Winchester
Encyclopedia
Winchester is a historic cathedral city
and former capital city
of England
. It is the county town
of Hampshire
, in South East England
. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester
, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs
, along the course of the River Itchen
. At the time of the 2001 Census, Winchester had a population of 41,420.
Winchester developed from the Roman
town of Venta Belgarum
. Winchester's major landmark is Winchester Cathedral
, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic
cathedrals in Europe. The town is also home to the University of Winchester
and the famous public school, Winchester College
. The city's architectural and historic interest, and its fast links to other towns and cities have led Winchester to become one of the most expensive and desirable areas of the country. A person who is from or resides in Winchester is sometimes locally known as a Wintonian.
enclosure or valley fort
, Oram's Arbour
, on the western side of the present-day city. After the Roman conquest of Britain
the civitas, then named Venta Belgarum
or "Market of the Belgae
", was of considerable importance.
At the beginning of the 3rd century Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city had covered an area of 144 acres (58.3 ha), which made it the 5th largest town in Roman Britain. There were also a small number of suburbs outside the walls. However, like many other Roman towns, Winchester began to decline in the 4th century.
The city has historic importance as it replaced Dorchester-on-Thames as the de facto capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex
in about 686 after King Caedwalla of Wessex
defeated King Atwald of Wight
. Although it was not the only town to have been the capital, it was established by King Egbert
as the main city in his kingdom in 827. Saint Swithun was Bishop of Winchester in the mid 9th century. The Saxon street plan laid out by Alfred the Great
is still evident today: a cross shaped street system which conformed to the standard town planning system of the day – overlaying the pre-existing Roman
street plan (incorporating the ecclesiastical quarter in the south-east; the judicial quarter in the south-west; the tradesmen in the north-east). The town was part of a series of fortifications along the south coast. Built by Alfred to protect the Kingdom, they were known as 'burh
s'. The medieval city walls, built on the old Roman walls, are visible in places. Only one section of the original Roman walls remains. Four main gates were positioned in the north, south, east and west plus the additional Durngate and King's Gate. Winchester remained the capital of Wessex, and then England, until some time after the Norman Conquest when the capital was moved to London. The Domesday Book
was compiled in the city late in the reign of William the Conqueror.
A serious fire in the city in 1141 accelerated its decline. However, William of Wykeham
(1320–1404) played an important role in the city's restoration. As Bishop of Winchester
he was responsible for much of the current structure of the cathedral, and he founded the still extant public school Winchester College
. During the Middle Ages, the city was an important centre of the wool trade, before going into a slow decline. The curfew bell
in the bell tower (near the clock in the picture), still sounds at 8.00pm each evening. The curfew was the time to extinguish all home fires until the morning
In 1770, Thomas Dummer
purchased the City Cross (also known as the Buttercross
) from the Corporation of Winchester, intending to have it re-erected at Cranbury Park
, near Otterbourne
. When his workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city, who "organised a small riot" and they were forced to abandon their task. The agreement with the city was cancelled and Dummer erected a lath and plaster
facsimile, which stood in the park for about sixty years before it was destroyed by the weather. The Buttercross still stands in the High Street.
The famous novelist Jane Austen
died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 and is buried in the cathedral. The Romantic poet John Keats
stayed in Winchester from mid-August to October 1819. It was in Winchester that Keats wrote "Isabella", "St. Agnes' Eve", "To Autumn
" and "Lamia". Parts of "Hyperion" and the five-act poetic tragedy "Otho The Great" were also written in Winchester.
s of standard capacity are on display.
of the Conservatives who in the General Election of 2010 beat Martin Tod, the Liberal Democrat
candidate, by 3048 votes (a margin of 5.4%). Mark Oaten
had previously won the seat for the Liberal Democrats during the 1997 general election in which he defeated Gerry Malone
, a Health Minister in John Major
's Conservative
Government.
Elections to the city council
take place in three out of every four years, with one third of the councillor
s elected in each election. Since winning a majority in the 2006 election
the council had been controlled by the Conservatives
, until the 2010 election when the council was again controlled by the Liberal Democrats.
, the longest cathedral in Europe, was originally built in 1079. It contains much fine architecture spanning the 11th to the 16th century and is the place of interment of numerous Bishops of Winchester
(such as William of Wykeham
), Anglo-Saxon
monarchs (such as Egbert of Wessex
) and later monarchs such as King Canute
and William Rufus
, as well as Jane Austen
. It was once an important pilgrim
age centre and housed the shrine
of Saint Swithun. The ancient Pilgrims' Way
travelling to Canterbury
begins at Winchester. The plan of the earlier Old Minster
is laid out in the grass adjoining the cathedral. The New Minster
(original burial place of Alfred the Great
and Edward the Elder
) once stood beside it. It has a girls choir and a boys choir, which sing on a regular basis at the cathedral.
The Winchester Cathedral Close contains a number of historic buildings from the time when the cathedral was also a priory
. Of particular note are the Deanery
which dates back to the thirteenth century. It was originally the Prior's House, and was the birthplace of Arthur, Prince of Wales
in 1486. Not far away is Cheyney Court, a mid fifteenth century timber framed
house incorporating the Porter's Lodge for the Priory Gate. It was the Bishop's court house.
The earliest hammer-beamed building still standing in England is also situated in the Cathedral Close, next to the Dean's garden. It is known as the Pilgrims' Hall, as it was part of the hostelry used to accommodate the many pilgrims to Saint Swithun's shrine. Left-overs from the lavish banquets of the Dean would be given to the pilgrims who were welcome to spend the night in the hall. It is thought by Winchester City Council to have been built in 1308. Now part of The Pilgrims' School
, the hall is used by the school for assemblies in the morning, drama lessons, plays, orchestral practices, Cathedral Waynflete rehearsals, the school's Senior Commoners' Choir rehearsals and so forth.
was the Norman bishop's palace, dating from 1110, but standing on the site of an earlier Saxon structure. It was enhanced by Henry de Blois during the Anarchy
of his brother King Stephen
's reign. He was besieged there for some days. In the 16th century, Queen Mary Tudor
and King Philip II of Spain
were guests just prior to their wedding in the Cathedral. The building is now a ruin (maintained by English Heritage
), but the chapel was incorporated into the new palace built in the 1680s, only one wing of which survives.
