Where: Winchester, England
When: March 3, 2012
With who: Dave, Barry, Colette and Joey
In an effort to keep on track with seeing Barry and Colette on a more regular basis, we invited them along on our quest to see our next item in the book: Winchester Cathedral.
I must say, in our first six months living here, we have been really lucky with the weather. I'm questioning all these rumors that England is always rainy. We've been even luckier when planning our day trips around the country. We've had beautiful, sunny, and warmish weather on every one thus far. It was only a matter of time before our luck ran out. And not only did it run out with a little drizzle or cloudiness. When we got off the train in Winchester, there was a torrential downpour.
Barry and Colette collected us from the train station with Joey in tow. And luckily, Joey was ready to be a total trooper, viewing cathedrals and walking around in the rain all day. After decking his stroller out in full-on plastic covering, the five of us made a soggy beeline for the cathedral. Unfortunately, due to Sunday services, we had to wait about an hour before we could get in. This would have been fine on a dry, sunny day, but strolling in the rain with an 8-month old? Sigh - again, very glad he is a trooper.
A quick history on Winchester: located about an hour south of London, it was the capital city of England back in the day. To go with its growing importance as a bustling market town, construction on the cathedral began in 1072. The town remains charming and pretty to this day, even in the pouring rain. It has lots of small windy roads and country homes, an old college, and a beautiful walkway along the stream on the edge of town.
While on our wander, we found this little waterway on the side of the cathedral grounds. A small plaque next to it explained that in the early 1900s, it was discovered the foundations of the cathedral were waterlogged and threatening to collapse. In an unconventional restoration project, a diver was hired. He entered through this waterway and repaired the foundations from underground. He is remembered as the hero who saved Winchester Cathedral.
Just as we were thinking that the rain wasn't too bad for strolling, it started snowing. SNOWING. Total payback for all the nice days we've had so far. We headed back for the cathedral in hopes they'd take pity on us and let us all in. This mad rush to get indoors and out of the snowy/rainy mess prevented any great pictures of the exterior of the cathedral, but I was able to get two quick ones from under my umbrella. If you look at the ground on the left, you can see the foundations of the cathedral that stood here before this one, estimated to have been built in the 600s.
Wandering along the northern hallway of the nave, we came upon the most well-known...resident...of Winchester Cathedral: Jane Austen. She lived in the nearby area for a good portion of her life and wished to be buried here. Many fans of her writing still pay respect to her grave to this day.
Continuing toward the altar, we ended up in the choir of the church. In front of you is the crazy carving below. It's called the Altar Screen. Back in the day, the main part of the cathedral was a common meeting place for the townspeople and was usually filled with the buzz of chatter and conversation. This screen was supposed to keep the noise down for the priests and monks that were solemnly praying away behind it.
All we could think about was how long it would take for someone to do this. It's so intricate. I can't imagine spending a month carving, like, a hand or a toe. However, the end result was pretty worth it cause it's pretty spectacular.
Other items in the Great Hall include a pretty large statue of Queen Victoria and a giant history of the important people of Winchester that have held political office for the last few hundred years.
When: March 3, 2012
With who: Dave, Barry, Colette and Joey
In an effort to keep on track with seeing Barry and Colette on a more regular basis, we invited them along on our quest to see our next item in the book: Winchester Cathedral.
I must say, in our first six months living here, we have been really lucky with the weather. I'm questioning all these rumors that England is always rainy. We've been even luckier when planning our day trips around the country. We've had beautiful, sunny, and warmish weather on every one thus far. It was only a matter of time before our luck ran out. And not only did it run out with a little drizzle or cloudiness. When we got off the train in Winchester, there was a torrential downpour.
Barry and Colette collected us from the train station with Joey in tow. And luckily, Joey was ready to be a total trooper, viewing cathedrals and walking around in the rain all day. After decking his stroller out in full-on plastic covering, the five of us made a soggy beeline for the cathedral. Unfortunately, due to Sunday services, we had to wait about an hour before we could get in. This would have been fine on a dry, sunny day, but strolling in the rain with an 8-month old? Sigh - again, very glad he is a trooper.
