Winchester Saint Swithun's shrine. Left-overs from the lavish banquets of the Priors (the monastic predecessors of the later Deans) would be given to the pilgrims who were welcome to spend the night in the hall. It is thought by Winchester City Council to have been built in 1308. Now part of The Pilgrims' School, the hall is used by the school for assemblies in the morning, drama lessons, plays, orchestral practices, Cathedral Waynflete rehearsals, the school's Senior Commoners' Choir rehearsals and so forth. Entrance to the North garth of the cathedral, for pedestrians is via the Norman arches of Saint Maurice′s
Winchester Cathedral The blue reflects the vault portals of the chapel. The cathedral possesses the only diatonic ring of fourteen church bells in the world, with a tenor (heaviest bell) weighing . The back twelve were all cast by John Taylor & Co in 1937. They were augmented to fourteen when two new trebles and a 4♯ (sharp 4th) were added in 1992 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Also there is a 8♭ (flat 8th) which was cast by Anthony Bond in 1621. Nowadays the cathedral draws many tourists as a result of its association with Jane Austen, who died in Winchester