Sherborne

Sherborne Old Castle, near Castleton in Dorset, was built between 1107 and 1139 by Bishop Roger of Salisbury, and was later leased to Sir Walter Raleigh by Elizabeth I. Raleigh built another property, originally known as Sherborne Lodge, on adjoining parkland. The Old Castle was subsequently reduced to a ruin during the English Civil War, and Raleigh's lodge became known as Sherborne Castle.

Town in Dorset, southwest England, 10 km/6 mi east of Yeovil; population (2001) 9,350. It is a tourist centre. Features include Sherborne Castle, built by the 16th-century adventurer Walter Raleigh, and the ruins of a Norman castle. The abbey church of St Mary the Virgin, founded in the 8th century, contains traces of Anglo-Saxon work.

Early in the 12th century the Anglo-Saxon church building was replaced by a Norman church, and much of this structure is still standing. In the 15th century the Norman choir was demolished and replaced by a Perpendicular Gothic choir with fan vaulting. The nave was also rebuilt in this period.

A silk-weaving mill was built at Sherborne in 1740 by Huguenot refugees (French Protestants). Sherborne School, a private school for boys, was founded here in 1550.