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Winchester - history.

Zuz
2006-03-02 14:23:22

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Guildhall, now a bank, built. Rival Members of Parliament provide Town Clock and statue of Queen Anne.

Jane Austen

GEORGIAN
City prospers with small shops and trade and the growth of the professions.
1817 Novelist Jane Austen dies in Winchester.
1819 Poet John Keats visits Winchester and writes his ode 'To Autumn'.

Jane Austen's House

VICTORIAN
1840 The new railway brings prosperity and day tourists.
1863 Royal Hampshire County Hospital built, Florence Nightingale consulted on design.
1887 To mark Queen Victoria's jubilee, a statue is commissioned from the sculptor of Eros, Alfred Gilbert. It can be seen in the Great Hall.
1894 King's House destroyed by fire. Peninsula Barracks rises from ashes.
1901 City is centre of international celebrations to commemorate King Alfred. A statue by Hamo Thornycroft is erected in the Broadway.

20TH CENTURY
1905 -1912 1912 - William Walker, the diver, saves Winchester Cathedral.
1937 Controversy as the new bypass separates city and St Catherine's Hill.
1944 Churchill and Eisenhower review troops at Peninsula Barracks prior to D-Day.
1986 900 years since the Domesday Book was compiled – major exhibition held in the Great Hall.
1987-1988 Excavations of Roman, Saxon and medieval Winchester at the Brooks.
1993 900th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral.
1994 Le Tour de France visits Winchester.
1994 The old bypass is closed as the missing link of the M3 cuts controversially through Twyford Down.
1999
An archaeological dig at Hyde Abbey discovers the likely location of King Alfred’s tomb - in this 1100th Anniversary year.

Further Reading
For those who wish to delve deeper, the Tourist Information Centre stocks a range of fully illustrated leaflets produced by the Museum Service, priced 50p, together with historical guides to the city and the main sights. The definitive history of the city is being prepared by Martin Biddle as the acclaimed 'Winchester Studies' series. Briefer summaries are 'A History of Winchester', by Barbara Carpenter Turner and English Heritage 'Winchester' by Tom Beaumont James.