Wimborne Minster, located on the banks of the rivers Stour and Allen, has a tiny Minster, dedicated to St. Cuthberga, sister to Ina, who was king of the West Saxons. She founded a Benedictine nunnery here in 705. Wimborne itself has a history dating back to Roman times.
The nunnery was destroyed by the Danes in 1013 and never rebuilt.
In 1043, Edward The Confessor founded a college of Secular Canons here, and in 1318, Edward II declared the Minster to be a Royal Peculiar i.e. not part of a bishop's see, but only answerable to the Monarch. That lasted until 1846.
The ceiling of the west tower was white, but in 1912 was changed to bright blue.
Within the Minster church is a chained library, one of only four in the country, and the second largest. The oldest book dates from 1300 and is hand-written. There is also a book of sermons which belonged to Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII. The Minster also has an astronomical clock, showing both the sun and the moon circling the earth.
Wimborne also has a pretty amazing model town, based on how the town looked in the 50s.
A wedding is taking place inside the Minster model
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