2002, A Spatial Odyssey. An Investigation Into The Sphere(s) of Influence of Sherborne, Dorset (An English Country Town)

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This copy of the dissertation has been supplied on condition that anyone
who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its
author and that no quotation from the dissertation and no information
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1
2002, A Spatial Odyssey
An Investigation Into the

Sphere(s) of Influence of
Sherborne, Dorset
(an English Country Town)
by
Gordon Ralph Morris
A dissertation submitted to the University of Plymouth

in partial fulfilment for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in Rural Development
June 2003
2
Abstract
Gordon Ralph Morris
2002, A Spatial Odyssey

An Investigation Into the Sphere(s) of Influence
of Sherborne, Dorset
(an English Country Town)
This study attempts to define, by means of a small scale survey of secondary school pupils
and their families, the sphere(s) of influence for Sherborne, a country town in a
predominantly rural part of Dorset, England. The study aims to find out whether this
approach can be used to determine, easily yet accurately, using self-administered
questionnaires, the town's sphere(s) of influence. A related aim is to discover, by
comparing various - mainly nineteenth and twentieth century - service areas, the extent to
which Sherborne's overall sphere of influence has changed with time.
A review of the literature relating to methods used to determine spheres of influence of

small country - "market" - towns in England since the 1940s suggests a continuing - and
largely unmet - need for regular information about how groups of settlements function as
service centres. With the creation of the Market Towns Initiative (announced in the Rural
White Paper of 2000), there is both a need for, and an opportunity to develop a means of
gathering this information, and of determining the sphere(s) of influence of small towns. It
is argued that this information can be acquired using the essentially simple methods and
approaches developed by, for example, Professor Arthur Smailes, and Drs Howard Bracey
and Liz Mills, whose surveys in the 1940s, 1950s and 1980s assessed the standard and
location of rural services, and the extent to which they were used by local people.
The results of the survey which forms the heart of this study suggest that, with some -
proposed - modifications to the approach, it should be possible to discover, relatively
easily, the degree to which a town's services are used by people living in the surrounding
settlements, and the geographical extent of the town's influence for the services surveyed.
3
List of Contents
Page
List of Tables 6
List of Figures 7
Acknowledgements 11
Author's Declaration 12
Chapter 1 Introduction 15
Chapter 2 Literature Review 20

2.1 Background 20
2.2 Post War Attempts to Understand the Role
of Rural Service Centres 28
2.2.1 Introduction to Bracey's Approaches 28
2.2.2 Bracey's Findings 32
2.2.3 Bracey's Conclusions and Implications for Future Work 38
Chapter 3 The Selection of the Case Study Town 43

3.1 Introduction 43
3.2 Why Sherborne? 43
3.3 Sherborne - a Pen Portrait 44
3.4 Sherborne's Sphere(s) of Influence 47
Chapter 4 Developing the Method 54

4.1 Introduction 54
4.2 Selecting the Survey Indicators of service provision 54
4.3 Data Collection 60
4.4 Questionnaire Design 62
4.5 Pre-test - Method and Results 63
4
Chapter 5 Results 68
5.1 The Main Survey - Method and Limitations 68
5.2 Analysis of Data 70
5.3 Analysis of Survey Results 72
5.3.1 Introduction 72
5.3.2 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Ward,
Parish, and Extent of use by Respondents 73
5.3.3 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - aComparison
With Nearby Towns 92
Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 97
References 107
Appendices 117
1 The Relationship Between Sherborne
and Yeovil, and Sherborne and Dorchester 118
2 Reasons for Excluding Education and Transport
From the Indicators of Service Provision
Selected for the Survey 126
3 Questionnaire Development: Version 1 and
Version 5 (Used in the Survey) 131
4 Letters Sent in Connection With the Research 136
5 Completed Questionnaire From Pre-test Survey 140
6 Survey Data Presented by Electoral Ward 143
7 Sherborne's Services - a Discussion 145
8 Scatter Charts Illustrating Sherborne's Significance
as a Service Centre by Parish, Relative to Nearby Towns,
for Each of the Four Service Categories Surveyed 148
9 Analysis of Respondents' Written Comments 154
10 Copy of Front Page of The Conduit, Sherborne's Newsletter156
5
List of Tables
Page
Main Text
1 List if Settlements Within Various of Sherborne's Service
Areas/Spheres of Influence 53
2 Examples of Indicators of Service Provision
Used in Various Post-war Surveys of Services
in English Rural Settlements 58
3 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre- Parish-level
Data (5 or More Respondents) by Service Category, Distances
and Times From Sherborne and Nearest Alternative Town 76
4 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Respondents'
Sex and Time Lived in Area by Service Category 81
Sex and Age Band by Service Category 83
Sex and Occupation by Service Category 86
Sex and Place of Work by Service Category 89
8 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by
Male and Female Respondent's Usage by Service
Category and "Place of Recreation" 90
9 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre Showing
Those Parishes Within Sherborne's Sphere of Influence 104
Appendices
A6/1 Survey Data by Electoral Ward 144
6
List of Figures
Page
1 Shopping Areas of Eight Somerset Towns

and Part of Bristol 30
2 Professional Service Area of Eight Somerset
Towns and Part of Bristol 31
3 Higher District Centres: Scores for Services
and Rural Component of Centrality 35
4 Lower District Centres: Scores for Services
and Rural Component of Centrality 36
5 Ordnance Survey Map of the Sherborne Area 46
6 Sherborne's Early Ecclesiastical Sphere
of Influence (pre-1836) 49
7 Dorset'sTwelve (Poor Law) Unions 50
8 Postal Service Areas, 1861 to 1939 51
9 "Hinterlands" of Motor-Bus Centres 52
10 Trial Survey Form With Results 66
11 Ordnance Survey Map of Wards and
Parishes Featured in the Survey 71
12 Sherborne's Significance as a Service C
entre by Ward 74
13 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Parish 76
14 Yeovil's Significance as a Service Centre by Ward 68
15 Sherborne's and Yeovil's Significance as Service
Centres by Ward 79
16 Sherborne's and Yeovil's Significance
as Service centres (all
respondents) 80
17 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Male
Respondents' Usage by Service Category and
Time Lived in Area 82
18 Sherborne's Significance as a Service
Centre - Female Respondents' Usage by Service
Category and Time Lived in Area 82
7
Age Band 84
20 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Female
Respondents' Usage by Service Category and Age
Band 84
Occupation 87
Occupation 87
Place of Work 89
Place of Work 89
25 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Male
and Female Respondent's Usage by Service Category
and "Place of Recreation" 90
Parish Relative to Nearby Towns (Average of all
Four Services Surveyed) 93
27 Relative Significance of Sherborne's Service Categories
by Parish, Relative to Nearby Towns 95
28 Map of Sherborne's Area of
Influence - an Informed Estimate 106
29 Population, Trade Area and Related Data - Sherborne
and Area 120
Parish Relative to Nearby Towns (Medical Services) 149
Parish Relative to Nearby Towns (Professional Services) 150
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32 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Parish
Relative to Nearby Towns (Retail Services) 150
Parish Relative to Nearby Towns (Leisure Services) 151
34 Relative Significance of Sherborne's Service Categories
by Parish, Relative to nearby Towns 152
9
List of Plates
Page
1 View of Sherborne Abbey 14

2 Sherborne - Market Day 122
3 Yeovil - Market Day 122
4 Typical Sherborne Shops 123
5 Yeovil'sQuedam Shopping Centre 123
6 The Yeatman Hospital, Sherborne 124
7 Yeovil Hospital 124
8 A Sherborne Restaurant 125
9 Yeovil's Cinema, Tenpin Bowling
and Restaurant Complex 125
10 Yeovil's Main Shopping Street 126
11 Sainsbury's Supermarket, Sherborne 126
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Acknowledgements
Without the help of the people named below, I would have given up long ago.
I am indebted to many friends and colleagues in the Countryside Agency. David Coleman
always found time to read drafts and to talk to me about the project. Others who have been
very generous with their time, interest, and patience, are John Burns, Deborah Cassell, Pat
Connolly, Jaki Bayly, Pauline Warr, Victoria Westhorp, and Caroline Young, to all of
whom I gratefully extend my thanks.
I also thank the staff, pupils and students of the Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset, for
distributing, completing and returning the survey questionnaires. The Head teacher, Mr
Chris Shepherd, Deputy Head, Mrs Jan Leyshon, and the Head of the Geography
Department, Mr Phil Davies, were particularly helpful and encouraging.
There are three other people to whom I offer special thanks. Dr Liz Mills, whose research
and personal interest in my work was both valuable and motivating. My supervisor,
Professor Andrew Errington, encouraged me greatly, and helped me find my way through
the more arcane aspects of the academic process. Dr Alan Rogers, late of Wye College,
showed interest in my work throughout, and also, kindly, gave me a copy of "English Rural
Life", by the late Dr H.E. Bracey, the researcher on whose work this dissertation is
primarily based, and whose pioneering work served as my inspiration for the research.
Finally, and most importantly, I thank my wife, Diana, whose patience has been
extraordinary, and whose common sense and intuition led her, long before me, to the
conclusion that, where the role of rural settlements are concerned, there is much that
changes, but also much that stays the same!
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Author's Declaration
At no time during the registration for the degree of Master of Science has
the author been registered for any other University award.
This dissertation is the original work of the author except where
acknowledgement is given, and has not previously been submitted for a
degree in this or any other University.
..................................
Gordon Ralph Morris
Dated: ......................
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One can never hope to present an idea of the enormous variety of
interests, economic and social, which link each town to the
countryside causing it to signify something slightly different for
each inhabitant of the rural areas and giving an essentially
personal meaning to the phrase, "Town and Country Relations".
A.J Heamon, The Towns of Somerset South of Mendip and Their

Relations With the Countryside (1950).
13
Plate 1
View of Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne, Dorset
14
Towns and country are indivisible, both geographically and
socially, and the establishment of the fundamental facts
concerning their inter-relations is a condition precedent of success
in the social and economic planning to which we are committed.
Professor A. E. Smailes, The Geography of Towns (1966)
Chapter 1 Introduction
"Towns", as Professor Smailes noted, " no longer belong to the countryside as they once
did." (Smailes 1966 p129). However, he also noted (p129) that, " ... if the relations
between town and the surrounding area have been changed, they have not been severed.
The two are still mutually interdependent economically and socially.". Both everyday
experience and research findings suggest that these interdependencies remain. For
example, the Rural White Paper (DETR/MAFF 2000 pp73-88) stresses the importance of
country towns to the rural economy. Taylor (2001 p52), in a discussion about the
world-wide external influence of major cities in today's global economy, introduces the
concept of the "hinterworld", " ... as the particular form of hinterland for world cities.",
but is careful to note (p59) that he is not suggesting that, " ... hinterworlds have replaced
hinterlands1; local newspapers continue to operate in their local catchment areas and
rural people still shop in the local town.".
Interestingly, Taylor, in providing, " ... empirical evidence of the external relations of
major cities under conditions of contemporary globalization.", returns, " ... to ideas of
'urban influence' in service provision which were current before [the 1960s] ...." (p52). In
short, his work is based on consideration of spheres of influence. Smailes noted that, "We
are still woefully ignorant about the areas serviced by various urban institutions which
1
The Abstract from Taylor's paper alludes to the problems associated with ", ... concepts such as
hinterland". In terms of some public sector grant schemes, discussions about the nature, and the search for a
definition of the word, hinterland, seem to have been have driven more by the bureaucratic need to categorise
for the purposes of determining eligibility for grant aid, than any consideration of a particular town's
location, function, and purposes (Morris 2001).
15
express the central functions of towns.", and bemoaned, " ... the dearth of applicable
statistics ... ", that went some way towards explaining, " ... why so little work has yet been
done in Britain to distinguish the urban fields." (1966 p136).
A settlement'ssphere of influence is not simply geographical (i.e. a single "hinterland"2,
within the confines of which live people who largely depend on a particular town for goods
and services). A report for the Countryside Agency (CA) suggests that, " ... globalization
has increased the number of different roles that [country towns] could perform - they are
no longer robust central place entities." (Medcalf'2000 p20). Medcalf's research

3
found
that current trends are altering, "... the relationship of an individual town with its
hinterland; between one town and another; and between clusters of towns and other
clusters in adjacent geographical regions." (p9). Underlying this, and other work, are
concerns about rural life in general (Sissons 2001), and country (“market”) towns, and their
potential as centres for sustainable rural development and locally led regeneration work, in
particular (Courtney and Errington 2000, CA 2001, CA 2001a).
In spite of these concerns, life today for most people is comfortable compared with, for
example, the circumstances that prevailed for some in the 1930s (Bondfield 1943, Orwin
1945), and earlier (Savage 1914). Clearly, given the overall improvement in the standard
of living during the last sixty years, this is not surprising. However, and inevitably, some
towns are relatively deprived (Morris 2001 p8), often for reasons beyond the control of
local people. For example, Aylesham in Kent - one of the towns identified by Margaret
2
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hinterland [German, from hinter ‘behind’ + Land ' land'] has
the following meanings, none of which relate particularly well to country towns: 1) the often deserted or
uncharted areas beyond a coastal district or a river's banks; 2) an area served by a port or other centre; 3) a
remote or fringe area. However, for the purposes of this dissertation, the word is taken to mean, "The area
around, and dependent upon, country towns, or other settlements." (this is the meaning commonly given to
the word by rural development practitioners).
3
The research, part of a wider programme, examined, " ... the relationship [in a regional context] between
the inhabitants of [a "cluster" of five Wiltshire] market towns and the quality of the services and amenities
that these places provide." (Medcalf 2000 p10).
16
Bondfield in the 1930s as a cause for concern4 - was purpose built to accommodate coal
miners in what is now a disused coalfield. Similarly, seaside towns have suffered as
people increasingly holiday abroad. This is not to suggest that all country towns are
experiencing significant disadvantage. Some are very successful, affluent places (Green
2001). The challenge for policy makers is to develop support programmes and grant
schemes that are capable of solving the - sometimes long-term - problems of disadvantaged
communities, perhaps by using the experiences of the more fortunate, or successful, to help
the less fortunate develop skills and expertise that will enable local people to identify and
solve local problems (i.e. to help people help themselves). One current approach is the
Countryside Agency's
5
Market Towns Initiative which, " ... not only covers the whole town
and its surrounding countryside [writer's emphasis]

, but enables people to look at a wide
range of connected issues that affect the quality of life." (CA 2001 p1). It is the
relationship between a town and "its" countryside that is of interest in terms of this
research.
Although, understandably, much of the literature concentrates on topics of concern, for
example, rural services (Lievesley and Maynard 1992, RDC 1995, Spilsbury and Lloyd
1998), it is possible that not enough has been done to understand and exploit successful
social and economic structures and relationships between many towns and their
surrounding settlements. It is suggested that, despite the influence of globalization and
technological developments, many of the traditional relationships and service dependencies
between town and country in England remain substantially unchanged6, are fundamentally
strong, have proved to be enduringly resilient, and, perhaps because of this, are sometimes
4
Although Aylesham’s houses were built to a high standard - indoor lavatories and bathrooms, unusual in
many communities in the 1920s/30s, were provided, Bondfield found evidence of poor health among the
families, all of whom had relocated (or been relocated) from other coal mining districts.
5
The writer's employer.
6
Unlike the situation in parts of rural Australia and the USA, where some small country towns appear to be
in terminal decline (Forth 2000), mainly because of the decline in the relative importance of primary
industries (Hamilton, 2001).
17
taken for granted, their success assumed to be a consequence of supportive rural
development policies, rather than inherent strength. For, to quote Medcalf (2001 p20), " ...
globalisation is a paradox, a process that makes a demand upon places to function both
competitively and collaboratively ... individual towns need to develop local distinctiveness
whilst maintaining and promoting a collective regional identity.".
Medcalf's points refer to town to town relationships, but are, it is suggested, equallyvalid
in terms of the relationship between towns and villages that this study aims to explore,
using a questionnaire to discover how far a particular country town's influence as a
service centre extends into the surrounding area, and to establish if this method can
be developed for easy, useful replication in other country towns.
The inspiration for this work is the late Dr Howard Bracey'spractical investigations into
rural life and the role of towns as rural service centres (Bracey 1954). In his obituary of Dr
Bracey, Peter Haggett (1996 p330) wrote that Bracey's" ... work sits squarely in a tradition
of careful, pragmatic reporting on rural change. While the analysis he conducted was not
deeply theoretical by today's standards, his 'Domesday survey' type of approach laid the
careful foundations on which later studies could be built and against which the hectic pace
of rural change could be measured.".
For the research to add value to Howard Bracey'swork, it must do more than simply
replicate his approach. It must take into account both the work of other researchers (Mills
1988, Errington 1994, Courtney, Dawson and Errington 1998, Dawson and Errington
1998a, Dawson and Errington 1998b, Errington and Morris 1998, Courtney and Errington
2000, Stride 2000, Medcalf 2000, OMAI 2001), and the changes that have occurred since
the 1950s. Above all, it should aim to inform the work of today'spractitioners and policy
18
makers7. If it succeeds in this, if it helps to refine and improve regeneration methods, and
to develop policy and practice, then it may contribute to the well-being of the people who
live in, and around, England's towns, and to thevitality and viability of the ancient, and
symbiotic relationship between town and village.
The objectives of this research are:
1. to assess the current suitability of Howard Bracey's approach to the identification
of the "spheres of influence" of country towns;
2. to establish the most appropriate contemporary indicators of service provision for
such towns;
3. to identify a suitable country town for study;
4. to conduct a survey of residents of the study area;
5. to use the resulting data to map the "spheres of influence" of the case-study town;
6. to review the advantages and limitations of the method in determining the
"spheres of influence" of country towns.
The structure of the dissertation takes the reader through a review of the literature (Chapter
2), the reasoning behind the selection of Sherborne, Dorset, as the case-study town
(Chapter 3), the development of the method used to gather the data (Chapter 4), the
presentation of results (Chapter 5) and, finally, in Chapter 6, to conclusions and
recommendations.
7
For example, the Countryside Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Regional
Development Agencies, Local Authorities, Rural Community Councils.
19
Chapter 2 - Literature Review
The story of the past should have the same effect as all great
stories. It should increase wisdom and understanding.
Professor Manning Clark, A Historian's Apprenticeship (1992).
2.1 Background
There is evidence to suggest that interest in both the functions and the "state" of English
country towns extends back to the medieval period. Many of the market towns that we
know today were founded in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when the distance between
markets was governed essentially by the time taken for sellers and buyers to walk to and
from markets. Indeed, Barker (1975) refers (p1.14) to, " ... a thirteenth century lawyer
called Bracton, who argued that six and two thirds miles was the legal spacing between
markets.".
According to Chamberlin (1983), " ... at least 500 new towns were founded in a
tremendous explosion of confidence and energy ... [and as] many again were developed
out of existing villages while those that that had been established before the conquest
received new form, new life." (p78). The Rural White Paper (DETR/MAFF 2000 p74)
refers, in a chapter entitled, "Enhancing the Role of Market Towns", to, " ... over 1,000
[market] towns in England with populations between 2,000 and 20,000.". Although the
number and type of town can be disputed8, it is, nevertheless, extraordinary to think that, in
the year 2000, the number of English country towns was similar to the number that existed
in 1300. Many of these towns have, for many years, been regarded as service centres,
irrespective of whether they have, or indeed, have ever had, traditional agricultural
markets.
8
Ray Green suggests that there are 466 "market towns" in England and Wales, " ... the rest [being] very close
20
Indeed, the term market town is a mixed blessing. For some settlements it is accurate. It is
also a powerful metaphor for a certain type of place and way of life. However, it is also
misleading. Although there are traditional market towns, there are also other types of rural
settlement that neither fit the image, nor perform the classic functions of a market town,
and yet have the potential, either to be service centres, or, for example, centres for tourism
or the arts. Arguments about nomenclature do little to advance our understanding of how
towns function. Perhaps, in order to ensure fair treatment for all, and to avoid confusion,
the term, country town, should be more widely used?
It is, after all, a town's roletoday that is important, irrespective of whether it developed
from a thirteenth century market town, a nineteenth century milling town, or a twentieth
century mining village. For example, present day Dorchester, Dorset's county town, which
developed from its pre-Roman and Roman origins to become Hardy's nineteenth century
Casterbridge, " ... the pole, focus, or nerve-knot of the surrounding country life; differing
from the many manufacturing towns ..." (Hardy 1988 p62), is now primarily an
administrative and light industrial centre, although it retains both its traditional market
town function and scale. Today, Dorchester has a reassuring mix of - not always popular! -
modern development, attractive old buildings, and a continuity based on its long history
which, for many people, seems to represent an ideal form of settlement, neither too
crowded, nor too remote. Certainly, town living is nothing new. According to Christopher
Dyer (1997), almost one in five of the English population lived in towns in the fifteenth
century.
to or a part of Metropolitan England." (Green 2002).

