PHOTOS: The Majesty of Big Churches
Mysterious Dorset (Part 2) Sherborne Abbey & Wimborne Minster
I am in the process of writing a Haiku post about these amazing churches (I will add a link when it’s published) and realised I needed to ‘go on about them’ just a bit more than Haiku could deal with! So for those of you who want a bit of history…. I bring you over a thousand years of it. Hope you enjoy the galleries at the end.
Sherborne Abbey
The Diocese of Sherborne was created in AD 705, Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, was appointed as the first Bishop of the West Saxons. Aldhelm chose the place of the Scire-burne (named as this in the Doomsday book) Sherborne– meaning ‘the clear stream’ – as the site for his cathedral, now ‘downgraded’ to an Abbey!
Two Saxon kings are buried here (see picture below), Benedictine monks resided here for over 800 years. Thomas Wyatt, Tudor courtier and poet, has his grave here; Sir Walter Raleigh worshipped here, I love stepping on some stones knowing they have been walked on for over a thousand years. I mean… Walter Raleigh, come on!!
These bones were found near the plaque, (as well as the stone tomb pictured in the gallery) although who knows if they were the mortal remains mentioned. But this kind of thing fascinates me, I am so glad that humans are allowed to be this macabre sometimes, please don’t let anyone step in with a clipboard and say this is no longer appropriate or respectful, we absolutely NEED to look at human bones that are hundreds and hundreds of years old through a glass panel direct into the grave.
Wimborne Minster (Church of St. Cuthburga)
The Minster is dedicated to St Cuthburga, she started a Benedictine Nunnery here around 705 AD. Nuns from here were sent to Germany to convert the pagan tribes. In 871, Alfred the Great buried his brother Ethelred here after a battle nearby in Cranborne. (Close to the area covered in the last post, Mysterious Dorset Part 1) In 1043 Edward the Confessor founded a secular college here. But the greater part of the church that remains here now was built by the Normans between 1120 and 1180. What an incredible place, it is popular with visitors as you can imagine…. but with the luck I am blessed with, I found myself one of only 3 visitors and 2 volunteers. Looks like having the place to myself again!!
There is so much fascinating history here that it would be impossible to really do it justice in one post. (Also happy to answer questions if I can, and go back and photograph something else specific on request ha ha) But I have made a couple of galleries for you to browse, and here are a couple of pieces which piqued my interest. First (but not favourite… wait for it) this incredible Astronomical Clock, built around 1320 before Copernicus showed that the earth moves around the sun. So this is a geocentric clock with the earth in the centre. The sun in the outer circle represents the hour hand, the moon in the middle represents the phases of a lunar month and the earth is fixed. It is a twenty four hour clock and still accurate after seven hundred years…
And here we come to my favourite piece…. yes I know it isn’t as glamorous but bear with me. Tucked away in a corner, this oak chest. Carved from a single oak tree in Saxon times. Over a thousand years old. (I confess I stroked this rather affectionately for a while as I imagined all the people who moved it over the years, all those who opened it, sat on it ha ha - I get lost in stories like this in my mind). It contained holy relics, I have included a photograph at the end, a list of all the previously held contents. What do you think? The big scams of the day? I mean…. I could imagine the first guy to sell pieces of the cross to unsuspecting Christians, can’t you? (“Yeah, o’course it’s genuine mate, what do you take me for?”)
So the Victorians…. good points to them for their stained glass work, but oh boy did those people ruin a lot of history. Good grief, they white washed over the Saxon Wall painting below. This is all we have left of it now, but it’s incredible to think that this was painted a thousand years ago. It’s lucky the church was empty as I had to move flower displays, a sign and fire extinguisher to take pictures, as well as find the light switch to highlight it.
The Victorians also had a good old tidy up in the churchyard. I was on the hunt for the grave of the most famous smuggler in Dorset. I’m not going to give the game away about where I found it but suffice to say…. tut tut Victorians, you were apparently the first health and safety officers. There will be a whole post on smuggler’s tales coming soon!
Enjoy the photos below and thank you for being here.
Imagine that as a list for the insurance company ha ha
(“Sorry sir but hair shirts don’t cost much these days and we’re paying out on replacement value of a NEW hair shirt only”)
And if you want to see a restored Norman church explained in Haiku (irresistible I know!) then try this one
hola, april.
great photos and i laughed at the hairshirt insurance agent. great share. thank you.
Bones do tell genetic blunders
arches asunder cross my portal
Open doors to graves plunder.