Since Chris had off work for Easter Monday, we decided to jump at the chance and take a day trip out to Winchester, which is about an hour away from us. The ride there was not fun as a wrong turn added about 20 minutes onto our trip and caused some car sickness. But, we made it and that’s what matters.
By the time we arrived in town, it was lunch time. So, we experienced our first pasty, which most of us enjoyed.
Once we were refueled, we headed out to see the Winchester Cathedral.
It is important for many reasons; one being it is the longest cathedral in Europe. It was also built in the shape of a cross.
There was so much history in this building that we only seemed to be able to skim the surface. The library was amazing, which houses the Winchester Bible. We saw an old globe that was made by pasting strips at a time onto the sphere using egg whites. It actually showed California as an island, but it was amazing how much they did get right from just sailing around. We were also able to see beautiful wall paintings and medieval carvings.
We took the kids down into the crypt, which they were very nervous about.
But, did you know ‘crypt’ actually means ‘hidden place’? It wasn’t used for burials, but for prayers. Because it is underneath the cathedral, it often floods in the winter so there was quite a bit of water down there, which just seemed to add to the surreal-ness of it.
Now I have to admit one of the biggest draws to this cathedral is the fact that Jane Austen is buried here.
This actual gravestone doesn’t mention anything about her being a novelist. Perhaps that is because most of her novels were published after she died, but later a special marker was placed on the wall near the gravestone mentioning what most people know her for.
Just a beautiful cathedral, inside and out.
We then walked around the corner and found the house where Jane Austen had died.
It’s a private residence now so there wasn’t anything to see but they did have a plaque above the door.
We continued our walk through the town . . .
. . . sometimes feeling like we were stepping back in time.
We walked up to the other end of town, which is where the Winchester Castle used to be.
The main hall is the only thing that still exists but hanging inside is the “Winchester Round Table.” This has the names of various knights of King Arthur’s court. It dates back to 1250 or so.
Just around the corner, we found the old west gate of the city.
This was actually used as a debtor’s prison at one time, but they have a great little museum inside and you are able to climb up to the top to get a good view of the city. The kids liked being able to dress up. After trying this uniform on, Caleb has no desire to be a guard anytime soon.
Our last stop before heading home was to find the statue of King Alfred the Great.
What a great day out of London!
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