Winchester, England
Photo: Winchester Cathedral—the ancient city's most famous building.
Less than an hour from London by road or train, England's ancient capital is still one of its finest cathedral cities. Winchester makes for a pleasant day out, with an enjoyably small scale almost reminiscent of a model village. Keep clear of the ugly council buildings at the top of the town and the notoriously tedious one-way system; enjoy, instead, the world famous cathedral, fabulous riverside walks through water meadows to St Cross, and plenty of small, still independent shops and cafes where you can loiter for delicious lunches or creams teas.
The location
For people who think London is an ever-growing urban sprawl occupying most of the South East, Winchester should come as a pleasant surprise. You can reach it in only 50 minutes by train from London's Waterloo Station, yet it seems to be nestling in open countryside. This explains much about Winchester and the people who choose to live there. Many of them are well-heeled city commuters, living either in the smart selection of town houses or in the rolling chalk downland all around. The River Itchen runs right through the middle of Winchester, offering peace and serenity only a minute or two from the High Street.
Photo: Historic houses near the cathedral in Winchester.
The economy
You might think that tourism is Winchester's most important industry—but you'd be wrong. Go to the town most evenings after 5.30 p.m. and you'll find it deserted. Winchester gets most of its money from its wealthy residents; the tourists are helpful but one senses they don't really keep the place running. Students are another source of income. Winchester is home to Winchester College (actually a world-famous public school—that's a posh private school to you in the United States), the famous Winchester School of Art and the newly formed University of Winchester (formerly known as King Alfred's College). So there are always plenty of young people about.
Things to do
Photo: Winchester Cathedral's impressive front entrance.
Attractions
Most people come to Winchester to see one thing and one thing only:
Winchester Cathedral.
At well over 150 m (500 feet) long, this is one of the longest
cathedrals in
England and its nooks and crannies will take you some time to explore.
Like
many English cathedrals, Winchester now charges for admission (though
the last time I went they hadn't yet descended to the crass vulgarity
of St Paul's in London by erecting turnstiles). Apart from the
cathedral, there is also the famous Round Table stored in the spacious,
council-run Great Hall
at the top of the High Street, though opinions differ on
how interesting and authentic it really is. Just over a mile outside
Winchester you can find the amazing St Cross Hospital— not really a
hospital, actually an almshouse with the feel of a monastery,
a glorious Christian church and one of the most peaceful gardens you
will ever find. Winchester also has a number of interesting museums,
including the City
Museum in The Square, next to the cathedral.
Countryside
There's some truly delightful countryside around Winchester, all
within easy walking distance of the town centre:
Crab Wood: Head north up the High
Street and keep going until you reach Sarum Road on your right, then
keep going again for 3-4 miles, and you'll end up at fantastic Crab
Wood: an amazing ancient woodland.
St Cross: To the south of the city there are
two glorious riverside walks. From the city centre, follow the river
past the college sports ground on your right until you get to Garnier
Road. Go straight on and you'll reach the Hospital of St Cross.
Photo: There are many lovely walks around Winchester. Left: Aound the Cathedral. Right: The Itchen water meadows in Winter.
St Catherine's Hill and the River Itchen: Follow the directions as above to Garnier Road. Go left past the old water pumping station and recycling centre until you come to a bridge over the disused Itchen Navigation canal. Cross the bridge, turn right through the small parking area, and walk through the trees. Now you have two interesting options. You can follow the reclaimed route of the Winchester bypass and clamber up to the Iron-Age hill fort and "miz maze" (turf maze) on St Catherine's Hill, which offers a stunning panorama of the town. Or you can follow the canal, then the fabulous chalk-stream River Itchen, on a glorious walk all the way to Twyford. Unfortunately, you will also have to suffer the sight and sound of the notorious motorway crossing at Twyford Down, which has scarred this fabulous landscape since it was constructed amid international controversy in the early 1990s.
Shopping
Shopping in Winchester is much less interesting than it was a decade or two ago, when the town still had a large number of independent shops. Although the High Street is largely choked with chain stores, their frontages have to observe strict planning regulations, so anonymous estate agents and banks take on a slightly more interesting appearance. Macdonald's, famously, was banished from the High Street and skulks around the corner opposite The Brooks. From some viewpoints, this disastrously disappointing, hugely out-of-place shopping mall competes for the skyline with the cathedral. For all the crowds who march up and down the High Street, relatively few people venture into the nasty, sterile, steel and concrete tangle of The Brooks—which should tell the planners a thing or two about what people really want from their cathedral cities.
There are small, crowded supermarkets right in the town centre, but the decent, larger ones have been banished out of town: Tesco's at Winnall, to the south, and Sainsbury's at Badger Farm, a new development a couple of miles up the Romsey Road. Many people desert Winchester for bigger and better chain stores in nearby Southampton.
