Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral can be found in the Square. From the Butter Cross in the High Street go through the passage, have a cup of coffee in one of the alfresco cafe's, then walk on to the Cathedral Green.

Winchester CathedralPhotograph © Copyright M Temple 2010

Probably the best known image of the city. Beautiful and iconic. A melody of architecture, yet foursquare and significant.

Dedicated to The Holy Trinity, St Peter, St Paul and St Swithun, quite a combination.

The cathedral is the longest medieval one in Europe. Admire the magnificent soaring great screen behind the main altar, it is truly beautiful. The mighty organ sings out for services and has done for 150 years. Those choir stalls have been there since the 1300's and those lovely medieval tiles at the far end of the cathedral you are walking on have been walked on since the 1200's!

Tours

Several tours are available and the first two listed here are part of the admission price. You will be taken around by a knowledgeable guide and you can ask questions if you wish. Makes it more enjoyable when people do so and most of the guides like it. Of course people who deliberately ask questions designed to annoy the guides are not liked by the crowd either! If you have done the tour before it is not a bad idea to do it again as different guides have their own natural approach and it can be a different experience.

There is the main Cathedral Tour. Runs Mondays to Saturdays on the hour from 10.00am – 3.00pm. There are many characters in the history of the cathedral, some good, some not so!! Human nature does not change! This wonderful place has been part of the history of England from Saxon times, feel it in the stones! Being so old there are many treasures from over the years in this intriguing place.

The Crypt Tour runs on Mondays to Saturdays at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm. It is quite fascinating and quite stunning, but the crypt can still flood. If they do the tours cannot take place, but you do not miss out entirely, there is a viewing platform.

There is apparently a Holy well down there. Holy Wells are sacred springs and it is not suprising that one is here, given that the site of the cathedral goes back a long way and the crypt is its oldest part. This well probably pre dates the cathedral by some time. Such wells can be found all over Wessex.

Ask about the famous diver, William Walker! He saved the cathedral from destruction. Quite afeat!

The crypt of Winchester Cathedral showing Gormley's statue Sound II   © Copyright Graham Horn and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Antony Gormley who is responsible for the “Angel of the North” sculpture, also created the “Sound II” sculpture in 1986 which can be seen in the crypt.

A crypt is basically a cellar, although a special type! These underground chambers are found under churches and burial grounds often to inter the dead. Some large houses in England have their own crypt or family vault for the burial of family members.

The Tour of the Tower is not included in the admission price and costs £6 and the ticket is available from the entrance desk. Not for the under 12's though, or the claustrophobic and those with vertigo problems! Tours take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 2.15pm. Then there are two on Saturdays at 11.30am and 2.15pm but only from June to August.

Remember - it is 213 steps to the top!!! When you get there the view is magnificent. The ascent is up a very narrow spiral staircase! If you are claustrophobic – don't try!

Wonder at those big beams felled many centuries ago. It is also an opportunity to see the big old cathedral bells and the ringing chamber.

There is also an Audio Tour Price £3 from the entrance desk. Your guide in this case is David Suchet, recognisable as the detective Hercule Poirot in the TV series. A nice idea if you want to tour the cathedral on your own. Takes around an hour to hour and half depending on how often you stop to look. The cathedral choir on the sound track adds to the atmosphere.

If you plan a second visit to Winchester Cathedral, do the audio tour first perhaps. Then the second time do the guided main tour, this way you will understand so much more.

There is a Children's Trail Download the Leaflet here or pick one up at the Cathedral. Interesting for adults too!!!

Jane Austen

The famous author, Jane Austen is buried in the cathedral. She died in a house near Winchester College in 1817, she was only 41. You will find her gravestone in the floor of the north aisle of the nave. There are also two more memorials to her, a brass plaque put up by her nephew, Edward, and a memorial window.

The magnificent interior of Winchester Cathedral showing the fine construction. (Does have seats normally!).   © Copyright Sebastian Ballard and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

So much to see, the soaring screen, carvings, statues, the chapels, tombs of famous people, memorials, military banners and above all the fine construction wrought by those ancient builders.

Have you heard the bells of Winchester Cathedral? A magnificent sound ringing out all over the city. There have been bells in the Cathedral since the days of the Old Minster. Nowadays there is a peal of 16 bells, the oldest of which was cast in 1621, rung by a band of around 25 keen ringers. To learn more about the bells or if you would like to join these dedicated ringers click here Quite a hobby!

If your feet are aching, and they probably are, there is always the Cathedral shop for a welcome cuppa and a scone – jam and cream of course!

History of Winchester Cathedral

It watched the pilgrims start The Pilgrims Way to Canterbury nearby. It is the burial place of several kings, The Saxons, Egbert of Wessex, the well known King Canute, plus of course the original burial place of King Alfred the Great and his son Edward the Elder. Also the Norman King William II, referred to sometimes as William Rufus. Queen Mary I was married to Philip of Spain in Winchester Cathedral on 25th July 1554.

