CASTLE
The County
Hall, the great Hall
of Winchester
where the first Parliaments of
England were held, is the only
remaining portion of the castle
where Norman and Angevin
kings resided, where Henry I
was married to Maud of Scotland and their son William
Atheling was born, where
Henry III was born, where
Arthur son of Henry VII was
born, where Henry VIII entertained the Emperor Charles V,
and where Mary and Philip
celebrated part of their ill-fated
wedding ceremonies. It consists of a rectangular nave of five
bays 110 ft. 9 in. by 28 ft. 3 in.,
measuring from centre to centre
of the pillars, and side aisles each
about 110 ft. 10 in. by 14 ft.
from the wall to the centre
of the pillars, making a rectangular building 110 ft. 10 in.
by 56 ft. 3 in. between the
walls. The history of this building begins probably in the 12th
century, but it was altered early
in the 13th with the arcades as
at present, and the whole
covered by a high-pitched roof
with overhanging eaves between
lofty dormer windows which
arose directly from the wall face and were gabled
above. This disposition can still be clearly seen on
the south wall where the angle shafts of the dormers
and parts of the string course of the roofs between
them are preserved with the line of a circular window
in the gables which was placed immediately above
the apex of the windows; the whole effect must
have been very charming. At a subsequent period
the walls were built up between the dormers, whose
height was lowered by the removal of the circular
windows in their heads to the new wall raised between them. The wall was surmounted by a plain
parapet supported on a corbel table. In 1874 the
whole building was thoroughly repaired and reroofed, much of the stonework being renewed.
The hall is built of flint faced inside and out with
limestone dressings to windows and doorways; the
buttresses and ancient dormers are faced with ashlar,
and the modern open timber truss roof over the nave
is covered with tiles.
At the west end of the hall are the remains of the
dais, about 4 ft. 6 in. high, with a doorway leading to
the private apartments at the north side of it; wellpreserved arcades of five pointed arches of the early
13th century supported upon lofty Purbeck marble
pillars divide the central portion or nave from the
aisles. The responds of the arcades are supported on
large corbels carved as semi-figures of men and women
in 13th-century dress, that at the north-west being
modern. In the north wall are five lofty two-light
windows; the lower part of the central one has been
cut away and a modern doorway inserted. On the
south there are four similar windows. In the north
and south walls towards the east there were five
doorways. One on each side below the first windows
from the east led, that on the north to the buttery,
of which the west jamb may still be seen, and that
on the south, of which no trace remains, to the
kitchen. The main north doorway was below the
second window from the east. Its position is now
occupied by the lower part of the window, which has
been carried downwards to the level of the sills of the
more westerly windows. Only the east jambs of this
doorway with the springer of the segmental pointed
arch remain. The main south doorway opposite this
still exists, though much repaired, and a little to
the east of it there is a blocked doorway, now a
recess, which perhaps led, by a stairway, to a gallery
above the east end of the hall.
Vaulted Ground Story of House in St. Thomas' Street, Winchester
Plan of County Hall, Winchester
The east wall, which is about 9 ft. 2 in. thick,
has been pierced by modern moulded arches leading
to modern additions. At the west of the north
aisle is a restored pointed segmental arched doorway of the 13th century. It seems to have originally
led to the private apartments, but has possibly been
moved since its first erection. The hole for the
ancient oak bolt may be seen in the jamb.
On the north side the first two windows are
similar, two long trefoiled lights with a plain transom
and a quatrefoil piercing through the plate at the
head. The external stonework is modern, but the
moulded edge rolls with capitals and bases and the
richly moulded rear arches are the work of the early
part of the 13th century. The window seats on this
side are modern, but are copies of the original seats
on the south side. Most of the work of the fourth
and fifth windows on this side is modern.
In the south-east corner of the south aisle is a
13th-century head corbel, which probably supported
a wall-piece of the roof of that period. The four
windows on this side are all of the same character and
detail as those on the north, but they retain much
more of the 13th-century work. The window seats
on this side in the first three windows are ancient,
and externally much of the stonework dates from the
13th century, and the roof and dormers of that period
may best be observed from here, since the angle shafts,
the gables with the lower part of the circular windows,
and the string course at the side of the dormers for
the roof which come down between them remain
and are exposed; the buttresses also between the
windows, with high-pitched deep weatherings, remain
practically in their original condition.
To the east of the south door there is a pointed
segmental arch recess with edge roll, which was
probably a doorway leading to the gallery. The
last window retains its 13th-century framework
and jamb shafts with moulded capitals, bases and
bands.
