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In
its pomp, Winchester Cathedral stood at the heart of Alfred's Wessex
- a magnificent monument to the wealth and influence of the ancient
capital of England.
Today,
the cathedral seems as imposing as ever - still dominating the city
centre landscape. But just
over 100 years ago the cathedral was in danger of disappearing altogether.
The
original structure was built on swamp land over 1000 years ago,
and the foundations were beginning to sink.
The
current BBC Two series Cathedral looks into the role of the
engineers and one man in particular, the diver William Robert Walker
who played a key role in the reconstruction of the foundations.
The
cathedral's west window - the grand stained glass window above the
entrance - has also undergone a transformation since its creation.
During
the English Civil War the window suffered extensive damage - to
the point where its original design was completely lost.
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| The
Cathedral's West Window |
Contemporary
accounts tell of Cromwell's soldiers storming into the cathedral
on horseback and wrecking the window - perhaps because it was the
most visible symbol of the cathedral's wealth.
The
broken glass however was not discarded. During the Restoration -
after the Civil War - the thousands of pieces of broken glass were
recovered and the window painstakingly repaired.
Only
a few sections of the window survived the raid unscathed. The remaining
fragments were arranged into an abstract collection of fragments
- as it appears today.
The
BBC Two Series Cathedral is on Monday's at 7pm.
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