Francis’s research, commissioned by Sherborne Abbey, on the
building’s nineteenth-century history sheds new light on its previously
little-understood Victorian restoration.
The nineteenth-century restoration of Sherborne Abbey has never
before been comprehensively researched, and the ‘established history’
that exists has perpetuated a number of misunderstandings. In this
talk, based on his ongoing research commissioned by Sherborne Abbey
into the building’s nineteenth-century history, and sharing the fruits of
several recent and significant archive discoveries, Francis offers a
reassessment of the several major ‘restorations’ effected over this
period. Tracing the story from the abbey’s state of considerable
disrepair at the end of the eighteenth century, through a large-scale
programme of work at mid-century, to the rebuilding of the tower in
the 1880s, this talk will explore competition between local and
nationally-famous architects, controversy over high-church reform, and
the changing significance of church restoration within the piecemeal
modernisation of an ancient Dorset town.
Francis is a doctoral student at the University of Exeter on a studentship
entitled ‘The History, Heritage, and Archaeology of Sherborne Abbey,’ which
comprises a PhD project and the writing of a Conservation Management Plan
for the abbey. His research focuses on modernity, heritage, and historical
culture in provincial English society, c. 1848-1939, taking Sherborne and
Sherborne Abbey as a case study. He is an Affiliate Member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, a casework volunteer for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and a Lay Clerk at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford.
