{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15706/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15706","id":"gutenberg_15706","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15706","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Architecture","Category: History - British","Category: History - Royalty","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Winchester (England) -- Description and travel"],"text":"Produced by Ted Garvin, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\nWINCHESTER\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: THE CLOSE GATE]\n\n\n\n\nWINCHESTER\n\n\nDescribed by Sidney Heath\n\nPictured by E.W. Haslehust\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nBLACKIE AND SON LIMITED\n\nLONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY\n\n1911\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Advertisement_\n\n+Beautiful England+\n\n_Volumes Ready_\n\nOXFORD\n\nTHE ENGLISH LAKES\n\nCANTERBURY\n\nSHAKESPEARE-LAND\n\nTHE THAMES\n\nWINDSOR CASTLE\n\nCAMBRIDGE\n\nNORWICH AND THE BROADS\n\nTHE HEART OF WESSEX\n\nTHE PEAK DISTRICT\n\nTHE CORNISH RIVIERA\n\nDICKENS-LAND\n\nWINCHESTER\n\nTHE ISLE OF WIGHT\n\nCHESTER AND THE DEE\n\nYORK\n\n\n\n\n_Uniform with this Series_\n\n+Beautiful Ireland+\n\nLEINSTER\n\nULSTER\n\nMUNSTER\n\nCONNAUGHT\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\nThe Close Gate _Frontispiece_\n\nThe City Bridge\n\nWinchester Cathedral from the Deanery Gardens\n\nWykeham's Chantry\n\nThe Butter Cross\n\nEntrance to the Deanery\n\nWinchester College: The Outer Gateway from \"Arcadia\"\n\nThe Cloisters, Winchester College\n\nRuins of Wolvesey Castle\n\nBeaufort Tower and Ambulatory, St. Cross\n\nSt. Cross from the Meadows\n\nThe Brethren's Hall, St. Cross\n\nPlan of Winchester Cathedral\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWINCHESTER\n\n\nFew of our English cities are more strikingly situated than the once\nroyal city of Winchester, which lies on the slopes and along the bed of\na chalk valley watered by the River Itchen. The greater part of the\npresent city is situated on the right bank of the river, while the best\ngeneral view of it is justly considered to be that obtained by looking\nacross the Vale of Chilcomb, from the road to Portsmouth. Of the Itchen\nvalley, with its rich meadows and tranquil stream, William Cobbett was\nan enthusiastic admirer. \"There are few spots in England\", he exclaims,\n\"more fertile, or more pleasant, none, I believe, more healthy. The\nfertility of this vale and of the surrounding country is best proved by\nthe fact that, besides the town of Alresford, and that of Southampton,\nthere are seventeen villages, each having its parish church, upon its\nborders. When we consider these things, we are not surprised that a spot\nsituated about halfway down this vale should have been chosen for the\nbuilding of a city, or that that city should have been for a great\nnumber of years the place of residence for the kings of England.\"\n\nTo-day the beautiful river winds in and out of the ancient streets, and\namong the meadow lands, much as it did when Cobbett penned his _Rural\nRides_, although many charming examples of domestic architecture, which\nthen graced what was probably the most attractive High Street in\nEngland, have been demolished or restored beyond recognition. As it\nflows through the city proper, the river is divided up into a number of\nsmall streams abounding in trout; but after a brief course these\nrivulets unite just below the city, from whence the waterway is said to\nbe navigable all the way to Southampton. The bridge at the foot of the\nHigh Street marks the former limit of the navigability of the river, and\nis the reputed site of the legend concerning St. Swithun and the old\nwoman to whom the saint restored her eggs.\n\nBefore the advent of the railway, that great destroyer of our ancient\nwaterways, the Itchen was crowded with barges making their way from the\nmaritime port to the inland city; for, like so many of our old British\nsettlements, the site of Winchester was determined by the natural\nconditions of the land which could be utilized for the purposes of\ndefence. Although every lock on the Itchen is now in ruins or choked by\nweeds, and the last of its fleet of brown-sailed barges is derelict,\nthis is essentially a city whose origin goes back to the days when those\nwho, coming cautiously up from Southampton Water, reached at length the\npractical part of the valley, where they built their stronghold under\nthe shelter of the downs, yet within easy reach of the sea. It was by\nmeans of barges that much of the stone was brought for the building of\nthe numerous churches and monastic buildings. This was brought from the\nBinstead Quarries in the Isle of Wight, from the Purbeck Quarries in\nDorset, and possibly from Portland as well.\n\nThere is ample evidence that Winchester was a British city (Caer-Gwent),\nand the Venta Belgarum of Roman days, when it was connected by roads\nwith the other Roman cities of Andover, Silchester, Porchester, and\nSalisbury. With the taking of the town by the Saxons in 495 it became\nknown as Wintanceastre, and here, after the final subjection of the\nBritons, the capital of Wessex was established. If the claim of\nCanterbury to be the \"Mother City\" of the Anglo-Saxon race be granted,\nfew will deny to Winchester the honour of being her eldest and her\nfairest daughter. A royal city was this when Birinus, the apostle of\nWessex, came hither in 634, on his way to the Oxfordshire Dorchester, to\nbaptize the King of the West Saxons; and in 679 the episcopal see was\nestablished, a cathedral built, and a monastic house attached to it. It\nwas from Wintanceastre that Egbert sent forth the decree which gave the\nname of Anglia to his kingdom; and here, by the tranquil waters of the\nItchen, Alfred (with his friend, adviser, and tutor, St. Swithun),\nAthelstan, and Canute held their Courts, and directed their policies.\n\nIt was during the reign of Athelstan that the redoubtable Guy, Earl of\nWarwick, returning to England in the garb of a palmer from a pilgrimage\nto the Holy Land, found the Danes besieging Winchester in great force,\nand King Athelstan unable to find a champion willing to meet the Danish\ngiant, Colbrand, in order to decide the issue by single combat. The\nEarl, retaining his disguise as a palmer, begged the king to let him\nappear as the English champion.\n\n[Illustration: THE CITY BRIDGE]\n\nThis singular combat, which was to decide the fate of the city,\ncommenced by Guy breaking his spear on the giant's shield, and the Dane\ncutting the head off the Earl's horse. Guy then fought on foot, and,\nbeating the club out of his opponent's hand, cut off his arm. So the\nduel waged until night, when the Dane, faint from loss of blood, fell\nto the ground, and his head was cut off by the English champion. Having\nsettled the affair to the honour of his country and his own\nsatisfaction, the Earl made himself known to the King, under an oath of\nsecrecy, and returned thanks in the cathedral for his victory. He then\nretired to a hermitage beside the Avon, and passed the remainder of his\nlife in the cave which still bears his name, and probably contains his\nbones.\n\nSeveral modern antiquaries are very sceptical about the whole story, and\nlabour hard to prove that Guy was a mythical figure, and his deeds\nnothing but legendary lore. There is always some truth in these old\nlegends, in spite of the frills and embellishments added by the later\nchroniclers, and the history of our land would be poor reading indeed if\nwe banished the romantic legends merely because they are not confirmed\nby such dry-as-dust evidence as alone will satisfy a certain section of\nscientific compilers, whose minds can perceive neither truth nor beauty\nunderlying ancient legends and traditions. The fact that they cannot be\nproved to have happened is more than half their charm, and our garden of\nromance, with its beautiful flowers of chivalry, is infinitely better to\nlive with than the dry and parched fields given over to the cultivation\nof nothing but facts.\n\nThe defeat of the Danish giant is said to have been achieved in a\nmeadow to the north of the city, named from that occurrence \"Danemark\nMead\"; and we are told also that the Dane's sword was to be seen in the\nCathedral treasury down to the reign of James I. Be this as it may, we\ndo know that in the eighth year of Edward I a writ of right was brought\nby the King against the Abbot of Hyde, to recover land usurped in the\nnorth suburb of the city, called \"Denemarche\", and judgment was given\nfor the crown.\n\nThe appearance of the city in Saxon days has been described thus by Dean\nKitchin: \"The three Minsters, which filled up the south-eastern corner\nof the city, were for long the finest group of churches and dwellings in\nall England. Wolvesey Palace, at once the school, the court of justice,\nand the royal dwelling place, formed the bulwark against the dreaded\ninvasions of the Dane; inwards from Wolvesey precincts came the strong\nenclosure of St. Swithun's Convent, a second fortress, which protected\nthe church, and behind both, sheltered by their strong walls and by the\nriver and the marshlands to the north, were the growing buildings of the\nNuns' Minster, and the new Minster. And up the rising towards the west,\non either side of the ancient Roman road from the eastward gate of the\ncity, the houses of the citizens began to cluster into a street, with\nhere and there a stone-built dwelling, and the rest made of that 'wattle\nand dab' construction, of which from time to time examples are still\nlaid bare in the city.\"\n\nAlthough many historical persons flit across the scene throughout the\ncenturies, the personal associations of Winchester are dominated by the\noutstanding figures of Alfred, St. Swithun, and the great clerical\ncraftsman, William of Wykeham, the builder of much of the cathedral, and\nthe founder of St. Mary's College, Winchester, and New College,\nOxford--the former of which, although of later foundation, was intended\nas a stepping-stone for the latter.\n\nWith the Norman Conquest, and the rapid rise of Westminster, the days of\nWinchester as the seat of government were numbered, although it was much\nfavoured by the early Norman kings, possibly owing to its proximity to\nsuch hunting grounds as the New Forest Cranborne Chase (where King\nJohn's hunting lodge still stands), and the Royal Warren of Purbeck.