St. Cuthberga
If you approach Wimborne from almost any direction, one of the first things you see is this great Minster church, which by its very size dominates, but certainly does not intimidate, the centre of the town.
A Minster
church was a teaching church, in addition to being to being a monastic order.
Before there were theological colleges, those who wanted to train for the
priesthood or to learn more about Christianity, went to a Minster church.
Hence York Minster, Beverley Minster, etc.
The original
Minster Church in Wimborne was founded in AD 705 by Cuthberga, sister of a Saxon
king – King Ina. Cuthberga became
bored with life as a royal princess and desiring to do something more with her
life, entered a nunnery. After a
few years as a nun she had a vision, which envisaged the conversion of what was
then pagan Germany so she persuaded her brother, who owned land in this part of
the county, to give it to her for the purpose of building a church and nunnery.
Accordingly, in
AD705, a church was established in Wimborne, followed in 713 by a Benedictine
Nunnery in which there were, at any one time, some 300 to 400 nuns in training.
This nunnery was situated in what is now Deans Court.
So, in 740 a group of nuns, led by St. Boniface and Sister Leoba,
traveled to Bavaria and founded a Christian community at Ochsenfurt, and this
community flourishes today. In
fact, it is now twinned with Wimborne Minster.
The building of
the present Minster was commenced in 1043 and took nearly 500 years to complete.
The east end of the church is largely Saxon, whilst the central part is
Norman (1400) and the west section is Early English (1500).
In 1318 King
Edward II bestowed on the Minster, together with some 10 or 11 other churches,
the title of “Royal Peculiar”, thus removing such churches from
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as well as ensuring the revenue went to the crown. This practice was abolished in 1846, but the Minster still
retains the title.
In 1562, Queen
Elizabeth I vested the Minster with 12 governors to oversee its affairs and this
is still the position today.
Over the arch
at the entrance to the baptistry, there is a coat of arms. This was originally that of King Charles I, but when Cromwell
came to power, the Minster conveniently removed and “lost” it, despite the
area being strongly royalist, and sat on the fence.
Accordingly, the Minster suffered little damage from Cromwell’s
soldiers, apart from a few broken windows and the removal of gold ornaments,
etc.
When Cromwell
died, and King Charles II acceded to the throne, his coat of arms was displayed
and is the one there today.
The Dorset Historic Churches Trust gratefully acknowledges the contribution made to these notes by Mr. John Davis, the Head Guide of the Minster.
