Today we ventured out to the town of Winchester to see the cathedral, a hospital (not at all what you are thinking) the city’s great hall, and Arthur’s round table, though that is doubtful. It was relatively close to our hotel so not a long bus ride. Our guest historian from last night, Robert Hutchinson, spoke on King Henry’s spies and the spy network. I have to say I missed part of it with a little nap.

Winchester is a great location full of early Saxon and Tudor history. It seems early Tudors, Henry VII and even Queen Mary wanted to tie into the Saxon heritage to give some stability to their dynasty. The Cathedral is quite nice. It has the longest knave of any church in England. It was not as elaborate as King’s chapel in Cambridge but still beautiful. We took a tour by the local volunteer. Our guide was pretty knowledgeable but it had to be intimidating have national trust historians in your tour group.

The Cathedral was on our agenda for all the great Tudor events. Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth Woodville came to Winchester for the birth of their first child. Ever hopeful it would be a boy and heir. They wanted to have the connection to the Saxon kings who were crowned in Winchester and its connection to Arthur and the knights of the round table legend. Luck was on their side at this time and their first child was a boy. They even named their son Arthur for a further connection to the past. Arthur was christened in the Cathedral and our tour guide went through all the pomp that went with that event. If you think we decorate a lot for weddings and church events we have nothing on the Tudors. Spun gold cloth was hung as well as tapestries and new silver and gold candlesticks were added to the church accoutrements.

The church is also home to a 12 century illuminated bible. It took six rather large books to write the Old Testament. They had one open to a page with amazing illumination. Sadly it was never finished and the later text has not been embellished.

After our tour of the Cathedral we moved on with a tour of the town. Nicola is working on her doctorate at Winchester College, WinCo to those in the know, and her advisor did our walking tour. Expecting some mature British historian I was quite surprised with a young American woman probably mid thirties. She did a much better job explaining all the Tudor events that happened in Winchester. She spent more time on Mary and Phillip’s wedding then the birth of Arthur since there were more town sites connected to them. Since marrying a Frenchman wasn’t completely popular Mary chose this out-of-the-way town that was not to far from the coast making it easy for her groom. She also needed that connection to history to calm her country after the whole lady Jane issue. Anyway our tour took us by the locations that they both spent their last single night and the garden in which they had a clandestine meeting prior to the church. Even though not really an arranged marriage since Mary as queen made her own decision they still had not planned to meet till she walked down the aisle. Story goes they had a chaste kiss in the rose garden. True or not it makes her seem more human to think about her sneaking a note and asking him to meet her at midnight in the garden.

We also saw the last home of Jane Austen. She moved to Winchester for treatment and died not long after. She is buried in the church and they had a nice memorial to her.

The tour ended at the great hall which is now the civic museum. The main attraction was what the Tudors claimed was King Arthur’s round table. It is now hanging on the wall. Of course it does not date to King Arthur even if there was a King Arthur but it does dat to the 1500’s. It is surprising how much propaganda and spin went on even back them. The Tudor’s were masters at the promotion aspect of ruling.

From the tour we had free time to get lunch and shop. Val and I tried the meat pasties. They were so hot an hour later I still could hardly eat mine. I can’t say they were any better than what I made for book club. Much bigger but more of that soup in a crusty pie going on than I really like.

Surprisingly having time to shop we didn’t buy much. Unlike bury st Edmond we didn’t really get into it. There was a vintage bookstore and I tried to find something. I considered some early Jane Austen but I have seen better at round top so I passed. I had hoped to find an early Alison Weir book to have her sign but they didn’t have any. Not sure why I didn’t think of that before I left. I should have looked for an early edition and carried it with me or at least taken one of my books from the 90s. Instead I have her signature on one of her new novels. Anyway the bookstore was nice but left us with time to wander.

We decided to get sandwiches for dinner since we had not made reservations at the hotel turned out to be a smart move.

We headed out to the Hospital St Cross. As I mentioned it is not a hospital for medical purposes but more of a retirement home for impoverished nobles back in the 12 century. Our term for hospitality comes from these almshouses. It is also the oldest and largest almshouse in Europe. Almshouses are generally on a pilgrimage trail providing alms, beer and bread, to anyone who asks. A service they still provide. Back in the day it served meals to 100 men each day.

The hospital had several ties to the tudors including an early Beaufort Bishop, family of Henry VII. So we saw several of the porticulis heraldry. We had a great tour guide sadly I can’t remember all the things he told us started here but at the time I was quite impressed. The gardens were nice and peaceful and included a tree planted by Queen Elizabeth’s Mom.

After Winchester we headed back to the hotel which if I didn’t say sits out-of-town all by itself but sadly does not have the gardens that Hever did. The bar was okay nothing unique like the bar at the swan but it did have cold beer so I was okay. We ate the sandwiches then I had a few beers in the bar and called it a night.

I can’t believe the end is fast approaching. I am not ready to go back to my real life.