The Winchester Walk - A Tour of King Alfred's City

The Heart of the Ancient Capital

Approximately. 1 mile level walking, mostly suitable for wheelchairs. 1 hour King Alfred statue

The walk begins at the tourist information centre in the Victorian Guildhall, which also houses a conference centre. The City Council meets here.
Turn right towards King Alfred’s statue. The High Street started life as a routeway some 2,500 years ago leading to a crossing point on the River Itchen. It was the main thoroughfare for Roman, Saxon and medieval Winchester and lays claim to be the oldest street in any English city.
A short distance ahead is the Mayor’s official residence, Abbey House. Excavated remains of St Mary’s Abbey, founded by Alfred’s Queen in the early 10th century, can be seen along Abbey Passage to the right.
Opposite Abbey House is St John’s House, originally part of a medieval hospital. The first floor was used as a meeting place for the Mayor and citizens of Winchester in the later Middle Ages.
The Victorian statue of King Alfred the Great is on the left. Continue straight ahead to the river. A plaque to the right marks the site of the medieval Eastgate.
The City Bridge is said to have first been built by St Swithun, the 9th century bishop and patron saint of Winchester. The current structure, built in 1813, is thought to occupy the same site. Across the road is the City Mill.
Turn right and follow the river walk. To your right is a surviving remnant of the original Roman town walls. First built of stone in the 3rd century AD, the wall was regularly repaired and rebuilt following the original Roman lines.
The River Itchen provided part of the eastern defences of the city by forming a moat. The river also provided power for 12 mills flourishing in or near Winchester by the mid-12th century. Continue to Wharf Mill, which is on the site of a medieval mill.
Turn right to see the best-preserved part of the City Walls to their full medieval height. Continue to Wolvesey Castle. The medieval bishops’ complex occupied the entire area now used as playing fields. To the left is the current bishop’s residence, built as a replacement in 1684.
Opposite is Winchester College, founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and believed to be the oldest continuously running school in England. Cross College Street and continue to the main college gate and past the headmaster’s house.
The next building, now a private residence, is where Jane Austen spent her final weeks receiving medical care. She died here and is buried in the cathedral.
At the end of College Street, turn right to face Kingsgate, with the tiny church of St Swithun above. Continuing through the gateway, you come to the Close Wall, first built in Saxon times to separate the monastic communities from the rest of the town.
Turn right and go through Prior’s Gate. On your right is the medieval Cheyney Court, where bishops met to hear legal cases involving the areas they controlled, known as the Soke.
Passing the medieval stables on your right, now used as music rooms, you will see the main buildings of Pilgrims’ School. The oldest parts of the complex are two adjacent, early 14th century timber-framed halls, said originally to have provided accommodation for pilgrims. Today, among the boys educated there are the boys of the cathedral and college choirs.
Ahead is the Deanery, originally built in the 13th century as the home of the prior of the cathedral.
Heading towards the cathedral, note the blocked arches in the wall on your right. The larger central arch provided the entry to the medieval monks’ dormitory. Go through the 13th century doorway a little further on and up the steps to Dean Garnier Garden, where interpretive panels explain the cathedral architecture and the plan of the close.
Leaving the garden, continue towards the cathedral. On your right are the massive columns marking the entrance to the former Chapter House. On reaching the cathedral nave turn left, walking beneath the flying buttresses designed by architect T G Jackson to support the south nave wall in 1911.
At the west front of the cathedral, the stone in the wall to the left indicates the extent of the Norman westwork, demolished around 1300. Turn past the west front to the site of the Old Minster dating from the 7th century, now marked out in brick.
The New Minster was built on the instructions of Alfred the Great and completed by his son Edward the Elder. It was located alongside the Old Minster until 1110 when the church was moved to the northern suburb of Hyde.
Follow the diagonal path with the railings on your right, crossing the site of the New Minster church. Turn left just before the Wessex Hotel towards the tower of St Maurice’s Covert where this loop ends.