21
In any event, interest in country towns and their role as rural service centres arises
periodically, in Dr Bracey'scase literally from the ashes of past research9, to be addressed
by a new generation of researchers, politicians, and development practitioners, each
seeking, in their own way, the holy grail of vibrant, sustainable, socially and economically
cohesive communities.
Currently, the aim is to develop and apply policies and programmes that will enable people
to help their towns develop in ways that they think appropriate. This approach is designed
to help local people gain the skills and experience needed10 to enable them to analyse their
town's circumstances, identify its, and the surrounding area's, strengths

and weaknesses,
and develop and implement locally relevant improvement plans. This emphasis on the
strategic role of "reinvigorated" local government (DETR/MAFF 2000 p145) and
community development (SCCD 2001), appears to suggest that local people will be given
an increasing say over local affairs. Similarly, the growing interest in Local Strategic
Partnerships (DETR 2000, Nock 2001), and regional accountability (DETR 2001), suggests
that a more flexible, locally-centred, less mechanistic, rule-based and target-driven
approach will be required, with, "...success being judged by users, not governments."
(Caulkin 2002). Current trends suggest that Howard Bracey'spractical ways of finding out
how rural areas work for people - i.e. to measure change by means of surveys of services
and usage patterns - may be about to come of age again.
There is much about current circumstances that Bracey would recognize; in particular,
perhaps, the underlying, unchanging tensions that prompt both interest and action. In the
9
In his obituary of Dr Bracey, Professor Haggett recalls how, when he visited him at his home, he found him
burning his research papers on a garden bonfire. Fortunately Professor Haggett was able to save some of the
paperwork, which is now on file in the Somerset Record Office, Taunton.
10
Commonly referred to as capacity. The learning process is called capacity building.
22
Introduction to his report into the impact of industry on the countryside, Bracey (1963
p18), wrote,
Buses, cars and trains allow town workers to live in the countryside
up to ten miles or so from their work. At the same time, industry is
being squeezed out of the urban areas for various reasons ... . There
never has been a time when villages and country towns have seen so
much building.
The social structure of the rural locality is revolutionized by this

infusion of newcomers with varied experience and different, usually
non-rural, backgrounds. The pronouncements of the village elders
are questioned; some of them find themselves thrown off the parish
council: new groups are set up and new activities organised.
In another quotation from the same source, Bracey (1963 p224) noted,
We have tried ... to bring out the urgency of the problem. What was
until recently considered the natural order of things in the
countryside is changing rapidly with more industry, greater mobility
and an influx of newcomers. In past generations, change, whether
brought about by industry or from other causes, came to the
countryside but slowly. The frightening thing about the present day
is the rate of that change.
However, change is not necessarily bad, for, as Benjamin Disraeli commented in 1867,
"Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant.". Change can bring
benefits. Orwin (1945) noted (p3) how technological change during the years between
1880 and 1940 had worked to the advantage of typical country towns, from which, " ...
most of the dark and narrow courts ... swarming with dirty children ... had disappeared.".
In any event, Howard Bracey spent much of his life trying to understand the nature and
implications of change in rural areas11. During his twenty-five years as a researcher, he
straddled the worlds of economics, geography, and sociology. His interest in country life
and the service functions of rural settlements produced, "the principal early attempt to test
the central-place model in rural environments ... [via] ... extensive and detailed surveys of
11
He was a member of Bristol University's Regional Reconstruction Group, which, in the years following the
Second World War, helped to plan development in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire (Haggett
1996 p329).
23
Wiltshire and Somerset ... [followed by tests of his results in] ... Somerset, Dorset,
Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire ... ." (Cloke 1983 p58).
Bracey understood the weaknesses and difficulties associated with rural service provision,
and attached much importance to the role of town and country planning in raising rural
standards (Cloke 1995 p114). He noticed that certain villages12, with more shops and
services than their size would seem to warrant, acted as service centres (p117). His
categorization of these villages, and mapping of their spheres of influence, influenced, " ...
early rural settlement planning policy." (p118).
Bracey's approach, although practical, was, according to Dr Liz Mills, in her
re-examination of his Somerset survey work, somewhat remote. Her, " ... appraisal of his
work gives the impression that he did not involve himself closely with the planners, nor
with the representatives of the communities he studied." (Mills 1988 p303). Mills suggests
(p303) that, "Perhaps this stance contributed to the planners' selective and partial
adoption of aspects of his work ... ". For example, according to Liz Mills, the
identification of Somerset's Main Villages

13
within each of the county's farming districts,
"... reportedly relied heavily on Bracey's work ..."(p223), for, as Mills noted, " ... the
settlement hierarchy was established with agricultural criteria in mind, though the actual
designation of Main Villages drew on Bracey'ssurvey work, based not on agricultural
services, but mostly on more general retailing." [writer's emphasis

14
] (Mills 1988 p235).
12
He called them English central villages.
13
Those settlements selected for support as local service centres, primarily on the basis of their historical and
current agricultural significance, but also, according to Mills (p224), in terms of population, "... sufficient ...
to give the concentration of revenue to finance the various services within them.", although, according to the
County Council, "The classification [of Main Villages] bears no relationship to population." (p225).
14
In other words, Bracey's work was not primarily about agriculture.
24
The possibility that the planners were somewhat selective in the way that they used
Bracey'swork is apparent in the results of Mills'sanalysis (1988 p269), and suggests a
perhaps unintended consequence of well-intentioned policies designed, as have been many
before them, to maintain an adequate level of service provision in rural areas15. Rural
policy development during the late 1940s and early 1950s was heavily influenced by the
Report of the Committee on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas, commonly known as the
Scott Report (HMSO 1942). The majority view of this Committee was that, "... the
well-being of rural communities and the preservation of rural amenities are dependent
upon [the maintenance of a prosperous agriculture]..." (HMSO 1942 p55)16. It is not
surprising, therefore, that this imperative was reflected by policy makers as they struggled
with the problems of post-war reconstruction.
Dr Mills (p224) suggests that, "It seems that the plans of the 1950s were characterised by a
lack of foresight concerning the changes that the increasing mechanisation of agriculture
would bring.". The presumption that agriculture (seemingly synonymous with the rural
way of life) had to be protected at all costs was central to rural planning. Whilst
understandable in the context of the immediate post-war years, it does appear that, to a
certain extent at least, Bracey's research was used by Somerset's planners

17
to reinforce a
pre-determined policy direction, rather than to inform appropriate policy development.
15
Mills's development of Bracey's approach led to closer working with county council planners, Rural
Community Council staff, and people from the parishes surveyed. Subsequent surveys used Mills's method,
and were, therefore, useful monitors of change.
16
This view was challenged by Professor S. R. Dennison, a member of the Committee. Dennison proposed a
more inclusive approach to rural development, based on a diversified economy, and, whilst accepting the
generalisation that, "... 'rural' is synonymous with 'agriculture', stated
..." that, "... it is by no means always
the case that the village is predominantly dependent on agriculture. There are many areas in which the
countryside has become essentially suburban ..." (HMSO 1942 p110).
17
How ironic then, the dissenting Professor Dennison's statement that, whereas his colleagues, placed their,
"...chief reliance on the maintenance of the traditional agriculture; I prefer to rely on the maintenance of
better standards of Town and Country Planning." (HMSO 1942 p122).
25
In any event, as Paul Cloke explains (1995 p119), Bracey'scentral villages were, given
their existing importance as service centres, selected as "key settlements" suitable for
further development. This was seen, presumably, as a way in which existing strengths
could be built upon, for the benefit of both the service centre and the surrounding
dependent settlements. However, this approach may have served simply to help strengthen
the already well provided for settlements at the expense of poorly provided for outlying
settlements.
Bracey recognized, in the early 1950s, that, "Relatively little is known of the modern
pattern of service centres which has been, and is being, imposed on an earlier medieval
framework of market towns and service territory." (Bracey 1954 p95). Earlier work, by
Van Thunen (1826) and Christaller (1933), had helped to establish a theoretical basis for
understanding both the spatial relationships between settlements, and their forms and
functions18. However, as A. E. Smailes (1946 p88), a contemporary of Bracey's, pointed
out, "The complementary relations of town and country and the complex interactions
between towns and their surrounding regions [in England] require much more recognition
and analytical study than have been accorded them either by geographers or
sociologists.". Smailes also noted (p88) that, "The urban pattern of Britain ... cannot be
fitted into any such ... [as Christaller's]... neat, orderly, and formalistic scheme.". This
point was also made by Heamon (1950) in his study of some of Somerset's towns. He
acknowledged (p313), "... that Christaller is not far wrong in his assessment of the form of
town and country relations.", but also noted (p168) that, "Christaller's method was devised
after studying a comparatively uniform and non-industrialised area in Bavaria, and
cannot, therefore, be expected to give good results when applied to diversified regions
such as Somerset.".
18
According to Dawson (1969), "One of the earliest works treating in a logical fashion the topic of the
location of towns was that by Machiavelli ... ".
26
Whilst Smailes and Heamon readily acknowledged the usefulness of the theorists' work as
an aid towards understanding the nature of the linkages between town and country, they
also recognized the limitations. So too did Howard Bracey, who built on Smailes's
investigations into "spheres of influence", and the physical planning and transport related
work of, respectively, Dickinson (1942), and Green (1949).
Bracey's appro
aches and findings are discussed in 2.2 below.
27
2.2 Post War Attempts to Understand the Role of Rural Service Centres
2.2.1 Introduction to Bracey's Approaches
Dr Bracey, by means of questionnaires and surveys of local people, attempted to identify
and quantify local services, and to, " ... find out which towns were used for what services"
(Bracey 1954 p96).
Two approaches were tried. The "direct count" method, which involved counting the
number and type of shops, services and professions in a town, and the "indirect count", in
which selected people in villages were asked which towns they used for which services.
The former was found to be useful in communities with populations of less than 2000.
However, in larger towns, the method proved unwieldy and unreliable, and was abandoned
in favour of the indirect method, which measured the importance of a town as a rural
service centre by noting which villages used which town's services. As Bracey (1953 p96)
observed, "One village may use different towns for different services and indeed different
towns for the same service.". At its simplest, therefore, this approach, based on a detailed
analysis of questionnaires sent to, "head-teachers of schools, chairmen of parish councils,
village clergymen19 and other responsible persons" (p96), gave an indication both of a
town's importance and the extent of its influence. The result, which Bracey admitted was
not perfect, was the Index of Centrality. The method used to calculate the Index for a
particular town was essentially simple, but the process was complicated by the volume of
data, difficulties associated with questionnaire design, and the need to conduct
comprehensive, carefully controlled surveys in many settlements.
19
Similarly, according to Barker (1975 Appendix 1 p7), much of the information contained in Kelly's
Directories was also obtained by local clergy.
28
In essence, each service was allotted one point. If one village used one town for a
particular service, then one point was awarded to that town. If two towns were used by the
village, for one service, then each town was given half a point. The number of points
allocated to each town were added together to give an overall score. In this way, a town's
importance to its surrounding settlements was gauged - and expressed as its Index of
Centrality. Similarly, the scores allocated by each village to different towns gave an
indication of the extent to which competing towns were used by a particular village
(Bracey 1954 p97). The results, when mapped, indicate the extent of a town's influence for
each of the services surveyed. Examples of some of these areas of influence, which differ
by service type, are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
Bracey's work revealed that:
y a town's influence over its surrounding area diminishes with distance, and varies
with service type;
y other factors, such as the capacity and nearness of other towns and settlements,
and local geography (e.g. hills, rivers), also play a part in determining a town's
spatial influence20.
20
A finding apparent not only from Bracey's work in England, but also from application of his basic method
in New Zealand (Fookes 1974).
29
Figure 1
Shopping Areas of Eight Somerset Towns and Part of Bristol21
(Bracey 1954 p102)
21
The boundaries enclose all places taking five out of the following seven services from the town:
gentlemen's outfitting, ladies' outfitting, footwear, hardware goods, electrical goods, radios, furniture.
30
Figure 2
Professional Service Area of Eight Somerset Towns and Part of Bristol22

(Bracey 1954 p103)
22
The boundaries enclose all places taking five out of the following eight services from the town: doctor,
dentist, optician, dispensing chemist, bank, solicitor, chartered accountant, auctioneer.
31
2.2.2 Bracey's Findings
It should be noted that, although Bracey's team sent out a large number of questionnaires
overall, only a small number were sent to each settlement, and these to people from,
essentially, the professional classes. Similarly, the questionnaires were, of necessity,
limited in their coverage. Bracey selected fifteen services23 for inclusion in the Index of
Centrality, giving each settlement a total of fifteen points to be, " ... credited to one town,
or distributed between several" (Bracey 1954 p97). Some of the information collected
(e.g. retail deliveries of coal, laundry etc.) was excluded from the Index because of the
work's emphasis on, "places commonly visited". Later, Bracey reduced the number of
services surveyed to four (chemist, bank, shopping, cinema - i.e. each parish was given
four points to award to the various centres commonly visited). He applied the same
scoring method that he used for fifteen services, and discovered that the results obtained
were similar (the ten "top" service centres in his Somerset survey maintained their
positions relative to one another), and were, according to Bracey, within a safe margin of
error of 4-5% (p105).
Whilst not comprehensive in its coverage of services, and somewhat exclusive in terms of
the people surveyed, Bracey's surveys were extensive in their geographical coverage. His
Somerset survey has proved to be influential in planning terms (2.1 refers), both explicitly
(Whitelaw 1962, Cloke 1995), and implicitly (Green 1966) and also, possibly, for too long
(CA 2001b p24)24. Nevertheless, his work has been enduringly useful as a source of
information for succeeding generations of researchers (Mills 1988, Haggett 1990).
23
Seven kinds of shops, and eight professions, namely:-
Shops: gents' outfitting, ladies' outfitting, boots and shoes, hardware, electrical, radio, furniture.
Medical services: doctor, dentist, optician, dispensing chemist.
Other professional services: bank, solicitor, chartered accountant, auctioneer.
24
This report discusses evidence from five local authority sources which showed that, " ... adding new
development to larger settlements with greater ranges of services and facilities did not support those services
and facilities, which continued to decline." (p24).
32
According to Paul Cloke (1995 p119), "Bracey's work ... was crucial both empirically and
conceptually to the rural planning of his day and, by implication, to rural planning over
much of the ensuing forty years since the key settlement model (often under other names)
has continued to take centre stage in the planning strategies employed in most areas of
rural Britain.".
Bracey recognized that the diverse nature of rural life meant that the results of his Somerset
survey could not simply be extrapolated to other counties. Using an amended version of
the shortened, four services, survey referred to above, he analysed returns25 from Wiltshire,
Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Dorset (Bracey 1953). The four - amended -
service categories surveyed were:
y medical supplies and services;
y business professions;
y shopping;
y entertainment26.
In total, seventy towns from the counties surveyed scored more than 25 points27 (i.e. an
Index of Centrality of 25, where the Index number is simply the sum of the scores for each
of the four services), and were categorized as service centres. Those towns with, " ...
scores for shopping higher than for professions" (Bracey 1953 p43) were accorded the
status of higher service centres; the remainder were classified as lower service
centres28.
25
Obtained from the Geographical Association's,Spheres of Influence Enquiry, of which Bracey was a
member.
26
The changes reflected the fact that people tended to visit the same town for all their medical/health-related
needs (hence medical services, rather than chemist), that where there was a bank, there were generally other
business professionals, and that entertainment was a more broadly useful term than, e.g., cinema.
27
Ranging from Street and Castle Cary - both in Somerset - with 25 and 26 points respectively, to Taunton,
Somerset (284 points).
28
It can be seen from Figures 1 and 2 that whereas the shopping areas frequently overlap, the professional
areas do so only infrequently; i.e. the influence of the towns as shopping centres exceeds their influence as
service centres for the professions, hence their status, in Bracey's view, as higher service centres (Mills 1988
p73).
33
Bracey's studies revealed, amongst other things,
" ... that approximately one-half of the total area of the six counties
[was] still served for a majority of ordinary needs by a relatively
large number of smaller country towns, or by towns which possess
specializations other than rural services; for example, the industrial
towns, the seaside towns ... provide some services for country
people. ... This is not to say that larger centers [sic] are not used
regularly or at all, but simply that frequent visits are not made to
them for the satisfaction of ordinary needs." (Bracey 1953 p47).
The "larger centers [sic]" (i.e. higher service centres) referred to by Bracey in the quotation
above are those listed in Figure 3 (Bracey 1953 p39). His "smaller country towns" (lower
service centres - i.e. those with scores for shopping lower than professional services) are
listed in Figure 4 (Bracey 1953 p40). For interest and completeness, the tables contain data
relating to all the towns surveyed.
34
Service Scores Rural
Component of
Medical Centrality
Service Centre Business
Supplies & Shopping Entertainment (sum of the 4
Professions
services service
scores)
Taunton 56 58 84 86 284
Dorchester 70 70 73 54 267
Salisbury 44 56 91 73 264
Yeovil 50 44 76 91 261
Newbury 52 60 68 62 242
Banbury 45 54 61 50 210
Oxford 34 45 60 50 189
Andover 42 46 48 49 185
Bridgwater 40 42 46 44 172
Basingstoke 38 38 52 43 171
Devizes 34 39 55 42 170
Reading 24 32 50 50 156
Winchester 34 33 47 40 154
Swindon 21 27 46 53 147
Blandford 31 30 33 37 131
Bath 24 29 41 36 130
Chippenham 29 30 36 33 128
Bridport 27 25 35 32 119
Frome 25 25 27 30 107
Petersfield 18 19 37 27 101
Witney 22 20 32 23 97
Sherborne 24 22 28 23 97
Wimborne Minster 21 28 23 23 95
Alton 24 22 24 22 92
Minehead 17 16 21 29 83
Trowbridge 16 16 26 23 81
Figure 3
Higher District Centres: Scores for Services and Rural Component of Centrality
(Bracey 1953 p39)
35
Service Scores Rural
Component of
Centrality
Centre
Medical (sum of the 4
Business
Supplies & Shopping Entertainment service
Professions
Services scores)
Bicester 23 23 18 18 82
Wantage 22 22 19 19 82
Thame 22 22 21 13 78
Shaftesbury 19 19 19 21 78
Faringdon 21 19 14 23 77
Chipping Norton 18 16 17 23 74
Marlborough 19 20 17 12 68
Malmesbury 20 19 13 16 68
Warminster 20 18 12 17 67
Weston-Super-Mare 10 8 21 23 62
Southampton 5 6 29 20 60
Wells 14 14 17 15 60
Wincanton 15 14 12 19 60
Abingdon 16 14 16 13 59
Henley 14 14 13 15 56
Weymouth 12 12 14 17 55
Pewsey 16 15 5 19 55
Sturminster Newton 18 21 16 - 55
Ilminster 14 19 11 10 54
Wareham 13 17 14 18 62
Shepton Mallet 13 14 10 15 52
Calne 15 15 9 12 51
Wallingford 11 14 12 13 50
Crewkerne 12 12 12 14 50
Chard 12 12 11 12 47
Romsey 13 13 10 10 46
Wellington 14 11 9 23 57
Didcot 11 9 8 12 40
Watlington 13 11 5 11 40
Fareham 2 6 15 14 37
Ringwood 6 7 14 10 37
Norton-Radstock 8 11 4 12 35
Burnham-on-Sea 9 8 8 8 33
New Alresford 13 11 2 8 34
Maidenhead 7 8 9 8 32
Hungerford 11 7 6 6 30
Glastonbury 8 8 8 5 29
Burford 11 12 2 3 28
Gillingham 7 9 5 7 28
Lymington 7 4 10 6 27
Windsor 5 6 9 6 26
Fordingbridge 8 7 5 6 26
Castle Cary 7 6 6 7 26
Street 9 4 4 8 25
Figure 4
Lower District Centres: Scores for Services and Rural Component of Centrality
(Bracey 1953 p40)
36
Together, in the early 1950s, the settlements listed in Figures 3 and 4 met, " ... a majority
of ordinary needs...", thereby challenging the then current general assumption, " ... that
since 1920 the whole of the countryside has been gradually drawn into the net of a few big
shopping centers [sic] ... " (Bracey 1953 p47). Reflection and intuition suggest that,
although for the majority of the population personal mobility and consumer choice have
increased significantly since the 1950s, visits to major regional centres in the south west
(e.g. Bath, Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter, Salisbury, and Swindon) are still made relatively
infrequently, in order to satisfy, as Bracey noted, " ... very special needs, obtained on very
occasional visits." (p47). The majority of visits to local towns are for everyday needs such
as education, primary health care, and shopping. For example, C.B. Hillier Parker's
examination of the impact of foodstore development on country towns and district centres,
" ... confirmed the importance of food shopping in smaller towns." (DETR 1998 p17).
These relative constants in people's lives go some way to explain why, despite
long-standing concern about rural decline, everyday needs in rural England are satisfied in
ways that have changed remarkably little. As Bracey wrote (1962 p180), "I see no reason
why the village shop and the central village ... should not be part of the rural way of life in
twenty or even fifty years time ... ". At about the same time, Green (1966 p2) noted that, “
... life in most parts of the countryside has changed so much that the social and economic
conditions of the 1920’s would not be tolerated by most farmers, farmworkers or their
families today.”, before commenting (p20) that, “The inhabitants of hamlets and farms
looked to the village for most of their needs, and what could not be obtained in the village
was usually obtainable in the nearest market town.”. In many ways things are much the
same today, in that, "Most people's lives are very local. ... most everydayjourneys take
place within a radius of eight or nine miles." (Donovan, Pilch, & Rubenstein 2002 p11)29.
29
Donovan et. al. predict, "... that while the number of trips that people take will remain stable, people will
continue to travel further on average." (p12).
37
Then, as now, it was access to some form of transport (Cullinane and Stokes 1998, Gray
2001), that caused most concern.
The results of Bracey's wider study (i.e. his survey of Somerset, together with the results of
the five county survey) enabled him and his colleagues to plot the spatial influence of the
service centres. These results, interestingly, closely mirrored those obtained from a similar
exercise in the state of Wisconsin, USA (Brush & Bracey 1955). Essentially, the mean
distance between all the higher district centres surveyed in England and the United States
was 21 miles; the mean distance of all lower district centres from centres of comparable
distance was 8 miles in England, and 9.9 miles in the Wisconsin study.
2.2.3 Bracey's Conclusions and Implications for Future Work
Bracey concluded that whilst central-place theory appeared to hold good in the rural areas
he and his colleagues surveyed in rural England and Wisconsin,
" ... a satisfactory estimate of total centrality has first to be devised

