Wimborne Minster (former abbey church)

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Wimborne Minster with a late Gothic ( Perpendicular Style ) west tower and Norman crossing tower

The former abbey and collegiate church of Wimborne Minster in the southern English city of the same name is St. Cuthburga , sister of Ine , King of Wessex , consecrated.

history

The current church is probably in the same place as the abbey church of the Benedictine monastery founded by Cuthburga around 705 . Around the year 720, Walpurga , who was later canonized and the daughter of a wealthy (perhaps even royal) family, entered the monastery and stayed here for 26 years until she met her uncle, St. Bonifatius , and her brothers Wunibald and Willibald followed on a missionary trip to southern Germany. Already around the year 735 St. Liobawho had been brought up at about the same time in the monastery of Wimborne, set out for Germany. In the 8th century a men's monastery was added to the women's monastery. In 871, Alfred the Great , King of Wessex , had his late brother Ethelred buried in the abbey - the tomb, however, is lost.

In 1013 the Danish Vikings destroyed parts of the abbey buildings, but only 30 years later Edward the Confessor founded a monastery school here, which was also open to non-monastic students. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the new masters had a great need for trained legal and administrative experts; It was they who began to enlarge the abbey building and to rebuild the church between 1120 and 1180. In a document dated 1318, King Edward II exempted Wimborne Abbey from any subordination to episcopal jurisdiction. At the end of the 15th century (1496), Lady Margaret Beaufort , the mother of Henry VII , founded a school and a chapel in Wimborne. But at the latest with the dissolution of the English monasteries by their grandson Henry VIII in the years 1538–1541, the heyday of the Wimborne Abbey was over. The monastery treasures were confiscated, but - unlike most English abbeys - Wimborne was not completely dissolved and so the buildings were preserved. A royal decree from Elizabeth I from 1562 stipulated that parts of the church property confiscated from her father had to be returned.

church

architecture

Wimborne Minster - Exterior
Interior -> west

The entire structure is made of a combination of limestone from Dorset and stones from the New Forest built.

Exterior

Today's church building with the dimensions of about 60 m (length) and 16.50 m (width of the nave) is a conglomerate of different construction phases, most of which go back to Norman construction activities between 1120 and 1180 - the central nave of the nave comes from this time and the approximately 25.50 m high and still immaculate crossing tower , which is designed as a lantern tower in the Norman tradition and on the outside shows the overlapping arches typical of Norman architecture ; the top with a crenellated crown and corner turret is a later addition. Around 1220 ( Early English ) the building received a crypt - which is rather rare in medieval architecture in England . In the 14th century ( Decorated Style ) the Norman nave was sheathed and later demolished; However, the arcades of the central nave were preserved. In addition, the two transepts were enlarged and provided with larger windows in the style of the time; In addition, two chapel extensions and side altars were built in the choir area. The approximately 29 m high west tower, which - in contrast to the Norman crossing tower - is accompanied by four octagonal corner towers, is an ingredient of the 15th century ( Perpendicular Style ), which is particularly indicated by the windows with their vertical tracery lines in the arched field.

Interior

Particularly noteworthy are the Norman arcade zone of the nave with its jagged round arches, the interior of the crossing tower with its cross-shaped beam ceiling and the west window in Perpendicular style .

Furnishing

  • The stone figures in the central nave, which date back to Norman times, are a rarity - including Moses with a braided beard and the two tablets of the law in his right hand.
  • A brass plate from the 14th century, one of the oldest in England, located next to the altar , commemorates the lost tomb of King Ethelred.
  • John Beaufort , Duke of Somerset , and his wife Margaret - Henry VII's maternal grandparents - are buried beneath a tomb made of alabaster and Purbeck marble . The two reclining figures ( gisants ) are shown with folded hands; their heads rest on finely embroidered stone pillows and are accompanied by angels. At the feet of the man dressed as a knight is a lion as a symbol of his strength and at the feet of the woman a dog as a sign of her loyalty.
  • Noteworthy is a small astronomical clock , which was probably constructed around 1320 and is therefore one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. The later revised front page shows a geocentric model of the world as it was still in use in Europe up to the 16th century. The clock was originally in the crossing tower, but was later moved to the west tower. It is coupled with the figure of a uniformed bell-pounder ( quarter jack ) from the 19th century, who is holding two hammers in his hands , replacing an older monk figure.
  • The organ from 1664 comes from the workshop of Robert Hayward from Bath . It is one of the oldest preserved church organs in England and was repeatedly restored and supplemented in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • The abbey had one of the first public libraries in England in the year 1686. The precious books were chained a precaution against theft ( chained library ).
  • The figured pulpit is a work of the 19th century.

literature

  • Patricia H. Coulstock: The Collegiate Church of Wimborne Minster - Studies in the History of Medieval Religion. Boydell Press, Woddbridge 1993, ISBN 978-0-85115-339-1 .
  • Christine Oliver: The Chained Library of Wimborne Minster. Guide book. Wimborne Minster Press 2002.
  • Wimborne Minster Official Guidebook , Wimborne Minster and Jarrold Press (2002)
  • Charles Herbert Mayo: A history of Wimborne Minster: the collegiate church of Saint Cuthburga and King's free chapel at Wimborne. Bell & Daldry, Wimborne 1860

Web links

Commons : Wimborne Minster (former Abbey Church)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 47'56.1 "  N , 1 ° 59'17.3"  W.