this, which at once comes to the mind, is St. Paul's Cathedral in London, which was built in the seventh century by Ethelbert upon the site of an old Roman temple dedicated to Diana; and upon that self-same spot the St. Paul's of to-day stands. Again, St. Boniface of Crediton erected a church upon the spot where the far-famed object of idolatrous worship, the mighty Thunderer's Oak which he destroyed, had stood, at Geismar in Lower Hessia.3 Other well-known examples are Chartres and Le Mans in France. In our own county we might add Knowlton, where the little ruined church is situated amidst the prehistoric circles and the ancient yew trees which seem to indicate one of the sacred spots whereon, in the long distant past, the inhabitants of our island conducted their mysterious religious rites.

There can be little doubt that Wimborne Minster is also built upon the site where a Roman temple once stood.

From an admirable account of the restoration of the Minster which had been carried out during the years 1855-7, and of the re-opening services held on Michaelmas Day, 1857 (when at length the Wimborne people were able to return to the church from which they had been excluded for two years), given in the Salisbury Journal of that date, the following extracts are taken :

(a) During the recent excavations at the Minster, under the pillars of the nave were discovered bases of columns at regular intervals, a considerable length of very early and perfect tessellated pavement, and a large stone pediment clearly indicating the site of a Roman temple, immediately over which the central tower now lifts its head.

(b) The Norman piers which support the weight of the building rest on the existing Roman walls.

The Editor of the third edition of Hutchins5 states that this fragment of tessellated pavement was found

on the

3. Boniface of Crediton and His Companions, by the Rt. Rev. G. F. Browne, Bishop of Bristol, London, S.P.C.K, 1910. pp. 63-5, &c. 4. Salisbury Journal, October 4th, 1857. Cf. also Warne's Ancient Dorset.

5. Hutchins's History of Dorset, Vol. III., p. 201.

south side of the nave, close to the base of the easternmost column, at about eighteen inches below the present pavement."

The history of the Christian Church in Wimborne may be divided into four periods:

(1) The days of the Benedictine nunnery which was founded by St. Cuthburga. The nunnery was in existence at least as early as A.D. 705, for a deed was drawn up in that year, setting forth the consent of Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, to retain the abbacy of his monasteries at Malmesbury, &c., &c., and to grant freedom of election to the same. It was signed in "the monastery which is situated close to the river which is called Winburne, over which Cuthburg, sister of our venerated king, presides.'

It was to the Church which she had founded that the body of King Ethelred was brought for burial A.D. 871,7 and where his younger brother and successor, King Alfred (the Great), was present at his obsequies. The stone which was placed over his remains is still to be seen in the Minster, though it is inlaid with a brass of probably five and a half centuries later date. Alas, at the restoration" of six decades ago, the stone was ruthlessly diminished in size, in spite of protest." It is almost needless to add that the architect who was responsible for this act of destruction was one of the Wyatts.

66

The nunnery was in existence in 901, for in that year it is chronicled that Ethelwald the Etheling seized one of the nuns from the monastery at Wimborne and married her. 10

6. Thorpe, Diplomatarium Anglicum Evi Saxonici, London, Macmillan, 1865, pp. 14-15. Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, Vol. I., p. 167. Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pont: Angl: (Rolls Series), pp. 379, &c. 7. Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Anno 871, &c., &c.

8. Monumenta Historica Britannica, Petrie and Sharpe, p. 514. Cf. Ramsay, Foundations of England, Vol. I., p. 244.

9. MS. Note in a Volume of Examples and Illustrations, collected by Canon Onslow, now in the custody of the Vicar and Churchwardens of Wimborne.

10. A.S. Chron, A.D. 901.

The Church must have been standing half a century later; for it is recorded that "in the year 962 King Sifferth killed himself and his body lies at Wimborne."11 Who this King Sifferth was is a mystery. Freeman thinks that he may have been a Danish prisoner. 12 It is just possible that he was a Welsh king. A namesake, Siferd, a Welsh sub-regulus, was one of the tributary kings who, a few years later, did homage to King Edgar, and whose name appears, with those of six of the other tributaries, as witnessing a charter of King Edgar's in the year 966.13 Could it be possible that the date of Sifferth's death, as given by the Chronicler, is a few years wrong, and that the Welsh tributary king, one of the monarchs who rowed King Edgar's barge upon the river Dee, is the same King Sifferth who was buried at Wimborne ? At any rate his must have been a case of death by accident and not by suicide, for, as has been pointed out, in a letter to the writer of this paper, by one of the principal officials of the Royal Historical Society, if he had intentionally taken his own life, he would not have been allowed to be buried within the walls of a consecrated building.