, which was built in the 12th century. The Great Hall was rebuilt, sometime between 1222 and 1235, and still exists in this form. It is famous for King Arthur
's Round Table, which has hung in the hall from at least 1463. The table actually dates from the 13th century, and as such is not contemporary to Arthur. Despite this it is still of considerable historical interest and attracts many tourists. The table was originally unpainted, but was painted for King Henry VIII
in 1522. The names of the legendary Knights of the Round Table are written around the edge of the table surmounted by King Arthur on his throne. Opposite the table are Prince Charles' 'Wedding Gates'. In the grounds of the Great Hall is a recreation of a medieval
garden. Apart from the hall, only a few excavated remains of the stronghold survive amongst the modern Law Courts. The buildings were supplanted by the King's House, now incorporated into the Peninsula Barracks where there are several military museums. Winchester is also home to the Army Training Regiment Winchester, otherwise known as Sir John Moore Barracks, where Army recruits undergo their phase one training.
s and vast Norman
chapel
of Hospital of St Cross
were founded just outside the city centre by Henry de Blois in the 1130s. Since at least the 14th century, and still available today, a 'wayfarer's dole' of ale and bread has been handed out there. It was supposedly instigated to aid pilgrims on their route through to Canterbury
.
designed by William Butterfield
and Winchester City Mill
, one of the city's several water mills
driven by the River Itchen
that run through the city centre. The mill has recently been restored, and is again milling corn by water power. It is owned by the National Trust
.
Although Winchester City survived World War II
intact, about thirty percent of the Old Town was demolished to make way for buildings more suited to modern office day requirements (in particular for Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council). Since the late 1980s the city has seen a gradual replacement of these post war brutalist structures for contemporary developments more sympathetic to the medieval urban fabric of the Old Town.
There are numerous educational institutions in Winchester.
There are three state secondary schools: Kings' School Winchester
, The Westgate School
, and The Henry Beaufort School
, all of which have excellent reputations. The sixth form Peter Symonds College
is the main college that serves Winchester; it is rated amongst the top and the largest sixth form college
s in the UK.
Among independent junior/preparatory schools, there are The Pilgrims' School Winchester, Twyford School
, Prince's Mead School etc. Winchester College
, which accepts students from ages 13 to 18, is one of the best-known independent school
s in Britain and many of its pupils leave for well-respected universities. St Swithun's
is an independent school for girls which frequently appears on the league tables for GCSE and A-level results.
is part of the University of Southampton
.
founded by William of Wykeham, still largely date from their first erection in 1382. There are two courtyards, a gatehouse, cloister, hall, a large college chapel and it also owns "The Water Meadows" through which runs a part of the River Itchen
. It was planned to educate poor boys before they moved on to New College, Oxford
and often a life in the church.
league and two recognised clubs, Winchester City F.C.
, the 2004 FA Vase
winners who were founded in 1884 and has the motto "Many in Men, One in Spirit", currently play in the Southern League, Division 1 S&E after a highly successful spell in the Wessex League and Winchester Castle F.C.
, who have played in the Hampshire League since 1971. Reading
midfielder Brian Howard
was born in Winchester, as was Doncaster Rovers
and Wales international midfielder Brian Stock
. The main Winchester 5 a side football team are Winchester Allstars, who play at Fleming Park, Eastleigh.
Winchester women also have successful sports teams with Winchester City Women FC currently playing in the Hampshire County League Division 1 and recently went through a league campaign unbeaten. The club caters for players of all ability and ages. http://www.winchestercitywomen.co.uk
Winchester also has a rugby union
team named Winchester RFC and a thriving athletics club called Winchester and District AC.
Winchester has a thriving successful Hockey
Club, with ten men's and three ladies' teams catering to all ages and abilities.
The city has a growing roller hockey
team which trains at River Park Leisure Centre.
Lawn bowls
is played at several greens (the oldest being Hyde Abbey dating from 1812) during the summer months and at Riverside Indoor Bowling Club during the winter.
Winchester College invented and lent its name to Winchester College Football
, played exclusively at the College and in some small African/South American communities.
Winchester also has a 5 a side team known as the Winchester Allstars, who currently play in Leisure Leagues Eastleigh.
and A272
roads. Once a major traffic bottleneck, it still suffers from congestion at peak times. It is just to the south of the A303
and A30
.
Winchester railway station
is served by South West Trains
trains from London Waterloo
, Weymouth, Portsmouth
and Southampton
, and by CrossCountry Trains between Bournemouth
, Southampton, Reading
, Oxford
and either Manchester
or Newcastle
. Historically it was also served by the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
(closed in the 1960s) and by a line to London via Alton
which partially survives as the Watercress Line
.
Local and Park and Ride bus services are provided by Stagecoach
, who also run routes to Andover
, New Alresford
, Alton
, Petersfield
, Romsey
, Salisbury
, Hursley
, Fareham
and Southampton
. Other services run to Eastleigh
, Southampton and Chandler's Ford
(Bluestar
), to Romsey
and Stockbridge
(Wilts & Dorset
), to Broughton
and West Meon
(community buses), to Swanmore
and Bishops Waltham (Brijan Tours
). Many services are subsidised by Hampshire County Council
. National Express
coaches serve Bournemouth
, Poole
, Portsmouth
, Heathrow Airport
, Oxford
and Edinburgh
. Megabus
and Greyhound
serve Birmingham
, Oxford
, Manchester
and Leeds
.
Winchester is at the head of the Itchen Navigation
, which once provided a transport link to Southampton, but has recently been restored as a wildlife corridor.
and County Court
. It is administered by Her Majesty's Courts Service
, an Executive Agency
of the Ministry of Justice
. Winchester is a first-tier court centre and is visited by High Court judge
s for criminal and also for civil cases (in the District Registry of the High Court). One of the most high profile case to be heard here was the Rose West murder trial in 1995.
Winchester also has a separate District Probate
registry which is part of the High Court
.
, a celebration of street theatre
that includes performances, workshops, and gatherings at several venues around the city.
Winchester hosts one of the UK's largest and most successful farmers' markets, with close to – or over – 100 stalls, and is certified by FARMA
. The farmers' market takes place on the second and last Sunday monthly in the town centre.
Three newspapers are published for Winchester. The paid-for broadsheet Hampshire Chronicle
, which started out in 1772 reporting national and international news, now concentrates on Winchester and the surrounding area. There are also two free tabloid-sized papers for the city: the Winchester News Extra and the Mid-Hants Observer.
Winchester had its own radio station, Win FM
, from October 1999 to October 2007.
