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90-679: The building, previously the Eton Avenue Hall, was reconstructed in 1890. It was equipped with a large pipe organ, built ca. 1887-8 by the London firm of Henry Willis & Sons with forty-three stops spread over four manuals and pedals. The hey-day of the conservatoire was 1896 - 1905, when its Principal was Cecil Sharp . Arnold Bax was one of its pupils between 1898 and 1900. It was also notable for an early and celebrated production of Dido and Aeneas in 1900 by Martin Shaw and Gordon Craig . The organ

180-458: A Perpendicular Gothic presbytery, and the extension of Luci's retrochoir into a Lady Chapel . Unlike the rebuilding of the nave some 100 years earlier, the Gothic presbytery was vaulted in wood and painted to look like stone, as at York Minster . After its progressive extensions, the east end is now about 110 feet (34 m) beyond that of Walkelin's building. King Henry VIII seized control of

270-715: A Willis until it was destroyed by a fire in November 1992 , as have Blenheim Palace and the Royal Academy of Music . In Australia, a 4,600 pipes organ was installed at the Brisbane City Hall in Brisbane . This was built in 1892, and originally installed in the Brisbane Exhibition Building, then in 1927 moved to its current location. Although four generations of Henry Willises are mostly remembered for organs on

360-451: A concave and radiating pedalboard, both the inventions of "Father" Willis (in collaboration with Wesley in the case of the pedalboard) and now standard features of organs throughout English-speaking countries. Famous "Father" Willis organs subsequently installed in cathedrals include those at St Paul's Cathedral in London, Lincoln Cathedral , Salisbury Cathedral , Truro Cathedral and Glasgow Metropolitan Cathedral . The organ in

450-399: A depth of 16.4 metres (54 ft) below the floor to support the new lift. In June 2017, the lift shaft and outer frame was installed, comprising 4 tonnes of steel rising 12.6 metres (41 ft) from the floor. To enable this, the 12th-century groin vault of the south transept aisle was opened up in a world first. The lift shaft is entirely free standing, it does not exert any pressure on

540-685: A half octaves, seven stops and 350 pipes. The organ, donated by Charlotte Yonge of England, arrived on Norfolk in 1876 and was installed in St Barnabas' church in 1880. In 1985, Henry Willis IV, great-grandson of the founder, travelled to the island to carry out restoration work on the instrument. Henry Willis III built and worked on many organs across Britain, the most notable examples of his work (in addition to Liverpool Cathedral) being in Westminster Cathedral and Sheffield City Hall , both built in 1932. These organs both contain stops invented by

630-439: A large number of chantry chapels , often dedicated to the various Bishops of Winchester. These chantry chapels, which can be found mostly in the retrochoir but also the nave, are intricately designed. Famous chantry chapels include those of William Wykeham, William Wayneflete, Richard Fox and Henry Beaufort. The earliest recorded organ at Winchester Cathedral was in the tenth century; it had 400 pipes and could be heard throughout

720-493: A new Early English retrochoir . Luci died in 1204, but the work continued under successive bishops, eventually resulting in the demolition of the Norman apse . The next expansions and rebuilding took place the mid 14th century, when in 1346, Bishop Edington demolished the Norman west front and began building a new Perpendicular Gothic facade, featuring a huge west window, which still stands today. Edington also began renovation of

810-562: A new single-storey extension in the corner of the north presbytery aisle was completed. Called the Fleury building after it was officially opened by the Abbot of Fleury from L'Abbaye de St-Benôit-sur-Loire in France, it was the first new extension on the cathedral building since the lady chapel was extended in the mid 16th century. The new building housed toilet facilities, storage and a new boiler, replacing

900-520: A remote facility in the Wessex Hotel a short distance away. The new extension cost £820,000, which was raised by the Friends of Winchester Cathedral. During September 2012, fundraising begins for a planned £19 million programme of repair and expansion. This project aimed to repair and conserve the ancient stained-glass windows of the presbytery clerestory, restore the wooden vault of the presbytery, replace

