WINCHESTER

Evening Star, Issue 20422, 1 March 1930, Page 4

WINCHESTER

A CITY OF DREAMS ENCHANTED GROUND If one has the good fortune to he journeying to Winchester on a spring morning, when the sun is sinning, he will taste an unforgettable bliss. Ine road winds through soft hills.and moist Woods, past old-world farms, through ancient villages, and almost without knowing it you are in the cobbled streets of the first capital of England. In some of the quiet nooks one almost feels as if “ the butterfly sleeps on the village bell.” Serenity reigns without a rival. The venerable aspect is represented by the cathedral, the college’s high brick walls adorned by tire immemorial walLflower, and matched by the lilac in the gardens. Ihe tearoom into which you enter has a wonderful display of brass ornaments set against a panelling of qak,_ and as there is still a nip in the air, theio will be a log on the hearth, and armchairs close by. Modernity has not spoiled Winchester. , Many authors have tried hands at describing this “ jolly cite,” as a fifteenth century poet calls it. Varley, Kitchin, and several others have provided the traveller _ with books as charming and informing as can be, but the reality surpasses the description, and “ the half has not been told. Ine fascination of Winchester lies in its romantic setting, its noble buildings and monuments, its place in English history, and its associations with men ana women who stand high on the head roll of fame. “ Scenery is Imc, but humanity is finer.” It is a city or dreams, said one of its lovers,, a place with the sense of a mighty past, a nestling brook of myth and legend. It lies in a fold of the lulls, and the River Itclien, with its many channels, is “about it and about,” its course marked by bulrushes and osiers, old mills, quaint bridges, and shallow, clear "stretches, with store enough of trout to charm as it did that father of all anglers, Izaak Walton. The first glimpse includes the cathedral, of grey stone, pinnacles, and buttresses, _ and heavy square tower. The college is on the left. One notes the Guildhall, the statue of Alfred the Great by Thornycroft, and the line of the High street. One looks with intense interest on the city where curfew was first pealed and still is pealed, the city where Rufus is buried, and at whose funeral there were many looking on and few grievings where William Wykehain ruled, where Raleigh was sentenced, and the Merry Monarch and Nell Gwynne were familiar figures. History is stamped on every stone, on the dresses of the officials of cathedral and college, and even on some of the vocabulary of the boys who are trained here to love and serve England in the councils of the nation. _ Here the past condescends to walk daily with the present, and the Australian traveller buds himself “ moving about in worlds not realised.”

How old Winchester is no one can tell us. Neolithic remains near by guarantee at least 2,000 years, and raise before the imagination a vision of forest and brake, wild boar and badger, and a vast area of country with here and there a wretched hovel or wattle and daub. When the Romans came up the Itchen Valley they found a Belgic tribe settled on the spot. Certainly Roman literature says nothing of it, probably because the army met with no opposition, but the testimony of vases, coins, and urns, is conclusive of Roman possession. The world conquerors gave the place the name'of Venta Belgarum, or market place of the Belgians, and chose it as their southern military base. Following their usual practice, they laid out the roads at right angles, Jinliing them up with High street, and carrying them straight ahead, heedless of gradient. After an occupation of 400 years the Romans left to attend to urgent matters nearer home, and the history is blank lor 200 years. Then came the Saxons, and much fighting with the Jutes and Angles, and for many years the country heard the drums and the tramplings of mighty conquests. Jt was Alfred who defeated the Danes and set an example whoso spiritual grandeur lias never been surpassed. The school boy, and probably many adults, remember him merely as the man who let the cakes burn, and was roundly rated by the woman who had sheltered him, but the most glorious chapter in the history of Winchester is that which tells us that he lived solely for the good of his people. Building churches, reestablishing learning, translating and editing, ho became the first original prose writer in the English tongue. He is said to have founded the jinihtia and the navy, and was in this way successful in crushing the _ powerful Viking fleet. When he died in 901, he left a prosperous and united people. It was his task to weld a dispirited com-i inanity into a great nation. It has been truthfully said that to write the history of Winchester Cathedral would be almost writing the history of England. Somewhere about 600, a bishopric was established, and over thirty bishops ruled until the eve of the Norman Conquest. One of them was St. Swithin, whoso wet burial day created the familiar saying. The cathedral as it now stands has a curious feature That part of it which is toward the east was built over waterlogged land, and an artificial foundation of beech logs or trunks was laid horizontally one over _ the other, and kept in place with piles. The result was subsidence, bulge, and crack, then underpinning and buttressing, f inally divers had to be sent down to lay concrete while pumps drained off the water. What a climax after 800 years! Over £IOO,OOO had to be expended on the work, but the noble pile promises to brave the elements for many centuries. The famous Winchester College was founded by Wykeham in ir's9-93, and was in connection with a college at Oxford. The original idea was to provide education for priests. The little flat squares of board, formerly the dinner plates, are still used for bread and butter. In the schoolroom is a fifteenth century notice that the schoolboy must learn, leave, or be flogged with a four-twigged rod. Until the middle of the sixteenth century the beds consisted of some straw thrown on the concrete floor. In this famous school many great men were educated, and amongst them were Sir Thomas Browne, Dr Arnold, of Rugby, Sydney Smith, and Bishop Ken. The mention or the bishop reminds us that when he was a prebend and court chaplain at Winchester he was ordered by a royal official to give up his residence to Nell Gwynne, who was coming down with the King, Hie reply was: “Not for your master’s kingdom.” Very astutely Ken put his house under repair, and had the root removed. With all his foibles and vices, Charles II was a good sport, and used to say of a Sunday: “I must go and hear little Ken tell me of mv faults.” When tho bishopric of Bath and Wells fell vacant, tho King said: “ Give it to the little black fellow at Winchester.” \ . ... Among the celebrities associated with .Winchester was Jan© Austen,, that conI

noisseur in human nature. Although she set herself to describe provincial society and described herself as working with a fine brush on ivory, she is now an English classic, -arid has taught us all the charm that 'lies in common things. She died at Winchester m 1817, and was buried jin the cathedral. In one of the chapels is the tomb of Izaak Walton, who married a halfsister of Bishop Ken. But of all the immortals, who should seek rest and quiet at Winchester but John Keats? He noted that “the doorsteps were fresh from the flannel,” that the knockers had a staid, serious look, and thought Winchester an “ exceeding pleasant town, enriched with a beautiful cathedral and. surrounded by freshlooking country.” He confessed himself fairly in love with it. Writing to Miss Brawne, he said ho was busy at work on ‘ Otho the Great.’ He seems to have benefited by the change, for he says of .Winchester; “ There is one side of the city a dry chalky down, where the air is worth sixpence a pint.” The castle, could it speak, would tell a wondrous tale of furious fighting. It is now a museum, and contains what 1 is said to be King Arthur’s round table. In the cathedral one sees the caskets containing the dust of Saxon kings and bishops. Go where one will in this ancient city it compels the traveller to think of it as a stage on which Briton, Roman, Saxe and Norman played their_ part, and where in later times ecclesiastics and educationists sounded their peaceful note's. A succession of great personalities were in touch with Winchester, and happy is the pilgrim who goes thither already attuned to its fascination. For him full minstrel raptures swell.