The Upper City

City Museum Approximately 1 mile, some stairs and fairly steep slopes, only partly suitable for wheelchairs. 1.5 hours

From St Maurice’s Covert walk towards the High Street and then turn left. At the first corner on the left is the “new” Market Hall built in 1772. Turn left into Market Street and then right into The Square. Originally part of the huge cathedral cemetery, this area was used for corn, wood and animal markets in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Continuing along The Square, note on the left the Winchester Provident Dispensary plaque, and the plaque commemorating Alice Lisle on the wall of the museum. Continue past the City Museum - one of the first purpose-built museums outside London - and turn right. In the 11th century, this area was part of the Royal Palace built by William the Conqueror. St Lawrence’s Church is said to be built on the site of the palace chapel.
Just ahead is the Buttercross, on this site since at least the early 14th century. Turn left into the High Street. The Town Clock and the statue of Queen Anne were presented to the city in 1713, following a royal visit. They adorn the old Guildhall, where the city’s curfew bell has hung since 1361 and is still rung each evening at 8pm.
Continue up the High Street, crossing Southgate Street. On the right is the Saxon street Staple Gardens, the site of the wool market in the mid-14th century. Straight ahead is the Westgate marking the line of the western city defences. A museum on the first floor houses the city’s post-medieval collection and historic weights and measures, with good views from the roof.
Turn left up the pedestrian way next to the Westgate. You soon reach some of the excavated remains of Winchester Castle, begun by William the Conqueror in 1066. Ahead is the 13th century Great Hall, the only part of the medieval castle to survive above ground and home to the famous Round Table.
Go through the Great Hall, and out into Queen Eleanor’s Garden, a reconstruction of a medieval garden. The wall forming one side of the garden is all that remains in situ of The King’s House, built by Christopher Wren for Charles II in 1683. Used throughout the 19th century as barracks, the house burned down in 1894.
Wheelchair users can gain access to Peninsula Barracks by going back through the Great Hall, along Castle Avenue to Romsey Road and through the entry gates 80 metres to the left.
Go to the end of the garden and up the stairs and turn right. On your left is Short Block, completed in 1904 as part of the rebuilding of the barracks. Today it houses the Gurkhas’ and The King’s Royal Hussars’ regimental museums.
Continue past the museum entrance. Ahead, just beyond the statue, are the museums of the Adjutant General’s Corps, the Light Infantry and Royal Green Jackets regiments, and the Peninsula Barracks Visitor Centre. To the left is Long Block, which incorporates stone columns salvaged from King’s House. The large open square, now landscaped, was the parade ground of Peninsula Barracks. Cross the square and walk to the right of the former Sergeant’s Mess, the building with the clock. The steep slope marks the eastern defences of the medieval castle.
The remainder of this loop is not suitable for wheelchair users.
Descend the steps. At the bottom turn left and then right, heading towards the spire of St Thomas’s Church. To the left is Serle’s House, home to the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum. This building and the nearby 14 Southgate Street (Hotel Du Vin) are good examples of the fine early 18th century residences built as a result of Charles II’s grand plans for the city.
Follow the driveway between Serle’s House and the church, passing the Guard House on your left.
Cross Southgate Street, known in the early medieval period as “Goldestreet” because of the preponderance of goldsmiths. Turn left and then right down the steps into 13th century St Thomas Passage.
At the end of the passage, turn left into St Thomas Street. The large front garden a short distance ahead on the left marks the site of the church of St Petroc (later St Thomas). Cross St Thomas Street and continue into Minster Lane.
Continue towards the cathedral. The area to the left was the site of the palace of the Saxon kings of Wessex. Continue along the avenue of yew trees to the War Memorial. The remains of the church of St Mary in the Cemetery can be seen to the right.
Turn left in front of the cathedral and follow the path with the railings on your right. Just before the Wessex Hotel, turn left to return to St Maurice’s Covert.

