Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
, and the name of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
church in that town. It lies at the
confluence of the
River Stour and the
River Allen, north of
Poole, on the
Dorset Heaths
The Dorset Heaths form an important area of heathland within the Poole Basin in southern England. Much of the area is protected.
Extent
According to Natural England, who have designated the Dorset Heaths as National Character Area 135, th ...
, and is part of the
South East Dorset conurbation
The South East Dorset conurbation (also known as the South Dorset conurbation, Poole-Bournemouth urban area and Bournemouth urban area) is a multi-centred conurbation on the south coast of Dorset in England.
Extent
The main population centre ...
. According to
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for t ...
data the population of the Wimborne Minster built-up area was 15,552.
Governance
The town and its administrative area are served by eleven councillors plus one from the nearby ward of Cranfield. The
electoral ward of Wimborne Minster is slightly bigger than the parish, with a 2011 population of 7,014. Wimborne Minster is part of the
Mid Dorset and North Poole
Mid Dorset and North Poole is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Michael Tomlinson, a Conservative.
Boundaries
1997–2010: The District of Purbeck wards of Bere Regis, Lytchett Matravers, ...
parliamentary constituency.
Buildings and architecture
Wimborne has one of the foremost collections of 15th-, 16th- and 17th-century buildings in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
. Local planning has restricted the construction of new buildings in areas such as the Cornmarket and the High Street, resulting in the preservation of many of the original buildings. Examples of include the
church of Wimborne Minster, the town hall, the
Priest's House Museum
The Museum of East Dorset (previously known as Priest's House Museum) is a local museum in the town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, England. It is located on the high street, opposite the Church of Wimborne Minster. The museum occupies a historic ...
and dozens of 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century fronted shops and pubs. The town is home to the
Tivoli Theatre, a 1930s
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
cinema and theatre.
Wimborne Minster Church
![John Beaufort Grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/John_Beaufort_Grave.jpg)
This is a
Saxon church, with
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
and
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
architecture. It is famed for its
chained library and the tomb of King
Ethelred, the brother of
Alfred the Great, as well as the tombs of
John Beaufort, Duke of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, and his duchess, the maternal grandparents of King
Henry VII of England
Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...
. The tombs are made of Dorset Limestone and New Forest Stone.
Wimborne Model Town
The model town is one of the largest and longest-established model towns in England. It depicts Wimborne at the time the model was made, in the 1950s. It is at 1:10 scale, resulting in the model of the Minster being several feet high. The model shop windows accurately show the goods which the real shops were selling at the time. The exhibition also includes a model railway based on
Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine is an anthropomorphised fictional tank locomotive in the British ''Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher, published from 1945. He became the most popular and famous character in the series, ...
, which was opened by
Christopher Awdry, and expanded in 2014.
Events
At weekends and national holidays, the
town crier
A town crier, also called a bellman, is an officer of a royal court or public authority who makes public pronouncements as required.
Duties and functions
The town crier was used to make public announcements in the streets. Criers often dress ...
can be seen in the main square and around the Minster. The legacy and position of the town crier date back to the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The town has a large civil war reenactment society, which performs every year.
The town has a well-established and large market, the
Wimborne Market
Wimborne Market was an historic market in a large covered structure in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. It ceased to trade on 19 December 2021 after 165 years of trading. The market was demolished and the land redeveloped.
Origins
The market ...
. The market is held on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was previously located in the town centre but moved out several years ago to a site on the edge of town to accommodate its size.
Every year Wimborne hosts the longest fireworks display in Dorset, as part of its
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated ...
celebrations; a county record that it has held since 2004. The bonfire and pyrotechnics display is held each year in the grounds of
St Michael's Church of England Middle School and is well supported by many thousands of people from the town,
Colehill village and the surrounding area. All proceeds are donated each year to local schools, and since 2004 over
£61,000 has been raised for local school projects and equipment.
Every two years in mid-August, the Park Initiative, an interchurch charity working on Leigh Park estate, holds a community event called "Alive in the Park" in the centre of the estate using a large marquee.
Wimborne Minster Folk Festival
![Alton Morris at Wimborne Folk Festival 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Alton_Morris_at_Wimborne_Folk_Festival_2011.jpg)
Every summer in June the town holds the
Wimborne Minster Folk Festival. Founded in 1980, the annual event of traditional
folk dance and
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
has become the focal point for one of the largest gathering of dance teams and musicians in the
South of England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes ...
. The festival involves
morris dancing
Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...
,
Appalachian dancing, concerts, workshops and children's activities, with parts of the town being closed to traffic.
