WIMBORNE MINSTER

The Ettricke Tomb

The Chapel of the Holy Trinity holds the coffin of an eccentric man, Anthony Ettrick.  He was an eminent barrister who was called to the bar in 1652 and from 1662 to 1682 served as the Recorder and Magistrate of Poole and Wimborne.  He sent the Duke of Monmouth for trial in the Monmouth Rebellion.

He did a lot for the town and for the church, but then fell out with the church authorities and made a public vow that he would never be buried within the Minster.  However, when he was older, he had a change of heart and, being a lawyer, he found a way in which he could still be buried within the precincts of the Minster, without having to retract his original vow.  He persuaded the church authorities to allow him to be buried “in the wall” of the Minster.  Having got his permission, he immediately had a coffin made, on which was inscribed the year he thought he was going to die – 1693.  He did not, however, die until ten years later and as it was too expensive to have another stone coffin made, the original date was amended to 1703.