Clay pipes collection
Cavalier's skull, bullet and pipe
Metal pipe
Lead tobacco box
Main front of Sherborne Castle
Garden front of Sherborne Castle
Fishmongers' Barge

In the Footsteps of Sir Walter Raleigh: a Jaunt to Sherborne Castle

12th August 2026

Sherborne Castle and Gardens

Sir Walter Raleigh (c1552–1618) is someone our Company should always celebrate. While history often erroneously credits him with introducing tobacco to England (he didn’t, despite the brilliant Bob Newhart's 1962 sketch), he is rightly famous for making the art of tobacco pipe smoking fashionable among his elegant courtier friends in the late 1500s.

So we decided it would be a Good Thing to take ourselves off to Sherborne in Dorset on yet another scorching August afternoon to explore Sir Walter’s former country estate.

In 1592, Raleigh leased a 12th-century medieval castle in Sherborne from the Crown and set about renovating it. Much like a historic version of Grand Designs, it all proved far too difficult and expensive and so he and his wife Bess turned their attention to a hunting lodge across the park. By 1594, it had been transformed into a square, four-storey home. Hexagonal corner turrets adorned with heraldic beasts were added in 1600.

Alas, poor Sir Walter. Imprisoned (once again) in the Tower of London in 1603, he was finally allowed out in 1617 to set off on a redemptive expedition to El Dorado, but made an ill-judged and treasonable attack on a Spanish fort in which his son was killed. King James I was furious and Sir Walter was soon back in the Tower; Sherborne was seized by the Crown and handed over to Court favourite Sir John Digby. A year later, Sir Walter finally lost his head at Whitehall.

King James is known for his Counterblaste to Tobacco, published in 1604. Perhaps he particularly objected to Sir Walter because of the tobacco smoke in which he was habitually enveloped. Sir Walter's servant once threw a pot of water over the famous explorer, thinking him on fire.

The Digby family has owned Sherborne Castle ever since, and their small but fascinating museum is well worth a visit. It houses a weird and wonderful mix of curiosities, including a far distant owner's false teeth and a Cavalier’s skull with a bullet lodged in the eye socket. For me, the highlights were the collection of clay pipes, some dating to the 1500s, a decorative and ancient metal pipe, and an antique lead tobacco box.

I was much less impressed by a box purporting to contain Sir Walter's tobacco. Visitors are encouraged to lift the lid and sniff, but the result is disgusting—a horrible chemical smell clearly designed to deter rather than to evoke the rich aroma of well-cured leaf!

Sherborne provided another example of how the City Livery Companies are ubiquitous. I found a lovely drawing of the Fishmongers’ Company’s barge in a charity shop (left it there). Then we visited the Abbey and sadly learned that their historic silver crozier, processional cross and staves were amongst items stolen in 2024. But good news: the Goldsmiths’ Company has the original drawings and replacement pieces are being made.