+ ON TOUR: Winchester - Capital of Wessex

As with plenty of others I have passed by Winchester on the M3 many times on the way to Southampton for the Isle of Wight ferry, or to join a cruise ship.  I’ve even recommended Winchester as a layover. 

But the truth is I have never stopped.  

An offer of a couple of nights at the Holiday Inn Winchester was too good to be turned down, and I jumped at the chance.  The only problem is that it is not in Winchester. It sits on the edge of the South Downs National Park, England’s newest national park. If I had looked at a map I might have thought again, but not to worry the hotel is five minutes from the motorway, and ten minutes from Winchester itself, the city with plenty of parking spaces even outside the Guildhall with a fine information centre. It is an excellent 4-star property.

In Roman times Winchester was an important settlement with stone walls but it was Alfred the Great (849–899) who chose it as the capital of Wessex and laid out the street plan, much of which can be recognised today.  William the Conqueror was responsible for the Cathedral, originally built in 1079. It remains the longest Gothic cathedral in Europe. Queen Mary Tudor and King Philip II of Spain were married here.

The city is also home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the oldest public school in the United Kingdom still using its original buildings.  The Great Hall of Winchester Castle houses King Arthur’s Round Table which has dominated the building since at least 1463.  The table was originally unpainted, but was decorated by King Henry VIII in 1522. The names of the legendary Knights of the Round Table are written around the edge of the table surmounted by King Arthur on his throne, but he could be mistaken for the Plantagenet monarch.

During the Civil War Winchester was very much a Royalist stronghold and eventually surrendered to Cromwell, with Charles II in effect thanking the city by making it his retreat from London and commissioning Sir Christopher Wren build a Palace, the results of you can see as you wander into the quadrangle .  

Today the city gives the impression of a quiet rural town dominated by the cathedral with the High Street, car free, and a succession of mainly local enterprises, most national banks and eating place galore.  There are few empty shops, except Debenhams where the local council has cleverly decorated the boarded-up windows with a display that is a credit to the city.  Hopefully they will soon find tenants.  In other cities they are often an eyesore.

How to visit Winchester as a tourist with limited time?

The simple solution is to join a City Walking Tour (£11.50) with an official and knowledgeable local guide walking at a steady pace. Winchester is mainly flat. These tours start twice daily in the summer, take different routes and last up to two hours through gardens and passageways not that easy to find.  Make sure you pick up a local map just in case you somehow get left behind.

For our tour the party was small, the guide very happy to tell tales of the city’s past, from a bricked-up passageway said to be frequented by Nell Gwynn when visiting King Charles II, to the tavern where Dame Alice Lisle spent her final night before public execution, the last woman to perish in this way in Britain. 

Just by is the City Museum, purpose-built in 1903 and housing the Winchester Model, a breathtaking scale model of the city in Victorian times.

Our start was the Guildhall, a Victorian Gothic structure now refurbished as a civic and conference centre.  Then into the Broadway and past the iconic statue of King Alfred, erected in 1899 to commemorate the one thousandth year since his death.  The bronze shows the mighty king with beard, coins of the time record him clean shaven. Artist’s licence.

We then veered towards the Itchen River, once navigable by barge from the sea, but not so now and the ruins of Wolvesey Castle. Into Cathedral Close and the delightful Victorian Garden.  The cathedral itself houses the remains of Wessex monarchs and also William II, killed by an arrow in the nearby New Forest.  It is also the resting place of Jane Austin in 1817.  She lived in nearby Alton.  

Our trail included the Great Hall and into the area known as the Military Museums dominated by the Peninsula Barracks, an unfinished palace designed by Sir Christopher Wren for Charles II. Much of it is now given over to private accommodation.

During the 18th century the city became very much the garrison for a number of well-known regiments culminating with the outbreak of the First World War.  When in 1941 Americans joined the battle against Nazi Germany the barracks proved an ideal training centre and were visited by both Winston Churchill and supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower in the build up to D Day

Today the area houses The Museum of The King's Royal Hussars, The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum, The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum, The Rifles Museum, The Gurkha Museum and The Adjutant General's Corps Museum. 

The tour completed we were on our own with time to visit the Theatre Royal with a 400-seat auditorium much more imposing on the inside than the exterior.  Also well worth a visit is the City Mill, on the Itchen, over one thousand years old and still grinding corn for flour and baking. It is run by the National Trust and you don’t have to be member to visit.

My final visit was to the statue of Licoricia outside the Arc library and community centre in Jewry Street.  This fascinating Jewish woman, for 30 years a widow, helped finance Westminster Abbey.  In 1277 she was murdered together with her maid servant.  Edward I expelled the Jews from England 1280.  In March 2022, King Charles, as Prince of Wales, unveiled the statue.

From West Gate, once a prison and the fortified entrance to the city, to the Mill is less than half a mile.  Winchester is not big and a great walking city.

And what of the hotel?  The public areas are spacious, contemporary and you are looked after by very friendly staff.  There are conference facilities and an Odyssey Restaurant, Bar and Pizzeria and an excellent all-day menu.  No trouble with parking with a large car park, two electric points, but non-residents parking is charged.  If the weather is kind the terrace is fine for dining or just sitting out.  The 131 rooms are best defined as ‘bland’.

The ANA Spa is outstanding and would not be out of place in a 5-star property.  Located on the lower ground floor the spacious facility includes treatment rooms, wellness hydro spa, Himalayan Salt Sauna, Sensory Shower, Crystal Steam Room and Bubbly Foot Spa.  The gym is very well equipped and is free for hotel guests.

We dined in the first night at the hotel and was well satisfied with a delicious soft rib eye steak for myself, Mrs Ginsberg going for hummus and what was termed ‘loaded nachos’.  For night two it was off to The Bush Inn on the River Itchen in the tiny village of Ovington near New Alresford.  Again a fine choice but my suggestion is you approach via the A31 and not take the narrow back roads which were ‘tight’ in places.

The Holiday Inn Winchester is well managed by Castlebridge Hospitality.


Clivedon Stop

What to do for the return journey to North London?  Clivedon, made famous by the Profumo scandal in the early 1960s, and in an earlier era the home of the somewhat right wing Clivedon Set, seemed an obvious choice.  

Today Cliveden can be divided into two.  Clivedon House, a very upmarket hotel where you can take a Champagne Tea (or lunch), and the extensive estate grounds.  These are managed by the National Trust and stretch down to the River Thames. The 375-acre gardens and woodlands are open to the public, together with parts of the house on certain days. Cliveden was one of the National Trust's most popular pay-for-entry visitor attractions, hosting over half a million visitors in 2019.  

www.visitwinchester.co.uk      www.hiwinchester.co.uk

https://southdownstrust.org.uk

www.clivedenhouse.co.uk

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshire-berkshire/cliveden

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READERS' COMMENT

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John Reeve, United Kingdom

Malcolm, an excellent article about Winchester and the Holiday Inn. My Wife and I beat you by about one month - we did exactly what you did and can confirm everything you have said about the city and the hotel. We are going again soon! Keep up the good work!