A few weeks ago we visited the very beautiful Sherborne Castle and its absolutely wonderful grounds.
There are actually two castles in Sherborne. The ‘Old Castle’ was built by Roger Bishop of Salisbury in the 12th Century to serve the western part of their large diocese. The Bishop also built a small Hunting Lodge in the grounds of the adjacent deer park. During the Civil war the ‘Old Castle’ was garrisoned and suffered two sieges but after the second siege in 1645 the ‘Old Castle’ was systematically demolished.
The ‘Old Castle’ was acquired by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1592 but he decided against modernising it and built a new Castle in the deer park instead. I can really understand why they would want to build the Hunting Lodge and then the new Castle where they did because the grounds are so beautiful and tranquil. Surprisingly, Sherborne Castle doesn’t resemble a castle as we imagine but is a rather grand stately house. During his time there Sir Walter made a number of changes to his new Castle over the years, seemingly to keep up with the times. The Digby family acquired Sherborne Castle in 1617 just before Sir Walter met with his demise in 1618 when he was executed. It remains the stately home of the Digby family to this day seeing further modernisation over the years.
Our stroll around the grounds was an absolute delight. Acres of grounds set in the heart of the Dorset countryside with wonderful surprises around every corner. We savoured moments of simple pleasure and gratitude to be able to take in the splendours of an old folly, majestic trees towering over us, a meandering river with its natural water-fall, the beautiful silvery lake with the reflection of Sherborne Castle glimmering in the afternoon sun, the antics of wild life unknowingly providing pure entertainment for us and an old bridge leading the way to glimpse the Old Castle.
We came across an alcove seat named ‘Pope’s Seat’ which I of course had to sit on for a while. The inscription plate was of great interest:
“The poet Alexander Pope visited Sherborne Castle in 1724 and was so impressed with the gardens that he wrote a long description of them. He particularly liked the shaded walk to the ‘venerable broken walls’ of the Old Castle by the river, the ‘natural cascade with never –ceasing murmurs’ and the views of the ’glimmering waters’. Here there was a ‘rustic seat of stone, flagged and rough, with two urns in the same rude taste upon pedestals on each side’.
The present structure dates from the late eighteenth century and was probably designed by Henry Holland, who was paid £30 10s in 1778 for a ‘covered bench in the garden’. In 1780 the estate accounts record the castle mason putting the finishing touches to the ‘Alcove in the Grove’. The Digby family called it Pope’s Seat in honour of the poet”
On my return home I patiently set about finding the description that Pope wrote. It took a while but to my absolute delight I came across the most beautiful gem of an old book that would not have been known about had it not have been for our visit to Sherborne Castle. The book entitled, “Gleanings on Gardens: Chiefly Respecting Those of the Ancient Style in England” written by S Felton in 1897, is a reprint from the original publication in 1829 and can be viewed free of charge on-line. I turned eagerly to Chapter 7 which revealed the treasured description of Popes visit to Sherborne Castle in a letter to his friend Martha Blount. He wrote with such admiration of what he had seen and indeed his description remains timeless; having seen what Pope saw and sat in the exact same place as he had, I could visualise perfectly the image that he lovingly wrote about.
My imagination was captured by what Pope had written and I could not resist turning to the first page of “Gleanings on Gardens” and proceeded to read it from cover to cover….. What a magnificent find!
I hope that you will also feel compelled to visit Sherborne Castle one day and lay witness to all the joy that it has offered those who have trod before us. I hope that also I have shared something lovely with you in the form of an old book that most of us would not have known existed until today
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