John Keats In Winchester

St Cross

John Keats in Winchester. For those who know Winchester well one of the most beautiful and restful walks is along one of the chalk streams of the River Itchen. Pick up the path at the end of College Street and walk out of the city towards St Cross. Look out across the water meadows towards…

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Guardian Angel’s Chapel

Close up of the Guardian Angel's Chapel Winchester

The Guardian Angel’s Chapel in Winchester Cathedral was painted in 1241. King Henry III, also known as Henry of Winchester was baptised in the cathedral in 1207. He was the son of King John and assumed the throne at just nine years of age. He was fortunate in having three great men standing beside him,…

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The Hampshire Chronicle estb 1772

Hampshire Chronicle

The Hampshire Chronicle was established in 1772 and is Hampshire’s oldest newspaper, printed and published in Hampshire and still going strong, operating out of its Winchester base.

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Bishop Fox of Winchester 1501

Bishop Fox

Bishop Fox is a man little discussed when it comes to the Tudors but he was a great statesman and ultimately Bishop of Winchester in 1501, serving under the two great Tudor monarchs King Henry VII and King Henry VIII.

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Henry of Winchester

Henry of Winchester, King Henry III, born in Winchester Castle and reigned for fifty six years during which the first House of Commons sat under the rule of Simon de Montfort

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William of Wykeham

William of Wykeham, born a humble man in the market town of Wickham Hampshire, he became Chancellor of England twice and Bishop of Winchester. He founded Winchester College and New College Oxford.

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Site of William the Conqueror’s Palace

William the Conqueror's Palace Winchester

Stroll up a tiny alley way in Winchester to see a vestige of what once was the site of William the Conqueror’s palace and a little way along the church of St Lawrence where his chapel once stood.

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St Swithun a Humble Man

15th July is St Swithun’s day, if it rains today folklore has it that it will rain for forty days and forty nights. An intriguing piece of Hampshire History

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Medieval Floor Tiles in Hampshire

Medieval tiles

Hampshire is home to one of the greatest pavements of Medieval tiles in Europe, in Winchester Cathedral. However several Hampshire churches contain some fascinating examples of early tiles

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Izaak Walton in Hampshire

Izaak Walton

Izaak Walton, writer of The Complete Angler, was not born in Hampshire but he made it his home and died in Winchester in 1683, close to the glorious chalk stream that is the River Itchen.

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The Tudor Queen in Winchester

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral was the backdrop to the wedding of Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain. It was a ceremony set to impress the Spanish and the wonderful architecture of the cathedral did just that

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Bishop Curle’s Riddle

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral is full of odd little carvings and riddles, look out for Bishop Curle’s Latin inscription on the West Front

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Hyde Winchester

King Alfred the Great final resting place

King Alfred the Great and Hyde Abbey in Winchester are synonymous with each other but what was Hyde and why was King Alfred buried there?

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Old Blue Boar Inn Winchester

The Old Blue Boar Inn in Winchester is over six hundred years old built just before the Black Death visited Hampshire with such devastating results We are blessed in Hampshire with a wealth of ancient buildings, Saxon and Norman churches, Medieval houses, Tudor cottages, the list is endless but sometimes the very survival of a…

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