990-576: A site just to the south of the Old and New Minsters, the site of the present building. The new cathedral was consecrated with the completion of the east end in 1093, and the many tombs of Saxon kings moved from the Old Minster into the new cathedral. The following day, demolition of the New and Old Minsters began, and quickly progressed, leaving virtually no remains. The outline of the Old Minster can still be seen today to

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1080-406: A small chapel. The windows in the transepts are mostly Norman, except for the clerestory and south gable of the south transept, which has had Decorated Gothic windows inserted, including a small rose window . The south transept aisle vault was pierced in the 2012-2020 restoration (see above) to allow installation of a lift up to the triforium. The central tower, which rises only one story above

1170-404: A three-year project was completed to clean and conserve the nave and west front, which were last cleaned in 1897. For those three years, the nave had been covered with scaffolding both internally and externally. Following the removal of the scaffolding in early 2000, it was the first time the cathedral interior had been free of scaffolding since 1990. During August 2006, a near-catastrophic fire

1260-548: A vast area stretching from the English Channel to the River Thames , the bishopric having been transferred from Dorchester on Thames , Oxfordshire by Bishop Wine . The design of this early church cannot be confirmed, for no trace other than ground plan exists today, but Wolstan mentions a gateway tower situated some distance from the west end. Wine died in c. 672, but one of his later successors, Swithun, would become one of

1350-565: A very long and very wide nave in the Perpendicular Gothic style, an Early English retrochoir , and Norman transepts and tower. With an overall length of 558 feet (170 m), it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world . With an area of 53,480 square feet (4,968 m ), it is also the sixth-largest cathedral by area in the UK, surpassed only by Liverpool, St Paul's , York , Westminster (RC) and Lincoln . A major tourist attraction,

1440-485: Is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries. Five generations of the Willis family served as principals of the firm, until 1997, when Henry Willis 4 appointed as Managing Director, David Wyld; who subsequently became the majority shareholder. Founded in London, at 2 & 1/2 Foundling Terrace, Gray's Inn Road ,

1530-485: Is made from Carboniferous limestone from Belgium. It features unique carvings of the healings of Saint Nicholas . The font was gifted to the cathedral by Henry of Blois . The Morley Library, housed in the triforium of the south transept, houses a collection of rare books, all of which were given to the cathedral by George Morley , Bishop of Winchester from 1662 to 1684. The books still rest on their original 17th-century carved shelves. The Kings and Scribes exhibition

1620-540: Is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe and the longest in overall length. The building shows the development of the architectural building styles from the dramatic Norman work of the transepts, right through to the late Perpendicular Gothic work in the east end. The present building was begun in 1079 and was completed in 1532. It has a cruciform plan, with a long nave, transepts, central crossing tower, choir, presbytery and lady chapel. A variety of stone

1710-598: Is the cathedral of the city of Winchester , England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe . The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of Winchester . It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of Winchester . The cathedral as it stands today was built from 1079 to 1532 and is dedicated to numerous saints, most notably Swithun of Winchester . It has

1800-500: Is the culmination of a £20.5 million restoration of the transepts and east end, and displays hundreds of ancient artefacts, including skulls, weaponry and building stone, all displayed alongside 21st-century technology. Also in the exhibition is the famous Winchester Bible, which is considered to be the largest and best-preserved 12th-century Bible in England. The text, in the Latin of St Jerome,

1890-500: Is unknown, but a wooden fan vault was installed in 1635 to allow the installation of bells above, thus closing the upper stages of the tower off to the cathedral below. Underneath the tower is the choir, separated from the nave by a large and intricate wooden screen dating from the 1870s, by George Gilbert Scott . Behind the screen are the choir stalls and misericords , some of which date back to 1308, and are made out of carved oak. The nave, originally built between c.1100 and c.1129,

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1980-473: Is unusual in that the central bays are only slightly higher than the aisles that surround them. The aisles are lit with large lancet windows. The newer section of the east end is the presbytery east of the crossing and was built in the Perpendicular Gothic style from 1458 to 1520, It consists of four bays, with north and south aisles. Like the remodelled nave, this features two stages, rather than