and, from preliminary analyses carried out with census of
occupation figures, it seems likely that this will eventually be done
by assessment of the number of people engaged in providing certain
services in excess of the number needed to serve the
locally-resident30. When such estimations of centrality become
possible on a national scale the measurement of the rural
component of centrality [described by Bracey] should provide a
means of making useful local checks on assessments based on
less-laborious field work". (Bracey 1953 p50).
It is regrettable that Bracey's hopes for national estimations of centrality have come to
nothing, because many of the service-related questions that Bracey asked are still relevant,
as, it is suggested, is his practical, methodical approach. For example, the Countryside
Agency's (CA) towns and villages programmes are concerned with rural services, and the
30
Presumably this means that the greater the number of excess services (i.e. services over and above those
needed to sustain the settlement alone), the greater the likely - implied or actual - degree of centrality.
Interestingly, a recent attempt (Shepherd 2003 p2) to classify country towns used an, "... above average
number of shops/1000 residents", as one of the criteria for a "service hub".
38
Rural Services Surveys produced by the Rural Development Commission continue to be
published by the Countryside Agency (CA 2001c). The literature relating to country towns
alone is substantial. A review conducted for the CA (ERM 2000) contains more than 115
references, all of which were written between 1986 and 2000. In addition, the document
refers to related web sites, bibliographies, research projects, and journal articles.
References are also made to five case studies based on the experiences of people working
in, and for, their towns. The need for regular monitoring of the ways in which rural service
centres "work" seems obvious. Revealingly, Dr Mills (1988 p2) noted that,
One of the factors contributing to the difficulty ... [about why it is

that some rural service centres grow and some decline] ... is that
studies of changes in rural settlements have been conducted over
variable and generally rather short periods of time (5 to 10 years is
typical). Longer run studies demand data that are rarely available
in a consistent and comparable form. But as the tradition of
research into rural areas grows, so it is now becoming possible for
the researchers of one generation to call upon the survey findings of
those who preceded them.
It is frustrating to note that the data to which Mills refers are still not available in a
consistent and comparable form. The relatively limited review of the literature undertaken
as part of this research revealed a continuing, but ad hoc approach; a reflection perhaps of
the topic's inherent complexity, different research interests and priorities and, in this
information rich age, the surprising ease with which knowledge of past research can be
lost.
Such complications are not new. Dickenson (1942 p181), wrote:
“This field of research has developed tardily in Britain ... owing to the lack
of a clear perception of the main issues involved and of a systematic attack
upon them; of a central co-ordination and drive; and of the necessary
published data of the distributive trades, rail and road traffic data by small
areas, and traffic density maps, upon which accurate studies of this
character must be based; ... Today one hears on all hands of planning and
the launching of research on economic and social surveys of regions and
cities, which shall serve as a basis of such planning. All specialists seem to
be working towards the same goal from different points of view. In true
British tradition, the problem is not looked at as a whole and attacked
39
systematically; but is approached empirically, from special points of view in
connexion with some particular problem ...” .
It appears, therefore, that the impact of Bracey's work, and that of his contemporaries, such
as Smailes, and even of his successors (e.g. Mills 1988, Medcalf 2000) has not perhaps
been as great as it might have been in informing the development of administrative systems
that reflect the way that life is lived today, rather than, for example, the way life was in the
1890s, when modern local government was established, and the late 1940s, when the
National Health Service and post-war secondary education provision was developed. For,
as Smailes noted in his book, The Geography of Towns (Smailes 1966), in which he both
refers to Bracey's work (pp136-142), and discusses the anomalous nature of administrative
district boundaries when considered in terms of areas of influence,
"Administrative boundaries largely belong to an age before

motor-transport and they ill fit the present-day facts of social
geography. Before a satisfactory and comprehensive solution of the
pressing problem of reform of areas in British local government can
be achieved, however, accurate information about the current social
and economic groupings is required." (Smailes 1966 p146).
Somewhat damningly, Smailes further noted (p147) that the then local authority system,
"... divorces towns from country along artificial and arbitrary lines of cleavage, inflicting
upon British local government the curse of a gnawing struggle between urban and rural
authorities.". He also suggested that to find an example of the opposite approach (i.e.
deliberate association of rural territories with urban centres) one had to go back to the work
of the Poor Law Unions which, in the 1830s, established groups of parishes that "crossed"
county boundaries, suggesting that, even then, "much less today, did these [local authority]
boundaries correspond to natural divisions." (p148), a point reinforced by Clark and
Murfin (1995 p158) who, in a discussion about the - forced - Union between the town of
Maidstone, in Kent, and the nearby village of Coxheath, note that, “ ... the town reacted
with dismay [in 1836] to its incorporation with those rural parishes which already formed
40
Coxheath Union.”, arguing that, "... a trading town could not work efficiently in concert
with agricultural parishes."31. Despite major reorganizations of local government in
197432 and 199733, many local authority and other administrative boundaries are broadly
similar to those referred to by Professor Smailes, who noted that,
Relations between towns and surrounding area are essentially fluid

... . Urban fields do not ... divide the country into mutually exclusive
parcels like administrative units. But that does not mean that they
are not relevant for the administrative structures, which ought to
conform as far as is possible with the realities of community life."
(Smailes 1966 p146).
It seems unlikely that the national estimations of centrality that Bracey hoped for will be
made in the near future. Similarly, administrative boundaries are likely to remain fixed and
relatively arbitrary (by definition they exist for administrative purposes, and so are
unlikely, given current political and bureaucratic structures, to be changed to reflect the,
realties of community life, to which Smailes referred). Therefore, the problems associated
with such "fixtures", are also likely to remain34.
It follows that, if only to minimise, or better understand these problems, there is a need, as
confirmed to the writer by officers from West Dorset District Council (de Iongh 2002) and
Dorset County Council (Walsh 2002), to continue to develop, and use, practical methods of
the type employed by Bracey and his contemporaries and successors. If a suitably simple,
reliable approach can be developed, it should be possible to obtain, relatively frequently, in
a controlled and consistent way, from the most local - town and village - sources, up to
date survey information about rural services, centrality, and the changing nature of
settlement interrelationships. Dr Mills (1988 p301), observing that, " ... there have been
31
It must be pointed out that that there were concerns about the level of representation on the Board -
Maidstone was represented by two Guardians, the same as other parishes, even though the town's,"...
population was greater than that of all the other parishes put together." (Clark and Murfin 1995 p158).
32
When Rural and Urban District Councils were replaced by larger District and Borough Councils.
33
Although in Dorset, in which this research study took place, the historic rural shire county remained -
geographically - largely unaffected, the mainly urban Boroughs of Poole and Bournemouth became Unitary
Authorities.
34
Although, perhaps not - there is some evidence of cross-border collaboration in the fields of mental health
and waste disposal (Dean 2003).
41
few attempts empirically to examine in detail the links between counterurbanisation and
service provision.", noted that, "Such an examination ideally requires time series data on
both population characteristics and services, so as to monitor changes over a lengthy
period, data which are in practice not available.".
Chapter 3 explains how, and why, the case study town, Sherborne, in Dorset, was chosen.
42
Chapter 3 The Selection of the Case Study Town
3.1 Introduction
To enable some comparisons to be made with Bracey's original results, the survey on
which this research is based was conducted in Sherborne, Dorset, one of the towns
included in Bracey's "six county" analysis (Bracey 1953). In order to overcome the
problems of remoteness that Liz Mills suggested might have hindered Bracey's attempts to
influence policy (Mills 1988 p303), local people and central and local government officers
were involved, albeit in an informal way, in the development, conduct and assessment of
the method, the questionnaire and the survey.
3.2 Why Sherborne?
Sherborne is interesting because of its location and relationship to other towns, its history
and appearance (it is typical of a traditional southern English market town), and its
population which, at 9,64035 is approximately in the middle of the 2,000 to 20,000
population band for market towns quoted in the Rural White Paper (DETR/MAFF 2000
p74). The town also featured in Bracey's studies. Finally, the writer, who has both lived
and worked in the area since 1978, investigated the changes in service provision between
1953 and 1999 in, and around, three Dorset villages close to Sherborne (Morris 2000).
This study noted (p15) that,
"Of the three towns [Sherborne, Dorchester and Yeovil], Sherborne

is the closest to the [survey] area, the easiest to reach, contains the
area's main (Abbey) church, and is the home of the Digby family,
major landowners who have been resident since the 17th century,
and whose estate has holdings in the area (as does that of the
nearby, similarly long-established, Strangways Estate of Evershot).
That the area is orientated towards Sherborne is indicated by the
35
Mid-year population estimates, 2000 (DCC 2003).
43
following quote from a local history about the village of Holnest
(Coffin, 1984), which, although just outside the study area, looks to
Sherborne for the same reasons, namely that the parishes are, " ... in
the petty sessional division, hundred and union of Sherborne, Rural
Deanery of Shaftesbury, Archdeaconry of Dorset, and Diocese of
Salisbury."
There are also links to Sherborne via the administrative

arrangements governing health and education services. The local
surgery and primary school ... both of which serve the case study
settlements, "feed" Sherborne's hospital and secondary school
respectively.
Therefore, for geographical, historical, trade and administrative -

civil and ecclesiastical - reasons, the people who live in the case
study area tend to regard Sherborne as "their" town.".
Sherborne appears, therefore, to occupy a distinct niche as a service centre within Dorset's
settlement hierarchy. In addition, the town's links with outlying villages appear to be
strong, based as they are on convenience, organizational structures, and history. Further
interest in the study area's potential to inform arises, as noted in the 1940s and 1950s by
Lipman (1952) and Green (1952), from Sherborne's location close to a county boundary,
and its relationships with two other towns included in Bracey's analysis, Dorchester and
Yeovil36 (Appendix 1). It is for these reasons37 - the town's roles, connections, and location
- that Sherborne was selected for the study.
3.3 Sherborne - a Pen Portrait
"Sherborne - the town of the ... clear brook - lies pleasantly at the
foot of a green slope where it glides into the valley of the [River]
Yeo. ... The town first emerges into the light of history as the capital
of Newer Wessex ... . This fair West Country included Dorset and
Somerset, together with the land of Malmesbury. Of all of it the city
of the clear brook was the capital." (Treves 1935 p306).
36
The distance between Sherborne and Yeovil is, at six miles, much less than the mean of 21 miles between
Bracey's Higher Service Centres (2.2.2 above refers).
37
In the interests of completeness it should be pointed out that the writer has lived in the area since 1978, and
was a Governor of the local primary and secondary schools attended by his children.
44
In the eighth century, for a few years, Sherborne was the capital of Wessex (Wildman 1902
p3), a role partly attributed to its location. The town was bounded to the east by,
"Westwood ... the great forest which divided Wessex into two parts ... " (Wildman p3), by
lower lying land to the north and west, and by rivers and the steep scarp face of the Dorset
Heights to the south. Thus, in the days when dangers lay to the east and south from
marauding Danes, Sherborne was well protected by nature, and sufficiently far from both
the English and Bristol Channels to ensure a fair degree of safety. However, its early
importance did not last. The Domesday Survey gave, " ... no indication of urban status ...
and William of Malmesbury circa 1125 called Sherborne a small village ... " (Penn 1980
pp94). Nevertheless, the town's ecclesiastical significance, whilst somewhat diminished,
has continued to the present day (it is a Bishopric in the Diocese of Salisbury), and the
Vicar of Sherborne is also the Rural Dean for the Dorset villages that lie to the east and
south of the towns (Somerset lies within the Diocese of Bath and Wells). The early
geographical influences are still evident. The main road and rail routes run east to west,
and the Dorset Heights still act as a very obvious physical southern boundary, if not, in
today's car owning society, the significant impediment to travel that they must once have
been.
The town's estimated population (DCC 2003) in 2000 (9,640) is similar to that recorded in
the sixteenth century. In the intervening years the population has changed in response to
changes in the wider economy and local circumstances, but the town's role, as a centre of
education, a market town, and a staging post, both on the main roads from London to
Exeter (now the A30), and Weymouth to Bristol (the A352), and, subsequently, on the
Salisbury to Exeter Railway, and the nearby Bristol to Weymouth Railway, has changed
relatively little over the centuries. Sherborne's "place" in North Dorset, close to the
Somerset border can be seen in Figure 5.
45
Figure 5
Ordnance Survey Map of the Sherborne Area38
38
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery
Office, © Crown Copyright NC/03/2322.
46
3.4 Sherborne's Sphere(s) of Influence
The map in Figure 6 illustrates (blue outline) Sherborne's (Abbey's) sphere immediate
of
influence prior to 1836 (the other areas outlined in blue also came within Sherborne's
jurisdiction). The dates associated with each of the parishes shown on the map (e.g.
Thornford - 1676, Folke - 1538) are the earliest known years for which the first parish
records are available. The parishes themselves, established as formal entities by the
Church, are much older (Barker 2001).
Figure 7 illustrates, by way of a further example of a "Sherborne hinterland", the area
covered by the town's (Poor Law) Union, together with the county's eleven other Unions.
Whilst clearly not identical to the area defined in Figure 6, it is recognizably similar, as are
the four postal areas illustrated in Figure 8 (Barker 1975), and the transport hinterland
identified by Green (1949)39 illustrated in Figure 9. It is interesting to note that, although
many of the larger postal districts change over time, Sherborne's remains relatively
unchanged until sometime between 1889 and 1939, when Yeovil's district appears to have
gained ground, both in the north of Sherborne's area, and via an incursion from the west
(possibly along the route of the present day A37, Yeovil to Dorchester road). Overall,
however, the "shape" and size of the four postal service districts are similar to the
ecclesiastical and Union areas shown in Figures 6 and 7.
Although it has not been possible to identify the parishes and settlements associated with
all of the areas shown in the Figures 6 to 9, Table 1 identifies both the known parishes and
settlements associated with some of the areas, the parishes and settlements within
Sherborne's secondary school's catchment

area, and the distances and travel times between
39
Green showed that Sherborne's "transport hinterland" appears to be "squeezed" by both Yeovil's and
Dorchester's spheres of influence (although the area served by Sherborne appears similar to those served by
the similar sized towns of Blandford and Shaftesbury - possibly, in part at least, at Wincanton's expense!).
47
each parish and Sherborne40. It should be noted that, in total, 42 settlements are associated
with the four areas listed in Table 1. The average number of settlements associated with
Sherborne, based on the information contained in Tables 1 and 2 is approximately 24. The
average distance between town and village is 5.3 miles41 (8.5 km.). These figures accord
well with a quotation from the 1851 census (Howkins 1991 p29) about the relationships
between villages and markets,
"To the 21 preceding 'villages' there is on average a town, which stands in

the midst of 110 square miles of country, equivalent to a square of 10 ½
miles to the side, a circle having a radius of nearly 6 miles; so that the
population of the country around is, on average, about 4 miles from the
centre.".
Therefore, given Sherborne Abbey's role as a very long-standing ecclesiastical centre
of power and influence over the parishes lying within the area outlined in blue in
Figure 6, and the similarity of the areas defined in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9, it seems
reasonable, for the purposes of this research, to regard the settlements listed in Table
1, the majority of which lie within the town's secondary school's catchment area, as
the "reference area" against which the town's current sphere of influence can be
most effectively gauged.
The development of the method used to find out how Sherborne's role has changed since
Bracey's survey in the 1950s, and to determine the extent of the town's influence over the
surrounding area, is explained in Chapter 4.
40
Distances and times were calculated using a software package called Focus Routefinder set for "fastest
route", except where this involved a journey through Yeovil, when the settings were switched to "shortest
route" (i.e. to avoid traffic congestion through Yeovil - something which most locals would normally do).
41
The average travel time between Sherborne and the villages is 14 minutes.
48
Figure 6
Sherborne's Early Ecclesiastical Sphere of Influence (pre-1836)42

(Humphrey-Smith 1984)
42
This map, from a series of parish maps of the counties of England, Scotland and Wales, appears by kind
permission of Cecil Humphrey-Smith and the Trustees of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.
49
Figure 7
Dorset's Twelve (Poor Law) Unions

(DCC 1980 p7)
50
Figure 8
Postal Service Areas, 1861 to 1939

(Barker 1975)
51
Figure 9
"Hinterlands" of Motor-Bus Centres

(Green 1949)
52
Postal
Distance/Time Area, Gryphon
From Sherborne Ecclesiastical
Name of Sherborne Union 2002 School
(centre to centre) Area (pre-1836)
Parish/Settlement (1885) (Royal Catchment
(miles/mins) (Humphrey-
(42 in total) (Kelly 1885) Mail Area
Smith 1984)
2002) (GS 2002)
Batcombe 8/23
Beer Hackett 5/15
Bishops Caundle 5/11
Bradford Abbas 5/12
Buckland Newton 9/19
Caundle Marsh 3.5/9
Charlton
Horethorne 5/13
(Somerset)
Chetnole 7/22
Clifton Maybank 5.5/14
Folke 3.5/8
Glanvilles Wootton 6.3/13
Goathill 3.8/8
Haydon 4.6/11
Hermitage 8.3/20
Hilfield 8.7/25
Holnest 4.7/10
Holwell 7.7/19
Leigh 6.3/17
Leweston 3.5/8
Lillington 3.7/10
Longburton 3.4/8
Marston Magna 4.9/12
Melbury Bubb 9.4/31
Melbury Osmund 8.5/27
Melbury Sampford 12.7/39
Middlemarsh 7/16
Milborne Port Unofficially - MP
(Somerset)
2.7/5 children attend the
school..
Nether Compton 3/9
North Wootton 2.9/6
Oborne 0.9/2
Over Compton 3.4/6
Poyntington 2.3/6
Rimpton 3.4/11
Ryme Intrinseca 6.5/21
Sandford Orcas 3.7/10
Sherborne (inc.
Castleton)
0/0
Stockwood 8.9/30
Stourton Caundle 6.3/14
Purse Caundle 4.2/8
Thornford 3.6/10
Trent 3.1/9
Yetminster 6.8/20
Average Distance
(miles) / time 5.3/14 ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
(minutes):
Number of Settlements: 20 30 14 35
Table 1
Lists of Settlements Within Various of Sherborne's Service Areas/Spheres of
Influence
53
Chapter 4 Developing the Method
4.1 Introduction
Indicators of service provision used in previous research are identified and discussed.
Their relevance to this study is considered and seventeen services are selected for use in the
survey associated with this research.
4.2 Selecting the Survey Indicators of Service Provision
In addition to the services surveyed by Bracey (Chapter 2), Smailes (1966 Ch.7) listed the
following as desirable indicators of service provision43 appropriate to small towns:
y Secondary schools44;
y Hospitals;
y Methodist chapels (i.e. on the basis of its organization along circuit - i.e. district - rather
than parish, lines);
y newspaper circulation;
y Employment-related information45;
y Livestock and fat stock market areas;
y Retail deliveries to the areas "outside" towns;
y Railway season ticket sales and "workmen's ticket issues";
y Bus timetables as a measure of accessibility of towns from outlying areas.
43
Smailes's discussion makes the distinction between what was possible at the time he wrote (e.g. retail
deliveries to a town's service area), and what was desirable (e.g. direct information about the areas from
which visitors to theatres, cinemas, football matches etc. were drawn).
44
Smailes used the presence of universities and, " ... more highly centralised institutions ... " as, " ...
symbols of high urban rank.".
45
Smailes noted that none of the then available statistics from, e.g., the Census, the Board of Trade, and the
Ministries of Labour and National Insurance, enabled researchers, "to establish the relationship between
workplaces and workers' homes.".
54
It should be noted that Smailes also recognized the importance of less tangible, qualitative
indicators of service provision relating to people's perceptions of "their" home area. In
addition to recognizing that towns are centres for employment, distribution (of goods and
services), transport, education, health, entertainment and culture, he noted their importance
as, " ... crystallising points of regional and district feeling and thought."46. This last point
is interesting, given the current determination to recognize, " ... the diversity and local
distinctiveness of the countryside." (DETR/MAFF 2000 p11), and governmental
commitment to ensure that, "Market towns stay at the heart of life in rural England."
(Wakeford 2001).
Nevertheless, quantitative indicators have been the most commonly used survey tools, and
a variety of service groups have been used since the end of the Second World War. For
example, a survey of urban spheres of influence conducted in 1949 (Smailes 1966 p136)
for the Geographical Association47, posed questions relating to nine service groups.
Bracey initially selected fifteen services for his Somerset survey in the early 1950s,
subsequently reducing these to four (2.2 refers)48.
The services selected for use in these surveys, together with those used during other
surveys, are listed, for ease of reference, in Table 4, which illustrates, for comparative
purposes:
y indicators of service provision relating to services and transport referred to in the Rural
White Paper (DETR/MAFF 2000);
y indicators of service provision relating to work done in the 1940s (Geographers'
Association) and 1950s (Bracey's "fifteen" and "four" service surveys);