A quick history on Winchester: located about an hour south of London, it was the capital city of England back in the day. To go with its growing importance as a bustling market town, construction on the cathedral began in 1072. The town remains charming and pretty to this day, even in the pouring rain. It has lots of small windy roads and country homes, an old college, and a beautiful walkway along the stream on the edge of town.
While on our wander, we found this little waterway on the side of the cathedral grounds. A small plaque next to it explained that in the early 1900s, it was discovered the foundations of the cathedral were waterlogged and threatening to collapse. In an unconventional restoration project, a diver was hired. He entered through this waterway and repaired the foundations from underground. He is remembered as the hero who saved Winchester Cathedral.
Just as we were thinking that the rain wasn't too bad for strolling, it started snowing. SNOWING. Total payback for all the nice days we've had so far. We headed back for the cathedral in hopes they'd take pity on us and let us all in. This mad rush to get indoors and out of the snowy/rainy mess prevented any great pictures of the exterior of the cathedral, but I was able to get two quick ones from under my umbrella. If you look at the ground on the left, you can see the foundations of the cathedral that stood here before this one, estimated to have been built in the 600s.
Luckily, services were over, and we were allowed to enter. Hallelujah. Here is the impressive view from the entrance. The nave is the longest in all of Europe. It has 12 bays and helps make the cathedral the longest Gothic cathedral in all of Europe.
Continuing toward the altar, we ended up in the choir of the church. In front of you is the crazy carving below. It's called the Altar Screen. Back in the day, the main part of the cathedral was a common meeting place for the townspeople and was usually filled with the buzz of chatter and conversation. This screen was supposed to keep the noise down for the priests and monks that were solemnly praying away behind it.
All we could think about was how long it would take for someone to do this. It's so intricate. I can't imagine spending a month carving, like, a hand or a toe. However, the end result was pretty worth it cause it's pretty spectacular.
The view from the altar screen, including the choir and the nave from behind.
High up in the rafters of the choir are six "mortuary chests". They contain the bones of the most important people that had been buried in the early days of the church, including some of the first Saxon kings. To protect them from being destroyed during a raid, they were dug up and stored in these chests in the church. Problem was that no one really marked who was who or which grave they came from. So each chest contains a bunch of bones...but it's not clear whose. Some people may even be scattered across a few chests.
Heading around the back of the altar screen, there are several more statues showing the usual: fire and brimstone, severed heads and St. George with the dragon.
Remember the diver that saved the church foundations? He got his own statue - not bad.
The back of the church, including the grave of Saint Swithun. Saint Swithun's grave was said to have performed miracles and healed the sick after his death in 862.
Some of the smaller chapels around the cathedral.
And finally, the massive stain glass window at the front of the church, thus ending our tour.
Hesitantly looking outside, it appeared that the weather had dramatically improved during our time in the cathedral. It was still drizzling, so we decided to head for lunch and hope it totally cleared in the meantime. After eating, we had a few minutes of clear weather, so we took advantage and headed off to the old ruins of the Winchester Castle.
It was founded in 1067 and served as the living quarters for many of England's earliest kings. Today, only the Great Hall still stands.
The major attraction of the Great Hall is the round table of King Arthur fame. It was likely built in the 1200s for a festival in honor of the legendary king. At that time, it was just a wooden table. Then our favorite king, Henry VIII, decided that plain wood wasn't exciting enough, and ordered the table to be painted. He had the image of Arthur placed at the top and painted in the likeness of himself. Of course.
Other items in the Great Hall include a pretty large statue of Queen Victoria and a giant history of the important people of Winchester that have held political office for the last few hundred years.
Outside of the Great Hall, there are some dungeons that you can duck into, but they're basically just old stone holes at this point. I think the far more entertaining thing was to spend a couple minutes making sure the youngest member of our group was still enjoying himself.
We decided that our day in Winchester was coming to an end. We piled into the car, but our train didn't leave for a little while. Of course, once we decided the day was over, we came upon the prettiest weather we'd had all day. So we drove up to the top of the hill that overlooks Winchester.
Joey didn't bother with the view. He was more excited to be hanging out in dad's jacket.
"Ok, I'm done, enough with the pictures."
So after a little bit of wandering around the hilltop, we piled back into the car to head for the train station. Even with the rain and the snow, Winchester, and its cathedral, it was a beautiful town.
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