In the gable at the west end of the hall there is
the top of a round table 17 ft. in diameter, locally
known as 'King Arthur's Round Table,' with a
Tudor rose in the centre and painted radiating lines
dividing into twenty-five parts, one being occupied
by the figure of a king; its origin, about which
much has been surmised, is unknown. (fn. 1)
Though a royal residence possibly existed in preNorman times on a fortified site, the earthworks of
the castle of which the hall remains were of the time of
William the Conqueror (fn. 2) ; the masonry works, however, were probably not begun till towards the middle
of the 12th century. Thus in 1155–6 it is found
that £14 10s. 8d. was paid for making the king's
house in the castle of Winchester (fn. 3) ; in the next year
£14 10s. for work on one chamber in the castle. (fn. 4) A
few years later heavier expenses for the castle works were
incurred. In 1170 £36 6s. was paid, (fn. 5) in 1171
£128 6s. 4d. 'for work on the castle wall.' (fn. 6) In
1173 £56 13s. 1d. was paid for work on the king's
houses at Winchester and £48 5s. for work on the
castle and provisioning it (fn. 7) ; in 1175 £35 1s. 4d.
was paid for work on the king's chapel in the castle (fn. 8) ;
in 1176 £5 was paid for the same purpose, with £12
for 12,000 freestone for the chapel, and £1 10s. 2d.
for 700 boards for making the king's chamber (fn. 9) ; in
1177 £17 was spent on the king's chapel, £20 on
work in the castle and £11 for work on the clerk's
chamber in the castle (fn. 10) ; in 1179 £46 was spent on
the king's works in the castle and £18 17s. 5d. on work
in the kitchen and on the 'houses' for the king's birds
in the castle (fn. 11) ; in 1180 £81 8s. was spent on work
on the king's chambers in the castle. (fn. 12) In 1182 £15
was spent 'for work on the chapel of St. Judoc' (fn. 13) in
the castle and on the courtyard and on the king's
hall and £3 10s. for painting the king's chamber. (fn. 14)
Three years later £2 11s. 7d. was spent on work on the
king's chapel and mews in the new close, £14 15s. 11d.
on the dove-cote in the said close, £7 1s. 9d. for work
on a bedchamber in the same, £1 5s. 6d. to Walter
de Hauvill, keeper of the king's birds in the same
close, 4s. for wheat for feeding the doves, and 2s. for
sand to be put in and about the mews, with £2 11s.
to Richard de Yslape for feeding the royal birds. (fn. 15)
In 1187 £8 1s. 6d. was spent on stone for a stone
chamber in the castle of Winchester, while two sums
of £19 12s. and £47 6s. were paid to John de Rebez,
constable of the castle in 1190, for certain works
there. (fn. 16) The next year a still larger sum, £73 0s. 10d.,
went for works on the castle, while in 1193 £16 13s. 2d.
was spent on repairing the ditches and for the barbican
and for making a 'mangunel' and a gate and the
alleys (aluris) around the castle (fn. 17) ; £4 7s. 2d. was
spent the next year in making a wall in the castle in
front of the king's gate and £5 12s. 2d. for preparing
a catapult (petraria) and mangonel, which were at
Winchester, and carrying them to Marlborough and
bringing them back, &c., and £4 7s. for improving
the king's houses in the castle, £5 7s. being spent the
next year (1195) for the same purpose. (fn. 18) Repairs of
the tower, the bridge and the houses of the castle
amounted to £5 in 1196, and of the houses and
kitchen to £11 6s. 4d. in 1197, and to £39 17s. 2d.
in 1198. (fn. 19) King John in 1215 sent 100 marks and
other sums for the works of Winchester Castle. (fn. 20)
Henry III in December 1221 ordered the sheriff to
cause the hall of Winchester Castle to be repaired, the
king's painted chamber and kitchen and the small
offices 'against this instant Christmas when the king
will be there.' (fn. 21) It was at this time that Henry III
was rebuilding the great hall. The importance of
the work can be gathered from a mandate to William
Briwere in 1232 to sell all the underwood in the
king's forest of 'La Bere,' (fn. 22) and, later, to supply
timber from the same forest (fn. 23) and Alice Holt
Forest (fn. 24) for the great hall. In 1233 the mayor was
warned to see that the work on the great hall
should be hastened as much as possible. (fn. 25) In 1234
100 beams (chevrones) 'in brullio nostro de Fincgel'
were granted for making a certain gallery (aleam) in
the castle between the great chamber and the chapel
of St. Thomas. (fn. 26) The great hall was completed in
1235. Repairs were done to the king's houses in
1301, (fn. 27) and in 1336 to the great bridge and the
great hall and other houses within the castle. (fn. 28) In
1348 200 marks were spent on the new roofing of
the hall and the defects in the other houses, walls and
turrets. (fn. 29) In 1359 the stones and timber from a
ruinous tenement in Winchester called 'le Wolleseld' were ordered to be carried to the castle for the
works there, the timber of the same being sold 'as
may be most to the king's advantage.' (fn. 30) In 1390
master masons and a master carpenter were appointed
for seven years to cause the walls, turrets, gates and
bridges of Winchester Castle, and the houses within
the same which have not fallen, to be repaired. (fn. 31)
Two years later the constable of the castle was ordered
