Winchester City Museum

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Winchester City Museum Located in the heart of the historic city of Wi******er, City Museum tells the story of Wi******er from the Iron Age to the Early 20th Century

These sites are all operated by Hampshire Cultural Trust, a charitable trust.

📣 Event Reminder: GHOST TOURS at the City Museum!📣👻WHEN: Sunday the 25th of October, 2026WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, ...
12/10/2026

📣 Event Reminder: GHOST TOURS at the City Museum!📣👻

WHEN: Sunday the 25th of October, 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 17:15 and 18:30. The tour will last around 30-45 minutes. Please arrive 10 minutes before the start of your chosen time slot.

Have you ever wondered who... or what... haunts Wi******er? Here is your chance to find out with Wi******er Ghost Stories, an interactive tour taking place inside Wi******er City Museum after dark.

This family-friendly event will give you the chance to discover the city's spine-tingling past with stories including King Alfred the Great, who managed to stop the Vikings from taking over Wi******er, to Lady Alice Lisle, who was accused of treason and executed near the museum, and so much more!

This event includes live actors from the talented team at Supernatural Tours, who will deliver the stories in a theatrical and fun way, and there may be some surprises along the journey! The tour covers local ghost stories combined with interesting history, as is suitable for ages 5 and up. This event will take place in low-level lighting with lanterns. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

PRE-BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Follow the link below to book your visit now!

https://supernatural-tours.sumupstore.com/products

📣 Event TODAY: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣WHEN: Sunday the...
11/10/2026

📣 Event TODAY: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣

WHEN: Sunday the 11th of October, 2026 - TODAY
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 14:00, inside the museum.

If ever there was a gift to a poet, it is the chance to unearth the burial of a young pagan woman during an archeological dig in a fourth-century, Roman-era Christian cemetery in Wi******er. A woman of her age, if not of her time.

Rosemary Herbert will celebrate the UK launch of her new poetry collection, Sisters in Time, on Sunday the 11th of October at 2 pm at the City Museum in Wi******er with a talk and book signing event.

Her presentation will weave poetry readings into reminiscences about her life-changing work with the Wi******er City Rescue Archaeology team during the summer of 1973. The poetry is anchored in the dig experience and is also a love song to the City of Wi******er. The rescue digs carried out in Wi******er during the 70s and 80s provided a wealth of information about the city's past and many items from these excavations are now on display in Wi******er City Museum.

Sisters in Time depicts life on an archeological dig, and revels in ruminations on the strangely intimate and reverent experience of becoming acquainted – through their bones and grave finds – with figures from the distant past. These poems transport the reader to the juncture of then and now, where the lives of two women separated by centuries become as surely joined as one skeleton’s mended bones. Here, the poet finds herself fated to give new life to her unknown sister in time, whose eternal resting place she revealed in the pursuit of archeological history.

There will be the opportunity to purchase copies of Rosemary's book from the City Museum shop. This event is included in the price of museum admission.

“In this brave and deeply original work, Rosemary Herbert invites us to befriend the past, hear history’s call, and become more patient in the face of death. Mysteries appear before us, as the dead return to speak: “I’m still here, just listen.” The poet brings a “tenderness akin to reverence” to her work of weaving wonder and washing skulls. Here we commune with the dead and find a way to rescue them from oblivion. We become witness to history, the archeologist’s accomplices.” – DEBORAH LEIPZIGER, poet

📣 Event Reminder - this weekend! A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY: Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbe...
09/10/2026

📣 Event Reminder - this weekend! A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY: Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣

WHEN: Sunday the 11th of October, 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 14:00, inside the museum.

If ever there was a gift to a poet, it is the chance to unearth the burial of a young pagan woman during an archeological dig in a fourth-century, Roman-era Christian cemetery in Wi******er. A woman of her age, if not of her time.

Rosemary Herbert will celebrate the UK launch of her new poetry collection, Sisters in Time, on Sunday the 11th of October at 2 pm at the City Museum in Wi******er with a talk and book signing event.

Her presentation will weave poetry readings into reminiscences about her life-changing work with the Wi******er City Rescue Archaeology team during the summer of 1973. The poetry is anchored in the dig experience and is also a love song to the City of Wi******er. The rescue digs carried out in Wi******er during the 70s and 80s provided a wealth of information about the city's past and many items from these excavations are now on display in Wi******er City Museum.

Sisters in Time depicts life on an archeological dig, and revels in ruminations on the strangely intimate and reverent experience of becoming acquainted – through their bones and grave finds – with figures from the distant past. These poems transport the reader to the juncture of then and now, where the lives of two women separated by centuries become as surely joined as one skeleton’s mended bones. Here, the poet finds herself fated to give new life to her unknown sister in time, whose eternal resting place she revealed in the pursuit of archeological history.

There will be the opportunity to purchase copies of Rosemary's book from the City Museum shop. This event is included in the price of museum admission.

