Winchester Cathedral.
One of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe, Winchester Cathedral was founded in 642 on a site immediately to the north of the present one. This building became known as the Old Minster and it became part of a monastic settlement in 971.
In 1079 work began on a completely new cathedral. A substantial amount of the fabric of the old building, including the crypt, transepts and the basic structure of the nave, survives. Numerous additions and restoration have been carried out since.
It's a very imposing and impressive building
The font dates from the 12th century, made of black marble and is decorated with carvings showing the miracles of St Nicholas, patron saint of children.
It's a magnificent place
The stained glass windows are particularly spectacular
The choir stalls are 14th century and this is where the priory monks once sang their daily offices. Carved in oak the stalls are richly decorated with human figures, tiny heads and carved animals surrounded by curling leaves, thought to be the work of a Norfolk master carpenter, William of Lyngwode.
The 15th century Great Screen is behind the high altar. The original painted statues that once adorned its carved niches are gone, destroyed during the Reformation.
looking closer
There are seven chantry chapels which were added between the 14th and 16th centuries.
detail
Waterlogged foundations (the crypt still floods on a regular basis) on the south and east walls were reinforced by diver William Walker, packing the foundations with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks and 900,000 bricks. Walker worked six hours a day from 1906 to 1912 in total darkness at depths up to 6 metres and is credited with saving the cathedral from total collapse.
A series of nine icons were installed between 1992 and 1996 in the retroquire screen. These icons, influenced by the Russian Orthodox tradition, were created by Sergei Fyodorov.
Pieta by Peter Ball
looking closer
These mainly 13th century tiles are the largest and oldest area of tiling to survive in England
The Winchester Bible, is the largest and finest of all surviving 12th century English bibles. A single scribe wrote out its text in Latin, while artists worked its exquisitely illuminated capital letters. Their glowing colours, including gold and lapis lazuli, are as intense today as 800 years ago.
Beautiful frescos on this vaulted ceiling
looking closer
The Epiphany chapel
Another Russian Orthodox icon in the Epiphany chapel this time
Four glorious stained glass windows, designed by Edward Byrne-Jones, made in Willliam Morris' workshop. The foliage decoration above and below each pictorial panel is unmistakably William Morris.
Jane Austen was buried in the cathedral
The Blue Cross, another piece of modern art.
By Peter Ball.
Outside, to the right of the cathedral's west front, are a series of impressive flying buttresses
which form a narrow pedestrian passage, Curle's Passage, which leads from the outer to the inner close. The archway created a new outdoor route between the two areas - before, pedestrians had to walk through the cathedral.
The inner close, where the Barbara Hepworth stands, is a peaceful place
with some beautiful houses
including Cheney Court an Elizabethan timber-framed building which once served as the courthouse.
Next to it, is this long timber-framed building which dates from 1479
and was once the priory's stable block.
