Travel days are always hard, and this one was a very rainy one. And, silly me, I always like to walk from the train station to the hotel rather than take a taxi or a bus, so there I was carrying all my luggage, making my way along the slippery flagstones and metal grates and with no peripheral vision because I had my hood on. It was pretty uncomfortable, but it only took about 20 minutes to make the walk. Eventually the transition part was behind me. I arrived too early to be able to get into my hotel room yet, so I dropped my luggage at the front desk and headed straight for the cathedral, which was less than 100 yards away. I arrived about 10 minutes before a crypt tour was going to take place, so I started with that. In the center of the picture above is a well. The high altar on the main floor would originally have been directly above this - the well being an image of Jesus as Living Water. The bishop that William the Conqueror appointed to Winchester in 1070 began the construction of this new cathedral in 1079 to replace the older one just to the north, as the Normans replaced the Saxons. There have been churches in Winchester since as early as 164 AD, including the cathedral that this building replaces that dated back to 662 AD). In that many centuries things have changed (gothic expansions in the 1200s and such), and the high altar is no longer directly above the well.
No one is buried in the crypt. It has had various purposes over the centuries, and one of those purposes is as a storage room - for everything from old Anglo-Saxon coffins that have been dug up during expansions or whatever to deteriorated pieces of masonry that have been replaced.
The following few pictures in the crypt are of an Antony Gormley sculpture that he donated to Winchester Cathedral. The name of the sculpture is Sound II. When the crypt floods, as it often does, the sculpture is knee-deep or waste-deep in the water. I have a picture of a picture showing this a bit further down in the post.
The following two images are views from directly under the tower - just a ninety-degree spin from each other:
I left - to be back for evensong that night - to go visit the Great Hall as I continued for my room to be ready. I ended up 0 for 2 on the Great Hall. Last time I was here was the very day it closed for the first time due to the pandemic, and this day they closed early because of an event that night. Alas, I had to take shelter in a bookstore ;-)
Books have been sold at this location for quite a while.
The Jane Austen quote going up the staircase above is, "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."
I finally got checked into my hotel, and here is the view from my room. I can't believe anyone was allowed to build a hotel right here, but I think it was the 1960s when this was built, so I'm sure zoning or whatever was different.
After settling in it was time to walk around town a bit until evensong.
A later view out my window, and a good night to all!
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