\n\nWilliam I had his great palace near the cathedral, and it was to\nWinchester that the body of William Rufus was brought on a cart, after\nhis ill-fated death in the New Forest.\n\nThen the Domesday Book--if not compiled at Winchester--was kept there\nfor many years, when it was called \"The Book of Winton\". In the seventh\nyear of Henry II a charge appears in the Pipe Roll for conveying the\n\"arca\", in which the book was kept, from Winchester to London.\n\nThere is naturally much in the life-history of St. Swithun that is\nincapable of proof. He was possibly born in the neighbourhood of\nWinchester about the year 800. He became a monk of the old abbey, and\nrose to be head of the community, when he gained the favour of King\nEgbert, who entrusted him with the education of his son Ethelwolf. There\nis an authentic charter granted by Egbert in 838, and bearing the\nsignatures of Elmstan, _episcopus_, and Swithunus, _diaconus_. On the\ndeath of Elmstan, in 852, Swithun was appointed his successor in the\nsee, when, in addition to erecting several churches, and building a\nstone bridge over the Itchen, he appears to have enlarged and beautified\nthe Saxon cathedral built by Kynewalch when Winchester became the seat\nof a bishopric in 679. The site of this Saxon church is considered to\nhave been a little to the north of the present cathedral, which is a\nNorman building commenced by Walkelin a few years after the Conquest.\n\nSt. Swithun is best known to-day in his capacity of weather prophet. In\nhis humility he is said to have desired to be buried outside the church,\nso that the foot of the passer-by, and the rainwater from the eaves,\ncould fall upon his grave; and here his body lay for more than a\ncentury. When his remains were eventually translated, a chapel was\nerected over the site of his grave at the north-east corner of the\nchurch, and faint traces of this building may still be seen. King Edgar\nprovided the richly jewelled shrine into which the relics of the saint\nwere translated by St. Ethelwold, on July 15, 980, when the relics of\nBirinus were enshrined at the same time, although these had already been\ntranslated from Dorchester to Winchester by Bishop Hedda as early as the\nseventh century. The shrine attracted an immense number of pilgrims\nuntil that of Becket at Canterbury rose into prominence. The skull of\nSt. Swithun is said to have been taken to Canterbury by St. Elphege in\nthe eleventh century, and an arm of this patron saint of Winchester was\none of the most treasured possessions of Peterborough. What remained of\nthese much-disturbed relics were re-translated by Bishop Walkelin from\nthe old to the new cathedral, but in 1241 the shrine was broken by the\nvane of the tower falling through the roof.\n\nAt the Reformation the shrine was destroyed, as is recorded in the\ncommissioners' letter, dated September 21, 1538:--\n\n     \"About three o'clock this Saturday morning, we made an end of the\n     shrine here at Winchester. There was no gold, nor ring, nor true\n     stone about it, but all great counterfeits; but the silver alone\n     will amount to 2000 marks.\"\n\nThe popular tradition regarding St. Swithun's Day, July 15, is to the\neffect that, as it rains or is fair on this day, the ensuing forty days\nwill be either wet or dry.\n\n     \"St. Swithun's Day, if thou dost rain,\n     For forty days it will remain:\n     St. Swithun's Day, if thou be fair,\n     For forty days 't will rain nae mair.\"\n\nThe tradition is said to be due to the saintly request being\ndisregarded, with the result that, when his remains were about to be\ntranslated, a heavy rain burst forth, and continued without ceasing for\nthe forty succeeding days. This was interpreted as a divine warning, so\nthat, instead of disturbing the saintly bones, a chapel was erected over\nthem. As a matter of fact, Professor Earle and other authorities assure\nus that the legend is fictitious, and that the translation was attended\nby the utmost eclat and success, and blessed with fine weather.\n\n[Illustration: WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL FROM THE DEANERY GARDENS]\n\nForeign pilgrims coming from Normandy and Brittany, on their way to the\nshrine of St. Swithun, or to that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, would\nland, many of them, at Southampton, and journey to Winchester, there\nto await other bands of pilgrims bound for the great Kentish shrine.\nThis was the route taken by Henry II when he did penance before the tomb\nof the murdered Becket, in July, 1174. Although clearly seen in the wold\nof Surrey and the weald of Kent at the present time, it must be\nconfessed that but faint traces of the Pilgrims' Way remain in\nHampshire, although early chroniclers speak of an old road that led\ndirect from Winchester to Canterbury. The great concourse of pilgrims to\nSt. Swithun's shrine caused Bishop Lucy to enlarge much of the church,\nand in the reign of the first Edward the building still known as the\nStrangers' Hall was erected by the monks of St. Swithun for the poorer\nclass of pilgrims, who here found food and shelter for the night. On\ntheir departure they repaired to the doors of the Prior's lodging--the\nthree beautiful arches of which now form the entrance to the\nDeanery--where they were given alms and fragments of food to sustain\nthem on their journey.\n\nThe associations of Alfred with this ancient Wessex capital are many and\nvarious. He founded the famous Abbey of Hyde, situated without the city\ngates, known for long as the New Minster, and first removed from its\noriginal site near the cathedral in the twelfth century. That Alfred's\nremains were laid to rest somewhere within, or just without, the walls\nis beyond question, although the exact spot has not yet been\ndefinitely located. When the Benedictine monks of Hyde obtained a\ncharter from Henry I in 1110, giving them leave to erect a new convent\nand church in the green meadows outside the north gate, they are said to\nhave taken to their new home the wonder-working shrine of St. Josse, the\nsilver cross given by Canute, and the bones of Alfred.\n\nAt the Reformation, Thomas Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell saying:--\n\n     \"We intend both at Hyde and St. Mary to sweep away all the rotten\n     bones that be called relics; which we may not omit, lest it be\n     thought we came more for the treasure than for the avoiding of th'\n     abomination of idolatry\".\n\nSo the resting-place of the noblest of English kings remains unknown;\nbut a passing antiquary is said to have carried off a stone marked with\nthe words, \"AELFRED REX, DCCCLXXXI\", and this stone may still be seen at\nCorby Castle in Cumberland.\n\nOf Hyde Abbey nothing but an old gateway near St. Bartholomew's Church,\nand some slight fragments of wall, remain; but a considerable portion\nwas standing until the ruins were pulled down to provide the site for a\nnew Bridewell, which has vanished in its turn. The property has now come\ninto the hands of the Corporation, and scientific excavations have been\ncommenced. Strong hopes are entertained that Alfred's tomb may be\nfound, although the iconoclasts of the Reformation and the Magistrates\nof later days have made the task a difficult, if not an impossible one.\nIn 1901 Alfred's thousandth anniversary was celebrated at Winchester,\nand on September 20 of that year Lord Rosebery unveiled Hamo\nThorneycroft's magnificent bronze statue, standing in the Broadway, and\nbearing on its granite pedestal the single word, eloquent in its\nsimplicity:--\n\n     AELFRED.\n\nInteresting and important as are the associations of Alfred and St.\nSwithun with this ancient capital of Wessex, the _genius loci_ is\nWilliam of Wykeham, one of the most remarkable men the world has ever\nproduced. The more we study his life and character the more we are\namazed at the versatile nature of his splendid gifts. Born, like Wolsey,\nthe only other clerical architect with whom he can be compared, of\nhumble parents, in the sleepy little village of Wickham, in the autumn\nof 1324, he early attracted the attention of Sir John Scures, the lord\nof the manor of Wickham, and Constable of Winchester Castle. By Sir\nJohn's influence he became a scholar at the Priory School, the \"Great\nGrammar School of Winchester\", then situated just outside the west wall\nof the priory enclosure. Taught by the brethren of St. Swithun's, he\nwas eventually recommended to Bishop Edington, who appears to have\nappreciated the great talent for architecture shown by young Wykeham.\nEdington himself was no mean builder, and he had already begun to\nrebuild the west front of the cathedral, and to transform the nave from\nthe Norman to the Perpendicular style, a transformation that was to be\ncompleted by Wykeham when he succeeded his old master in the episcopacy.\n\nIn Wykeham's twenty-third year Edward III came to Winchester, and he,\nhaving heard of the clever young architect, wished to test his skill in\nthe warfare then being waged against Scotland and France, and\nparticularly in the new fortifications of Calais. On taking service with\nthe King, plain William Wykeham became Sir William de Wykeham, and as\nSurveyor of Works he superintended such buildings as St. Stephen's\nChapel, Westminster, and the castles of Dover and Queensborough. In 1356\nhe was in charge of Windsor Castle, which, as his birthplace, Edward\nwished to beautify by many additions. It has been said that the Round\nTower Wykeham built at Windsor made the fortune of its designer. We now\nfind Wykeham Warden of all the royal castles, and sub-dean of the church\nof St. Martins-le-Grand, on the site of which is the General Post\nOffice; and as a public notary he was present at the signing of the\nTreaty of Bretigny.\n\nPossibly owing to the dearth of clergy caused by the Black Death,\nWykeham, after the laying-on of hands by his old master, Bishop\nEdington, became an acolyte in the December of 1361, a sub-deacon in the\nMarch following, and priest in the June of 1362. A few years later, when\nEdington was laid to rest within his cathedral, a sharp controversy\narose between the King and the Pope as to who should succeed. The\ndifferences, which need not be discussed here, being eventually settled\nto the satisfaction of both parties, Wykeham was offered the vacant see,\nwhen he said to the King:\n\n     \"Sire, I am unworthy, but wherein I am wanting myself, that will I\n     supply by a brood of more scholars than all the prelates of England\n     ever showed\".