Winchester Cathedral is of Norman construction started in 1079 by Bishop Walkelin. He was the first Norman Bishop of Winchester and related to William the Conqueror. Building continued for centuries, William Wykeham is responsible for the building we see today. But it is on unstable ground and urgent restoration work was carried out between 1905 and 1912. Thanks to William Walker, the diver, the cathedral was saved. The crypt can still flood however.

This was not the first cathedral, there were Saxon ones just to the north from the year 642, the second one was demolished in 1093.

Between them these cathedrals have been witness to the history of England, Winchester for many years being its capital and even for several centuries afterwards an important city, and even now the county town of Hampshire.

Early Days

Perhaps there was a sacred place in or near before the first of the Cathedrals. The sacred well in the crypt suggests this. Maybe Roman, maybe Celtic. It is not known.

There are stories that the first Minster was built in the 2nd century, but these are not true. Sometimes there is a grain of truth in old legends and maybe, just maybe, this story is another that perhaps suggest an old sacred site. Romantic nonsense – maybe – maybe not!

The Saxon Minsters

It was King Cynegils who brought Christianity to Wessex in the first half of the 600's.

Saxon days saw the first church, the Old Minster, built in the city c650 dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. A stone building, unlike the wooden structures normally built at that time. Because Winchester was so important around 660 it became a cathedral.

The Danes were invading in the 800's and the Minster was damaged. It was repaired and became St Swithun's, for a while a Benedictine priory. A Minster was also a monastery or 'gathering of the clergy' in Saxon times, it still retained its original status.

St Swithun became the patron saint. He had a reputation for restoring churches and he restored this one as a Minster and was appointed Bishop. There is a saying that if it rains on St Swithun's Day, 15th July, then it will rain for forty days. Keep an eye on the date – in these days of drought perhaps it should!

When he died in the year 862, he asked to be buried outside where he still would have the rain and sun. He was, but nine years later the clergy at the Cathedral wanted to move him back into the shrine they had built for him inside the cathedral. It rained of course and the legend was born.

His shrine survived the building of the current Winchester Cathedral but Henry VIII caused a lot of damage during the Dissolution and it was his commissioners who smashed the shrine to St Swithun in 1538, taking the valuables of course. It left a hole, a Holy Hole, it was called, that was filled up eventually.

It was St Swithun who accompanied King Alfred to Rome when he was a boy.

When Alfred became King of Wessex and made Winchester his capital, it was decided to build a New Minster to the north of the Old Minster. Alfred died before it was completed in 901 during the son of King Alfred, Edward The Elder's reign. This Minster remained until 1093 when the new cathedral was finished.

The Norman Cathedral

With the Norman Conquest came Bishop Walkelin replacing the Saxon Bishop, Stigand, in 1070. Related to William the Conquerer Walkelin was a powerful figure, he wanted more than a Minster for his status. He wanted what he was used to seeing, a fine stone Cathedral. The latest cutting edge technology! In 1079 he started building his new Norman Cathedral.

The original Norman part of the Cathedral, the north transept   © Copyright Graham Horn and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The crypt was started first. However by 1100 the tower must have been built because William Rufus was buried under it. The tower fell c1107, due it was said to the wickedness of the bones of the king! Probably more likely to be poor construction of the tower, tricky things to build on wet ground! They started again about 1108.

Building continued through the centuries. The cathedral as we see it today can be put down to two later Bishops – William of Wykeham and to a lesser extent his successor Cardinal Bishop Henry Beaufort, half brother to the King.

In 1554 Winchester was in a flurry for Queen Mary I and King Philip of Spain were married in Winchester Cathedral in a lavish ceremony.

Several Chantry chapels where masses were said for whom the chapels were built, are in various parts of Winchester cathedral and we can see them today. Among them are the chapels for the powerful Henry Beaufort, half brother to Henry VI, William of Wykeham whose motto was “Manners Maketh Man” and responsible for much of the modern cathedral, and Stephen Gardiner who married Queen Mary I and Philip of Spain. All Bishops of Winchester.

Bust of William Walker, Winchester Cathedral   © Copyright Basher Eyre and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The Hero of Winchester Cathedral

Winchester cathedral was in fact built on unstable ground and that heavy stone structure eventually started to fail, albeit after centuries. The southern and eastern sides of the cathedral were sinking and in water. Enter the diver, the famous William Walker. Experienced he might have been but what a job to be faced with. It took him five years, 1906 to 1911, in a diving suit to shore up the cathedral. An incredible feat for which the cathedral today completely owes its existence.

Return from Winchester Cathedral to Winchester

Go to Hampshire

Return to Home

Or perhaps click the navigation buttons on the left to explore Wessex some more.