TrustNews Sep 21

What is 'Winchesterness'?

Keith Leaman has a go at defining it.

 

 

When addressing a description for development in Winchester, Winchester City Council often uses the word 'Winchesterness' (a term I am not keen on) to help describe its expectations for development areas. What exactly does this mean? Asked to describe 'Winchesterness', the general public would almost certainly give a variety of descriptions for their idea of what Winchester should look and feel like.

 

 

One of the characteristics of Winchester is that its streets are all different in scale. In addition, the style and size of buildings differ, and materials vary. For example, St Thomas Street differs from Jewry Street, which differs from Parchment Street, and so on.

 

 

The City, for me is defined by the street layout, with the High Street spine and the narrow Saxon period layout spreading to the old city wall position. The buildings obviously follow the street form, many varying in width, although the predominant scale is that of a vertical pattern, not a horizontal one. Where this occurs, the pattern tends to jar the eye. An example of this is the building at the north west corner of St Georges Street where it meets Jewry Street, which is not 'Winchesterness'!

 

 

It is interesting to consider the HCC building that takes up much of Tower Street. Not so long ago this stood out with its alien horizontal banding, but the building has recently been refurbished with vertical bays of brickwork, and this results in a huge visual improvement, particularly when viewed from the other side of Winchester.

 

How can the character of Winchester be defined?

 

 

Narrow, ancient street pattern, punctuated with surprises such as passages leading to different visual experiences, a variety of materials, a variety of styles, varying scales in both widths and heights. Building heights are generally a mix of two, three and four storeys, with steeply pitched roofs (the pitched roof is an important feature of Winchester, particularly in the Centre, as this whole area can be viewed from the slopes that rise away from the centre. Other important ingredients that add delight are detailing, spaces and trees if you look down on to central Winchester from St Giles Hill, it is surprising how many trees there are. They are a major contributor to the overall character which is Winchester.

 

These, for me, are some of the ingredients that make up the mix that is the character of Winchester. It would be interesting to hear your ideas on what you consider the character of Winchester to be. So please send in your examples!

 

Keith Leaman