Winchester Cathedral Hampshire Family History Guide

Winchester Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Winchester. It is located in the county of Hampshire.

Alternative names: Old Minster, The Holy Trinity and St Peter and St Paul and St Swithun

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1599
Bishop’s Transcripts: None

Nonconformists include:

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

See Winchester Hampshire Family History Guide

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

The Cathedral.—A mythical cathedral is assigned to the year 177; and a reconstruction of it to the year 293. A real cathedral, or, at least, a church so called, was built in 647; a reconstruction of it in 980; and a second reconstruction in 1095. The site is low ground adjacent to the river.

The present pile possibly includes fragments of the reconstruction of 980; certainly includes portions of that of 1095; and comprises so many subsequent additions and renovations as to exhibit all styles from late Saxon to Tudor, and to belong to upwards of ten centuries. It is cruciform, with a central tower; and has a total length of 560 feet. The nave is 250 feet long, 86 feet wide, and 78 feet high; the transept is 208 feet long, and 78 feet wide; the choir, with adjuncts, is 138 feet long, and 43 feet wide; the Lady chapel is 54 feet long; the presbytery is 70 feet long; and the tower is 50 feet long, 48 feet wide, and 138½ feet high.

The W front and all the nave were completed by the famous William of Wykeham, and are later English. The W front is 118 feet wide; has a great window of six orders, and in three compartments; rises into a panelled gable, set between hexagonal turrets, crowned with spirelets; and shows, in the canopied niche of the gable, a statue of William of Wykeham. The nave exteriorly would be bald but for an outline fringed with pinnacles; and interiorly is composed of eleven bays.

The transept is of three bays, the choir of five bays, the Lady chapel of three bays, the presbytery of three bays; and the transept and the tower are Norman, the Lady chapel, elaborate Tudor, the presbytery, early and decorated English. The sanctuary extends from the lectern to an exquisite reredos; was constructed in 1320-50; and is the finest specimen of tabernacle-work in England.

The chief monuments are chantries of William of Wykeham, William de Edingdon, Bishop Fox, Bishop Gardiner, Bishop Waynflete, and Cardinal Beaufort; mitred tombs of Bishop Morley and Bishop Mews; an effigies of Bishop de Rupibus; a brass of Bishop Cooper; monuments of Bishop Tomline, Bishop Courtenay, Bishop de Lucy, Bishop Willis, Bishop Levinz, Bishop Ethelmar, Bishop Langton, Bishop North, Prior de Basyng, Prior Silkstede, Dr. Joseph Warton, Izaak Walton, Sir J. Clobery, Sir Arnold de Gaveston, Richard Earl of Portland, Prince Richard, son of William I., Dr. Littlehales, Elizabeth Montagu, and Miss Jane Austen: a table-tomb of the Rev. F. Iremonger; and memorial windows to Charles Morley and Canon Poulter.

The cloisters measured 180 feet by 174, and were destroyed in 1570. The chapter-house stood in the garden of the deanery; covered an area of 86 feet by 37; and is now represented by a north Norman arcade, and west arches open to the close.

The ancient sacristy, in the W aisle of the S transept, is now used as the chapter-house.

The deanery is entered by three arches and a vaulted passage, of the time of Henry III.; and includes a hall, with fine. roof and windows, of the 15th century.

The episcopal palace, from 1138 till the time of the Commonwealth, was Wolvesey castle; the subsequent episcopal palace was founded in 1684 and completed in 1706, contains a chapel, a gallery, and some good rooms in the architecture of its period, and was used for some time as a diocesan training-school; and the present episcopal palace is not at Winchester, but at Farnham in Surrey.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Administration

County: Hampshire
Civil Registration District: Winchester
Probate Court: Not Applicable
Diocese: Winchester
Rural Deanery: Not Applicable
Poor Law Union: Not Applicable
Hundred: Winchester Borough
Province: Canterbury