In 2003 Winchester was ranked 5th in a league of 50 'crap towns' in the UK nominated by readers of The Idler
magazine. In the 2006, however, the Channel 4
television programme The Best And Worst Places To Live In The UK, broadcast on 26 October, the city was celebrated as the "Best Place in the UK to Live in: 2006". In the 2007 edition of the same programme, Winchester had slipped to second place, behind Edinburgh
.
A number of public figures and celebrities were students at Peter Symonds College
in Winchester, including; TV presenter and model Alexa Chung
, Andy Burrows
- singer/song writer and drummer of band Razorlight
, glamour model Lucy Pinder
and comedian Jack Dee
, among others.
The Punk Rock
singer-song writer Frank Turner
comes from Winchester, a fact that he often mentions at concerts as well as in his songs. The band Polly and the Billets Doux
formed in Winchester, and are still based there now. Actor Colin Firth
is from Winchester and was educated at Kings School.
2011 saw Winchester's first ever Oxjam
Takeover music festival, on 22 October.
, the main character Sir Orfeo is King of Winchester, which is said to be the modern name of Thrace
. The final combat of the romance hero Guy of Warwick
against the giant Colbrand takes place outside the walls of Winchester.
is set in the choir of Winchester cathedral. Winchester is in part the model for Barchester in the Barsetshire
novels of Anthony Trollope
, who attended Winchester College; The Warden
(1855) is said to be based on a scandal at the Hospital of St Cross
. A fictionalised Winchester appears as Wintoncester in Hardy
's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
(1891). Some of the action in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
(1892) takes place in the city.
adventure, The Problem of Thor Bridge
(1922).
In Gerry Anderson
's 1967 and 1968 programme Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
, background material published by, or with the approval of, Anderson identifies Winchester as the birthplace of the main character, Captain Scarlet
, real name Paul Metcalfe.
Winchester is the main location of John Christopher
's post-apocalyptic science fiction series, Sword of the Spirits
. Winchester Cathedral is featured in James Herbert's horror novel The Fog. The Siege of Winchester in 1141, part of the English Civil War
between King Stephen
and the Empress Matilda
, is an important plot element in the detective novel An Excellent Mystery
, part of the Brother Cadfael chronicles by Edith Pargeter
writing as Ellis Peters. 12th century Winchester is one of the locations described in Ken Follett
's Pillars of the Earth
(1989). In Philip Pullman
's novel The Subtle Knife
(part of the His Dark Materials
trilogy) the main male protagonist, Will Parry, comes from Winchester. However, little of the book is set there.
In the movie Merlin
, King Uther's first conquest of Britain begins with Winchester, which Merlin foresaw would fall.
, The Wammy's House, an orphanage founded by Quillsh Wammy, where the detective L's successors (Mello, Near, and Matt) are raised, is located in Winchester.
with: Laon
, France
The Winchester district
is twinned with Gießen
, Germany
The city is also the sister city of Winchester, Virginia
. The Mayor of Winchester (UK) has a standing invitation to be a part of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
in Winchester (VA) each year in the Spring. The Virginia town also takes its name from Winchester in England.
The city of Winchester gave its name to a suburb of Paris
, France
, called Le Kremlin-Bicêtre
(23,724 inhabitants), owing to a manor built there by John of Pontoise
, Bishop of Winchester
, at the end of the 13th century.
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
and former capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
. It is the county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester
City of Winchester
Winchester is a local government district in Hampshire, England, with city status. It covers an area of central Hampshire including the city of Winchester itself, and neighbouring towns and villages including New Alresford, Colden Common and Bishops Waltham....
, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
, along the course of the River Itchen
River Itchen, Hampshire
The River Itchen is a river in Hampshire, England. It flows from mid-Hampshire to join with Southampton Water below the Itchen Bridge in the city of Southampton. The river has a total length of , and is noted as one of England's - if not one of the World's - premier chalk streams for fly fishing,...
. At the time of the 2001 Census, Winchester had a population of 41,420.
Winchester developed from the Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
town of Venta Belgarum
Venta Belgarum
Venta Belgarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia Superior. Today it is known as Winchester and is situated in the English county of Hampshire.-Development:...
. Winchester's major landmark is Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...
, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
cathedrals in Europe. The town is also home to the University of Winchester
University of Winchester
The University of Winchester is a British public university primarily based in Winchester, Hampshire, England. Winchester is a historic cathedral city and the ancient capital of Wessex and the Kingdom of England.-History:...
and the famous public school, Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
. The city's architectural and historic interest, and its fast links to other towns and cities have led Winchester to become one of the most expensive and desirable areas of the country. A person who is from or resides in Winchester is sometimes locally known as a Wintonian.
Early history
Settlement in the area dates back to pre-Roman times, with an Iron AgeBritish Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
enclosure or valley fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
, Oram's Arbour
Oram's Arbour
Oram's Arbour was a hill fort during the Iron Age, which eventually became Venta Belgarum, Britannia and then Winchester, Hampshire, England....
, on the western side of the present-day city. After the Roman conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
the civitas, then named Venta Belgarum
Venta Belgarum
Venta Belgarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia Superior. Today it is known as Winchester and is situated in the English county of Hampshire.-Development:...
or "Market of the Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
", was of considerable importance.
At the beginning of the 3rd century Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city had covered an area of 144 acres (58.3 ha), which made it the 5th largest town in Roman Britain. There were also a small number of suburbs outside the walls. However, like many other Roman towns, Winchester began to decline in the 4th century.
Anglo-Saxon times
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
in about 686 after King Caedwalla of Wessex
Caedwalla of Wessex
Cædwalla was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the British Cadwallon. He was exiled as a youth, and during this time attacked the South Saxons and killed their king, Æthelwealh, in what is now Sussex. Cædwalla was unable to hold the...
defeated King Atwald of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. Although it was not the only town to have been the capital, it was established by King Egbert
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
as the main city in his kingdom in 827. Saint Swithun was Bishop of Winchester in the mid 9th century. The Saxon street plan laid out by Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
is still evident today: a cross shaped street system which conformed to the standard town planning system of the day – overlaying the pre-existing Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
street plan (incorporating the ecclesiastical quarter in the south-east; the judicial quarter in the south-west; the tradesmen in the north-east). The town was part of a series of fortifications along the south coast. Built by Alfred to protect the Kingdom, they were known as 'burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
s'. The medieval city walls, built on the old Roman walls, are visible in places. Only one section of the original Roman walls remains. Four main gates were positioned in the north, south, east and west plus the additional Durngate and King's Gate. Winchester remained the capital of Wessex, and then England, until some time after the Norman Conquest when the capital was moved to London. The Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
was compiled in the city late in the reign of William the Conqueror.
