Winchester Great Hall- Arthurian Legend Location
The great hall in Winchester is the location of "The Round Table". It's not actually Arthur's round table- the location of that is still widely debated. However, the hall is home to the 5.5 metre diameter wooden table which weighs in at an alarming 1200kg.
I visited the Great Hall in June along with my friend masqueblanc. Over the summer we decided to spend as much time visiting places linked with the legend (and with Merlin of course) as we could. Our first stop was Winchester to see the Round Table. The main reason being my Grandad had a smaller version comissioned back in 1990 and I've seen it all my life. First at my Grandparents house in Romsey and then it was in our conservatory for a while, and then my Dad's flat. But it's nothing compared to the real thing.
An extract from the website tells us:
Although now known to have been constructed in the 14th Century, and repainted in its present form for King Henry VIII, the table has for centuries been venerated by generations of tourists as the mysterious table of the 'Once and Future King' Arthur.
The names of the 24 knights are written around the edge of the table, surmounted by King Arthur on his throne.
The first written accounts of the Arthurian story appeared in 1130 in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'History of the Kings of Britain', which maintains that Merlin had the 15-year-old Arthur crowned at nearby Silchester.
However, the first mention of the Round Table is Robert Wace's Roman de Brut (1155), which says that Arthur seated his knights at a round table so that all should be equal. In Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur, the table is a wedding gift to Arthur from Guinevere's father, Leodegrance.
The table itself:
The good news is that it's free to go in, but they do have a small donation box by the door to help pay for the upkeep of the hall and the table.
The table is mounted on the wall as you go in on the right. It has the name of 24 knights around the edge, some we've heard of and some we haven't. Going clockwise from Arthur you have Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawaine, Sir Percival, Sir Lionel, Sir Tristan, Sir Gareth, Sir Bedivere, Sir Blioberis, Sir La cotemal tail, Sir Lucan, Sir Palamedes, Sir Lamorak, Sir Bors, Sir Saphar, Sir Pellinore, Sir Kay, Sir Ector, Sir Dagonet, Sir Degore, Sir Brunar, Sir Guinglain, Sir Alymore & Sir Modred.
What else is there to do?:
Once you've explored the great hall itself and oggled the table until you've got a crick in your neck, you can take a seat in Queen Eleanor's garden which is out a side door attatched to the hall.
There's also a multitude of stained glass windows- each with several different coats of arms- and a floor to ceiling family tree on the opposite end of the hall to the table. Oh, and a gift shop where you can get all manner of merchandise with the round table on it plus many books on the legend for all ages.
If you're spending the day in Winchester then you can take a 5 minute walk into the town centre where you can either have a good bit of retail therapy, or you can pay a visit to Winchester Cathedral. While not legend linked, it's certainly a stunning piece of architecture.
Defying Legend (aka, the Merlin video diaries were a bad influence on us):
Myself and masqueblanc have taken to doing video diaries when we go to locations like this (entirely influenced by the lovely Bradley and Colin of course). So here are our reports on our trip to the hall and then later at the Cathedral (contrary to what we say in the video, we do eventually go inside it).
Language is clean, image might be a bit wobbly but hopefully you'll find it interesting :)
Incase you're wondering, I'm Bethan (or Betty as I'm constantly being referred to as) and masqueblanc is Ellie. Oh yeah, we may over use the phrase "cam hussie" quite a bit.
This is Ellie's report as I didn't get much footage.
If you'd like to see mine anyway (which includes me accidentally calling it Westminster...oops!) the link is here. I won't embed it for fear of breaking someone's computer (probably my own haha).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAndbDndOCs
More photos from the day can be found here at my flickr.
How to get there:
We travelled there by train and it's very easy to get to. From Winchester station you simply head down City Road and then make a right down Sussex Street. The hall is at the end situated near Winchesters law courts.
Alternitavely if you're in the town centre, you head in the direction of the station (up the hill) and its right there.
If you're driving in there's at least 7 car parks in the immediate area and Winchester is just off the M3 past Southampton (if you're heading north). You can also get there by coach. There's a good map on their website here: http://www.hants.gov.uk/greathall/great-hall-map.html
For more informaiton about what there is to do at the Great Hall, the official website for it is here: http://www.hants.gov.uk/greathall/index.html
Pointy hat rating:
I give this 4 pointy hats out of 5 because while this isn't related to the show and isn't actually the round table, it's still very impressive and well worth a visit. There's a lot to do and it's a lovely place on a sunny day.
