WIMBORNE MINSTER

The Uvedale Monument
&
Ancient Oak Chest

On the north wall is a memorial to Sir Edmund Uvedale, who died in 1606.  It was designed by an Italian sculptor in renaissance style.  About 150 years ago, the memorial was refurbished, but when the workmen took down the reclining figure, they accidentally broke the feet off the legs.  The right foot was badly damaged and could not be reused, the the foreman told one of the workmen “make me another foot" and gave as a pattern the undamaged left foot.  The workman obeyed instructions and made another left foot, never questioning why another left foot was required.  The error was not discovered until after the work was completed, and the family decided to leave matters as they were.

Alongside the memorial is the oak chest left behind by the Vikings when they sacked the church.  It is carved from the trunk of an oak tree and was used to hold religious relics.  In fact, so precious were these to the early church, that there would have been six locks, the keys of which would have been held by six different people, so that anyone wanting to open the chest would have to obtain the agreement of five others.