Sherlockian Sojourns #7 – Winchester.

My latest sojourn was nearly foiled by the ineptitudes of South Western Railways (the adding of '-ern' and replacement of 'Trains' with 'Railways' not affecting the standard of the service). My train was delayed for just under half-an-hour, and then on reaching Basingstoke was to be run fast to Bournemouth. Alighting, having been promised that there was another service behind, which would now be stopping at Basingstoke to pick us up, I was not entirely surprised when said service sped through the station without stopping. However, another service arrived ten minutes later, and around twenty minutes later, I was pulling into my destination – Winchester Station. 

It would have been at this station that Holmes and Watson would have alighted in 1890 at 11.30am before meeting their client Violet Hunter at The Black Swan Hotel [COPP], and ten years later on their way to visit Grace Dunbar in Winchester Prison [THOR]. They may also have used it to travel to the Winchester Races [SILV]. Exiting the station, the view of the Cathedral Tower referred to in 'The Copper Beeches' was not visible due to the growth of trees and buildings in the meantime.

First up was HMP/YOI Winchester, a fifteen minute's walk away. It was here that Grace Dunbar was confined awaiting her trial in 'The Problem of Thor Bridge'. The prison has always had a remand function and in 1900 held both male and female prisoners. Records indicate that at the time of Miss Dunbar's confinement about 25-30 female prisoners would be held at any one time. Female prisoners were housed in A-Block up to the time when the admission of women ceased in November 1927. However, an old screen of bars still cuts A-Block off from the rest of the prison. Thereafter female prisoners were sent to Holloway. However, in 1995, a unit was specially built in the male segregation block, to house Rosemary West, during her trial at Winchester Crown Court, the case having been moved to minimise the upset to victims' relatives in the Gloucester area

Miss Dunbar was of course acquitted, but it is interesting to note that no female prisoner was hanged for murder in the prison between 1895 and 1905. Winchester Prison also had another famous fictional female in-mate, as Tess Derbyfield was hanged there for murder in Thomas Hardy's “Tess of the D'Ubervilles”.

Having dashed in and took a few photographs of the gatehouse before anyone could come out and ask what I was doing, I made my way back towards central Winchester.

 

Next up, was the Great Hall of Winchester Castle (which is the only surviving part of the former fortress). For centuries, the Great Hall was used to accommodate courts of law, with its most famous trial being that of Elizabeth I's military and naval commander Sir Walter Raleigh for 'high treason' in 1603. However, in 1874, a new court building, designed by T.H. Wyatt, was erected on a site immediately adjoining the Hall to the east. It would therefore have been in this building that in 1900, Grace Dunbar formally heard the charges against her being dismissed. She was never actually tried before a jury for murder because before that stage had been reached in the proceedings against her, Holmes had discovered the new evidence which demonstrated her innocence. Nonetheless, as a defendant who had been committed for trial, it was necessary for her to be brought before a Judge in order to be discharged. Thus she would have made a brief albeit sensational appearances before the Winchester Assizes.

Unfortunately, the Victorian courts no longer survive, having been built over the ditch of the medieval castle, subsistence meant that they had to be demolished in 1938, the Assizes moving back to the Great Hall itself, moving into the new city court building in 1974. However, the former Judge's bench is preserved in the Hall, and the arches which would have led to the court building remain, now with a pair of steel gates imposed in 1983 to commemorate the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales two years before.

An imitation Arthurian Round Table hangs in the Great Hall. The table was originally constructed in the 13th century, and repainted in its present form for Henry VIII; around the edge of the table are the names of King Arthur's knights.

Exiting the Great Hall, I walked to The Black Swan Hotel, which is one of the few hotels or inns mentioned in the canon by their real names, joining Claridges [THOR], the Langham Hotel [SIGN/SCAN/LADY], the Brambletye Hotel [BLAC] and the Anerley Arms [NORW]. In 'The Copper Beeches', Holmes and Watson had lunch in The Black Swan with Violet Hunter following her urgent summons.

