Winchester Castle is a medieval building in
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall still stands; it houses a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
of the history of Winchester.
History
Early history
Around AD 70 the Romans constructed a massive earth rampart long and wide. On top of this they built a fort to protect the city of
Venta Belgarum. This site was chosen by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
as the site of one of the first Norman castles in England.
The castle was built in 1067 and for over one hundred years it was the seat of Government of the Norman Kings.
Henry II built a stone keep to house the royal treasury and the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
.
A round tower from the original castle complete with
sally ports is still visible. In 1141, during
The Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legi ...
, forces of the
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
were besieged by the forces of
King Stephen at the castle, in the
Rout of Winchester.
Building the Great Hall
Between 1222 and 1235,
Henry III, who was born at Winchester Castle, added the
Great Hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gr ...
, built to a "double cube" design, measuring by by .
[ The Great Hall was built of ]flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
with stone dressings; originally it had lower walls and a roof with dormer windows. In their place were added the tall two-light windows with early plate tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
. Extensions to the castle were added by Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...
.[ The Great Hall is a Grade I ]listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
. Behind the Great Hall a medieval-style garden, called Queen Eleanor's Garden, was created in 1986.[
An Arthurian Round Table was hung in the Great Hall. The table was originally constructed in the 13th century, and repainted in its present form for ]Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
; around the edge of the table were painted the names of King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...
's knights. The portrait of King Arthur is recognisably a depiction of the young Henry VIII. A series of pictorial epigrams illuminated in medieval monastic style known as the Winchester Panels were also hung in the Great Hall. They are thought to depict the 25 knights of the Round Table
The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that ...
and illustrate the challenges facing a maturing character as it progresses round the great "Wheel of Life".
Later history
In 1302, Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...
and his second wife, Margaret of France, narrowly escaped death when the royal apartments of the castle were destroyed by fire.[ On 19 March 1330, Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent was ]beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...
outside the castle walls in the Despenser plot against King Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
. The castle remained an important residence and on 10 April 1472 Margaret of York, daughter of King Edward IV
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...
, was born there. In 1580 the nun Elizabeth Sander was imprisoned here with other Catholics. She escaped but returned to show that Catholics were law abiding. After Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
came to the throne in 1558, the castle ceased to be a royal residence and was handed over to Winchester's city authorities.
On 17 November 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebelli ...
went on trial for treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
for his supposed part in the Main Plot in the converted Great Hall. The castle was used by the Royalists in the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
, eventually falling to Parliamentarians in 1646, and then being demolished on Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
's orders in 1649.[ Later in the 17th century, Charles II planned to build the King's House adjoining the site, commissioning ]Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...
to design a royal palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
to rival the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, but the project was abandoned by James II. It was in The Great Hall that, in the aftermath of the Monmouth Rebellion
The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ir ...
, Judge Jeffreys held the Bloody Assizes
The Bloody Assizes were a series of trials started at Winchester on 25 August 1685 in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England.
History
There were five judges: Sir William Montague (Lord Chief Bar ...
on 27 August 1685: the accused at the Winchester assizes included Alice Lisle who was condemned to death for harbouring fugitives.
Castle Hill, located nearby, is the location of the Council Chamber for Hampshire County Council and, since 2014, of the Winchester Register Office. The Great Hall was also the home of the Winchester Assizes and in 1954 another notorious trial took place there, when Edward Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood
Peter Wildeblood (19 May 1923 – 14 November 1999) was an Anglo-Canadian journalist, novelist, playwright and gay rights campaigner. He was one of the first men in the UK publicly to declare his homosexuality.
Early life
Peter Wildeblood was ...
went on trial and were convicted of charges of having committed specific acts of homosexual indecency.
Winchester Castle is located in close proximity as well to the Westgate, part of the remaining city wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
.
Gallery
File:1351065-Great Hall, Winchester Castle (2).jpg, The interior of the Great Hall
File:Winchester RoundTable.jpg, The "Winchester Round Table" in the Great Hall, Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atm ...
dating has placed it at 1275
File:Queen Victoria - geograph.org.uk - 1540338.jpg, Statue of Queen Victoria in the Great Hall
File:Castle remains, Winchester - geograph.org.uk - 1326466.jpg, Castle remains: excavations including a passage down into the castle cellar
See also
*Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050 ...
* List of castles in England
*Three Castles Path
The Three Castles Path is a 60-mile long-distance footpath in England from Winchester Great Hall, Hampshire, to Windsor Castle, Berkshire, via the ruins of Odiham Castle (also known as 'King John's Castle').
Winchester Great Hall is the only su ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
{{commons category, Winchester Castle
The Great Hall and Round Table
- official site
Castles in Hampshire
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
Tourist attractions in Hampshire
1067 establishments in England
Grade I listed buildings in Hampshire
Museums in Winchester
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
Former courthouses in England