(Winchester, England, U.K.)

While Winchester Cathedral gets most of the attention, there are at least two other significant historic sites in Winchester. The first is called Wolvesey Castle, and is maintained by English Heritage.

Wolvesey Castle was the home of the Bishop of Winchester during the Middle Ages. It was built in the 12th century and hosted all kinds of special events…including those held for the royal family.

Alas, Wolvesey Castle was destroyed by the “Roundheads” in 1646. I will admit that I didn’t know who these oddly-named Roundheads were. But it appears that they wanted a strong Parliament and a constitutional monarchy, rather than an absolute monarchy.

But it isn’t really necessary to have a keen understanding of the English Civil War to appreciate Wolvesey Castle. Some information is posted at various locations around the site, but I enjoyed just wandering around the ruins and being transported back to an earlier time. While the hours are not too extensive, admission is free.

We ended our last visit to Winchester by exploring some of the “upper town”. Our path took us down narrow streets with cozy “cottages” and past atmospheric pubs such as the Wykeham Arms. The academic vibe was similar to our home town of Kingston, Ontario…albeit a few centuries older.

Another major site in Winchester is the Great Hall. It was actually part of a bigger complex called Winchester Castle, which was founded in 1067 by William the Conqueror (as Winchester was a big deal at the time). It was the seat of royal power for quite some time. Alas, that castle has also largely disappeared…but the Great Hall remains. It is still an imposing building and hosts a museum.

The Great Hall also contains the “Round Table.” It is a big wooden tabletop that was later linked to King Arthur and the “Knights of the Round Table”. By the time we arrived, however, the Great Hall was about to close. We decided not to enter (there is an admission fee), leaving us with an important sight to see if we should ever return to Winchester.

While we missed out on the Great Hall, we still managed to cover a lot of territory during our two afternoons in Winchester. This was partly because we didn’t expect to have very much time for sightseeing during the forthcoming two weeks in Wales. We would have an entirely different focus there!

We returned to Shawford for the last time and had a final dinner at “The Bridge.” We loaded up on supplies for our trip to Wales and caught a train out of Southampton early the next morning. Travelling with luggage can sometimes be a burden on British trains, but that feeling was outweighed by the excitement of our impending new experience.

Coming up next: into the Heart of Wales!