Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster is only a mile from where Bluebell Yarns is based. It is a market town with many thriving small businesses and at its heart lies the Wimborne Minster church.
The Minster began its history around 705 when Saint Cuthburga founded an abbey of nuns on the current site. The central tower and nave remain from this time but most of the current building is Norman in construction.
One of many interesting features of Wimborne Minster is the chained library. This was one of the first public libraries in the UK. The library now contains many important items such as a manuscript written on lambskin from 1343 and a book bound for the court of Henry VIII. The library remains open to the public on specific days.
There are many important tombs in the Minster, including that of King Ethelred (the brother of Alfred the Great) and the maternal grandparents of Henry VII.
The many stained glass windows of the Minster caught my eye when I was looking for colourway inspiration for Wimborne Minster. There were lots of colours to choose from so I selected a small portion from one window.
You can read more about Wimborne Minster on the town website.
Images shown:
Ian Kirk from Broadstone, Dorset, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Inside Wimborne Minster (6) by Basher Eyre, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Mattana, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons