Wimborne Minster

There is a small fragment of Saxon work but today the grand late Norman nave and lantern tower are succeeded by a raised chancel of the following century, with its famous 12th century Moses corbel and an east window of three elegant lancets.

The tall west tower was added in the late 15th century, as was a nave clerestory and timbered roof, and later still, completely inappropriate but rather charming battlements on the tower. The stone used for the church is of several different kinds and colours, giving it a mottled appearance.

Monuments appear in profusion inside the church and include an unusual one to 17th century lawyer Anthony Ettricke, who committed the Duke of Monmouth to the Tower. He was such an awkward man that he announced that he would not be buried in the church or out of it, so his was set tomb half in and half out of the south wall of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity.

Nearby are the dignified effigies of John and Margaret de Beaufort, grandparents of Henry VII. They are holding hands. In St George's Chapel is the tomb and effigy of Sir Edmund Uvedale, who died in 1606. He is in armour, lying on his side and propping himself up on his elbow. He has two left feet, the result of the right one being broken off in an accident and being replaced with a copy of his left foot by mistake. Next to Sir Edmund is a wooden Saxon chest made from a solid lump of oak in about 900.

An astronomical clock dating from about 1320 shows the sun and the moon going round the earth. On the first floor of the south transept there is a chained library from 1686, with many ancient books. Under the west tower is a memorial tablet to Isaac Gulliver, a well known smuggler who was also twice church warden.