CATHEDRAL (2005) BBC Two

Flood at Winchester

Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun and is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and centre of the Diocese of Winchester. Since March 2006 an admission charge has been required for visitors to enter the cathedral.



Pre-Norman cathedral

The cathedral was originally founded in 642 on an immediately adjoining site to the north. This building was known as the Old Minster. It became part of a monastic settlement in 971. Saint Swithun was buried near the Old Minster and then in it, before being moved to the new Norman cathedral. So-called mortuary chests said to contain the remains of Saxon kings such as King Eadwig of England, first buried in the Old Minster, and his wife Ælfgifu, are also housed in the present cathedral.[citation needed] The Old Minster was demolished in 1093.



History

Construction of the cathedral began in 1079 under bishop Walkelin, and on April 8, 1093, in the presence of nearly all the bishops and abbots of England, the monks removed from Saxon cathedral church of the Old Minster to the new one, "with great rejoicing and glory" to mark its completion. The earliest part of the present building is the crypt, which dates from that time. William II of England and his older brother, Richard, Duke of Bernay are both buried in the cathedral. The squat, square crossing tower was begun in 1202 to replace an earlier version which collapsed, partly due to the unstable ground on which the cathedral is built. It has an indisputably Norman look to it. Work continued on the cathedral during the 14th century, in 1394 the remodelling of the Norman nave commenced to the designs of master mason William Wynford, this continued into the 15th and 16th centuries, notably with the building of the retroquire to accommodate the many pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Swithun. After King Henry VIII seized control of the Catholic Church in England, and declared himself head of the Church of England, the Benedictine foundation, the Priory of Saint Swithun, was dissolved (1539) and the cloister and chapter house were demolished, but the cathedral continued.



Restoration work was carried out by T.G. Jackson during the years 1905–1912, including the famous saving of the building from total collapse. Some waterlogged foundations on the south and east walls were reinforced by a diver, William Walker, packing the foundations with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks and 900,000 bricks. He worked six hours a day from 1906 to 1912 in total darkness at depths up to 6 metres (20 ft), and is credited with saving the cathedral from total collapse. For his troubles he was awarded the MVO.



Source: Wikipedia

The history of Britain and the aspirations of her Christian communities can be traced in the glorious excesses of the cathedrals. From Norman grandeur.



Centuries of style

The cathedrals of Britain span the millennium - from the cathedrals dating from the 1100s to the modern cathedrals found in Liverpool and Coventry. They display a wide array of architectural styles from Early English Gothic, to the majesty of the Renaissance at St Paul's and the sixties modernism of Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral. In the Middle Ages and up to the Reformation in the 1500s, the Church enjoyed enormous power and wealth, and cathedrals are eloquent symbols of its dominant place in British society.



Cathedrals in the Middle Ages weren't the quiet, reverential places of worship we know today. In Lincoln, for example, the central nave or aisle was where pilgrims chatted and shared news; there would have been an elaborately carved stone screen to separate the ordinary people in the nave from the priests and monks worshipping and singing in the choir.



Cathedrals were elaborate and brightly coloured before much of the interior decoration and original medieval art was destroyed during the Reformation and the Civil War. During the Civil War, cathedrals were used as garrisons, prisons and even stables. Now only traces remain of the vibrant colours that were often whitewashed out of existence.