Sherborne, Dorset : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Sherborne. You may be able to find further references to Sherborne in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Sherborne hundred Bartholomew
Sherborne market town and parish with railway station Bartholomew
SHERBORNE a town, a parish, a district, a hundred, and a division Imperial

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Sherborne.

Place Type of entry Source
OVERCOOMBE a tything Imperial
PINFOLD a tything Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Sherborne within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Robert Gammage Eight months in Sherborne 6
William Camden Dorset and Somerset 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 3, Part 2: Salisbury and Dorset 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 2
William Camden Wiltshire and Hampshire 1
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 1
William Cobbett Sept. 29th to Oct. 2nd, 1826: Ryall to Burghclere 1
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Aug. 31, 1746: Bristol and Cornwall 1
Robert Gammage Working and Campaigning in Chelmsford in 1841-2 1
Robert Gammage Travelling in the north in 1842 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Castleton 0 2
North Wootton 0 2
Oborne 0 2
Nether Compton 0 3
Thornford 0 2
Goathill 0 2
Poyntington 0 3
Longburton 0 3
Sandford Orcas 0 2
Leweston 0 2
Haydon 0 2
Trent 0 2
Over Compton 0 2
Milborne Port 0 2
Folke 0 2
Lillington 0 2
Caundle Marsh 0 2
Bradford Abbas 0 2
Rimpton 0 2
Beer Hackett 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Sherborne. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
CHIRBURNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SCIRABURN John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SCIREBURN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SCIREBURNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SHERBORN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
SHERBORNE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SHERBOURNE William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
SHERBURN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Charles Wesley The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1849).
SHIRBURN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SHIRBURNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SHIREBORN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
SHIREBURN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
SHREBURNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.