16 Facts About Winchester Cathedral

1.

Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winchester Cathedral, is the cathedral of the city of Winchester, England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe.

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2.

The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of Winchester.

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3.

At the turn of the 20th century, Winchester Cathedral was in grave danger of collapse, and by the summer of 1905, the Dean, William Furneaux, was facing the imminent ruin of the building.

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4.

Winchester Cathedral's task was to descend into the flooded trenches in a primitive and immensely heavy diving suit and level the trenches, by removing the peat topsoil and then laying bags of cement to plug the water coming up from below.

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5.

Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe and the longest in overall length.

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6.

The Winchester Cathedral is 558 feet long, and the vaulting has a height of 78 feet.

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7.

Much of Winchester Cathedral's stained glass was lost during the time of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector when the enormous Great West Window was smashed by Roundheads, as were many other windows in the lower levels of the building.

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8.

Winchester Cathedral has a very large number of ancient mortuary chests, including those of Alfred the Great, King Canute and his wife Queen Emma, William Rufus and King Egbert.

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9.

Organists at Winchester Cathedral have included Christopher Gibbons whose patronage aided the revival of church music after the Interregnum, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the composer of sacred musicand Martin Neary, who arranged the music for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey.

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10.

However, by the time the metal had cooled, the bells tuned and rehung in Winchester Cathedral, Edward had abdicated, and his brother George VI became king.

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11.

In 1967, a redundant bell from St Lawrence's Church in Winchester was transferred to the Cathedral and hung in a new cast iron metal frame as a semitone bell, called a flat sixth.

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12.

Winchester Cathedral's funeral was held in the cathedral, and she was buried in the north aisle.

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13.

Winchester Cathedral is possibly the only cathedral to have had popular songs written about it.

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14.

When he was posted to England during the First World War, Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, visited the Winchester Cathedral and had an initial experience of the presence of God.

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15.

Winchester Cathedral is the starting point of the 34-mile-long St Swithun's Way, a Long-distance footpath which was opened in 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

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16.

Winchester Cathedral and surrounding area have been used multiple times as a filming location for The Crown, a popular Netflix historical drama series based on the monarchy during the time of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.

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