Wimborne Minster

A large and impressive building set right into the middle of the town, Wimborne’s Minster is an ancient and revered religious structure. The quarter — jack can be heard across Wimborne and the bells are rang regularly during practices. A little-​known chained library adorns the top of one of the towers, with tours available.

Wonderful historic building popular with tourists from near and far, and with good reason. Inside there is an air of peace. You are free to wander around inside the minster and there is much to see. There are some articles on the walls which explain some of the history of the building, and a wonderful huge stained glass window adorns the front of the minster. The grounds are a nice place to rest awhile on a pleasant day; there are grassed areas where people picnic or soak up the sun. The minster is situated in the heart of the small town of Wimborne; after you visit to the minster you are perfectly placed to explore the shops and cafes nearby.

For more than thirteen hundred years the Minster has been a centre for pilgrimage, prayer and worship. A Minster signifies that the church was attached to a religious house.
A glance upto the West Tower the famous ‘quarter Jack’. Originally the figure was of a monk but in Napoleonic times, he was changed to depict a brightly uniformed grenadier, and it is still the grenadier who strikes the quarters, day and night.
The oldest part of the Minster is the massive central tower, dating from the twelfth century, which was crowned with a spire. This fell during a Service in 1600, but miraculously there was no loss of life or injury. The Minster has been added to in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Among the many fascinating and historical features in the Minster are a small piece of tessellated pavement which is believed to be Roman, a Saxon chest, a remarkable fourteenth century astronomical clock, a small fifteenth century brass tablet recording that King Ethelred (brother to Alfred the Great) was buried in the Minster in 871 having died of wounds while fighting the Danes some fifteen miles north of Wimborne. also, the Beaufort Tomb, a medieval glass window reputed to have been made by Flemish craftsmen in the fifteenth century, the famous Chained Library, as well as ten fine bells housed in the West Tower which today ring for 9.45am Parish Eucharist and 6.30pm Evensong on Sundays, for Weddingsand special occassions as well as practice on Tuesday evening.
The Crypt Chapel is kept quiet as a place for daily prayers. During Evensong, the Verger walks up and downthe aisles with a long wand during the reading of the lessons, in oder to keep the congregation awake!