Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their BuildingsPerkins, Thomas, Rev.
History
Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings
The Redcotte chantry possessed sundry vestments, the gift of Margaret
Rempstone, in the thirty-fifth year of Henry VI., and plate, an
inventory of which exists. This plate, on the dissolution of chantries,
was given by the parishioners to the king, Edward VI. The hospital or
almshouses stands on the high road from Wimborne to Blandford; the
chapel joins one of the tenements occupied by the almsmen. These
tenements are nine in number; three are inhabited by married couples,
three by men, and three by women. Some of these cottages are of half
timber, and thatched, others of modern brick. The chapel, at which there
is now a service every Thursday afternoon, conducted by one of the
minster clergy, is a plain building, which has been recently refitted,
but remains, as far as windows and walls are concerned, in its original
state. There are three doors in the north wall; the heads are pointed,
and it is noteworthy that in the central door, that generally used
for access to the chapel, the two sides of the arch are of different
curvatures, so that the point of the arch is nearer to the right-hand
side. The edge of the wall is chamfered round the doorways. The east
window has a semicircular head, and plain wooden tracery dividing it
into two lancet-headed lights with an opening above them. There is a
window in both the south and north walls, near the east end, each of
two lights; the south window is widely splayed inside; the head of each
light has one cusp on each side. The head of each light of the north
window has two cusps on each side. Farther to the west, on the south
side, is a single narrow lancet, widely splayed, and still farther to
the west is a semicircular opening with wooden tracery. The general
character of the masonry would indicate that local workmen were employed
in building this chapel, and that little was spent in ornamenting it at
the time of the erection. There are, however, some traces of frescoes
on the inside of the walls, both geometrical patterns and figures. The
pointed doorways and the lancet window on the south side would indicate
the thirteenth century as the date of the original building, and this
agrees with the documentary evidence mentioned above for the foundation
of the hospital. The roof is an open one of massive wooden rafters, with
the beams running across at the level of the wall plates.
DIMENSIONS OF WIMBORNE MINSTER
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