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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 29, 2009 0:52:25 GMT
My gosh, Spindrift. It's hard to imagine any other town of this size that would seem to have nothing ugly intruding upon it!
I love your pictures. Each one conveys so much information, but could stand alone on its beauty and excellent composition. One that I particularly appreciated in this latest group is the first one in Reply #53. There is something about that view that really peels away the centuries and lets one imagine how the great cathedrals occupied their places in the landscape and in the consciousness of the populace.
You say your walks were pretty solitary because of the times you ventured out, but the picture looking down the Broadway seems to have quite a few pedestrians further down.
I think I would live in Winchester for that river alone -- it would be reason enough!
Hope you didn't get in trouble at the college, but I'm tickled that you sneaked in to get us those glorious pictures of a beautiful, timeless place.
Is the cathedral being cleaned? I see all the scaffolding, and the section above it looks to be a different color.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 29, 2009 9:23:01 GMT
Work is always being carried out on the cathedral. Bits and chunks of it are regularly restored. It seems a shame that when stone is 'restored' the original ancient bits are brought up to perfection and the timeless appearance is then ruined. However I understand that without constant restoration the cathedral would have fallen down long ago! As it is, there is a lot of work going on underneath in the watery foundations (peaty?) to prevent the edifice from sinking....
The first photo in reply #53 - I've made a mistake....it is NOT the cathedral. It's a view of Winchester College and Wolvesley Castle. There are 2 Wolvesley castles. One is the ancient one, mostly disintegrated, but some of the walls are still standing (see picture) and the Bishop of Winchester lives in the new castle which has been built beside it.
St. George's Hill, a busy street in the centre of the town which carries all the one-way traffic, has been ruined. All the old buildings have been demolished and in their place dreadful 1970s structures were built.
I didn't get into trouble leaving by the college back entrance...I just kept on walking (with cameras swinging around my neck!) and bid the man 'Good afternoon'.... he returned my greeting but he knew I'd transgressed!
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Post by lola on Jul 29, 2009 14:21:08 GMT
Beautiful, Spindrift. We appreciate your braving the porter to get those photos for us. You truly are privileged to live there.
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 29, 2009 20:41:53 GMT
Thank you, Spindrift!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 21:58:00 GMT
This has indeed been a special treat. Thank you SD!
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Post by spindrift on Jul 31, 2009 20:39:36 GMT
I am so thrilled you all like my efforts. I went on a tour today up to the top of the cathedral tower just so as I could take more pics. Unfortunately we were kept well away from the edges and I was a little disappointed. You can judge yourselves. I managed to snap my house! Since I propose to distribute this thread around Winchester I've decided to re-write some of the captions accompanying the pictures. I must also include some of the famous old buildings in the High Street and perhaps take the time to write about the ancient Hospital at St. Cross, founded in the 1130s by Prince Henry de Blois. St. Cross is Britain's oldest charitable organisation - just imagine that!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 31, 2009 20:49:32 GMT
Yaaaaay! I was so hoping you'd show us more of your beautiful town.
Thanks for the advisory about the captions. I want to look at this thread over & over again anyway, and the idea of more interesting facts about Winchester makes it even more tempting.
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Post by spindrift on Aug 1, 2009 15:42:00 GMT
Yesterday I joined a tour up to the top of the cathedral Tower. We climbed up 213 steep stone steps. Our guide took us outside onto the grass to talk about the Tower. He told us that the water-level was only 6ft beneath us and that the reason why the cathedral has not got a spire is probably because of difficulties with the building sinking into the mire. Hundreds of years ago the Retro-Choir gave way and parted company from the rest of the cathedral. During the 1100s the tower actually fell down and had to be rebuilt. The high water level has always been troublesome. It took William Walker - Diver Bill - to shore up the foundations by taking out a lot of rotting wood and putting concrete, stones and bricks. Some of this wood has been recycled and used as frames for supporting the bells. This timber dates back to the 14th century. A quick word about the clock which is only on this side of the tower, facing south, so that those living in the Close could see the time. These are some pictures I took whilst making my way up to the bell-ringing room. Please look carefully; graffiti was commonplace in days gone by! The chair has a special story. It is always in this corner of the window and fresh ribbons are tied onto it every year. Once a year a posy is left on it as a mark of respect for the men who, during World War 2, sat on it though every night of the war. It was their duty to watch over the Cathedral and the City and raise the alarm if bombs should fall and start fires. As it happened, no bombs fell. It appears that Hitler had given orders that bombs were not to be dropped onto Winchester or Oxford. In the case of Winchester he wanted to keep the city and cathedral undamaged because he planned to be crowned in the cathedral. This story has been confirmed by certain visiting German students.
