We set off at 9:00 am from St Andrews Church as usual, thirty six members, wives, widows and friends including three visitors from Wallington and Carshalton Probus Club with whom we are sharing all outings this year.
After an uneventful journey we arrived in Winchester at 10:30 giving us plenty of time for tea or coffee in the newly re-furbished Cathedral Cafe before starting our tour of the Cathedral at 11:30.
(Photo by Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14464804)
Although the current building dates from 1079 there have been churches on the same site since c.648. Originally built in the Norman style after the arrival of William the Conqueror it has been modified many times but the Gothic re-styling by William of Wykeham in the mid-fourteenth century creates the magnificent vista we see looking down the nave today. It is the longest medieval cathedral in the world and the photo below is one taken on an earlier visit when the chairs had been removed.
With a history stretching back over nine hundred years our Tour Guides had lots of fascinating facts and stories to tell us. The association with Jane Austen brought back memories of a previous Cheam Probus Club outing in 2018 to her house in nearby Chawton and it is interesting that her grave stone makes no reference to her work as an author since women were not supposed to be writers at that time!
Her status was recognised later in 1870 by a brass plaque on the wall nearby and in 1900 by a stained glass window funded by public subscription.
Other insights from the cathedral's history included St Swithun's burials and pilgrims viewing hole, chantry chapels, medieval tiles and diver William Walker's epic six year work (1906-1911) under 20ft of water shoring up the cathedral from collapse by using more than 25,800 bags of concrete and114,900 concrete blocks.
After our tour the majority of us returned to the cathedral Cafe for an excellent lunch after which some went to the cathedral crypt or explored the city sights including The Round Table and the statue of Alfred The Great.
Many thanks to Norman for arranging an excellent relaxing day out and to our Banstead Coach driver 'zig-zag' Chris for avoiding most of the delays following the closure of the M25 on the way home.
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