98 A DORSET ROYAL PECULIAR. 



king and exempt from all ordinary jurisdiction and from all contribu- 

 tions.* 



On Feb. 20, 1331, a Commission is appointed, consisting of John de 

 Carleton . . . Richard Turbervill (and others), to make a visitation 

 of the king's free chapel of Wymbournemynstre, which is exempt from 

 the jurisdiction of the ordinary, as the king is given to understand 

 that there have been great destructions in the chapel itself, as in books, 

 vestments, and ornaments as well as in the prebends, manors, lands, 

 and possessions pertaining thereto, and in the houses, woods and 

 gardens of these, in the times of previous deans of the chapel, that very 

 many of the lands and possessions conferred on the chapel by the kings 

 progenitors are withdrawn, alienated and dissipated, and that divers 

 liberties and privileges granted to the chapel have been lost by the 

 negligence of the deans aforesaid, f 



In some of the Churchwardens' Accounts e.g., for the years 

 1538, 1539, 1540, the Wardens are desciibed as " Churchmen 

 and keepers of the goods and Recyvou'rs of the Rentts, 

 Quit Rents, lands and tenements belonging to the Coledge 

 Church and the kyngs ffre chaell ther " (i.e., at Wimborne 

 Minster).J 



Enough has been said to show that from quite early times 

 Wimborne Minster was a Royal Peculiar, and that it continued 

 such until the middle of the sixteenth century. 



The College, with all its chantries, &c., was dissolved by 

 the Chantry Act, 1 Edward VI., and the dean and the four 

 prebendaries were pensioned off. The Church estates came 

 into the hands of the King. During the ensuing 15 years 

 the Church was badly served. Letters patent were therefore 

 obtained from Queen Elizabeth in 1563, under which twelve 

 governors were appointed, to whom the custody of the re- 

 founded Grammar School was committed with the appoint- 

 ment (and dismissal if necessary) of the schoolmaster, and of 

 three presbyters and their clerks who were responsible for the 

 conduct of divine service, and the care of the souls of the in- 



* Close Rolls, 11, Edward II., m. 10 d. 

 f Patent Rolls, 25 Edward III., m. 36 d. , 



J Churchwardens' Accounts, Wimborne Minster, Vol. I., pp. 118, 

 122, 125, &c. 