Alfred's Final Journey

Approximately 1.5 miles fairly level walking mostly suitable for wheelchairs. 1.5 hours

From St Maurice’s Covert, cross Market Lane towards the Cathedral Green. The open space ahead is the site of New Minster founded by Alfred the Great and completed by his son, Edward the Elder. Alfred was buried here soon after his death until 1110 when the New Minster moved to Hyde Abbey. In solemn procession the remains of Alfred, his queen Eahlswith and son Edward, together with a fabulous gold cross donated by Canute, were carried through the city to the new Abbey Church in the northern suburb of Hyde.
Turn right in front of Morley College, founded in the 17th century for widows of the clergy, and right again into Market Street. Reaching the High Street turn left, along the Pentice.
Alfred refounded Winchester in the 9th century using the Roman town defences as his framework. Retaining only the Roman High Street, he created an entirely new street pattern which survives to this day and through which you are now walking.
Turn into Parchment Street at the next corner on the right, cross St George’s Street at the lights and turn left. At the next corner, turn right into St Peter Street and continue to the Royal Hotel, which dates from Stuart times.
Just ahead, on the left, is the entry to Milner Hall. Continue past St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church and turn left up the driveway by the church. Built in 1926, the building features a Norman doorway seen to your left, salvaged from the Magdalen leper hospital.
Walk up the slope and through the churchyard to Jewry Street. Turn right towards the traffic lights. Continue across the junction on the site of the Roman, Saxon and medieval North Gate. Continue along Hyde Street. On the left is Hyde Abbey House - a famous private school in the 18th century.
At King Alfred Place turn right. The main gate into the Hyde Abbey monastic precinct was located here, set back from the street frontage. Further information on Hyde Abbey Garden, a memorial garden to commemorate the last known resting place of King Alfred
To the left is the church of St Bartholomew, part of which pre-dates the abbey.
In 1863, John Mellor excavated the site of Hyde Abbey and claimed to have found King Alfred’s bones. Few records were kept and considerable doubt exists over the find. The bones were reburied in St Bartholomew’s churchyard, marked by a stone slab with a simple incised cross.
Return to King Alfred Place with Hyde Gate to the right. Information panels in the small room to one side of the archway explain the layout of the abbey.
Continue to the end of King Alfred Place and pause in Hyde Abbey Garden which reflects the abbey church and marks the site of Alfred the Great’s medieval tomb. Turn right along the footpath with the brick boundary wall on your right. Turn right again at the next street.
Cross the footbridge over the former abbey millstream. The stone bridge upstream provided the monks with access to the abbey’s outer courtyard. Wheelchair users can turn right along the streamside path to Hyde Gate, and rejoin the walk in Hyde Street.
Continue up the steps and under the archway, turn right then left again at Hyde Street. Pass the red brick Dutch gabled building, the surviving wing of Hyde House built after the dissolution of the abbey in 1538. Through the cast iron gates is Hyde Barn, built in c1750 after the house was demolished.
The Counting House of the Winchester Brewery is to the left, part of one of the many breweries which thrived in Hyde in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 17th century White Swan was the site of the Winchester residence of the Bishop of Worcester, who was responsible for compiling the Domesday Book.
Cross at the traffic lights to the right side of Jewry Street, the centre of medieval Winchester’s Jewish community. Past the Theatre Royal is the Corn Exchange built in 1836 (now the Discovery Centre). Further on is the northern wing of County Gaol built in 1805. Beyond is the gaol’s central wing that served as the governor’s residence. At High Street turn left to return to St Maurice’s Covert.

The Winchester Walk

This walk is divided into 3 loops so you can choose how much to do.

The first loop starts from the tourist information centre, the others from St Maurice's Covert, next to Debenhams.

This is the site of the former St Maurice church. Only the tower remains.

You will learn about the earlier history of Winchester and how it has evolved in more recent times, but throughout your walk you follow in the footsteps of the king they called "The Great One".

Links