Winchester Cathedral

Last Saturday we popped into Winchester and discovered that it was Harvest Festival at the cathedral.  There has been a church on this site since Saxon times.

The Nave.

The West Window.

This window was destroyed during the Civil War by Parliamentarian troops.

 It was rebuilt in 1660, using shattered glass found around the cathedral.

 First we walked up the winding stairs to the Treasury, 

 before walking down the northern side of the cathedral to

the grave of Jane Austin.

 The 12thC font of Tournai marble.  On it are scenes from the life of St. Nicholas.

 The cathedral has many amazing stained-glass windows, too many to post here, but the photos are on my Flickr photostream along with all the other photos I took of the cathedral.

 The Epiphany Chapel.

 The North Transept.

 The Crypt, which is the oldest part of the cathedral.  Antony Gormley's sculpture "Sound II" stands here.

 The Holy Sepulchre Chapel with it's beautiful 12thC wall paintings of the Disposition and Entombment of Christ and early 13thC figure of Christ in Majesty.  These were uncovered in the 1960's.  Scenes from the Crusades had been painted over them.

 The Mortuary Chests had been removed for conservation.  They hold the bones of bishops, a queen and several early kings, including those of King Canute.

 The beautifully painted ceiling of The Guardian Angels Chapel.  Painted by Master William, the King's Painter, circa 1240.

 Statue of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc).

 Statue of William Walker, the diver who single-handedly saved the cathedral.  During the years of 1906 to 1911 he worked in the waterlogged foundations and using his bare hands, underpinned the cathedral with bags of concrete.

 The High Altar and ornate 15thC Great Screen with 19thC statues, which replace the ones destroyed in the Reformation.

The Quire,

highly carved with human figures and animals surrounded by leaves, thought to be the work of a Norfolk craftsman and master carpenter.

One of the medieval misericords.

The Morley Library.

Back outside,

this fearsome lion caught my eye! :)