The church was restored about 1855. The paro- chial charities produce about 60 per annum, of which 37 goes towards the support of the schools. There is a National school for both sexes, in which a Sunday- school is also held. W. Philips, Esq., is lord of the manor. SHEPWAY LATHE, a div. in the south-eastern part of co. Kent, comprises the hunds. of Alvesbridge, Bircholt, Folkestone, Ham, Hayne, Hythe, Langport, Loningborough, St. Martin Ivy Church, Newchurch, Oxney, Romney cinque port, Stonting, Street, Worth, and the lib. of Romney Marsh, together containing about 125,000 acres. SHERATON and HULAM, tnshps. in the par. of Monk-Hesleton, S. div. of Easington ward, co. Durham, 2 miles from Castle-Eden, and 11 N. of Stockton. It is wholly agricultural. SH ERBORNE, a div. in the co. of Dorset, contains the hunds. of Sherborne and Yetminster, and the libs, of Halstock and Ryme Intrinseca, comprising an area of 34,220 acres. SHERBORNE, a hund. in the above div., co. Dorset, contains the pars, of Beer-Hackett, Bradford-Abbas, Castleton, Caundle Bishop, Caundle (Marsh and Purse), Nether and Over Compton, Folke, Haydon, Holnest, Leweston, Lellington, Longburton, Lydlinch, North Wootton, Oborne, Sherborne, Thornford, and Up-Cerne, comprising an area of 21,090 acres, exclusive of Sher- borne. SHERBORNE, a par., market town, and once a cathedral city, in the hund. and div. of its name, co. Dorset, 6 miles E. of Yeovil, 18 N.W. of Dorchester, and 117 S.W. of London by road. It is a station on the Salisbury and Yeovil branch of the London and South-Western railway. The town, which is of great antiquity, is situated on a hill side in the vale of Black- more, and on a branch of the river Yeo. In 670 a convent of secular canons was founded here by Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons. Alfred the Great's tutor, Asser, and King Ethelbald were interred in the cathe- dral church. In 705, upon the division of the diocese of Winchester, then the sole bishopric of Wessex, Ina made Sherborne the seat of an episcopal see, which originally included the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, Devon, and Cornwall, but was diminished by the erection of new bishoprics. About 998 the secular canons were displaced, and a society of Benedictines established by Bishop Wulsin, who rebuilt the monastery and attached to it a vineyard. It subsequently became an abbey, and continued to flourish till the Dissolution, when its revenue was estimated at 682 14s. Id. The town is said to have been burnt by Sweyn the Dane in 1003, and the removal of the see in 1075 to Old Sarum, contributed much to depress the prosperity of Sher- borne, and for a long period afterwards it continued in comparative obscurity. At the Norman conquest the manor was given by William the Conqueror to Osmond, a Norman knight, afterwards Bishop of Sarum. The castle (built by Roger, Bishop of Sarum) and manor were granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Walter Ra- leigh, who built the mansion in the form of the letter H, which stands in the castle grounds, and is now called Sherborne Lodge. After the attainder of Sir Walter Raleigh the demesne was given by James I. to his favourite, Carr, and_subsequently passed to the Digbys. There are two silk-throwing mills, employing about 600 hands. The making of silk twist and buttons is also largely carried on, and some of the female inha- bitants are employed in sewing gloves for the manufac- turers in Yeovil. The population of the town in 1851 was 5,242, and in 1861 5,923, but the parish contained 5,793. It consists of several good streets, irregularly laid out, and is divided by a small stream into two parts, of which one is called Castle Town. The principal public buildings are the townhall and market house, situated near the church ; a handsome new building called the Yeatman's Hospital ; the grammar school of Edward VI. ; the venerable almshouse of SS. John Baptist and Evan- gelist; a savings-bank, two commercial branch banks, and the union workhouse. Two newspapers, the Sher- borne and Taunton Journal and the Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury, are published in the town. Quarter sessions for the county are regularly held, and petty sessions for the town are held in the townhall once a month. It is a polling-place for the county elections, and the head of a Poor-law Union, comprising 30 parishes, of which 23 are in Dorsetshire, and 7 in Somersetshire. The town and adjacent district are under the management of a local board of health. The principal seats in the neighbour- hood are Sherborne Lodge, Ven House, Milborne Port, Compton House, Holnest House, and Leweston House. The subsoil is oolitic rock, and the cultivated land very fertile. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Salisbury, val. .269, in the patron, of the crown. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was partly rebuilt by Abbot Brad- ford in the reign of Henry VI. It measures 207 feet in length, by 102 feet wide, and has a tower rising from the centre 114 feet high, and containing a peal of eight large bells, one of which weighs 62 cwt. 23 Ibs., and was a present from Cardinal Wolsey. In the interior are several painted windows and monuments, one of which bears an epitaph by Pope, also a monument in the S. transept to the memory of John Earl of Bristol, by Nost, erected in 1698 at a cost of 1,500. . This fabric has recently been restored under the direction of Messrs. Carpenter and Slater, at a cost of about 35,000, mainly by the liberality of the late Earl of Digby, and of his heir G. D. Wingfield Digby, Esq. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Independents have each a place of worship. The charities produce altogether about 2,000 per annum, of which 1,000 is the endow- ment of the free grammar school founded by Edward VI. in 1550. The school-house has been formed out of the old abbey, which has recently been entirely restored, having been presented to the town for this purpose by the late Earl of Digby. It is under a head master and ten assistant-masters, and has four exhibitions of 40 a year, tenable for four years, at either of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. There are also Foster's bluecoat school, with an income from en- dowment of 80 ; the Earl of Digby's school for girls, endowed with 50 per annum ; Woodman's school, besides National, British and Foreign, and infant schools. The parochial authorities have the privilege of present- ing three boys to Christ's Hospital in London. On the S. side of the churchyard is the hospital or almshouses of St. John the Bap'tist, refounded by Henry VI. for 24 poor men, with an income of 1,000, and a chapel in which Divine service is performed daily. An extra mural cemetery has lately been formed at Horsecastle. The market days are Thursday and Saturday, and every alternate Thursday for cattle. Fairs are held on the 8th May, 18th and 26th Jxily, chiefly for cattle, and a large fair on the Monday following 10th October. SHERBORNE, a par. in the lower div. of Slaughter hund., co. Gloucester, 3| miles E. of Northleach, its post town, and 6 N.W. of Burford. The village is situated on a branch of the river Windrush, and is chiefly agricultural. Sherborne formerly belonged to Winchcomb Abbey, and now to the Dutton family, who take from it the title of baron. The soils consist of clay and gravel, upon a subsoil of oolite rock. The Chelten- ham and Oxford turnpike road passes through th parish. The tithes were commuted for land and a money