Winchester Cathedral II

"You could have done something
But you didn't try
You didn't do nothing
You let her walk by

"Now everyone knows just how much I needed that gal
She wouldn't have gone far away
If only you'd started ringing your bell"

We did both the general cathedral tour and the crypt tour at Winchester, both very fine presentations.

Everything you see in the nave and choir

areas is perpendicular or Gothic; but when

you get to the transepts, here, the north one,

it is still the original 12th century Norman

Romanesque; not "updated"; the reason

being that the central tower fell down in

the 13th century, and there were,

consequently, higher priorities....

In the crypt, here, you begin to get some insight: every

spring, the crypt floods, knee-deep; it turns out the whole

thing has serious foundation problems; really serious

foundation problems

Consequently, and unlike most cathedrals, the crypt at

Winchester is used only for spare parts

In the first several years of the 20th century, this man,

William Walker, a diver, spent six hours a day beneath

the foundations of Winchester Cathedral, replacing

rotted oak and heather with cement, saving the great

cathedral; "by his hand alone"

Still, in the south aisle, the floor and wall

don't look exactly perpendicular; I was glad

to get to the gift shoppe...