Dorset Cathedrals & Chruches

Sherborne Abbey

The Abbey has been home to a flourishing community of Benedictine monks since 998  and the former cathedral now became their Abbey Church. It was the monks who carried out a major rebuilding in the 15th century and gave the Abbey one of its chief glories, the earliest great fan-vaulted roof in Europe. The most recent notable addition is the new Great West Window by John Hayward, dedicated in 1998 in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of edinburgh.

Abbey Close, Sherbone  DT9 3LQ  Tel: 01935 812452  Email

Wimborne Minster

The twin towers of this church dominate the town. Founded in AD 705, the oldest part of the Minster is the massive 12th century central tower, which was once had a spire which fell during a Service in 1600, without loss of life or injury. The rest of the building dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. The west tower is where therie is the Quarter Jack - originally the figure was of a monk, but was changed in Napoleonic times to depict a brightly uniformed grenadier, who still strikes the quarter hours.

There is the intereresting Chained Library founded in 1686 by the Reverend William Stone. Eight chains (similar to those designed by Michelangelo for the Lorentian library in Florence) are fixed to the fronts of the books by a metal hasp.

High Street, Wimborne  BH21 1HT  Tel: 01202 884753