The site of this Saxon church is considered to
have been a little to the north of the present cathedral, which is a
Norman building commenced by Walkelin a few years after the Conquest.
St. Swithun is best known to-day in his capacity of weather prophet. In
his humility he is said to have desired to be buried outside the church,
so that the foot of the passer-by, and the rainwater from the eaves,
could fall upon his grave; and here his body lay for more than a
century. When his remains were eventually translated, a chapel was
erected over the site of his grave at the north-east corner of the
church, and faint traces of this building may still be seen. King Edgar
provided the richly jewelled shrine into which the relics of the saint
were translated by St. Ethelwold, on July 15, 980, when the relics of
Birinus were enshrined at the same time, although these had already been
translated from Dorchester to Winchester by Bishop Hedda as early as the
seventh century. The shrine attracted an immense number of pilgrims
until that of Becket at Canterbury rose into prominence. The skull of
St.
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