Old Hampshire Mapped
Cobbett's Hampshire
Transcription (47)Winchester
bell ringing
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester, Bishop of
Wickham, William of
Edward III
Wickham
Winchester College
tomb
clergymen
St Swithun
Alfred the Great
vestments
Hyde Meadow
Hyde Abbey
bridewell
Grimbald
[In Winchester] This being Sunday, I heard, about 7 o'clock in the morning, a sort of jangling, made a bell or two in the Cathedral. We were getting ready to be off, to cross the country to BURGHCLERE, which lies under the lofty hills at Highclere about 22 miles from this city; but hearing the bells of the Cathedral, I took Richard to show him that ancient and most magnificent pile, and particularly to show him the tomb of that famous bishop of Winchester, WILLIAM of WYKHAM; who was the Chancellor and the Minister of the great and glorious King, EDWARD III.; who sprang from poor parents in the little village of WYKHAM, three miles from Botley; and who, amongst other great and most munificent deeds, founded the famous College, or School, of Winchester, and also one of the Colleges at Oxford. I told Richard about this as we went from the inn down to the cathedral; and, when I showed him the tomb, where the bishop lies on his back, in his Catholic robes, with his mitre on his head, his shepherd's crook by his side, with little children at his feet, their hands put together in a praying attitude, he looked with a degree of inquisitive earnestness that pleased me very much. I took him as far as I could about the cathedral. The 'service' was now begun. There is a dean, and God knows how many prebends belonging to this immensely rich bishopric and chapter: and there were, at this 'service,' two or three men and five or six boys in white surplices, with a congregation of fifteen women and four men! If WILLIAM of WYKHAM could, at that moment, have raised from his tomb! If Saint SWITHIN, whose name the cathedral bears, or ALFRED THE GREAT, to whom St. SWITHIN was tutor: if either of these could have come, and had been told, that that was now what was carried on by men, who talked of the 'damnable errors' of those who founded that very church! How, then, am I to describe what I felt, when I yesterday saw in HYDE MEADOW, a COUNTY BRIDWELL, standing on the very spot, where stood the Abbey which was founded and endowed by ALFRED, which contained the bones of that mak[er] of the English name, and also those of the learned monk, St. GRIMBALD, whom ALFRED brought to England to begin the teaching at Oxford!
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