46
Something which, perhaps, we would refer to today as, local distinctiveness or character.
47
According to Smailes, "Although the data were collected for most counties in England and later for
several counties of Scotland it [was] never possible to complete its thorough mapping and analysis, ... ".
48
In a project designed to discover reliable indicators of market town characteristics and vulnerability (ERM
2001 p18), four indicators were selected: "at least five shops; at least one bank, building society or solicitor;
a total provision of shops above 2.5 per thousand [population]; a jobs to economically active residents ratio
above 0.5.".
55
y five "basic" - "Bracey Revisited" - village services considered by Mills (1988 p265)
and reported on by Hagget and Morgan (1982 p17);
y indicators of service provision used in more recent surveys (Dawson and Errington
1998, Medcalf 2000, Green 2001, OMAI 2001, Shepherd 2003);
y the composite list of village services referred to by Morris (2000 p43) in his study of
changes in village services in three West Dorset villages since 195049 (these services
were selected on the basis of their inclusion in at least two of three source surveys
reviewed by Morris).
The village services have been included because they represent elements in a hierarchy of
necessary services; i.e. people look to villages for local services (e.g. medical centre,
primary school, village shop, sub-post office), and to their local town(s) for services such
as hospitals and secondary schools. These services, upon which people depend for their
food, their money, their health and their education, are also - and not surprisingly - those
considered by the Countryside Agency (CA 2001d), to be of greatest importance to rural
dwellers.
The appearance, therefore, of the same service types in the majority of the columns in
Table 2 suggests that these are, and have been for many years, the most important services.
For this reason they are considered to be suitable headings around which to structure the
survey questionnaire (note, however, that two of these services, Education and Transport,
have not been included for the reasons explained in Appendix 2).
49
Surveys conducted by Dorset County Council, Dorset Community Action (Dorset's Rural Community
Council), and the Rural Development Commission's Rural Services Surveys.
56
Therefore, the services shown against the shaded background in Table 2 have been
selected for this study. They have been incorporated into the questionnaire under
seventeen general headings50, within the following broad categories (4.4 below
refers):-
z medical
z professional services
z retail services
z leisure
50
This is similar to Bracey's approach in that respondents have, in effect, seventeen "points" to award to a
particular service centre.
57
Surveys Village Services
Rural White
Paper "Settlement
Geographers' Bracey's 4 Bude & R J Green's Dorset
Indicators Bracey's 15 "Wiltshire 5 Hierarchy Service Service Hubs Bracey
Association Services Liskeard Studies "Minimum Study
(DETR/MAFF Services (1950s) Towns" Study List" Classification Revisited
Survey (1949) (1950s) (Dawson & Service List" (Morris
2000) (Bracey 1954) (Medcalf 2000) (OMAI/Alan Turner (Shepherd 2003) (Mills 1988)
(Smailes 1966) (Bracey 1954) Errington 1998) (Green 2001) 2000)
2001)
Dispensing
chemist Pharmacy Surgeries
Pharmacist Dentists' surgery Doctor's
GP surgeries Doctor Chemist Medical facilities Dentists' surgery Doctor's surgery Dispensaries
Doctor Doctors' surgery surgery
Dentist Doctors' surgery Chemists
Optician
Bank Bank
Financial Services
Cash Point Chartered Bank/Building Society Bank/Building
Bank Legal Services Post Office Post Office
Post Office accountant Solicitor Post Office Society
Property services
Solicitor Post Office
Shop types:-
Retail service

provider
Shop types:-
(hairdressers
Gentlemens' Shop types:-

etc.)
outfitters Main food Shop types:- • More than 10

Supermarket

ladies' "Top-up" Range of retail outlets

Retail Retail
outfitters food retail or • Above average
distribution comparison
Food shop Boot and Shopping Shops General supermarket number of Village store

within a town's goods

shoe "Quality", Clothing shops/1000

surrounding area Specialist

Hardware i.e. fashion Newsagents residents

convenience
Electrical & gift Hardware • Supermarket
store (butchers,
Radio
bakers)
Furniture
Mini-market or

General store
Cultural and
leisure/recreation:-
Public
houses,
Community hall

cafes,
Church
restaurants;
Cinema and Major/Minor
Public
other Cinema Leisure/recreation Sports facilities sports and
buildings
entertainment leisure facilities
(inc. places
Recreation

of worship
ground
& village
Pubs/takeaways

halls)
Restaurants/tea
rooms
Table 2 (page 1 of 2)
Examples of Indicators of Service Provision Used in Various Post-war Surveys of Services in English Rural Settlements
(NB the shaded area identifies the services selected for this study - 4.2 refers)
58
Surveys Village Services
Rural White
Paper Kent County
Indicators Geographers' Bude & Liskeard R J Green's Council's "Settlement
(DETR/MAF Bracey's Fifteen Bracey's Four "Wiltshire 5 Bracey
Association Survey Studies "Minimum Service Hierarchy Service Dorset Study
F 2000) Services (1950s) Services (1950s) Towns" Study Revisited
(1949) (Dawson & List" List" (Morris 2000)
(Bracey 1954) (Bracey 1954) (Medcalf 2000) (Mills 1988)
(Smailes 1966) Errington 1998) (Green 2001) (OMAI/Alan Turner
2001)
Agricultural
markets and Auctioneer Veterinary practice
supplies
Local newspapers
Journies to work Journies to work
Main line train

station
Transport Accessibility to Access to services Public and
Bus services Minor line train Bus

(hourly bus urban centres by Public transport listed in this column community
Taxi service station connections
service) public transport without using a car transport
Pre-school

Child Education Primary/junior
nurseries, (secondary grammar Schools School Schools school Village School
Primary School schools) Secondary school

Police station
Police
Fire station
Community
Library
information
Parking
Service industries,
including: vehicle
maintenance &
building trades.
Table 2 (page 2 of 2)
Examples of Indicators of Service Provision Used in Various Post-war Surveys of Services in English Rural Settlements
(NB the shaded area identifies the services selected for this study - 4.2 refers)
59
4.3 Data Collection
In the Geographical Association's survey of 1949,"Grammar schools were used as the
principal agents in collecting the information, and the detailed questionnaire forms were
filled in by pupils drawn from the localities specified." (Smailes 1966 p136). According to
Smailes (p137),
"The grammar schools, situated as they usually are in urban centres

and drawing their pupils from catchment areas that include the
surrounding settlements, provide a very satisfactory means of
gathering reliable information regarding these relations. Their
catchment areas are themselves one of the significant expressions of
urban spheres of influence, and often provide a first approximation
to the general urban field, except near county boundaries, [writer's
emphasis] which are limits of the areas controlled by different
education authorities.".
As has already been pointed out (3.3 refers), Sherborne is close to the Somerset county
boundary. Consideration must be given, therefore, to Smailes's caveat about the limiting
effect of a county border on survey results. Local education authority borders still exist,
but are by no means as limiting as was the case in Smailes's day. Parents today have, in
theory at least, greater freedom to choose their child's school (in practice of course such
choice is limited by access to transport, a school's physical capacity, and admission policies
which can, for example, give priority to local primary school pupils, and current pupils'
siblings). In view of the changes that have taken place in secondary education since 1949,
it is considered that Professor Smailes's caution, whilst worthy of note, does not invalidate
the approach - i.e. the use of schoolchildren from Sherborne's secondary school - or the
selection of the Sherborne area for the survey51.
51
Indeed, it is suggested, for the reasons given in 3.2 above, that the survey area's proximity to the Somerset
border, and Sherborne's long-established relationship with Yeovil, have the potential to add both interest and
value to the survey work. Smailes himself did not, in any event, consider that problems arising from a
particular town's closeness to a county border were insurmountable. He wrote (p137),"Discrepancies of
extent [of influence] ... as well as exceptional towns which are not grammar school centres or grammar
school centres with only limited development as towns, were of course revealed by the detailed answers
supplied under the various headings of the questionnaire. These throw up the names of the centres to which
localities are to be attributed, and, at the same time show whether the association is general or
exceptional.".
60
The survey method used for this study involved school pupils in the distribution and
collection of questionnaires, and is similar to that used by Professor Smailes in 1949.
According to the Gryphon School's Headteacher (Shepherd 2002), the school draws its
pupils from both Somerset (22% - mainly Year 12 and Year 13 students [sixth formers])
and Dorset (78%), and is, unlike the two grammar schools that served the town in 1949,
not restricted to serving children from its Dorset feeder primary schools52. The
involvement of secondary (comprehensive) school children and, by association, their
families, has helped to ensure the inclusion in the survey of a bigger, more widely
representative age and social grouping than was the case during the 1949 surveys53.
It is believed that this approach is both appropriate and sufficiently robust to give
confidence that the method is at least the equal of that used by Smailes.
Therefore, for the reasons discussed above, the method chosen (i.e. using a restricted
and very particular survey population - i.e. people with children of secondary school
age):
y is sufficiently robust in terms of the size and composition of the survey population
(i.e. it is representative of the majority of people in terms of their ability to access
services at places of their choice);
y will produce estimates of spheres of influence, no matter how partial, that should
prove to be of use, both to local people engaged in, for example, the Market Town
Health Check (DETR/MAFF 2000 p78, CA 2001), and to policy makers and
practitioners involved in the quest for appropriate indicators of rural "health"
(CA 2002)54.
52
The two grammar schools, which closed in 1992, when the Gryphon School opened, both, at one time, had
boarding houses, and so did not, in any event, necessarily, draw all their pupils from in and around Sherborne.
53
These were conducted by grammar school pupils, a relatively small sector of the total school population at
a time when the majority of pupils left school at fifteen years of age (Pollard 1983).
54
It is possible that the information gained from this research could help to inform rural transport policy by,
for example, helping to define rural transport cells, as proposed by Cullinane and Stokes (p310).
61
4.4 Questionnaire Design
Common sense suggests that the shorter the questionnaire, the better the chances of a high
response rate. For this reason, and to allow for easy replication of the survey elsewhere,
the questionnaire was designed, following the two-stage pre-test survey described in 4.5
below, to be as simple as possible, both to complete, and to analyse. Within the simple
framework, however, every care has been taken to ensure that the chosen topics - i.e.
"service indicators" - adequately reflect the service functions of an English country town
(4.2 refers).
The decision to use self-completion questionnaires was governed in part by the use of this
method by Professor Smailes in 1949. The advantages and disadvantages of this method of
data collection are discussed in detail by Oppenheim (1992). Basically, although
inexpensive, able to cover a wide geographical area, and avoid interviewer bias, response
rates can be low; they are inappropriate for the illiterate, the very young and the very old,
and, by definition, they do not allow help to be given to respondents, observations to be
made, or control to be exerted over the way in which questionnaires are completed.
However, Smailes and Bracey made effective use of self-completion questionnaires, and
recent work (Errington 2001) suggests that response rates from surveys similar to the one
conducted as part of this research were reasonable (p14), and that, "The self-completion
survey approach may ... provide a cost-effective means to construct local economic models
highlighting the spatial distribution of economic transactions in and around sub-regional
territories ... " (p19)55.
55
Interestingly, Dr Mills adopted an interactive approach - she developed, "...a close working relationship
with the respondents, whom it was necessary to contact personally, so as to generate ... reliable and detailed
quantitative information from what was to be essentially a qualitative research approach." (Mills 1988
p136).
62
Errington's paper also suggests (p19) that," ... it may also be useful to construct a ...
"social footprint" mapping the social networks of businesses and households." (for this
reason the "Personal" section of the questionnaire includes questions designed to identify
"social" destinations - Appendix 3).
4.5 Pre-test - Method and Results
The design of the questionnaire and the structure of the covering letter were developed in
two stages.
First, initial drafts of the questionnaire were given to twelve of the writer's friends and
neighbours. This very small sample was used to test for errors, ambiguities and
weaknesses in, for example, the structure of the questions, the clarity of layout and
instructions, and the phrasing of the covering letter. At the same time, a letter (Number 1,
Appendix 4) was written to a Deputy Head at the Gryphon School, Sherborne, enclosing,
for information, a copy of the draft questionnaire (Version 1, Appendix 3), and asking for
permission to conduct the:
y second stage of the trial during the Summer Term of 2002 (i.e. a larger distribution -
via a Year 13/Upper Sixth Form A-level Geography class - using the covering letter
and an amended version of the questionnaire used in the first stage of the trial);
y full survey, based on a distribution of three forms to each of the school's 1,350
pupils/students56 during the Autumn term of 2002.
In the event, draft questionnaires (i.e. as distributed to the writer's friends) were sent out
immediately via the chosen class. Therefore, both the pre-test and the pilot survey used
56
Three forms per household were considered sufficient - i.e. one form for the pupil and one, say, for each
parent or other adult aged 16 or over.
63
initial drafts of the questionnaire. However, comments made by the respondents, both to
the pre-test and to the pilot surveys, were sufficient to enable the questionnaire to be
refined. Further refinements were made following discussions with the writer's colleagues
and academic supervisor (copies of the draft and final questionnaires are shown in
Appendix 3). The questions posed are simple, direct, and relate to each of the four selected
service categories (i.e. those shaded grey in Table 2). Relatively few questions are asked.
In order to encourage a quick response an explanatory letter (Number 2, Appendix 4) was
enclosed with each questionnaire. A return date was specified.
Of the thirty-two letters and ninety-six questionnaires issued to the class, a total of ten
forms were returned by five students (ranging from one form per student to three forms per
student). This represented an overall response rate of approximately 15.5%57, a satisfactory
result, given the purpose of the exercise, and the fact that the students were in the midst of
exam preparation. However, whilst the relatively low number of returns from a class of
geographers, whose interest in the topic could be assumed to be greater than that of other
students, suggested that eventual response rate from the whole-school survey would be less
than 15.5%, the school staff were confident that a higher response rate could be expected
from the main trial (in the event this proved not to be the case - 5.1 below refers).
Oppenheim (2000, p104) suggests that some form of incentive - a prize - offered to
participants can increase response rates. Other factors likely to increase participation
suggested by Oppenheim (p104) that would seem to be appropriate to this type of survey
are: some form of advance warning; an explanation of the selection method; a promise of
confidentiality. It was not considered practicable to issue any form of advance notice (this
would have involved the school's staff in additional work - unfair to the individuals
57
Calculated by dividing the number of students returning forms (5) by the number of students given letters
(32), and expressing the answer as a percentage - i.e. 5/32x100=15.6%.
64
concerned, and a complicating factor in what it is intended to be a simple, easily replicable
survey method). However, an explanation of the purpose of the research and the reasoning
behind the chosen survey method were contained in the covering letter. The question of
whether to offer a prize was discussed with the head of the school's geography department
and a Deputy Head. Their advice, that it was not necessary to offer a prize, was accepted.
Although recognizing that incentives should produce better returns, it was decided to keep
the process as simple as possible, in order to keep administration to a minimum, and to
determine, from the survey, the number of questionnaires that can reasonably be expected
to be returned in a survey of this type. The last point is important, given that, if successful,
it might be possible to use the method in other towns.
The data collected during the trial survey were used to inform the design of the simple data
analysis spreadsheet shown, with data, in Figure 10.
65
Figure 10
Trial Survey Form With Results
66
Bracey's simple method of awarding one point for each "use" of a particular settlement for
a particular service (2.2.1 refers) was followed (i.e. one point was awarded for each
reference to Sherborne as the location of a particular service). For example, consider the
form shown in Appendix 5. Three of the respondent's medical services are located in
Sherborne (hence a score of 3), but only one retail service. The scores are then totalled and
converted into a percentage "usage" figure. This process is repeated for each respondent
and totals are calculated for each service (i.e. 63% of respondents look to Sherborne for
their medical services - Figure 10 refers). These percentage figures provide an indication
of the extent to which each respondent depends on Sherborne for each of the four
categories of service58.
The design of the survey questionnaire, and the development of the pre-trial and main
survey methods and results, are discussed in Chapter 5
58
The process can, of course, be repeated for the other settlements named in the survey, if required.
67
Chapter 5 Results
5.1 The Main Survey - Method and Limitations
Of the 4,050 forms issued during the first week of the Autumn term, 2002, to the school's
1,350 pupils and students (i.e. three questionnaires per person), 248 forms - all but one of
which were usable - were eventually returned from 158 households59. Two hundred and
thirty-one forms were returned by the requested date, with the final seventeen arriving by
the end of term, after a reminder issued by the head teacher in response to a follow-up
letter60 from the writer (Number 3, Appendix 4).
It was hoped that enough completed forms would be returned to enable a comprehensive
parish by parish analysis. In the event, the relatively small number of forms returned relate
to thirty-nine parishes, of which twenty-nine are within the catchment area's forty-two
parishes/settlements. It is interesting to note that the school draws some of its pupils from
at least ten parishes that lie outside the official catchment area61. The number of forms
returned was disappointing, although perhaps not untypical (Oppenheim 2000 p102).
However, given that surveys involving schools can be problematic (Oppenheim p107,
Coleman 2002), it is considered that the process, if not the response rate, was satisfactory.
Indeed, to take a positive view, 247 usable completed survey forms to analyse, each
containing, potentially, twenty-six separate pieces of information (i.e. a total of 6,422 items
of data) about people's "use" of, and opinions about, Sherborne, represents a significant
59
A response rate of (158/1350)x100% = 11.7% of the Gryphon School's households, assuming one pupil per
household. In fact, some households will have more than one pupil at the school. The overall response rate
is likely, therefore, to be higher than 11.7%.
60
This letter contains the suggestion that the survey method could be used to encourage the involvement of a
town's school(s) in the Countryside Agency's Market Towns Initiative.
61
Completed forms were received from a respondent living in a village some 27.4 kilometres (17 miles, 50
minutes) distant from Sherborne.
68
amount of information that should help to improve local understanding about Sherborne's
role as a service centre, and add to the body of knowledge about the workings of a small
country town. In addition, the involvement of a town's secondary school in this type of
research is likely to be of benefit both to the school and the wider community (especially if
there exists in the town some form of local regeneration partnership involved in, for
example, the Market Towns Initiative).
Although this study is primarily concerned with Sherborne's sphere(s) of influence, data
relating to Yeovil's influence are also presented, given the importance attached to the
long-standing close relationship between the two towns (Appendix 1).
The data from the questionnaires were entered in a Microsoft Works spreadsheet, and were
manipulated to allow analysis:
• at Ward and Parish level by service category (i.e. Medical, Professional, Retail,
Leisure), the percentage of "linked visits" made by respondents, and
catchment/non-catchment area;
• by respondents' sex, the length of time that they have lived in the area, their occupation,
age, and places of work and recreation;
• by parish, of Sherborne's local significance and influence as a service centre, compared
with nearby towns.
The way in which the data were analysed is explained in 5.2 below. The results are
presented, and commented upon, in 5.3.
69
5.2 Analysis of Data
The data were initially sorted by parish. They were then grouped by ward to enable a
relatively large number of questionnaires to be analysed, and the results related to defined
geographical and local authority areas (as discussed in 5.1 above, the distribution of
respondents was such that on occasions only one or two responses were obtained at parish
level, and, in some cases, no responses were received). Results were also sorted and
grouped by parish in those cases where more than five completed questionnaires were
received. The ward and parish boundaries that feature in the survey are identified, in red
and black ink respectively, on the map illustrated in Figure 11.
It should be noted that, where ward and parish data are concerned, the number of forms
analysed is less than the total of 247 usable forms. This is because the only parishes
included in the analysis are those from which five or more returns were received.
However, where data are presented in terms of respondents' sex, the length of time that
they have lived in the Sherborne area, occupation, and places of work and recreation (i.e.
not by home parish or ward), the responses of all those who provided data are included.
The data are presented in tabular and graphical form.
70
Figure 11
Ordnance Survey Map of Wards & Parishes Featured in the Survey62
62
71
5.3 Analysis of Survey Results
5.3.1 Introduction
The data are presented in tabular and graphical form, and are discussed in 5.3.2 and 5.3.3
below.
The tabular data gives information about respondents, based on:
y local authority wards (Appendix 6);
y home parishes (Table 3);
y sex and the length of time that they have lived in the Sherborne area (Table 4);
y sex and age (Table 5);
y sex and occupation (Table 6);
y sex and place of work (Table 7);
y those respondents whose recreational centre is Sherborne or Yeovil, and those (the
majority) with no stated recreational centre (Table 8).
The tabulated data contained in Appendix 6 and Tables 3 to 8 are illustrated graphically in
Figures 12 to 25. The survey results presented in these tables and graphs are discussed in
5.3.2, and conclusions are drawn about the range and "strength"63, of Sherborne's spatial
influence, for each of the four service categories surveyed. The fact that, in some
instances, the results are based on only a very few returns from, for example, a particular
parish or category of respondent, must be borne in mind when considering the results of the
analysis.
63
That is, if of ten respondents living in one parish, five look to Sherborne for all four services, and the other
five never "use" Sherborne , then the percentage "strength" is 50%.
72
5.3.2 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre Considered by Ward and
Parish, and Extent of use by Respondents
The data revealed that:
y Sherborne's medical services function is particularly and consistently strong relative
to the town's professional, retail and leisure functions (Figures 12, 13, and 11 to
25);
y Sherborne's significance (i.e. the extent to which it is used by respondents for a
particular service) tends to decrease with increasing distance and travel times from
the town (Figure 13);
y Sherborne's service functions are complementary to those of Yeovil - together they
satisfy the majority of the respondents' everyday needs (Figures 12, 14, 15 and 16);
y the extent to which respondents use Sherborne's services is broadly proportional to
their length of residence (Figures 17 and 18) and, possibly, their age (Figures 19
and 20);
y the four service functions maintain the same order of significance - medical,
professional, retail, leisure (Figures 17 to 25) - irrespective of respondent category
(e.g. age) or activity (e.g. occupation).
The order of service significance is illustrated in Figure 12, which presents the information
by electoral ward64 (data from Appendix 665). The average reported use by all respondents,
for medical services (doctor, dentist, chemist, optician) is 59%. For professional services
the figure is 34%, and, for retail and leisure services, 25% and 21% respectively.
64
The data are presented by Ward for two reasons: 1) to ensure that as many returns as possible are included
(parish information is only given for those parishes with more than five respondents - Table 3 refers) from
within clearly defined, albeit relatively large, geographical areas (Figure 11); 2) to enable a simple
comparison to be made between Sherborne's and Yeovil's significance for the survey population in terms of
their location relative to the two towns (e.g. to the east of Sherborne, or between Sherborne and Yeovil).
65
Table A6/1 (Note 3), Appendix 6, summarises Sherborne's significance as a service centre by electoral
Ward and service category. Average dependency figures for all respondents are also presented in the table.
73
Figure 12
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Ward
(Data From Appendix 6)
90
80
70 Sherborne
Queen Thorne
60
Caundle Vale
Percent
50
Blackmore
40
Bradford Abbas
30 Holnest
20 Yetminster
10
0
Medical Retail
Professional Leisure
Service Category
All four medical and professional options given on the survey form are available in
Sherborne, although only the four medical services are likely to be used by all respondents
(i.e. it is unlikely that the thirty-nine respondents aged between 16 and 24 - approximately
16% of the survey population - will need the services of a solicitor or an accountant). The
four retail options, although available, are, it is suggested, likely to be perceived as being
more limited in terms of choice than those available in larger centres (i.e. simply because
they are located in a small town). Of the leisure facilities available in Sherborne only one
of the five categories surveyed66 - playing/sports field - is available for relatively
unrestricted public use.
The majority of respondents (72% - Appendix 6) take the opportunity, when visiting the
town for one purpose, to do other things (i.e. to make "linked visits"67). It is possible,
therefore, that any reduction in the four medical category services could adversely affect
other services (especially, it is suggested, the largely discretionary retail and leisure
sectors).
66
Cinema, theatre, swimming pool, gym/sports hall, and playing/sports field.
67
An unsurprising finding - evident also from Bracey's work (Bracey 1953).
74
With three General Medical Practices (GMPs) in Sherborne employing approximately ten
(full-time equivalent) doctors, some of whom operate clinics and conduct operations in the
town's hospital
68
, and with rural practices in Yetminster (with admission rights to the
hospital) and Cerne Abbas69, the area is well-provided for in terms of medical services70
(Thring 2003).
The related medical - e.g. dental - and other services available in Sherborne are discussed
in Appendix 7.
When the electoral ward data in Figure 12 are disaggregated to parish level, and presented
in terms of the time taken for respondents to travel (by private transport) to Sherborne, the
rank order remains the same (Figure 13). The data in Figure 13, drawn from Table 3, also
reveal that Sherborne's significance is broadly inversely proportional to the time taken to
travel to Sherborne from a particular parish. The rate at which significance decreases is not
directly proportional to travel time, but varies according to service category.
68
Consultants based in Yeovil and Dorchester make hospitals visit as required.
69
All five of these surgeries are in the North Dorset Primary Care Trust There is also a GMP in Milborne
Port (part of Somerset's primary care organization - as are Yeovil's General Practitioners).
70
In fact, the area is well provided for in terms of all four medical categories. (Appendix 7 refers).
75
Figure 13
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Parish
NB Parishes are listed in order of shortest time taken to travel to Sherborne (Data From Table 3)
90 Sherborne
80 Longburton
70 Milborne Port (NB has
surgery)
60
Thornford/Thornhackett
Percent
50 Trent
40 Bradford Abbas
30 Leigh
20 Holwell
Stourton Caundle
10 Barwick/Stoford
0 Yetminster (NB has surgery)
Medical Retail Pulham
Service Category
Distance/
Percentage
travel time
of Distance/travel time Name of
Average of from nearest
respondentsfrom Sherborne in nearest major Number of
Service Category all 4 service alternative
making km (miles) [time alternative Respondents
categories centre in km
Linked mins.] centre
(miles) [time
Visits
mins]
Parish Medical Professional Retail Leisure
Sherborne 81% 59% 37% 30% 51.75% 76% 0 10.5 (6.5) [12] Yeovil 97
Longburton 81% 69% 29% 33% 53% 50% 4.7 (2.9) [6] 13.8 (8.6) [16] Yeovil 6
Milborne Port 38% 27% 31% 29% 31.25% 85.7% 4.9 (3.1) [7] 13.5 (8.4) [14] Yeovil 8
Thornford/
65% 7% 15% 13% 25% 91.6% 4.9 (3.1) [10] 10.2 (6.7) [21] Yeovil
Thornhackett 13
Trent 71% 43% 41% 29% 46% 100% 6.3 (3.9) [11] 7.7 (4.8) [13] Yeovil 7
Bradford
35% 14% 8% 20% 19.25% 100% 7.0 (4.3) [14] 6.6 (4.1) [11] Yeovil
Abbas 10
Leigh 50% 10% 5% 16% 20.25% 50% 9.3 (5.8) [15] 14.18 (9.2) [31] Yeovil 10
Sturminster
Holwell 40% 25% 13% 24% 25.5% 60% 11.5 (7.2) [18] 9.9 (6.1) [14]
Newton 5
Stourton Sturminster
48% 3% 11% 16% 19.5% 54.5% 10.7 (6.6) [18] 8.8 (5.5) [14]
Caundle Newton 10
Barwick/
10% 5% 0% 8% 5.75% 60% 10.3 (6.4) [21] 2.4 (1.5) [4] Yeovil
Stoford 5
Yetminster 18% 13% 1% 7% 9.75% 50% 9.5 (5.9) [21] 10.9 (6.8) [16] Yeovil 10
Sturminster
Pulham 25% 0% 30% 21% 19% 85.7% 12.3 (7.7) [22] 11.3 (7) [21]
Newton 7
Table 3
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre

