St Cuthburga's - Churchyard - Wimborne Minster, Dorset, UK
N 50° 47.946 W 001° 59.300
30U E 571293 N 5627972
From whichever direction Wimborne is approached the two great towers of the Minster can be seen. Christian worship has taken place at this location for over 1300 years. The Minster Church is located in the Heart of Wimborne, Great Britain.
Waymark Code: WMMDB9
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/04/2014
Views: 1
The Lawns around the Minster Church, are scattered with grave slabs & tombs. Historically burials took place without headstones in unmarked graves, pre 18th Century. If you think of a large parish with perhaps 20 bereavements per year multiplied by a thousand years, that's a lot of unmarked burials.
"Wimborne Minster is a Saxon church with Norman and Gothic architecture. It is famous for its unique chained library as well as the tombs of King Ethelred (the brother of Alfred the Great), John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and his Duchess (the maternal grandparents of King Henry VII of England" Text Source: (
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"The Minster is dedicated to St Cuthburga, sister of Ina King of Wessex. She founded a Benedictine Nunnery here around 705 AD; there may also have been a monastery. Nuns from Wimborne were sent to Germany with St Boniface of Crediton (c. 680-755) to help convert the pagan tribes. As a result, Wimborne still has a special link with the town and Benedictine nunnery of Ochsenfuhrt. In 871, Alfred the Great buried his brother Ethelred here (not the later King of England Ethelred), after a battle near Cranborne. The Nunnery, possibly already in decline, was destroyed in a Danish raid in 1013.
In 1043 Edward the Confessor founded a college of secular (non-monastic) canons to live and worship here. The greater part of the church as we see it today was built by the Normans between 1120 and 1180, to support these canons. It was flourishing in the 13th century, when a spire was built and in the 14th century an early clock installed. Around this time St Margaret’s Chapel and Almshouses were built, and services are still held at the Chapel. In 1318 Edward II declared the Minster a Royal Peculiar which exempted it from all diocesan jurisdiction. The choir used to wear scarlet robes, a legacy of this 'Peculiar' which lasted until 1846. The spire collapsed around 1600 and was not rebuilt.
In 1496 Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and mother of Henry VII, founded a small chapel in the Minster and the priest attached to it was required to be in permanent residence and 'to teach grammar to all comers'. This was the seed of Wimborne’s Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, now Queen Elizabeth’s Upper School and still a church school. Lady Margaret’s parents are buried near the high altar.." Text Source: (
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Hours of Operation:
Morning Prayer is said on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8.30am (entry by vestry door)
Evening Prayer is said Monday-Friday at 5pm in the Minster.
The Minster is open Daily for Visitors & private silent prayer. Mostly between 10am and 5 pm. Admission is Free - Donations are appreciated.
Street address of Church:
The Minster, Church House, High Street, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1HT