Essential Wessex

Kents Cavern, a mile and a half northeast of Torquay, is notable for being the site of a fossilised human upper jawbone which has been radiocarbon dated to the Upper…

Hobby Horses are not unique to Wessex, or even Britain, but there are some notable hobby horse festivals here. A hobby horse is a costumed character representing a horse, that…

HMS Victory, the world's oldest serving warship, is a visible symbol of the Napoleonic wars, and of Wessex’s naval might. Moored in a dry dock in Portsmouth, visible from the…

The Mary Rose was a man-o-war in Henry VIII's navy, built in Portsmouth in 1510 and launched the following year. Henry was preparing for war against France, and the building…

Edgar Ætheling (c1052-1125) was the last male member of the royal house of Wessex. Elected by the Witan following the death of Harold Godwinson in 1066, he reigned for less…

Arthurian legend is not unique to Wessex, of course. Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Cumbria all have sites strongly associated with Arthur. However, Thomas Malory explicitly identified Camelot with Winchester, while…

The Battle of Hingston Down in 838 was a decisive victory by a West Saxon army led by King Ecgberht against a combined force of Britons and Danes. It appears…

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw a vogue for nationalism in music. The rise in nationalist sentiment following the French revolution saw itself reflected in a number of composers…

It can be hard to separate fact from fiction in the life of St Swithun, Bishop of Winchester from 852 to 863 and patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. Much of…

Note: Sebastian Cabot has already been covered in a separate post as part of our Wessex Worthies series. The Essential Wessex posts are intended as short, 200-word introductions to various…