WINCHESTER. 



tranfaftion is recorded to ba«e taken place in Winchefter. oppodte parties ; but after the fatal battle of Nafeby in 



The current coin of the realm having been greatly debafed 1645, " was finally reduced by CromweU. The works of 



by the different mint-mafters, the king iu 1125 affembled the caftle were blown up, the fortifications of the city were 



them in this city, when all, except three who dwelt in Win- deftroyed, together with the bifhop's caftle of Wolvefey, 



chefter were found guilty and feverely puniflied. The bafe and feveral churches, and other public buildings. During 



money 'was cried down, and an entirely new coinage ordered the latter part of the reign of Charles II. Winchefter had 



to be made by the three matters who had preferved their a profpeft of recovering fome portion of its former fplen- 



honeftv. About the fame period Henry caufed to be made dour ; for he chofe it for his ufual refidence, when not re- 



a ftandard yard, from the length of his own arm, '" order 

 to prevent frauds in the meafurement of cloth. This ftand- 

 ard is fuppofed to have been depofited with other mea- 

 fures, &c. in Winchefter. The city fuffered greatly in the 

 diffenfions confequent on the death of Henry, by the 



quired by prefence in the capital. In imitation of his ex- 

 ample, many of the nobility and gentry likewife erefted 

 manfions in the city; but by Charles's death in 1685, the 

 projeft was laid afide ; the palace was left unfiniflied ; and 

 fo completely has its original deftinaliou fince been changed. 



ftruggle between his nephew Stephen and his daughter, the that, after being frequently ufed as a prifon of war, it is 

 »mr.pprs Matilila. or Maud. Stephen's party held the now converted into military barracks for the diftrift. 



hile 



empre'fs Matilda, or 'Maud. Stephen's party 

 bifhop's palace, the cathedral, and adjoining quarters, w 

 Maud's poffeffed the caftle and the remainder of the city. 

 By fire from Stephen's party, the whole north portion, then 

 the moft populous, the royal palace, the abbey of St. 

 Mary, and twenty churches, the magnificent monaftery of 

 St. Grimbald, the fuburb of Hyde, &c. were deftroyed. 

 Many privileges were conferred on Winchefter by Henry II., 

 in particular, in 1 1 84, that of being governed by a mayor, 

 ?nth a fiibordinate bailiff. His fucceffor, Richard Cccur- 

 de-lion, was folemnly re-crowned in the cathedral in 1194, 

 on his return from captivity under the duke of Auftria. 

 In the end of 1207 was born in Winchefter Henry III. ; 

 and fo in afterwards his father John, for the fum of zcx) 

 m 



the city 

 poratio 



itary 



Fortifications: Palace. — The ancient walls of Winchefter 

 form an irregular parallelogram, inclofing a portion of the 

 flope of the weftern hill, and of the level valley %vatered by 

 the Itchen. But the walls are now nearly deftroyed, and 

 the fofs in many places filled up. The four gates feemed 

 to have been conftrufted where thofe of the Roman in- 

 trenchment were opened. Through two of them, on the 

 north and fouth fides, paffed the great Roman road com- 

 municating between Vindonum, now Silchefter, and Clau- 

 fentum, near Southampton. Through the gate in the weft 

 fide of the inclofure, correfpondiiig to the Praetorian gate- 

 of the intrenchment. ran the road communicating with Sor- 

 biodunum, where now ftand the remains of Old Sarum. 



arks paid at once, and 1 00 marks /"cr annum, conferred on This gate ftill exifts, but much altered from its ancient 

 le city all the great and unprecedented privileges of a cor- ftate : part of it is fuppofed to be coeval with the city walls, 



