Winchester

 

 

 

We had a very pleasant three-day break in Winchester last week which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was our first visit and we liked the place and what it has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

The area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the city has prospered since the Roman period and was known in Medieval times as the capital of Wessex.

 

 

Lots of historical buildings give the city its special appeal.

 



 

 

This is Parchment Street distinctive due to the Kite Flyer by Marcia Colonna which you can see in the distance.

 

 

Winchester Business Centre on Parchment Street, with beautiful stained glass windows

 Some beautiful stone buildings

 

 

 

 

as well as timber framed ones

 

The City Cross, also known as the Buttercross, has been dated to the 15th century and features 12 statues of the Virgin Mary, saints and various historical figures. In 1770 Thomas Dummer purchased the Buttercross from the Corporation of Winchester, intending to have it re-erected elsewhere. When the workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city who 'organised a small riot'.

 

 

 

There was a small market on the High Street when we visited






and a much larger vintage and antiques market on the Sunday.

 

The vibrant High Street

 

 

 

 



has a very distinctive clock that dates back to the 19th century.

 

 



 

 

At the end of the High Street is Westgate, one of two surviving fortified gateways in the city

 

 

 



 

and this little alleyway leads from the High Street to the Square

 

where the City Museum is and where we saw an exhibition of the history of the city.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minster Street

 

 

 

and one of its houses that was lit up by the sun as we wandered about

 

and next to it, Little Minster Street

 

 

Christ's Hospital 

 

A plaque on the wall says: 'Christ's Hospital, which was founded in the Year of our Lord 1607 by Peter Symonds, a Native of Winchester and afterwards a Mercer in the City of London. The Endowments of this House are applied to the maintenance of Six Old Men, One Matron, and Four Boys, and also to the Assistance of One Scholar in each of the Two English Universities'. 

 

  

 

Kingsgate, the second surviving medieval gate. The name was first recorded in 1148. It's on, or near, the site of one of the Roman gates to the city. Above the gate is the small church of St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate, built in the Middle Ages and is unusual in forming a part of the fabric of the old city walls. It achieved some literary fame under the fictional name of St Cuthbert's in Anthony Trollope's novel The Warden.

 

 



 

 

 

College Street

 

 

 



 

where Jane Austen's house is located, where she lived for the last six weeks of her life - now a private residence. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit her previous house which is now a museum.

 

 

On Jewry Street, the United Church

with two modern stained glass windows

by King Alfred's statue, this small, gorgeous terrace

 

 

 

and a closer look.






Almshouses, North Side

one more look.