2070-458: Is vaulted in stone throughout. The nave and aisles are vaulted using Beer stone. The aisles of the presbytery, the lady chapel and the retrochoir are also vaulted in stone. The vaulting underneath the central tower and spanning the presbytery is vaulted in wood, painted to look like stone. Many of the chantry chapels have fan vaults. The highest vault in the cathedral is 78 feet (24 metres) above ground level. The transepts are not vaulted except for in

2160-586: The Chapel of King's College London , designed to complete the George Gilbert Scott interior, is of "Father" Willis origin and dates back to 1866. The Grand Organ built by Henry Willis & Sons in 1871 for the Royal Albert Hall had four manuals ( keyboards ) and 111 stops and was, at that time, the largest in the world. The organ at Union Chapel, Islington , was designed and built specially for

2250-701: The Industrial Revolution many towns equipped themselves with imposing town halls, preferably with a Willis instrument of the symphonic organ style, and a substantial (and similarly equipped) church. Industrialists competed to endow the most lavish halls and instruments. The result was a convergence of both a very fine and technically proficient organ builder, and a substantial number of commissions for really exceptional instruments. This heritage continues with recent new instruments in Florence (Italy) and Auckland (New Zealand). As well as large organs, from around 1860

2340-525: The Mersey Tunnel . Jackson and Fox sunk a trench to the foundations of the east end and discovered the Normans had constructed the entire cathedral on a 'floating raft', consisting of a 15-inch-thick layer of beech trees , laid diagonally one on top of the other. Some of these beech trees were solid, but others had rotted and collapsed, and as they did so, the cathedral shifted and sank into the soft ground, which

2430-661: The Old Minster , chief burial place of the Wessex ruling dynasty , but they are believed to have been transferred to Winchester's Norman cathedral after the minster was demolished in 1093 to make way for the new construction. Their bones were placed in chests, but these were heavily disturbed during the English Civil War , and the remains are today commingled, with several individuals found within each chest, and some individuals spread over multiple boxes. The cathedral building contains

2520-519: The Catholic Church in England and declared himself head of the new Church of England . The Benedictine foundation, the Priory of Saint Swithun , was dissolved . The priory surrendered to the king in 1539. Richard Pollard and Thomas Wriothesley came to dismantle the shrines and altar; the shrine of St Swithun was destroyed. The next year a new chapter was formed, and the last prior, William Basyng ,

2610-661: The Great West Window was put back together with clear glass as a mosaic following the restoration. As such, most of the surviving stained glass is in the upper levels of the cathedral, such as in the Great East Window, which was restored as part of the 2012-2020 restoration. The great east window dates from 1620s, and contains the work of Flemish craftsmen, whose work can also be seen in King's College Chapel in Cambridge . Much of

2700-614: The Kings and Scribes exhibition, and is kept in a climate-controlled room on the ground floor of the south transept. The physical book cannot be read by the public, but it has been replicated digitally, and visitors can use large screens to read the digitised Bible. The cathedral also 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 . The remains of these individuals were originally interred in

2790-592: The aisles, instead, they have 19th-century wooden ceilings. The cathedral has numerous monuments and treasures. These include the 12th-century Tournai font , the Morley Library, the Kings and Scribes exhibition and the Winchester Bible . The font is a rare survivor from a collection known as the Tournai fonts and dates back to c. 1150. It is one of only ten fonts of its kind in England. The font weighs 1.5 tonnes and

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2880-412: The arcade upwards into what was the triforium and extending the clerestory downwards to meet it. The wooden ceiling was replaced with a decorative stone vault. Following Wykeham's death in 1404, this remodelling work continued under successive bishops, and was completed c. 1420. Wykeham's successor, Henry Beaufort (1405–1447) carried out fewer alterations, adding a chantry on the south side of

2970-656: The builder: the Sylvestrina at 8 foot pitch on the Choir divisions. In 1929, he rebuilt Father Willis' notable concert instrument at Alexandra Palace . The resulting instrument was said to eclipse any other Willis concert hall organ, and to be the finest concert organ in Europe. Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun , commonly known as Winchester Cathedral ,