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Post by imec on Aug 1, 2009 16:52:28 GMT
Great stuff! And such a beautiful presentation (can I send you my France pics?).
Love the Hitler anecdote and I think ancient graffiti is truly fascinating.
Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2009 17:17:34 GMT
Yes, there is ancient graffiti all over Europe -- but of course, there is graffiti in Pompei as well.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 1, 2009 20:25:41 GMT
This is so fascinating! I love how each bit of graffiti is in the style of period in which it was made.
It's wonderful to see the cathedral from this angle. Spindrift, are the painted wooden panels the underside of the bell chamber floor, or something else?
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Post by spindrift on Aug 1, 2009 22:05:34 GMT
Bixa - I should have mentioned that those wonderful wooden panels are on the ceilings in the Transepts. When the cathedral was first built those painted panels made up the entire ceiling. At some stage (around 1400) the height of the cathedral was raised so the panels had to go. When you look up now you only see arches and stone.
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Post by spindrift on Aug 1, 2009 23:01:39 GMT
There are 16 bells plus one 'dummy' bell for those learning to become bell-ringers. The bells ring full circle - rotating through 360 degrees to produce a Peal of Bells. Bells are not rung this way on the continent. The Tenor Bell weighs one and three-quarter tons. This bell has the name of each monarch inscribed upon it. In the case of King Edward V111 the bell was taken down and sent to the foundary somewhere in Norfolk (?) to be inscribed. By the time it was returned to Winchester cathedral the king had abdicated and George V1 had ascended the throne. It was all too much to take the bell down again and send it away - so someone had to come to the bell in the Tower to alter the inscription. The 16 bells and the gigantic wooden frame supporting them weigh 24 tons. A peal of bells involves using 12 bells and it takes 4 hours to ring. No bell-ringer may leave his post during this time. Only 4, 6 or 8 bells are used during a typical Sunday peal.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 2, 2009 6:33:15 GMT
Has anyone here read the Dorothy Sayers' novel, The Nine Tailors? Reading about the bells in Winchester Cathedral makes me want to read that book again.
Wonder how many professional bell ringers there are in England.
Look what I found!
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Post by bazfaz on Aug 2, 2009 6:58:00 GMT
Lovely photos and information. I think Winchester should offer you a job as official guide.
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Post by spindrift on Aug 2, 2009 10:26:29 GMT
Bixa - amazing that you found that clip! That was the room I was sitting in listening to the lecture about the bells. I've often thought of being a bell-ringer myself...but I think it's rather too physical. I wouldn't want to stand there for 4 hours on the trot.... There are wooden plaques on the walls commemorating bell-ringers going back centuries.... Baz - I'm hoping for some offers.... (strange how post #72 has a more formal presentation. I remember touching something different but I can't remember what!).
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 2, 2009 17:01:42 GMT
]Bixa - amazing that you found that clip! That was the room I was sitting in listening to the lecture about the bells. Really?! That's nifty. After seeing your section on the bells, I was dying to hear how they sounded. I've often thought of being a bell-ringer myself...but I think it's rather too physical. I wouldn't want to stand there for 4 hours on the trot.... I was surprised looking at the video that it wasn't more physical.There are wooden plaques on the walls commemorating bell-ringers going back centuries.... Take the job & attain immortality!Baz - I'm hoping for some offers.... You'll never get a plaque being a tour guide.
