Digby Tap

The ales we have at the Tap are from local breweries and also those further afield. We run with four pumps on at all times with one being a ‘session ale’ and the other three ‘guest ales’.

Our session ales are:

Cerne Abbas Ale – 3.8%. Tawny Ale, well balanced and triple hopped. This beer has a supple middle with a fuller mouth feel due to extra time conditioning, leaving you with a refreshing finish.

Otter Bitter – 3.6%. Fruit notes and well balanced malty flavours are tinged with a hint of bitterness to make Otter Bitter a Devon beer of distinction.

Teignworthy Neap Tide – 3.8%. A tasty and fruity bitter.

Not much is known about the history of the building. The oldest part, furthest from the lane, is believed to date from 1550 to c.1700. There is a large fireplace and mullioned window in the back bar. There are later additions and the end wall by the lane is believed to have been built when the lane was constructed. Stone bollards on the roadside would have been put there to keep the hubs of carts away from the walls and obviate the damage that might otherwise be incurred. There is too an old footscraper.

The building itself was originally a private dwelling but in 1749 it became a Parish Workhouse and it is still marked as the same on the 1802 plan of Sherborne.

Little information is available on life in the workhouse, but there is a record of the election in 1833 of William Nettleton as assistant Overseer of the Poor and Governor of the Workhouse and his wife Amelia as Governess.  Perhaps they lived in that part of the building which is now ‘The Digby Tap’.

The Workhouse was sold in 1839 and still appears on the Tithe Map of 1842.  The two wings were demolished thoroughly (even the foundations were largely dug up) at some time between 1842 and 1869, when the stables for the Digby Hotel were built.  Until the 1950s the courtyard adjacent to ‘The Digby Tap’ was occupied by small cottages and businesses.  Visitors to my archaeological dig in 2002 remembered a blacksmith or farrier, a wheelwright and a knackers’ yard, but these declined and were swept away as Saunders’ Garage expanded.

In 1869 the ‘Digby Hotel’ was constructed and according to the cash books of George Wingfield Digby, owner of Sherborne Castle from 1856 – 1883, alterations were started on the building (‘Digby Tap’) as follows:

Fol 50 – 23^rd February 1870 Caines and Croad work done converting a house to a ‘Tap’ on account of Digby Hotel £150.0s.0d.

Fol 226 – 11th April 1870 Mr Quinton bell hanging to Hotel Tap £7.19s.3d.

Fol 51 – 19^th August 1870 Dalwood for work to Hotel Tap £10.0s.0d. Lamps £4.1s.6d

Fol 52 – 31^st December 1870 W. Farrell for Hotel Tap £11.16s.7d.

Mr Farrell was foreman of works on Digby Estate at the time.

The ‘Digby Hotel’ was taken on by the School in 1964 but fortunately the ‘Tap’ has remained.

Very little is known here. A.Binnie Clarke was the landlord of the Digby Hotel from 1878 and may have run the Tap also but the archive is unrevealing for the rest.

A trench dug in 2002 produced a lot of older pieces of pottery.  This trench produced 112 pieces of pottery; the other three trenches yielded a total of three pieces!  I think this is because this trench was dug through an area where the previous inhabitants of ‘The Digby Tap’ had dumped their household rubbish, either in their own garden or yard, or over the fence onto a midden.  Most of this pottery could be dated to between the 17^th and 19^th centuries and was predominantly plain earthenware vessels produced in the potteries at Donyatt in Somerset.  Some pottery made at Verwood in the New Forest was also present, as well as bits and pieces from Staffordshire and some stoneware from Germany.  I have to admit that the pottery is very much what one would expect from an archaeological excavation of an urban site of this period and all the pottery types are standard cooking and serving vessels from a lower or middle-class household.  There are no exotic plates or examples of “the best china”, but that is probably because people took more care of these and they were passed down as heirlooms.

Please see the daily specials on our boards throughout The Digby Tap to see what traditional food we offer.

Food is served lunchtimes Monday to Saturday between 12 PM to 2 PM

Please note that all table bookings need to be made by telephone.

Please download our latest menu by clicking on the link below:

Cricket – Our social cricket side was undefeated in 2017 as all games were sadly beaten by the weather. This meant we retained ‘The Ashes’ from our victory over The Rose and Crown in Trent at Compton House CC in 2016. Further games have since been interrupted by Covid and the series is yet to be restarted. We are hopeful for this long running fixture to recommence in 2024.

Tap Cricket Report 2023 Season

With high expectations of at least one win this season the Tap took to the field for a couple of games of cricket at Compton House CC.

The first game against arch rivals The Britannia played on a Sunday morning was an absolute hoot, even though the result did not go our way!!!

Great performance by Ben (51 retired) and Danny with the bat gave us a chance but we succumbed in the last over! The highlight for the ‘rowdy’ spectators was Hannah getting her brother, Nicks, out!!!

A great day’s entertainment for all and a lot of sore limbs and heads the next day!!!!!

We also had a game against Compton House CC Evening XI a few days later where we competed but came up short again…notable performances from Captain Olly who was out first ball!!!

My thanks to Stuart and Tess at CHCC for feeding and watering us…

Roll on next year!!! In the meantime, we will have our revenge on the boules piste!!!!

Boules – We have a social boules team who are normally invited to play against Sherborne Boules Club on December 26^th. We have in the past also played The Chetnole Chuckers.

Pool – The Tap has 2 pool teams that play in the Sherborne League on Tuesday evenings.

2024 Sherborne & District Pool League

The 2024 Winter League was this year played under “Blackball Rules” rather than the more traditional ‘old rules’ of the previous 30 years. A highly competitive division saw the “Sherborne Old Boys”, playing out of The Weavers, crowned as champions. The two Digby Tap teams came in 2nd and 5th.

Players

Out of the 66 registered league players, here are the players who have represented The Digby Tap players, with their 2024 Season’s Statistics:

Player	Played	Wins	Loss	Win %
Guy Wigley	20	16	4	80
Ash Whitton	33	24	9	73
James Scard	35	25	10	71
Jim Donnelly	24	15	9	63
Paul Mather	24	15	9	63
Mike White	27	15	12	56
Kevin Twigg	33	18	15	55
Jason Kellaway	20	10	10	50
Ben Woof	23	11	12	48
Alistair MacAndrew	24	10	14	42
Lee Gregoriades	27	11	16	41
Oliver Wilson	26	10	16	40
Played less than 50% of games:
Dean Rogers	8	6	2	75
Danny Watson	5	3	2	60
Rich Wells	7	4	3	57

Please click the following link to see the latest Pool League tables as the 2024 Summer League gets underway

Sherborne & District Pool League Table & Statistics

Digby Tap Fantasy Football League

The league has been running since the turn of the century and is open to all those who drink or eat in our fine establishment. The aim of the game is to select a football team from footballers in the English Premier League and then manage the team throughout the season. The game uses the Sun Newspaper’s scoring system and is most commonly entered via the Sun’s mobile phone app. You can also fill out an entry form that is found behind the bar at The Digby Tap and enter it that way at the start of each season. You will, however, need access to a phone app or web browser to manage the team as you go through the season. There is a What’s app group for the players to exchange thoughts and, er, banter, as the season progresses. Many of the original 25 players who played in the 2000 / 2001 game still play today. If you are interested in joining next season then please give your details to a member of staff and one of the organisers will get in touch.

The Digby Tap is also heavily involved with sponsoring and we are grateful for their custom:

Sherborne Rugby Club

Yeovil and Sherborne Hockey Club

Compton House Cricket Club

Sherborne Cricket Club

Sherborne Town Football Club