TrustNews Jun 20
A Vision for Winchester High Street from Westgate to King Alfred's Statue
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The City of Winchester Trust serves an indispensable function in helping to conserve the character of the city. However, some criticise it for being too negative. At a time of considerable change and faced with several major controversial redevelopment schemes, vision is needed to ensure that the city's potential is maximised as a cultural centre. This article suggests realistic and positive proposals for change. It is a vision for maximising the potential of the historic High Street. These suggestions could be taken in whole or in part or could be phased. Some may not be easily achievable but decisions need to be taken which give priority to the primary objective of a prosperous, safe, attractive and enjoyable historic city centre. The views of Trust members are sought, not least to demonstrate a positive commitment to Winchester City Centre.
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The suggestions here would require difficult decisions regarding vehicular traffic movement, but similar problems have been addressed in other cities which have introduced major changes that give priority to pedestrians. Such schemes may require traffic to be replaced by public transport and cycling/walking solutions or by diversion, though it must be born in mind that diversion often results in the transfer of congestion from one place to another.
We may learn from a visit to Pallant House in Chichester. lf you come by car, park by the railway station in the multi-storey car park, which is an exemplar of good design; walk to the gallery and sense what a delight it is to experience Chichester‘s extensive pedestrian area.
Nearby Southampton has recent examples of good design with the opening up of the city to the town wall and improvement of the pedestrian experience.
Within 3 years York is to ban all but essential vehicles from its City centre.
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Winchester is unique. The original capital of England, before London, it boasts one of the most significant medieval cathedrals in Europe. It attracts thousands of visitors, each year. What also makes the city exceptional is the concentration of historic and cultural sights which occupy a compact area easily accessed from off the High Street. This forms the City spine, running the length of the old City from the Westgate to the site of the Eastgate that stood at the Bishop's Bridge.
Winchester High Street is ancient. It goes back to prehistoric times, making it one of the world's oldest thoroughfares still in use. For 8,000 years people have travelled the South Downs Way which descends and crosses the River ltchen which was initially further west until diverted by the Romans to its present position where the thoroughfare continues west along the line of the High Street. Evidence shows that the High Street has sunk over centuries from usage as a thoroughfare. As one walks in the other direction, down the High Street from the Westgate, there is a promise of countryside beyond, with the wooded backcloth of St Giles Hill. Following the River ltchen from the bottom of the High Street it connects north and south, in minutes, to the water meadows; including leading south onto St Catherine’s Hill. Looking back from there, large parts of the City can be seen as tree-covered giving Winchester its natural setting.
Today, the High Street is dislocated by its road system, with traffic and the accompanying noise and pollution. Whilst the central length is pedestrianised, the top of the street carries heavy traffic and vehicles also use the road in front of the Guildhall, past St John's and down to King Alfred Statue.
What is proposed is a fully pedestrianised High Street, a kind of ‘linear piazza’ bringing together the top and lower High Street. This would give it coherence and strengthen its connection with all the sights of interest linking into it. The proposal also envisages improved linking between the top of the High Street and the major attractions above the West Gate.
As an initial observation, the recent street furniture to the pedestrianised part of the High Street feels mediocre when compared with what best design represents. It isn't as if Winchester is lacking in a variety of able planners, architects and others with design expertise.
At the top of the High Street, above the West Gate, are eight museums: Six military: the museums of the King's Royal Hussars, the Green Jackets and the Rifles, the Gurkhas, and Adjutant-General's corps, with the Guardroom. These are housed in the Barracks to which the planned Palace of Charles II was converted. The rebuilt King’s House with its grand portico captures something of Wren's original design which was to extend, with avenues and parterres, to the west front of the cathedral. Just above the Westgate, itself a significant monument, approached past the castle remains, is the Great Hall. After Westminster Hall this is the finest and largest medieval hall in England. Attached to it are the Long Gallery and Queen Eleanor’s Garden. The upper section of the High Street also sports significant modern urban sculpture, notably the Elizabeth Frink “Horse and Rider".
To pedestrianise at least the top of the High Street would help to integrate these significant historic attractions as part of the city centre, capitalising on existing strengths and establishing a much more compelling sense of what the City represents and what it offers to visitors.
A further look at the top of the High Street reveals disappointment as well as recent improvement. Castle Avenue, dated 1895, with its Victorian flint and Bath stone, superseded the Castle Hill approach to the Great Hall.
The Avenue has been restored to a high standard, demonstrating how the historic fabric of the City can be enhanced. Where the Frink ‘Horse and Rider‘ faces onto the High Street, recent upgrading and additions such as to Walcott Chambers, invite us into quiet areas on each side of the street. These areas each feature two or more substantial trees. The Law Courts side, however, is less resolved. Trafalgar Street could potentially be improved and connected to the Roman Gar Street in the Barracks. This would give access off the High Street below the Westgate to the military museums and historic sights.
