The Old Minster was the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

for the English diocese of Wessex and then

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 N ...

from 660 to 1093. It stood on a site immediately north of and partially beneath its successor,

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...

. Some sources say that the minster was constructed in 648 for King Cenwalh of Wessex as the church of St Peter and St Paul, though such sources are late and unreliable. More likely it was built to be the cathedral for the first bishop of Winchester, the Saxon Bishop

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred from Dorchester-on-Thames. It was enlarged and redecorated over the years and Saint Swithun was buried outside it in 862. By the 10th century, the Minster was the priory church of St. Swithun's Priory, a community of monks living under the rule of St Benedict. Cathedral Precinct - Winchester - geograph

Cathedral Precinct - Winchester - geograph

In 901, the New Minster was built next to it, so close that the singing of the monks inside each is said to have become hopelessly intermingled with the other. Saint Æthelwold of Winchester and his successor Saint Alphege almost completely rebuilt the minster on a vast scale during their monastic reforms of the 970s. The new church, which was dedicated in 980 and again in 993, had a central tower, north and south aisles, a crypt in an eastern apse, and a forecourt at the west. Saint Swithun's body was taken into an indoor

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

in what had become the largest church in Europe. However, after the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, Bishop Walkelin built a new cathedral alongside and the Old Minster was demolished in 1093. Many of the kings of Wessex and of England (including Egbert, king of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839), as well bishops, had been buried in the Old Minster, so their bodies were exhumed and re-interred in the new building. The Old Minster was excavated in the 1960s. The outline of the building is now laid out in brickwork in the churchyard adjoining Winchester Cathedral, and Saint Swithun's first grave is clearly marked. Finds from the site may be seen in the Winchester City Museum. The bones of the monarchs removed to the cathedral are housed in mortuary chests around the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

Notable events

*Signing of the Regularis Concordia by King Edgar the Peaceable (973) *Coronation of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

(1043) *Marriage of Edward the Confessor and Edith (1045) *Coronation of Matilda of Flanders as queen consort (1068)

Burials

* Æthelstan Ætheling * Ælfgifu (wife of Eadwig) *

Cnut the Great Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...

, King of England, Denmark, and Norway * Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark * Emma of Normandy, wife of

Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 � ...

and Cnut the Great, Queen Consort of England, Denmark, and Norway * Godwin, Earl of Wessex (died 1053)Walker, Ian W. 1997: ''Harold : The Last Anglo-Saxon King''. Page 53.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchester, Old Minster 7th-century church buildings in England Winchester Cathedral Anglo-Saxon cathedrals Anglo-Saxon sites in England Archaeological sites in Hampshire History of Winchester Tourist attractions in Hampshire 1093 disestablishments 7th-century establishments in England Priories in Hampshire Burial sites of the House of Wessex 648 establishments Churches completed in the 640s