Bells Cathedrals: Wimbourne Minster and Christchurch Priory | Page 8

the western only reaching
the height of 95 feet and the central 84 feet--but it has the advantage of
having an extensive churchyard both on the south side and also on the
north, so that from either side a good general view of the building may
be obtained. A street running from the east end of the church towards
the north gives the spectator the advantage of a still more distant
standpoint, from which the towers, transepts, choir, and porch group
themselves into one harmonious whole, the long line of iron railings
bounding the churchyard being the only drawback. The first impression
is that there is something wrong with the central tower; the plain heavy
battlement, with its four enormous corner pinnacles, seems to
overweight the tower, and as each side of the parapet is longer than the
side of the tower below, the feeling of top-heaviness is increased. The
central tower has no buttresses, but the western has an octagonal
buttress at each corner, and these decrease in cross section at each of
four string courses; so that this tower seems to taper, and by contrast
makes the central tower seem to bulge out at the top more than it really
does.
But Wimborne Minster does not stand alone in giving at first sight a
feeling that something is wanting to perfect beauty. In nearly every old

building which has gradually grown up, been altered and enlarged by
various generations, as need arose, each generation working in its own
style, and often with little regard to what already existed, incongruities
are sure to be discernible. But what is lost in unity of design increases
the interest in the building, historically and architecturally regarded.
And it is worthy of notice that at Wimborne, more than at many places,
the enlargers of the church have contented themselves with adding to
the building without removing the work of their predecessors more than
was absolutely necessary. A very cursory glance at the exterior of the
building as one walks round it is sufficient to show that the church as it
stands offers to the student of architecture examples of every style that
has prevailed in this country from the twelfth century onward, and he
will especially rejoice at seeing so much fourteenth-century work. He
will, as he passes along the narrow footway beneath the east end of the
choir, regret that more space is not available here to get a good view of
the most interesting Early English window. If a small tree were felled,
and the wall of a garden or yard on the side of the footpath opposite to
the church pulled down, so as to throw open the east end of the choir, it
would be a great improvement. But this regret can be endured, as,
though the window cannot be well seen, it is there, and by changing
one's position a pretty accurate idea of its interesting features can be
formed; but far keener is the regret that any lover of antiquity must feel
when he notices, as he examines the church more closely, how busy the
nineteenth-century restorer has been, how he has raised walls, altered
the pitch of roofs, and inserted modern imitations of thirteenth and
fourteenth century work, removing features which existed at the
beginning of this century to make room for his own work; how he has
banished much of the old woodwork in the interior, altered the position
of still more, and generally been far less conservative of the work of
former generations than the mediæval enlargers of the minster were.
However, his work is now done--nave, towers, and choir were
thoroughly restored about fifty years ago, and the transepts in 1891. No
further work is contemplated at present. In fact, there seems nothing
more that could well be done.
[Illustration: THE MINSTER FROM THE SOUTH-EAST BEFORE
1891.]

The church is built partly of a warm brown sandstone, partly of stone of
a pale yellow or drab colour, the two kinds being in many places mixed
so as to give the walls a chequered appearance. This may be noticed
both outside and inside the building. In some of the walls the stones are
used irregularly, in others they are carefully squared. The red stone is to
be met with in the neighbourhood: some of that used for raising the
transept walls in 1891 was obtained from a bridge in the town that was
being rebuilt; and from marks on some of those stones it appeared that
before being in the bridge they had been used in some ecclesiastical
building, so that they have now returned to their original use. There is
little ornament to be seen outside, save on the upper stage of the tower;
in fact, the whole building excepting the arches of the nave