3060-469: The cathedral attracted 365,000 visitors in 2019, an increase of 12,000 from 2018. Though churches were recorded in Winchester as early as 164, the first Christian church can be traced back to c. 648, when King Cenwalh of Wessex built a small, cross-shaped building just north of the present building. This building, known as the Old Minster , became the cathedral for the new Diocese of Winchester in 662,

3150-495: The central nave, which gives both an impression of width and height. The nave, including the aisles, is 82 feet (25 metres) wide. The east end of the cathedral was built in two stages. The older section is the retrochoir between the high altar and the lady chapel, which was constructed between 1202 and c. 1220 in the Early English Gothic style. This too has a stone vault, with numerous highly decorative chantry chapels of

3240-539: The city. This first organ required two men to play it, and 70 men to blow it. The present organ has its core dating back to 1851, when a very large instrument was built by Henry Willis and Sons for the Great Exhibition , held at The Crystal Palace , London. The then Cathedral organist, Samuel Wesley, visited the exhibition and was impressed by its size and tone. He recommended to the Dean & Chapter that they purchase

3330-423: The cracks. When grouting was completed, a new problem was encountered. When the peat was dug through to reach the gravel bed, water rushed up to a height of fourteen feet. The peat had acted as a seal, and when it was broken, water from the nearby River Itchen flooded the trenches. Jackson ordered a powerful steam pump to remove the water from the trenches. This caused a rift between Fox and Jackson, as Fox thought

3420-585: The crossing tower (previously the tower was open to the church) and the destruction of much medieval glass and imagery by Parliamentarian soldiers in December 1642, including the near-complete destruction of the massive Great West Window by Cromwell and his forces. The window was put back together by the townspeople as a mosaic following the Restoration of the Monarchy , but it has never regained its original appearance as

3510-411: The crypt by Antony Gormley of a life-sized man, which has stood in the crypt since the 1980s. The crypt often floods in winter due to the high water table. Much of Winchester'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. The glass from

3600-491: The damage was too great. In the 18th century, many visitors commented on the neglect of the cathedral and the town; Daniel Defoe described the latter in about 1724 as "a place of no trade… no manufacture, no navigation". Major restoration followed in the early 19th century under the direction of architect William Garbett and then John Nash . Jane Austen was buried in the north nave aisle in 1817, and many visitors continue to come today to see her final resting place. At

3690-479: The early 19th century, and sent to Leicester to be recast. This stage of work was completed in May 2016 with the removal of the external scaffolding and the completion of the lead replacement. As part of the works to restore the south transept ahead of its use as an exhibition space, a statue was discovered on its gable end in 2017. The original statue, made of Caen stone , was in a very poor state of repair. Caen stone

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3780-417: The east, with a large seven-light window. The vaulting of the western bay, which dates back to the time of the retrochoir, was also redone during Courtenay's time, which now features extremely intricate lierne star vaults. The southeast chapel of the retrochoir, adjoining the lady chapel, was also remodelled at this time, mostly by Courtenay's successor Thomas Langton, who gave it a pseudo fan vault and painted

3870-422: The entire presbytery roof. In March 2015, a 300 tonne crane lifted the 27 tonne scaffolding frame to a height of 80 feet (24 m) above the cathedral floor onto the roof. This scaffolding frame, which was moulded to the shape of the roof, was then covered with a waterproof layer to allow the lead underneath to be removed. Over the next few weeks, 54 tonnes of lead were removed from the roof, dating back as far as

3960-533: The events that had preceded this. The Chronicle said that there was "a storm over the departure of the director of music Andrew Lumsden and widespread concerns about the running of the music department". An article in The Critic said that "Sources in the Cathedral Close paint a picture of bullying, micro-management and control-freakery gone wild, with Lumsden the most recent victim". Winchester Cathedral

