Monument record MDO19483 - St Swithin's church, land south of Newland, Sherborne

Possible site of St. Swithin's Church, Sherborne. The church itself is not mentioned in documents, although a market is dedicated to him. Numerous discoveries of burials on and around a riangle of land to the east of the junction of Newland and Hound Street suggests a graveyard associated with this putative church. The only physical remains that might be attributed to it is an 'ancient' font discovered on land to the south of Newland.

Hutchins refers to discoveries made in the south side of Newland, when a row of houses were taken down by Mr George Hutchings to enlarge his garden. A number of human bones and, in one of the houses, an ancient baptismal font were discovered (1).

A desk top survey undertaken by Southern Archaeological Services was unable to locate the precise findspot (2). However, it is possible that this event is the same as one recorded by Bean in 1955 as:

In an earlier (2nd) edition of Hutchins (1815) mention is made of an undisclosed quantity of human bones, discovered at a timber yard located in the triangle of land formed to the east of the junction of Hound Street and Newland. Hutchins described it as:

‘A timber yard, where human bones are found, supposed the site of a church or chapel.’ (3)

It seems likely that these human bones are related to several other discoveries of W-E aligned burials in the Newland/ Hound Street area. C.E. Bean reports that ‘…old people say that more [burials] were found on land to the south of Newland, immediately opposite the Avenue.’ [4]. This site is on a spot to the east of a row of older houses and may represent a garden formed though the demolition of earlier buildings. Furthermore the site is at the east end of Newland Gardens, a road formerly known as St. Swithin’s Street. It is thought that this series of burials represents a cemetery associated with a putative church of St. Swithin and it is possible that the baptismal font referred to above provides the only physical evidence of this church discovered to date.

<1> Hutchins, J, 1873, The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 4. 3rd edition (Monograph). SDO10245.

<2> Whitehead, B, 1996, Archaeological assessment of land at rear of Sherborne House, Sherborne, Dorset., 6 (Unpublished document). SDO10246.

<3> Hutchins, J, 1815, The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 4. 2nd edition (Monograph). SDO10233.

<4> Bean, C E, 1955, Remains of old road metal and other discoveries in Sherborne; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, p.145 (Article in serial). SDO10247.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 1:08PM