\n\nAnd how worthily he fulfilled his promise is a matter of history.\n\nTo quote the authors of _Historic Winchester_:\n\n     \"There was a great stir in the old city when the day of Wykeham's\n     enthronement arrived. It was the 9th of July, and the town would be\n     looking especially beautiful in its bower of trees; an outrider had\n     announced the bishop before he entered the city, probably by the\n     north gate, and either here or at the entrance to the close he was\n     met by the Archdeacon of Northampton, William Athey by name, who\n     was commissioned to enthrone him: having saluted, the Archdeacon\n     alighted from his palfrey, which according to the custom at that\n     time was with all its trappings taken possession of by this\n     ecclesiastic.... The bishop's robing most probably took place at\n     the priory close by, from whence the procession, forming in the\n     cloisters under the direction of Hugo de Basyng, prior of St.\n     Swithun's, would pass to the west door, where it would be joined by\n     the heads of the other monasteries in and near Winchester--Thomas\n     de Pechy, Abbot of Hyde, holding highest rank amongst them. Next\n     would follow long lines of monks clad in their robes of brown,\n     black, white, or grey, according to their order, and then many a\n     layman, gathered in from the country round to honour both Church\n     and State on this occasion. The great procession, gorgeous with\n     embroidered cope and many a rich vestment, with episcopal staff and\n     crozier both of prior and abbot carried aloft, must have formed an\n     imposing spectacle as it filed up the long nave of the cathedral,\n     thronged, doubtless, to overflowing by many citizens--for unusual\n     interest would be evinced by Winchester in this enthronement of one\n     long known to them, now Chancellor of England and certainly, next\n     to the King and Archbishop, the greatest man in the country.\"\n\nAs bishop, Wykeham found plenty to do, apart from his ecclesiastical\nduties, in repairing his various palaces, and in housing the\npredecessors of his Winchester scholars in a house on St. Giles's Hill,\nuntil such time as he could give them fitting buildings and a chapel of\ntheir own. But before Wykeham could see his schemes take an\narchitectural form, he was to suffer the loss of royal favour owing to\nthe death of the Black Prince and the rise into power of his enemy, John\nof Gaunt. The bishop was charged with the misappropriation of a small\nsum of money, and, judgment being given against him, the temporalities\nof the see of Winchester were seized, and he was forbidden to come\nwithin twenty miles of the Court. He retired to Waverley Abbey, of which\nsome picturesque ruins remain, near Farnham; and although on the King's\njubilee pardon was granted to all offenders, a special exception was\nmade in the case of \"Sire William de Wykeham\".\n\n[Illustration: WYKEHAM'S CHANTRY]\n\nThis was more than the heads of the Church could stand, especially as\nthe original charge was an unjust one; so at the ensuing meeting of\nConvocation, Courtenay, then Bishop of London, declared boldly that\nunless their favourite bishop was reinstated in office, no money would\nbe forthcoming from the clergy. In less than a month the pressing need\nof funds caused the King to send a messenger to Waverley and beg Wykeham\nto return to his house at Southwark. This was the first step, which,\nhowever, did not mean an immediate return to the temporalities, as these\nhad been settled on the youthful heir apparent, Richard; but the people\ntook up Wykeham's cause, and on June 18, 1377, in the presence of the\nlittle Richard, his uncle, and the King's council, Wykeham promised to\nfit out three galleys for sea, in return for the temporalities of\nWinchester. Two days later Edward III died, forsaken by his mistress,\nAlice Perrers, and estranged from the one man who had served him so long\nand so faithfully.\n\nThe architectural genius of Wykeham as exhibited at St. Mary's College\nand the cathedral at Winchester, and at New College, Oxford, originally\nfounded as \"St. Maries' College of Winchester at Oxenford\", marks a very\ndecided epoch in the development of English architecture. His works, in\nan architectural style found nowhere but in England, are the outcome of\na mind free from triviality, and full of common sense. His buildings are\nadmirably suited to their purpose, and at first sight they appear to be\nso simple in design that it has been suggested that Wykeham cared more\nfor the constructive than the artistic side of building. It is true that\nhe considered sound construction and good proportions of greater\nimportance than a profusion of detail, yet such ornament as is found in\nhis work is highly effective and most carefully studied. To this\nbishop-architect we undoubtedly owe much of the dignity and simplicity\nwhich mark the Early Perpendicular buildings, qualities which make the\nstyle such a contrast to the exuberance of that which immediately\npreceded it, or the over-elaboration of the Tudor buildings that\nfollowed it.\n\nWith few exceptions, practically the whole of Wykeham's work, both here\nand at Oxford, remains much as he left it; so that, good bishop, wise\nadministrator, generous founder, and pioneer educationist though he was,\nit is mainly as a munificent builder and architectural genius that his\nfame has lived in the past, and will continue to live in the future.\n\nHere for the moment we must leave the great prelate of Winchester and\nbegin our perambulation of the city that received him as a youth,\nwelcomed him as a bishop, mourned him when dead, and that still bears on\nthe long nave of its cathedral, and on its famous college, the impress\nof his manly, robust, and essentially English mind.\n\nBy way of a footpath leading from the London and South-Western Railway\nstation, the upper part of the famous High Street can be reached,\nalthough the thoroughfare now possesses but few features of interest\nuntil we arrive at the old West Gate, a reminder, if such were needed,\nthat Winchester was a heavily fortified and strongly walled city. On the\nright is Castle Hill, the site of the ancient castle wherein Stigand,\nArchbishop of Canterbury, was imprisoned and Matilda besieged, and from\nwhose courtyard William Rufus set out on the hunting expedition to the\nNew Forest which was attended by such fatal consequences. All that now\nremains of this stronghold is the fine old hall built by Henry III.\n\nFor some time this apartment was used as the County Hall, and here Judge\nJeffreys opened his Bloody Assize before proceeding to Dorchester,\nExeter, and Taunton. Alice Lisle was the widow of John Lisle, who had\nbeen Master of St. Cross Hospital, and member for Winchester in the Long\nParliament. Although the men of Hampshire had taken no part in\nMonmouth's Rebellion, many of the fugitives had fled thither, and two of\nthem, John Hickes, a Non-conformist divine, and Richard Nelthorpe, a\nlawyer, found refuge in the house of Alice Lisle, where they were\neventually discovered. At her trial, Alice Lisle stated briefly that,\nalthough she knew Hickes to be in trouble, she was quite ignorant of the\nfact that he had participated in the rebellion. When the jury said they\ndoubted if the charge had been made out, Jeffreys was furious, and after\nanother long consultation they returned a verdict of \"Guilty\". The next\nmorning the judge pronounced sentence, and ordered the prisoner to be\n_burned alive_ that same afternoon. When remonstrances had poured in\nfrom all quarters, Jeffreys consented to the execution being postponed\nfor five days; and the sentence was eventually commuted from burning to\nhanging. So the first victim of Monmouth's ill-fated rebellion was\nhanged on a scaffold in the market-place of Winchester.\n\nA striking object hanging at one end of the hall is the top of the\nreputed Round Table of King Arthur, painted in radiating white and green\nsections, with a portrait of the famous king inset, crowned and robed,\nand the Tudor rose in the centre, while around the circumference are\nthe names of the knights in old black-letter characters. Doubtful though\nit is that the table is the actual one that figures in the Arthurian\nlegends, yet it is certainly of great antiquity, and has been frequently\nreferred to by more than one writer of mediaeval days. It has been\nconjectured that it may be nothing more than the wheel of fortune which\nHenry III commanded to be made for the castle. In later years another\npalace was started here by Charles II, the only portion that was\ncompleted being now used as barracks.\n\nBeyond the West Gate is an obelisk, set up in commemoration of a\nvisitation of the Plague in 1669, when the country people brought their\nproduce and left it outside the gate to be taken in by the city\ndwellers, who deposited the money for the goods in bowls of vinegar,\nwhence it was abstracted by pincers, to avoid infection. The stone on\nwhich the exchanges were made is incorporated in the base of the\nobelisk.\n\nThe West Gate is the only one that remains of the principal entrances to\nthe city, as King's Gate, with the little church of St. Swithun perched\non top, was of secondary importance. This West Gate escaped the fate\nthat has overtaken so many of our old city gates owing to its having\nbeen used for some time as a smoking room for the adjacent hotel. This\napartment above the crown of the gateway arch is, like that over the\nWest Gate of Canterbury, used for the purposes of a museum, wherein are\ndeposited such interesting relics as the Winchester bushel, cloth\nmeasures, and ancient instruments of punishment. At one time the room\nwas used as a prison, and the walls are covered with names or marks made\nby those who were incarcerated here.\n\nThe gate is of fourteenth-century date, the two panels with armorial\nbearings seen on the western side of the archway being later insertions.\nThrough the gateway a delightful view is obtained of the picturesque\nHigh Street, with many a high-pitched gable rising above the masses of\nirregular architecture; while an ancient clock on a wooden bracket juts\nout from the old Queen Anne Guildhall, which has a statue of Her Majesty\nover the entrance, the Curfew Tower rising on one side of the building.