WIMBORNE MINSTER

The Sanctuary

Most of the windows in the Minster are Victorian, apart from the centre panel over the altar – the Tree of Life or the Tree of Jesse.  It is not known how old this panel is as it was brought from a Belgian monastery by one of the Bankes’ family and installed just before 1500.  It is not known how long it had been in the monastery.

If one looks at the bottom third, the figures of David and Soloman are clearly discernable, and in the top third the infant Jesus and Mary can be seen.  However, the middle third is a complete jumble.  It is not known why this is so – perhaps the wrong pieces were brought over from Belgium.

The only known brass to an English king – King Ethelred, the brother of King Alfred the Great.  Ethelred was killed fighting the Vikings at Martin, some 15 miles north of Wimborne, and Alfred brought the body of his brother to be buried in the Minster in 871.  The brass was engraved in 1440.