00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page 1 Sherborne Old Castle, Dorset archaeological investigations 1930–90 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page 2 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page 3 Sherborne Old Castle, Dorset archaeological investigations 1930– 90 Peter White and Alan Cook including the work of C E Bean and the specialist contributions of Marion M Archibald, Lorraine Mepham and Jeffrey K West The Society of Antiquaries of London 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page 4 First published 2015 by Project management: Christopher Catling, FSA, and The Society of Antiquaries of London Kate Owen, FSA Burlington House Copy-editing: Sarah Kane Piccadilly Proofreading: Jenny Knight London W1J 0BE Index: Sue Vaughan Original series design: Tracy Wellman and Sue Cawood www.sal.org.uk Design and layout: Sue Cawood Printing and binding: Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2015; illustrations © as credited to individual copyright holders: fig 1: Lane Fine Art, 8 Drayton Gardens, London SW10; figs 3, 4, 17, 25, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 72, 73 and 74: English Heritage, National Monuments Record; figs 5, 71 and 81: Emeritus Professor Hugh Torrens; figs 12 and 21: Society of Antiquaries; fig 13: British Library Board; fig 14: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery; figs 15, Cover illustrations: (front) Watercolour view across the bailey 16, 24, 85, 88 and 89: Sherborne Castle Estates; figs 18 and 19: from the east showing the remains of the central buildings and William Salt Library, Stafford; fig 20: National Library of the south-west gatehouse tower to the left, by J Buckler, dated Wales; fig 83: Crown copyright; fig 84: Rex Harris; figs 90 and 1802. Photograph: William Salt Library, Stafford 91: Trustees of the British Museum. (back) The Ruins of Sherborne Old Castle from the East, oil painting by Robert Sherburne, signed ‘Rt Sherburne’, and dated The right of Peter White, Alan Cook, Marion M Archibald, ‘1785’, in yellow paint, and ‘1818’, in black paint, in the bottom Lorraine Mepham and Jeffrey K West to be identified as the left-hand corner. Photograph: reproduced by permission of authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance Lane Fine Art, 8 Drayton Gardens, London SW10 with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owner. The Society of Antiquaries gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Historic England in the publication of this book. ISBN 978 0 85431 299 3 Sherborne Old Castle is open to the public as part of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data English Heritage National Collection; for directions, prices, A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the opening times and facilities, please see the English Heritage British Library. website (www.english-heritage.org.uk). 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page v Contents List of figures viii Preface and acknowledgements x Summary and note on the names of buildings xiv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The purpose, content and form of the report 1 1.2 The historical and architectural importance of the castle 2 Chapter 2 The site and its setting 4 2.1 Topography and geology 4 2.2 The surviving remains 10 Chapter 3 The historical record 13 3.1 Before the castle 13 3.2 Bishop Roger and his buildings 1102–39 14 3.3 The castle during the Anarchy and up to 1183 19 3.4 The king’s castle 1183–1354 20 3.5 The castle repossessed by the bishops of Salisbury 1355–1592 23 3.6 Sir Walter Ralegh and the castle 1592–1603 26 3.7 The castle after Ralegh and during the Civil War 1609–45 28 3.8 The ruins of the castle and the Digbys of Sherborne 1645–1954 30 3.9 The castle in guardianship from 1956 33 Chapter 4 Antiquarian interest in the castle to 1952 34 Chapter 5 The sequence of investigation 1932–95 43 5.1 Col E A Rawlence: 1932 43 5.2 C E Bean: 1932–40 and 1946–54 43 5.3 P R White: 1967–80 45 5.4 A M Cook: since 1980 45 5.5 The finds and records of the investigations 45 Chapter 6 Pre-castle occupation of the castle site 47 6.1 Iron Age and Roman finds 47 6.2 Period 1: the Saxon cemetery 47 6.3 Period 2: the ditched enclosure 49 v 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page vi Chapter 7 The development of the castle 1122–1645 50 7.1 The phases of development 50 7.2 Phase I: Bishop Roger’s works 1122–39 50 7.3 Phase II: baronial and early royal works 1140–99 53 7.4 Phase III: later royal works 1200–1355 53 7.5 Phase IV: early episcopal works 1356–1480 54 7.6 Phase V: Bishop Langton’s