Historic Cities · England
Winchester through the ages
Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, its nearest major city.
Winchester in AD 900
Alfred's Winchester
This is Winchester at the moment it is being remade as a defended burh under King Alfred and his successors: a new grid of straight streets within ancient Roman walls, two great minsters side by side, a royal hall and the first moneyers striking silver pennies. The walk follows the narrow paved lanes, the river mills and water meadows of the Itchen, and the gates and walls that frame urban life.
Low stone church towers and the squat mass of the Old Minster dominate a town of close timber houses with thatch and plaster, narrow paved streets cut by a newly imposed grid, and stout Roman walls punctured by gates. The River Itchen threads mills and green watermeadows, smoke and cloth-dyers' vats stain the air, and the scale is human: carts, packhorses and clustered markets beneath flags and simple pennants.
The walk — 21 streets, squares and views
St Catherine's Hill Approach → South Gate → Southgate Street → High Street → St Peter Cheesehill → Old Minster Forecourt → New Minster Precinct → Cathedral Precinct → Royal Palace → The Mint → …
Step inside — 13 interiors
Merchant's Hall · Parish Nave · Great Nave · Scribe's Scriptorium · Chapter House · Great Hall · Moneyer's Workshop · Assay House · Gate Tower Chamber · West Gate Guardroom · Upper Mill Floor · Weir-Keeper's Hut · Convent Refectory
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Winchester.
Winchester in 1400
Medieval Winchester
Winchester in 1400 is a compact walled city midway through William of Wykeham's rebuilding: the cathedral nave is being remade in the new Perpendicular manner while his college fills its new courts with scholars. Visitors will find scaffolded stone, timber-framed streets, markets for cloth and wool, river meadows and the almshouse of St Cross beyond the meads.
From the surrounding downs the city reads as a pale chalk-and-flint knot of steeples and towers, its cathedral dominating long and low with scaffolds and lead roofs gleaming. Roofs are tile and thatch, houses timber-framed and whitewashed, gates and stone bridges puncture the Roman walls, streets are narrow and crowded with packhorses, carts and market stalls beside the slow River Itchen and its water-meadows.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Winchester from St Giles' Hill → St Giles' Hill Cloth Fair → Eastgate → High Street and Buttercross → Great Hall (Round Table) → Jewry Street → Kingsgate → Cathedral Close Gate → Winchester Cathedral West Front → Cathedral Nave and Scaffolds → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Tallow Chandler's Workshop · Hall beneath the Round Table · Merchant's Counting-House · Chapel above Kingsgate · Cathedral Chapter House · Nave under Perpendicular Scaffolding · Bishop's Great Chamber · College Chapel · Scholars' Hall · Brethren's Hall · Itchen Mill Wheel Room · Westgate Gatehouse Chamber
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Winchester.
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