Winchester

This is another one of my catch-up postings - Winchester was visited on the same day as Salisbury.

Clock number one is to be found at the railway station.

Moving into the town, we find the clock of Barclays bank.

This is an interesting clock for two reasons. First, as shown in the pictures below, the face cannot be seen from street level looking straight on. And the second reason, which I hope is only temporary, is that the minute hand sweeps round, completing the sixty minutes in considerably less seconds.

 

Around the corner in High Street is another bank and another clock. This time it is Lloyds bank and a timepiece that is working correctly.

The building was once the guildhall, and the clock supposedly still rings the curfew bell at 8 pm.

Further along the High Street is the local branch of Boots.

The clock has a rather unusual font for its numerals.

And staying on the High Street, we come to what is now the Three store.

Finally at the end of the High Street stands the magnificent Victorian Gothic Guildhall, built in 1871.

 

 

From Guildhall to County Hall.

Peninsula Square represents the military tradition of the city.

A quick refreshment break in the Wykeham Arms:

Winchester Cathedral originally dates from 1079, and somewhat unusual for a cathedral of this size (one of the longest in Europe) has an external clock. Although rather disappointingly it is the sort that can be found on churches of much less grandeur.

Now this is a cheeky little number on Eastgate Street.

 

Looks like a clock, but on closer inspection is just a painted representation of one.

 

Our last stop in Winchester is at The Brooks Shopping Centre, a 1990s construction.

Outside is a bell tower and a clock which is strangely pleasing. I applaud the fact that the designers went for a modern look rather than some pastiche of a Victorian design.

It was so pleasing that I even ventured inside. And there suspended right in the middle is a second clock, with design reference to the external one but this time incorporated in to a lantern design. My faith in shopping centres is (probably temporarily) restored.