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Post by spindrift on Aug 2, 2009 22:13:31 GMT
Our little group is now on top of the tower. As a resident I've been told I may take photographs and not listen to the talk. We are allowed to stay only ten minutes at the top. Half-way up I took this picture with Winchester College in the background and St. Catherine's Hill behind. In the early Iron Age, about 400BC, a hillfort was constructed on St. Catherine's Hill, south-east of Winchester. Around 100BC the fort was abandoned and a defended enclosure, called Oram's Arbour, was built on higher ground on the western bank of the river Itchen. At the top of St. Catherine's Hill there is a Mizmaze, comprising nine nested squares. It is over 600 yards in length and is thought to have been made in the 17th century. Now for some views over Winchester -
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2009 0:05:21 GMT
Great pictures! You've captured it all so well. It's always good to get a view from such a height, top show it all 'at once'.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2009 5:33:21 GMT
As beautiful as these pictures are, I find myself wanting to see what Winchester looks like in the rain as well. The old stone buildings of Europe have a different charm when the elements are unleashed.
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Post by spindrift on Aug 3, 2009 8:23:11 GMT
I had thought of including more pictures of Winchester in the Snow but I hadn't considered the Rain....but you're right...there will be plenty of opportunity for taking photos in the rain.
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Post by lola on Aug 3, 2009 13:55:06 GMT
What a gift, Spindrift. Thanks.
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Post by lola on Aug 3, 2009 14:02:26 GMT
I enjoyed The Nine Tailors, bixa, and had the same thought of rereading when I saw the bells.
We can perhaps honor the men watching in the tower by keeping vigilant eye out for other megalomaniacs in the making.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 3, 2009 14:37:33 GMT
Whew! Another great group, Spindrift. The first one is only halfway up?! I notice everyone is leaning well back from the edge. Well, either that or they're winded and resting. What is that they're leaning against? Also, what is that wonderful modern building in the last picture? I love how the roof mimics the peaked roofs of the dormers in the building next to it, and how the balconies refer to the half-timbering in other parts of Winchester. When you catch your breath, will there be photos of the mizmaze?
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Post by spindrift on Aug 3, 2009 17:43:20 GMT
That 'wonderful modern building' is a new block of flats (with fine views of the cathedral from the penthouses) designed by a friend of mine. He is very talented. I don't know what the people were leaning against. We were kept well back from the edge. I suppose people were sitting down because the climb up is very steep. The first and second flights of stone steps are wide enough for bygone bishops to have climbed up in their full robes. Sometimes they needed to preach to the citizens from on high . The third flight of stone steps is very narrow indeed. I am of slight build nevertheless the staircase was hardly much larger than my shoulder to shoulder width. I'm sure that's scary for some. It's worse going down and there's not much to hang onto. The mizmaze - well, if the weather stays fine I might climb up there and photograph it....just for you!
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 3, 2009 2:19:03 GMT
Do you have any idea why the staircase is so narrow? Was it dictated by the structure of the building, or because people used to be smaller?
Okay -- I know this is really, really greedy, but ...............
Your pictures and narrative here are so informative and beautiful. However, like Kerouac, I'm wondering what all that greenery and the slate roofs and red brick buildings look like wet, against a stormy English sky.
and the mizmaze?
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Post by spindrift on Sept 3, 2009 8:46:27 GMT
The staircases up to a certain level were made wider to accomodate the fat clergy wearing voluminous robes who wanted to appear 'on high' to bless and exhort the crowds below.... The continuing staircase to the roof is so narrow because only half-starved serfs needed to access the upper levels. True Bixa - actually I haven't finished this thread. I have more information and pictures to put up here; I just haven't got around to doing it.... I must cover The High Street, The Westgate, Hyde Abbey and St. Cross Monastery.
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Post by auntieannie on Sept 4, 2009 14:55:50 GMT
oh, Spindrift! that'll be wonderful! but that's a big assignment!
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Post by spindrift on Sept 4, 2009 15:06:02 GMT
Annie - you should now prepare to tell us all about Exeter....
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2009 16:39:46 GMT
*starts to drum fingers on table*
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