A day in Winchester no 2, 31st August 2016

No visit to Winchester would be complete without popping your head around the doors of the cathedral. In the early afternoon we queued for tickets in the nave, no passing without them, and managed to get on to a little tour which actually gave us loads of information we would not have known otherwise.
Going on a tour is a little challenging to a photographer and I was always at the end of the trail and frequently missed an important nugget dropping from the lips of our guide.
Here is the photographic history of our progression. All taken with the Zeiss Batis 25mm lens on the Sony.
We started in the nave and then passed though the chancel where lies the stone tomb of the Bishop of Winchester, Prince Henry of Blois who died in the 12th century.
Work began on the stone 'Great Screen', which stands behind the alter in 1455. It was knocked about a bit during the reformation, but the saints heads were replaced in the 19th century. The font is 12th century and was carved from a single piece of black marble which was sourced from Belgium. it displays scenes from the life St Nicholas.
The north and south transepts are the easiest parts of the church and have heavy Romanesque column and decorated roofs. At the side of one of these transepts lies a little painted chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, dating from around 1170.
The tomb of Bishop Wyckham can be found in the Chantry Chapel, just off the nave, He was a local village boy made good, who became Bishop in 1366. He founded Winchester College and New College in Oxford.
I have left the best till last. This is the crypt, which had no water in it when we visited. The heavy Norman buttressing lies directly under the high altar. The Anthony Gormley statue is holding a basin in which he is looking at his own reflection. Throughout the year he is usually standing in or completely under water.
Thanks to David Nash Ford for the information





















Comments

  1. Unknown9 February 2017 at 17:50

    Lovely set Sue. It is a very beautiful and majestic place and you have captured it so well.

    ReplyDelete

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