Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral
Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, St Peter, St Paul and St Swithun
View of the long nave, central tower and west end.
Winchester Cathedral is located in Hampshire
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
Location within Hampshire
51°3′38″N 1°18′47″W / 51.06056°N 1.31306°W / 51.06056; -1.31306
LocationWinchester, Hampshire
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
Previous denominationRoman Catholic
Websitewww.winchester-cathedral.org.uk
History
Dedication
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade I
Designated24 March 1950[1]
StyleNorman, Gothic
Years built1079–1532
Groundbreaking1079; 945 years ago (1079)
Specifications
Length558 ft 1 in (170.1 m)
Nave width82 feet (25 m) (including aisles)
Nave height78 feet (24 m)
Floor area53,480 square feet (4,968 m2)
Tower height150 feet (46 m)
Bells14 + sharp 4th and flat 8th
Tenor bell weight35 long cwt 2 qr 6 lb (3,982 lb / 1,806 kg)
Administration
ProvinceCanterbury
DioceseWinchester (since c. 650)
Clergy
Bishop(s)Philip Mounstephen
DeanCatherine Ogle
PrecentorAndy Trenier (& Sacrist)
ChancellorRoland Riem (Vice-Dean & Pastor)
Canon MissionerDr Tess Kuin Lawton

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,[2] Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun,[3] commonly known as Winchester Cathedral, is the cathedral of the city of Winchester, England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of Winchester. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of Winchester.

The cathedral as it stands today was built from 1079 to 1532 and is dedicated to numerous saints, most notably Swithun of Winchester. It has a very long and very wide nave in the Perpendicular Gothic style, an Early English retrochoir, and Norman transepts and tower. With an overall length of 558 feet (170 m), it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world.[4] With an area of 53,480 square feet (4,968 m2),[5] it is also the sixth-largest cathedral by area in the UK, surpassed only by Liverpool, St Paul's, York, Westminster (RC) and Lincoln.

A major tourist attraction, the cathedral attracted 365,000 visitors in 2019, an increase of 12,000 from 2018.[6]

  1. ^ "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity". British Listed Buildings. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  2. ^ Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  3. ^ John Crook, ed. Winchester Cathedral: Nine Hundred Years, 1093-1993 (Guildford, U.K.: 1993) pp. 57-59
  4. ^ Alec Clifton-Taylor, The Cathedrals of England (Thames & Hudson, 1969)
  5. ^ Sergeant, Philip Walsingham (1899). The Cathedral Church of Winchester - A Description of Its Fabric And A Brief History of The Episcopal See. London, United Kingdom: G. Bell & Sons – via Project Gutenberg.
  6. ^ Dean and Chapter of Winchester. (2019). Winchester Cathedral Annual Report for 2019 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 15 September 2021.