64 WESSEX MINSTERS. 



form of minster, but that a place, called in the 7th and 8th 

 centuries monasterium or minster, did not at all necessarily 

 develope into a real monastery in the 10th and llth. The 

 very ancient ruins of the old Minster at Elmham in Suffolk 

 are simply the ruins of a comparatively small place of 

 Christian worship, and may be cited as a final illustration of 

 the correctness of our conclusion. 



We now turn to the second part of our subject, and that 

 is to shew what reasons we may find for considering the 

 Wessex places which bear the suffix of " Minster "to be the 

 early stations of the Missions of the Saxon Church. The 

 records of course are scanty, and the evidence is cumulative 

 rather than direct. The first fact then that we may note 

 is that the settlements of Saxons after their conquest did 

 not as a rule take the form of a re-peopling of the old Roman 

 towns, but of a cultivation of valley-lands which previously 

 had not been reclaimed from floods and jungle. Such 

 places as Old Sarum, Silchester, Ilchester and cur Dorchester 

 find no place in the records of Christian action and develop- 

 ment in these early centuries. Entirely new centres are 

 fixed upon, such as Glastonbury, Sherborne, and Wimborne 

 Minster, and, further on, in the early 10th Century, Crediton 

 and Wells. Now these Minsters, where the name is a suffix, 

 are, it appears, invariably situated in what are now valleys 

 of rich pasture, and the Church itself stands in close proximity 

 to a stream ; and we know that streams were constantly 

 used in early days by the itinerating Bishop for the 

 administration of Holy Baptism. The form of the name we 

 note in these cases is remarkable. It is just the old British 

 river name with Minster added. Sturminster, Ilminster, 

 Axeminster, Exeminster, Wimborne -Minster ; and in all 

 probability Charminster, Iwerne Minster and Warminster 

 are to be accounted for in the same way. 



The next piece of evidence which we mention will 

 probably appear to have a stronger force. It is the fact 

 that, in the earliest records we possess, these places almost 

 invariably appear to have been attached to the Cathedrals 



