SHERBORNE ABBEY AND SCHOOL. 163 



precincts ; its site is, therefore, older than the Benedictine 

 foundation of Sherborne, which .dates from 998. It stood 

 there because it was the Bishop's school. It was by chance a 

 lucky chance that, when the Chapter of Sherborne ceased to 

 be secular and became regular, the site of the school was not 

 moved outside the monastic precincts. It was because the 

 school stood so near the Bow the gate into the outside world 

 that the site was never changed. The cathedral was a cathedral 

 of secular canons from 705 to 998 ; it then became a cathedral 

 with a Chapter of Benedictine monks, and remained so till 1075. 

 In that year it ceased to be a cathedral church ; it became 

 simply an abbey church, and so remained till 1539. In that 

 year it became the private property of Sir John Horsey ; but he, 

 like a wise man, sold it to the parishioners in 1540. From 1540 

 to this day it has been the parish church of Sherborne. But 

 Sherborne School has always been Sherborne School. The 

 school-house dining hall still keeps the site of the old " scole- 

 house," and, therefore, in 1905 in that room, and in this 

 church of Sherborne, those among us who know anything of the 

 past, who feel any pride in the growth and greatness of England, 

 will do well to recall a history of 1,200 years. 



I do not propose to go fully into the changes in the school 

 group of buildings, for I have done so already in my " Short 

 History of Sherborne." I shall deal rather with points in 

 Hutchins' which are not noticed at all, or not noticed with 

 sufficient emphasis. 



On page 238 of Vol. IV. the illustration of a bay of the choir 

 is described as a bay of the nave. On page 239 the illustration 

 of a bay of the nave is described as a bay of the choir. On 

 page 291 there is an illustration described as "domestic 

 buildings looking south." The view looks north. Something 

 should be said about the illustrations which face pages 248 and 

 294. Opposite page 248, at the top of the plate, will be seen 

 represented the recumbent figure of an abbot. This figure, at 

 the time the plate was made, was partially built into the walls of 

 the Leweston Chapel ; it is now removed to the south side of the 



