Winchester Castle - Trust Annual Report 1979
The Great Hall Precinct - the remains of Winchester Castle
The sketch opposite shows how the County Council intend to display the remains of the north-east corner of Winchester Castle which lie below Castle Hill.
These remains, first discovered when Castle Yard was levelled in the 1870's, were fully investigated by the Winchester Research Unit in a series of excavations in the late 1960's planned in conjunction with the construction of the new Law Courts. They were re-excavated in 1977 to allow the problems of displaying them to be assessed. In the long winter of 1978 some of the chalk masonry exposed cracked badly but it had already been decided that this would have to be faced with a white stone because of its friability.
At the centre of the sketch lies the substantial base of the corner tower built in the 13th Century during the reign of Henry III. The masonry remaining is in excellent condition and of outstanding quality.
At the tower meet the remains of the east and north curtain walls of the castle. Those of the north wall incorporate fragments of Roman work and at the junction of the east wall and the tower lies an arched opening of a gardrobe shaft which emptied into the castle ditch at this point.
Below the tower lies a vaulted chamber and the passageways of the Sallyport, through subterranean exits from which, troops could be discharged outside the walls of the castle. The remains of the Sallyport are exceptionally well preserved and provide one of the very finest examples of such a structure to be seen in the country. It is intended to open the Sallyport as a route between Castle Yard and the terrace below Castle Hill.
The two figures in the foreground of the sketch are looking at the remains of the base of the City Wall which ran between the tower and the Westgate. Below the figures in the middle of the sketch it is intended to expose part of the north face of the base of a large, but short-lived, square keep built in the 12th Century, probably during the reign of Henry I.
This display of the remains of the castle is intended to form part of the overall scheme designed to create a worthy setting for the Great Hall and the work is programmed to be done in 1980.