Ethelwold was buried in the southern crypt.
This Saxon church was succeeded by the present cathedral, begun in 1079, by Walkelyn, the first Norman bishop.
Walkelyn was of noble birth and related to William Rufus, who granted him license to search for stone in the Isle of Wight and as much wood from the forest of Hanepinges (on the Alresford road) as his carpenters could take in four days and nights. The wily Bishop collected a large force of men and within the assigned time cut down the whole forest. The King was furious. The new Cathedral was finished in 1093, having been rebuilt by Walkelyn, from the west front to the great tower, including the transepts. He also removed, and with great pomp, St. Swithun’s shrine from the old altar to the new one. Walkelyn died in 1098 and was buried in the nave.
Bishop Lucy, Bishop William of Edington and William of Wykeham are the next three great architects of Winchester.
“It was Bishop Edington who commenced the alteration of Winchester Cathedral into the Perpendicular style; he died in 1366, and the work was continued by William of Wykeham, who mentions in his will that Edington had finished the west end, with two windows on the north side and one on the south: the change in the character of the work is very distinctly marked. Bishop Edington’s work at Winchester was executed at a later period than that at Edington, and, as might be expected, the new idea is more fully developed; but on a comparison between the west window of Winchester and the east window of Edington, it will at once be seen that the principle of construction is the same; there is a central division carried up to the head of the window, and sub-arches springing from each side: it may be observed that whenever this arrangement of the sub-arches occurs in Decorated work, it is a sign that the work is late in the style. Before the death of Bishop Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular Style were fully established. These chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.”—(J. H. P.)
In the eastern part of the Crypt there is ancient masonry undoubtedly belonging to the time of St. Ethelwold; then we find above it the massive Norman work of Bishop Walkelyn; then, to the east, the graceful Early English of Bishop Lucy; along the nave, the Perpendicular columns of Bishop Edington and William of Wykeham, on which rests the exquisite groined roof. Above this roof the great rough-hewn beams cut from the King’s forest by Walkelyn more than eight hundred years ago can still be seen and in a perfect state of soundness.
“In this great church many stirring scenes of English history have been enacted. The early kings made Winchester their home and the Cathedral their chapel. Here it was that Egbert, after being crowned in regem totius Britanniæ, with assent of all parties, issued an edict in 828, ordering that the island should thereafter be always styled England and its people Englishmen. Here King Alfred was crowned and lived and died. Here, in 1035, Cnut’s body lay in state before the high altar, over which was hung henceforth for many a year, a most precious relic, the great Norseman’s crown. Here William the Conqueror often came, and wore his crown at the Easter Gemôt; here, too, clustered many of the national legends: St. Swithun here did his mighty works, and here were the forty dismal days of rain; hard by is the scene of the great fight between Colbrand the Dane and Guy of Warwick; in the nave of the church Queen Emma trod triumphant on the red-hot plough-shares as on a bed of roses; hither came Earl Godwin’s body after his marvellous and terrible death, one of the well-known group of malignant Norman tales. It was in Winchester Cathedral that Henry Beauclerk took to wife his queen, Matilda, to the great joy of all English-speaking folk. Here Stephen of Blois was crowned King; and here, on the other hand, the Empress Maud was welcomed by city and people with high rejoicings; here, too, was drawn up and issued the final compact, in 1153, which closed the civil war of that weary reign and secured the crown to the young Prince Henry. He in his turn often sojourned in Winchester, and befriended in his strong way the growing city. The Cathedral witnessed another compact in the dark days of King John: the King was here reconciled to the English Church in the person of Stephen Langton; Henry III. and his Queen Eleanor, were here in 1242; and on May-day of that year ‘came the Queen into the Chapter-house to receive society.’ In 1275 Edward I., with his Queen, was welcomed with great honour by the prior and brethren of St. Swithun, and attended service in the church. The christening of Arthur, Prince of Wales, elder brother of Henry VIII., was here; and here Henry VIII. met his astute rival, the Emperor Charles V. It was in Winchester Cathedral that the marriage of Philip and Mary took place, and the chair in which she sat is still to be seen in the church. The Stuart Kings loved the place. Here in the great rebellion was enacted that strange scene when, after the capture of the city, the mob rushed into the Cathedral, wild for booty and mischief, and finding in the chests nothing but bones, amused themselves by throwing them at the stained windows of the choir. It was at this time that Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes, a Parliamentary officer and an old Wykehamist, stood with drawn sword at the door of Wykeham’s chantry to protect it from violence. Since the days of the Merry Monarch, who was often at Winchester, and loved it so well that he built his palace here, no striking historical events have been enacted within its walls. The church by degrees recovered from the ruin of the Commonwealth time, and has had a quiet, happy life from that time onward, a tranquil grey building sleeping amidst its trees, in the heart of the most charming of all south English cities.”—(G. W. K.)
The best view of Winchester Cathedral is from the top of St. Catherine’s hill, where the great mass rises solemnly over the distant city. Its enormous length is broken by the bold transepts, which extend three bays beyond the aisles. People are, as a rule, disappointed with their first view of the exterior, because of its lack of decoration and the lowness of the heavy Norman tower in the centre. The bright-green turf of the Precincts and the trees, however, make with the grey walls an impressive picture. A short avenue of trees leads through the Close to the western door.
The West Front was originally the work of Edington (1345-1366). It is 118 feet in breadth and composed of a panelled gable of Perpendicular style with hexagonal turrets. Immediately under the window in a gallery over the entrance, the bishop used to give his benediction to the people. The figure of William of Wykeham stands in the gable, replacing an ancient bishop removed in 1860. No one seems to know whether it represented William of Wykeham, Bishop Edington, or St. Swithun. Very probably it was the latter, as its companions on the gable were St. Peter and St. Paul, the three patron saints of the Saxon Cathedral.
The great West Window is divided by cross mullions into three perpendicular and six horizontal compartments. It is said to be filled with glass, collected from different parts of the building, after the general smashing by the Parliamentary soldiers in 1646. Winston says these pieces are very early Perpendicular glass, and may have been placed together in the window, as we now see them, in Bishop Edington’s time.