to take masons, carpenters and other workmen needful
for the repair of the castle and of the buildings and
set them to work on the same. (fn. 32)
In the 15th century repairs do not seem to have
been so heavy an item, but in February 1424 the
bailiffs of Winchester were ordered to expend
£20 10s. on repairs during the next seven years,
£15 13s. 4d. of which was to come from the fee farm
of the city. (fn. 33) Later in the century the city was
desolate and depopulated, and the castle was no longer
of any importance. (fn. 34) In the next century the city
secured the custody of the castle in March 1559, through
the intervention of William Lawrence, who obtained
the charge from the queen, and was recompensed by
the city by a demise of the herbage of the city ditch
on the east side of the castle for the term of his life. (fn. 35)
The next year the same William Lawrence was granted
'the castle green called Bewmondes as it is new
enclosed' and 'thermytts Tower' for a term of twentynine years. (fn. 36) The charge of the castle which the
city had thus obtained under Elizabeth was lost in
the early years of the 17th century, since James I in
1606–7 granted it to Sir Benjamin Tichborne (fn. 37) in
reward for his zealous services as High Sheriff of Hampshire in the cause of the king's accession. Sir Richard
Tichborne, son and heir of Sir Benjamin, loyally gave
up the castle to be fortified for the king during the
Civil War, and himself served there under the command
of Lord Ogle. The stories of the stand made against
Sir William Waller, and of the siege and surrender
to Oliver Cromwell in 1645, are well-known history.
The fortifications having been destroyed by Cromwell,
the rest of the castle, with the chapel and its advowson,
was granted by Parliament to Sir William Waller in
1646. (fn. 38) However, in June 1649 the Council of
State was ordered 'to consider how Winchester Castle
may be made untenable so that no damage may arise
thereby and how satisfaction may be made to Sir
William Waller for such damage as he shall sustain by
reason thereof.' (fn. 39) A few days later the Council of
State ordered the castle to be viewed before demolition. (fn. 40) Before the year was out Bettsworth, Moore
and Wither were ordered to go to Winchester and
put the work of demolition into execution. They
were ordered to 'summon the country to do the
work which we conceive they will be willing to do
to provide for their future quiet.' (fn. 41) However, the
work did not progress quickly. In January 1651
the Council warned the commissioners to proceed
with the demolition, (fn. 42) and in the next month wrote
questioning why the castle was not yet made
untenable: they had intimated the danger that
might come by it, and therefore ordered it to be done
without delay fourteen days after the assizes. (fn. 43) In
March they again wrote to the commissioners
acknowledging their report that the work had been
begun. They hoped by this time it had been
effectually done. (fn. 44)
Whatever the commissioners failed to effect in the
way of demolition was certainly accomplished by the
building of the King's House on the site of the
castle in 1683. The mayor and corporation, 'in
case our sovereign lord should think fit to
build upon the site of the demolished castle,'
had already agreed to present him with their
estate therein—by whatever right they held—and in
1683 an entry among their ordinances notes that his
majesty had been pleased to take notice of their
agreement and begin 'a magnificent building.' (fn. 45)
Upon the death of Charles II in 1685 an immediate
stop was put to the building. Queen Anne, intending
to complete it, settled it upon her husband, who died
before she had sufficient money to carry out her
design. In 1756 some 5,000 French prisoners were
confined in the building (fn. 46) ; again, during the
American war it was used as a prison for French,
Spanish and Dutch prisoners successively. In 1779
the patients and crew of the French hospital ship
S. Julie, which had been captured by an English
cruiser, were brought to the King's House, where
they infected the other prisoners, numbers of whom
died and were buried in the castle ditches. (fn. 47) The
French Revolution brought more than 8,000 French
bishops and clergy to England, and some 660 French
priests were lodged in the King's House at Winchester,
where 'they were wont to chaunt their office together
… and … their voices could be heard as a mighty
wave of sound all over the city.' (fn. 48) However, in 1796
a large central barrack was necessary, and the French
priest had to give way to the English soldier. The
buildings were henceforward used as a permanent
barracks, officers' quarters, military hospital, married
quarters and schools being subsequently added. In
December 1894 a fire broke out in the pay-office of
the barracks soon after midnight, and in spite of all
efforts the King's House perished. The County Hall,
the great hall, all that remained of the castle, was at
one time in jeopardy, but all forces were directed to
saving it and it luckily escaped. New barracks have been
lately erected, the foundation-stone being laid by King
Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) in June 1899.