A total of seven, all in different styles, were added between the 14th and 16th centuries. The Venerable Chapel in the South Transept has a superb 14th-century entrance screen, once highly coloured and rich with statuary, and a beautiful honey-coloured altar in Jerusalem limestone installed in In the early s, Bishop Godfrey de Lucy created a new retrochoir at the east end where pilgrims could congregate close to the shrine of the miracle-working St Swithun.
In the early s, Bishop Henry Woodcock created a new presbytery where the altar stands at the heart of the building to replace the original Norman Romanesque apse. The Nave was transformed at the expense of successive bishops in a magnificent example of architectural remodelling. This superb low-vaulted stone crypt, which floods in rainy months, dates from the 11th century, the earliest phase of building the Cathedral.
You can support the Cathedral in many ways, from including making a donation, to volunteering or becoming a Friend of the Cathedral. Your support makes a valuable contribution to our work. Buy Tickets. Visit us. In about , attention turned to the modernisation of the nave. The response was to subsume the existing three-storey elevation into a completely new two-storey design Fig 2.
In the initial stages of the work, the Norman piers were recut with Gothic mouldings. Latterly, these were simply re-clad with new masonry. In time, both Edington and Wykeham were buried in the nave that they transformed, inside screened chapels Fig 1. Such structures were a new departure in English architecture, allowing masons to demonstrate their skills in creating virtuosic miniature works of architecture.
It was probably Cardinal Beaufort, one of the richest prelates in Christendom, who planned a new reredos behind the high altar Fig 6. This huge screen, incorporating highly naturalistic sculpture, as well as a gold and silver retable, was probably begun in the s and completed in the s by Bishop Waynflete.
The astonishing chantry chapels erected for both men stand nearby in the retrochoir and, in , the shrine of St Swithun was moved between them Fig 5. Possibly related to this was the re-ordering and decoration of the adjacent Lady Chapel Fig 3. Soon afterwards, there followed the last major medieval works to the cathedral overseen by Bishop Fox — With the help of the mason Thomas Bertie, he rebuilt and vaulted the choir aisles and erected a high vault in timber over the eastern arm.
In , he also enclosed the choir with screens. Bones of several of the kings and bishops of Wessex were ranged in chests along the top of them Fig 7.
In , Queen Mary married Philip of Spain in the cathedral and what has been identified since the 17th century as the X-frame chair she used on the day survives although in need of restoration. Her Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, died the year after and is buried in a remarkable chapel incorporating Classical detail in the retrochoir. The 17th century saw important changes to the interior, including the erection of a choir screen by Inigo Jones in —39 and the destruction of much medieval glass and imagery by Parliamentarian soldiers in December Major restoration followed in the early 19th century under the direction of architect William Garbett and then John Nash.
Many visitors today come to see the tomb of Jane Austen, who was unobtrusively buried in the north nave aisle in In the early 20th century, the medieval foundations of the cathedral began to fail, after which architect T. Jackson and engineer Francis Fox supervised the underpinning of much of the structure between and As part of this work, diver William Walker famously laboured underwater to create new concrete foundations to the retrochoir and then much of the rest of the cathedral. Now, the building has just emerged from another major restoration project, overseen by the present cathedral architect Nick Cox.
Most surprising is the length of structure — the nave has 12 bays and is some 90 m long. In fell down the original tower of the church. There is a legend again — it is considered that this event was caused by the burial of the unpopular King William II Rufus here in Further works continued in the 14th — 16th century and as a result, the present, magnificent Gothic cathedral was shaped. Part of the Gothic details of the interior was carved out of the original Norman columns — this was a very time-consuming and complicated task.
The work was led by master mason William Wynford. Cathedral served as a part of Benedictine abbey which by the early 16th century controlled approximately one-third of the wealth of England. When the Benedictine abbey was dissolved in , the cloister and chapter house were demolished, leaving only the cathedral.
In the outstanding novelist Jane Austen was buried in the cathedral — as her works were published anonymously, she was not famous during her life and the epitaph at her gravestone tells about her personal qualities and does not mention her writings. By the early 20th century the underwater part of this giant structure was in critical condition — the building was built on the peaty ground in the river valley and it was sinking.
The church was saved by William Walker — a diver who worked here daily from to in the depth up to 6 m.
He packed the foundations with more than 25, bags of concrete, , concrete blocks, , bricks. Winchester Cathedral is true depository of medieval and later art values — just few ones are mentioned below. Some bishops of Winchester belonged to wealthiest man in Europe and this is seen in the rich adornment of memorial chapels in the cathedral.
Beautiful artwork is Winchester Bible — illuminated manuscript which was made in — Cathedral is adorned with some of the finest wood carving , mostly shaped by William Lyngewode in the 13th century. It has also the largest area of medieval tiles in England, made in the early 13th century.
Interesting work of art is series of nine icons in Orthodox style, made by Sergei Fyodorov and installed in — These icons show local saints, also St Swithun. In the cathedral is a diatonic ring of 16 church bells — the only one in the world e.
It means that Winchester Cathedral bells have rich set of semitone bells, allowing play of very exquisite bell music with 14 bells ringing at once.
Hampshire is rich with many valuable man-made landmarks. Numerous medieval churches and country houses form a varied cultural landscape, enriched with country parks, avenues, graveyards. Several cities and towns, including the ancient ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, still have medieval fortification walls. Throughout the millennia Christian churches have been the epitome of architecture and arts achievements in Western culture, representing it.
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