Winchester Cathedral

On a dreary day (what? no sun in Britain in the winter?), we headed over to Winchester to have a look at the famous cathedral there. I suppose that I should break into a couple lines of the chorus here:

Winchester Cathedral, you're bringin' me downYou stood and you watched as my baby left town

But I won't.



Today, we are going to explore the ceilings in this place. I took lots of photos here...many more than you'll see here. I decided to group them somewhat by the parts of the church (or what's in it). Today is looking up. Tomorrow probably will be as well.

This is one of the largest cathedrals in England and has the classic gothic ceiling over the nave. Although a church has been here since Roman times, it was only after it was rebuilt in the middle ages that it got this gothic makeover. As you'll see later, this is not the case in all parts of the building.

But this ribbed ceiling is a masterpiece.

Looking toward the west takes us to the front of the church and this enormous stained glass window.

The stain glass window above the main entrance to the cathedral has a unique mosaic pattern that is not found in any other church in England. This pattern is stunning when viewed from the inside of the cathedral and the sun is pouring through. The tale as to the origins of this distinctive window is intriguing and a story no visitor to Winchester should not know about. 

The mosaic stained glass window was not the intended design but an assortment of broken fragments collected and repaired after all of the stained glass windows of the cathedral were smashed. The windows were destroyed after the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) defeated the royalist (Cavaliers) who were defending Winchester during the English civil war (1650). 

In the aisles on the sides, we find other fine examples of the gothic stonemason's craft.

In the transept, we find a portion of the church that was never rebuilt and still stands in the previous Norman style. Here we see a wooden grid covering the ceiling and the typical rounded arch windows. Imagine what this place might have been before the gothic reconstruction.

In fact, in the normal section of the church, is this small chapel discovered in the '70's with bits of 1000 year old frescos still visible. the colors are vibrant because for much that millenium, they were plastered over.

Behind the main altar is this chapel with its ornate ceiling and beautiful window.

There is one section of the ceiling that the Victorian (those bold fellows!) restored to the original colors. To see the entire church in this color scheme would be pretty startling.

Looking at this section of the ceiling, we can see that this was built and rebuilt in fits and starts because of the way the parts of the building don't line up.

Tomorrow, we'll continue this journey of looking up.