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 | | |  | | |  | | | | | | Name:
Vincent Hughes
Building:
Winchester Cathedral
Location:
Winchester
What is your relationship to this building?:
Visitor
Why do you love this building?:
Following the Norman conquest in 1066 and recognising Winchester as the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, William the Conqueror commenced, in the Norman style, the longest nave in Europe in 1079-80 AD. The final dedication was performed in 1093. The building was completed by 1120.
With the arrival in Britain from France of the Gothic style in the 12th-13th century, the desire to build Salisbury Cathedral in the new style is understandable. I can just about accept the change from Norman to Gothic halfway along the Norman nave of Romsey Abbey but to demolish the east end of Winchester Cathedral and rebuild in Gothic is hard to comprehend. Clearly Winchester had it in for Norman architecture for during the latter part of the 14th century, William of Wykeham was appointed Bishop of Winchester. He began re-styling the Norman nave of the Cathedral in the Perpendicular Gothic fashion,
The massive columns with their columnettes conceal an inner core of a Norman column. The windows of the nave were restyled to conform to the pointed arch. The perpendicular gothic treatment did not extend to the transepts where its ceremonial relevance would have little impact and therefore, in that area the Norman remains to give some idea of what the original cathedral looked like. The perpendicular style, also known as the "rectilinear", is characterised by a verticality in the stone work of the large windows and the stabilizing horizontal elements, creating a pattern of rectangles (hence "rectilinear") as can be seen from the design of the great west window.
Perhaps one should not be so surprised at these architectural prejudices when one considers the attitude of Mr John Ruskin and others in the 19th century, who thought the Gothic style to be the only true 'Christian' architecture. The Victorians reinforced this view by adding the structurally unnecessary buttresses to the exterior of the Cathedral. For all these idiosyncratic changes, Winchester Cathedral retains a distinctive character all of its own. I am left with the regretful thought that but for the alterations, Winchester would boast a Cathedral as favoured as Durham.
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