|
Home > |
Wells |
Winchester has had a church near the site of the cathedral since 642 AD, known as the Old Minster, and in 660 it was elevated to the diocesan cathedral. As a minster, it would have had a college of priests or canons, but was not a monastic foundation.
In 901 the New Minster was built adjacent to the Old Minster. In 963 the New Minster became a Benedictine foundation, and in the 970’s was almost completely re-built on a much larger scale - It was, at the time, the largest church in Europe.
Construction of Winchester Cathedral started in 1079, and as you would expect of that period, it was built in the Romanesque style. In 1093, with much fanfare, the new cathedral was consecrated, the monks moved in and the Old Minster was demolished; it is interesting to not that in 1960 archaeologists excavated the site, and the ground plan of the Old Minster is now displayed in brickwork in the churchyard.
Sometime around 1200, the central crossing tower collapsed, probably due to subsidence, and was replaced with the new tower in 1202. Building work continued over the next few centuries with successive bishops stamping their own marks on the fabric of the cathedral. It appears that in the early 14th century the quire stalls were replaced with the lovely examples we have now, complete with their beautiful misericords.
In 1394 the nave was remodelled, resulting in the loss of most of the Norman features, being replaced by the beautiful gothic features we see today.
In the 1370’s the then Bishop of Winchester, William of Wykeham, founded both Winchester College and New College, Oxford.
The Dissolution appears to have gone smoothly, with the monks moving out, the chapter house and cloisters were rapidly demolished. It is also incredible that for such an important city, on a main route from London to the Solent, that Winchester Cathedral was largely untouched by the Civil War and the Commonwealth.
Click for the official Winchester Cathedral website
The Misericords and history of Winchester Cathedral,
Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, and of St Peter and St Paul and of St Swithun
Wells Cathedral has sixty six, misericords dating from 1305 and two 20th century misericords by Robert [Mouseman]Thompson.
Click to launch a description of the misericords of Winchester Cathedral
Please click on the thumbnail misericords for larger images.
Notice: All photos of S11 and S21 are copyright Medieval Rich
© 2009 All Rights Reserved Last Updated 09 April 2010
RSS feed for Automated updates of the regular upgrades to misericords.co.uk
|
|||||