St Swithun's School, Winchester St Swithun's School, Winchester St Swithun's School is an independent day, weekly and full-boarding school for girls in Winchester, Hampshire. It is named after Saint Swithun, a Bishop of Winchester and patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. St Swithun's was founded as "Winchester High School" by Miss Anna Bramston, daughter of John Bramston, the then Dean of Winchester, with the ambition of educating "daughters of worthy citizens of Winchester". Not having sufficient money of her own, funds were raised by subscription. The school opened on 5 May 1884 with seventeen pupils. Pupil numbers soon grew and the school began taking in
Winchester Cathedral south and east walls were reinforced by diver William Walker, packing the foundations with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks. Walker worked six hours a day from 1906 to 1912 in total darkness at depths up to , and is credited with saving the cathedral from total collapse. For this he was awarded the MVO. In 1931 the new Dean, E. Gordon Selwyn founded the Friends of Winchester Cathedral. A key element of the Friends’ policy was to “undertake schemes of repair which the Dean and Chapter consider necessary.” Dean Selwyn identified the need