The Festival planned for 2020 did not go ahead due to the health precautions imposed in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Instead, with the cooperation of local businesses and Wimborne Minster Town Council, the Folk Festival committee made use of Café @ The Allendale, a local community hub, to provide food and meals for those in difficulties, e.g. as a result of having to
self-isolate
In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers, ...
or not being able to work during the
lockdowns. The 2021 Festival also had to be cancelled but an online event took place over the usual second weekend in June.
Education and schools
The town has three
first school
Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system.
Terminology
In a three-tier local educ ...
s (St John's, Wimborne and Pamphill) and two
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
s (St Michael's and Allenbourn). Wimborne First School, formerly Wimborne Primary School, has been educating the children of Wimborne Minster to primary level since 1911. Wimborne and the adjacent area of
Merley
Merley is a large housing estate in the unparished area of Poole, a mile (2 km) south of Wimborne Minster. Originally called Myrle, Merley was a manor in the tithing of Great Canford (or Canford Magna). The village merges with that of Oakl ...
are served by two
upper school
Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school.
England
The three-tier model
Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...
s:
Corfe Hills School and
Queen Elizabeth's School.
Queen Elizabeth's School has very close links with the Minster and was founded by
Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1497. After her death the school became Wimborne
Grammar School
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
. Although the Grammar School buildings still remain they have now been converted to flats. The school was established on its current site in 1972 after the merging of Wimborne Grammar School and the
County Modern School.
Dumpton School is located nearby. The nearby first schools of Hayeswood and Colehill serve Wimborne.
Clubs
The local football club
Wimborne Town F.C.
Wimborne Town Football Club is a football club based in Wimborne Minster in Dorset, England. They were established in 1878 and won the FA Vase in 1992. They reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup in the 1982–83 season for the first time. ...
play in the
Southern Football League.
In
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
,
Wimborne R.F.C. has been in existence in its present form since 1950 and is based in Leigh Park, Gordon Road on the eastern side of the town.
Cricket has been played in Wimborne since at least 1793, when the club was known as Hanham's Cricket Club, playing on the green in the centre of town from 1860. In 2010, the club moved to its new ground at The Leaze as part of the planning application which allowed Waitrose to build a new supermarket on the site of the original Wimborne Cricket Club. The club's 4 adult teams play in the Dorset Cricket League and the 1st XI have won the Dorset Premier League title in 1997, 2012, 2016 and 2018.
Dorset County Cricket Club
Dorset County Cricket Club is one of twenty National county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Dorset.
The team is currently a member of the National Counties Cricket Asso ...
played home matches at Wimborne sporadically from the 1957 until 1979 before returning in 2018 to Wimborne's current ground at The Leaze.
Economy
![Wimborne Minster, the town hall - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Wimborne_Minster%2C_the_town_hall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_533567.jpg)
The aerospace company
Cobham plc
Cobham Limited is a British aerospace manufacturing company based in Bournemouth, England.
Cobham was originally founded by Sir Alan Cobham as Flight Refuelling Limited (FRL) in 1934. During 1939, British airline Imperial Airways performed s ...
has headquarters in Wimborne. Home decoration company
Farrow & Ball began in the town, and is still headquartered nearby in
Ferndown
Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called ''Hampreston'', includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trick ...
. The economy of the town is dedicated towards leisure and has
shops,
restaurants
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
and
pubs
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
. Tourism is an aspect in the town's economy. The town is also served by a
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
located on the old Cricket Green and a
Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
supermarket.
Wimborne railway station
From 1847 to 1977 Wimborne was served by a two-platform
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
. The station was built for the
Southampton and Dorchester Railway
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was an English railway company formed to join Southampton in Hampshire with Dorchester in Dorset, with hopes of forming part of a route from London to Exeter. It received Parliamentary authority in 1845 and ...
, later part of the
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
. It was expanded when the
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreech ...
was constructed between
Bath and
Poole. Wimborne was used as a reversing point on the Somerset and Dorset, but its importance was reduced when an avoiding line was built from
Bailey Gate to
Broadstone Junction. The station had a large goods yard, the site of which is used for the weekly Wimborne Market. The station was closed to passengers in 1964 and sundries (parcels and light goods) in 1966, as a result of the
Beeching Axe programme. The final goods trains ran in May 1977.
Twin towns
Wimborne Minster is
twinned with
*
Ochsenfurt
Ochsenfurt () is a town in the district of Würzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. Ochsenfurt is located on the left bank of the River Main and has around 11,000 inhabitants. This makes it the largest town in Würzburg district.
