My carefully planned daily trips are falling apart as we realise it is not possible to see everything I had planned in the time we have unless we pretend we are Japanese tourists. So today we decide we will just go to Winchester and soak up the atmosphere
It is only a short trip to Winchester from where we are staying but once we get there we find it impossible to get parking. It is still mainly a medieval town and the streets are so narrow and many one way and very little parking. It is raining and quite grim and not possible to take photos. Tossing up whether to cut our losses and go elsewhere but decide to hang in there and find long stay parking. One and half hours later we emerge from a parking station having had all sorts of problems which culminated in us standing harassing shoppers as they walked by for change.
We resorted to our usual behaviour when things get difficult in life- 'lets eat'. So we had lunch and things looked better. We then found the tourist information centre and booked into a city tour. While we were waiting for this to start we wandered up to the old mill which has been beautifully restored.
A mill was first recorded here in the Domesday Book in 1086. The Winchester City Mill earned its name in 1554 when it was given as a gift to Winchester by Queen Mary in part of the celebrations of her wedding at Winchester Cathedral. It has an interesting history and is well worth a visit. The mill harnesses the fast flowing water of the river Itchen which had been diverted by the Romans to its present site. The water comes up through the chalk. There were lots of hands on activities and we were lucky as there were ladies baking using the flour. Parnsip and courgette bread doesn't sound good but it was delicious.
Then it was time to meet up with our guide Dale. It was a very informative tour. He started in this beautiful park which along with the mill are part of the site of St Mary’s Abbey, once one of the largest religious houses in England until destroyed in Henry VIII's firesale in 1539. The site was subsequently gifted to the City by Queen Mary Tudor to celebrate her marriage to Philip of Spain in the Cathedral in July 1554
Then we followed the course of the river and along the city wall. We saw one section where they had excavated the Roman foundations of the wall. The wall has large intact sections and it is a mismatch of Roman, Saxon and Norman stones.
One of the 2 surviving city gates.
During Saxon times Winchester became the capital of Wessex and then England until some time after the Norman conquest. King Alfred is given hero status herenas the best king England has ever had as he was not only a great warrior who dealt with the Danes but a deeply Spiritual man who built many churches and he encouraged education for all.
Wolvesey has been an important residence of the wealthy and powerful Bishops of Winchester since Anglo-Saxon times. Standing next to Winchester Cathedral, the extensive surviving ruins of the palace date largely from the 12th-century work of Bishop Henry of Blois. The last great occasion here was on 25 July 1554, when Queen Mary and Philip of Spain held their wedding breakfast in the East Hall.
Winchester Cathedral is huge. There was a Saxon cathedral here before the Normans replaced it with a bigger and better one. In 1901 it was realised it was sinking as it had been built on the original course of the diverted river.William the Conqueror demolished a whole forest of trees to lay as a foundation before building and this had done the job for over a century. It was saved by the heroic work of Portsmouth dockyard diver, William Walker. For 6 years he dived in the murky water to temporarily shore up the walls by putting concrete underneath them. He used 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks and 900,000 bricks!
The history of the city was just overwhelming! Have to study it more later!!
The day ended with great excitement when we were able to go down into the kitchens of King Alfred's Saxon palace. It is in the basement of a shop and they were very happy to let us see it.
It has been verified and is very impressive but it is not promoted to general public. It even had a huge burnt beam- perhaps that's where he burnt to cakes! We spent ages there and then treated ourselves to afternoon tea
Example of the narrow medieval streets
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