Parish-level Data (for Those Parishes Providing 5 or More Responses) by
Service Category, Distances, and Times From Sherborne and Nearest Alternative Town
76
For example, Bradford Abbas and Barwick/Stoford, both of which are close to Yeovil,
record a low dependence on Sherborne's services relative to some parishes that lie further
away - in terms of travel time - from Sherborne. Respondents from Pulham, a village close
to Cerne Abbas, a much bigger village with a dispensing GMP71 (used by five of the seven
respondents) and a post office, but with few shops and other services, report a relatively
high use of Sherborne for retail and leisure purposes72, but a low overall use of the town's
medical services, and no use of its professional services73. The relatively low percentage
significance recorded for these settlements, and also for Milborne Port and Yetminster, in
both of which there is a GMP74, suggests that the presence of a surgery, and a settlement's
location relative to Sherborne and other towns75, affects the extent of Sherborne's influence,
and the purposes for which the town is visited76.
71
That is a GMP with a dedicated dispensary attached to the practice for the use only of that Practice's
patients.
72
Pulham lies to the north - i.e. on the Sherborne side - of Cerne Abbas (Figure 11).
73
These being obtained from Yeovil, Sturminster Newton, Dorchester, the villages of King'sStag and
Alweston, and Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.
74
There is a dental practice and a pharmacy in Milborne Port. Yetminster GMP is a dispensing practice (i.e.
prescriptions are dispensed on the premises).
75
Milborne Port's respondents record a relatively high use of Sherborne - through which they have to pass if
they wish to go to Yeovil - for retail and leisure purposes. Respondents from Yetminster, which is located on
the Yeovil side of Sherborne, do not have to pass through Sherborne to reach Yeovil.
76
This argument can, of course, be applied equally to village-based practices (and, no doubt, other services).
Care must be taken to ensure that in the drive to ensure that country towns are helped to develop, or maintain,
their role as rural service centres, the viability of services based in smaller settlements is not put at risk (2.1
refers).
77
Therefore, as discussed above, and as can been seen from the data in Figures 12 and 13,
Sherborne'snon-medical services do not appear to be sufficiently attractive to persuade
respondents from Yetminster, for example, to use the town's other services. This is
possibly because Yeovil, which can be easily reached from Yetminster, contains a range of
services which, to judge from the rank order illustrated in Figure 1477, appear to
complement effectively those found in Sherborne (Figure 12).
Figure 14
Yeovil's Significance as a Service Centre by Ward
80
70
60 Sherborne
50 Queen Thorne
Percent
Caundle Vale
40
Blackmore
30 Bradford Abbas
20 Holnest
Yetminster
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
77
The data in Figure 14 were obtained by re-analysing the survey forms and awarding 1 point for every
reference to Yeovil as the service centre of choice.
78
When the percentage significance for each of the four categories in Figures 12 (relating to
Sherborne) and 14 (relating to Yeovil) are added together, the complementary nature of the
two towns' service functions for the respondents can be seen (Figure 15), with the rural
Wards of Queen Thorn, Caundle Vale, Bradford Abbas and Blackmore recording a
particularly pronounced use of the two towns (these wards are the closest to Sherborne
within West Dorset District, and Queen Thorn, Caundle Vale, and Bradford Abbas lie
between Sherborne and Yeovil - Figure 11 refers).
Figure 15
Sherborne's and Yeovil's Significance as Service Centres
(Ward-level Data From Figures 13 and 14)
100
90
80 Sherborne
70 Queen Thorne
60 Caundle Vale
Percent
50 Blackmore
40 Bradford Abbas
30 Holnest
20 Yetminster
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
79
When the percentage significance of Sherborne and Yeovil for all respondents, for each of
the four service categories, are added together (Figure 16), it can be seen that the services
available within the two towns are sufficient to meet the majority of people's everyday
needs. Sherborne's relative strength in the medical and professional categories is evident,
as is Yeovil's in the retail and leisure sectors

78
.
Figure 16
Sherborne's & Yeovil's Significance as Service Centres
(All Respondents - Data From Appendix 6 and Yeovil-only Analysis)
90%
80%
70%
60%
50% Yeovil
40% Sherborne
30%
20%
10%
0%
Medical Retail
Service Category
78
It should be noted that nearly 16% of the survey population are aged between 16 and 24, and are, therefore,
unlikely to need the full range of professional services.
80
The preceding discussion refers to the relative strengths and attractiveness of Sherborne's
services to the survey population as a whole (Figure 16), and in part (Figures 13, 14 and
15). The extent to which the town's significance varies according to the length of time that
respondents have lived in the area, to their age, occupation, and places of work and
recreation, is considered below for the whole of the survey population.
The data in Table 4, presented in Figures 17 and 18, suggest that Sherborne's service
functions increase in significance in line with the length of time that respondents have
lived in the area. This is most marked for medical and professional services, but applies
also to the retail and leisure categories, and is true for both sexes.
Males (all respondents) Females (all respondents)

Time in <5 6>10 11>15 16>20 >20 <5 6>10 11>15 16>20 >20
Area years years years years years years years. years years years
Medical 46% 42% 65% 58% 67% 51% 50% 72% 62% 67%
Professional 27% 21% 27% 33% 46% 30% 22% 32% 44% 46%
Service
Category 13.5
Retail 25% 18% 21% 28% 27% 25% 25% 41% 31%
%
Leisure 17% 14% 23% 26% 24% 21% 25% 24% 29% 20%
Linked 51.8 87.1 76.7
84% 41.6% 76.5% 55.5% 72% 94.1% 80%
Visits % % %
Number of
19 12 17 9 27 35 25 34 15 43
respondents:
Table 4

Respondents' Sex and Time Lived in Area by Service Category
81
Figure 17
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Male Respondents' Usage
by Service Category & Time Lived in Area (Data From Table 4)
80
70
60
<5 years
50 6-10 years
Percent
40 11>15 years
30 16>20 years
20 >20 years
10
0
Medical Retail
Sevice Category
Figure 18
Sherborne's Signifcance as a Service Centre - Female Respondents' Usage
by Service Category and Time Lived in Area (Data From Table 4)
80
70
60
<5 years
50 6-10 years
Percent
40 11>15 years
30 16>20 years
20 >20 years
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
82
Sherborne's significance in terms of respondent age suggests, as illustrated in Figures 19
and 20 (drawn from data in Table 5), a level or increasing use of medical and professional
services with increase in age (especially for women). This is not surprising, for with age
often comes an increasing need for both professional and medical services. Although the
small number of respondents aged over 55 (Table 5) means that it is difficult to draw
meaningful conclusions from the data, a comparison between Figures 17 and 19, and 18
and 20, suggests that it is the length of time that a respondent has lived in the area, rather
than his or her age, that is of greatest importance in terms of the town's significance.
Males (all respondents) Females (all respondents)

Service Category
Age
16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 >64 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 >64
Band
Medical 62% 39% 58% 56% 39% N/A 59% 43% 63% 67% 0% 38%
Professional 30% 32% 33% 32% 29% N/A 25% 29% 37% 42% 0% 0%
Retail 25% 11% 21% 29% 21% N/A 22% 12% 26% 37% 0% 0%
Leisure 35% 19% 14% 21% 21% N/A 36% 13% 21% 18% 0% 0%
Linked 100
70% 50% 50% 65% 86% N/A 53% 83% 80% 0% 50%
Visits %
Number
of 13 7 36 27 7 0 26 15 80 33 1 2
respondents:
Table 5
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre -

Respondents' Sex and Age Band by Service Category
83
Figure 19
by Service Category and Age Band (Data From Table 5)
70
60
50
16-24 years
40 25-34 years
Percent
35-44 years
30 45-54 years
55-64 years
20
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
Figure 20
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Female Respondents' Usage
by Service category and Age Band (Data From Table 5)
80
70
60
16-24 years
50 25-34 years
Percent
35-44 years
40
45-54 years
30 55-64 years
>64 years
20
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
84
In each of the cases discussed above, the leisure category is generally the least significant.
The low average reported use of Sherborne for leisure (21% - Appendix 6) is to be
expected. Of the five facilities covered in the survey79, Sherborne has only one -
playing/sports field - that is generally available for public use at any time. The town does
not have a cinema, a dedicated theatre (although the town's Digby and Church Halls have
stages, and the Powell Theatre - owned by Sherborne School for Boys - is, on occasions,
open to the general public), or a public swimming pool80 (Sherborne School for Boys' pool
is available for - restricted - public use).
The reported use of Sherborne for leisure purposes is, therefore, effectively higher,
equating, say, to 42%. This is because only half - approximately - of the facilities listed on
the survey form can be said to be available, on occasions, for public use (i.e. what does not
exist or is not accessible cannot be used). It can be seen from Figures 21 and 22, which,
using data from Table 6, illustrate usage of Sherborne's services by occupation, that use of
the town's leisure facilities is particularly high for those in full-time education. Given that
the respondents were all associated with the Gryphon School, a relatively high reported use
(approximately 40%) of the gym, sports hall and playing fields, which are located at the
school81, is to be expected82 (it also usefully illustrates a limitation of the survey method -
i.e. the "use" of a relatively narrow, school-based, survey population).
79
1) Cinema, 2) theatre, 3) swimming pool, 4) gym/sports hall, 5) playing/sports field.
80
Six of the forty-five respondents who made written comments mentioned the need for a swimming pool
(Appendix 9).
81
The local authority owned sports hall and gym are located in the Gryphon School's grounds at the northern
edge of the town and are subject to restricted use during school hours. The town's public playing fields are
located to the south - and outside - of the town.
82
This is also illustrated in Figures 19 and 20 - usage of Sherborne's leisure facilities is >35% for those aged
between 16 and 24.
85
Service Category
Linked Number of
Occupation Medical Professional Retail Leisure
Visits Respondents
Full-time work
(30+ hours per 57% 34% 24% 18% 57.5% 69
week)
In part-time
Work 38% 38% 29% 20% 100% 6
In Full-time
education 68% 24% 25% 40% 62.5% 10
Male In part-time
education 50% 50% 0% 0% 100% 1
Registered
unemployed 50% 0% 25% 20% 100% 1
Retired - - - - - 0
Housewife/
husband or 13% 13% 0% 5% 100% 2
carer
Permanently
sick or - - - - - 0
disabled
Full-time work
(30+ hours per 54% 35% 26% 17% 74.3% 35
week)
In part-time
Work 66% 40% 27% 22% 79.7% 74
In Full-time
education 58% 27% 22% 37% 100% 22
In part-time
education - - - - - 0
Female Registered
unemployed 75% 50% 25% 20% 100% 1
Retired 38% 0% 0% 0% 50% 2
Housewife
/husband or 56% 26% 27% 18% 94.4% 22
carer
Permanently
sick or - - - - - 0
disabled
Table 6
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre -

Respondents' Sex and Occupation by Service Category
86
The fact that the leisure services in Sherborne are well supported suggests some untapped
potential. Additional - accessible - services, if provided, could, given the tendency of
people to make linked visits, help strengthen other services.
Figure 21
Usage by Service Category & Occupation, Data From Table 6)
80 Full-time Work
70
Part-time Work
Full-time Education
60
Part-time Education (1
50 respondent only)
Percent
40 Registered Unemployed (1
respondent only)
30 Retired (no respondents)
20 Househusband/wife or Carer (2
10
respondents)
Permanently Sick or Disabled (no
0 respondents)
Medical Retail
Service Categories
Figure 22
Sherborne's Significance as a Service centre - Female Respondents'
Usage by Service Category & Occupation, Data From Table 6
80
Full-time Work
70 Part-time Work
60 Full-time Education
50
Part-time Education (no
Percent
respondents)
40 Registered Unemployed (1
30
respondent only)
Retired ( 2 respondents)
20
Housewife/Carer
10 Permanently Sick or Disabled (no
0
respondents)
Medical Retail
Service Category
87
The continued significance of the medical services function when respondents' workplaces
and recreational centres are considered, can be seen from the data presented in Figures 23
and 24 (Table 7), and Figure 25 (Table 8). For those who work in Sherborne, the figures
for retail significance are above average83 (30% for men, 32% for women - Figures 23 and
24). Similarly, for those who take some form of recreation in Sherborne, the figure is also
above average (38% - Figure 25). Given that the four categories of shopping "types"
included in the survey84 are virtually all-embracing, and are available in Sherborne, the fact
that average reported use for retail is 25% (i.e. for all respondents - Appendix 6) suggests a
fundamentally healthy, but perhaps undersold, or relatively expensive, retail sector,
especially to 25-34 year olds (Figures 19 and 20). The percentage figures for this age
group (11% for men, 12% for women - Table 5) are less than half the average usage figure
of 25%, whereas for those who work in Sherborne the figures are above average (30% for
men, 32% for women - Figures 21 and 22). This is also the case for those who take some
form of recreation in the town (38% - Figure 25).
Those who take some form of recreation in the town not only record above average usage
of Sherborne's shops, and a slightly above average tendency to make linked visits
, but
above average use of all services. Although the reasons for this cannot be deduced from
the results of this study, it can be seen that approximately 20% of the survey population
(i.e. 54 respondents out of 247) appear to have a strong affinity with Sherborne.
83
Appendix 6 refers.
84
1) Day-to-day/"emergency"; 2) Main (weekly/monthly) food shopping; 3) shopping for clothes, shoes,
hardware etc.; 4) "luxury"/"big item" (e.g. TVs, cookers, gifts, suits, furniture).
88
Figure 23
by Service category and Place of Work (Data From Table 7)
80
70
60
50 "Mobile"
Percent
40 Sherborne
Yeovil
30
20
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
Figure 24
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Female Respondents' Usage
by Service Category and Place of Work (Data From Table 7)
90
80
70
60 "Mobile"
Dorchester
50
Percent
Sherborne
40 Sturminster Newton
30 Yeovil
20
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
Males Females
Service category
Place of Work Mobile Dorchester Sherborne S-Newton Yeovil Mobile Dorchester Sherborne S-Newton Yeovil
Medical 48% N/A 67% N/A 43% 63% 20% 77% 25% 43%
Professional 30% N/A 41% N/A 27% 63% 0% 51% 4% 22%
Retail 20% N/A 30% N/A 16% 38% 8% 32% 25% 17%
Leisure 17% N/A 24% N/A 17% 33% 12% 32% 17% 13%
Linked
Visits
33% N/A 60% N/A 63% 100% 50% 85.7% 100% 76%
Number of
12 0 24 0 21 4 5 59 3 26
respondents:
Table 7

