Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/844

Rh WINCHESTER 832 WINCHESTER. erected ;by St. Ethelwald in the 10th century, as re- mained uninjured by the Danes. Having completed the present tower, and repaired the nave and transepts, Walkelyn dedicated the church to SS. Peter, Paul, and Swithin ; the reliqties of which last saint he disinterred from his tomb in the churchyard, and placed with the hones of Saxon kings in the mortuary chests, which now surmount the choir screen. On the death of Walkelyn, in 1098, William Rufus, who had been crowned here, seized upon the bishopric and held it till the year 1100, when, having been shot in the New Forest, his corpse was brought here in a charcoal burner's cart and buried in the centre of the choir. On the death of Eufus, his younger brother Henry I. seized upon the Treasury, then kept at Winchester, and caused himself to be crowned, in disparagement of his elder brother Robert, and the better to secure his title, the same year married in the cathedral the Princess Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III., king of Scotland. In the same year a destructive fire broke out, which consumed the royal palace, the mints, the guildhall, a considerable portion of the city, and many of the public records. Under the protection of Henry I. it attained its highest pitch of prosperity. At this time it contained two royal palaces or castles, an episcopal palace, a cathedral, three monas- teries of royal foundation, and 90 churches most of which, however, were of wood ; its buildings, exceeding their present limits, extended as far as Worthy on the N., St. Cross on the S., Wyke on the W., and St. Mag- dalen's Hill on the E. During the civil war between Stephen and the Empress Matilda, a fierce struggle was carried on for several weeks in the streets of Winchester, in which the royal palace, the abbey of St. Mary, Hyde Abbey, and about 40 churches were burnt or laid in ruins. From this period it declined, although frequently the temporary residence of the sovereign, and on various occasions the seat of the parliaments one of which, in the reign of Edward I., passed the famous " statutes of Winchester," and another, in that of Edward II., con- demned the Earl of Kent. It experienced a partial gleam of prosperity in the reign of Edward III., who made it the staple for wool, and for about a century it was an important seat of the woollen manufacture. In the reign of Henry VI. a petition was presented to the king, which stated that 997 houses were uninhabited and 17 churches shut up. Henry VIII. entertained here the Emperor Charles V., but brought great desola- tion on the town by the suppression of its numerous re- ligious establishments. In the civil war of Charles I. the city was taken and retaken several times first, by Waller, for the parliament, in 1642 ; second, by Ogle, for the king, in 1643 ; again the same year by Waller, when the cathedral was much damaged by the Common- wealth soldiers, who destroyed or defaced the stained- glass windows, the monuments, and other relics ; and finally by Cromwell in 1645, after the battle of Naseby, when, after a week's siege, he undermined and blew up Winchester castle, and laid Wolvesey castle in ruins, besides many churches and the city walls. St. Mary's College escaped uninjured, it is said, through the advo- cacy of one of the parliamentary officers, who had been educated in the college. In 1666 the city was so ravaged by the plague that the country people dared not approach the town with provisions, but left them at a spot beyond the Westgate, now marked by an obelisk. The city was a favourite place of Charles II., who fre- quently visited it, and employed Sir Christopher Wren to design and erect a palace, which he intended for a summer residence, on the site of the ancient castle, but which was shortly after interrupted by the king's death, and not resumed till the reign of Anne, when Prince George of Denmark recommenced the works, but he dying befere it was finished, the Government assigned it as a place of confinement for French prisoners in the last century ; it has subsequently been converted into barracks for infantry, and a large building, recently erected in the adjoining grounds, as a chapel for the garrison. The older portion of the town is occupied by narrow streets, branching off at right angles from the High-street, a thoroughfare of about three-quarters of a mile in length, running nearly due E. and W. through the centre of the city. The streets are well paved and lighted, and the drainage, formerly defeetive.isnowunder- oing a thorough revision. Among the recent improve- ments are the extensive waterworks and the extramural cemetery of 7 acres, situated to the S.W. of the town. Nearly m the middle of the High-street, on the S. side, is an ancient piazza, called the Pent House, with the butter cross in front, supposed to have been built in the reign of Henry VI. by one of the city guilds, tradition says with the money paid for a dispensation to eat butter in Lent whence the name and restored in 1865 by Mr. G. G. Scott, under William Budden, mayor. The cross, which is in the later English style, consists of 3 stories, 43 feet high, on a base of 5 steps, orna- mented with pinnacles and niches containing figures of Alfred the Great, St. Lawrence, William of Wickham, and Florence de Lunn. A little higher up the street, on the same side of the way, is the townhall, rebuilt in 1713, with a figure of Queen Anne in front ; and at the top of the street is the western gate of the city, contain- ing the muniment room, where the archives of the city and the standard weights and measures are kept. A little to the left of the gateway is the chapel or hall of the royal castle built by William the Conqueror, and now used as the county hall. This last is 110 feet long by 45 wide, the roof being supported by Gothic arches springing from marble pillars, and at the E. end is suspended the so-called round table of King Arthur. Other public buildings are the county gaol and bride- well, recently erected on West Hill, in place of the old gaol, which stood in Jewry-street, and the bridewell, which stood on the site of Hyde Abbey, N. of the town; the new corn-exchange in Jewry-street, built in 1839, with a Tuscan portico and front of 120 feet; market- house, erected in 1772, and rebuilt in 1857 ; county hospital, on the summit of a hill to the S.W. of the town, intended to supersede the present edifice, erected in 1736 ; a museum, assembly rooms, race stand, union workhouse, general post-office, mechanics' institution, subscription library, stone bridge of one arch across the Itchen, a savings-bank, and four commercial banks. In religious, educational, and charitable foundations, Winchester stands unrivalled: the first place being due to the Cathedral, both on account of its high an- tiquity and the magnificence of its design. Few churches in Europe exhibit finer specimens of Gothic architecture than are displayed by the carved roof of the choir, erected by Bishop Fox, and the delicate lace work of the stone altar screen. The proportions of the edifice are from the W. entrance to the choir, 356 feet ; length of choir, 135 feet ; and the lady chapel at the E. end, 64 feet ; making a total length of 545 feet. The nave is 87 feet wide, including the aisles, or 186 through the transepts, and 78 feet high. The tower is 48 feet by 50, and only 139 feet high. The cathedral has undergone many restorations and repairs ; but that which was completed in 1828 was the most perfect, having occupied 16 years, and cost upwards of 50,000. The most recent restoration is that of the E. window. Among the numerous monuments in the cathedral may be mentioned the tomb of William Rufus, of plain grey stone, without inscription, in the choir ; the six mor- tuary chests, filled by Bishop Fox with the remains of Saxon kings and saints ; the chantries or oratories of the bishops Wykeham, Edyngton, Courtney, and Prior Silkstede, with his rebus, a skein of silk and a steed ; Fox, containing his effigy and crest ; St. Swithin, Gardiner, Cardinal Beaufort, and Waynflete, lately restored; also the sepulchre chapel and the Grecian screen of Inigo Jones, with statues of James I. and Charles I. ; also Prior Silkstede's pulpit, Bishop Walke- lyn's old square font, sculptured with basso-relievos of St. Nicholas and his chapter, supported on four pillars ; Bishop Trelawney's throne, the effigies of De Foix the Crusader, and a bronze of Lord Portland, besides an altar-piece by West, representing " Christ raising Lazarus," and the chair in which Queen Mary sat