What is Sherborne House

Sherborne House is an impressive house in Sherborne, Dorset. It has a Tudor wing but the principal building dates from 1720. The chief glory of the House is the mural in the hall painted by Sir James Thornhill, himself a Dorset man.

The future of the House currently hangs in the balance. Dorset County Council wishes to sell the building but it is hoped that a sympathetic purchaser can be found who will allow the continuation of the cutting edge arts programme and a home for the sculptures and archive of Dame Elisabeth Frink .

The History of the House
The Tudor House
The Tudor building that first occupied the site was built sometime after 1570. All that remains is a single wing consisting of the first two rooms of the present Gallery with the rooms above. It has fine moulded beams and bosses decorated with ribbons and Tudor roses and some excellent examples of Tudor mullion windows. It was retained by Portman as the service wing of his new House, the first room with its bread oven being the kitchen.

The Portman House
Henry Seymour Portman bought the House in 1720 and pulled it down save the part mentioned above. He then commissioned Benjamin Bastard of the Blandford Forum family of architects and craftsmen (who were largely responsible for the rebuilding of Blandford after the Great Fire of 1731) to build the present Palladian edifice. An Inventory, drawn up in 1726 and listing every item of furniture in the House, was recently discovered in the Public Record Office at Kew and from it we can work out how the House worked. One of the remarkable things about the House is that so much of the original fittings, plasterwork and panelling are still in place.

The Thornhill Mural
Sir James Thornhill (1675 - 1734), a Dorset man and doyen of English decorative history painters in his day with works at Greenwich, St. Paul's Cathedral, Chatsworth, Blenheim and Hampton Court, had also redecorated the chapel of All Souls College, Oxford. Part of this had been paid for by Portman, a patron of the College, so clearly the two men were already known to each other. It was therefore to Thornhill that Portman turned to decorate his new House in Sherborne. All the walls and the ceiling were decorated by the artist centred on the story from Ovid's Metamorphoses of the Calydonian Hunt.
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Sherborne House in the 18th Century
Portman died in 1728 and the family ceased to live there. It was let out to tenants until finally in 1799, it was bought by a wealthy local farmer James Toogood. He died in 1816 and his brother Charles then sold the House to Edward, 2nd Earl Digby for £2,000. For more than a century it continued to be leased out. It is possible that we owe the survival of so much early eighteenth century panelling, in particular, to the fact that for most of its existence it was not lived in by the families who owned it. The Digby tenants included Samuel Pretor, a banker, Robert Willmott, a silk manufacturer, Miss Armitage who ran a school and Major Bogle who won a Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny.

 

William Charles Macready, Dickens and Thackeray The most distinguished of the tenants of the House was William Charles Macready who leased the House from 1850-60. He was the leading actor manager of his day but decided at the height of his career, to leave the stage and retire to the country. While at the House, he was visited by friends from London including Thackeray and his closest friend of all, Charles Dickens. The latter gave public readings including A Christmas Carol. Macready was also much occupied with the refounding of the Sherborne Literary Institution which moved into the old stable block of the House refurbished through the generosity of Lord Digby. Macready himself played a vital part in the success of the venture which included the equipping of a Reading Room and creation of an evening school.

Lord Digby's School
In 1931 the House was first leased and then sold to Dorset County Council and became the home of Lord Digby's School in 1932. Following the 1944 Education Act it became a Girls' Grammar School and remained at the House until it closed in 1992, its pupils going instead to the Gryphon School.

Sherborne House Now

It is still hoped that Sherborne House will be restored and brought into public use as a regional centre for the visual arts, providing public access to the Thornhill mural and the archive of Dame Elisabeth Frink.

Elisabeth Frink
Once the House and grounds are fully restored and developed they would become home to a collection of the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink. Her archive would also be properly catalogued and made available to visiting students, scholars, artists and enthusiasts.

The Gallery
The current gallery is situated in the Tudor wing of the House and has a growing reputation as one of the finest contemporary art spaces in the South-West both as a public and commercial gallery. Exhibitions have included solo, mixed and thematic shows including Modern British Painters 1900-1950, The Bloomsbury Group, St Ives Artists - Past and Present and new work by Gavin Turk and Alex Lowery. The House also demonstrates a creative vision in its approach to showing contemporary art in a heritage context often developing projects that use the House and its history as a catalyst for new work.

