Winchester day out

My semi-retired status allows me to do this sort of thing - decide the night before on a whim to get a train in the morning out to Winchester and potter about. Weather forecast of sunny intervals should have allowed me some decent photos along the way.

Theatre Royal

St Peters Roman Catholic church

The High Street

The Buttercross

The Guildhall

The River Itchen

City wall

This is Winchester College, which claims to be the oldest school in Britain, founded by William of Wykeham (hence old boys are Old Wykhemists) in 1382. You can only go round it by guided tour, which I proceeded to do. Which was very nice for me as I was the only person on the tour, so more of a chat with the guide than a formal tour.

This was a ventilation shaft associated with the brewing of beer, from a time when you drank beer because it was so much safer than water.

This used to be the school's washing facilities. You had to be hardy at a British public school. Must have encouraged quick washing of a morning in winter.

Beautiful cloisters

The Bishop's Palace, although I think they now refer to it as the Bishop's residence as it doesn't chime well for a bishop to live in a palace these days. But the Bishop of Winchester does.

This is Wolvesey Castle - ruins now and an English Heritage site for which there is no admission fee. You just wander in.  It isn't actually a castle, but the old and very grand medieval Bishops Palace. (The above Bishop's Palace is just next door and replaced the medieval one in 1684)

More of the new Bishops Palace viewed from the exit from the old one.

The Deanery