Winchester

the capital city of Hampshire, England. It is situated on a small river eleven miles north of Southampton. The town is interesting chiefly as the capital of the Saxon kingdom from the ninth to the eleventh centuries. The English Parliament used to meet here. Winchester is now a city of 20,000 people. It is noted for its schools, residences, and antiquities. The old castle, the home of Egbert, still stands. The pride of the city is Winchester Cathedral, some parts of which date from the eleventh century. Its length from east to west is 545 feet. The interior contains a number of chapels and altars, and is considered one of the most beautiful specimens of architecture in England. The tombs of William Rufus, William of Wykeham, who planned the work, Izaak Walton, the angler, Cardinal Beaufort, and others are here. Quite recently the old cathedral began to settle into a hitherto unsuspected layer of peat eight feet in thickness. To secure the ancient foundations, the peat was dug out and was replaced by bags of cement that solidified into a solid concrete mass. It is interesting to note that the ancient Winchester bushel is the legal standard in the United States. See Bushel