Monument record MDO1236 - Monastic house at Church Farm, Hermitage

Blackmore or Hermitage. The hermitage existed by 1300 and was for brothers under a prior following a rule apparently similar to the Austin friars. Its foundation is usually attributed to Edmund earl of Cornwall who died in 1300, but an Inquisition held in Shaftesbury in 1325 makes it more probable the earl Reginald, 1140-1175, was the actual founder. When the home became vacant in 1424 it changed its style and became known as the free chapel of St Mary. It was granted by Henry VIII to Cerne Abbey in 1513. <3, 5, 6>

Church Farm: "By this is ye Chapell of Armetage" with reference to an old map dated 1616. <4>

The present Church Farm is a mainly early 19th century house of rubble and ashlar dressing with a slated roof and stone casements. It probably incorporates earlier work. <5>

Church Farm is as described by the DOE <5>. No work earlier than the 19th century is externally visible in the fabric of the building or in its outhouses. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1900, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch two (Map). SDO11594.

(ST 64960692) Church Farm on site of (NAT) Priory

<2> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch (Map). SWX7265.

(NR) (Austin Friars) (NAT)

<3> Page, W (Ed), 1908, The Victoria History of the County of Dorset 2, 96-7 (Monograph). SWX1805.

<4> 1929, Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries 19, 266-8 (Serial). SDO17342.

<5> DOE (HHR), 1950, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Sherborne Rural District 1950 (Scheduling record). SDO17394.

<6> Knowles, D, and Hadcock, R N, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Monograph). SDO17348.

<7> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F1 ASP 27-OCT-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198841 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 23 2021 10:15AM