Name
Like Oxford, the t ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany
*
Valognes
Valognes () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.
Geography
Valognes is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula, southeast of Cherbourg. Valognes station has rail connections to Caen, Paris and Cherbourg.
Histor ...
,
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, France
Notable people
![Thomas Hardy's house - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Thomas_Hardy%27s_house_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1778962.jpg)
*
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
*Lieutenant
William Cox (1764–1837), Australian pioneer born in Wimborne. He was responsible for building the first road across the
Blue Mountains west of Sydney and thus allowed the expansion and development of the new colony.
*
John Creasey
John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime writer, also writing science fiction, romance and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms.
He created several charac ...
, English crime writer, lived at "Cattistock", Fernlea Avenue,
Ferndown
Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called ''Hampreston'', includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trick ...
during the 1940s.
Handwritten letter by John Creasey
28 April, 1941
*Montague Druitt
Montague John Druitt (15 August 1857 – early December 1888)His body was discovered on 31 December 1888 about a month after his death. A train ticket dated 1 December was found in his pocket. His gravestone reads 4 December 1888; his death ...
, suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders
*Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
, guitarist in the prog rock band King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
*Jimmy Glass
James Robert Glass (born 1 August 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He is chiefly remembered for scoring the last-minute goal which kept Carlisle United in the Football League in 1999, while on loa ...
* George W. Gray
* Isaac Gulliver
* Thomas Hardy lived in a house in Avenue Road, which bears a blue plaque recording that this was where he wrote ''A Pair of Blue Eyes
''A Pair of Blue Eyes'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1873, first serialised between September 1872 and July 1873. It was Hardy's third published novel, and the first not published anonymously upon its first publication. Hardy includ ...
''.
* Josephine Kermode, the Manx poet and playwright (better known by her pen name ''Cushag'') lived the last five years of her life in Wimborne.
*Saint Leoba
Leoba, OSB (also Lioba and Leofgyth) (c. 710 – 28 September 782) was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine nun and is recognized as a saint. In 746 she and others left Wimborne Minster in Dorset to join her kinsman Boniface in his mission to the German pe ...
( 710 – 28 September 782) was an oblate at Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poo ...
*George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
Group Captain George Nigel "Geordie" Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, (4 January 1906 – 24 November 1994) was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.
Early life
Born at Merly, Wimborne, Dorset, he was the second son of Nina ...
(1906–1994), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Commissioner for Singapore and Southeast Asia, was born at Merley House
* Walter Parke (1891–1914), first-class cricketer and British Army officer
* Walter Shaw (1868–1937), former Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements
The chief justice of Singapore is the presiding member of the Supreme Court of Singapore. It is the highest post in the judicial system of Singapore, appointed by the president, chosen from the candidates recommended by the prime minister. The in ...
and Chairman of the Shaw Commission
The Shaw Report, officially the Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929, commonly known as the Shaw Commission, was the result of a British commission of inquiry, led by Sir Walter Shaw, established to investigate ...
* Al Stewart, the Scottish musician and singer-songwriter, grew up in the town.
*Gordon Haskell
Gordon Haskell (27 April 1946 – 15 October 2020) was an English musician and songwriter. A pop, rock, jazz, country and blues vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, he was a school friend of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. The two first worke ...
, singer-songwriter, grew up in the town and went to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. He was in Bands Like Les Fleur De Lys
The Fleur de Lys (initially Les Fleur de Lys ) were a British band originally formed in late 1964, in Southampton, Hampshire, England. They recorded singles beginning in 1965 in the transitional Beat to psychedelic music genre, later known as ...
and King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
but had a his own Christmas number twos How Wonderful You Are
"How Wonderful You Are" is a song by Gordon Haskell. It was released as a single in the Christmas period of 2001 after mass promotion by BBC Radio 2 where it became a favourite of listeners after being featured by the drive-time presenter John ...
in 2001 becoming BBC Radio 2 Most requested song ever.
* William Charles Wentworth, Australian explorer and statesman, died in Wimborne in 1872.
*Electric Wizard
Electric Wizard are an English doom metal band from Dorset. The band formed in 1993 and have recorded nine studio albums, two of which have been considered genre landmarks: '' Come My Fanatics…'' (1997) and ''Dopethrone'' (2000). Electric Wi ...
, stoner rock
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep ...
/ doom metal band
References
External links
Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory
by Rev.Thomas Perkins. A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings
Census data
Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Town Council
Wimborne Drama – local Am Dram Group
{{Authority control
Market towns in Dorset
Towns in Dorset
Burial sites of the Beaufort family