The monastery appears to have been destroyed by the Danes in one of their incursions into Wessex. When next we hear of the Church it belonged to a "secular" community, and not to a religious one. The Abbess, with her Sisters and Novices and Postulants, &c., had given place to a Dean and Canons, with their Sacristans, Vicars, Chaplains, Clerks, and other Ministers.

(2) This brings us to our second period, which commenced, it is said, in the time of Edward the Confessor, and lasted until the dissolution of the College in the year 1547. But of this anon.

11. A.S. Chronicle A.D. 962.

12. E. A. Freeman, Old English History,-London, Dent (Everyman's Library), p, 175.

13. Kemble's Charters No. 519 (Vol. II., p. 413).

(3) By a Charter of Queen Elizabeth, 1563, the Minster was to be served by three priests, who in reality were stipendiary curates. They were appointed by a Corporation, consisting of twelve Governors, and liable to be dismissed by them. Each priest had his own clerk. This state of things continued until 1883, when

(4) The fourth period commenced, in which, by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, Holt, which previously had been a portion of the parish of Wimborne Minster, was separated off and became an independent parish; and the three priests, who were entitled "presbyters" or "ministers," were replaced by a vicar of the Minster (who has at his own charge to provide an assistant curate in priest's orders) and a vicar of Holt.

But to return to the second period, with which in reality we are concerned to-day :

The dates of the destruction of the monastery and of the subsequent foundation of the College have not been recorded. There can be little doubt that the Abbey, as has already been pointed out, was destroyed by the Danes. Leland says that the College of Canons was founded by Edward, King of England; "though he does not state which Edward Browne Willis conjectures that it was Edward the Confessor, the Founder of Westminster Abbey."

it was.

15

If this conjecture is a correct one, and I am more and more inclined to think that it is, it is not difficult to see why the Minster should be in the King's gift, why so frequently Kings' Clerks should have been appointed to the Deanery, and why, from quite early times, Wimborne Minster should have been a Royal Free Chapel, exempt from Episcopal or Archidiaconal jurisdiction, and subject only to the King.

14. Antiquarii Collectanea J. Lelandi, Vol. I., p. 82; Cf. also Tanner Not. Monast., p. 102.

15. Cf. in Bodleian Library Willis MSS. XII.,

p. 139.

The following lists of the Deans of Wimborne are known to

me:

1. That given by Hutchins, which he states was communicated by Browne Willis, Esq., collected by him from divers ancient records and Wharton's MSS."16

2. The list in Dugdale's Monasticon.1

17

18

3. A MS. list in the British Museum, which is stated to be taken from a blank leaf at the beginning of Mr. Willis's 2nd vol. of his Hist. of Abbeys in his own hand. W.C." (These are the initials of the Rev. Wm., Cole, Cambridge, May 24, 1787.) After the names are some short notes by Mr. Cole.

4. A MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, entitled 66 Monastic Collections. Lives of Abbots, Priors, and

5 Another MS. in the Bodleian, -the list of Browne Willis himself, which he states was collected from the Patents, Registers of Salisbury, and several other authorities." 20

Although they differ slightly amongst themselves, these lists all give evidence of a common origin. There is little doubt that in the first instance they were all derived from Browne Willis's list.

Willis prefaces his list of the Deans of Wimborne with the following note:-"I cannot learn the foundation. I take it the Salisbury Registers will not help us. I take it this was made a College of Regulars about Edward the Confessor's time. No mention as I remember in Domesday Book of it, and so I suppose (the Deanery originated) about Henry III. time."

He thus seems to imply that, in his opinion, it was refounded as a Monastic institution in the time of Edward

pp. 186-8.

16. Hutchins's History of Dorset, 3rd Edition, Vol. III., 17. Dugdale's Monasticon, Vol. VIII., p. 1452.

18. British Museum.

20. Bodleian Lib.

19. Bodleian Library. Monastic Collections MS. Top eccl. b. 1.

Add. MS. 5829, fol. 64 (6).

Willis MS. XII., p. 139.