Winchester Cathedral

1 The Close
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 9LS
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Phone: 01962 857200
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Winchester Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Winchester, which is part of the Church of England. The Cathedral has its origins in the 7th century, when a Christian Church was first built on this site. Since then, it has played a fundamental part in the life of this ancient City and a role in the history of our nation.

In a setting of spectacular architecture, outstanding works of art and the finest music, you will find a place where many generations have worked and worshipped, and continue to.

Named the Cathedral Church because it houses the throne (or ‘cathedra’) of the Bishop of Winchester, originating in 1079 in the Romanesque style, this Cathedral is at the heart of Alfred's Wessex. Its bishops were men of enormous wealth and power, none more so than William of Wykeham, twice Chancellor of England, Founder of Winchester College and New College Oxford. The chantry chapels and memorials of these great prelates are a feature of the Cathedral. These influential bishops also developed, re-fashioned and adorned this great Cathedral.

Winchester Cathedral is famous for its chantry chapels, where daily masses were said for the bishops buried within them. On the north side of the feretory platform, Bishop Gardiner's Chantry Chapel is an amazing hybrid of English late Gothic and Continental Renaissance style deriving ultimately from Fontainebleau.

The Nave is the largest area and it is here that the public would have had access to the Cathedral. Services, in the main, would have been conducted in the Quire, and not normally accessible to a congregation. These days no such distinction is made and services are held in as many locations as possible to make the best use of these beautiful spaces.

Services at the Cathedral are free unless stated otherwise, and are held at frequently throughout the week.

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