Photograph of the west front of Winchester Cathedral
Taken about 1880
Winchester Cathedral was founded in 1079, but by the mid-fourteenth century the structural problems at its west end were so acute that the nave was shortened and this end rebuilt under William of Edington, Bishop from 1345 to 1366. The steep pitch of the gable dictated by the Norman roofline contrasts with that of the aisles.
The late fourteenth century glass of the great west window which was completed under Edington's successor, William of Wykeham, was one of the losses sustained by the Cathedral in the Civil War. The broken glass was gathered up and replaced, although it was largely impossible to recreate the original design.
A young man and woman are posed on either side of the railings in the foreground. In the 1880s the controversial decision was taken to remove gravestones from the churchyard.
The photographer is unknown, but was probably William Savage (1817-87).
