old winchester from saint catherine’s hill.
know you the fair hill, crowned by a clump of trees, with a zone around its waist, and a carpet of smooth turf spread out upon its banks, arising from the well-wooded and well-watered meads in the immediate vicinity of the ancient city of winchester? if you are a wykehamist, you know it well. graven on the brow of the hill is a labyrinth, or maze, the work of a poor student, who, being debarred from the delights of home during the holiday season, occupied his weary hours in this strange task, while his heart-sickness found relief in a ditty, still sung by his successors at wykeham’s famous school. the legend goes on to relate that the hapless youth, who thus carved a memorial on the hill, pined away and died beneath one of the trees on its summit. if so, his gentle spirit must still haunt the spot! lower down, an entrenchment, deeply cut in the chalk, and attributed to the dane, encompasses the hill. the base of the mount is washed by the silver itchen—a stream dear to old izaak walton, whose remains have rested, ever since his “ninety 111years and more” were told, in the adjacent cathedral. other hills there are hard by—as saint giles’s, whereon the greatest fair in england was annually held from the period of the conquest to the reign of henry vi.; and saint mary magdalene’s, on which the empress maud and the valorous prelate henry de blois, brother of king stephen, met to treat—but neither of these eminences are comparable in beauty of form, or in charm of situation, to fair saint catherine’s hill.
if you are a wykehamist, we repeat, you well know saint catherine’s hill. oft, in happy, bygone days—far too soon flown—have you wended, with a joyous band of your schoolfellows, across the meadows and by the brink of the meandering itchen towards your favourite hill. oft, in summer-tide, have you plunged into the deep pool hard by the mill—oft have you thrown the line upon the glassy water and dragged forth the speckled trout—oft have you lingered on the rustic bridge and watched the light skiff, rowed by a comrade, shoot swiftly under it—oft have you joined the merry groups seated on the banks at the foot of the hill, or started in the mimic chase with the fleetest runners of the crew—oft have you climbed the steep sides of the eminence, have tracked its circling trench, threaded the intricacies of its maze, or, reclining beneath the shade of its tree, enjoyed the glorious prospect of the ancient city commanded from the point. oft thence have you gazed upon the turrets and crocketed pinnacles of the venerable pile, erected by your benefactor, the revered william of wykeham. deep is the debt you owe him. nobler seat of learning there cannot be than winchester college; second only in architectural beauty to regal eton. well-nigh five hundred years has your famous school endured. may it last five hundred more!
beautiful, most beautiful, is, now-a-days, the view from saint catherine’s hill; but in the middle of the 16th century, when we must now regard it, it was infinitely more so. from this height, the fine old city, skirted on the south by lordly trees, was beheld in its highest perfection. thronged with convents, colleges, hospitals, churches, and other buildings of ancient date, and great beauty of architecture, and boasting one of the grandest cathedrals in the kingdom, 112winchester had then a grave, monastic air—something of which it yet retains, despite the many and grievous changes it has undergone. true, its religious communities and charitable establishments had been suppressed by henry viii., and their revenues seized upon, but the spoiler had spared the edifices. most of these monasteries and convents were restored by mary, and the long exiled monks and nuns had just got back to their old abodes.
the aspect of winchester, however, at the epoch in question, was martial, as well as monastic. besides well-fortified walls, flanked by numerous towers, and defended by bastions, the city possessed two large castles, one of which, built by william the conqueror, occupied a commanding position on the south-west, and covered a vast area with its works and outworks. this fine old norman castle, eventually demolished by cromwell, was besieged and taken by the dauphin of france in the reign of john, but it held out gallantly against simon de montfort and the barons in the days of henry iii. in mary’s time it was in good repair, and well supplied with ordnance and men.
wolvesey castle, as the other fortress was called, stood in the lower part of the city, to the south-east of the cathedral. though less advantageously situated than the upper strong-hold, it rivalled it in magnitude. the two giants tried their strength in the time of the warlike henry de blois, but were too well matched for any decided result to ensue. wolvesey castle was built by the valiant prelate we have just mentioned on the site of the old saxon palace wherein egbert, alfred, edgar, and canute had dwelt, and derived its name from the tribute of wolves’ heads exacted from the welsh princes by edgar, and paid at the palace gates. soon after the completion of wolvesey by de blois, it was attacked by the empress maud, who had possession of the upper fortress, and was invested at the same time by the earl of gloucester, and david, king of scotland, but it held out against all its assailants. during this conflict the city suffered much from the contending parties, but especially from the adherents of stephen. fire-balls thrown from wolvesey castle caused a tremendous conflagration, whereby the abbey of saint mary, the royal palace, the suburb of hyde, with its superb 113monastery of saint grimbald, commenced by alfred the great, and a multitude of churches were destroyed. dismantled by henry ii., who dreaded its strength, wolvesey was restored and refortified at a later period, and afforded shelter from the barons to the half-brothers of henry iii. during all this time, and for upwards of another century, wolvesey was occupied by bishops, who belonging to the church militant, kept it in a good state of defence. later on, it became less of a fortress, and more of an episcopal palace, and such it was at the period of our history, for though none of its fortifications were destroyed, and its walls, towers, and donjon were still standing, the buildings were devoted to pacific purposes. great trees were allowed to grow up in its courts, and fair gardens were laid out beneath its walls. the principal apartments were in the keep, and here mary was now lodged, while her large retinue found ample accommodation in the numerous towers and outbuildings. gardiner had fitted up the palace splendidly for his royal mistress’s reception. during her stay at wolvesey, unbounded hospitality reigned there; and never at any time—not even in 1522, when henry viii. feasted the emperor charles v. in its halls—had greater profusion been displayed within the castle. of this vast and stately pile, demolished by cromwell, some picturesque ruins, o’ergrown with ivy, are still left, attesting its former extent and grandeur.
