The Sherborne Deanery is part of the Salisbury Diocese. The Deanery surrounds the ancient abbey town of Sherborne, a popular visiting-place, famed also for its fine educational establishments in north-west Dorset. 

In 705, the Diocese of Sherborne was created, when it was carved out of the growing bishopric of the West Saxons, the first Bishop of Sherborne beingSaint Aldhelm. However, the old Diocese of Sherborne covered quite a different area from that covered by the modern diocese. In 909, the Diocese of Ramsbury was carved out of the north-western portion of the Diocese of Winchester. In 1058, Herman, Bishop of Ramsbury was elected as Bishop of Sherborne. The two sees were combined under his personal oversight. This combination was more like the shape of the modern diocese, but with the addition of most of Berkshire. After the Norman Conquest, in 1078, Saint Osmond was appointed to the combined dioceses of Sherborne and Ramsbury, and moved the see to the castle at Salisbury. The original, Norman foundation was built on what is now known as Old Sarum, a hill to the north of the modern city. In 1220, Bishop Richard Poore began the construction of the grand cathedral on what has now become the centre of Salisbury.

The modern parishes within the Deanery, with the exception of Sherborne itself, are each based around rural village communities.  The area extends from Sandford Orcas on the Somerset border in the north, to Maiden Newton in the south, and from Corscombe in the west to Holwell in the east.  The parishes are clustered into different benefices or groups each with its own incumbent or priest-in-charge.  See below.

To find out details of a benefice's clergy or its parish churches, to look at forthcoming events in the parishes, or to check service times click on the 'benefice' tab.

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The Rt. Rev. Dr. Graham Kings. Bishop of Sherborne

The Sherborne Deanery Parishes

Gifle Valley:

Melbury Team:    

Queen Thorne:

Sherborne:

Vale of the White Hart:

Wriggle Valley:  
                   Batcombe, Chetnole, Hermitage, Leigh, Ryme Intrinsica,

                    Yetminster with Hilfield.