in
oure parysh no chyrche aele, the whych hath hyndred [~o] chyrch of xx^ti
nobles and above, and well it is knowen y^t we have no land but onely
the charity of good people, wherfor nyed constraynyth us to sell the
sylv' y^t is about the same hed. Besechynge yo^r mastership to sertefy
us by y^r tre wher we may sell the said sylv' to repayr [~o]
chyrche."[2]

[2] In an inventory made in the reign of Henry VIII. we find
mentioned an image of St Cuthberga, with a ring of gold, and
two little crosses of gold, with a book and staff in her hand.
The head of the image of silver with a crown on it of silver
and gilt. On her apron a St James shell with a buckle of silver
and gilt.

The names of many of the other ecclesiastics connected with the church
are known: among these, we need only mention William Lorynge canon, who
in the time of Richard II. caused the great bell called the Cuthborow
bell to be made; and Simon Beneson, sacrist, who left land, which is
called Bell Acre, towards the maintenance and repair of the bells.

Among other benefactors of the church was Margaret, Countess of
Richmond, mother of Henry VII., so well known at Cambridge under the
name of Lady Margaret, the foundress of Christ's and St John's Colleges.
She founded at Wimborne the original seminary connected with the
minster, which afterwards became by a charter of Elizabeth the Grammar
School of the town, and presented splendid vestments to the church. July
9th was until the Reformation kept at the minster as a festival to her
memory, with a special office and High Mass.

When the deanery was abolished, Wimborne Minster became a Royal
Peculiar, under the administration of three priest-vicars elected by the
Corporation. These served each for a week in turn. The Corporation had
the power of appointing one of the three vicars--who was known as the
"Official"--to hold courts and grant licences. The court was held in the
western part of the north aisle, the Official presiding, seated at a
desk, the two other vicars sitting one on each side of him, while at a
long table sat the churchwardens, sidesmen, the vestry clerks, and the
apparitors.

The arrangement by which the vicars served the church each in turn
continued in force until 1876. At that time one of the three vicars
retired on a pension; another removed to the chapelry of Holt,
three miles from Wimborne (which had previously been served in turn
by the