More information : (SU 48122941) Site of the ROYAL PALACE (GT). (1)
The great feudal gatherings at Winchester in pre- and immediately post-Conquest times were probably held at the great hall of the palace of the West Saxon Kings. No details of this building or its site are known but it proved inadequate for the needs of the Conqueror in his regular visitations to the city and in about 1070 he built a new hall and palace on either a new or extended site to the NW of the Cathedral on the south side of the High Street. This palace was destroyed in 1140 by Matilda and never rebuilt: in 1150 the site was assigned to the parish of St. Lawrence. (2)
Local tradition has it that a supposed Norman pilaster bedded in the wall of a passage adjoining St. Lawrence's Church is the only remaining trace of William's palace. (3)
References to Norman foundations, in one place overlaying the brickwork, possible remains of Williams palace at (1) No 32. The Square (Cadena Cafe) (ii) in the archway between The Square and the High Street (iii) beneath 20-21, The Square and (iv) in the cellars of the City Museum. Milner also notes foundations of a massive tower in the square south of market Street but this might be a reference to the finding of the tower of the Newminster. (4-7)
Apart from a small fragment of undated walling in the cellars of the City Museum, the Norman pilaster in the wall of St. Lawrence's Church and a firebreast of reused material in a dress shop at SU 48092947 there are no remains of the palace. (8)
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