Winchester does still have some interesting smaller shops, especially in and around The Square, in Parchment Street, and just beneath the railway station in Stockbridge Road. Many of the town's best loved independent stores have now closed, including Gilbert's famous bookshop in The Square, D&Gs little empire of hardware shops, and Blanchard's antique shop in Jewry Street. Thankfully, some historic Winchester shops have survived, including P & G Wells bookshop in College Street and Warren & Sons stationers.
Culture
Winchester has its recently modernized Theatre Royal in Jewry Street in the centre of town (a better-than-average provincial theatre) and the Tower Arts Centre is about two miles up the Romsey Road. Apart from that, there's not a huge amount of culture on offer. One senses most Wintonians get their culture up in London: after all, you can visit an evening performance on the South Bank or at Covent Garden and still be back by midnight. Nearby Southampton City Art Gallery has a well-chosen selection of modern art and sculpture and a wing devoted to the artist Edward Burne-Jones. Winchester has unusually well-stocked libraries for a provincial town, while the Hampshire County Record Office, in an intriguing modern building next to the railway station, is a popular destination for amateur and professional historians alike. Winchester enjoys various festivals throughout the year, including the famous Hat Fair each July, which offers a weekend of unpredictable street theatre and entertainment that rambles charmingly throughout the town. Imagine a mobile version of Covent Garden and you'll get the picture.
Photo: Winchester history: Left: King Alfred's statue in the Broadway.
Middle: The 14th-century Round Table in Winchester Great Hall.
Right: The impressive timber ceiling of the Great Hall.
Places to stay
Several of Winchester's smaller hotels have closed in recent years and turned into flats, including the delightful St Cross hotel and the unusual Chantrey mead. The historic Southgate Hotel, dating from the early 18th century, was renamed the Hotel du Vin in the mid-1990s and enjoys an excellent reputation for its restaurant. (TV chef James Martin began his career there and co-owns a delicatessen called Cadogan and James in The Square.) The Royal Hotel in the heart of the city in St Peter's Street is another popular destination, with very attractive gardens but a highly unattractive redbrick annexe. Winchester has a huge selection of excellent bed-and-breakfast accommodation and guest houses, many of them offering rooms considerably superior to those in hotels for a fraction of the price. Don't be afraid to try them! Winchester's tourist information office at the Guildhall, opposite the bus station, can book rooms for you.
Places to eat
Photo: The Eclipse: Winchester's historic pub in The Square, a stone's throw from the Cathedral, can trace its history back to the 14th century.
There's a wide selection of eating places in Winchester, from Macdonald's and the fish and chip shop at one end of the spectrum to the Hotel du Vin at then other. Ghandi's Indian restaurant by the bus station has been a popular curry destination for many years. Many new eating places have opened in recent years, including Raymond Blanc's Brasserie Blanc in Jewry Street. Some old favourites like the Old Vine are enjoying a renaissance, though some well-known haunts, including The Elizabethan, are no more.
Getting here
Winchester's train station is a good 5-10 minutes walk from the town
centre. You can get a direct train to Winchester from London, Clapham
Junction, Woking, Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth, and stations
to Weymouth. Trains on this line are operated by South West Trains.
Winchester is also served by direct inter-city
cross-country services that run from Bournemouth to Reading, Birmingham
New Street, and stations from there to the North and Scotland. Local
trains also run to and from Eastleigh, Fareham, and Portsmouth, and
(more roundabout) via Southampton to and from Havant, Chichester,
Brighton, and Gatwick Airport.
Southampton (Eastleigh)
Airport is a short hop away from Winchester by train or car.
Winchester's bus station is on the opposite side of town. Stagecoach and provides most of the services to local towns like Andover, Southampton, Eastleigh, Salisbury, and Newbury.
Winchester is also accessible from junctions 13 and 14 of the M3. If you're travelling from London to the South along the M3, you're bound to pass Winchester. Why not drop in and enjoy a slice of ancient-modern England? You might want to try the Park and Rides just outside the town to save the hassle of almost impossible parking (restricted to resident's only parking in the centre) and the tricky one-way system.
Photo: The Kingsgate and city walls, Winchester.
Map
Here's a map of Winchester from Google Images. You can use the "Find businesses" tab and search box to find local businesses, places to stay, and so on.More information
- Visit Winchester: Official tourist guide. The main tourist information centre is built into the Guidhall, opposite the bus station at the bottom end of town: Tourist Information Centre, Winchester Guildhall, High Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9GH, England. Tel:+44 (0) 1962 840 500 Fax:+44 (0) 1962 850 348.
- Winchester: An introduction from Wikipedia.