Medieval and later times
William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College, New College, Oxford, New College School, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle.-Life:...
(1320–1404) played an important role in the city's restoration. As Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
he was responsible for much of the current structure of the cathedral, and he founded the still extant public school Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
. During the Middle Ages, the city was an important centre of the wool trade, before going into a slow decline. The curfew bell
Curfew bell
The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval England as the signal for everyone to go to bed.A bell was rung usually around eight o'clock in the evening which meant for them to cover their fires - deaden or cover up, not necessarily put out altogether...
in the bell tower (near the clock in the picture), still sounds at 8.00pm each evening. The curfew was the time to extinguish all home fires until the morning
In 1770, Thomas Dummer
Thomas Dummer
Thomas Dummer was an English Member of Parliament for Newport , Yarmouth , Downton in Wiltshire , Wendover in Buckinghamshire and Lymington in Hampshire ....
purchased the City Cross (also known as the Buttercross
Buttercross
A buttercross, also known as butter cross, is a type of market cross associated with English market towns and dating from medieval times. Its name originates from the fact that they were located at the market place, where people from neighbouring villages would gather to buy locally produced...
) from the Corporation of Winchester, intending to have it re-erected at Cranbury Park
Cranbury Park
Cranbury Park is a stately home and country estate situated in the parish of Hursley, near Winchester, England. It was formerly the home to Sir Isaac Newton and later to the Chamberlayne family, whose descendants now own and occupy the house and surrounding park and farmland...
, near Otterbourne
Otterbourne
Otterbourne is a village in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately four miles south of Winchester and eight miles north of Southampton. In October 2002, its population was approximately 1,520, and there were 602 dwellings....
. When his workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city, who "organised a small riot" and they were forced to abandon their task. The agreement with the city was cancelled and Dummer erected a lath and plaster
Lath and plaster
Lath and plaster is a building process used mainly for interior walls in Canada and the United States until the late 1950s. After the 1950s, drywall began to replace the lath and plaster process in the United States. In the United Kingdom, lath and plaster was used for some interior partition...
facsimile, which stood in the park for about sixty years before it was destroyed by the weather. The Buttercross still stands in the High Street.
The famous novelist Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 and is buried in the cathedral. The Romantic poet John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
stayed in Winchester from mid-August to October 1819. It was in Winchester that Keats wrote "Isabella", "St. Agnes' Eve", "To Autumn
To Autumn
"To Autumn" is a poem by English Romantic poet John Keats . The work was composed on 19 September 1819 and published in 1820 in a volume of Keats's poetry that included Lamia and The Eve of Saint Agnes. "To Autumn" is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's "1819 odes"...
" and "Lamia". Parts of "Hyperion" and the five-act poetic tragedy "Otho The Great" were also written in Winchester.
Further learning
The City Museum located on the corner of Great Minster Street and The Square contains much information on the history of Winchester. Early examples of Winchester measureWinchester measure
Winchester measure is a set of legal standards of volume defined in the city of Winchester, England during the tenth century and in use, with some modifications, until the present day.-National standard:...
s of standard capacity are on display.
Governance
Winchester is currently represented in the House of Commons through the Winchester Parliamentary Constituency by Steve BrineSteve Brine
Stephen Charles Brine is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Winchester...
of the Conservatives who in the General Election of 2010 beat Martin Tod, the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
candidate, by 3048 votes (a margin of 5.4%). Mark Oaten
Mark Oaten
Mark Oaten is a former British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1997 to 2010, and was his party's Home Affairs spokesperson from 2003 to 2006...
had previously won the seat for the Liberal Democrats during the 1997 general election in which he defeated Gerry Malone
Gerry Malone
Peter Gerald "Gerry" Malone MA, LLB is a British Conservative politician who was an MP from 1983–87 and 1992–97.Born in Glasgow, Malone was educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow...
, a Health Minister in John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
's Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Government.
Elections to the city council
Winchester local elections
One third of Winchester District Council in Hampshire, England is elected each year, followed by one year without election. Since the last boundary changes in 2002, 57 councillors have been elected from 26 wards.-Political control:...
take place in three out of every four years, with one third of the councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s elected in each election. Since winning a majority in the 2006 election
Winchester Council election, 2006
The 2006 Winchester Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Winchester District Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.After the election, the...
the council had been controlled by the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, until the 2010 election when the council was again controlled by the Liberal Democrats.
Cathedral
Winchester CathedralWinchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...
, the longest cathedral in Europe, was originally built in 1079. It contains much fine architecture spanning the 11th to the 16th century and is the place of interment of numerous Bishops of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
(such as William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College, New College, Oxford, New College School, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle.-Life:...
), Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
monarchs (such as Egbert of Wessex
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
) and later monarchs such as King Canute
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
and William Rufus
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
, as well as Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. It was once an important pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
age centre and housed the shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
of Saint Swithun. The ancient Pilgrims' Way
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...
travelling to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
begins at Winchester. The plan of the earlier Old Minster
Old Minster, Winchester
The Old Minster was the Anglo-Saxon cathedral for the diocese of Wessex and then Winchester from 660 to 1093. It stood on a site immediately north of and partially beneath its successor, Winchester Cathedral....
is laid out in the grass adjoining the cathedral. The New Minster
New Minster, Winchester
The New Minster, Winchester was a royal Benedictine abbey founded in 901 in Winchester in the English county of Hampshire.Alfred the Great had intended to build the monastery, but only got around to buying the land. His son, Edward the Elder, finished the project according to Alfred's wishes, with...
(original burial place of Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
and Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
) once stood beside it. It has a girls choir and a boys choir, which sing on a regular basis at the cathedral.
The Winchester Cathedral Close contains a number of historic buildings from the time when the cathedral was also a priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
. Of particular note are the Deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
which dates back to the thirteenth century. It was originally the Prior's House, and was the birthplace of Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
in 1486. Not far away is Cheyney Court, a mid fifteenth century timber framed
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house incorporating the Porter's Lodge for the Priory Gate. It was the Bishop's court house.
