Winchester

 May 11th comfortably warm and fine 

A leisurely morning spent in Life Administration = catching up on travel diaries and post card writing.

After a consultation with Lady Satnav we drove to Tanners Lane and the Friarsgate Carpark.   My oh my the allocated spaces were not generous.  Little Sister successfully manoeuvred our vehicle into a spot, we paid the fee to park all day, checked with the parking warden that we wouldn’t be locked out and strode confidently off in the direction of the Cathedral tower.   Turning a corner at the Iceland store and lo and behold it was a market day in Winchester with stalls selling everything from German style wood carving, to woollen blankets from Flintshire to slices of Japanese Baked Cheesecake and numerous artisan breads.   We’d had a late breakfast so no temptation.   

Wonky buildings, a strange bell tower, a prominent clock kept me looking up and the uneven flagstones meant I had to look down.   We made our way up the gentle slope to Westgate making use of the complimentary information boards along the way.  

 Between Westgate and the entry to The Great Hall there was a tunnel entrance to the excavated and preserved underground passages of the ancient Winchester Castle.

The door to The Great Hall was splendid with ornate cast iron hinges swinging the great slabs of oak.   We paid the fee to the little man at the desk who took great delight in telling us comprehensively how our ticket gave us access to two other museums also for the following 12 months!   

And then there on the wall ahead was the huge wooden round table with numbered segments named for each of King Arthur’s gallant knights.   Apparently their legendary chivalry and valour was greatly admired through the centuries so much so that Henry VIII had his own image painted at the top as well as his famous Tudor Rose.   The historians know it is a table because there are mortise holes at four outer points as well as one in the centre for the pedestal leg.   

The stone room was awash with colour from the heraldic stained glass - all but one depicting knights of old.   The one non-knight is Elias of Dereham a commoner who oversaw the construction of The Great Hall for Henry III in the early 1200s.  

At the end opposite the Round Table were two massive gates/doors created in the 20th century to mark the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.  An 81 is forged into each door above the sun rays at the top.   The wall behind these doors was decorated with a design listing the names of Parliamentary Representatives from Hampshire  1283 to 1868.  There are gaps and this was because of the Plague in Winchester.

In the gift shop I found a postcard telling me which number on the Round Table corresponded to which knights and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the two names I remembered from Mother’s childhood story book were number 1 and number 2  Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot.

In one corner of The Great Hall there was a massive bronze of what I thought was Queen Victoria but I couldn’t place her in the realms of King Arthur so asked a lady standing nearby, “ are you English?”  “Yes” said she.  So I asked if this bronze was Queen Victoria.   “Oh I don’t know I’m American”, was the reply.  Go figure!   We use the same words but we sure don’t speak the same language.   Turns out it was Queen Victoria and I still don’t know why she was there.

Then a stroll down the hill to Costa for a very welcome pot of tea.   When the clerk said one pot would do two we assured her would could drink a pot each and proceeded to do so.  English tea tastes very much better than I get at home and I’m enjoying this new habit.

Then turned right into the Cathedral and aimed steadfastly for the main door.  I was here with a purpose.   Having read Tracey Chevalier’s book “A Single Thread”, visiting Winchester Cathedral to see the kneelers was definitely on The List.   I asked as I paid the entry fee and the lady smilingly told me to go look in the choir stalls.  

Today there was a band practising for a Beatles Tribute Concert this evening so the music didn’t really match the splendour of this vast and ornate cathedral.   

Interesting tombstones and plaques, many in Latin and most requiring a good knowledge of Roman numerals.   Some were in Olde English where f and s, u and v, i and j seem to be used interchangeably.   Later on in the gift shop I asked what Hants. stood for and was told Hampshire but the gift shop ladies didn’t seem to know why the n and t and I’m assuming it could be that n and m, and perhaps p and t were also interchangeable.   

Ancient effigies,  spell binding carved crypted ceilings, ancient mortuary chests, retrochoir tiles and finally the longed for kneelers. 

 I was amazed to see how much of a resemblance there was between each individual one in embroidery design as well as in colour.  

Near Jane Austen’s tomb we found evidence of parents with little imagination for names for children

.  Some plaques were more poignant and some of the wording brought a smile.

We ambled out to find  a place for dinner  and there it was ‘Rick Stein Winchester’ so in we went.  I had delicious Smoked Haddock Fishcakes with asparagus and salad.  Little Sister has Chicken, Leek and Cider Gratin with of course salad and asparagus.  Delicious!

And in the evening we went to Evensong where the Cathedral choristers sang and the pipe organ’s fine bass note’s reverberated so much that the old oak choir stalls shook.

And here endeth a glorious day in England’s ancient capital.