Sherborne Castle, Yeovil, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.   

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Sherborne Old Castle was built between 1107 and 1135, and eventually ruined by Fairfax in 1645. The ruins have been restored and stabilised since 1960.

Sherborne Old Castle was leased by Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1592 and purchased by him in 1599. In 1594 Raleigh began the 'new' Sherborne Castle, 400 metres to the south-south-east of the old site. The new house was extended between 1600 and 1609 by Simon Basil, and further extended post-1617 for Sir John Digby. The west service wing dates to about 1800. Extensive interior remodelling was carried out in 1859-1860 by P C Hardwick. The stables, 300 metres to the west-south-west of the house, are originally late 17th century, extended in 1759 and again in the early 19th century. There is a walled kitchen garden to the north-west and north of the stables.

There is no certain evidence for 16th century garden work, though Raleigh's Seat, 150 metres to the south-west of the Old Castle, may date from the late 16th century. Extensive formal gardens were created in the 17th century between the two Castles, involving terraces, a bowling green, formal plantations, and a T-shaped canal fed and formed from the river Yeo. These were described by Alexander Pope in 1724 (Garden History), and have been largely obliterated by mid- and later 18th century 'landscaping'. Pope himself is supposed to have advised on 'a line of wildernesses with winding walks', and to have suggested the plantation of Jerusalem Hill 1 kilometre to the east and east-south-east of Sherborne Castle. Pope's Seat remains, 50 metres to the north-east of Raleigh's Seat.

Capability Brown was consulted in 1756 by the 6th Lord Digby (d.1757), and the creation of Sherborne Lake (20 hectares, dredged and re-established in the late 1970s) was then begun. The outflow from the lake passes over a cascade, approximately mid-way between Raleigh's Seat and Pope's Seat. Brown was employed again between 1775-1779 by the 1st Earl Digby. The lake landscape is completed 400 metres to the north-east by Pinford Bridge, which was built in about 1790, possibly to Mylne's design, though more probably designed by the Honorable Captain Digby and Adam in about 1767. The Orangery, which was built in 1779 and is possibly by Adam, lies 60 metres north-west of Sherborne Castle. There is a late 18th century Dairy nearby by the lakeside.

Sherborne Old Castle is in the care of English Heritage. The grounds around the 'new' Sherborne Castle are open to the public but the parkland and kitchen garden are not (1986).