4050-454: The firm later moved to a purpose-built works, designed by Henry Willis III, at Petersfield ; and after acquisition by David Wyld, to its present base and head office in Liverpool . The founder of the company, the eponymous Henry Willis , was nicknamed "Father Willis" because of his contribution to the art and science of organ building and to distinguish him from his younger relatives working in

4140-450: The firm made compact and lower-cost instruments suitable for smaller spaces such as the chancels of village churches. These were called Scudamore organs after their proponent, John Baron, who was rector of Upton Scudamore , Wiltshire. In March 1919, Henry Willis & Sons merged with another prominent firm of organ builders, Lewis & Co , and traded under the name of Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Company Ltd. until 1923 when

4230-498: The firm. He was a friend of Samuel Sebastian Wesley whom he met at Cheltenham, and who was instrumental in gaining for Willis the contract for his first work on a cathedral organ, at Gloucester , in 1847. The Willis firm is regarded as the leading organ builder of the Victorian era , itself a time when both civic and religious commitment led to the construction of a large number of impressive buildings and other public works. During

4320-416: The glass in the presbytery clerestory dates from 1404 to 1426, and was made by Thomas of Oxford. There is also a rose window in the gable of the north transept. The oldest stained-glass window in the cathedral is in the north transept, dating from 1330. Much of the cathedral building is vaulted, some using stone and other parts, wood. The oldest vaulted part of the building is the 11th-century crypt, which

4410-514: The grand scale, they also built smaller instruments. Seven examples exist in Australia, including the last one imported, the 1881 organ (Great: 5 stops; Swell: 4 stops; Pedal: 1 stop; 3 couplers) in All Saints Church , Bodalla, New South Wales , commemorating the 'father of Australian dairying', Thomas Sutcliffe Mort . Norfolk Island has a small Willis organ comprising one manual of four and

4500-531: The graveyard outside the church, was brought inside and housed in a magnificent shrine. When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, he began to install his own bishops in place of the Anglo-Saxon bishops. William installed his friend and relative Walkelin as the first Norman Bishop of Winchester in 1070, and nine years later, in 1079, Walkelin began the construction of a huge new Norman cathedral, on

4590-497: The inspection and analysis revealed severe corrosion in the windows, many of which had holes in and collapsed glass, and the failure of the lead roof above, which was causing degrading to the 16th-century wooden vault of the presbytery. A trial removal of the 1950s paint revealed the surviving 16th-century paint underneath on the nearly 200 roof bosses. In July 2013, a £10.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund allowed

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4680-486: The instrument for Winchester. The purchase was completed for £2,500, and the instrument was installed at Winchester three years later, in 1854, after being reduced in size slightly. The instrument, as installed, had four manuals and 49 stops. It was modified in 1897 and 1905, and completely rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 1937 and again in 1986–88. Organists at Winchester have included composer Richard Browne (1627–1629); Christopher Gibbons whose patronage aided

4770-540: The largest of the organs exhibited. The organ was later installed in Winchester Cathedral by the family firm (largely due to the initiative of Samuel Sebastian Wesley , the then Cathedral organist) after being reduced to 49 speaking stops, which was felt at the time to be an appropriate size for the Cathedral. When installed at Winchester in 1854, it was the first cathedral organ in the world to have thumb pistons and

4860-460: The lead roof of the east end, rewire the building with a new sound system, and open a new exhibition on the Winchester Bible in the south transept triforium. During the end of 2012, a high-level internal access scaffold was erected in the presbytery to enable close inspection of the vault and clerestory windows. The vault was subject to a detailed construction and paint analyses. The results of

4950-470: The most famous Bishops of Winchester. Whether Swithun himself oversaw any expansion of the Old Minster is unknown, but it is recorded in Acta Sanctorum that from 963 to 984, Bishop Æthelwold greatly expanded the church, the works being finished by the following Bishop, Alphege. The church was rededicated in 993, and consisted of a central tower, north and south aisles, transepts, crypt and an apse, and