Respondents' Sex and Place of Work85 by Service Category (Percentage)
85
With the exception of Dorchester and Sturminster Newton, two towns that are of sufficient interest in terms
of their geographical and historical relationship to Sherborne to warrant the inclusion of low, or nil, returns,
the only workplaces (including the "mobile worker" category) included in Table 7 are those in which four or
89
Figure 25
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - Male & Female
Respondents' Usage by Service Category & Place of Recreation (Data From Table 8)
80
70
60
50
Sherborne
Percent
40 Yeovil
"None"
30
20
10
0
Medical Retail
Service Category
Males & Females

Recreation Sherborne Yeovil None
Medical 73% 38% 60%
Service Professional 57% 20% 32%
Category Retail 38% 14% 23%
Leisure 33% 18% 19%
Linked Visits 73.5% 70.6% 76.3%
Number of respondents: 5486 17 141
Table 8
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by

Male and Female Respondents' Usage by Service Category and "Place of
Recreation"87
more respondents work (41 other workplaces were named in addition to those detailed in Table 7).
86
Of the 54 respondents, 17 (31%) also live and work in Sherborne, and a further 9 (16%) both live and take
their recreation in the town.
87
The only respondents whose data are included in Table 10 are those whose place of recreation is in Yeovil
or Sherborne, or those (the majority) who did not enter information in this column (this last category has been
included as a control - i.e. non-specific - group [i.e. to give some indication as to whether usage is any way a
function of a respondents' place of recreation, which, to judge from the figures presented, appears to be the
case]).
90
The relationship between the four service functions is particularly well defined in Figures
23, 24 and 25. This serves to reinforce the fact that the relative importance of the service
functions - i.e. medical, professional, retail, and leisure - is broadly the same, irrespective
of respondent category or activity.
With the exception of those parishes in which, or close to which General Medical Practices
are located, Sherborne's overall significance as a service centre decreases as travel times
between the town and parishes increase88 (i.e. the longer it takes a respondent to reach
Sherborne, the less significant to them Sherborne becomes). The town's significance also
appears to vary according to the ease with which respondents are able to access an
alternative town. These findings are discussed in 5.3.2 below.
88
The travel times (and distances) were calculated using a software package (Focus Route Finder). The
travel times assume the use of personal, not public transport (Appendix 2).
91
5.3.2 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre - a Comparison With Nearby
Towns
An indication of the extent of Sherborne's influence is given in Figures 26 and 27. These
plots show Sherborne's significance as a service centre expressed as a function of the time
taken to travel to Sherborne, compared to the time taken to travel to the nearest alternative
town89.
Consider the data illustrated in Figure 26. These relate to the average usage of Sherborne
for all four service categories. Barwick's dependence on Sherborne is, at approximately
5%, minimal (and based, it should be noted, on returns from only five respondents). As
Barwick is approximately 4 minutes travel time away from Yeovil, on a direct route, and
21 minutes away from Sherborne90, on a less direct route, this is to be expected91.
However, another interpretation is that, for whatever reason (e.g. because the respondents
prefer Sherborne's schools), the respondents are prepared to travel further, for longer, to
reach Sherborne. In other words, Sherborne's influence could be considered to be
relatively significant - a smaller town extending its sphere of influence into that of a much
larger town. Clearly, on the basis of a such a small sample, it would be rash to draw too
many conclusions, but the fact remains that, for the respondents at least, Sherborne is the
preferred destination for some services, and it is for this - purely illustrative - reason that
Barwick has been included in Figure 2692.
89
For nine of the twelve parishes Yeovil is the nearest town. For the remaining three, Sturminster Newton is
the nearest town (Table 3).
90
Barwick's position on the x-axis (Figure 26) is calculated by dividing 21 minutes by 4 minutes, i.e. 5.25.
91
Data from Table 3.
92
It is recognized that Barwick clearly stands apart from - "outlies" - the other parishes. However, the
essential relationship between the significance of each service and the parishes is not changed by the
inclusion of the Barwick results (see also Figure 34, Appendix 8).
92
Figure 26
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Parish Relative to
Nearby Towns (Average of all 4 Services Surveyed, Data From Table 3)
60
Longburton
Sherborne
50 Trent
40
Percent
M Port
30
Thornford Holwell
Leigh SBCaundle
Abbas
20 Pulham
Yetminster
10
Barwick
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Travel Time in Minutes Between Named Parish & Sherborne, Divided
by Travel Time Between Named Parish & Nearest Alternative Town
Sherborne's influence can be seen (Figures 26 and 27) to extend beyond the point where it
is quicker to travel to Sherborne (i.e. <1 on the x-axes) than to an alternative town93 (i.e. >1
on the x-axes). For example, the ten respondents from Yetminster, with its surgery,
dispensary and local shops, and relatively easier access to Yeovil than to Sherborne,
nevertheless record an overall usage of 10% for all four service categories (Figure 26).
The returns from Milborne Port (894) and Longburton (6), both parishes from which, in
order to reach Yeovil by main road, it is first necessary to pass through Sherborne (Figure
5), show a higher average dependency on Sherborne. Data relating to Medical,
Professional, Retail, and Leisure service usage are presented in Figures 30 to 33 in
Appendix 8.
93
Again, it must be stressed that the respondents, drawn from the Gryphon School, have all exercised a
preference for one of Sherborne's services - i.e. the school itself - and so can be assumed to have some
attachment to the town.
94
The number of respondents (from Appendix 6).
93
The data in Figure 27 illustrate how each of the four service categories surveyed varies in
significance with travel time. The data points are taken from Appendix 8, Figures 30 to 33.
Although the parish names are not shown in Figure 27 for reasons of clarity, they can be
gleaned from Figures 30 to 33.
The trend lines (Figure 27) give an indication of the way Sherborne's significance for each
service category decreases, as travel times to a parish's "nearest alternative town" reduce,
relative to the time taken to travel to Sherborne from that parish. Four trend types were
tried (linear, exponential, logarithmic, and power). Exponential trend - regression - lines
were chosen simply because they gave the best "fit", namely 0.655 for medical, 0.26 for
professional, 0.249 for retail, and 0.377 for leisure (where 1.000 represents a perfect fit
between the data points and the trend line95).
The degree of scatter is such that only the broadest of conclusions can be drawn from the
data. For example, Sherborne's medical services have some influence in a village (Barwick
- shown at 5.25 on the x-axis of Figure 27) whose residents can reach their nearest
alternative town approximately five times faster than they can get to Sherborne96. The
influence of the retail sector, on the other hand, falls rapidly from nearly 40% to 11%
within the travel time band in which it is quicker to travel to Sherborne, than to any other
town.
It is suggested that, although there is insufficient information available from this research
to enable a more detailed analysis using this approach, a further study based on travel times
(i.e. accessibility) might prove to be of value.
95
In which case the data points would all lie along the trend line - i.e. a perfect "fit".
96
Figure 34, Appendix 8, excludes the data relating to Barwick, and, therefore, gives a clearer picture of the
relationships between the various services and the parishes that lie more equidistant between Sherborne and
their nearest alternative town (in this case the "best fit" was obtained using linear regression).
94
Figure 27
Relative Significance of Sherborne's Service Categories by Parish
Relative to Nearby Towns (Data From Appendix 8, Figures 30 to 33)
90
80
70
60 Medical (Fig. 30)
Percent
50 Professional (Fig. 31)

40 Retail (Fig. 32)
30 Leisure (Fig. 33)
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Travel Time in Minutes Between Parish & Sherborne, Divided by
Travel Time in Minutes Between Parish & Nearest Alternative Town
Suffice it to say that Sherborne still appears, as noted by Green (1952 p353), to be linked in
terms of its service functions - which are, perhaps, both limited and enhanced by this
linkage, to Yeovil (Appendix 1). Other towns (e.g. Sturminster Newton, Stalbridge97,
Dorchester) also affect Sherborne's influence, albeit marginally (if only, for example,
because some of the respondents work in these towns, and, therefore, have the opportunity
to make use of their services). However, Yeovil's strength to the west of Sherborne is
marked compared with, for example, Sturminster Newton's influence to the east.
Sturminster, a traditional market town (population 3,23098) much smaller than Yeovil
(population 40,10099), is some 28 minutes100 away from Sherborne101. By way of
comparison, Sherborne had 113 shops in 1999, compared with 45 in Sturminster Newton
(DCC 2003). It is not surprising, therefore, that Sturminster Newton's influence on
Sherborne is relatively weak compared with that of Yeovil, the area's retail
102
and
97
7.7miles/12.4km/14mins to the east of Sherborne.
98
Mid-Year population estimate, 2000 (DCC 2003).
99
Mid-Year population estimate, 2001 (SCC 2003).
100
19 kilometres (12 miles).
101
Yeovil is 8.9 kilometres (5.5 miles, 12 minutes) from Sherborne.
102
With both town centre and edge of town stores.
95
entertainment centre. Similarly, given Yeovil's undoubted strength as a service centre, and
Sherborne's complementary character and service functions, it is not surprising that
Dorchester103, population 15,800 (DCC 2003), and Wincanton104, population 4,600 (SCC
2003), do not feature strongly in the survey.
Nevertheless, on the basis of this research, definitive, clearly delineated spheres of
influence for Sherborne appear to be as elusive as ever. However, it does appear that a
useful estimate of Sherborne's overall sphere of influence, and an indication of the town's
role as a service centre, can be gleaned - relatively simply - from the approach followed in
this research, and discussed above. The implications of this are discussed in Chapter 6, in
which the conclusions are presented, and recommendations made.
103
19miles/30.7km/41mins to the south of Sherborne.
104
10.3miles/16.8km/26mins to the north of Sherborne.
96
Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations
A number of investigations have in recent years been directed

towards determining the effective hinterlands of towns for shopping
and other purposes. ... Most of these investigations involve the
tabulation of the answers to questionnaires, and there is little doubt
that this method, if the questionnaire is exhaustive, is the only
completely satisfactory method to employ. But, if carried out
adequately, it takes a good deal of time, and it is desirable to find, if
possible, an objective method suitable for quick reconnaissance.
F.H.W. Green (1949 p59)
Approximately fifty years after Howard Bracey's work, and more than twenty years after
Liz Mills completed her re-survey and analysis, the data to which they both referred
(Bracey 1953, Mills 1988), and the lack of which Dickenson (1942 p181) and Smailes
(1966 p146) lamented, have yet to be gathered. They remain, in the context of current
policies and practice, tantalisingly desirable as the Market Towns Initiative (MTI)
announced in the Rural White Paper (DETR/MAFF 2000) is implemented (CA 2001,
CAYF 2001). Although this research was inspired by Bracey's practical approach, and the
subject's topicality and relevance, it was not considered practicable to repeat his large scale,
county-wide, surveys. Instead, the study aimed:
1. to find out, using a questionnaire, how far a particular country town's influence
as a service centre extends into the surrounding area;
2. to discover if the method designed for 1 above can be developed for easy, useful
replication in other country towns.
The first aim has been partly achieved in that the results of the survey provide an indication
of the extent of Sherborne's influence. The limitations of the approach have been
acknowledged (5.1). Suggestions for improving both approach and method are given
below.
97
The second aim has also been partly achieved. Although the relatively low response rate
was disappointing, the willingness of the Gryphon School's staff and pupils to help with the
study105, the essential simplicity of the survey method, and the value of the information
obtained from the completed questionnaires (5.3), suggest that the approach is worthy of
development and further testing in towns where local people are involved with the Market
Towns Initiative (MTI). Whether this approach will work elsewhere is, of course, open to
question. However, the writer has, as reported earlier, gathered similar information from
Faringdon, in Oxfordshire (Morris 2003), and intends to conduct a further survey, using the
same method, in Thame, Oxfordshire, as part of the MTI106.
To a certain extent, the research has also demonstrated that the extent to which people use
Sherborne's services can be measured, as can people's affection for, and attachment to the
town. It is suggested, therefore, that it is possible to identify factors that could help to
inform policy development and identify ways in which Sherborne's services might be
improved (e.g. by ensuring that the town's medical service base is not weakened
107
).
Sherborne's strength as a medical centre

108
suggests that the presence of services provided
for the public good might also benefit a town's other service sectors. In Sherborne's case
this is likely to include local government and postal services (both of which have a
presence in the town), as well as the town's state and private schools. It follows that policy
decisions relating to the location of public services are important in terms of a country
town's viability as a service centre.

105
It is believed that a school's involvement in a survey of this type could offer cross-curricula benefits (e.g.
geographers could help to design and conduct the survey, mathematicians could be involved in the data
analysis).
106
It should be noted that Sherborne was not, at the time of writing, part of the MTI. It is not unreasonable to
expect that the response rate to a survey involving a school that is part of an MTI partnership would be higher
than that achieved from the survey conducted as part of this research.
107
Equally, however, it would not do to strengthen Sherborne's medical services such that rural
GMPs/dispensaries were put at risk (5.3.2 refers). It is interesting to note that town-based dispensing GMPs
are not allowed to dispense to patients living within one mile of a pharmacy.
108
Albeit that its strength is attributable, in part, at least, to the fact that all four services surveyed are present
in the town, unlike, for example, those for leisure.
98
Sherborne is also a tourist destination, and so appropriate retail services should be
identified and encouraged. In terms of leisure provision for local people, facilities should
be developed that complement, rather than compete with, those available in Yeovil (e.g. a
swimming pool rather than a leisure pool).
Broadly, the research has demonstrated that:
y Bracey's approach (2.2.1) and Smailes's method (4.4) are appropriate for gathering,
relatively quickly, useful data about a town's functions and local significance;
y Sherborne's influence over its surrounding area diminishes, non-uniformly, with
distance, and varies with service type (5.3.1);
y the relationship between settlements and service provision and usage remains
complicated and interrelated (Mills 1988 p65);
y the capacity and nearness of other settlements play a part in determining a town's
spatial influence (5.3.2);
y the work done by Lipman (1952) and Green (quoted by Lipman), referred to in 3.2
above, concerning the symbiotic relationship between neighbouring towns, appears to
hold good today - Yeovil and Sherborne, as far as the survey population is concerned,
are complementary, in that they operate as a single, well-balanced service centre;
y Sherborne's services do not meet the majority of the survey population's needs, but
when Yeovil's and Sherborne's services are considered together, the majority of
ordinary needs are met;
y the majority of people - an average of 72% - tend to make "linked visits" (i.e. when
visiting for one - main - purpose, they tend to take the opportunity to do other things
during the visit);
y use of Sherborne's services tends to increase in line with respondents' length of
residence and, possibly, age;
99
y respondents who work and take recreation in Sherborne tend to make above average
use of the town's retail services

, and have an above average tendency to make linked
visits;
y the Gryphon School's catchment area is broadly similar to many earlier "service areas"
Table 1);
y the method is limited in terms of:
y the relatively low numbers of survey forms returned, and the uneven spread of the
survey population, both geographically and demographically109;
y the fact that this approach will only ever give an indication of a town's sphere(s) of
influence.
The last point made above is important. There can be no guarantee that a school will
always, or ever, draw students from every parish within its catchment area. In an ideal
world, questionnaires would be completed and returned by enough people in each of the
catchment parishes and, conveniently, from a significant number of those settlements lying
outside the catchment, to guarantee the statistical validity of the results. Equally
conveniently, analysis would show dependency decreasing uniformly with increasing
distance from the town. Each respondent living within the catchment boundary would
record, for each of the service categories surveyed, a dependency on the local town of at
least 50%. Respondents living outside the catchment would record figures of less than
50%. Clearly, this is unrealistic, and no matter how high the response rate, the patterns
shown will be as varied as the lives of the respondents, the location and quality of services
in villages and other towns, local loyalties, geography, historical trading patterns, road
classifications and routes, and public transport provision and accessibility. In short, the
109
The reliance on a population limited in terms of age (i.e. mainly pupils and their parents) and largely
pre-defined in terms of the area in which they live.
100
survey method, whilst practicable, and capable of providing useful information, is
essentially indicative.
It is, however, on this basis of this research, reasonable to conclude that the "Gryphon
Parishes"110 provide an effective indication, for practical purposes, of Sherborne's overall
sphere of influence (Figure 28). As the data in Table 1 illustrate, the area covered by these
parishes is similar to that covered by other, much older areas of influence. It appears,
therefore, that the geographical area over which Sherborne exerts influence has changed
relatively little over the years. If it could be shown111 that this is generally the case
elsewhere, then these "traditional" service areas, within which the settlements have some
form of long established "natural" affinity and interdependence, could be used as
foundation stones on which to build a more detailed knowledge base, and an integrated,
accessible range of services112.
However, as David Alexander concludes in his report on key services in the north east of
England (Alexander 2003), there is a need for, "... local research to understand how
different rural settlements from across the range of the settlement hierarchy actually
function and work as communities." (p63). There is much still to learn about how these
defined areas, or, "... networks of settlements ..." function (Alexander 2003 p62).
On the basis of the above, therefore, it is suggested that the type of survey described in this
study, based on a school's catchment area, which, in Sherborne's case at least

113
, appears to
110
The average distance between Sherborne and the parishes within the school's catchment area is, at 5.3
miles (Table 3), similar to the figure of 6 miles (Section 3.4) quoted in the 1851 census (Howkins 1991 p29).
111
By, for example, comparing the results of the approach and type of survey and analysis described in this
study with other known service areas, current (e.g. newspaper circulation, postal districts) and historical (e.g.
ecclesiastical or civil - old Rural District Council - boundaries).
112
For example, local transport services designed to meet the needs of the small number of people with no
convenient access to transport (and, therefore, no convenient access to services).
113
It should be noted that Sherborne has only one State secondary school and, therefore, only one State
school catchment area. By way of contrast, Yeovil has several secondary schools, and a Further Education
College, and, as a consequence, has several education catchment areas. It would be interesting to discover if
the approach described in this research would work in a bigger town with more educational establishments
101
compare well with much older areas of influence, can help to define, relatively easily, a
town's overall sphere of influence (as well as provide useful information about the usage of
a town's services and good cross-curricula project work for pupils and students)
. The area
so defined could then easily be compared with, for example, the distribution areas of the
local free newsletter114, or newspaper, and local bus services routes (i.e. the survey could
form one element of a standard academic "triangulation approach"). If the results of this
type of comparison in several areas revealed a good match, it suggests that a usable,
working definition of a settlement's sphere of influence could be obtained using readily
available information and local knowledge and judgement. If this were to be the case, it
should be possible to acquire, relatively quickly, sufficient information on which to base
judgements about a town's role and development

115
.
The importance of time as a factor affecting the extent of Sherborne's influence was
discussed in Section 5.3.2. Although the data available are insufficient to enable firm
conclusions to be drawn, it appears that some people are prepared to spend more time
travelling in order to reach Sherborne than to travel to the nearest alternative town in which
the same services are also available. The relationship between a respondent's willingness
to do this, the percentage usage of a particular service that they record, and the clear
preference that people have for making "linked visits", is not clear from this research.
The tendency of people to make linked visits is intriguing. It is suggested that this area of
work is worthy of further study. If this tendency could be better understood, it is believed
that both public service providers (e.g. transport, library services) and the private and
voluntary sectors (e.g. organizers of farmers' markets, late night shopping, food and drink
(assuming, of course, that the service functions of larger towns such as Yeovil can be considered to be
broadly similar to that of relatively small towns like Sherborne).
114
The distribution area for Sherborne's newsletter, The Conduit (Dening 2003), includes most of the
parishes listed in Table 3 (and also some that are not). A copy of the front cover of The Conduit is shown in
Appendix 10.
115
It is hoped that the proposed survey in Thame, Oxfordshire, will help in this regard.
102
outlets, musical and theatre groups) could capitalise on it for mutual benefit. Towns with
MTI partnerships116 could serve as useful test beds for such a study, as could towns
involved in the emerging Beacon Towns programme117 (DETR/MAFF 2000 p75).
In addition, some form of systematic monitoring of the ways in which rural settlements
change is needed118, perhaps coupled with service "threshold studies"119, as a means of
helping local people determine the type of business that might most profitably be attracted
to their town120.
In order to reduce the problems associated with the narrow (i.e. school-centred) respondent
base, and the associated methodological limitations (5.1 refers), Bayly (2003) suggested
that pupils involved in the survey should be asked to request that someone from a
"non-school" household (e.g. a neighbour) as well as family members complete
questionnaires. The survey base could also be broadened beyond a school's catchm
ent area
by involving other groups, for example, Lions and Rotary clubs, Women's Institute
branches. Alternatively, a survey of one or more of these populations could be combined
with a randomised postal survey within the research area, or a concentrated (i.e.
house-to-house) distribution of survey forms in a selection of the settlements lying within
the survey area. Clearly, however, there is a balance to be struck between the need to
obtain detailed, meaningful results, and the desire, which prompted this research, to obtain
useful results relatively quickly.
116
In June, 2003, there were 216 partnerships in existence.
117
On which the writer is working.
118
This would help to address the concerns expressed by Dickenson (1942 p181) and Mills (1988 p2 ) - 2.2.3
refers.
119
These are studies designed to find out what type and number of businesses particular types and sizes of
community can support (Harder 1998).
120
The role of smaller settlements must be taken into account as part of the same process. Perhaps policy
development should be concentrated on "rural settlements" rather than "towns" and "villages"? In Australia,
for example, all rural settlements are towns - there is no distinction, by population, between rural settlement
types.
103
Nevertheless, the additional information that would be obtained by broadening the survey
base as described above, could improve both the quantity of data, and the quality of the
results. A suggestion by Errington (2003) designed to distinguish the method by which
data are gathered (e.g. by means of a survey) from that used to define a town's sphere(s) of
influence (e.g. percentage of the population that use a particular service) could also prove
useful in this regard. Errington suggested that, if the survey returns from a settlement show
a dependency of at least 50% of that reported by the town's own population, then that
settlement can be said to lie within the town's sphere of influence for that particular
service. The results of this approach, when applied to this study, are illustrated in Table 9
below, which shows, by way of example, that Longburton and Trent are clearly within
Sherborne's sphere of influence for all four service categories, whereas
Thornford/Thornhackett lies only within the town's medical sphere of influence.
Interestingly, this method reveals that the leisure category, although least significant to the
town's population (i.e. a 30% usage), is the most significant in terms of the extent of its
sphere of influence (i.e. in terms of the number of parishes - 8 out of 11 - that record a
usage figure of more than half that of Sherborne's stated 30%).
Service Category
Parish Medical Professional Retail Leisure
Sherborne 81% 59% 37% 30%
Longburton 81% 69% 29% 33%
Milborne Port 38% 27% 31% 29%
Thornford/
Thornhackett
65% 7% 15% 13%
Trent 71% 43% 41% 29%
Bradford Abbas 35% 14% 8% 20%
Leigh 50% 10% 5% 16%
Holwell 40% 25% 13% 24%
Stourton Caundle 48% 3% 11% 16%
Barwick/
Stoford
10% 5% 0% 8%
Yetminster 18% 13% 1% 7%
Pulham 25% 0% 30% 21%
Table 9
Showing Those Parishes (red Italics) Within
Sherborne's Sphere of Influence (Errington 2003)
104
Finally, to summarise, this research has shown that:
y a simple survey can provide useful information about a town's service functions
relatively quickly;
y Sherborne's service functions varyin significance, both relative to one another, and in
terms of their geographic influence;
y a realistic "working" estimate of Sherborne's overall sphere of influence can be made

