3-021-185 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of the Church of St. Cross, Winchester, lately restored, 1865. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. Savage. A Norman cathedral in miniature, it was '...commenced in the year 1135 by Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester...It is...universally acknowledged to be one of the finest existing specimens of Transition Norman architecture in England...at the time of the resignation of the late Master, in 1854-5, the church internally was in a deplorable condition- the walls, piers, Purbeck columns, and stone groined roofs were all coated with whitewash and plaster...Mr. Butterfield was appointed architect...[The] restoration of the building...has rendered it fit for the purposes of worship...The contract for the stonework has been carried out by Messrs. Newman and Son; the Brothers' stalls and fittings are by Steddy...The new tiles are by Minton. The six principal windows at the east end are by Wailes...The polychrome enrichments at the east end are, as far as they go at present, the gift of Mr. Melville Portal, from designs by Mr. Butterfield, executed by Mr. Fisher...The stone zigzag work of the windows is partly painted salmon-colour and grey...the bosses of the roof of the nave retain traces of the ancient painting'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.