Sherborne Castle

Sherborne Castle

We had a very interesting walk around the town of Sherborne a couple of years ago, but we didn't have time to see the castle. As we are currently enjoying a short holiday in Poole, and
it was time to rectify that omission.

We managed to arrive quite early and there were only about ten cars in the parking area (the interior of the castle is closed and one-way waking routes are in operation, which might have dented interest). The first sight was inevitably the castle, which faces on to the car park. As can be seen above, it is a rather unlovely structure.

There are actually two castles in Sherborne. The Old Castle was built in the early 12th century by Bishop Roger of Salisbury as a fortified palace and badly damaged during the Civil War. The New Castle was built nearby by Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh rented (and later bought) the Old Castle from Queen Elizabeth and planned to live there, until he decided he needed to build a new one. It was built in 1594 and was originally a simple rectangle according to Pevsner. The corner turrets, of which there are four, two at the front and two at the rear, were added by Sir John Digby in 1617, some time after Raleigh's downfall. The Wingfield Digby family own the house to this day.

 

We headed round to the right side of the castle, where the impact of the turrets is more obvious.

We then headed round the back, where there is a view across Capability Brown's beautiful lake, to part of

the Old Castle.

Continuing on the same line we came to the rather lovely Orangery.

We now left the castle buildings and followed the edge of the lake, passing the former stables on the left, to reach a delightful artificial stream which feeds into the lake.

Further on, after walking along beside the wall enclosing the Old Castle (looked after by English Heritage), we came to a gap which allowed a view of the remaining ruins of the castle.

  

We continued along this route until we reached the farthest point of the Castle grounds. We then headed back on a different path, passing this splendid Folly, built by a local builder in 1756.

Eventually, there was a nice viewpoint across the lake towards the back of the Castle.

Conditions: hot and sunny.

Rating: four stars. Delightful grounds, but the Castle was a bit of a disappointment. According to Pevsner we didn't miss much as a result of not being able to go in.