\nA new Guildhall of greater architectural pretensions has been erected in\nthe Broadway, the original one being now used as a shop.\n\n[Illustration: THE BUTTER CROSS]\n\nFrom the West Gate the High Street slopes down to the Itchen. On the\nright stands the old Butter Cross, in rather a cramped position. Two\nreasons have been given for its name: one, that during Lent, those\nwishing to eat butter could do so by consuming it by the cross; the\nother, and more probable, explanation is that here came farmers wishing\nto dispose of their butter, which they exposed for sale on the steps\nof the cross. The structure is of fifteenth-century date, but has been\nmuch restored, the only original figure on it being that of St.\nAmphibalus. Just beside the cross is the interesting little opening that\nleads into the Close, and in which is the entrance to St. Lawrence\nChurch, of which nothing is visible from this point but the doorway, and\nthe tower rising above the surrounding houses. This church has been said\nto be the Mother Church of the diocese of Winchester, an idea that may\nhave owed its origin to the fact that before proceeding to the Cathedral\nto be enthroned the bishops designate enter this ancient church to robe\nand \"ring themselves in\". Only the other day, May 6, 1911, Dr. Talbot\nfollowed this old custom, and the people listened eagerly for the number\nof rings, as these are supposed to denote the number of years the bishop\nwill be at the head of the diocese. It may be of interest to chronicle\nthat Dr. Talbot rang nine times.\n\nNear the church at one time was an open space called the Square, where\nwere situated the Pillory and Whipping Post. The palace of William I is\nsaid to have occupied this site, and St. Lawrence's Church may possibly\nhave been the private chapel of the royal residence. A fragment of\nNorman masonry gives a certain amount of probability to the\nsupposition, while at the beginning of last century some workmen\nexcavating in Market Street came across the foundations of an ancient\ntower, of great thickness and strength. The present arched and narrow\nentrance from High Street leads to the fine avenue of limes that forms\nthe principal approach to the west front of the Cathedral, begun by\nEdington _circa_ 1360, the severe simplicity of which has been much\ncriticized, Ruskin assailing it furiously in the _Stones of Venice_. On\nthe apex of the gable is a canopied niche containing a statue of\nWykeham.\n\nThe present edifice is thought to stand approximately on the site of the\nearlier Saxon church restored by Ethelwold in 980, in which Queen Emma\nunderwent the \"fiery ordeal\" by walking blindfold and barefooted over\nnine red-hot plough-shares, thus proving her innocence of the charges\nbrought against her, and furnishing her accusers with an example of what\nfemale chastity is able to accomplish. The main portion of the structure\nas seen to-day was begun by Bishop Walkelin about 1079, and completed\nsome fourteen years later. It is the longest of English churches,\nmeasuring externally 566 feet, and internally 562-1/2 feet, being a few\nfeet longer than St. Alban's, which has the same plan; although we must\nremember that when the nave of Winchester terminated at the west in two\nlarge towers the whole mass was 40 feet longer than at present.\n\nThe vista of the whole block of masonry, with its stumpy tower and\nheavily buttressed walls, conveys the idea of immense strength rather\nthan of gracefulness; while its situation at the bottom of a hill, and\nnear the bank of the river, is one of great charm.\n\nIt is when the nave is entered that the full beauty and vast proportions\nof the Norman church are revealed, for this is in essence a Norman\nbuilding encased with Perpendicular details and additions. As Wykeham's\nalterations were merely added to the original piers, the stateliness of\nthe whole remains. Full credit, of course, must be given to Wykeham for\nthe wonderful skill he showed in this work of transformation, and in\nremoving the heavy triforium, although the grandeur of the nave as a\nwhole is due to the combined work of Walkelin and Wykeham. This\nalteration of styles in the nave was begun by Edington, continued by\nWykeham, and completed by his successors in the see--Cardinal Beaufort\nand Bishop Waynflete--who built the stone vaulting of the roof. The\ntower at the intersection of the transepts is the second of its kind,\nthe first, built by Walkelin, having fallen in 1107, owing, says\ntradition, to the wicked Red King having been buried beneath it. Of its\nrebuilding there are no records.\n\nSo many detailed architectural histories of the building have appeared\nthat its principal features must be familiar to every lover of our\nnational architecture. There are, however, one or two features about\nthis cathedral that should be noted. Apart from its great length, which\nis greater than any church in the world, with the exception of St.\nPeter's at Rome, it is remarkable for its parclose screens, with the\nmortuary chests upon them; and for the beauty and number of its\nchantries, in which it is richer than any other English cathedral. They\nare said to have been saved from destruction during the Civil War by the\nParliamentary colonel, Fiennes, an old Wykehamist; and certain\nhistorians describe the dramatic incident of the colonel standing with\ndrawn sword to protect the chantry of the founder of his Alma Mater from\nthe iconoclastic tendencies of his troopers. The chantries number seven,\nand were built as chapels by bishops for their last resting-places.\nWithin these chantries are the tombs of Edington, Wykeham, Waynflete,\nBeaufort, Gardiner, Langton, and Fox, all of whom were bishops of the\ndiocese. Fox's chantry was carefully restored by Corpus Christi College,\nOxford; and that of Waynflete by Magdalen College, as a mark of\nreverence and esteem for the memory of their respective founders.\n\nThe first to be seen on entering the nave from the west is that of\nWykeham, whose faith in the solidity of Norman building was so great\nthat he did not hesitate to cut away more than a third of the two nave\npillars between which it is placed. Within the chapel, said to have been\nbuilt on the site of an altar to the Virgin, is the effigy of the\nbishop-builder, with flesh and robes coloured \"proper\", as the heralds\nsay; and at his feet are the figures of his three favourite monks, to\nwhom he left an endowment for the celebration of three masses daily in\nhis chantry, while each was to receive one penny a day from the prior.\nThe effigy lies on an altar tomb, in episcopal attire, the head-pillow\nsupported by two angels. Five bays farther on is Edington's chantry, but\nwithout effigy, as also are those of Fox and Langton. Of the seven\nchantries those of Fox and Beaufort are usually considered the most\nbeautiful.\n\nThe proud Cardinal Beaufort, founder of the \"Almshouse of Noble Poverty\"\nat St. Cross, is represented by Shakespeare as dying in despair:\n\n     \"Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on Heaven's bliss\n     Hold up thy hand: make signal of thy hope.\n     He dies, and makes no sign!\"\n\nDean Kitchin writes: \"One cannot look at his effigy, as it lies in his\nstately chantry, without noting the powerful and selfish characteristics\nof his face, and especially the nose, large, curved, and money-loving.\nThe sums Beaufort had at his disposal were so large that he was the\nRothschild of his day. More than once he lent his royal masters enough\nmoney to carry them through their expeditions.\"\n\nThe mortuary chests are certainly among the most interesting things\npossessed by any English cathedral. They are supposed to contain the\nbones of Kings Eadulph, Kinegils, Kenulf, Egbert, Canute, Rufus, Edmund,\nEdred, Queen Emma, and Bishops Wina and Alwyn. They no doubt got much\nmixed up when removed from the crypt by Henry de Blois, and again when\nthe chests were broken open by the Parliamentarians, so that a detailed\nidentification has been made impossible. It is now generally\nacknowledged that the bones of Rufus are in one of these chests, and\nthat the so-called Rufus tomb in the retro-choir is the burial place of\nsome great ecclesiastic. Such at any rate is the opinion of Dean\nKitchin, who has done so much to elucidate the past history of the city\nand its Cathedral.\n\nWhen one of these boxes was taken recently out of its enclosing chest\nand examined, it was found to have a roof something like a low gable,\nwhich was decorated with painting about a century later than the time of\nde Blois. On the outside appeared the words in Latin: \"Here are together\nthe bones of King Kinegils and of Ethelwolf\". Four of the Italian\nchests that held the inner boxes were the gift of Bishop Fox. The\nother chests have revealed five complete sets of human bones, and among\nthe remains in another were the bones of a female, possibly those of\nQueen Emma.\n\n[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE DEANERY]\n\nThe visitor will not fail to have pointed out to him by the\nwell-informed vergers the innumerable features of interest, such as the\nLady Chapel, the retro-choir, the Holy Hole where the relics were kept,\nthe black oak stalls of the choir, the fine pulpit given by Prior\nSilkstede, and the magnificent screen begun by Beaufort and completed by\nFox. The monuments, apart from those contained in the chantries, are\nmany, and include one surmounted by a beautifully wrought cross-legged\neffigy, which has not yet been identified. There are memorials or tombs\nof James I and Charles I, by le Suer, who wrought the statue of the\nlatter at Charing Cross; Dr. Warton, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and\nheadmaster of Winchester; Jane Austen; and William Unwin, the intimate\nfriend of Cowper. A flat stone, with an inscription by his\nbrother-in-law, Ken, marks the resting-place of Izaak Walton, \"whose\nbook\", a modern writer tells us, \"makes the reader forget for the time\nthe cruelty of his sport\".\n\nThe curiously carved font, whereon are depicted symbolical figures and\nincidents from the legendary life of St. Nicholas of Myra, bears much\nsimilarity to three others found in Hampshire--at St. Michaels',\nSouthampton; East Meon; and St. Mary Bourne. They are all of the same\nera, and possibly the work of the same hand, being among the most\ninteresting of our Norman fonts. The material of which they are made has\nnever been settled, some authorities defining it as Tournai marble,\nothers as basalt, and yet others as nothing more than slate.