Abbey Garden

Abbey Gardens sit behind Abbey House (the Mayor of Winchester's official residence) and is a public garden. The gardens were once part of the site of St Mary’s Abbey, once one of the largest religious houses in England.

*** Am on holiday & have scheduled these posts, back mid August ***

Abbey House

Abbey House is the Mayor's house in Winchester. There are just five cities in the country having official residences for their Mayors and Winchester is one of them. Abbey House was built around 1700 and stands on the site of a monastic establishment known as Nunnaminster and later as St. Mary's Abbey, which was founded around AD900 by Alfred's Queen Ealhswith. 

Abbey House was originally a private house, which changed hands several times.  In 1889, the City Council bought the property and gardens "for public purposes". Since that time, the grounds have been open to the public and the house made available to the incumbent Mayor.

M is for Mayor

The Guildhall has recently been refurbished and had an open day to let members of the public see it all. Here is the Mayor's Parlour, an oak panelled room with photos of some of the Mayor's of Winchester. It's now hired out for meetings, weddings etc.

Winchester's current Mayor is Councillor Richard Izard. He is the 811th Mayor of Winchester, the Office of Mayor of Winchester being one of the oldest mayoralties in England, dating back to the period when the City was the national capital. By tradition, the Mayor of Winchester stands second only to the Lord Mayor of London in precedence of civic heads.

For more M Themed posts see abc wednesday