said to have occupied this site, and St. Lawrence's Church may possibly
have been the private chapel of the royal residence. A fragment of
Norman masonry gives a certain amount of probability to the
supposition, while at the beginning of last century some workmen
excavating in Market Street came across the foundations of an ancient
tower, of great thickness and strength. The present arched and narrow
entrance from High Street leads to the fine avenue of limes that forms
the principal approach to the west front of the Cathedral, begun by
Edington _circa_ 1360, the severe simplicity of which has been much
criticized, Ruskin assailing it furiously in the _Stones of Venice_. On
the apex of the gable is a canopied niche containing a statue of
Wykeham.

The present edifice is thought to stand approximately on the site of the
earlier Saxon church restored by Ethelwold in 980, in which Queen Emma
underwent the "fiery ordeal" by walking blindfold and barefooted over
nine red-hot plough-shares, thus proving her innocence of the charges
brought against her, and furnishing her accusers with an example of what
female chastity is able to accomplish. The main portion of the structure
as seen to-day was begun by Bishop Walkelin about 1079, and completed
some fourteen years later. It is the longest of English churches,
measuring externally 566 feet, and internally 562-1/2 feet, being a few
feet longer than St. Alban's, which has the same plan; although we must
remember that when the nave of Winchester terminated at the west in two
large towers the whole mass was 40 feet longer than at present.

The vista of the whole block of masonry, with its stumpy tower and
heavily buttressed walls, conveys the idea of immense strength rather
than of gracefulness; while its situation at the bottom of a hill, and
near the bank of the river, is one of great charm.