110 THE EXTERNAL GROWTH OF SHERBORNE SCHOOL. 



This building was still prior, however, to the present Dining- 

 hall, which was not erected until 1670, 63 years later. In the 

 opinion of Dr. Harper, to whose valuable Tercentenary Address I 

 am largely indebted, it consisted of what is now the Matron's 

 Room, still remembered by Old Shirburnians as the Library in 

 which Dr. Lyon taught, and the panelled Dining-room below it, 

 now used as a Servants' Hall. Beyond it must have been erected 

 certain buildings to serve as a brew-house and a wood-house, against 

 which in 1642, 35 years later, "such chambers as may be 

 conveniently raised," were ordered to be built, apparently for the 

 use of the " Tablers," or Boarders, who had begun to be received 

 in the Master's house. These were pulled down in 1835, during Dr. 

 Lyon's Headmastership, to make room for what are known as the 

 Bell Buildings. 



"With all deference to Dr. Harper, I am inclined to think that 

 the portion of building now standing between the entrance of the 

 Bell Buildings and the Dining-hall, was but an adjunct to the 

 School-room itself, which must have been of very imperfect 

 construction to have required rebuilding so soon. It stood, as I 

 believe, where the Dining-hall now stands ; and this idea is 

 favoured by our discovery, four years ago, of the traces of a dial, 

 with the date 1635 painted upon the surface of stones, which must 

 have been used in its construction, and were subsequently built into 

 the south Wt%ll of the new room. The soil here is spongy to a 

 degree, and seems to have been in ancient times the bed of a water- 

 course. Is r or is it surprising that the building of 1607 should have 

 collapsed in 60 years, if its outer wall, like that of the building of 

 1670, which we have recently restored, was given a foundation of 

 only 18 inches. It was found necessary to underpin this wall in 

 1887 to a depth of 11 or 12 feet, before we could obtain a secure 

 foundation. 



We have now traced the material development of the School 

 through the first century of its existence through the age of 

 Shakespeare and Bacon, of Cecil and Raleigh. Little indication, 

 as is natural, of political events is recorded in the matter-of-fact 



