After Empress Matilda fails to gain the support of London and is chased out by its inhabitants, she journeys to Winchester and makes her camp there. Join Catherine Capel as she explores the events leading up to this moment and analyses the Empress’ decision to make the city her base of operations. 

In Winchester, arrows will fly, blades will clash, and blood will spill, but only one side will come out on top.

For more information, including show notes and a transcript, please visit our website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes

If you find yourself on St Giles Hill or walking along Chesil Street in Winchester, listen out for the ghostly whistle of a steam train or the clang of a signal bell. 

Here, at the foot of St Giles Hill, was Cheese Hill (later Chesil) Station, opened in 1885 as a stop on the ill-starred Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway line. From here Hampshire strawberries were carried to London, race horses to Newbury and thousands of troops to Southampton to embark on journeys to the Western Front, and, later, the Normandy beaches. The line closed in the1960s, but tantalising fragments of station and railway remain. 

Winchester tourist guide Clare Dixon talks to Julie Dypdal about the history of the railway, and takes us on a podcast tour of the bridges and buildings, tunnel and viaduct that still form part of the Winchester landscape.

For more information, including show notes and a transcript, please visit our website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes

Bored with #lockdown, looking for something to add interest to your day? Then join us for a conversation about the Twitter postbox challenge with this week's guest hosts, Madelaine and Catherine.

During previous and current lockdown walks they have been noticing details that might normally be missed. For example, Catherine spotted various door knockers and Madelaine started photographing boot scrapers outside front doors. By photographing these items, they were able to spot differences and fashions. A tweet by Winchester Heritage Open Days about the only Edward VIII postbox in Winchester set them off photographing post-boxes and posting them on Twitter with the hashtag #PostboxChallenge.

For more information, including show notes and a transcript, please visit our website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes


This is our final podcast of Season Two - we are now going to take a short break to prepare Season Three. We will be back on 3rd March, but until then you can listen again (and again) to all our podcasts from Season One and Two, as well as enjoy our films and recorded talks from last year’s Heritage Open Days festival. Find out more here.

St Swithun’s archivist Elly Crookes talks to Julie Dypdal about the school’s eventful history and its fascinating archives-which include letters from Christina Rosetti and William Wilberforce.

Educating girls wasn’t a priority in Victorian England but the pioneering founders of St Swithun’s School in Winchester helped to change that in Hampshire. 

By the end of the 19th century its female pupils were studying not just reading and writing but science, economics, engineering and money management. A feisty spirit was encouraged among pupils: when school buildings were requisitioned for troops during the two world wars, the girls played and beat Canadian soldiers at lacrosse and taught GIs to play cricket. 


For more information, including show notes and a transcript, please visit our website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes

When most people see someone’s initials scratched into the wall of the cathedral, the carvings are dismissed as graffiti and vandalism. However, those letters tell a story about the Winchester Cathedral in centuries past and the people that walked under its vaulted ceilings. Is it history, vandalism, or both? Dr. Cindy Wood explores the controversial topic.

For more information, including a transcript and further information, go to out website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/introduction-histbites

Gary Wallace-Potter, one of the founding members of the Historical Diving Society, talks to Julie and tells the story of William Walker.

Learn how Walker spent hours a day in the murky waters beneath Winchester Cathedral to prevent the building’s Norman foundations from sinking into the earth. Wallace-Potter also covers the strange tale behind Walker’s bust that sits in the cathedral grounds.

For further information including a copy of the transcript, please visit our website  https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes and click on the William Walker episode

Christopher Mulvey, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Winchester and a trustee of the English Project, takes us on a historical journey of the English Language, explaining how invasions, colonisation and transatlantic naval and aeronautical dominance have all influenced the way we speak in Britain today.

Professor Mulvey also discusses dialect, sociolects and how London English has been adopted in Hampshire. His dream is to build a multi-million-pound museum in Winchester, dedicated to the fascinating complexities of the English Language.

For more information including a transcript, visit our website: www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes

Join Sophie Hacker at Winchester College as she speaks with Dr Sarah Griffin and Revd Canon Dr Roland Riem about a Book of Hours. 

The three explore the Christian Book of Prayers, its shifting purpose throughout history, and how the intricate and colourful pages were made. They also discuss the meaning of the strange religious art: is a chicken with a dragon’s body simply that, or did the artists have something deeper in mind?

This episode is a bonus episode, specially produced for Winchester Heritage Open Days 2020 festival.

For more information, including a transcript of the episode and our show-notes, go to our website: www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/introduction-histbites

Today, most people can hum along to the tune of “Drunken Sailor,” but the grim origins behind the lyrics are often overlooked. In this episode Martin Jakeman from Historical Huzzahs reveals the truth. 

You will also discover how the shanties kept morale high at sea, how they changed with the invention of steam ships, and how the tradition is kept alive. You may be surprised by the latter!

For more information, including a transcript of the episode and our show-notes, go to our website: www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/introduction-histbites

Join James Freeman and Cathy Booth in this fascinating podcast. James eagerly shares his love of the King Alfred buses. This service, set up by the Chisnell family in the 1900’s, was unique to Winchester. 

James has spent a lifetime trying to bring back the buses from all over the world to their final stop. Each bus has a story and James brings that to life in this episode. He also discusses traffic, womens’ role in buses and the changing face of this well-loved transport. 

This episode is a bonus episode, specially produced for Winchester Heritage Open Days 2020 festival.

For more information, including the transcript of this episode and our show-notes, please visit: www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/introduction-histbites