wolvesey castle was connected by a subterranean passage with the cathedral, so that communication could be kept up with that edifice during a siege. opposite the gate-tower was the noble entrance to wykeham’s college. near at hand was another college, founded by john de pontissara, and still nearer, the hospital called “la carité,” appertaining to the cathedral. tall trees sheltered these edifices, and added to their beauty. indeed, this part of the city was so densely planted with timber, that it looked like a grove.
the most striking object in old winchester, as in the existing city, was the cathedral. this ancient and splendid structure demands a far more lengthened description than we are able to afford it. the scene of many highly important events, it has been the place of coronation of our 114earlier kings, and their mausoleum. egbert, edmund the son of alfred the great, edred, canute, and hardicanute, found here a sepulchre. alfred’s honoured remains, temporarily deposited within the cathedral, were afterwards removed to the adjacent abbey of hyde, which he commenced, but did not live to complete. here, amongst other holy personages, saint swithun, bishop of winchester in the ninth century, the patron saint of the city and the cathedral, found a grave. here, also, lie the bones of many an illustrious prelate—bishops walkelin, edyngton, and wykeham; bishops de blois and waynflete, cardinal beaufort, prior silkstede, bishop fox, and gardiner himself, of whom our story treats. built at different epochs, winchester cathedral offers examples of various styles of architecture, which, though dissimilar, produce a magnificent whole. upon its site stood a more ancient church, reared by the saxon king, kenewalch, which was partially pulled down in the 11th century, when the present edifice was commenced by bishop walkelin, who preserved such portions of the original fabric as suited his design. the greater part of the east end of the existing structure, including the massive central tower, is walkelin’s work; and that tower, though somewhat heavy, is a noble specimen of norman architecture. considerable alterations were next made, towards the close of the 12th century, by bishop godfrey de lucy, who rebuilt the lady chapel. about 1350, a new nave was commenced by bishop edyngton, and the work was continued by the illustrious william of wykeham, and after him by cardinal beaufort, and brought to a completion by bishop waynflete. the vast and lofty columns on either side of the nave, each pillar being about twelve feet in diameter, produce a grand effect, and the coup d’?il of the interior from the great western portal is superb beyond description. the transepts, wherein may still be seen the huge round pillars and vast circular arches, piled one upon another to the roof—the original work of walkelin—constitute, perhaps, the most interesting part of the edifice.
brief allusion can only be made to the marvels of the choir; to its elaborately carved stalls with their miserères, canopies, pinnacles, and other ornaments; to the magnificent 115carved screen behind the altar-piece; to the glories of the great east and west windows; to the superb chantries of cardinal beaufort, bishop waynflete, and bishop fox, all of extraordinary beauty and richness. on the south side of the nave, and exhibiting infinite richness of ornament and extreme delicacy of carving, is the mortuary chapel of william of wykeham, in which may be seen a recumbent marble statue of that venerated personage, his head supported by angels, and three kneeling figures at his feet. in the north aisle, near the presbytery, is the mortuary chapel of bishop gardiner. in the silkstede chapel, in the south transept, will be found the lowly grave of gentle izaak walton.
and now a word in regard to the city itself. the early history of venta, caer gwent, or the white city, as winchester was originally called, is lost in obscurity, but the remote antiquity of the place is unquestionable. the celt, the roman, the saxon, the dane, and the norman, have successively occupied the spot. whether good king arthur held his court in the white city, and banqueted his peerless knights at the round table, still preserved in the castle hall, may be doubted. but it is certain that, as the residence of our great saxon kings, and the seat of their government, winchester was the most important city in the island. in the days of cerdic it was the capital of the west saxons, and, on the dissolution of the heptarchy, it became the metropolis of england. the most illustrious name connected with winchester is that of alfred the great. compelled to abandon the city for a while to the danes, this great monarch and lawgiver retook it, restored it to its pristine splendour, and dwelt within it to his latest day. canute also had his palace in winchester, and died there. from egbert to edward the confessor—a period of two hundred and forty years—all our old saxon kings were crowned within the cathedral, and most of them found graves in its vaults. william the conqueror loved winchester, and strengthened it by the proud castle on the hill. william rufus was buried in the cathedral, and the saints deposited there, resenting the intrusion of so impious a monarch upon their resting-place, caused the great tower to fall down. during the usurpation of stephen, winchester 116became, as we have shown, the scene of dire conflicts between the empress maud and bishop de blois. henry iii., surnamed of winchester, was born within the city; and so was arthur, eldest son of henry vii., but the latter died too young to do credit to his birth-place. edward i. held divers parliaments in the city, and partially restored its consequence. great feasting occurred in wolvesey castle, with jousting and triumphs, when the emperor charles v., as we have previously related, was for a week the guest of henry viii. of the crushing effect produced upon the city by the reformation we have already spoken. it was now just recovering from the blow. modern winchester comes not within our scope. but the city is still beautiful, still picturesque. though reft of more than half of its olden attractions, it still boasts its grand cathedral, its famous college, and its exquisite and unique hospital of saint croix. retaining these, the city of egbert, of alfred, and canute, must ever be one of the most interesting in the kingdom.