^ Thus Winchefter became the firft of all the 



corporate cities or towns in the kingdom, nearly two years 

 before London had even obtained the privilege of being 

 governed by a mayor. The dignity of the city was in fome 

 meafure rettored by the refidence of Henry III. during his 

 minority ; but it again feverely fuffered in the contefts be- 

 tween the king and the barons. A heavy blow on Win- 

 chefter proceeded from the removal of the royal refidence, 

 in the reign of Edward I. ; who neverthelefs held feveral 

 parliaments there. Under Edward III. it was conftituted 

 one of the fixed markets, or ftaples for wool ; but by the 

 removal of the ftaple in 1363, the decline of Winchefter 

 from commerce and wealth was fenfible and uniform. In 

 this reign the rebuilding of the nave of the cathedral was 

 begun by bifhop Edington ; but the honour of completing 

 it, with material alterations, was referved for his cele- 



To Winchefter 



but the whole weftern face difplays workmanfhip of much 

 later date. The eaft or Decuman-gate opened accefs to 

 the lively and wholefome waters of the Itchen. 



The caftle, now entirely deftroyed, overlooking the city 

 from the weft, owes its origin to the fyftem of dominion 

 adopted by WiUiam of Normandy. Within its boundary, 

 of an elliptic form, 850 feet from north to fouth, and in its 

 greateft breadth 250 feet from weft to eaft, ftands the ori- 

 ginal chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, and apparently 

 erefted by the king of that name. It is in length 1 10 feet, 

 divided into a nave and fide-aifles. At the eail end is fuf- 

 pended the antique curiofity called king Arthur's round- 

 table ; but with more accuracy attributed to king Stephen, 

 and probably introduced by him to prevent difputes for 

 precedency, during their entertainments, among the chi- 

 valrous champions of that age. It is 18 feet in diameter, 

 compofed of llout oaken planks, painted with the figure of 



brated fucceffor, William of Wykeham _ - . . „ 



Henry VI. was a confiderable benefaflor ; for in his reign the renowned Arthur, and the names of his twenty-four 

 it was fo reduced in trade and population, that the in- knights, as collefted from the romances of the 14th and 

 habitants, in a petition to the king, reprefented 997 houfes 15 th centuries. The coftume is, however, of the time of 

 to be unoccupied, and 17 churches fliut up. The fee of 

 Winchefter was held for a (hort time by cardinal Wolfey ; 

 but in the time of his fucceffor, Gardiner, the final diffolu- 

 tion of the monafteries, and the confequent deftruftion of 

 religious houfes, reduced the city to be little more than the 

 fkeleton of what it had formerly been. It revived for a 

 fhort time in the reign of Mary, who there folemnized her 

 union with Philip of Spain, and reftored to the fee many 

 lands which had been alienated by her father and brother. 

 The city itfelf, however, had, as appears by a charter of 

 Elizabeth, fallen " into great ruin, decay, and poverty." 

 The commencement of 1603 was diftinguiftied by the pro- 

 clamation of James I. in Winchefter, by the fule authority 

 of the ftieriff of the county, without waiting for the orders 



Henry VIII., when the table was painted. This chapel 

 was, in Cromwell's time, converted into a county-hall, a 

 deftination to which it continues to be applied. In the year 

 1792, feveral thoufands of French ecclefiaftics fought re- 

 fuge on the Britifti ftiores. In their deftitute fituation, they 

 were generoufly fuccoured by the ftate and the people ; 

 and at one time one thoufand of them were accommodated 

 with lodgings, and all other neceffaries, in this deferted 

 abode of royalty. 



Winchefter poffeffed alfo another fortrefs at the oppofite 

 end of the city : this was Wolvefey caftle, the epifcopal 

 refidence erefted by the powerful bifhop Henry de Blois, 

 brother of king Stephen. 



Cathedral. — The grand objeft of attraftion in Winchefter 



of the privy council in London, who had paffed feveral is its cathedral, one of the moft interefting Itrudures of its 



hours in dehberation on the fubjeft. In the civil wars of kind in England, whether confidered with refpeft to the an- 



Charles I.'» time, Winchefter was fueceffively held by the tiquity of its foundation, to the importance of the tranf- 



r aftion* 