Additionally the House has developed an education programme that includes working with local schools and colleges. The Trust is supported in its aim by The Friends of Sherborne House who help to raise much needed funds and have an active involvement with the running of the House.

Sherborne House has developed a number of major arts projects:

Open House
January 2002 - April 2003
Open House was a series of contemporary art exhibitions curated by Peter Dickinson. The exhibitions included previously unseen Elisabeth Frink drawings, photographs by Sir Anthony Caro, paintings by Stanley Donwood (of Radiohead fame), musical scores by John Cage, artists books from UWE's print research department, and the first exhibition in the South West by internationally acclaimed artist Gavin Turk.

Timeline:
Extending the Past into the Future
June 2003 - June 2004
The Timeline project, curated and co-ordinated by Amanda Wallwork and Ros Marchant, was designed to use the history of the House and the theme of time to inspire a series of exhibitions, workshops and commissions.

The project included the making of a film and a book: Using the House as location and time as the theme film-makers Dave Young and Joe Stevens ran film-making workshops with young people. Dave Young was also commissioned to create his own film on the same theme. Poet Wesley White and book-artist Kate Farley were commissioned to produce a hand-made book inspired by Sherborne House and its 'memories'. They also ran creative writing and book-making workshops with adults, including many former pupils of the House when it was Lord Digby's School.

The exhibitions included:
Time Being: A collaborative project between two artist-lead groups - SCA and FAN - that explored the idea and experience of time.
The Reading Room: Contemporary hand-made books set in one of the panelled rooms of the house 'dressed' to resemble a Victorian reading room.
Time Passing: Sequential black and white photographs by Karen Hitchlock exploring the passages of light and shadow that travel in and around Sherborne House.
Passing Time: Artist made games and pastimes.
Haunt: Work by artists inspired by the emotional or physical presence of the past imprinted on a place or object.

Colour + Chemistry
November 2005 - December 2006
An art and science project exploring the theme of colour. Coordinated by Amanda Wallwork and Ros Marchant with exhibitions curated by Bryony Bond the project encompasses a complete programme of events including exhibitions, artists' bursaries, workshops and seminars. The project will look at the history of colour, pigments and processes and their use in art and interiors as well as new developments in science and technology and what that offers artists today.
Colour + Chemistry has been developed in partnership with science consultants 4science, ArtsLink and the Friends of Sherborne House.

Access to the heritage of Sherborne House
We welcome visitors to look at the Thornhill mural and the House is open Monday through Friday from 09.30 to16.30 throughout the year. On weekends, when there is an exhibition running, access is also available via the Gallery entrance, Saturday and Sundays between 10.30 and 16.30. Just have a word with the gallery steward and they will show you the way.

Because of the current state of repair of the House we much regret that we are not able to allow access other than to the hall and the mural. We do however welcome organised groups and we are delighted to provide a fuller guided tour of the House and garden. Please contact the House Manager (see contacts page) to arrange a visit.

We have wheel chair access to the hall where the mural can be viewed from the ground floor but we do not have lift access to the first floor which limits a full view. With the restoration of the House these access restrictions will of course be removed.

For a fuller appreciation of the heritage of the House we recommend:

Sherborne House and its People
by Shelagh Hill.
This 67 page book has been researched by a local historian and covers the history and the interesting people who have lived in the House.

Sir James Thornhill.
This video narrated by Jeremy Irons introduces the life and achievements of Sir James Thornhill and covers many of his works still on public display and, of course includes Sherborne House. It has been researched by Jeremy Barker who is an authority on Thornhill's life.

Dickens & Macready
The Sherborne Literary Institute.
by Katherine Barker .
A paper on the founding of the Literary Institute in the stables of Sherborne House.

These items can be purchased during normal opening house from the House Manager.

Support The Friends of Sherborne House
You can now make an online donation to The Friends of Sherborne House by clicking here or on the banner below. All donations will be added to the Endowment Fund.

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