The earliest hammer-beamed building still standing in England is also situated in the Cathedral Close, next to the Dean's garden. It is known as the Pilgrims' Hall, as it was part of the hostelry used to accommodate the many pilgrims to Saint Swithun's shrine. Left-overs from the lavish banquets of the Dean would be given to the pilgrims who were welcome to spend the night in the hall. It is thought by Winchester City Council to have been built in 1308. Now part of The Pilgrims' School
The Pilgrims' School
The Pilgrims' School, Winchester, is a boys' preparatory school - with a co-ed pre-prep extension - in the Cathedral Close in Winchester, Hampshire - an ancient capital of England. The school is famous for The Pilgrims' Hall, which contains England's oldest surviving wood double hammer-beamed roof,...
, the hall is used by the school for assemblies in the morning, drama lessons, plays, orchestral practices, Cathedral Waynflete rehearsals, the school's Senior Commoners' Choir rehearsals and so forth.
Wolvesey Castle and Palace
Wolvesey CastleWolvesey Castle
Wolvesey Castle is a ruined castle in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was erected by the Bishop of Winchester Henry of Blois between 1130 and 1140....
was the Norman bishop's palace, dating from 1110, but standing on the site of an earlier Saxon structure. It was enhanced by Henry de Blois during the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
of his brother King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
's reign. He was besieged there for some days. In the 16th century, Queen Mary Tudor
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
and King Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
were guests just prior to their wedding in the Cathedral. The building is now a ruin (maintained by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
), but the chapel was incorporated into the new palace built in the 1680s, only one wing of which survives.
Castle
Winchester is well known for the Great Hall of its castleWinchester Castle
Winchester Castle is a medieval building in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall exists now; it houses a museum of the history of Winchester.-Great Hall:...
, which was built in the 12th century. The Great Hall was rebuilt, sometime between 1222 and 1235, and still exists in this form. It is famous for King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's Round Table, which has hung in the hall from at least 1463. The table actually dates from the 13th century, and as such is not contemporary to Arthur. Despite this it is still of considerable historical interest and attracts many tourists. The table was originally unpainted, but was painted for King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1522. The names of the legendary Knights of the Round Table are written around the edge of the table surmounted by King Arthur on his throne. Opposite the table are Prince Charles' 'Wedding Gates'. In the grounds of the Great Hall is a recreation of a medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
garden. Apart from the hall, only a few excavated remains of the stronghold survive amongst the modern Law Courts. The buildings were supplanted by the King's House, now incorporated into the Peninsula Barracks where there are several military museums. Winchester is also home to the Army Training Regiment Winchester, otherwise known as Sir John Moore Barracks, where Army recruits undergo their phase one training.
Hospital of St Cross
The almshouseAlmshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s and vast Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
of Hospital of St Cross
Hospital of St Cross
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty is a medieval almshouse in Winchester, England, founded between 1133 and 1136. It is the oldest charitable institution in the United Kingdom...
were founded just outside the city centre by Henry de Blois in the 1130s. Since at least the 14th century, and still available today, a 'wayfarer's dole' of ale and bread has been handed out there. It was supposedly instigated to aid pilgrims on their route through to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
.
Other buildings
Other important historic buildings include the Guildhall dating from 1871 in the Gothic revival style, the Royal Hampshire County HospitalRoyal Hampshire County Hospital
The Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester is a District General Hospital serving much of central Hampshire. It is owned and run by the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust...
designed by William Butterfield
William Butterfield
William Butterfield was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement . He is noted for his use of polychromy-Biography:...
and Winchester City Mill
Winchester City Mill
The Winchester City Mill is a restored water mill situated on the River Itchen in the centre of the ancient English city of Winchester. The mill is owned by the National Trust....
, one of the city's several water mills
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
driven by the River Itchen
River Itchen, Hampshire
The River Itchen is a river in Hampshire, England. It flows from mid-Hampshire to join with Southampton Water below the Itchen Bridge in the city of Southampton. The river has a total length of , and is noted as one of England's - if not one of the World's - premier chalk streams for fly fishing,...
that run through the city centre. The mill has recently been restored, and is again milling corn by water power. It is owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
Although Winchester City survived World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
intact, about thirty percent of the Old Town was demolished to make way for buildings more suited to modern office day requirements (in particular for Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council). Since the late 1980s the city has seen a gradual replacement of these post war brutalist structures for contemporary developments more sympathetic to the medieval urban fabric of the Old Town.
Education
There are three state secondary schools: Kings' School Winchester
Kings' School
Kings' School is a comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire. The last Ofsted inspection returned an overall outstanding classification, with 30 out of a possible 31 sections of the report being considered as outstanding. Kings' School currently has Specialist status as a Business and...
, The Westgate School
The Westgate School
The Westgate School is a comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom. It has science specialist status.-Admissions:Westgate is quite a large school with about 1,250 pupils. A large proportion of its pupils continue to Peter Symonds College which is only a few hundred metres away...
, and The Henry Beaufort School
Henry Beaufort School
Henry Beaufort School, sometimes calledHenry Beaufort College of Technology, is a secondary school in Harestock, a suburb of Winchester, in the county of Hampshire in England...
, all of which have excellent reputations. The sixth form Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. It is one of the largest sixth form colleges in Britain.-Admissions:...
is the main college that serves Winchester; it is rated amongst the top and the largest sixth form college
Sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...
s in the UK.
Among independent junior/preparatory schools, there are The Pilgrims' School Winchester, Twyford School
Twyford School
Twyford School is a co-educational, independent, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire.-History:Twyford claims to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom....
, Prince's Mead School etc. Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, which accepts students from ages 13 to 18, is one of the best-known independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
s in Britain and many of its pupils leave for well-respected universities. St Swithun's
St Swithun's School, Winchester
St Swithun's School is an independent school for girls in Winchester, Hampshire. The school consists of St Swithun's Junior School and St Swithun's Senior School...
is an independent school for girls which frequently appears on the league tables for GCSE and A-level results.
University of Winchester
The University of Winchester (formerly King Alfred's College) is a public university based in Winchester and the surrounding area. The University origins go back as far as 1840 - originally as a Diocesan Training centre. Winchester's university first began as a teacher training college. It is located on a purpose built campus near the city centre. The Winchester School of ArtWinchester School of Art
Winchester School of Art is the art school of the University of Southampton, situated 10 miles north of Southampton in the city of Winchester near the south coast of England.- Overview :...
is part of the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
.
