Winchester Winchester or Winton (archaic) is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3-mile (4.8 km) radius of its centre. It is the seat of the City of Winchester local government district, which covers a much larger area, and is also the administrative capital and county town of Hampshire. Winchester was formerly the capital of England, during the 10th and early 11th centuries, and before that the capital of Wessex. The city is at the western end of the South Downs with the scenic River Itchen running through it. The city is served by trains running from London Waterloo, Weymouth, Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton and the North.
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Winchester Cathedral
The second longest cathedral in Europe, was originally built in 1079. It contains much fine architecture spanning the 11th to the 16th century and is the place of interment of numerous Bishops of Winchester (such as William of Wykeham), Anglo-Saxon monarchs (such as Egbert of Wessex) and later monarchs such as King Canute and William Rufus, as well as Jane Austen. It was once an important pilgrimage centre and housed the shrine of Saint Swithun. The ancient Pilgrims' Way travelling to Canterbury begins at Winchester. The plan of the earlier Old Minster is laid out in the grass adjoining the cathedral. The New Minster (original burial place of Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder) once stood beside it. It has a girls choir and a boys choir, which sing on a regular basis at the cathedral.
Cathedral Close
The Cathedral Close contains a number of historic buildings from the time when the cathedral was also a priory. Of particular note are the Deanery which dates back to the 13th century. It was originally the Prior's House, and was the birthplace of Arthur, Prince of Wales in 1486. Not far away is Cheyney Court, a mid-15th century timber-framed house incorporating the Porter's Lodge for the Priory Gate. It was the Bishop's court house.
The earliest hammer-beamed building in England is also situated in the Cathedral Close, next to the Dean's garden. It is known as the Pilgrims' Hall, as it was part of the hostelry used to accommodate the many pilgrims to Saint Swithun's shrine. Left-overs from the lavish banquets of the Dean would be given to the pilgrims who were welcome to spend the night in the hall. It is thought by Winchester City Council to have been built in 1308. The Pilgrims' School is planning to organise some events in the year 2008. Now, the hall is used by the school for assemblies in the morning, drama lessons, plays, orchestral practices, Cathedral Waynflete rehearsals, the school's Senior Commoners' Choir rehearsals and so forth.
Winchester Castle
Winchester is well known for the Great Hall of its castle, which was built in the 12th century. The Great Hall was rebuilt, sometime between 1222-1235, and still exists in this form. It is famous for King Arthur's Round Table, which has hung in the hall from at least 1463. The table actually dates from the 13th century, and as such is not contemporary to Arthur. Despite this it is still of considerable historical interest and attracts many tourists. The table was originally unpainted, but was painted for King Henry VIII in 1522. The names of the legendary Knights of the Round Table are written around the edge of the table surmounted by King Arthur on his throne. Opposite the table are Prince Charles' 'Wedding Gates'. In the grounds of the Great Hall is a recreation of a medieval garden. Apart from the hall, only a few excavated remains of the stronghold survive amongst the modern Law Courts. The buildings were supplanted by the King's House, now incorporated into the Peninsula Barracks where there are several military museums. Winchester is also home to the Army Training Regiment Winchester, otherwise known as Sir John Moore Barracks, where Army recruits undergo their phase one training.Winchester College
The buildings of Winchester College, a public school founded by William of Wykeham, still largely date from their first erection in 1382. There are two courtyards, a gatehouse, cloister, hall and a magnificent college chapel. It was planned to educate poor boys before they moved on to New College, Oxford and a life in the church.
___________________________________________________________________________________________Sarah Lockwood Winchester
Sarah L. Winchester (September 1839 – September 5, 1922), was an heiress and the builder of the Winchester Mystery House.
Early life
She was born in Connecticut in the mid 1830s as Sarah Lockwood Pardee, a daughter of Leonard Pardee and his wife Sarah W. Burns. On September 30, 1862 in New Haven, Connecticut, Sarah married William Wirt Winchester, the only son of Oliver Winchester, the owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The couple had one daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, who was born on July 12, 1866, but died after a few weeks. Sarah fell into a deep depression following the death of her daughter, and the couple had no more children. Oliver Winchester died in 1880, quickly followed in March 1881 by William, who died of tuberculosis, giving Sarah approximately 50 percent ownership in the Winchester company and an income of $1,000 a day.Origin of the Winchester House
The grieving Sarah felt that her family was cursed, and sought out spiritualists to determine what she should do. A medium allegedly told her that the Winchester family was cursed by the spirits of all the people who had been killed by the Winchester rifle, and she should move west to build a house for herself and the spirits. The medium also is claimed to have told Sarah that should construction ever stop on the house, she would die. However, it has also been suggested that a change of scenery and a never-ending hobby what Sarah needed to distract herself from her pain.
In 1884, Sarah moved to California and purchased an eight-room farmhouse under construction from Dr. Robert Caldwell. It stood on 162 acres (0.7 km²) of land in what is now San Jose. Immediately, she began spending her $20 million inheritance by renovating and adding more rooms to the house, with work continuing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the next 38 years. She was fascinated with the number 13 and worked the number into the house in many places. (There are thirteen bathrooms, windows have thirteen panes, and so forth.)
After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Sarah was trapped in her bedroom for a short time, no more than a few hours. However, when she got out, she told the construction crews to stop working on the almost-finished front part of the house and left most of the extensive earthquake damage unrepaired; she thought the spirits were angry with her because the front rooms were near completion. Work continued on new additions and remodeling the other parts of the structure.
Due to the lack of a master plan and constant construction, the house became very large (160 rooms) and quite complex; many of the serving staff needed a map to navigate the house. The house also features doors that open into walls, staircases that lead nowhere and windows that look into other walls. There are two theories as to why Mrs. Winchester built such an unusual house. The first is by far and away the most popular and that is, she built the house to confuse the ghosts of those killed by Winchester rifles. The second, much less popular, is that while Mrs. Winchester was an exceedingly wealthy woman and could build her house any way she wanted; she had no architectural training at all, so some of the oddities could be simple design error. The Winchester Mystery House is now a National Historic Monument.
Sarah's death
Construction stopped on the Winchester Mystery House when Sarah died on September 5, 1922 at the age of 83. She was buried next to her husband and infant child in Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut. Sarah Winchester left a will written in 13 sections, which she signed thirteen times. The belongings in Winchester Mystery House were left to her niece, Mrs. Marian Merriman Marriot (M is the 13th letter of the alphabet) who immediately auctioned them off. It took days just to load all of the belongings into trucks. The home was auctioned off and in the early 1970s, the owners turned the home into a museum and asked for a fee to explore the labyrinth home.
Legacy
The Santa Clara - Los Gatos Boulevard in front of the house was later renamed Winchester Boulevard.