THE CLOISTERS, WINCHESTER COLLEGE
Returning to the Butter Cross, the Piazza adjoining reminds one of the Butter Walk at Dartmouth, and the famous "Rows" of Chester. It was used for many years as a market where the country folk brought their produce, being then known as the "Penthouse". The mints established on the site by Athelstan were noted for the excellence of the coinage made there. In the Westgate Museum an old leaden box is shown which was discovered at Beauworth by a shepherd. It was found to contain some six thousand silver pennies of the coinage of William I and Rufus. In addition to its famous mints Winchester was the chief trading centre of this part of England during mediaeval days. A great woollen trade was carried on with Flanders when the city became one of the "staple" towns, still commemorated by "Staple Gardens", a narrow lane leading out of the north side of High Street, where the great warehouse for the storage of wool once stood. A little below the Queen Anne Guildhall, but on the opposite side of the street, is St. John's Hospital; while another old lane leading off from the main thoroughfare is Royal Oak Passage, at the junction of which with the street is the ancient house known as God-begot House, with some good timberwork and a fine gable. "Jewry" Street recalls to our memory the early settlement of the Jews in Winchester, for the citizens seem to have been more kindly disposed towards this persecuted race than those of the majority of English cities at an early period in their history. Richard of Devizes, in 1189, called Winchester the "Jerusalem of the Jews", and, writing of the massacre and plunder of the Jews in London and other cities, said: "Winchester alone, the people being prudent and circumspect and the city always acting mildly, spared its vermin". The Jews settled in Winchester between the years 1090 and 1290, landing at Southampton and making their way up the Itchen until they came in sight of the old capital of the kingdom. Crossing the river, they entered the city by the East Gate, and finally chose as their abiding-place a site near the north walls, in a thoroughfare then known as "Scowrtenstrete", Shoemakers' Row. The community soon could boast of a synagogue, and were the possessors of several schools. At the bottom of the High Street are the Abbey Gardens, so called from their being on the site of an abbey founded by Ealhswith, King Alfred's queen, in which to spend the years of her widowhood. The general plan of the gardens has probably been but little altered since the days when the nuns paced their shady paths in pious meditation. An ancient manuscript of prayers, used by the abbess in the ninth century, is preserved in the British Museum. Ealhswith's son, Edward the Elder, levied a toll from all merchandise passing under the City Bridge by water, and beneath the East Gate by land, for the better support of the abbey founded by his mother. Before the bridge stood the East Gate, and crossing we are in that part of the city known as the "Soke". In the "Liberty of the Soke" the bishop of the diocese had his court, presided over by the bailiff as his deputy. Thus the bishop's jurisdiction was entirely independent of that of the civic authorities. Wolvesey was his palace, and within its walls, now ivy-clad and crumbling to decay, he held his court, with three tithing men and a constable to assist him. Here also was his exchequer, and here he imprisoned those who offended against his laws. All that now remains of the once celebrated episcopal palace of Wolvesey—said, with no authority, to have been so named from the tribute of wolves' heads levied upon the Welsh by King Edgar—are a few ruined walls, of sufficient extent to give one an idea of the strength of the castle in its original state. At Wolvesey King Alfred brought together the scholars who were to aid him in writing the "Chronicles of the Time"; and on the outer walls he hung the bodies of Danish pirates as a warning to those who made periodical raids up the valley of the Itchen.
In the hands of Bishop de Blois the palace became of great importance, and withstood a siege by David, King of Scotland, and Robert, Earl of Gloucester. De Blois was one of those who assisted at the coronation of Henry II, and pulled down the tower when the bishop was absent from the diocese without the royal permission, on a visit to Clugny. Although shorn of much of its former strength, the palace remained a fortress until the fortifications of Winchester were reduced to a heap of ruins by Cromwell.
RUINS OF WOLVESEY CASTLE
Beyond the City Bridge rises St. Giles's Hill, named after Giles, one of those numerous hermit saints who played so prominent a part in establishing the Christian faith in these islands. The hill is deeply grooved by a railway cutting; on it was held for many centuries a kind of open market or annual fair, which attracted the wealthy merchants of France, Flanders, and Italy. The fair generally lasted a fortnight, during which time all other local business was suspended, the shops closed, and the mayor handed over the keys of the city to the bishop, who claimed large fees from the stall holders. Thirty marks were paid for repairs needed at the Church of St. Swithun, and similar sums were demanded by the abbeys. Bishop Walkelin was granted the tolls of the fair for three days by William Rufus, his kinsman; but in the time of Henry III the privilege was extended to sixteen days. The stalls were arranged in long rows, and named according to the goods sold thereon, or after the nationality of the vendors. Thus one row would be named the Street of Caen, another that of Limoges, while the Drapery and Spicery stalls were held by the monks of St. Swithun, who proved themselves energetic traders at the great annual fair, which lasted until modern times, and was removed in due course from St. Giles's Hill into the city. Dean Kitchin writes: "As the city grew stronger and the fair weaker, it slid down St. Giles's Hill and entered the town, where its noisy ghost still holds revel once a year".
At the present day St. Giles's Hill is a pleasant spot from which to view the venerable city. Down the valley, by the Itchen, rises the Hospital and Church of St. Cross, a picturesque and peaceful group of buildings viewed from any position, but particularly so taken in conjunction with the ancient city and the fertile valley threaded by numberless small streams. On the left side of the valley is St. Catherine's Hill, a bold and outstanding spur crowned with a small belt of trees surrounded by a circular earthwork. At one time a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine capped the hill, and slight traces of the building may yet be seen. Here is the interesting maze, said to have been made by a Winchester College boy who was obliged to remain behind during the holidays, but probably of a different origin, some antiquaries holding the opinion that it is of great antiquity, and in some way connected with ecclesiastical penance.
Looking citywards, one can see the towers of many churches rising above the gables and chimneys of the houses. Near at hand are St. Peter's, Cheeshill, and St. John's, the former an interesting little building with a mixture of styles, among which the Norman and Early English predominate, the windows being of a later period. The bell turret is situated at the south-east corner of the building, which, as a whole, gives a singular impression, due to the fact that it is nearly as broad as it is long. St. John's Church is the most interesting in the city, containing as it does a fine rood screen, with the rood-loft stairs still existing in a turret of fifteenth-century date. Other features of interest are the fourteenth-century Decorated screens that enclose the chancel on each side, and an arched recess at the east end of the north wall, containing an altar-tomb with quatrefoil panels supporting shields on which are the symbols of the Passion. The tomb itself bears neither inscription nor date.
Here also are a set of carved bench ends, a Perpendicular pulpit, and an octagonal font.