“The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no distance from the station, and there we found the young lady waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch awaited us upon the table” - Watson [COPP]

The hotel was certainly welcoming, as although Miss Hunter had to return to The Copper Beeches by 3pm when the Rucastles were going out, Holmes and Watson delayed until 7pm before joining her there, possibly because having enjoyed their lunch at The Black Swan, they decided to remain there and have their tea before setting out.

The hotel claims a long and distinguished history in the life of Winchester. The first mention of it as an inn goes back to 1703, where it probably occupied only a small part of the later site. In Victorian times, before the opening of the railway in 1840, the hotel was the principal stopping place for the old road wagons bringing heavy good in and out of Winchester. After the transformation brought about by the advent of the railways, the hotel, adapting to the times, used to send vehicles to meet the trains and became well-known as catering for the businessman and the traveller. At the time of the Winchester Assizes (such as those at which Grace Dunbar would have appeared in 1900), its rooms were crowded with lawyers, journalists and hangers-on from the nearby courts. It was never a luxury hotel, but it was a comfortable one and something of a Winchester institution. At the time of Holmes and Watson's visit the establishment was presided over by Walter Chapple who had bought it in 1884.

The hotel remained until 1935 when it was demolished for road widening and replaced by Black Swan Buildings, which included the carved swan from the original hotel. In 1945 it fell to pieces and members of the public raised £55 needed for local craftsman Edwin Laverty to carve a new swan. This lasted until February 2012, when the new landlords removed the swan. Following a public outcry it was reinstated but it became apparent that the carving was irreparable. A further replica swan was therefore produced, and the old swan was presented to the Winchester City Museum.

In October 2013, following a long campaign by local historian, Chris Webb, a plaque was installed indicating the previous building's literary significance. The £200 polished steel plaque (which proved impossible to take a good photo of given its shinyness), which was funded by Winchester City Council, reads:

'The black swan above you is a replica of one which once adorned the Black Swan Hotel that stood on this site from the 19th century until 1935 when the hotel was demolished and replaced by Black Swan Buildings. The Black Swan Hotel was ‘visited’ by Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Copper Beeches'.

My next point of call was the Cathedral itself, where I finally managed to get a photo of the tower which dates to the twelfth century, and remains the most striking of the building. However, due to a lunchtime Organ Recital, it was necessary to come back for my visit inside. 

Walking to the nearby Bus Station, I caught a very posh bus (with free wi-fi and USB chargers on the back of each seat) to nearby Otterbourne, and the main candidate for 'The Copper Beeches' itself, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle, their governess Violet Hunter, and servants Toller and his wife. The building identified by both Peter Horrocks and David L. Hammer is 'Elderfield', ironically given the criminality of Mr. Rucastle, currently the location for a rehabilitative community programme run by the Kainos Community, in partnership with Langley House Trust. The programme aims to help men coming from prison to live crime-free. Those who take part engage in a core programme based on cognitive behavioural therapy which challenges patterns of thinking and behaviour that previously led to criminal lifestyles. Participants also take part in a structured programme which incorporates victim awareness, community enterprise, training and social value projects which serve the local community. Participants develop their skills to increase employment opportunities for when they move on to independent living. Therefore, again I had to dash off a few photos, whilst ensuring that no residents appeared in them.

 

Catching the bus back into Winchester, I paused briefly for lunch before returning to the Cathedral, which has another literary connection. Jane Austen was buried in the Cathedral in 1817 at the age of 41, but her original memorial stone makes no mention of her books. However, a brass plaque was erected in 1872 to redress the omission in the north side aisle, as well as a memorial stained-glass window and an illustrated exhibition detailing Jane Austen’s life, work and death in Hampshire, is now displayed beside her grave.

In the 12th century, a magnificent illuminated Bible was made for the monks to use in their daily worship. One of the four volumes of the Winchester Bible is on public display. By the early 1900s, there were fears that the east end of the Cathedral would collapse, after centuries of subsidence. Deep-sea diver, William Walker, worked under water in total darkness for six years to stabilise them. Today, after 12 centuries, this great Cathedral church remains the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and centre of the Diocese of Winchester.

After a quick browse of Winchester shops, I returned to the Station, where with a minimum of problems, I made my way home.

My Winchester pilgrimage was planned with the aid of 'The Tri-Metallic Question', a Sherlock Holmes Society of London publication.