“Marrying the archeologist’s patience with the poet’s heightened gift of perception, Rosemary Herbert reminds us that all of our histories are entangled in mystery…. Again and again, we are reminded to ask not for whom the bell tolls. Long established as one of our pre-eminent prose stylists, for Rosemary Herbert, this is something new, rare, and wonderful, this most profound of poetry debuts, marvelous, wholly present, and ours for the taking.” - JEFFREY LEVINE, poet

📣 Event Reminder: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣WHEN: Sunday ...
04/10/2026

📣 Event Reminder: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣

WHEN: Sunday the 11th of October, 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 14:00, inside the museum.

If ever there was a gift to a poet, it is the chance to unearth the burial of a young pagan woman during an archeological dig in a fourth-century, Roman-era Christian cemetery in Wi******er. A woman of her age, if not of her time.

Rosemary Herbert will celebrate the UK launch of her new poetry collection, Sisters in Time, on Sunday the 11th of October at 2 pm at the City Museum in Wi******er with a talk and book signing event.

Her presentation will weave poetry readings into reminiscences about her life-changing work with the Wi******er City Rescue Archaeology team during the summer of 1973. The poetry is anchored in the dig experience and is also a love song to the City of Wi******er. The rescue digs carried out in Wi******er during the 70s and 80s provided a wealth of information about the city's past and many items from these excavations are now on display in Wi******er City Museum.

Sisters in Time depicts life on an archeological dig, and revels in ruminations on the strangely intimate and reverent experience of becoming acquainted – through their bones and grave finds – with figures from the distant past. These poems transport the reader to the juncture of then and now, where the lives of two women separated by centuries become as surely joined as one skeleton’s mended bones. Here, the poet finds herself fated to give new life to her unknown sister in time, whose eternal resting place she revealed in the pursuit of archeological history.

There will be the opportunity to purchase copies of Rosemary's book from the City Museum shop. This event is included in the price of museum admission.

“In this brave and deeply original work, Rosemary Herbert invites us to befriend the past, hear history’s call, and become more patient in the face of death. Mysteries appear before us, as the dead return to speak: “I’m still here, just listen.” The poet brings a “tenderness akin to reverence” to her work of weaving wonder and washing skulls. Here we commune with the dead and find a way to rescue them from oblivion. We become witness to history, the archeologist’s accomplices.” – DEBORAH LEIPZIGER, poet

📣 Event Announcement: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣WHEN: Sun...
29/09/2026

📣 Event Announcement: A PAGAN'S GIFT: WI******ER ARCHAEOLOGY & POETRY Book Launch and Talk by Rosemary Herbert📣

WHEN: Sunday the 11th of October, 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 14:00, inside the museum.

If ever there was a gift to a poet, it is the chance to unearth the burial of a young pagan woman during an archeological dig in a fourth-century, Roman-era Christian cemetery in Wi******er. A woman of her age, if not of her time.

Rosemary Herbert will celebrate the UK launch of her new poetry collection, Sisters in Time, on Sunday the 11th of October at 2 pm at the City Museum in Wi******er with a talk and book signing event.

Her presentation will weave poetry readings into reminiscences about her life-changing work with the Wi******er City Rescue Archaeology team during the summer of 1973. The poetry is anchored in the dig experience and is also a love song to the City of Wi******er. The rescue digs carried out in Wi******er during the 70s and 80s provided a wealth of information about the city's past and many items from these excavations are now on display in Wi******er City Museum.

Sisters in Time depicts life on an archeological dig, and revels in ruminations on the strangely intimate and reverent experience of becoming acquainted – through their bones and grave finds – with figures from the distant past. These poems transport the reader to the juncture of then and now, where the lives of two women separated by centuries become as surely joined as one skeleton’s mended bones. Here, the poet finds herself fated to give new life to her unknown sister in time, whose eternal resting place she revealed in the pursuit of archeological history.

There will be the opportunity to purchase copies of Rosemary's book from the City Museum shop. This event is included in the price of museum admission.

“I enjoy and admire Rosemary Herbert’s fresh way of thinking about the past with all the resemblances, differences, and revelations it offers the present. Shaped poems and sonnets, archaeology and mystery. I salute this poet’s distinctive wit and intensity.” – ROBERT PINSKY, three-time U.S. Poet Laureate

📣 Event Announcement: GHOST TOURS at the City Museum!📣👻WHEN: Sunday the 25th of October, 2026WHERE: Wi******er City Muse...
29/09/2026

📣 Event Announcement: GHOST TOURS at the City Museum!📣👻

WHEN: Sunday the 25th of October, 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 17:15 and 18:30. The tour will last around 30-45 minutes. Please arrive 10 minutes before the start of your chosen time slot.

Have you ever wondered who... or what... haunts Wi******er? Here is your chance to find out with Wi******er Ghost Stories, an interactive tour taking place inside Wi******er City Museum after dark.

