Saturday, 27th August 2022
Another bank holiday weekend, another adventure. High petrol prices meant not going too far from home. We stayed in our home county, Hampshire, and the route starts in the next town over, Winchester.
St Swithun's Way is a 55km (34 miles) trail from Winchester to Farnham. It is named after Swithun, a 9th century Bishop of Winchester. Unable to follow the original route, as much of this is now the A31, it follows roughly the Pilgrim's Way. The route was opened in 2002 to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.
Throughout the Medieval period Winchester was a centre of royal and ecclesiastical power, the capital of Saxon England. With the shrine of St Swithun and the tomb of Alfred the Great, Winchester was also the principal place of pilgrimage in England. However, after the death of Thomas à Beckett in the 12th century, his shrine at Canterbury became more important. Pilgrims from Europe and from the south coast would have wanted to visit both of these shrines if possible. So, the 112 miles (180km) between Winchester and Canterbury probably became the most important pilgrimage route in the country: the Pilgrim's Way.
St Swithun's Way waymarks are based on the shell, a common symbol of pilgrimage, and two croziers, representing St Swithun and St Thomas à Beckett.
We took the train from home to Winchester and our walk started at Winchester train station.
Winchester is worth visiting.
Hampshire County Council
Hampshire has been the home of wild boar for centuries. Some of these wild boars would have been domesticated and its though that they are the ancestors of the Hampshire Pig or Hog and the Wessex Saddleback, which looks like the Hampshire Hog but with floppy ears. Both are black with a white saddleback or forequarters.
Hampshire County Council commissioned the bronze Hampshire Hog that stands in front of its offices to mark its centenary, 1889-1989.
Westgate
One of the two surviving fortified gateways that formed part of the Medieval Winchester city walls. The gate stands on the site of earlier gates dating back to Roman times. It was rebuilt in the 12th century, modified in the 13th & 14th centuries and was still in use in 1959 when the High St was routed around it.
Castle Hill
When Winchester was the capital of England, a castle stool on this spot. It was started in 1070 by William the Conqueror. Now all that remains is the Great Hall and the ruins of a tower.
The Great Hall
It is one of the largest and finest surviving examples of a 13th century aisled hall. It's many features include stained-glass windows, a judges' gallery and wrought steel gates that were installed in 1983 to commemorate the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
Its main feature is the greatest symbol of medieval mythology: King Arthur's round table. The table has been hung at the hall since 1348, it has been dated back to the 13-14th centuries and was probably constructed within the Hall. The names of the 24 Knights of the Round Table are written around the edge of the table, surmounted by King Arthur on his throne.
The Hall is open for visits 10am-5pm and admission costs £4.
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| King Arthur's round table |
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| Wrought steel gates |
The Castle Passageways
Situated in the basement of the castle tower that led out to the great dry moat surrounding the castle.
Strongly defended passages in this basement led to 'sally ports'. These back doors to the castle allowed defenders to 'sally' forth to counter attack the enemy, to escape, to help outside or to collect dead/injured comrades who fell outside the walls. In peacetime they could be used to avoid the main gate. Access had to be large enough to allow for a horse and rider.
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| The castle beneath Winchester (1871) Credits: Hampshire County council |
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| The castle as it may have been after 1222 Credits: Hampshire County council |
High Street
God Bagot House is the oldest building in Winchester, built in the 15th century. It stands in an area known since the 11th century as Godbegeaton or 'good bargain'.
St Peter St, left of God Bagot House, is the narrowest in Winchester and a typical medieval street.
Buttercross Monument
Originally known as the City Cross, it was first mentioned in 1427. It was from here that the Mayor would read out public announcements and give news of royal births, marriages and deaths.
Winchester Cathedral
With one of the longest names I have ever seen in a cathedral, Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, St Peter, St Paul and St Swithun, it is one of the largest medieval cathedrals in Northern Europe and the longest in the world with an overall length of 170m.
Building it was quite a slow affair taking almost 500 years, spanning the years 1079 to 1532. What started as a Norman cathedral, ended up Gothic as well. Since 2017 it has a woman at its head: Catherine Ogle, Dean of Winchester.
The stained glass windows and the vaulted ceilings are worth the visit.
Jane Austen was buried here in 1817.
The cathedral's organ has a good sound. Someone was rehearsing when we visited.
The cathedral is open for visits 9am-5pm, Sundays 12.30-3pm and admission costs £10.
We visited the cathedral in June 2018:
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| Jane Austen's tomb |
Leaving the urban area behind, the route now becomes more countryside looking and follows the river Itchen valley.
We stopped at St Swithun's Church in Martyr Worthy for the packed lunch we bought at Pret's in Winchester.
Grazing fields. Back gardens and back walls of very good-looking houses. River crossings. Past Avington Park Golf Course. Tree lined pedestrian paths. Countryside lanes.
The route is not as well marked as one would hope. Bring the map with you as you will sometimes have to make decisions on crossroads that have no markings whatsoever. Other times, vegetation has taken over the signs.
It was hot so at Ovington we stopped at the Bush Inn for cold drinks. A cider and Pimm's. We soon regretted it. Alcoholic drinks make you sleepy and lazy and we still had the final kilometres to go. We were walking much slower. I asked Jorge 'Why do the British always have a pint or two and are fine to walk?'. 'They drink at the end' he replies. Good point!
Alresford is near when watercress beds start appearing. Some beds look really good and others really not. It's difficult to understand whether they are all still being used or just some.
Watercress beds are a particular feature of Alresford, abundant as it is in fast flowing, springs of clean, pure water. The constant temperature of the springs allows year-long cultivation.
The route continues eastbound skirting south of Alresford and close to the A31 but we walked to the centre of Alresford instead.
The town centre is small and Georgian looking.
Coffee stop at Coffee#1.
Before we wrapped for the day, we ended up doing the Alresford Millennium Trail, which takes in the town centre, the walk along river Alre and the town's playing fields.
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| Alresford Millenium Trail map (credits: New Alresford Town Council) |
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| Fulling Mill |
Fulling Mill
Fulling is the process by which cloth is washed, cleaned, beaten and thickened. In the time that the Fulling Mill was operating, the raw cloth would have been placed along with fuller's earth in large baskets. Those would then have been lowered into the water flowing through the mill. The baskets were then pressed initially by human feet, and later by large water operated hammers (fullers stocks) which beat the cloth.
The plan was to stay overnight at Alresford but the Airbnb we booked got cancelled by the host and the only available option was a hotel room at £145/night looking like it wasn't worth that amount of money. Jorge came up with a plan B. We weren't very far from home so, he dropped our car off at Alresford on Friday after work and cycled home.
We got in the car and went home for the night. We'll return tomorrow morning and leave the car in the same side road with free parking.
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