121
(Figure 28).
The extent to which this is the case elsewhere is for others to discover. In the meantime,
the search for, "... some sort of short cut which would enable one to define the average
spheres of influence of centres ...", referred to by Green (1952 p345), is likely to continue,
and rural life to change, as Howard Bracey (1953 p50), to whom the last word should most
appropriately be left, clearly recognized when he wrote, half a century ago,
With the creation of agricultural surpluses, the growth of industrial

skills, and the development of improved means of communication,
the point of exchange and service has, in the United Kingdom,
swung from the medieval manor to the regional fair, back to the
local market stall, then to the country-town shop and lastly, since
1920, towards regional shopping and servicing at the expense of
many small towns which had contrived to retain their rural custom
throughout the nineteenth century. There may yet be another swing
back to the small local town as customs develop and habits change
[writer's emphasis] .
121
The area defined appears to conform reasonably well both to the market town service area referred to in
the 1851 census report (Howkins 1991 p29), and to the distances associated with current everyday journeys
(Donovan et. al. 2002).
105
Figure 28
Map122 of Sherborne's Area of Influence123 - an Informed Estimate
122
123
A-B is the line of the Dorset Heights. B-C approximates to the border between North and West Dorset
District Council Areas. C-D-E-F is, very approximately, the line of the Dorset-Somerset Border. F-A
follows the route of the main A37 Yeovil to Dorchester road (a Roman road).
106
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116
Appendices
117
Appendix 1
The Relationships Between Sherborne and Yeovil,

and Sherborne and Dorchester
118
A1.1 The Relationship Between Sherborne and Yeovil
Bracey's survey of six counties (Bracey 1953) identified Sherborne (with its then
population124 of 5,987) as 22nd out of twenty-six Higher District Centres (and 4th out of
Dorset's five Higher District Centres - Figure 3, main text). The likely influence on
Sherborne of Yeovil (population, 23,337), a larger service centre located some six miles
from Sherborne, can be gleaned from the information in Figure 3. Sherborne's Rural
Component of Centrality125 was, at 97, considerably less than the comparable figure for
Yeovil (261).
An investigation by Bracey (1952) into the effect of population on centrality suggested that
the relative positions of the towns in his Wiltshire survey were, with the one exception of
Swindon, not a function of population. Nevertheless, it might be expected, given the
increases in personal mobility that have taken place since Bracey conducted his studies,
and the greatly improved main road between Yeovil and Sherborne, that the influence of
the former town over the latter might have increased since the 1950s, not least because
Yeovil has a much larger population than Sherborne (40,100126 compared with 9,640127
respectively, compared with 23,337 and 5,987 at the time of Bracey's study). However, the
rates of growth are similar128 for both towns, suggesting, perhaps, that each influences the
other almost equally. This view is supported by Barker (1975 Ch.7), who tabulated
changes in populations and trade areas for both towns in 1861, 1889, 1911, and 1939
(Figure 29).
124
1951 Census (Bracey 1953 p44).
125
That is, its relative importance as a rural service centre.
126
Mid-Year population estimates, 2001 (SCC 2003).
127
Mid-Year populations estimates, 2000 (DCC 2003).
128
For Yeovil, ~6.3%; for Sherborne, ~5.8%. These figures were obtained by expressing the annual increase
in population during the period 1951-2001 as a percentage of each town's population in 1951. For example,
for Yeovil: 40,100-9,640=30,460 (increase in population since 1951), divided by 50 to give average annual
growth between 1951 and 2001 (i.e. 609 people/annum). The annual figure (609) is equal to ~6.3% of the
1951 base population of 9,640.
119
Although, during this period, Yeovil's urban population (Census figures) increased by
163% (i.e. from 8,486 to 22,392), compared with an increase in Sherborne's urban
population of only 14% (from 5,793 to 6,601), the two towns' trade areas and associated
populations change relatively little until 1939, when Yeovil's acreage and population
increase significantly, but not, as can be seen, at Sherborne's expense.
Year
1861 1889 1911 1939
Urban Sherborne 5,793 5,273 5,953 6,601
Population Yeovil 8,486 9,620 14,422 22,392
Trade Area Sherborne 12,793 10,860 11,923 12,891
Population Yeovil 26,576 23,157 27,748 41,725
Trade Area Sherborne 37,417 34,539 37,070 36,745
Acreage Yeovil 62,870 57,411 56,426 75,037
Number of Sherborne N/K N/K 22 N/K
Settlements Yeovil 116 102 80 112
Figure 29
Population, Trade Area and Related Data - Sherborne and Yeovil
(Barker 1975 Tables 7.2 & 7.3)
In any event, the commercial and social links between the two very different towns129 are
many, varied, and long-standing. For example, Lipman (1952 p212), referring to the way
in which, " ... two or three neighbouring towns may together perform the functions of a
single larger centre.", quoted a study (Green 1952)130 that noted how, " ... Sherborne and
Yeovil together function as a joint centre for south-east Somerset and Northern Dorset.".
129
Kathryn Barker (2001), a Sherborne historian and lecturer, told the writer that, during lectures, she shows
photographs, taken in the late 19th, early 20th centuries, of Yeovil's and Sherborne's main shopping streets -
they are difficult to tell apart. This is not the case today. Both towns, however, have well documented
histories extending back to Yeovil's position as a Royal Manor, and Sherborne's as a Church Manor. For
many years, Yeovil was the wealthier place, and, as a consequence, its buildings were rebuilt (i.e.
modernised) relatively often, unlike Sherborne's which, left untouched and relatively uncared for, either
survived or fell down, and were replaced in an ad hoc fashion, in a variety of styles. Consequently, and
ironically, Sherborne is today an attractive, traditional town with a great deal of (relatively expensive)
picturesque property, whereas Yeovil has a much more industrial appearance with a lot of modern property.
130
Green noted (p353) that, "Yeovil is not easily considered apart from the neighbouring Dorset town of
Sherborne with which it exists in a partnership similar, on a small scale, to those of Bristol-Bath and
Gloucester-Cheltenham.". In the work quoted, Green built on the findings from his earlier studies (1948 and
1950). These demonstrated that bus services (frequency, bases, journey origins and destinations) were
effective indicators, both of town "types", and the extent of their spatial influence (i.e. a town's hinterland).
His aim in the later work was to note the changes that had occurred in bus service provision, and to use the
information to show, " ... that in the complicated and rapidly evolving economy of the present day the
boundaries of hinterlands will be subject to continual change ... " (p346). His work was part of the -
continuing - quest for, " ... some sort of short cut which would enable one to define the average spheres of
influence of centres performing urban functions." (p345).
120
The two towns developed along similar industrial lines (e.g., agriculture, leather, gloving)
for many years. The Industrial Revolution placed Yeovil, already at the junction of several
road systems, at the centre of a growing rail network (Weymouth to Bristol,
London/Salisbury to Exeter, Yeovil to Taunton). This, combined with its long-standing
importance as a service centre for agriculture, helped stimulate the development of Yeovil's
significant engineering base (Pittard's Leather Works, Westland Helicopters) which, in
turn, resulted in a rapid increase in population during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, culminating in a town which is now some four times larger than
Sherborne, with a local - economic - influence to match. Nevertheless, it appears that the
two towns have developed an unintended, but effective symbiotic relationship, the
dynamics of which may be worthy of further study.
The scenes illustrated in Plates 2 to 11 are included to give some indication of the
differences between the two towns, both in terms of "character" and the range of services
provided.
121
Plate 2
Sherborne - Market Day
122
Plate 3
Yeovil -
Market Day
Plate 4
Typical
Sherborne
Shops
123
Plate 5
Yeovil'
s
Queda
m
Shoppi
ng
Centre
Plate 6
The Yeatman Hospital, Sherborne
124
Plate
7
Yeovi
l Hospital
Plate
8
A Sherborne Restaurant
125
Plate 9
Yeovil's Cinema, Tenpin Bowling and Restaurant Complex
126
Plate 10
Yeovil's Main Shopping Street
Plate 11
Sainsbury's Supermarket, Sherborne
127
A1.2 The Relationship Between Sherborne and Dorchester
Dorchester, Dorset's county town lies nineteen miles (30.6 km.) to the south of Sherborne.
Although Dorchester's physical and economic impact on Sherborne is less than that of
Yeovil, local government links directly affect Sherborne. The County and District
Councils' headquarters are in Dorchester, as is the headquarters of the local health
authority. Therefore, with its primary and secondary schools, its area offices, council waste
tip, hospital and General Practitioners' surgeries all controlled from Dorchester, Sherborne
is to a certain extent under the direct influence of its southern, administratively "superior",
neighbour.
128
Appendix 2
Reasons for Excluding Education and Transport

From the Indicators of Service Provision
Selected for the Survey
129
"Education" is not included as a category in this study, because the case study area's
secondary school's pupils and their families formed the survey group, and the majority of
them they live within the school's catchment area (i.e. within Sherborne's "secondary
education sphere of influence").
Similarly, "transport" is not included. The fact that respondents use Sherborne's service
functions means - again, by definition - that they have the means to access those services.
Whilst the reality of "transport poverty" is accepted, " ... with public transport provision
decreasing and services increasingly being rationalised and centralised." (Cullinane and
Stokes 1998 p105),131 so too is the fact that, in the south of England, almost 90% of the
rural population have some access to a car (p29). Although Cullinane and Stokes believe
that this figure is misleading (p31), in that, when drivers without routine access to a car in
car-owning households, and those aged under 17 are taken into account, " ... just 45.3% of
the total population of rural areas have full [writer's emphasis]access to a car ...", the
situation is not clear cut. Gray (2001 p43) makes the point that, "Although reliance on the
car in rural areas increased markedly between 1985/86 and 1998/99, there is little
evidence to suggest that people are appreciably more dependent on their vehicles."
(writer's emphasis)
.
Nevertheless, given that almost 90% of people have some access to a car, and that
estimates suggest that, at most, 10% of the rural population have to rely on cars, " ...
because public transport alternatives do not exist." (Cullinane and Stokes p329), it is safe
131
It should not, of course, be inferred from this that public transport provision in rural areas is satisfactory
(anecdote and observation suggest that it isn't - there are people who cannot get to where they want to go, and
plenty of - sometimes empty - buses clearly not meeting their needs). The purpose of this research is to
define Sherborne'scurrent sphere(s) of influence for the four service groups selected for survey, not to
determine the effect on the spheres of current transport provision. Inevitably, changes in public transport
provision have the potential to affect, for better or worse, the spheres of influence for the four service groups.
It is suggested that an assessment of the impact of changes in transport (and, for that matter, mobile and
locally devolved - e.g. to primary care level - services) provision on Sherborne's spheres of influence, could
usefully form the basis of future research.
130
to assume that the majority of rural residents are able to access132 Sherborne's services,
should they so choose133. It is worth noting, however, that increases in non-car/public
transport provision do not always work to the advantage of rural service centres. For
example, "free" bus services dedicated to supermarkets clearly have the potential to
displace custom from one centre to another. As participants in two workshops held to
discuss rural transport in the context of town and country links noted, where rural transport
is concerned, there are no simple solutions134 (Morris 2002 p3, Morris 2003a p4).
132
According to the Countryside Agency, rural transport policy is today more about "accessibility" rather
than "mobility" (Bayly 2003).
133
In a related survey in Faringdon, Oxfordshire (Morris 2003), using the same school-based approach,
respondents were asked to indicate the form of transport used to access services. Of the 99 respondents (10%
return rate), 94% used private motor cars (of the non-car users, three walked, and one used a motor cycle - no
one used public transport).
134
Gray'swork on rural transport typologies reinforces this - obvious - point, in that there are eight typologies
(three of which are based on market towns), and a need for, "... further research ... to categorise and validate
a typology of rural transport areas." (Gray 2001 p43).
131
Appendix 3
Questionnaire Development
Version 1 and Version 5 (Used in the Survey)
132
Version 1
Please:-
• Note that the questionnaire has been designed to take the minimum amount of time to complete.
However, each question, no matter how trivial it might seem, is important in terms of the research.
Please do your best, therefore, to answer every question.
• Write in, or tick, the boxes as appropriate (NB the questionnaire should only be completed by people
aged 16 or over).
• Be assured that your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Thank you very much for your help.
Gordon Morris
The Countryside Agency & Seale Hayne (University of Plymouth)
++++++++++++++
About you ...

P1 Where do you live (name of parish, please)?
P2 What is your Post Code?
P3 Are you in ... ... full-time work (30+ hours/week)?

... part-time work?
... full-time education?
... part-time education?
... registered unemployed?
... retired or sick?
... housewife or carer?
P4 If you are in work (paid or voluntary), or in
education, please name the town/village in
which your workplace or place of education
is located.
P5 If you belong to any clubs/societies, please

list the town(s)/village(s) in which they are
based.
P6 How long have you lived in this area? <5 yr. 6-10yrs. 11-15yrs. 16-20yrs. >25yrs.
P7 Please indicate your age group and sex. Age 16-20 21-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 Over70
Male
Female
Medical Services
In which town/village is ...
M1 ... your doctor's surgery?
M2 ... dentist's surgery?
M3 the chemist you mostly use?
M4 the optician you mostly use?
Professional Services
P1 Where do you usually do your face-to-face
banking?
P2 In which town/village is the Post Office you
usually use?
P3 If you use the services of a solicitor, in which
town/village is his/her office?
P4 If you use the services of an accountant, in
which town/village is his/her office?
133
Retail Services
Where (i.e. the name of the town/village) do you do your:
S1 "day to day/emergency" food shopping?
S2 main (e.g. weekly/monthly) food shopping?

S3 shopping for clothes, shoes, hardware etc.?
S4 "luxury/big item" (e.g. TVs, cookers, gifts,
suits, furniture)?
Entertainment
In which town/village do you normally go to the following
(NB if you never go, please write, 'N/A'):
L1 cinema?
L2 theatre?
L3 swimming pool?
L4 gym/sports hall?
L5 playing/sports field?
If you have any comments, please write them in this box.
Thank you for your help. Please return the questionnaire to the Gryphon School before dd/mm/02.
134
Version 5 - Used in Final Survey135
Please:-
aged 16 or over).
Gordon Morris
The Countryside Agency/University of Plymouth
About you ...

Where do you live (name of parish, please)?
A1
What is your Post Code?
A2
... in full-time work (30+ hours/week)? 1
Are you ... ... in part-time work? 2
... in full-time education? 3
... in part-time education? 4
A3 ... registered unemployed? 5
... retired? 6
Please put a tick in one box only (i.e. indicate
... a housewife/husband or carer? 7
your main occupation).
... permanently sick or disabled? 8
If you are in work (paid or voluntary), or in
education, please name the place (e.g., city,
A4
or town/village & county) in which your
main workplace, or place of education, is
located.
If you belong to any clubs/societies, please
A5 list the places (e.g., city, or town/village &
county) in which they are based.
<5 yr. 6-10yrs. 11-15yrs. 16-20yrs. >20yrs.
A6 How long have you lived in this area?
1 2 3 4 5
Please indicate - by a tick in the appropriate Age 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Over 64
Male/Female box - your age group and sex.
Male
A7
Female
1 2 3 4 5 6
Medical
... your doctor's surgery?
M1
... your dentist's surgery?
M2
... the chemist you mostly use?
M3
... the optician you mostly use?
M4
Where do you usually do your face-to-face
P1
banking?
In which town/village is the Post Office you
P2
usually use?
If you use the services of a solicitor, in which
P3
city/town/village is his/her office?
If you use the services of an accountant, in
P4
which city/town/village is his/her office?
135
The two main changes between the versions are: the age bands were modified to fit those used by
University of Plymouth researchers involved in other projects; the "linked visits" question was added.
NB In the questionnaire used in the Faringdon survey a question relating to the mode of transport used by
respondents to access services was included (p98, p130 [Footnote 130]).
135
Retail Services
S1 day to day/"emergency" food shopping?
S2 main (e.g. weekly/monthly) food shopping?

S3 shopping for clothes, shoes, hardware etc.?
luxury/"big item" (e.g. TVs, cookers, gifts,
S4
suits, furniture)?
Leisure
L1 cinema?
L2 theatre?
L3 swimming pool?
L4 gym/sports hall?
L5 playing/sports field?
"Linked" Visits
Yes No
Do you, when visiting a town for one purpose (e.g. to visit the Doctor), usually take the opportunity to
do some shopping, or have a coffee, for example? Please put a "tick" in one box.
Finally, if you have any comments you would like to make (e.g. about why you prefer to go to a particular
place for a particular service, or what it is that you like, or dislike, about a particular place), please write
them in this box.
Thank you for your help.

