Hampshire

Hampshire is in South/central England. The terrain is undulating and is crossed by two chalk downs, rising in places to more than 800 ft (244 m). The rivers Test, Itchen, and the Avon run through Hampshire and enrich the natural beauty and fertility of the land. Hampshire is an agricultural county, devoted to corn production and dairy farming as well as market gardening. Three of the U.K.’s leading ports are here too at Gosport, Southampton, and Portsmouth. Evidence of prehistoric and Roman settlement is found in the county and Hampshire was once part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. It has numerous historical and literary associations.

For the visitor, Hampshire has much to offer and no visit would be complete without seeing Winchester Cathedral. The Cathedral has its origins in the 7th century, when a Christian Church was first built on this site. Since then it has played a fundamental part in the life of this ancient city and a role in the history of our nation. This Cathedral Church, so named because it houses the throne (or ‘cathedra’) of the Bishop of Winchester was begun in 1079 in the Romanesque style. Its bishops were men of enormous wealth and power, none more so than William of Wykeham, twice Chancellor of England, Founder of Winchester College and New College Oxford. The chantry chapels and memorials of these great prelates are a feature of the Cathedral. These influential bishops also developed, re-fashioned and adorned this great Cathedral. It is here that pilgrims sought the shrine of local saints, notably a former bishop, Saint Swithun, whose festival (15th July) was said to set the pattern for the weather for the next 40 days.

The Cathedral was also the church of the community of Benedictine monks from its earliest days. Elements of the monastic buildings may still be traced through the Cathedral Close. Central to the life of the monks was the opus dei (the Work of God), the regular offering of prayer which they sang in the quire. The discipline of praying regularly for the world is continued today, most notably in the said morning office and the daily singing of Evensong by the Cathedral choir. Evensong still takes place in the choir of the Cathedral, a work of art in itself as the choir stalls are adorned with magnificent gabled canopies, elaborately carved with flowers and plants, owls and monkeys, dragons, knights and green men. This is truly beautiful to witness.