works 1485–93 55 7.7 Phase VI: Sir Walter Ralegh’s works 1592–1603 55 7.8 Phase VII: the Civil War 1640–5 56 Chapter 8 The structural remains: the bailey and its defences 57 8.1 The bailey 57 8.2 The outer ditch and bank 58 8.3 The curtain wall 58 8.4 The south-west gatehouse tower and bridge 60 8.5 The north-east gatehouse tower and bridge 71 8.6 The north-west mural tower 73 8.7 The south-east mural tower 74 8.8 The north gate barbican and causeway 75 Chapter 9 The structural remains: the central building complex 82 9.1 The great tower and the attached small tower 83 9.2 The inner court 94 9.3 The west range and the latrine turret 95 9.4 The north (chapel) range 97 9.5 The east range 104 9.6 The south (great hall) range 104 9.7 The west courtyard 105 9.8 The structures to the south of the west courtyard and the small tower 106 9.9 The south courtyard 107 9.10 The kitchen and service yard 108 9.11 The round house or horse gin 112 Chapter 10 Other structural remains 114 10.1 Buildings within the bailey 114 10.2 Buildings outside the bailey 114 Chapter 11 Discussion and appraisal 123 11.1 Issues of interpretation 123 11.2 The earlier occupation of the site 123 11.3 Bishop Roger’s castle: its design, how it was defended and how it functioned 124 vi 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page vii 11.4 The secular use of the castle 128 11.5 The form and character of the additions for Bishop Langton 128 11.6 The nature of the alterations for Sir Walter Ralegh 129 11.7 The perception of the ruined castle as a monument 129 Appendices 1 The carved and worked stones, by Jeffrey K West, FSA 131 2 The coin hoard, by Marion M Archibald, FSA 144 3 The pottery, by Lorraine Mepham, FSA 158 Notes 186 Abbreviations and general bibliography 193 Index 197 vii 00 Sherborne prelims 4th.qxd:Layout 1 04/02/2015 14:46 Page viii Figures Frontispiece Watercolour view of the outer facade of the Fig 26 Plan of the Saxon grave pits and early enclosure south-west gatehouse tower by J Buckler, 1802 ii ditch 48 Fig 27 Phase I: Bishop Roger’s works 1122–39 51 Fig 1 The Ruins of Sherborne Old Castle from the East, xviii Fig 28 Phase II: baronial and early royal works 1140–99 53 by Robert Sherburne, 1785 Fig 29 Phase III: later royal works 1200–1355 54 Fig 2 The location of Sherborne, Dorset 5 Fig 30 Phase IV: early episcopal works 1356–1480 54 Fig 3 Aerial view of the castle from the north west 6 Fig 31 Phase V: Bishop Langton’s works 1485–93 55 Fig 4 Aerial view from the south, showing Sherborne Fig 32 Phase VI: Sir Walter Ralegh’s works 1592–1603 56 Castle (Lodge) and the eighteenth-century lake 7 Fig 33 Phase VII: the Civil War 1640–5 56 Fig 5 Sketch map and section showing the geology of the Fig 34 The remains of the curtain wall at the north-east Sherborne area 8 corner seen from within the bailey 59 Fig 6 Medieval Sherborne: the parishes of Sherborne and Fig 35 The south-west gatehouse tower and the flanking Castleton 9 lengths of the curtain wall seen from the approach Fig 7 The environs of the Old Castle in the eighteenth to the modern bridge over the outer ditch 61 century 9 Fig 36 The south-west gatehouse tower and the flanking Fig 8 North–south and east–west sections through the lengths of the curtain wall seen from inside the castle hill 10 bailey 61 Fig 9 Plan of the Old Castle showing earthworks, standing Fig 37 The south-west gatehouse tower seen from the walls and foundations recorded in excavations 11 east within the bailey 62 Fig 10 Map of the diocese of Sarum in about 1100 Fig 38 The south-west gatehouse tower seen from the showing the principal towns and rivers and the north within the bailey 62 sites of Bishop Roger’s castles 14 Fig 39 The south-west gatehouse tower: a detail of the Fig 11 Comparative plans of Bishop Roger’s residence at ashlar jamb at the centre of the south-east side Old Sarum Castle and the central complex at of the passageway through the tower 63 Sherborne Old Castle, c 1135 18 Fig 40 The south-west bridge: the remains of the twelfth- Fig 12 Bishop Wyvill’s memorial brass in Salisbury century bridge within the outer ditch 63 Cathedral, c 1375 23 Fig 41 The south-west gatehouse tower: plan of each Fig 13 Part of a map of the manors of Sherborne and storey 64 Yetminster and surrounding areas showing a Fig 42 The south-west gatehouse tower: south-west to bird’s-eye view of the town and the castle, c 1570 25 north-east section through tower 65 Fig 14 Sir Walter Ralegh and his Elder Son, Walter, 1602 27 Fig 43 The south-west gatehouse tower: elevations of Fig 15 Sir Lewis Dyve, by Gilbert Jackson, c 1640 29 south-west and north-west faces 66 Fig 16 Map of the