\n\nThe roll of bishops is a remarkable one, and the see has had eleven who\nwere also Lord Chancellors, the last being Wolsey in 1529.\n\nAs we have seen, Winchester continued in favour with the reigning houses\nlong after it had ceased to be a royal residence. Here Henry I was\nmarried to the Saxon Matilda, and here in the closing years of his life\nthe aged Wykeham married Henry IV and Joan of Navarre; and here, too,\ncame Philip of Spain and Henry VIII's sad daughter, Mary of England, to\nbe wedded before the high altar, the chair on which the royal bride sat\nbeing still shown to visitors.\n\nFor the architectural student the plan of the cathedral is not the least\ninteresting feature of the building, for although it has an ambulatory\nwhich is semicircular internally, the plan is in other respects rather\nexceptional. It is what architects call a periapsidal plan, meaning that\nits eastern termination contains a processional aisle or ambulatory,\ndesigned mainly for the purpose of allowing a procession to pass round\nthe high altar without entering the presbytery. In the crypt of\nWinchester Cathedral the plan of the early Norman church may be seen\n_sui generis_. A rather exceptional feature is that the eastern\nambulatory is semicircular within but rectangular without, although the\nlong chapel that projects from this ambulatory has an apsidal, not a\nrectangular, termination.\n\nTo the receptive mind all our ancient cathedrals, and a few of our\nmodern ones, possess a subtle atmosphere of their own, indescribable but\nplainly felt, both within and without their walls. In such an atmosphere\nwe lose sight of the Winchester of to-day. It becomes ancient,\necclesiastical, historical, learned, and romantic. Here we return in\nimagination to the scenes of the Middle Ages, when love was attested by\nchivalrous deeds of arms done in honour of bright eyes, and poetry\nsounded its lyre in praise of him who had been most devoted to his\nChurch, most faithful to his mistress, and most loyal to his king. As a\nwhole, this Cathedral of Winchester is a vast building, simple almost to\na fault, yet one that possesses a solemn repose unspeakably restful to\nmind and spirit--a sense of undisturbed harmony and refined yet massive\nsimplicity. Towards eventide the shadows of the turrets and pinnacles\ncreep, day by day, over the surrounding bands of greensward, their cool\ngreys advancing inch by inch until they reach the spacious pavements,\nwhereon they cast the symbols of our Christian faith in ruddy\ntrefoil-headed slants of glory.\n\nWhatever else is omitted from the history of the Cathedral, mention must\nbe made of the valiant efforts that have been and are still being made\nto preserve the stability of the structure. A few years ago the east end\nshowed signs of subsidence, and ominous cracks appeared in the north\ntransept, a part of the old Norman church. An examination of the fabric\nproved that herculean tasks were essential to save this portion of the\nedifice. It was agreed that only by extensive underpinning could the\nwork be accomplished. It has been very costly, and funds are most\nurgently needed to complete the preservation, not only of the eastern\nend, but of the whole Cathedral. The cradle of woodwork erected to give\ntemporary support to the eastern superstructure cost over a thousand\npounds to fix, and up to date many thousands of pounds have been spent\non the work. It was not until these temporary supports had been fixed\nand excavations begun that the magnitude of the task was fully revealed.\nThe Cathedral was found to have been built on an old \"water-bed\" having\na foundation of peat, the distance between the ground level and the\nfirm gravel beneath the peat being 27 feet. The only hope of saving the\neast end was to remove the peat and fill in the spaces with concrete and\ncement. With the removal of the peat, however, there was so great an\ninflux of water that pumping was of no avail. Two of the best divers in\nthe kingdom were then procured, and by working on their backs and sides\nin 15 feet of muddy water they succeeded in laying the concrete bed.\nOwing to the same cause, the remainder of the structure will, sooner or\nlater, have to be treated in the same way, and the thorough restoration\nof the west front cannot be long postponed. The difficulty of the work\nis realized when we consider that it takes a whole month to underpin 4\nfeet of foundation. Owing to the cramped space and the darkness three\nweeks are spent in excavation; after which the divers require a week to\nplace the concrete and cement in position. That so national a heritage\nwill be saved, for the delight of our own and the instruction of future\ngenerations, must be the wish of all true lovers of the great building\nachievements of the past.\n\nThe cathedral precincts are in excellent keeping with the repose and\nbeauty of the building to which they form the court, and are full of\nhistorical memories. The palace of the Conqueror reached from Great\nMinster Street to Market Street, from High Street to the Square; and\neastwards rose the \"New Minster\", and the Nuns' Abbey of St. Mary.\n\nTo-day the greater part of the Close, with the Deanery and the various\ncanonical residences, lies on the south side. Only a few slight\nfragments remain of the cloisters, the destruction of which could not\nhave been considered possible by Wykeham. They were taken down by Bishop\nHorne in the reign of Elizabeth. The short row of Norman arches seen\nfrom the Close belonged to the old Chapter House, which is said to have\nbeen pulled down for the sake of its lead. The Deanery was the ancient\nhouse of the Priors, of which it contains many interesting memorials.\nHere are the Great Hall, now subdivided, and the Hospitium, used as\nstables. The Deanery entrance has three pointed arches, beneath which,\nas we have stated, the poor pilgrims and other wayfarers received food\nand alms. On his numerous visits to Winchester, Charles II used to lodge\nat the Deanery, until Prebendary Ken (afterwards Bishop of Bath and\nWells) refused to allow Nell Gwynne to enter the house, with the result\nthat she had to content herself with an inferior residence outside the\nprecincts.\n\nOf Wykeham's \"College of St. Marie\", or New College, Oxford, this is not\nthe place to speak, especially as it has already been dealt with in the\n\"Oxford\" volume of this \"Beautiful England\" series. His other\n\"College of St. Mary\", or, as it is commonly known, Winchester College,\nhas a history extending far beyond that of most of our great public\nschools; and Winchester was celebrated for its educational institutions\nin Saxon days.\n\n[Illustration: WINCHESTER COLLEGE: THE OUTER GATEWAY FROM \"ARCADIA\"]\n\nWykeham's idea in founding these two colleges was one for which he had\nno precedent before him, so that his design was to a large extent in the\nnature of an experiment. His idea, of course, was to enable those who\nproceeded from the Winchester to the Oxford College to receive a\nsystematic and continuous education. Where Wykeham led, others were not\nlong in following. Two of his successors in the see of Winchester,\nWaynflete and Fox, gave to Oxford the beautiful colleges of Magdalen and\nCorpus Christi respectively. Archbishop Chichele, one of Wykeham's first\nscholars, built St. Bernard's College, now St. John Baptist's, which he\ngave to the Cistercians before its completion; and later in life he\nfounded the College of All Souls, while in his native village of Higham\nFerrers, Northants, he built and endowed a school, bede-house, and\nchurch, which are among some of the loveliest pieces of building we\npossess. Henry VI made himself intimately acquainted with the works of\nWykeham, and copied them for his two colleges of Eton, and King's\nCollege, Cambridge. Until Wykeham's time, schools had been under or\nconnected with monastic houses; now they were distinct foundations, with\npriests still as masters, but priests secular and not religious. Wykeham\nwas, indeed, the pioneer of the public-school system, of which, with all\nits shortcomings, England is so justly proud.\n\nEach of the bishop's colleges took about six years in building, and that\nat Oxford was the first to be finished. It must have been a proud day\nfor Winchester when, on March 28, 1393, the \"seventy faithful boys\",\nheaded by their master, came in procession from St. Giles's Hill, where\nthey had been temporarily housed, and, all chanting psalms, entered into\npossession of their fair college.\n\nThe buildings have been but little altered since their founder's day,\nand extend now, as then, on the south side of the Close, and along the\nbank of the Itchen. They consist mainly of two quadrangles, in the first\nof which, entered from College Street by a gateway, are the Warden's\nhouse and other offices. Here is the brewhouse, quite unaltered; but the\nWarden's house has absorbed the old bakehouse, slaughterhouse, and\nbutcher's room. Over the second archway are figures of the Virgin, with\nGabriel on her right, and Wykeham kneeling on her left. Here was a room\nfor the Warden, from which he could see all who entered or left the\ncollege; and here also is the site of the old penthouse under which the\nscholars used to perform their ablutions, and which they called \"Moab\".\nThe old Society comprised the Warden, ten Fellows, three Chaplains,\nsixteen Queristers, and seventy scholars. The boys, the chaplains, and\nthe choristers lived within the inner quadrangle, the northern side of\nwhich is formed by the chapel and the refectory. The original chapel,\nwith the exception of the beautiful fan-groining of its roof, was much\ndefaced in the seventeenth century, but was restored in the nineteenth,\nwhen a new reredos was added. The refectory remains practically\nuntouched, and has a roof enriched with some beautiful carved woodwork,\nthe painted heads of kings and bishops, and some great mullioned\nwindows. Over the buttery is the audit-room, hung with ancient and rare\ntapestries, and containing a large chest known as Wykeham's money box.