5040-416: The nave, but this was mostly carried out by his successors, most notably William of Wykeham and his master mason, William Wynford , who remodelled the massive Norman nave into a soaring Perpendicular Gothic masterpiece. This they achieved by encasing the Norman stone in new ashlar , recutting the piers with Gothic mouldings and pointed arches, and reorganising the three-tier nave into two tiers, by extending

5130-437: The new base for the foundations. Jackson and Fox proposed to sink a series of trenches around the eastern end, about 50 in number, down to the gravel bed, and to build up to the raft with concrete and brick. However, the upper walls were so weak that digging under the foundations without supporting the walls could bring the structure down. Therefore, Fox began grouting the walls using the ' Greathead Grouting Machine ' to fill in

5220-468: The new exhibition, Kings and Scribes, which was planned to open in the triforium at the end of the restoration project. The south transept was then filled with scaffolding and sealed off at the tower arch from the rest of the cathedral, which was expected to remain for nearly three years. In January 2015, a massive scaffolding frame began to be assembled in the Outer Close, which would be raised to cover

5310-496: The north of the present nave. Work quickly progressed to the transepts and central tower, and these were certainly complete by 1100 when William Rufus was buried underneath the crossing tower. Work to the nave was probably interrupted in 1107 when the central tower fell, but was restarted following reconstruction of the tower, and completed before the death of William Giffard , who was Bishop of Winchester from 1100 to his death in 1129. The standard of much of this building work

5400-457: The oldest stained-glass window in the cathedral, dating from 1330. A new oak mezzanine floor was installed in the triforium to prevent visitors from walking on the uneven floor. The glass lift was installed in the frame during this time, comprising 18 panels, the largest weighing some 550 kilograms. Starting in January 2018, the birdcage installed in 2014 was slowly removed due to the completion of

5490-456: The oldest unaltered sections of the present cathedral, constructed under the auspices of Bishop Walkelin from 1079 to 1098. They are massive in construction, some 209 feet (64 m) in length across the crossing and the walls are 75 feet (23 m) high. The transepts are divided into three sections of nearly equal height, featuring an arcade at ground level, triforium and clerestory. Both transepts have east and west aisles, each of which contains

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5580-453: The pumping could further destabilise the foundations and cause the collapse of the building. Pumping nevertheless began. In the spring of 1906, there were signs Fox was right – the cathedral was still moving and sinking, and this time, more rapidly than before. It was realised for the first time that there was a serious risk to lives. Fox made a site visit in March 1906 and became concerned because

5670-563: The reference to Lewis was dropped. The firm moved into Lewis's works at Brixton and remained there until it was destroyed by bombing during the London Blitz in 1941. The firm acquired A. Hunter & Son of Clapham in 1937. The "Father" Willis's organ won a 'Council' gold medal in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. With 70 speaking stops this was

5760-476: The reopening of the south transept, which had been closed off for five years, some two and a half years longer than originally expected. In June 2024, some cathedral staff and volunteers were reported by the Hampshire Chronicle to have concerns about music at the cathedral. A senior member of the chapter, Mark Byford , resigned, and the bishop, Philip Mounstephen , commissioned an independent review of

5850-443: The restoration work to begin. In 2014, a birdcage or suspended scaffold was installed below the vault in the presbytery, where it was expected to stay for four years. This scaffold allowed close contact with the vaults and clerestory windows to be repaired. The scaffold weighed 5 tonnes. Also in 2014, the south transept was removed of all of its items including 7,000 books from the library, to allow it to be restored and made ready for

5940-399: The retrochoir, although work on the nave continued. From 1450 to 1528, under the leadership of Bishops William Waynflete , Peter Courtenay , Thomas Langton and Richard Foxe , major rebuilding and expansion was carried out on the Norman choir and Early English retrochoir. This work included the building of further chantry chapels in the retrochoir, the replacement of the Norman east end with

6030-554: The size and acoustics of the new Chapel building in 1877 by “Father” Willis, it was fully restored from 2013-2015 and it is notable for its fully working original hydraulic blowing system. The Grand Organ built by Henry Willis & Sons between 1923 and 1926 at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool is the largest pipe organ in the UK, with two five-manual consoles, 10,268 pipes and a trompette militaire. Windsor Castle had