Winchester College
The buildings of Winchester College, a public schoolPublic School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
founded by William of Wykeham, still largely date from their first erection in 1382. There are two courtyards, a gatehouse, cloister, hall, a large college chapel and it also owns "The Water Meadows" through which runs a part of the River Itchen
River Itchen, Hampshire
The River Itchen is a river in Hampshire, England. It flows from mid-Hampshire to join with Southampton Water below the Itchen Bridge in the city of Southampton. The river has a total length of , and is noted as one of England's - if not one of the World's - premier chalk streams for fly fishing,...
. It was planned to educate poor boys before they moved on to New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
and often a life in the church.
Sport
Winchester has an association footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
league and two recognised clubs, Winchester City F.C.
Winchester City F.C.
Winchester City Football Club are an English football team based in Winchester, Hampshire and playing in the Wessex League Premier Division. The team is currently managed by Guy Butters and their motto is "Many in Men, One in Spirit",-History:...
, the 2004 FA Vase
FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase is an annual football competition for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System...
winners who were founded in 1884 and has the motto "Many in Men, One in Spirit", currently play in the Southern League, Division 1 S&E after a highly successful spell in the Wessex League and Winchester Castle F.C.
Winchester Castle F.C.
Winchester Castle F.C. are an English football team based in Winchester. The club was reformed in 2006 after originally going out of existence at the end of the 2001–02 season when the former club was merged with their local rivals Winchester City. They are currently members of the Hampshire...
, who have played in the Hampshire League since 1971. Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
midfielder Brian Howard
Brian Howard (footballer)
Brian Richard William Howard is an English footballer who is contracted to Reading and is currently on loan to Millwall in the Football League Championship as a midfielder...
was born in Winchester, as was Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is an English football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship, after being promoted via the League One play-offs in 2008, and have remained there since.The club was founded in...
and Wales international midfielder Brian Stock
Brian Stock
Brian Benjamin Stock is a Wales international footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Doncaster Rovers. He is known for his vision, awareness, and his play-making and passing ability.-Bournemouth:...
. The main Winchester 5 a side football team are Winchester Allstars, who play at Fleming Park, Eastleigh.
Winchester women also have successful sports teams with Winchester City Women FC currently playing in the Hampshire County League Division 1 and recently went through a league campaign unbeaten. The club caters for players of all ability and ages. http://www.winchestercitywomen.co.uk
Winchester also has a rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team named Winchester RFC and a thriving athletics club called Winchester and District AC.
Winchester has a thriving successful Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
Club, with ten men's and three ladies' teams catering to all ages and abilities.
The city has a growing roller hockey
Roller hockey
Roller Hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using skates with wheels. The term "Roller Hockey" is often used interchangeably to refer to two variant forms chiefly differentiated by the type of skate used. There is traditional "Roller Hockey," played with quad roller skates, and...
team which trains at River Park Leisure Centre.
Lawn bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
is played at several greens (the oldest being Hyde Abbey dating from 1812) during the summer months and at Riverside Indoor Bowling Club during the winter.
Winchester College invented and lent its name to Winchester College Football
Winchester College Football
Winchester College Football, also known as Winkies, WinCoFo or simply "Our Game", is a code of football played at Winchester College. It is akin to the Eton Field and Wall Games and the Harrow Game in that it enjoys a large following from Wykehamists and old Wykehamists but is not played outside...
, played exclusively at the College and in some small African/South American communities.
Winchester also has a 5 a side team known as the Winchester Allstars, who currently play in Leisure Leagues Eastleigh.
Transport
Winchester is located on the M3 motorway and at the meeting of the A34, A31, A3090A3090 road
The A3090 is an A-Class Road in Hampshire in Southern England. It forms a south-western by-pass for Winchester, from Junction 11 of the M3 to the Romsey Road. The rest of its route was formerly part of the A31, running through Hursley, Ampfield and Romsey , to the A36 Salisbury Road at Ower near...
and A272
A272 road
The A272 is a road in South-East England. It follows an approximate East-West route from near Heathfield, East Sussex to the city of Winchester, Hampshire. It has achieved somewhat unlikely fame in recent years by being the subject of a book by the Dutch author, Pieter Boogaart...
roads. Once a major traffic bottleneck, it still suffers from congestion at peak times. It is just to the south of the A303
A303 road
The A303 is a 92-mile long trunk road in England. It is the main road between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon. The M3, the A303 and the A30 together make up one of the main routes from London to South West England, running from London to Land's End in Cornwall...
and A30
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
.
Winchester railway station
Winchester railway station
Winchester railway station is a railway station located in Winchester in the county of Hampshire in England. It is located on the South Western Main Line and was originally known as Winchester City to distinguish it from Winchester station....
is served by South West Trains
South West Trains
South West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...
trains from London Waterloo
Waterloo station
Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....
, Weymouth, Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, and by CrossCountry Trains between Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Southampton, Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and either Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
or Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. Historically it was also served by the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was a cross-country railway running north-south between Didcot, Newbury and Southampton although it actually reached the latter by running over the London and South Western Railway tracks from Shawford Junction, south of Winchester...
(closed in the 1960s) and by a line to London via Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
which partially survives as the Watercress Line
Watercress Line
The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days that it was used to transport locally grown watercress to...
.
Local and Park and Ride bus services are provided by Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
, who also run routes to Andover
Andover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...
, New Alresford
New Alresford
New Alresford or simply Alresford is a small town and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is situated some 12 km north-east of the city of Winchester and 20 km south-west of the town of Alton...
, Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
, Petersfield
Petersfield
Petersfield can refer to any of the following places:*Petersfield, Hampshire, a market town in England*Petersfield, Jamaica, a small town in the parish of Westmoreland*Petersfield, Manitoba, in Canada*Petersfield, an area of Cambridge, England...
, Romsey
Romsey
Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire, England.It is 8 miles northwest of Southampton and 11 miles southwest of Winchester, neighbouring the village of North Baddesley...
, Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Hursley
Hursley
Hursley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England with a population of around 800 in 2005. It is located roughly mid-way between Romsey and Winchester on the A3090...
, Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. Other services run to Eastleigh
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...
, Southampton and Chandler's Ford
Chandler's Ford
Chandler's Ford is a largely residential area and civil parish in the Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England, with a population of 20,071 in the 2001 UK Census....
(Bluestar
Bluestar (bus company)
Bluestar is a trading name of Solent Blue Line Ltd. Based in Eastleigh, the company operates bus routes in Hampshire that previously traded under the Solent Blue Line name. Blue Line was started by bus company Southern Vectis as it sought to expand from the Isle of Wight in 1987...