(I think this is everything, if I've forgotten something then let me know!)
I visited the Great Hall in June along with my friend masqueblanc. Over the summer we decided to spend as much time visiting places linked with the legend (and with Merlin of course) as we could. Our first stop was Winchester to see the Round Table. The main reason being my Grandad had a smaller version comissioned back in 1990 and I've seen it all my life. First at my Grandparents house in Romsey and then it was in our conservatory for a while, and then my Dad's flat. But it's nothing compared to the real thing.
An extract from the website tells us:
Although now known to have been constructed in the 14th Century, and repainted in its present form for King Henry VIII, the table has for centuries been venerated by generations of tourists as the mysterious table of the 'Once and Future King' Arthur.
The names of the 24 knights are written around the edge of the table, surmounted by King Arthur on his throne.
The first written accounts of the Arthurian story appeared in 1130 in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'History of the Kings of Britain', which maintains that Merlin had the 15-year-old Arthur crowned at nearby Silchester.
However, the first mention of the Round Table is Robert Wace's Roman de Brut (1155), which says that Arthur seated his knights at a round table so that all should be equal. In Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur, the table is a wedding gift to Arthur from Guinevere's father, Leodegrance.
The table itself:
The good news is that it's free to go in, but they do have a small donation box by the door to help pay for the upkeep of the hall and the table.
The table is mounted on the wall as you go in on the right. It has the name of 24 knights around the edge, some we've heard of and some we haven't. Going clockwise from Arthur you have Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawaine, Sir Percival, Sir Lionel, Sir Tristan, Sir Gareth, Sir Bedivere, Sir Blioberis, Sir La cotemal tail, Sir Lucan, Sir Palamedes, Sir Lamorak, Sir Bors, Sir Saphar, Sir Pellinore, Sir Kay, Sir Ector, Sir Dagonet, Sir Degore, Sir Brunar, Sir Guinglain, Sir Alymore & Sir Modred.
What else is there to do?:
Once you've explored the great hall itself and oggled the table until you've got a crick in your neck, you can take a seat in Queen Eleanor's garden which is out a side door attatched to the hall.
There's also a multitude of stained glass windows- each with several different coats of arms- and a floor to ceiling family tree on the opposite end of the hall to the table. Oh, and a gift shop where you can get all manner of merchandise with the round table on it plus many books on the legend for all ages.
If you're spending the day in Winchester then you can take a 5 minute walk into the town centre where you can either have a good bit of retail therapy, or you can pay a visit to Winchester Cathedral. While not legend linked, it's certainly a stunning piece of architecture.
Defying Legend (aka, the Merlin video diaries were a bad influence on us):
Myself and masqueblanc have taken to doing video diaries when we go to locations like this (entirely influenced by the lovely Bradley and Colin of course). So here are our reports on our trip to the hall and then later at the Cathedral (contrary to what we say in the video, we do eventually go inside it).
Language is clean, image might be a bit wobbly but hopefully you'll find it interesting :)
Incase you're wondering, I'm Bethan (or Betty as I'm constantly being referred to as) and masqueblanc is Ellie. Oh yeah, we may over use the phrase "cam hussie" quite a bit.
This is Ellie's report as I didn't get much footage.
Click to viewIf you'd like to see mine anyway (which includes me accidentally calling it Westminster...oops!) the link is here. I won't embed it for fear of breaking someone's computer (probably my own haha).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAndbDndOCs
More photos from the day can be found here at my flickr.
How to get there:
We travelled there by train and it's very easy to get to. From Winchester station you simply head down City Road and then make a right down Sussex Street. The hall is at the end situated near Winchesters law courts.
Alternitavely if you're in the town centre, you head in the direction of the station (up the hill) and its right there.
If you're driving in there's at least 7 car parks in the immediate area and Winchester is just off the M3 past Southampton (if you're heading north). You can also get there by coach. There's a good map on their website here: http://www.hants.gov.uk/greathall/great-hall-map.html
For more informaiton about what there is to do at the Great Hall, the official website for it is here: http://www.hants.gov.uk/greathall/index.html
Pointy hat rating:
I give this 4 pointy hats out of 5 because while this isn't related to the show and isn't actually the round table, it's still very impressive and well worth a visit. There's a lot to do and it's a lovely place on a sunny day.
(I think this is everything, if I've forgotten something then let me know!)