Old Minster

Old Minster. Winchester Cathedral. The brick lines set in the grass before you mark out the plan of Old Minster, the Anglo-Saxon cathedral demolished in 1093-94 to make way for the present cathedral., Old Minster contained the shrine of St Swithun, a bishop of Winchester who died 863. His relic attracted pilgrims from far and wide. By the year 1000 the church was 'hung about on both walls from end to end with the crutches and stools of the crippled who had been healed' by the saint., Old Minster was the most important royal church of Anglo-Saxon England. The palace kings lay immediately behind you. Among the kings bused in Old Minster were Egbert in 839 and Alfred in 899 - later moved to the adjacent New Minster. Old Minster was the burial church of King Cnut-Canute, d.1035 and his wife Emma and their son Harthacnut, d.1042. Edward the Confessor was crowned here 1043. William the Conqueror and after him William Rufus, 'wore his crown in Old Minster at Easter every year they were in England until the monks moved to the new cathedral in 1093.