\nThe original schoolroom was in the basement, and has long been put to\nother uses. The chantry, the beautiful cloisters, and the chapel tower\nwere all built after the founder's death, but he provided a wooden bell\ntower, which stood away from the chapel, so that the main building\nshould not be injured by the vibration of the bells. The remaining\nportions are mostly modern, and the foundation has naturally been much\nenlarged since Wykeham's day, the last addition being the gateway in\nKingsgate Street, erected as a memorial to the many Wykehamists who\nfell in the South African War.\n\nOn the wall of a passage adjoining the kitchen is a singular painting,\nsupposed to be emblematical of a \"trusty servant\", compounded of a man,\na hog, a deer, and an ass. The explanatory words beneath it are\nattributed to Dr. Christopher Jonson, headmaster from 1560 to 1571.\n\nWith the completion of Winchester College, Wykeham turned his attention\nto the Cathedral, although he was then seventy years of age. He lived to\nsee his munificence bearing good fruit, and his foundations flourishing\nin reputation and usefulness; so that when he lay down to die, on\nSeptember 27, 1404, in his palace of Bishops' Waltham, he could look\nback to a long life spent in the service of his Maker. The funeral\nprocession moved slowly along the ten miles that separated palace from\nCathedral through crowds of people mourning his loss. At the Cathedral\ndoor the prior met the procession, and the great bishop-builder was laid\nto rest in the beautiful chantry he had himself prepared. Four days\nbefore his death he made and signed his will, in which he bestowed gifts\nand legacies with the liberality that was so marked a characteristic of\nhis life. That crowds of poor would attend his obsequies he was probably\naware, for to each poor person seeking a bounty he bequeathed fourpence,\n\"for the love of God and his soul's health\". To the Cathedral, on\nwhich he had expended so much of his genius, he left money for its\ncompletion; and bequeathed to it many precious things, including a cross\nof gold in which was a piece of the \"Tree of the Lord\". Henry IV was\nforgiven a debt of five hundred pounds, and was to have a pair of\nsilver-gilt basins, ornamented with double roses, which were probably\ngiven to Wykeham by Edward III, as a special mark of his favour. So we\ntake leave of this master builder and munificent bishop, whose motto\n\"Manners makyth man\" is known the world over. The inscription on his\ntomb tells us of his works, but Wykeham needs no inscription so long as\nthe stones of the Cathedral hold together, and his two fair colleges\nraise their buttressed walls beside the waters of the Isis and the\nItchen.\n\n[Illustration: THE CLOISTERS, WINCHESTER COLLEGE]\n\nReturning to the Butter Cross, the Piazza adjoining reminds one of the\nButter Walk at Dartmouth, and the famous \"Rows\" of Chester. It was used\nfor many years as a market where the country folk brought their produce,\nbeing then known as the \"Penthouse\". The mints established on the site\nby Athelstan were noted for the excellence of the coinage made there. In\nthe Westgate Museum an old leaden box is shown which was discovered at\nBeauworth by a shepherd. It was found to contain some six thousand\nsilver pennies of the coinage of William I and Rufus. In addition to its\nfamous mints Winchester was the chief trading centre of this part of\nEngland during mediaeval days. A great woollen trade was carried on with\nFlanders when the city became one of the \"staple\" towns, still\ncommemorated by \"Staple Gardens\", a narrow lane leading out of the north\nside of High Street, where the great warehouse for the storage of wool\nonce stood. A little below the Queen Anne Guildhall, but on the opposite\nside of the street, is St. John's Hospital; while another old lane\nleading off from the main thoroughfare is Royal Oak Passage, at the\njunction of which with the street is the ancient house known as\nGod-begot House, with some good timberwork and a fine gable. \"Jewry\"\nStreet recalls to our memory the early settlement of the Jews in\nWinchester, for the citizens seem to have been more kindly disposed\ntowards this persecuted race than those of the majority of English\ncities at an early period in their history. Richard of Devizes, in 1189,\ncalled Winchester the \"Jerusalem of the Jews\", and, writing of the\nmassacre and plunder of the Jews in London and other cities, said:\n\"Winchester alone, the people being prudent and circumspect and the city\nalways acting mildly, spared its vermin\". The Jews settled in Winchester\nbetween the years 1090 and 1290, landing at Southampton and making\ntheir way up the Itchen until they came in sight of the old capital of\nthe kingdom. Crossing the river, they entered the city by the East Gate,\nand finally chose as their abiding-place a site near the north walls, in\na thoroughfare then known as \"Scowrtenstrete\", Shoemakers' Row. The\ncommunity soon could boast of a synagogue, and were the possessors of\nseveral schools. At the bottom of the High Street are the Abbey Gardens,\nso called from their being on the site of an abbey founded by Ealhswith,\nKing Alfred's queen, in which to spend the years of her widowhood. The\ngeneral plan of the gardens has probably been but little altered since\nthe days when the nuns paced their shady paths in pious meditation. An\nancient manuscript of prayers, used by the abbess in the ninth century,\nis preserved in the British Museum. Ealhswith's son, Edward the Elder,\nlevied a toll from all merchandise passing under the City Bridge by\nwater, and beneath the East Gate by land, for the better support of the\nabbey founded by his mother. Before the bridge stood the East Gate, and\ncrossing we are in that part of the city known as the \"Soke\". In the\n\"Liberty of the Soke\" the bishop of the diocese had his court, presided\nover by the bailiff as his deputy. Thus the bishop's jurisdiction was\nentirely independent of that of the civic authorities. Wolvesey was his\npalace, and within its walls, now ivy-clad and crumbling to decay, he\nheld his court, with three tithing men and a constable to assist him.\nHere also was his exchequer, and here he imprisoned those who offended\nagainst his laws. All that now remains of the once celebrated episcopal\npalace of Wolvesey--said, with no authority, to have been so named from\nthe tribute of wolves' heads levied upon the Welsh by King Edgar--are a\nfew ruined walls, of sufficient extent to give one an idea of the\nstrength of the castle in its original state. At Wolvesey King Alfred\nbrought together the scholars who were to aid him in writing the\n\"Chronicles of the Time\"; and on the outer walls he hung the bodies of\nDanish pirates as a warning to those who made periodical raids up the\nvalley of the Itchen.\n\nIn the hands of Bishop de Blois the palace became of great importance,\nand withstood a siege by David, King of Scotland, and Robert, Earl of\nGloucester. De Blois was one of those who assisted at the coronation of\nHenry II, and pulled down the tower when the bishop was absent from the\ndiocese without the royal permission, on a visit to Clugny. Although\nshorn of much of its former strength, the palace remained a fortress\nuntil the fortifications of Winchester were reduced to a heap of ruins\nby Cromwell.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF WOLVESEY CASTLE]\n\nBeyond the City Bridge rises St. Giles's Hill, named after Giles, one\nof those numerous hermit saints who played so prominent a part in\nestablishing the Christian faith in these islands. The hill is deeply\ngrooved by a railway cutting; on it was held for many centuries a kind\nof open market or annual fair, which attracted the wealthy merchants of\nFrance, Flanders, and Italy. The fair generally lasted a fortnight,\nduring which time all other local business was suspended, the shops\nclosed, and the mayor handed over the keys of the city to the bishop,\nwho claimed large fees from the stall holders. Thirty marks were paid\nfor repairs needed at the Church of St. Swithun, and similar sums were\ndemanded by the abbeys. Bishop Walkelin was granted the tolls of the\nfair for three days by William Rufus, his kinsman; but in the time of\nHenry III the privilege was extended to sixteen days. The stalls were\narranged in long rows, and named according to the goods sold thereon, or\nafter the nationality of the vendors. Thus one row would be named the\nStreet of Caen, another that of Limoges, while the Drapery and Spicery\nstalls were held by the monks of St. Swithun, who proved themselves\nenergetic traders at the great annual fair, which lasted until modern\ntimes, and was removed in due course from St. Giles's Hill into the\ncity. Dean Kitchin writes: \"As the city grew stronger and the fair\nweaker, it slid down St. Giles's Hill and entered the town, where its\nnoisy ghost still holds revel once a year\".\n\nAt the present day St. Giles's Hill is a pleasant spot from which to\nview the venerable city. Down the valley, by the Itchen, rises the\nHospital and Church of St. Cross, a picturesque and peaceful group of\nbuildings viewed from any position, but particularly so taken in\nconjunction with the ancient city and the fertile valley threaded by\nnumberless small streams. On the left side of the valley is St.\nCatherine's Hill, a bold and outstanding spur crowned with a small belt\nof trees surrounded by a circular earthwork. At one time a chapel\ndedicated to St. Catherine capped the hill, and slight traces of the\nbuilding may yet be seen. Here is the interesting maze, said to have\nbeen made by a Winchester College boy who was obliged to remain behind\nduring the holidays, but probably of a different origin, some\nantiquaries holding the opinion that it is of great antiquity, and in\nsome way connected with ecclesiastical penance.\n\nLooking citywards, one can see the towers of many churches rising above\nthe gables and chimneys of the houses. Near at hand are St. Peter's,\nCheeshill, and St. John's, the former an interesting little building\nwith a mixture of styles, among which the Norman and Early English\npredominate, the windows being of a later period. The bell turret is\nsituated at the south-east corner of the building, which, as a whole,\ngives a singular impression, due to the fact that it is nearly as broad\nas it is long. St. John's Church is the most interesting in the city,\ncontaining as it does a fine rood screen, with the rood-loft stairs\nstill existing in a turret of fifteenth-century date. Other features of\ninterest are the fourteenth-century Decorated screens that enclose the\nchancel on each side, and an arched recess at the east end of the north\nwall, containing an altar-tomb with quatrefoil panels supporting shields\non which are the symbols of the Passion. The tomb itself bears neither\ninscription nor date.