), to Romsey
Romsey
Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire, England.It is 8 miles northwest of Southampton and 11 miles southwest of Winchester, neighbouring the village of North Baddesley...
and Stockbridge
Stockbridge, Hampshire
Stockbridge is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of and a population of little under 600 people according to the 2001 census in Hampshire, England. It lies on the River Test, in the Test Valley district and renowned for trout fishing. The A30 road goes through...
(Wilts & Dorset
Wilts & Dorset
Wilts & Dorset is a bus company in England covering Poole, Bournemouth, East Dorset, South Wiltshire and West Hampshire. Its local headquarters is in Poole, but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group....
), to Broughton
Broughton, Hampshire
Broughton is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, about ten miles north of Romsey. According to the 2001 census it has a population of 1,029. There is also a herd of water buffalo....
and West Meon
West Meon
West Meon is a small village in Hampshire, England, with a population of 690.It is situated near to Petersfield and East Meon, on the headwaters of the River Meon....
(community buses), to Swanmore
Swanmore
Swanmore is a small rural village and civil parish situated in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England. It is very near to Bishop's Waltham.Swanmore houses the schools Swanmore Primary School and Swanmore College of Technology which is the secondary school for neighbouring towns and villages. The...
and Bishops Waltham (Brijan Tours
Brijan Tours
Brijan Tours is a bus and coach company based in Curdridge, Hampshire, England, It operates a number of local bus services , as well as providing a range of vehicles for private hire services that extend as far as Europe....
). Many services are subsidised by Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...
. National Express
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...
coaches serve Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Megabus
Megabus (United Kingdom)
Megabus is a UK coach service operated by Stagecoach Group. It started in 2003 and as of February 2010 operated 19 UK coach routes serving 41 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales. Some services link with Megatrain services which are also operated by Stagecoach...
and Greyhound
Greyhound UK
Greyhound UK is a low-cost intercity scheduled coach service in the United Kingdom, owned by FirstGroup and based on the long-established Greyhound service in the USA....
serve Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
.
Winchester is at the head of the Itchen Navigation
Itchen Navigation
The Itchen Navigation is an approximately 10 mile long disused canal system in Hampshire, England, that provided an important trading route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton for about 150 years. The canal was opened in 1710 but had fallen into disuse by 1869...
, which once provided a transport link to Southampton, but has recently been restored as a wildlife corridor.
Law courts
Winchester Combined Court Centre consists of a Crown CourtCrown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
and County Court
County Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...
. It is administered by Her Majesty's Courts Service
Her Majesty's Courts Service
Her Majesty's Courts Service is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales....
, an Executive Agency
Executive agency
An executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...
of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
. Winchester is a first-tier court centre and is visited by High Court judge
High Court judge
A High Court judge is a judge of the High Court of Justice, and represents the third highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. High Court judges are referred to as puisne judges...
s for criminal and also for civil cases (in the District Registry of the High Court). One of the most high profile case to be heard here was the Rose West murder trial in 1995.
Winchester also has a separate District Probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
registry which is part of the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
.
Media and culture
Since 1974 Winchester has hosted the annual Hat FairWinchester Hat Fair
The Winchester Hat Fair is the UK's longest running festival of Street Theatre, comedy, and music which is held in Winchester, United Kingdom, always during the first weekend in July....
, a celebration of street theatre
Street theatre
Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are...
that includes performances, workshops, and gatherings at several venues around the city.
Winchester hosts one of the UK's largest and most successful farmers' markets, with close to – or over – 100 stalls, and is certified by FARMA
FARMA
FARMA is a co-operative association of farmers, producers and farmers' market organisations in the United Kingdom.-Overview:FARMA, the National Farmers' Retail and Markets Association is an organisation that was set up to represent farmers and organisations such as farmers markets and farm shops...
. The farmers' market takes place on the second and last Sunday monthly in the town centre.
Three newspapers are published for Winchester. The paid-for broadsheet Hampshire Chronicle
Hampshire Chronicle
The Hampshire Chronicle is a local, broadsheet newspaper, based in Winchester, Hampshire, England. The first edition was published on August 24, 1772, making it one of the oldest publications in England....
, which started out in 1772 reporting national and international news, now concentrates on Winchester and the surrounding area. There are also two free tabloid-sized papers for the city: the Winchester News Extra and the Mid-Hants Observer.
Winchester had its own radio station, Win FM
Win 107.2
Win FM, the on-air name of Winchester Independent Radio, was a local radio station for Winchester, in Hampshire, England, and surrounding areas. After two one-month trial broadcasts in 1996 and 1997 it won a permanent licence and began to broadcast on October 3, 1999. It closed on October 2,...
, from October 1999 to October 2007.
In 2003 Winchester was ranked 5th in a league of 50 'crap towns' in the UK nominated by readers of The Idler
The Idler (1993)
The Idler is a yearly British magazine devoted to its ethos of 'idling'. Founded in 1993 by Tom Hodgkinson and Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the publication's intention is to return dignity to the art of loafing, to make idling into something to aspire towards rather than reject.The magazine combines the...
magazine. In the 2006, however, the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television programme The Best And Worst Places To Live In The UK, broadcast on 26 October, the city was celebrated as the "Best Place in the UK to Live in: 2006". In the 2007 edition of the same programme, Winchester had slipped to second place, behind Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
A number of public figures and celebrities were students at Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. It is one of the largest sixth form colleges in Britain.-Admissions:...
in Winchester, including; TV presenter and model Alexa Chung
Alexa Chung
Alexa Chung is an English television presenter, model and contributing editor at British Vogue.She currently hosts Gonzo with Alexa Chung for MTV UK, and is scheduled to host Thrift America for PBS in 2011...
, Andy Burrows
Andy Burrows
Andrew William Burrows is a British musician. He first began his musical career as a percussionist in the Hampshire County Youth Band. He was the drummer the Razorlight from 2004 to 2009, and as guest drummer We Are Scientists from 2009 onwards.-Razorlight:He joined the band in May 2004...
- singer/song writer and drummer of band Razorlight
Razorlight
Razorlight are a UK based indie rock band formed in 2002. They are primarily known in the UK, having topped the charts with the 2006 single "America" and its parent self-titled album, their second...
