Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster in
Dorset,
England, is a large church in a very small town. The minster was founded in
Saxon times, but the surviving building is predominantly
Norman in design and construction, with
Gothic components from various periods. It is built in a combination of Dorset limestone and
New Forest stone. The most important tomb in the church is that of
John Beaufort, Duke of
Somerset, and his duchess, the maternal grandparents of King
Henry VII of England, constructed out of
alabaster and
Purbeck marble. It has been suggested that the semi-mythical
Pope Joan may have spent her youth at Wimborne.