From Hence The Great Western Road Goes On To Whitchurch And
Andover, Two Market-Towns, And Sending Members To Parliament; At
The Last Of Which The Downs, Or Open Country, Begins, Which We In
General, Though Falsely, Call Salisbury Plain.
But my resolution
being to take in my view what I had passed by before, I was obliged
to go off to the left hand, to Alresford and Winchester.
Alresford was a flourishing market-town, and remarkable for this--
that though it had no great trade, and particularly very little, if
any, manufactures, yet there was no collection in the town for the
poor, nor any poor low enough to take alms of the parish, which is
what I do not think can be said of any town in England besides.
But this happy circumstance, which so distinguished Alresford from
all her neighbours, was brought to an end in the year -, when by a
sudden and surprising fire the whole town, with both the church and
the market-house, was reduced to a heap of rubbish; and, except a
few poor huts at the remotest ends of the town, not a house left
standing. The town is since that very handsomely rebuilt, and the
neighbouring gentlemen contributed largely to the relief of the
people, especially by sending in timber towards their building;
also their market-house is handsomely built, but the church not
yet, though we hear there is a fund raising likewise for that.
Here is a very large pond, or lake of water, kept up to a head by a
strong BATTER D'EAU, or dam, which the people tell us was made by
the Romans; and that it is to this day part of the great Roman
highway which leads from Winchester to Alton, and, as it is
supposed, went on to London, though we nowhere see any remains of
it, except between Winchester and Alton, and chiefly between this
town and Alton.
Near this town, a little north-west, the Duke of Bolton has another
seat, which, though not large, is a very handsome beautiful palace,
and the gardens not only very exact, but very finely situate, the
prospect and vistas noble and great, and the whole very well kept.
From hence, at the end of seven miles over the Downs, we come to
the very ancient city of Winchester; not only the great church
(which is so famous all over Europe, and has been so much talked
of), but even the whole city has at a distance the face of
venerable, and looks ancient afar off; and yet here are many modern
buildings too, and some very handsome; as the college schools, with
the bishop's palace, built by Bishop Morley since the late wars--
the old palace of the bishop having been ruined by that known
church incendiary Sir William Waller and his crew of plunderers,
who, if my information is not wrong, as I believe it is not,
destroyed more monuments of the dead, and defaced more churches,
than all the Roundheads in England beside.
This church, and the schools also are accurately described by
several writers, especially by the "Monasticon," where their
antiquity and original is fully set forth. The outside of the
church is as plain and coarse as if the founders had abhorred
ornaments, or that William of Wickham had been a Quaker, or at
least a Quietist. There is neither statue, nor a niche for a
statue, to be seen on all the outside; no carved work, no spires,
towers, pinnacles, balustrades, or anything; but mere walls,
buttresses, windows, and coigns necessary to the support and order
of the building. It has no steeple, but a short tower covered
flat, as if the top of it had fallen down, and it had been covered
in haste to keep the rain out till they had time to build it up
again.
But the inside of the church has many very good things in it, and
worth observation; it was for some ages the burying-place of the
English Saxon kings, whose RELIQUES, at the repair of the church,
were collected by Bishop Fox, and being put together into large
wooden chests lined with lead were again interred at the foot of
the great wall in the choir, three on one side, and three on the
other, with an account whose bones are in each chest. Whether the
division of the RELIQUES might be depended upon, has been doubted,
but is not thought material, so that we do but believe they are all
there.
The choir of the church appears very magnificent; the roof is very
high, and the Gothic work in the arched part is very fine, though
very old; the painting in the windows is admirably good, and easy
to be distinguished by those that understand those things: the
steps ascending to the choir make a very fine show, having the
statues of King James and his son King Charles, in copper, finely
cast; the first on the right hand, and the other on the left, as
you go up to the choir.
The choir is said to be the longest in England; and as the number
of prebendaries, canons, &c., are many, it required such a length.
The ornaments of the choir are the effects of the bounty of several
bishops. The fine altar (the noblest in England by much) was done
by Bishop Morley; the roof and the coat-of-arms of the Saxon and
Norman kings were done by Bishop Fox; and the fine throne for the
bishop in the choir was given by Bishop Mew in his lifetime; and it
was well it was for if he had ordered it by will, there is reason
to believe it had never been done--that reverend prelate,
notwithstanding he enjoyed so rich a bishopric, scarce leaving
money enough behind him to pay for his coffin.
There are a great many persons of rank buried in this church,
besides the Saxon kings mentioned above, and besides several of the
most eminent bishops of the See.
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