Church Micro 7020...Winchester - Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of England in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral.
The cathedral was founded in 642 on a site immediately to the north of the present one. This building became known as the Old Minster. It became part of a monastic settlement in 971.
In 1079, Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, began work on a completely new cathedral. Much of the limestone used to build the structure was brought across from quarries around Binstead, Isle of Wight. Nearby Quarr Abbey draws its name from these workings, as do several nearby places such as Stonelands and Stonepitts. The remains of the Roman trackway used to transport the blocks are still evident across the fairways of the Ryde Golf Club, where the stone was hauled from the quarries to the hythe at the mouth of Binstead Creek, and thence by barge across the Solent and up to Winchester.
The building was consecrated in 1093. On 8 April of that year, according to the Annals of Winchester, "in the presence of almost all the bishops and abbots of England, the monks came with the highest exultation and glory from the old minster to the new one: on the Feast of S. Swithun they went in procession from the new minster to the old one and brought thence S. Swithun's shrine and placed it with honour in the new buildings, and on the following day Walkelin's men first began to pull down the old minster."
A substantial amount of the fabric of Walkelin's building, including crypt, transepts and the basic structure of the nave, survives. The original crossing tower, however, collapsed in 1107, an accident blamed by the cathedral's medieval chroniclers on the burial of the dissolute William Rufus beneath it in 1100. Its replacement, which survives today, is still in the Norman style, with round-headed windows. It is a squat, square structure, 50 feet (15 m) wide, but rising only 35 feet (11 m) above the ridge of the transept roof. The Tower is 150 feet (46 m) tall.
The cathedral's huge medieval stained glass West Window was deliberately smashed by Cromwell's forces after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the broken glass was gathered up and assembled randomly, in a manner something like pique assiette mosaic work. There was little attempt to reconstruct the original pictures, although some small sections do have less abstract images. Some surviving fragments are on display at the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Australia, including examples of the signature blue colour found only in Winchester stained glass. Out of necessity, the cathedral predated collage art by hundreds of years.
The cathedral possesses the only diatonic ring of fourteen church bells in the world, with a tenor (heaviest bell) weighing 36 long hundredweight (4,000 lb; 1,800 kg). The back twelve were all cast by John Taylor & Co in 1937. They were augmented to fourteen when two new trebles and a 4♯ (sharp 4th) were added in 1992 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Also there is a 8♭ (flat 8th) which was cast by Anthony Bond in 1621.
Nowadays the cathedral draws many tourists as a result of its association with Jane Austen, who died in Winchester on 18 July 1817. Her funeral was held in the cathedral, and she was buried in the north aisle. The inscription on her tombstone makes no mention of her novels, but a later brass tablet describes her as "known to many by her writings".
The Cathedral is the starting point of the 34-mile-long St Swithun's Way a Long-distance footpath which was opened in 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
The Cache
At the published coordinates you will see a sign welcoming you to Winchester Cathedral, how much is it for an adult to enter with an annual pass? £A.50. SIGN MISSING A=9
Stage 2 (N 51 03.675 W 001 18.851)
You will now be standing by some signs explaining about the historry of this section of the cathedral, on the first sign on the left how many letters are there in the first word of the title beginning with "O"? This equals B.
Stage 3 (N 51 03.653 W 001 18.879)
You will now be standing by the war memorial, at the base of this there is a plaque starting in the letter "Y", please count the amount of times the letter "R" appears and call this C.
Stage 4 (N 51 03.640 W 001 18.804)
At the end of this walkway along the edge of the cathedral you will find an old plaque starting with "To the glory of God", please count the ammount of words in the seventh line of this plaque and class this D. (Please note this is the LAST plaque)
Stage 5 (N 51 03.604 W 001 18.688)
You will now be standing on the corner of a path, there is a notice here, please count the number of words in the middle sentence and call this E.
Final
The cache can be found at N 51 03.(A-3)(B-1)(C+2) W 001 18.D(E-1)(D+1), please note that GPS reception can be bouncy here but the hint should guide you to the correct spot.
****************** ********************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
****************** *******************