Guildhall Tavern

In 1894 a pub called The Guildhall Tavern was built in Colebrook Street just around the corner from the Guildhall. The building has a red brick and flint front which is seen in many buildings in and around Winchester. When the library moved to Jewry Street in 1936 the pub was enlarged into the vacated space and the entrance was moved to the Broadway where it still is today. In more recent years The Guildhall Tavern often had live bands, but it closed around 2008/9 and is now a Pitcher and Piano restaurant.

K is for Kingsgate Books & Prints

Built into Kingsgate, one of the 2 remaining city gates of Winchester, is a nice little shop called Kingsgate Books & Prints. It sells antiquarian books, prints and paintings (particularly of Winchester), it also does picture framing.

For more K related posts see ABC Wednesday

Sarsen stone

What are the oldest things in Winchester? Not the Cathedral, ruins nor Roman mosaics, it is these Sarsen Stones. Sometimes known as druid stones, these are natural Sandstone blocks left after the last Ice Age. There are a number of these stones scattered around Winchester which most people pass by without even noticing, this one is in the car park of the Leisure Centre.

These stones were much sought after as markers, bollards and foundation stones. Because of their usefulness, it is reasonably certain that not many of them remain in the same position as when they were deposited from the ice. Sarsen stone is not native to the Winchester area and was often used as the stone of choice by the stone circle builders, Stonehenge is made of similar Sarsen stone.

Geographical & Meteorological

Outside the Guildhall set into the wall is this assemblage of geographical data and meteorological instruments. Here we learn that Winchester is 127 feet above sea level, 5104N 119W and that real noon is 5 minutes and 16 seconds after than at Greenwich. There was a time when different parts of Britain had different time zones, but with the arrival of the railways this became too confusing for timetabling and led to a uniform 'railway time' across the country. By 1880 Greenwich Meantime was legally adopted throughout Britain. Yesterday we moved 1 hour forward to British Summer Time.

Spring

Today our clocks went forward one hour, so we are now in British Summer Time. Spring is here and we have had some great weather this week, am very happy to see blue skies and flowers popping up everywhere!

Cathedral extension

Last week was the official opening of the Fleury Building. which is the first extension to the Cathedral in 500 years and will provide storage, extra toilets and a boiler room. The extension was made possible by donations of the 'Friends of the Cathedral' who provided £819,000 to meet the cost.

The new building is named after the Abbot of Fleury from L’Abbaye de St-Benôit-sur-Loire in France. The Cathedral and monastery in France forged an official link in 1978 and both institutions remember the other in their daily prayers.

The extension has been built in similar stone to the main building and will gradually blend in over time, I hope so because at the moment it just looks a bit 'stuck on the side'!

Inside St Peter's

I posted some time ago a photo of St Peter's Catholic Church. As this week I have been focusing on St Peter's Street and buildings associated with the Catholic Church in Winchester I finally peaked inside St Peter's Church to take a photo, and here it is. Unfortunately it was taken very quickly as they were about to have a service so I will try to go back another time to get some more detail.