Winchester | Page 3

from time to
time examples are still laid bare in the city."
Although many historical persons flit across the scene throughout the
centuries, the personal associations of Winchester are dominated by the
outstanding figures of Alfred, St. Swithun, and the great clerical
craftsman, William of Wykeham, the builder of much of the cathedral,
and the founder of St. Mary's College, Winchester, and New College,
Oxford--the former of which, although of later foundation, was
intended as a stepping-stone for the latter.
With the Norman Conquest, and the rapid rise of Westminster, the days
of Winchester as the seat of government were numbered, although it
was much favoured by the early Norman kings, possibly owing to its
proximity to such hunting grounds as the New Forest Cranborne Chase

(where King John's hunting lodge still stands), and the Royal Warren of
Purbeck.
William I had his great palace near the cathedral, and it was to
Winchester that the body of William Rufus was brought on a cart, after
his ill-fated death in the New Forest.
Then the Domesday Book--if not compiled at Winchester--was kept
there for many years, when it was called "The Book of Winton". In the
seventh year of Henry II a charge appears in the Pipe Roll for
conveying the "arca", in which the book was kept, from Winchester to
London.
There is naturally much in the life-history of St. Swithun that is
incapable of proof. He was possibly born in the neighbourhood of
Winchester about the year 800. He became a monk of the old abbey,
and rose to be head of the community, when he gained the favour of
King Egbert, who entrusted him with the education of his son
Ethelwolf. There is an authentic charter granted by Egbert in 838, and
bearing the signatures of Elmstan, episcopus, and Swithunus, diaconus.
On the death of Elmstan, in 852, Swithun was appointed his successor
in the see, when, in addition to erecting several churches, and building
a stone bridge over the Itchen, he appears to have enlarged and
beautified the Saxon cathedral built by Kynewalch when Winchester
became the seat of a bishopric in 679. The site of this Saxon church is
considered to have been a little to the north of the present cathedral,
which is a Norman building commenced by Walkelin a few years after
the Conquest.
St. Swithun is best known to-day in his capacity of weather prophet. In
his humility he is said to have desired to be buried outside the church,
so that the foot of the passer-by, and the rainwater from the eaves,
could fall upon his grave; and here his body lay for more than a century.
When his remains were eventually translated, a chapel was erected over
the site of his grave at the north-east corner of the church, and faint
traces of this building may still be seen. King Edgar provided the richly
jewelled shrine into which the relics of the saint were translated by St.
Ethelwold, on July 15, 980, when the relics of Birinus were enshrined
at the same time, although these had already been translated from
Dorchester to Winchester by Bishop Hedda as early as the seventh
century. The shrine attracted an immense number of pilgrims until that

of Becket at Canterbury rose into prominence. The skull of St. Swithun
is said to have been taken to Canterbury by St. Elphege in the eleventh
century, and an arm of this patron saint of Winchester was one of the
most treasured possessions of Peterborough. What remained of these
much-disturbed relics were re-translated by Bishop Walkelin from the
old to the new cathedral, but in 1241 the shrine was broken by the vane
of the tower falling through the roof.
At the Reformation the shrine was destroyed, as is recorded in the
commissioners' letter, dated September 21, 1538:--
"About three o'clock this Saturday morning, we made an end of the
shrine here at Winchester. There was no gold, nor ring, nor true stone
about it, but all great counterfeits; but the silver alone will amount to
2000 marks."
The popular tradition regarding St. Swithun's Day, July 15, is to the
effect that, as it rains or is fair on this day, the ensuing forty days will
be either wet or dry.
"St. Swithun's Day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain: St.
Swithun's Day, if thou be fair, For forty days 't will rain nae mair."
The tradition is said to be due to the saintly request being disregarded,
with the result that, when his remains were about to be translated, a
heavy rain burst forth, and continued without ceasing for the forty
succeeding days. This was interpreted as a divine warning, so that,
instead of disturbing the saintly bones, a chapel was erected over them.
As a