, glamour model Lucy Pinder
Lucy Pinder
Lucy Katherine Pinder is an English glamour model, from Winchester, Hampshire.-Modelling career:In the summer of 2003, Pinder was spotted by a freelance photographer while sunbathing on Bournemouth beach...
and comedian Jack Dee
Jack Dee
James Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...
, among others.
The Punk Rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
singer-song writer Frank Turner
Frank Turner
Frank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...
comes from Winchester, a fact that he often mentions at concerts as well as in his songs. The band Polly and the Billets Doux
Polly and the Billets Doux
Polly and the Billets Doux began life in the middle of a smoky Winchester venue’s backroom in 2006, performing totally unamplified to a full-capacity audience...
formed in Winchester, and are still based there now. Actor Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
is from Winchester and was educated at Kings School.
2011 saw Winchester's first ever Oxjam
Oxjam
Oxjam is a charity music festival in the United Kingdom that raises money for Oxfam, whose mission is to fight poverty worldwide. Events are held in multiple cities across the United Kingdom, normally in the month of October...
Takeover music festival, on 22 October.
Medieval
In the medieval narrative poem, Sir OrfeoSir Orfeo
Sir Orfeo is an anonymous Middle English narrative poem, retelling the story of Orpheus as a king rescuing his wife from the fairy king.-History and Manuscripts:...
, the main character Sir Orfeo is King of Winchester, which is said to be the modern name of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. The final combat of the romance hero Guy of Warwick
Guy of Warwick
Guy of Warwick is a legendary English hero of Romance popular in England and France from the 13th to the 17th century. The story of Sir Guy is considered by scholars to be part of the Matter of England.-Plot:...
against the giant Colbrand takes place outside the walls of Winchester.
19th century
A scene in Henry Esmond (1852) by William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
is set in the choir of Winchester cathedral. Winchester is in part the model for Barchester in the Barsetshire
Chronicles of Barsetshire
The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by the English author Anthony Trollope, set in the fictitious cathedral town of Barchester...
novels of Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
, who attended Winchester College; The Warden
The Warden
The Warden is the first novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire", published in 1855. It was his fourth novel.-Synopsis:...
(1855) is said to be based on a scandal at the Hospital of St Cross
Hospital of St Cross
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty is a medieval almshouse in Winchester, England, founded between 1133 and 1136. It is the oldest charitable institution in the United Kingdom...
. A fictionalised Winchester appears as Wintoncester in Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...
(1891). Some of the action in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the last of the twelve collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
(1892) takes place in the city.
20th century
A fictitious estate near Winchester is the scene of a crime in the Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
adventure, The Problem of Thor Bridge
The Problem of Thor Bridge
"The Problem of Thor Bridge" is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, which appears in the collection The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes...
(1922).
In Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
's 1967 and 1968 programme Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
, background material published by, or with the approval of, Anderson identifies Winchester as the birthplace of the main character, Captain Scarlet
Captain Scarlet (character)
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson's British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet....
, real name Paul Metcalfe.
Winchester is the main location of John Christopher
Samuel Youd
Samuel Youd is a British author, best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher, including the novel The Death of Grass and the young adult oriented novel series The Tripods...
's post-apocalyptic science fiction series, Sword of the Spirits
Sword of the Spirits
The Sword of the Spirits is the title of a trilogy of young adult oriented novels written by John Christopher. The stories are set in the South of England in a post-apocalyptic future where, due to a worldwide ecological catastrophe, life has reverted back to a militaristic, medieval setting of...
. Winchester Cathedral is featured in James Herbert's horror novel The Fog. The Siege of Winchester in 1141, part of the English Civil War
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
between King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
and the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
, is an important plot element in the detective novel An Excellent Mystery
An Excellent Mystery (novel)
-Plot introduction:August 1141, and two monks arrive at Shrewsbury with news of the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud. The Abbey of Hyde Mead at Winchester has been burned to the ground. From the moment he meets them Cadfael recognises a bond between the two refugees that goes...
, part of the Brother Cadfael chronicles by Edith Pargeter
Edith Pargeter
Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM , also known by her nom de plume Ellis Peters, was a British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both...
writing as Ellis Peters. 12th century Winchester is one of the locations described in Ken Follett
Ken Follett
Ken Follett is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels. He has sold more than 100 million copies of his works. Four of his books have reached the number 1 ranking on the New York Times best-seller list: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, and World Without End.-Early...
's Pillars of the Earth
The Pillars of the Earth
The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. It is set in the middle of the 12th century, primarily during the Anarchy, between the time of the sinking of the White Ship and the...
(1989). In Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
's novel The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife, the second novel in the book His Dark Materials series, was written by English novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1997. The novel continues the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she investigates the mysterious Dust phenomenon and searches for her father...
(part of the His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy) the main male protagonist, Will Parry, comes from Winchester. However, little of the book is set there.
In the movie Merlin
Merlin (film)
Merlin is a television miniseries which originally aired in 1998 that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin...
, King Uther's first conquest of Britain begins with Winchester, which Merlin foresaw would fall.
21st century
In the Japanese manga Death NoteDeath Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
, The Wammy's House, an orphanage founded by Quillsh Wammy, where the detective L's successors (Mello, Near, and Matt) are raised, is located in Winchester.
Twin towns - Sister cities
Winchester is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
The Winchester district
City of Winchester
Winchester is a local government district in Hampshire, England, with city status. It covers an area of central Hampshire including the city of Winchester itself, and neighbouring towns and villages including New Alresford, Colden Common and Bishops Waltham....
is twinned with Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
The city is also the sister city of Winchester, Virginia
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...
. The Mayor of Winchester (UK) has a standing invitation to be a part of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, a six-day festival held annually in Winchester, Virginia, is known for its many guest celebrities and events. The festival was first held Saturday, May 3, 1924, and was originally celebrated as a one day event...
in Winchester (VA) each year in the Spring. The Virginia town also takes its name from Winchester in England.
The city of Winchester gave its name to a suburb of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, called Le Kremlin-Bicêtre
Le Kremlin-Bicêtre
Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
(23,724 inhabitants), owing to a manor built there by John of Pontoise
John of Pontoise
-Life:John was from Pontoise in Seine-et-Oise in France. He was an Archdeacon of Exeter and a papal chaplain before Pope Martin IV provided him to the see of Winchester on 9 June 1282 and consecrated before 15 June 1282. He was enthroned at Winchester Cathedral in September 1282.John died on 5...
, Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, at the end of the 13th century.