St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate

Winchester is England’s ancient capital, steeped in history. Its beautiful Cathedral was once the seat of Anglo-Saxon and Norman royal power and Winchester College is believed to be the oldest continuously running school in the country.

Near to the Cathedral, sitting above the King’s Gate, one of Winchester’s medieval city gates, is St Swithun upon Kingsgate. Offering peace and calm, this simple chapel is a single room, a haven in the middle of the city. Although placing a church on top of a city gate was not unusual in the Middle Ages, it is believed to be the only such church in England still in active use.

Dedicated to St Swithun, who was bishop of Winchester in the 9th century, the church would have been an important stop for the many pilgrims who came to the city to venerate the shrine of St Swithun at the Cathedral. The first record of its existence comes from a report in 1264 about its burning down by angry citizens after which it was rebuilt.

The chapel is accessed through an unassuming wooden door. Visitors make their way up a narrow wooden staircase and enter the narrow chapel with its steeply pitched roof. The church used to be painted with murals, but these were obliterated by soldiers of the Reformation.

The church appears, thinly disguised, as St Cuthbert’s in Anthony Trollope’s The Warden.

The Church is a singular little Gothic building, perched over a gateway through which the Close is entered and is approached by a flight of stone steps which leads down under the archway of a gate. it is no bigger than an ordinary room…

Not to be missed!

St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate

St Swithun St,

Winchester SO23 9JP