Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire
| |
POPULATION
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
|
*3,743
*4,075
*4,487
4,158
5,000
5,530
6,200
|
|
|
|
It is a few km to the south-east of the Iron-Age earthwork known as
Badbury Rings.
The area was important during the
Roman invasion as
the Roman's military headquarters from whence the conquest of Britain was directed were established nearby.
Reknowned for its Norman Minster with the second largest chained library in the
country and an astonomical clock, a nunnery was established on the site as early as
718 and King Aethelred of Wessex lies buried here. In the 11th
century the town was destroyed by the invading Danes.
The town is a few km to the south-east of the huge Iron-Age earthwork known as Badbury Rings.
see also: Iron Age Dorset
Now a busy market town like many other English towns, Wimborne was a place of great import during the early years of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD53. It was near here that Vespasian, commanding the invading 2nd Legion Augusta, decided to establish the Roman military headquarters until Britain had been subjugated.
Vespasian had used an inlet on the Hamworthy peninsula near the existing Iron Age settlement there as the Roman's main supply port and road was built to linking the fort to the Roman port at Hamworthy. About 60AD, with the conquest of Britain secure, the fortress near Wimborne was dismantled.
see also: Roman Dorset
Cuthbergha and Cwenburh, both sisters of
Ine, the King of Wessex, established a nunnery at
Wimborne in 718 AD. The present minster, reputed to have been built on the site of the nunnery which was
destroyed
with the town by the Danes in the early 11th century and dedicated to
St Cuthbergha, dates from that century. It contains the second largest chained library in the country and
an astronomical clock which is thought to have been made by Peter Lightfoot in 1320.
When King Aethelred I was mortally wounded in a nearby battle with the Danes in 871 AD, his body was brought
to Wimborne for burial and the Minster still contains his garve slab - complete with a
14th brass insert.
After the destruction of Cuthbergha's convent and church by the danes, a college of secular cannons was established by Edward the Confessor and this later became a royal free chapel.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, on the death of Alfred the Great in 901 AD and the accession of his son Edward to the throne of Wessex, Ethelwald captured Wimborne and Christchurch. Edward rode out with an army to meet the usurper and camped at nearby Badbury.
St. Margaret's Hospital which was founded in the 13th century now serves as almshouses but was originally a leper hospital.