6120-521: The statue was replaced with a newly carved life-sized figure of a medieval ecclesiastic clad in an alb, made of Portland stone . By February 2017, the cathedral were only £200,000 short of their fundraising goal, which had increased to £20.5 million. Also in February, a pit was created in the south transept floor to allow future insertion of a lift, thus allowing the exhibition on the south transept triforium to be accessible to all. Eight piles were inserted to

6210-401: The steeply pitched roof of the nave, was rebuilt in the Norman style following its collapse in 1107. There are indications it was originally intended to be higher, the interior of the belfry stage is highly decorative, featuring dog-tooth carvings , which additionally indicates it was intended to be a lantern stage, potentially with a belfry stage above. Whether a further stage was planned or not

6300-453: The three seen in the north and south transepts, the difference being the windows in the presbytery are larger than their counterparts in the nave. Unlike the nave, however, the presbytery is vaulted in wood, painted to look like stone. The vault has some of the most highly decorative and colourful roof bosses in the cathedral. The Lady Chapel was also greatly extended in this time during the time of Bishop Courtenay (1486–1492), given new bays to

6390-444: 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. Huge cracks had appeared in the walls, some of them large enough for a small child to crawl into, the walls were bulging and leaning, and stone fell from the walls. Furneaux brought in a leading architect of the age, Thomas G. Jackson . Jackson's prognosis

6480-411: The various bishops of the age. It was said to have been used as a model for Salisbury Cathedral, whose construction began just as the retrochoir at Winchester was nearing completion. When this work was completed at Winchester, the original Norman apse was demolished. There are two great arches in the western wall of the retrochoir, which allow the view of the rear of the reredos to be seen. The retrochoir

6570-472: The vault and window repairs, allowing the vault and windows to be viewed for the first time in nearly four years. The stone reredos , dating from 1450 to 1476, called the Great Screen, was cleaned for the first time since 1890. The entire project came to a close on 21 May 2019, with the opening of the Kings and Scribes exhibition in the south transept, the removal of all internal and external scaffolding, and

6660-423: The vault or walls. By November, the final clerestory window had been reinserted. They had been removed beginning 2015 for restoration and were sent to Wells, Somerset for restoration. The Great East Window was also restored in this time but was so fragile, the conservation works were completed in-situ . Just as these window repairs were completed, conservation on eight windows in the north transept began, including

6750-411: The vaulting blue. Unlike the rest of the cathedral, the coloured vault survives. Underneath the cathedral is the crypt , an extensive Norman survivor, which extends underneath much of the eastern end of the building. The crypt has numerous sections and aisles. The crypt has a stone vault throughout and dates from the late 11th century, similar in date to the transepts. There is a prominent statue in

6840-420: The water being pumped out was no longer clear but was cloudy, containing chalk . He ordered pumping stopped. The pump had disturbed a layer of chalk silt between the peat and gravel bed, which further destabilised the building. Jackson was against stopping pumping, as he could not see an alternative. Fox, however, summoned diver William Walker from London, who arrived in Winchester on 5 April 1906. Walker, who

6930-416: The water was full of bodies and graves, which made the water septic. Walker worked 6 to 7 hour shifts almost every day for six years to achieve this, diving under the majority of the cathedral building. When he had completed his work in 1911, the pump could be used safely to remove the water without disturbing the foundations. In 1911, flying buttresses were added along the length of the south nave to complete

7020-550: The work. A special service was held on St Swithun's Day in 1912, attended by the King and Queen, to give thanks for the work of Jackson, Fox and Walker. Walker was later rewarded with the MVO and is credited with saving the cathedral from collapse. The total cost of the work was £113,000, equivalent in 2017 to nearly £9 million. Walker laid more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks. In February 2000,

7110-415: Was appointed dean. Mary I married Philip II of Spain here in 1554. The monastic buildings, including the cloister and chapter house, were later demolished, mostly during the 1560–1580 tenure of the reformist bishop Robert Horne . The 17th century saw important changes to the interior, including the erection of a choir screen by Inigo Jones in 1638–39, the insertion of a wooden fan vault underneath