Please return the completed questionnaire to The Gryphon School before 18 October, 2002.
136
Appendix 4
Letters Sent in Connection With the Research
137
Letter No. 1
Mrs J Leyshon
The Gryphon School
Bristol Road
SHERBORNE
07 April, 2002
Thanks very much for agreeing to consider my request for help from Gryphon students with my
research into, "A Country Town's Sphere of Influence". As I said when we last spoke, my project,
essentially a re-run of national research done in the late 1940s by geographers involved in post-war
reconstruction work, is designed to see if a short, simple to complete questionnaire, sent out to the
families of a town's state secondary school can be used to determine a town's sphere of influence
and, consequently, help to inform/influence rural policy. We shall see! In any event, I would like
to think that the work might, in some way, be of some use to the school (e.g. as a case study).
Anyway, as promised, I am sending you copies of the draft letter and questionnaire for comment.
Basically, I need to do the following:-
Firstly, send letter and questionnaires home with, say, a Year 12 geography class as a trial (i.e.
to see how/if the questionnaire "works").
Secondly, send letters and questionnaires (amended to reflect findings from 1 above) home
with each pupil/student (i.e. whole school). Obviously, I will supply all the paperwork, and
arrange a timetable for distribution that is acceptable to you.
I hope that the above makes some sense. I will ring you in a week or so to find out what you think.
In the meantime, thanks for agreeing to consider my request.
Gordon Morris
Tanglewood
Leigh
SHERBORNE DT9 6HL
Tel. 01935 873051
138
Letter No. 2

!#"%$&!#'#
(*)+-,/.0 (*12435 6
01 September, 2002
Dear Householder
Sherborne. an English Country Town - What's it for in the Twenty-first Century?
This letter, and the enclosed questionnaires, are being sent to the home of every Gryphon School pupil and
student as part of a research project designed to find out how Sherborne "serves" the people who live in and
around it.
You may know that, in recent years, concern for the "state" of England's small towns has grown, not only
amongst interested individuals and groups, but also within local and central Government. The Countryside
Agency, a central government organization, is interested in the "health" of small towns, and is keen to learn
more about the nature and strength (or otherwise) of the relationships that exist between towns and their
outlying, traditionally dependent, villages and hamlets.
The Countryside Agency is supporting me in my attempt, as a post-graduate student at the University of

Plymouth, to find out how far Sherborne'sinfluence as a main service centre extends into the countryside. I
hope that the work will be of use, both to the pupils and students of the Gryphon School, and to other people
and organizations interested in the role of England's country towns. The approach I amollowing
f - i.e.
working with the local secondary school - is similar to that used during a national survey of market towns in
the late 1940s.
And so to the help! Questionnaires should be completed, please, by individual family members - aged 16 or
over - who live with you in your home (feel free to photocopy the forms if you need more than three). Please
return the completed questionnaires to the Gryphon School before 18th October, 2002.
The results of the survey will be given to the school. They will also, I hope, inform rural policy development,
and may prove to be of some benefit to everyone who lives or works in, or simply visits for enjoyment,
England's country towns and villages.Your contribution to this work is, therefore, important. Quite simply,
the more forms I have to analyse, the better. Please accept, in advance, my thanks for your help.
The information you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence. No reference will be made in
my report to any individual household.
If you have any questions, please let me know, either by telephone (work number, 01622 765222) or e-mail
(gordon.morris@countryside.gov.uk).
Yours sincerely
*RUGRQ0RUULV
Gordon Morris
139
Letter No. 3
Mr C J Shepperd, BA (Oxon), MSc

Headteacher
The Gryphon School
Bristol Road
SHERBORNE
Dorset DT9 4EQ
18 October 2002
Sherborne Hinterland Survey
Thank you very much for your help with my research. Thanks also to the staff and the
students and their families for completing the questionnaires. To date approximately 230
completed forms have been returned. I am hoping (fingers crossed) that I will receive at
least 500 forms eventually. Therefore, if you could make one final plea on my behalf,
please, it would be very much appreciated.
At the back of my mind is the idea that my approach could be used by a town's school, both
as a cross-curricula activity, and as a way of involving young people in the national Market
Towns Initiative (MTI) announced in the Rural White Paper in 2000. Approximately 200
towns in England are currently involved in the MTI and, as you can imagine, it is not
always easy to find ways in which young people can make a practical contribution to the
work of their town's partnership. It occurs to me that my survey method could, if operated
by a town's secondary school, help to put both school and pupils at the forefront of the
work associated with defining a town's hinterland (something that has to be done as part of
the MTI'sinitial data gathering work). Also, I suspect that, if the school "owned" the
work, the number of forms returned would increase significantly. I wonder, Chris, do you
agree, and is it something that you think schools would be interested in? I suspect that the
project could have something to offer mathematics, business studies, and geography
students.
Anyway, I will, of course, let you know how I get on, and make sure that the results are
made available to the school. I will call in in a couple of weeks to see if any more forms
are handed in. Once again, Chris, many thanks for your help.
Tanglewood
Leigh
Sherborne
Dorset DT9 6HL
140
Appendix 5
Completed Questionnaire
From Pre-test Survey
141
Please:-
aged 16 or over).
Gordon Morris
The Countryside Agency & Seale Hayne (University of Plymouth)
++++++++++++++
About you ...

P1 Where do you live (name of parish, please)? Sherborne
P2 What is your Post Code? DT9 4DU
P3 Are you in ... ... full-time work (30+ hours/week)?
... part-time work?
7
... full-time education?
... part-time education?
... registered unemployed?
... retired or sick?
... housewife or carer?
P4 If you are in work (paid or voluntary), or in
education, please name the town/village in
which your workplace or place of education Sherborne
is located.
P5 If you belong to any clubs/societies, please

list the town(s)/village(s) in which they are Yeovil
based.
P6 How long have you lived in this area? <5 yr. 6-10yrs. 11-15yrs. 16-20yrs. 7
>25yrs.
P7 Please indicate your age group and sex. Age 16-20 21-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 Over70
Male
Female 9
Medical
M1 ... your doctor's surgery? Sherborne
M2 ... dentist's surgery? Sherborne
M3 the chemist you mostly use? Sherborne
M4 the optician you mostly use? Yeovil
P1 Where do you usually do your face-to-face Sherborne
banking?
P2 In which town/village is the Post Office you Sherborne
usually use?
P3 If you use the services of a solicitor, in which Sherborne
town/village is his/her office?
P4 If you use the services of an accountant, in N/A
which town/village is his/her office?
142
Retail Services
S1 "day to day/emergency" food shopping? Sherborne
S2 main (e.g. weekly/monthly) food shopping? Yeovil
S3 shopping for clothes, shoes, hardware etc.? Yeovil
S4 "luxury/big item" (e.g. TVs, cookers, gifts, Bristol
suits, furniture)?
Leisure
L1 cinema? Yeovil
L2 theatre? Bath
L3 swimming pool? Yeovil
L4 gym/sports hall? N/A
L5 playing/sports field? N/A
If you have any comments, please write them in this box.
Thank you for your help. Please return the questionnaire to the Gryphon School before dd/mm/02.
143
Appendix 6
Survey Data Presented by Electoral Ward
144
Ward C: Gryphon School
(listed in order of Medical Professional Retail Leisure Average Linked Visits Catchment Area Notes
"medical significance") NC: Non-Catchment
Mudford (1 parish/3
100% 58% 25% 27% 52.5% 66% C 1, 2
returns)
Sherborne (97
81% 59% 37% 30% 52.25% 76% C 3
returns)
Queen Thorne (5
73% 47% 45% 26% 47.75% 92% C 3
parishes/13 returns)
Caundle Vale (7
64% 35% 27% 18% 36% 64% C 3
Blackmore (3
50% 10% 15% 16% 22.75% 60% C 3
Bradford Abbas (3
52% 10% 12% 16% 22.5% 95% C 3
Halstock (1 parish/2
50% 0% 13% 0% 15.75% 100% C 2
returns)
Holnest (2 parishes/12
42% 15% 10% 13% 20% 58% C 3
returns)
Milborne Port (2
41% 23% 25% 29% 29.5% 86% C 4
parishes/8 returns)
Blackmore Vale (3
30% 5% 17% 20% 18% 100% Partly C 2
parishes/5 returns)
Lydden Vale (2
25% 3% 27% 19% 18.5% 87% Partly C
parishes/8 returns)
Yetminster (5
18% 9% 4% 8% 9.75% 46% C 3
Yeovil (1 parish/5
18% 5% 3% 10% 9% 80% NC 2
returns)
Piddle Valley (1
17% 17% 13% 0% 11.75% 50% C
parish/3 returns)
Coker (2 parishes/5
10% 5% 0% 8% 5.75% 60% NC 2
returns)
Hills & Vale (1 parish/2
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% NC 2
returns)
Martock (1 parish/2
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% NC 2
returns)
Average figures per

category based on all 59% 34% 25% 21% 72% 5
respondents :
Notes
1 This figure is attributable to one family's liking for Sherborne's doctors and dentists (comment made on questionnaire), andlso,
a no doubt, for the Gryphon School.
2 These figures represent the views of 5 or fewer respondents. Nevertheless, these individuals do make linked visits when in Sherborne.
3 These Wards are considered to be the most significant in that they represent the views of 12 or more respondents.
4 Milborne Port, Somerset, is technically outside the Gryphon School's catchment. However, for practical reasons to do with the ivllage's closeness to Sherborne, and the distance from the nearest Somerset
secondary schools, an agreement between the two county Local Education Authorities allows Milborne Port children to attend the Gryphon School.
5 These figures relate to all respondents - they are not the averages of the columnar averages shown above them. This is because only those Wards from which at least two forms were received are
included in the Table - single forms from Queen Camel and Wincanton (each recording a 25% dependency on Sherborne for medical services, and zero for all others) have not been included.
Table A6/1 - Survey Data by Electoral Ward
145
Appendix 7
Sherborne's Services - a Discussion
146
In addition to Sherborne's three General Medical Practices (GMPs), there are three dental
practices, three opticians, three pharmacies, a chiropractor, a chiropodist and an osteopath
located in the town (Dentons 2003, Yellow Pages 2002). Common sense suggests that the
level and "health" of the various service categories are linked to one another, and
dependent upon a variety of external circumstances. For example, Sherborne's popularity
as a retirement town and its prominence as an education centre helps to maintain the high
level of medical and allied services. As well as the Gryphon School and two state primary
schools, there are, in, or close to the town, four private day and boarding schools and an
international college (Dentons 2003, Yellow Pages 2002), all of which to some extent rely
on, and therefore help maintain, local medical services. Similarly, the boarding students
probably contribute to the presence of the relatively large number - eight - of banks and
building societies, as well as a General Post Office, in the town (Dentons 2003). The
presence of these providers of, for example, mortgages to people buying property in the
area, could, in turn, it is suggested, help to maintain the number of solicitors (4),
accountants (6), and estate agents (7) in the town (Dentons 2003, Yellow Pages 2002).
The presence of large numbers of school children and, on occasions, their parents, together
with the relatively large number of people who retire to Sherborne (DCC 2003), as well as
the many visitors to this attractive Abbey town, no doubt helps to explain the numbers,
quality and variety of restaurants, tea, coffee, cake and other speciality shops.
Two supermarkets, Somerfields and Sainsbury's, are locatedin the town136 and cater for the
needs of the local shopper, as do Woolworth's and Boots, both of which, together with a
wide variety of food and other shops (e.g. white and fancy goods), are sited in Cheap
Street, the main shopping street. The fact that Sherborne's range of shops does not include
136
These shops are effectively at the north and the south ends of the town - they are not edge of, or out of
town stores, and, anecdotally, their presence seems to have improved the attractiveness of Sherborne as a
shopping destination.
147
chain stores or "out/edge of town" white goods, Do-It-Yourself (although there is a
builders' merchant in the town), furniture and computer stores, for example, is perhaps
hardly surprising, given the town's proximity to Yeovil, where these outlets are to be
found137.
In general, therefore, Sherborne can be said to have a healthy and attractive mix of retail
services, bolstered both by the town's innate attractiveness and, to some extent, the link
between its medical services strength and people's apparent wish to make the most of their
time by making use of a visit for one purpose to do other things. It is also suggested that
people make assumptions about the relationship between the size of a town and the retail
offer within it that work to the disadvantage of some smaller country towns, because, to all
intents and purposes, Sherborne appears to have a good selection of shops.
The examples given above largely draw on the town's strengths in the education and
"heritage tourism" markets. Sherborne's success in these areas, however, and the degree to
which this success has helped the town to develop as a significant medical service centre,
has presumably encouraged people from the surrounding villages to use the other services.
It is suggested, therefore, that Sherborne's influence is, to a certain extent, dependent on:
y the continued availability of both medical (mainly) and professional services in the
town;
y the town's attractiveness as a destination in its own right;
y "selling" the town as a place in which general (e.g. food), speciality (e.g. gifts), and "big
ticket" (e.g. furniture, washing machines) products are available within an attractive,
historic and human-scale environment138.
137
In addition, the major regional shopping centres Southampton, Bournemouth, Bath, Bristol, Salisbury, and
Exeter are all relatively accessible from Sherborne, both by motor car and public transport.
138
It is suggested that people may make assumptions about the relationship between the size of a town and
the size and quality of its retail "offer" (i.e. the smaller the town the smaller the range and the lower the
quality of the "offer" within it).
148
Appendix 8
Scatter Charts Illustrating

by Parish, Relative to Nearby Towns,
for Each of the Four Services Surveyed
149
A8.1 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Category and Settlement
For respondents for whom Sherborne is their closest town, those from Longburton (a
village with no medical services) show a strong dependency on Sherborne for medical
services, unlike respondents from Milborne Port, a village in which can be found a surgery,
dental practice and a pharmacy. Trent, Thornford, and Leigh, on the other hand (in none of
which are medical services to be found139), all lie on the Yeovil side of Sherborne, and
record levels of usage lower than for Longburton, but higher than those for Milborne Port.
The relative importance of Sherborne's medical services can be judged by comparing the
data in Figure 30 with those in Figures 31 to 33.
Figure 30
Relative to Nearby Towns (Medical Services, Data From Table 3 [Main Text])
90
80 Sherborne
Longburton
70 Trent
Thornford
60
Percent
50 Leigh
S Caundle
40 M Port
Holwell
B Abbas
30
Pulham
20 Yetminster
10 Barwick
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Travel Time in minutes Between Named Parish & Sherborne, Divided
139
Although Leigh and Thornford are within both Yetminster'sand Sherborne's GMP catchment areas.
150
Figure 31
Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre by Parish Relative
to Nearby Towns (Professional Services, Data From Table 3)
80
Longburton
70
Sherborne
60
50
Percent
Trent
40
30 M Port
Holwell
20
B Abbas
Yetminster
Leigh
10 Thornford
Barwick
S Caundle
Pulham
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Figure 32
Relative to Nearby Towns (Retail Services, Data From Table 3 [Main Text])
50
Trent
40
Sherborne
Percent
M Port
30 LongburtonPulham
20
Thornford
Holwell
S Caundle
10 B Abbas
Leigh
Yetminster Barwick
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
151
Figure 33
Realative to Nearby Towns (Leisure Services, Data From Table 3 [Main Text])
35
Longburton
30 Sherborne
M PortTrent
25 Holwell
Percent
Pulham
20 B Abbas
Leigh S Caundle
15
Thornford
10
Barwick
Yetminster
5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
In the case of all four categories it can be seen that respondents record some degree of
preference for Sherborne's services (although, in most cases, reported usage is less than
50%). This includes those respondents who live in parishes that lie closer to another town
in which similar services are available. However, the opposite also applies, in that
respondents who live in parishes that lie closer to Sherborne than to any other town record
low usage figures (e.g. approximately 5% reported use of Sherborne's retail services by
respondents from Leigh - Figure 32).
It is important to note, however, that, as stated in the main text (p94), the data available are
considered to be insufficient to enable anything more than the most general of inferences to
be drawn.
The brief discussion above is intended to stimulate debate in the belief that further study
based on this approach (i.e. relative travel times between settlements), perhaps linked to
152
work on public transport route planning and accessibility to services, could yield useful
results140.
A8.2 Sherborne's Significance as a Service Centre Excluding Data From the
Village of Barwick
The trend lines (i.e. "best fit") in Figure 34 were obtained by linear regression (returns from
respondents living in Barwick - an outlying settlement - have been excluded). The "best
fit" for the data, including those from Barwick's respondents, was obtained using
exponential regression (Figure 27).
Figure 34
Relative Significance of Sherborne's Service Catgories by Parish
Relative to Nearby Towns (Data From Figures 30 to 33, Exludes Barwick)
90
80
70
60 Medical
Percent
50 Professional
40 Retail
30 Leisure
20
10
0
0 0.5 1 1.5
Travel Time (Minutes) Between Parish & Sherborne, Divided by
Travel Time in Minutes Between Parish & Nearest Alternative Town
It is not surprising that the regression analysis for each of the service categories produces a
straight line "fit"141 - it is a reflection of Barwick's status as a statistical "oulier"

142
140
Travel time is, by definition, related to ease of access - of course, for people who lack access to some form
of transport, and who are unable to walk to the nearest service centre, the question of travel time is largely,
and unhelpfully, academic. A brief discussion about transport is contained in Appendix 2.
141
The "quality" of the trend line "fit" for the medical category is 0.522 (where a perfect fit would = 1). This
reflects the relatively wide "scattering" of the results either side of the trend line.
142
In effect an atypical item of data that may distort results.
153
(Barwick is much closer to its nearest alternative town143 than to Sherborne than any other
parish featuring in the survey). However, the relationships between the four service
categories are not changed by the removal of the data relating to Barwick (compare with
Figure 27). The medical category clearly has the greatest significance. The professional
and retail service categories lose significance at a faster rate than the leisure category,
although they both start from a higher base (an interesting result given that all of the retail
and professional services are available in the town, whereas, of the five leisure categories
surveyed144, only one - playing/sports field - is available for relatively unrestricted public
use).
143
Yeovil, by far the largest town in the survey area.
144
Cinema, theatre, swimming pool, gym/sports hall, and playing/sports field.
154
Appendix 9
Analysis of Respondents' Written

Comments
155
Forty-six comments were received (from 247 respondents). The Table below summarises
the respondents' written comments. Where a particular comment is made by more than
one respondent, the number of respondents making the comment is given in parenthesis. It
can be seen that Sherborne's character, scale, and specialist - and other - shops account for
much of its popularity. Yeovil clearly serves to meet the balance of respondents' needs for
shopping and leisure services. The complementary nature of the two towns is effectively
summed up by the following quotations from two respondents:
"I try to shop in Yeovil and Sherborne as prices are different at most
supermarkets."
"It [Sherborne] complements Yeovil well.".
Sherborne Yeovil
Likes Dislikes Likes Dislikes
Sainsbury's (2) No large facilities Tesco " ... lacks a major
department store (e.g. John
Lewis, Debenhams)."
Easy parking (6) "Stuffy & oppressive." Has lively church Parking
Interesting shops (3) House prices Good choice of shops (10) Traffic (A30)
Nice environment (5) Too many antique dealers "Has most of what I need
& charity shops (2) to get."
Doctors & dentists (2) Not enough shops/lack of
choice (3)
Good food shopping No swimming pool (6) Writer's note: Yeovil has
a swimming pool.
"... feels part of a "Limited for shopping ... ... but Yeovil's not far
community ..." away, so that's OK".
"Beautiful town ... No public theatre Cinema (2)
character .." (5) No cinema Bowling (2)
Leisure facilities
Friendly - "...good to be "Snooty place"
in." (4)
Pleasant Expensive shopping
Variety of shops (4) Lack of entertainment for
teenagers (4)
Good atmosphere Too much growth (house
building)
NHS dentist Schools full
The market Not suitable for "serious"
shopping.
Meets daily & weekly "Planners have prevented
shopping needs industry from revitalising
the local economy."
Can shop quickly and Town's two personalities -
conveniently daytime and night time
("drunk young people in
the evening).
Can combine shopping "Aimed at 'old' market."
with school collection
"Pleasant place to live, "Sainsbury's and
work & shop." Somerfields are more
expensive than ... ... Tesco."
"Just knowing a place "Dormitory town for the
makes you feel 'ageing stranger'."
comfortable & welcome."
Table A9.1
Summary of Respondents' Written Comments
156
Appendix 10
Copy of Front Page of The Conduit,

Sherborne's Newsletter
157
158

2002, A Spatial Odyssey. An Investigation Into The Sphere(s) of Influence of Sherborne, Dorset (An English Country Town)

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author and that no quotation from the dissertation and no information

derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent.

An Investigation Into the

Gordon Ralph Morris

A dissertation submitted to the University of Plymouth

Gordon Ralph Morris

2002, A Spatial Odyssey

A review of the literature relating to methods used to determine spheres of influence of

Chapter 2 Literature Review 20

Chapter 3 The Selection of the Case Study Town 43

Chapter 4 Developing the Method 54

Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 97

1 Shopping Areas of Eight Somerset Towns

1 View of Sherborne Abbey 14

whom I gratefully extend my thanks.

Department, Mr Phil Davies, were particularly helpful and encouraging.

changes, but also much that stays the same!

the author been registered for any other University award.

This dissertation is the original work of the author except where

acknowledgement is given, and has not previously been submitted for a

degree in this or any other University.

Gordon Ralph Morris

A.J Heamon, The Towns of Somerset South of Mendip and Their

View of Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne, Dorset

Professor A. E. Smailes, The Geography of Towns (1966)

rural people still shop in the local town.".

done in Britain to distinguish the urban fields." (1966 p136).

A settlement'ssphere of influence is not simply geographical (i.e. a single "hinterland"2,

no longer robust central place entities." (Medcalf'2000 p20). Medcalf's research

particular (Courtney and Errington 2000, CA 2001, CA 2001a).

and its surrounding countryside [writer's emphasis]

Although, understandably, much of the literature concentrates on topics of concern, for

surrounding settlements. It is suggested that, despite the influence of globalization and

technological developments, many of the traditional relationships and service dependencies

whilst maintaining and promoting a collective regional identity.".

using a questionnaire to discover how far a particular country town's influence as a

be developed for easy, useful replication in other country towns.

of rural change could be measured.".

symbiotic relationship between town and village.

The objectives of this research are:

1. to assess the current suitability of Howard Bracey's approach to the identification

of the "spheres of influence" of country towns;

2. to establish the most appropriate contemporary indicators of service provision for

3. to identify a suitable country town for study;

4. to conduct a survey of residents of the study area;

6. to review the advantages and limitations of the method in determining the

"spheres of influence" of country towns.

presentation of results (Chapter 5) and, finally, in Chapter 6, to conclusions and

Professor Manning Clark, A Historian's Apprenticeship (1992).

the term, country town, should be more widely used?

to or a part of Metropolitan England." (Green 2002).

periodically, in Dr Bracey'scase literally from the ashes of past research9, to be addressed

by a new generation of researchers, politicians, and development practitioners, each

town's circumstances, identify its, and the surrounding area's, strengths

strategic role of "reinvigorated" local government (DETR/MAFF 2000 p145) and

that a more flexible, locally-centred, less mechanistic, rule-based and target-driven

and usage patterns - may be about to come of age again.

The social structure of the rural locality is revolutionized by this

"Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant.". Change can bring

implications of change in rural areas11. During his twenty-five years as a researcher, he

early rural settlement planning policy." (p118).

Bracey's approach, although practical, was, according to Dr Liz Mills, in her