Earlier this year, while visiting Winchester Cathedral, I found myself distracted from the exhibits in the Kings and Scribes gallery. High above my head, a small group of people emerged onto a narrow stone parapet before disappearing through a doorway hidden behind a security rope. My first reaction was envy. Who were they? Staff? Stonemasons? Maintenance workers? Wherever they were going, I wanted to follow.
A few months later, I finally discovered the answer. They had been visitors, just like me, but on one of Winchester Cathedral’s bell tower tours.
Modest Proportions
Winchester Cathedral dominates the city skyline, yet its tower is not especially tall by cathedral standards. At around 150 feet (46 metres), it stands lower than several Hampshire parish churches, including Holy Trinity Church at Privett.
The current tower is also the cathedral’s second. The original Norman crossing tower collapsed in 1107. Its modest height means the climb is less daunting than many cathedral towers. Nevertheless, the views remain impressive. From the roof, the eye follows the Itchen Valley southwards towards the coast. To the north, the white scar of the roadworks at the M3/A34 junction stands out against the surrounding landscape, a reminder that every generation leaves its mark on the countryside.
Understanding the Building
The tour begins with a short introduction to the cathedral’s history. Given the number of overseas visitors, the guide needs to place the building within the wider story of England. That context helps explain the cathedral’s architecture. As we saw on Alms & Legs earlier this year, rounded Norman arches reflect the Romanesque style introduced after 1066, and the pointed arches belong to the Gothic tradition that transformed English church building during the Middle Ages.
Before the climb starts, the group steps outside to view the tower from ground level. It is a useful exercise. Looking up helps put the route into perspective and reveals details that often go unnoticed, like an old mass/sun dial. Can you spot it below?
Into the Hidden Spaces
The climb itself demands comfort with confined spaces rather than heights. As the staircase rises, the treads narrow and the walls close in. Fortunately, the route is well lit and includes several stopping points.
The first of these is the parapet walkway that originally caught my attention earlier in the year. Standing there provides an extraordinary close-up view of the Norman masonry. At ground level, the cathedral appears refined and monumental. Up here, the stonework feels more human and rustic. Uneven surfaces and subtle imperfections reveal the hands of the countless unskilled labourers who helped raise William the Conqueror’s great Norman cathedrals nearly 1000 years ago. Looking down into the Kings and Scribes gallery, I spotted visitors gazing upwards with the same curiosity I had felt months earlier.
The Heart of the Cathedral
For me, the highlight came in the bell chamber. The staircase twists sharply before opening into a vast timber-framed space housing sixteen bells. If the cathedral itself inspires admiration, the bell tower inspires wonder….well, for me atleast!
Church bells occupy a unique place in English culture. For centuries they marked celebrations, warnings, funerals and festivals. Yet most people rarely see them. Here they hang silently in their enormous wooden frames, waiting for the next practice or event. The chamber itself felt like the cathedral’s beating heart, hidden from view but essential to its life. As we stood there, the clock bell struck the hour.
Views Across Hampshire
Beyond the bell chamber, the stairs become noticeably narrower before finally emerging onto the roof. On a clear day, the panorama extends in every direction. The guide pointed out landmarks across Winchester and beyond, helping us understand how the cathedral sits within the wider landscape. The views are excellent, although I still think the perspective from St Giles Hill rivals them. From there, you enjoy a similar outlook but with the cathedral itself in the frame.
View from St Giles Hill across Winchester
More than Stone
The descent offers a different perspective on the building. The ringing chamber contains ropes for all sixteen bells, giving Winchester the largest number of bells of any English church or cathedral. Bell-ringing groups travel from across the country to ring here, while boards on the walls record notable peals achieved over many decades.
The final stage of the descent passes along a timber walkway suspended between the cathedral roof and the nave ceiling. Here, the building’s hidden anatomy reveals itself. Rough sections of Norman masonry survive from earlier phases of construction, left unfinished because medieval builders never expected anyone to see them. Yet it was not the stonework that left the greatest impression. Like most visitors, I arrived awed by the cathedral’s masonry: its soaring arches, vast columns and monumental scale. Up here, however, it is the timber that tells the more interesting story.
Stretching overhead are enormous medieval beams, some approaching a thousand years in age. Suddenly, the hidden importance of wood in the construction of England’s great churches becomes impossible to ignore. Winchester may be famous for its stone vaults, but they sit beneath a forest of ancient timber. The cathedral itself also rests on timber foundations laid into the waterlogged ground of the Itchen floodplain. Remove wood from Winchester’s story and much of the building simply ceases to exist.
For me, that discovery says as much about the skill of Winchester’s medieval carpenters as it does about the building itself. Many tower tours promise fine views, and Winchester certainly delivers them. Yet my lasting memory was not the panorama from the roof, but the revelation that cathedrals are as much monuments to wood as they are to stone. Back in the nave, I found myself looking upwards with renewed wonder, aware that above that familiar stonework, a thousand years of hidden timber and craftsmanship were quietly holding everything together.
Find information about cathedral tower tours HERE