Descending the High Street, there is clearly scope for further enhancements. The road layout frustrates the promise of what the City could be. Making the entire High Street pedestrian is an absolute priority if the integrity and feel of the central spine, this ‘linear piazza‘, is not to be compromised.
A shared pedestrian/vehicular usage at the Jewry Street/Southgate crossing could be trialled, with no traffic onto the High Street. Poynton in Cheshire provides a good example of how successful this can be.
The mobility Strategy for the City has yet to be sorted. The eight major roads which converge on the centre need to be resolved so that they do not downgrade the heart of the City. Things have to give if we value a High Street fully connected along its length. It should be an absolute priority for the High Street and would unlock opportunities for how the City centre can evolve.
In Roman times the High Street was a straight line between the Westgate and the Eastgate running through the centre of the walled city. Later traders established premises outside of William l‘s Palace which now include the Pentice. The Buttercross is located centrally on the High Street and connects through to The Square, the City Museum and then to the Cathedral and its precincts, on to Winchester College and Wolvesey Palace and Castle ruins and some of the older streets of the City. Along the High Street are a number of passages, St Lawrence’s Church, the Buttercross, remains of William l’s Palace (back of Montezuma), at no‘s 35 and 36 the earliest known Wealden House in England, the old Market, St Maurice Covert, the Guildhall, the Mayor's Parlour, the Nunnaminster remains, St John's House, the Town Mill, historic alms houses and numerous buildings of historic interest.
On the opposite side of the High Street there is a need for the link with Parchment Street to be improved. Also, George Street has potential for more intimate spaces protected from the road, such as the little enclosed area behind Ask and Russell and Bromley.
Guildhall Square and Saxon Gate is part of the City redevelopment awaiting clarity. This could include extending the pedestrianised High Street up to King Alfred's Statue. A current idea for this area is to enhance the cultural value of the city and create a close grouping of facilities. These could include a Saxon museum and a gallery, like Pallant House in Chichester or the Dulwich Picture Gallery. However, Winchester needs its own particular solution. There are some initial suggestions which might be considered. The Mayor's Abbey House could become a gallery, perhaps of watercolours, and could retain limited use for civic functions. This would make good use of a period house, as with Mompesson House in Salisbury, albeit on a more modest scale. St .John’s, with its medieval undercroft and 18th century upper floor, could accommodate a splendid modern gallery. With a glass floor over the Nunnaminster remains, a several storey extension could be added to the Guildhall as a further gallery, giving lovely views over Abbey Gardens. Galleries could include modern as well as heritage attractions, such as the promotion of children’s art and art in relation to therapy but such ideas need developing and testing.
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The High Street is a key to how the City holds together and can evolve and improve in a coherent and connected way. The question is how to engage imaginatively in shaping the City. Thinking of the High Street as a ‘linear piazza’ would help develop an achievable vision that could be pursued incrementally.
Your views please?
Stephen Harte
Opportunities
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Establish the entire High Street as one ‘linear piazza‘. The mobility strategy should have this as a priority.
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Trial a shared pedestrian vehicular crossing at Southgate Street/Jewry street junction.
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Form squares: Jewry Street opposite Barclays Bank and in front of the Guildhall.
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Strengthen the connection between the High Street and the six military museums. Consider opening Trafalgar Street to Gar Street.
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Establish a clearer pedestrian link between the High Street and Parchment Street.
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Improve the pedestrian experience of George Street, e.g. making something of the enclosed area behind Ask.
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Improve the St Maurice Covert/Passage to open up the High Street to the Cathedral Outer Close.
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Use empty shop frontages for temporary or permanent display of City archaeology.
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Create a gallery/museum area by the Guildhall and Abbey Gardens.
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Improve the design of High Street furniture.
Postscript
Design thinking is an iterative process as ideas are tested and develop.
It was very good to see in the Hampshire Chronicle of 14 May 2020 Winchester City Council's initiative for pedestrian measures for the city. Cllr Martin Tod - County Councillor and Winchester City Council cabinet member for traffic - proposes that the one-way system is reduced to a single lane which allows for wider pavements. The east west traffic movement is retained. Wider pavements to the top section of the High Street would improve the unification of the High Street as a pedestrian spine through the heart of the historic city.
Cllr Tod proposes other measures including fully pedestrianising The Square. These and further enhancements would demonstrate a more extensive approach to city regeneration.
I hope others share my feeling that this is a time of change when we could re-visualise the future of Winchester City.
Stephen Harte