\n\nHere also are a set of carved bench ends, a Perpendicular pulpit, and an\noctagonal font.\n\nUnfortunately, most of the other churches of Winchester have been either\nrebuilt or so altered as to retain very little of their original\narchitecture. The Church of St. Maurice, rebuilt in 1841, has saved a\nNorman doorway, fragments of a fine Decorated screen which now serve for\naltar rails, and an ancient chest.\n\nLike most of our cathedral cities, Winchester is well supplied with\ncharitable institutions, although the best known of them all, the famous\nHospital of St. Cross, is situated a mile away from the city proper. The\nHospital of St. John, within Winchester, is one of the oldest\nfoundations of the kind in the country, and a portion of the vaulted\nkitchen remaining in the building may not unreasonably be supposed to\nhave formed part of the almshouse thought to have been founded on the\nspot in A.D. 935 by St. Brinstan. The chapel connected with the charity\ndates from the time of the third Henry, and contains a piece of\nfourteenth-century carving depicting the nimbed head of the Saviour,\nwhich is now built into a wall. Considerable doubt exists as to the\noriginal founder and early re-founders of this hospital, and little is\nknown concerning it until the time of Edward II, when John Devenish\nre-founded it. At that period it seems to have been for the \"sole relief\nof sick and lame soldiers, poor pilgrims, and necessitated wayfaring\nmen, to have their lodging and diet there for one night, or longer, as\ntheir inability to travel may require\". Many influential citizens left\nmoney or property to this charity. In 1400 Mark le Faire, Mayor of\nWinchester, bequeathed to it several houses, including the \"great inn\ncalled the George\", and the \"house under the penthouse where Mr. Hodgson\ndied\". Richard Devenish, in the time of Henry VI, left a sum of money to\nprovide for a more frequent performance of divine service in the chapel;\nbut in the reign of Henry VIII these and other funds were confiscated,\nalthough the building itself was subsequently restored to the\nCorporation.\n\n[Illustration: BEAUFORT TOWER AND AMBULATORY, ST. CROSS]\n\nAfter the Reformation, Ralph Lambe re-founded the charity for six\npoor and needy persons, who were to have six separate homes or chambers\nwithin the hospital, each furnished with locks and keys. Each person was\nto receive ten shillings quarterly, with a gown value ten shillings, and\nten shillings' worth of coal yearly. On the election of a new mayor each\nwas to receive two shillings, and any funds remaining were to be divided\namong the inmates at the discretion of the mayor and aldermen of the\ncity. This institution is still a flourishing one, and the original\nhall, standing to the west of the chapel, is let as a public\ndining-hall.\n\nAnother old charity was that of St. Mary Magdalene, founded for lepers,\nin 1173-88, by Bishop Toclyve, the inmates being known locally as \"the\ninfirm people upon the hill\", now Maun Hill. In early times lepers were\nrequired to give up the whole of their personal goods, and one of the\nquestions asked by the official visitor to the Hospital of St. Mary\nMagdalene was whether the goods of the deceased inmates went to the\nworks of the church after the settlement of debts. The funds of this\nfoundation were much tampered with at various times, and it lost some of\nits property at the Reformation. One of its benefactors left to it four\nflitches of bacon yearly, this being an important article of diet. The\noriginal plan of the hospital was quadrangular: on two sides were the\ninmates' rooms and the chapel, the remaining sides being occupied by the\nMaster's House and the common hall. The buildings were much damaged in\nthe time of Charles I by the troops stationed there, and again in the\nreign of Charles II by the Dutch prisoners confined within the hospital.\nThe chapel was pulled down in 1788, and the materials were used for\nbuilding purposes, when the fine Early Norman doorway was used in the\nRoman Catholic Church in St. Peter Street, where it may still be seen.\nThis was the west doorway of the ancient hospital chapel. The site is\nnow occupied by a hospital of another character, the isolation hospital,\nbut the old \"lepers' well\" can still be seen. The charity survives to\nsome extent in six cottages in Water Lane, built in 1788, wherein are\nhoused four men and four women.\n\nIn Symond's Street stands the picturesque \"Christes Hospital\", founded in\n1586 by James Symonds. It is generally called the \"Bluecoat\" Hospital,\nfrom the distinctive dress worn by the inmates. A scholastic institution\nwas attached to this charity for the education of four poor boys, chosen\nby the mayor and corporation, who also elected their teacher. The latter\nwas not to be, in the terms of the founder, either a \"Scotchman, an\nIrishman, a Welshman, a foreigner, or a North-countryman\", lest their\npronunciation of the English language should suffer.\n\nFrom among the fertile meadows bordering the banks of the Itchen to the\nsouth of Winchester rises the stately grey pile of St. Cross, standing\nwhere it has stood for over seven and a half centuries, a witness alike\nto the munificence of its founders, de Blois and Beaufort, and to the\nskill of the mediaeval builders.\n\nA good road leads from the city to the pleasing suburb in which the\nhospital is situated, though a far pleasanter way is by one of the field\npaths through the meadows.\n\nHenry de Blois became bishop when only twenty-eight years old, and in\n1136 he founded the hospital for the entire support of \"thirteen poor\nmen, feeble and so reduced in strength that they can hardly or with\ndifficulty support themselves without another's aid\"; and they were to\nbe supplied with \"garments and beds suitable to their infirmities, good\nwheate bread daily of the weight of 5 marks, and three dishes at dinner\nand one at supper, suitable to the day, and drink of good stuff\".\n\nBesides this, he provided for a hundred poor men to be supplied daily\nwith dinner. Bishop Toclyve, de Blois's successor in the see, added to\nthe charity the feeding of yet another hundred poor men daily; and it\nhas been said, on somewhat slight evidence, that the poorer scholars of\nWinchester College dined without fee in the \"Hundred Men's Hall\".\n\nIn 1137 the management of the institution was given over to the Knights\nof St. John of Jerusalem; the cross still worn as a badge by the\nBrethren is a link with the ancient Order, being the cross _potent_, or\nJerusalem cross, which was an insignia of the Kingdom of Jerusalem\nestablished by the Crusaders.\n\n[Illustration: ST. CROSS FROM THE MEADOWS]\n\nShortly after the death of de Blois a dispute arose between the\nHospitallers and the bishop, but after the lapse of many years the\nmanagement was restored to the latter, then Peter de Rupibus, who\nappointed Alan de Soke as Master. In 1446, Cardinal Beaufort, Wykeham's\nsuccessor in the see, added a new foundation to St. Cross, to be called\n\"The Almshouse of Noble Poverty\". De Blois's charity had been intended\nto benefit the very needy; this of Beaufort's was designed for those who\nhad fallen upon evil days after a life of ease and comfort. There were\nto be two priests, thirty-five brethren, and three sisters. The brethren\nwere to be of gentle birth, or old servants of the founder. The scheme,\nhowever, was never completed, owing to the Wars of the Roses\nintervening, with the result that the estates with which he had intended\nto endow his almshouse were claimed by the Crown on the accession of the\nHouse of York. So it came about that in 1486 Bishop Waynflete was\ncompelled to reduce the recipients of Beaufort's charity to one priest\nand two brethren. Fortunately, St. Cross was spared at the\nReformation, and its endowments were not confiscated. The Vicar-General\nreported that there were \"certain things requiring reformation\", and\nthat sturdy beggars were to be \"driven away with staves\"; also that the\nLord's Prayer and the Creed were to be taught in English, and that\nrelics and images were not to be brought out for the devotion of\npilgrims. In 1632 Archbishop Laud caused a strict enquiry to be made,\nwith the result that the Master, Dr. Lewis, reported that the fabric was\nin a state of great dilapidation. This Master lost his post through his\nloyalty to Church and King, and John Lisle, the regicide, became Master\nof the Hospital until Cromwell made him a peer, when his place was\nfilled by John Cooke, the Solicitor-General who drew up the indictment\nagainst Charles I. Both these regicides met with misfortune, for Cooke\nwas executed and Lisle assassinated, so that at the Restoration Dr.\nLewis was restored to the mastership. Between the years 1848 and 1853,\nchancery suits, costing a large sum of money, resulted in an entirely\nnew scheme being drawn up, under which the two charities were treated as\nseparate foundations under one head. The differences of qualification\nbetween the two sets of Brethren are carefully laid down, and a portion\nof the income is used for the maintenance of fifty out-pensioners, the\nmodern equivalent for the \"Hundred Poor Men\" of mediaeval days. The\ndistinctive dresses of the Brethren are the same with regard to colour\nand cut as those worn in the time of Henry VI, those worn by the\nrecipients of Beaufort's charity being of red cloth, with the badge, a\ncardinal's hat and tassels on a silver plate, worn on the left breast.\nThe Brethren of the older institution, founded by de Blois, wear black\ngowns, with the silver cross _potent_ pinned on the left breast. On the\ndeath of a Brother the cross is placed on a red velvet cushion and laid\non his breast in the coffin; but before burial the cross is removed and\nfastened by the Master on the breast of the Brother elected in place of\nthe deceased.