In 1545, the New Inn was sold along with other Sherborne property that had all once belonged to the Abbey. Then, for about 250 years, the New Inn remained quiet and peaceful – nothing is known of it during this time. It came to life again at the beginning of the 19th century when it was sold once more to a John Woolcott of London and ‘Exeter Waggon Properties’. John Woolcott’s wagons were like the haulage firms of today and were on the road as early as 1793, before the days of the stage coaches. There are several paintings and engravings of the New Inn, as it was, in about 1820. A truly remarkable and lovely old building. Now let us return to the old road and its route through to Bradford Abbas, Clifton Maybank and to the Somerset border. Clifton Maybank was a largish village in the 15th century but today it has almost disappeared. In fact, it has become one of the many Dorset ‘lost villages’. In its glory days the large mansion was owned and lived in by the great Horsey family. John Horsey had purchased the Abbey from the Crown for the use and pleasure of the town folk. Clifton Maybank House was dismantled in 1786 and all that remains now is a very much altered corner of the old mansion. In 1906, this was all converted into modern apartments. Clifton Maybank’s large medieval church was also completely dismantled too. However, there is still a remarkable series of roads and tracks from Bradford Abbas, from Over Compton and from Trent through to the Somerset border. There are also many other tracks coming from the south of Sherborne, Cole’s Lane in Yetminster and Clifton Farm to Clifton Maybank. Then the railway came through in 1848 and the complicated layout of the railway at Yeovil Junction now makes identification of any ancient tracks hopeless. Around 1840 the road from the county boundary at Yeovil bridge became part of the Shaftesbury and Sherborne Trust, and plans were made to turnpike a road from Stoford to Clifton Maybank. However, this never happened (more about turnpikes in a future article). So that great route advancing to the west continued through East and West Coker and onto Crewkerne, but no further. In my remit here, I am only concentrating on our Dorset/Sherborne area but it would be fascinating to explore more. Next month I will look into the road north of The Green – that which we now call the Bristol Road. sherbornewalks.co.uk
Free home visits specialist Neil Grenyer will be in the sherborne area on Thursday 25th April to value your antiques
trAveL iN stYLe BAG YoUrseLF AN oriGiNAL LoUis vUittoN to Be sold Friday 17th may in our Collectors & sporting Auction
to make an appointment please contact: ( 01460 73041 neil.grenyer@lawrences.co.uk Complete house Contents & Attic Clearances Arranged Professional Probate valuations
L AWRENCES AUCTIONEERS
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