7200-495: Was arguably the most experienced diver in the country at the time, had an extremely challenging job. His 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. Walker's suit weighed 200 lb (91 kg) dry, and the trenches were cramped and pitch-black; Walker had to feel around with his hands. Additional challenges were that

7290-507: Was briefly the largest church in Europe. Also on the site was the New Minster , in direct competition with the neighbouring Old Minster. The New Minster was begun by Alfred the Great but completed in 901 by his son Edward the Elder . These two monasteries existed side by side, the monks becoming virtually intertwined with one another. Swithun's body, which according to his wishes had been buried in

7380-441: Was grim, and his survey showed the entire building was listing to the south-east, and sinking into the soft ground, most likely due to defects in the foundations. On his instructions, large sections of the building were shored up with timber. Initial estimates for the cost of the repair were £20,000 in 1905. Jackson, acknowledging he was out of his depth, brought in engineer Francis Fox , whose company had completed projects such as

7470-465: Was handwritten on 468 sheets of calf-skin parchment, each measuring 23 by 15.75 inches (584 by 400 mm). These sheets were folded down the centre, making 936 pages in all. The illustrations in the Bible sometimes used lapis lazuli which was both rare and extremely expensive, coming from Afghanistan . Other illustrations contain gold leaf or paint. The Bible is on display for the public to view as part of

7560-401: Was high, and thus much of it survives in the present building, most notably in the transepts which have an appearance almost as Walkelin left them. This building was monumental in size, more than 500 feet (150 m) in length, and it still makes up the core of the present building. The first alteration to Walkelin's cathedral was in 1202 when Bishop Godfrey de Luci started construction of

7650-418: Was narrowly averted, when a flying Chinese lantern got caught on the roof and began setting fire to it. Fortunately, no lasting damage took place and the fire was quickly extinguished. A spokesman for Hampshire Fire & Rescue said that had it not been spotted, the fire could have been similar in scale to the 1984 fire at York Minster , which almost completely destroyed the south transept. In March 2011,

7740-423: Was not strong enough to support the enormous weight of the building, causing the cracks, bulges and leaning walls. Fox removed a layer of topsoil, and ten feet of clay , at which point they arrived at the raft. Below this was a solid layer of peat , about 8 feet thick, and below this at a depth of 16 to 24 feet below the cathedral floor, they encountered a more solid layer of gravel, which they intended to utilise as

7830-495: Was remodelled into the Perpendicular Gothic style from 1346 to 1420, keeping much of the original Norman work by encasing it in new stone, and remastering the elevations, merging the previous three-tier structure as in the transepts into two. It is amongst the widest Gothic naves in the country and the longest nave of its kind in Europe. The nave has a spectacular stone vault, complete with hundreds of bosses. The nave aisles are also vaulted in stone and are rather narrow by comparison to

7920-534: Was removed and transferred to St Peter's Parish Church, Brighton in 1910. The conservatoire had closed by 1928 when the building was converted into the Embassy Theatre . The building is now part of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama 51°32′39″N 0°10′26″W  /  51.5442°N 0.1738°W  / 51.5442; -0.1738 Henry Willis %26 Sons Henry Willis & Sons

8010-409: Was too soft as an external stone, especially on the exposed roof ridge on the south transept, where it is exposed to the prevailing wind. The head had sheared off at the neck and several cracks were found elsewhere in the statue. The plinth supporting the statue was also in very poor condition. Examination of the statue revealed it dated back to c. 1330 to 1352. Thanks to a grant from The Radcliffe Trust,

8100-451: Was used to build the cathedral, including Quarr limestone from the Isle of Wight , Bath stone or Oolite reused from demolished Old Minster, Caen stone from Normandy , ashlar , Beer stone and Purbeck Marble . The cathedral is 558 feet (170 m) long, and the vaulting has a height of 78 feet (24 m). The central tower is 150 feet (46 m) high. The north and south transepts are

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