Winchester Cathedral , you’re bringing me down🎼🇬🇧

We stopped by the Winchester Cathedral today on our way back to London.  Wow!

Winchester Cathedral was established in 1079.  No I didn’t  transpose those numbers!  It was  built on the site of  a Roman worship center from as as far back as the 2nd century.   After the Battle of Hastings (Normand French y of the Duke  of Normandy and the English Army of King Harold)  in 1066 William wanted create Saxon imprint  so he had the church built. But there were no stone to be quarried nearby.  It was cut and hauled from the isle of wight where the Roman trackways still remain in some portions. They needed huge reserves of oak as well and cut down forests to build the church. It is the longest Gothic church in the world today at 558 feet. It was consecrated in 1093.

The original tower collapsed in 1106 caused by, according to the monks, the burial of the resolute William Rufus beneath it.
In the 1400s a Benedictine monk worked to modernize some of the building by restoring the walls and building a nave and a chantry over success Bishops the building grew in size and importance. By 1600s over 110 feet had been added.

The in the 1600s it was taken over by Henry VIII who demolishes  the High Altar and destroys the head and hands of all the saints and the blessed mother. The body parts have been excavated from across the area found in mounds and fence rows. It was repaired later and looks quite white here. But then it was painted with bright bright colors to reflect heaven.

The nun 1642 over 200 of Cromwell’s horsemen rode into the church and with their muskets shot out all the glas in the front window. It was a story of the ascension into heaven. The glass couldn’t be replaced because there was no knowledge to make glass so it was shuttered. Today from shards of glass from many churches this window has been rebuilt in a piecemeal fashion and you are unable to see anything depicted

In the 1930s this woman was hired to restore the plaster in one of the naves. Thwart she found as the plaster chipped accidentally was found  13rh century frescos  underneath.

Another interesting fact was that the walls on the nave and walls were buckling. A deep sea diver was hired in 1906 to dive beneath the altar area and navigate the layer of water there between the granite and the sandstone above layer.  The diver worked alone in total darkness. For over 6 years shortening up and underpinning the cathedral mass sometimes the  crypt rooms  are flooded still now. .

Jane Austen is buried there as well. Upon the arches and tops of walls are the vines of saints and kings not the Saxon past. If you look closely you can see the trap door I the center of the clerestory. It goes to the bell tower

The whole time you at in the cathedral you are walking over peoples remains and graves. Quite astonishing to feel and see