\n\nThe Hospital buildings consist of an outer courtyard and gateway, to the\nright of which are the kitchens, and on the left the old brewhouse and\nremains of some of the earlier buildings. Immediately facing us is the\ntower gateway, thoroughly restored, if not built originally, by Cardinal\nBeaufort, under the groined archway of which is the porter's lodge,\nwhere the \"Wayfarers' Dole\" is still distributed to all who apply at the\nhatchway, an interesting and almost sole survival of the mediaeval\ncustom by which food and drink were offered to passers-by. The daily\ndole at the present day consists of two gallons of ale and two loaves of\nbread, divided into thirty-two portions. The apartment over the archway\nis the Founder's room, wherein are stored all the ancient documents\nrelating to the foundation. Beaufort's arms appear in one of the\nspandrels above the gateway arch, the corresponding spandrel exhibiting\nthe ancient regal arms of England. On this side of the entrance are\nthree niches, one of which contains a figure of the cardinal in a\nkneeling posture. The vacant niche in the south front once held a statue\nof the Virgin, which fell to the ground more than a century ago, and\nnearly killed one of the Brethren in its descent.\n\nPassing through this noble gateway, which, somehow or other, does not\nlook as old as we know it to be, we enter the great quadrangle, around\nwhich the various buildings are grouped. On the eastern side is the\nInfirmary, with the Ambulatory beneath it, a long, low cloister of\nsixteenth-century date, which extends along the whole side to the\nchurch. In one of the rooms above, a window opens into the church, where\nthere may once have been a gallery to enable the infirm to hear the\nservices. In 1763 Bishop Hoadley granted a license to the Master to pull\ndown the cloister and use the materials for other purposes, but\nfortunately this was never done. On the opposite side of the quadrangle\nare the houses of the Brethren. Each dwelling consists of two rooms and\na pantry, and has a garden attached.\n\nThe Brethren's Hall stands on the north side of the quadrangle, and is\na portion only of the old \"Hundred Mennes Hall\"; but enough is left to\nenable one to form a good idea of the original apartment, which measured\n36 feet by 24 feet, until a portion was cut off to provide rooms for the\nMaster, who is now lodged in a modern dwelling outside the gates. At the\neast end of the hall is a table where the officials sat, those for the\nBrethren being ranged along the sides. Some black-leather jacks,\ncandlesticks, salt-cellars, pewter dishes, and a dinner bell, all dating\nfrom Beaufort's time, are still carefully preserved. At the opposite end\nof the hall is a screen with the minstrels' gallery above, whence, on\nhigh days and holidays, the Brethren were enlivened with music during\ntheir feastings. The chief festivals of the year were All Saints' Day,\nChristmas Day, New Year's Day, Twelfth Day, and Candlemas Day, on which\noccasions the Brethren had \"extraordinary commons, and on the eve of\nwhich days they had a fire of charcoal in the Common Hall, and one jack\nof six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary, to drink together by\nthe fire. And on the said feast-day they had a fire at dinner, and\nanother at supper in the said hall, and they had a sirloin of beef\nroasted, weighing forty-six pounds and a half, and three large\nmince-pies, and plum broth, and three joints of mutton for their supper,\nand six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary at dinner, and six\nquarts and one pint of beer after dinner, by the fireside; six quarts\nand a pint at supper, and the like after supper.\" During Lent, each\nbrother had eight shillings paid to him instead of commons, and on Palm\nSunday the Brethren had a \"green fish, of the value of three shillings\nand fourpence, and their pot of milk pottage with three pounds of rice\nboiled in it, and three pies with twenty-four herrings baked in them,\nand six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary\". On Good Fridays they\nhad at dinner \"in their pot of beer a cast of bread sliced, and three\npounds of honey, boiled together, which they call honey sop\". Beneath\nthe hall is a fine vaulted cellar, of ample proportions, a worthy\nresting-place for the stock of St. Cross ale.\n\n[Illustration: THE BRETHREN'S HALL, ST. CROSS]\n\nBut, interesting as are all these portions of the Hospital of St. Cross,\nit is the church which has the greatest attraction for architect and\nantiquary alike, for it contains good examples of every style. From\nRomanesque, through Norman and Early English, to Later Decorated, and to\nTransition Norman, the church is considered to be the best example in\nexistence. This building, unfinished after nearly two hundred years, was\nroofed with lead, in place of the thatch which originally covered it, by\nWilliam of Edyndon, the famous Wiltshireman who became Master of St.\nCross in the fourteenth century, and who restored the fabric from the\nruinous state in which he found it to a condition of beauty and\nstrength. The windows of the clerestory were erected by him; he\nre-roofed the \"Hundred Menne's Hall\", and built a new chamber for the\nMaster.\n\nOn entering the church, through the north porch, one is struck by its\nloftiness and dignity, the vaulting throughout being of stone, while\nalmost every ornamental feature of the Norman style can be seen.\nProceeding to the western end of the church, and looking down the nave,\nthe gradual development of its architecture can be well seen. The east\nend is Norman, the bay next the transepts Transition Norman, while the\nwest end is Early English. The windows vary from Norman and Transition\nNorman to Early English, while those of the clerestory are Decorated.\nMention must be made of the fine stone screens and tabernacle-work on\neither side of the altar, the altar slab of Purbeck marble, the\ntriforium of intersecting arches in the choir, and the roof pendants.\nThe western portion of the church was built during the mastership of\nPeter de Sancto Mario, and his fine canopied tomb is a striking object\non the north side of the nave. Interesting, too, are the beautiful\nfourteenth-century tiles, some bearing the appropriate motto \"Have\nMynde\"; and a very human note is struck in the mason's marks, still to\nbe seen in various parts of the building, especially around the\nstaircase door in the south transept. What these signs actually mean is\nunknown, but some authorities, notably Leader Scott in her work on\n_Cathedral Builders_, trace them through the Comacine Guild to the Roman\n_Collegia_.\n\nIn the south-east corner of the south transept, on the exterior of the\nchurch, is a \"triple-arch\", which is thought to have been a doorway, and\nmay have led to the \"clerken-house\", the original habitation of the\nseven choristers and their master, but which was pulled down by de\nCloune, Master of St. Cross in the fourteenth century, who also allowed\nother parts of the fabric to fall into a state of great dilapidation.\nHere also, on the south side of the quadrangle, stood the original\nhouses of Beaufort's foundation, which were not pulled down until 1789.\n\nNo groups of buildings are in their way more charming or more\nimpregnated with human associations than the famous episcopal foundation\nof St. Cross--an asylum of peace and rest, comfort and repose, to those\nwho find shelter within its ancient walls, and a standing monument to\nthe memory of the pious Henry de Blois and the princely churchman,\nCardinal Beaufort. Winchester, like many an English city, would be shorn\nof much of its interest were this benevolent institution to be removed.\nThe general air of peace and quietude, the grass-bordered walks, the\nstately church, all contribute to convey an appeal which is almost\nsacred in its simple eloquence. In the words of one who loved it well:\n\"No one can pass its threshold without feeling himself landed, as it\nwere, in another age. The ancient features of the building, the noble\ngateway, the quadrangle, the common refectory, the cloister, and, rising\nabove all, the lofty and massive pile of the venerable church, the\nuniform garb and reverend mien of the aged brethren, the common\nprovision for their declining years, the dole at the gatehouse, all lead\nback our thoughts to days when men gave their best to God's honour, and\nlooked on what was done to His poor as done to Himself, and were as\nlavish of architectural beauty on what modern habits might deem a\nreceptacle for beggars, as on the noblest of royal palaces. It seems a\nplace where no worldly thought, no pride, or passion, or irreverence\ncould enter; a spot where, as a modern writer has beautifully expressed\nit, a good man, might he make his choice, would wish to die.\"\n\nThe country around this beautiful city by the Itchen is full of quiet\ncharm, for life's ever-changing drama has but one and the same\nbackground. The actors come and go, but the stage remains much the same,\nand the devotions, the meditations, and the acts of men who lived\ncenturies ago were set in the amphitheatre of the same green hills, and\ntook place beside the same winding river as those we gaze upon to-day.\n\n[Illustration: PLAN OF WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL]\n\nLiterature, too, has worthy names here in Izaak Walton and Jane Austen,\nboth of whom lie buried in the cathedral; while the house at Winchester\nin which the author of _Persuasion_ lived, for a brief period before\nher death, stands beyond the college gate. Above the door is a wooden\ntablet recording that here Jane Austen spent her last days, dying July\n18, 1817. She had previously resided at Chawton for some eight years,\nbut her house in the village is now a Workmen's Club. At the same time,\nChawton is a pretty little spot, watered by land springs, known locally\nas \"lavants\"; while some few miles away is Farrington, where Gilbert\nWhite, of \"Selborne\" fame, was curate.\n\nOther literary associations of the Winchester country are those\nfurnished by Hursley, where John Keble was vicar; by Otterbourne, the\nhome for many years of Charlotte Yonge; and by Eversley, where\nWinchester's immortal son, Charles Kingsley, lies buried.\n\nEach succeeding visit to Winchester can only strengthen one's love for\nthe city, and one's reverence for the Cathedral in its midst. Our\npilgrimage of Winchester the beautiful is over.\n\nPRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_","title":"Winchester","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":14010}