Winchester
Winchester is an ancient city in Hampshire famous for its magnificent Cathedral, one of England’s oldest. There are also strong connections with King Arthur of the Holy Grail legend, and Alfred the Great, who defeated the Vikings and later made Winchester the capital of his new kingdom.
Winchester Cathedral was built in 1097 in the medieval gothic style. Both King Henry IV and Queen Mary I (known as Bloody Mary) were married here. It is also the burial place of the famous novelist Jane Austen. Indeed, Winchester itself appeared as a location in the recent film version of her most famous work Pride and Prejudice. At the beginning of the 20th century the cathedral was discovered to be sinking, but was saved in an extraordinary example of underpinning: between 1906-11 a man in a deep-sea diver’s suit worked six hours a day laying sacks of cement underneath it!
The city also boasts Winchester College, the oldest private school in England, the Hospital of Saint Cross, the oldest charitable organisation in England, and the Great Hall, the last remains of a castle built by William the Conqueror which features King Arthur’s Round Table, said to have been built by Merlin himself.