This family-friendly event will give you the chance to discover the city's spine-tingling past with stories including King Alfred the Great, who managed to stop the Vikings from taking over Wi******er, to Lady Alice Lisle, who was accused of treason and executed near the museum, and so much more!

This event includes live actors from the talented team at Supernatural Tours, who will deliver the stories in a theatrical and fun way, and there may be some surprises along the journey! The tour covers local ghost stories combined with interesting history, as is suitable for ages 5 and up. This event will take place in low-level lighting with lanterns. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

PRE-BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Follow the link below to book your visit now!

https://supernatural-tours.sumupstore.com/products

Lieutenant-General Manton S. Eddy (May 16, 1892 – April 10, 1962) is a famous name, associated with notorious American 9...
16/09/2026

Lieutenant-General Manton S. Eddy (May 16, 1892 – April 10, 1962) is a famous name, associated with notorious American 9th Infantry Division throughout the Second World War. What is perhaps less well known, is that he commanded the division during their stay in Wi******er between 1943-44, and left a lasting impression on the city's people.

A veteran of the First World War, Eddy commanded the 9th Division from the 8th of August, 1942, until August 1944, when he became the commander of XII Corps and fought through the Battle of the Bulge. The 9th Division first entered combat in November 1942, landing in North Africa as part of Operation Torch. They fought throughout the subsequent North Africa campaign, and then took part in Operation Husky, the allied landings in Sicily in August 1943. By November 1943, the Division had been sent to England to rest, recover, and train, in preparation for the allied invasion of France in 1944.

The 9th Division were welcomed into the city with open arms, with many soldiers being billeted in the homes of Wi******er's citizens. Keep an eye out for a mini-series of upcoming posts on the 9th Division in the city to learn more! Unfortunately, their time here wasn't to last, and on the 10th of June 1944, just 4 days after D-Day, the 9th Division landed on Utah Beach in Normandy and entered combat once more.

Wi******er missed her American friends, so much so that, in 1945, Eddy was presented with the Freedom of the City of Wi******er, an great honour conferred upon the gruff yet good-natured general, who was viewed as a “Father Christmas figure” by local children.

As the New York Times reported on the 24th of February, 1945:

"Maj. Gen. Manton S. Eddy, former commander of the Ninth Infantry Division, which took part in the landings on the Continent, will receive the freedom of the city of Wi******er under terms of a resolution proposed to that community's City Council by its Mayor, Lieut. Gen. F. H. Griffiths. General Eddy, according to the Mayor's statement, commanded troops in the Wi******er area for a considerable time before D-day and the General was said to have contributed greatly to the development of the cordial relations that existed between the American forces and the people of Wi******er."

In return, Eddy gave his portrait to the city (the image attached to this post), inscribing it with the following message:

“To the Citizens of Wi******er with much appreciation for their great kindness to my soldiers of the U.S. 9th Div during the pre-invasion days of 1943-1944."

📣 Event TODAY: FREE ENTRY for Heritage Open Days 📣WHEN: Saturday the 12th of September 2026WHERE: Wi******er City Museum...
12/09/2026

📣 Event TODAY: FREE ENTRY for Heritage Open Days 📣

WHEN: Saturday the 12th of September 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 10am - 16:30pm

Today, Saturday the 12th of September, Wi******er City Museum is open for free as part of Wi******er's Heritage Open Days offer!

Booking is essential, and pre-booking is heavily encouraged in order to secure plenty of time for your visit. Follow the link below to book your free tickets:

https://historicwinchester.co.uk/whats-on/free-entry-at-city-museum/

Please Note: This ticket is valid for ONE DAY ONLY!

Don't forget that you can also purchase an annual pass ticket to use throughout the coming year for more exciting events, including reenactments, workshops, author talks, and more!

📣 Event Reminder: FREE ENTRY for Heritage Open Days 📣WHEN: Saturday the 12th of September 2026WHERE: Wi******er City Mus...
10/09/2026

📣 Event Reminder: FREE ENTRY for Heritage Open Days 📣

WHEN: Saturday the 12th of September 2026
WHERE: Wi******er City Museum, The Square, Wi******er, SO23 9ES, Hampshire, United Kingdom
WHAT TIME: 10am - 16:30pm

This Saturday the 12th of September, Wi******er City Museum will be open for free as part of Wi******er's Heritage Open Days offer!

Booking is essential, and pre-booking is heavily encouraged in order to secure plenty of time for your visit. Follow the link below to book your free tickets:

https://historicwinchester.co.uk/whats-on/free-entry-at-city-museum/

Please Note: This ticket is valid for ONE DAY ONLY!

Don't forget that you can also purchase an annual pass ticket to use throughout the coming year for more exciting events, including reenactments, workshops, author talks, and more!

Address

City Museum/The Square
Wi******er
SO239ES

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+441962863064

Website

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