The photos below all show the mash-up of styles that occurs when a church is built over a long period of time — and then repaired and extended as the years go by. The end result is an extraordinary building. There’s everything from Norman carved austerity to Renaissance frivolity. The capitals and plinths  can vary in design from one pillar to the next, depending on when they were built.


Here’s the altar:

And a side isle chapel:

The original organ was smashed in Puritan years…

The ceiling of the belfrey is visible from the transept (where all four pieces of the cruciform shape meet in a tower). It is a 19th century repainting of the original woodwork:

Renaissance stalls at the side of the choir, and a stone screen from the late 15th century (recycled from another church at the time of the reformation?):

The side aisle with lovely 12th chevron mouldings:

Most of the church was repaved in the late 14th century, when the flooring was already 200 years old… and much has been replaced since then as well.

The Hospital of St Cross (and remember it wasn’t a hospital in the modern sense) was founded in the 1130s by Henri de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester. He was a grandson of William the Conqueror and the brother of King Stephen.

The Church of St Cross was commenced in the 1150s  and not completed until about 1400, which means that different bits are in different styles. These photos show the exterior from different viewpoints.                                   

From the Master’s Garden

Stone for the church was brought from the Caen quarries of France, shipped in barges to Southampton and then by cart.

Another view from the Master’s gardens

Front, from quadrangle (14th century)

From the rear (Norman)

Where the church and the ambulatory meet