Minterne House
Minterne House is the ancestral home of the Digby family and earlier the Churchill family. [2]
The estate was once owned by the Abbey of Cerne, from around the year 987, [3] and, after the dissolution of the monasteries around 1539, it later passed to Winchester College [4] who, in 1642, leased it to John Churchill, the father of the first Sir Winston Churchill (1620-88). The estate was later inherited by Sir Winston's son, Charles, who died without an heir, so the house went to his wife's family, the Goulds, who sold it to Admiral Robert Digby in 1768. Robert Digby's brother was Henry, 7th Baron Digby; Henry, who owned Sherborne Castle, was later created the 1st Earl Digby, in 1790. When Robert died in 1815, the house passed to his nephew, Sir Henry Digby, who later purchased the freehold from Winchester College in 1856. Sir Henry was a senior British naval officer, who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy and it was his wealth that established the original manor house, the bulk of which came from prize money. In 1799 he had been given command of the frigate HMS Alcmene, during which time he captured dozens of small merchant ships and had a hand in seizing the Spanish treasure frigates Santa Brigada and Thetis. The resulting prize fund was one of the richest ever recorded, the sterling value of the cargo was calculated as not less than £618,040 in 1799 (equivalent to £76,690,000in 2023)
Sir Henry's children Jane Digby, the noted adventuress and mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria, was also raised there along with her brother, the 9th Baron Digby.
In 1900 the house was found to be riddled with dry rot and was demolished and the current house, designed by Leonard Stokes, was built. [2]
Pamela Digby Churchill Harriman (1920–1997), daughter of the 11th Baron Digby, was raised at the manor house from 1920 to 1938, and lived there before her marriage to Randolph Churchill in 1939.
Minterne House has a large woodland garden with many Rhododendron species, which runs in an elongated 'u' shape around the slopes of a small spur of land that stretches into the valley floor. Providing shade for the rhododendrons are many mature trees, including more unusual specimens such as Davidia involucrata ('handkerchief tree').
Sherborne Abbey, otherwise the Abbey Church of St. Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England church in Sherborne in the English county of Dorset. It has been a Saxon cathedral (705–1075), a Benedictine abbey church (998–1539), and since 1539, a parish church.
The Spencer family is an aristocratic British family. From the 16th century, its members have held numerous titles, including the dukedom of Marlborough, the earldoms of Sunderland and Spencer, and the Churchill barony. Two prominent members of the family during the 20th century were Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, 6 miles east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. In the 2021 census the population of Sherborne was 10,361.
West Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester and Lyme Regis, along with Sherborne urban district and the rural districts of Beaminster, Bridport, Dorchester and Sherborne. Its council was based in Dorchester.
Baron Digby is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Ireland and once in the Peerage of Great Britain, for members of the same family.
Sherborne School is a 13–18 boys public school and boarding school located beside Sherborne Abbey, in the parish of Sherborne, Dorset. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by St Aldhelm and, following the dissolution of the monasteries, re-founded in 1550 by King Edward VI, making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. Sherborne is one of the twelve founding member public schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in 1869 and is a member of the Eton Group and Boarding Schools Association.
Longburton or Long Burton is a village in Dorset, England, three miles (5 km) south of Sherborne. It is sited on a narrow outcrop of Cornbrash limestone, at the western end of Blackmore Vale. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 470.
Buckland Newton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated beneath the scarp slope of the Dorset Downs, 7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) south of Sherborne. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 622. The village covers around 6000 acres.
Charminster is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated on the River Cerne and A352 road 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the county town Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,940 and also contains the hamlet of Charlton Down.
The River Cerne is a 10 mi (16 km) river in Dorset, England, which rises in the Chalk hills of the Dorset Downs at Minterne Magna, between High Stoy and Dogbury Hill, flows down a valley through Cerne Abbas and Charminster, and flows into the River Frome in Dorchester. The Cerne Valley lies in the Dorset National Landscape.
The Dorset Downs are an area of chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger chalk formation which also includes Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Hampshire Downs, Chiltern Hills, North Downs and South Downs.
Mappowder is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. The parish lies approximately 9 miles southeast of the town of Sherborne and covers about 1,900 acres at an elevation of 75 to 160 metres. It is sited on Corallian limestone soil at the southern edge of the Blackmore Vale, close to the northern scarp face of the Dorset Downs. In the 2011 census the parish had 71 dwellings, 69 households and a population of 166.
Sydling St Nicholas is a village and civil parish in Dorset within southwest England. The parish is 5 to 9 miles northwest of the county town Dorchester and covers most of the valley of the small Sydling Water in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish has an area of 2,075 hectares and includes the hamlet of Up Sydling in the north.
Symondsbury is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Bridport and 16 miles (26 km) west of Dorchester. The A35 road runs through the parish to the south of the village. The village has a pub, a pottery and a primary school. Symondsbury parish extends from Eype and West Cliff in the south, to the Marshwood Vale in the north. The village is in the Dorset National Landscape area. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,059.
Admiral Sir Henry Digby GCB was a senior British naval officer, who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy. Born into a long-established naval family, his uncle was the famous Admiral Robert Digby, Henry went to sea at the end of the American Revolutionary War aged fourteen.
The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset.
Sherborne House is a Grade I listed building in Newland, Sherborne, Dorset, England.
Nether Cerne is a hamlet and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies within the Dorset unitary authority administrative area, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the county town Dorchester and 12 miles (19 km) south of Sherborne. The A352 road which connects those towns lies about 250 metres (270 yd) to the west. Dorset County Council's latest (2013) estimate of the parish population is 20.
At 248 metres (814 ft), Dogbury Hill is one of the highest hills in the county of Dorset, England. It is the site of a prehistoric hill fort.
Sir Humphrey Stafford"With the Silver Hand", of Hooke in Dorset and of Southwick in the parish of North Bradley in Wiltshire was a member of the English gentry in the south west of England, where he was a Member of Parliament multiple times and an important royal official.
