A short history of Peninsula Square

Circa 150BC	The area is settled by Celts known as the Belgae and an Iron Age fort constructed at the southern end of what is now Peninsula Square.

Circa AD 70 Circa 300 Circa 400-600 660	The Romans build a ‘new town’ known as Venta Belgarum (‘The Marketplace of the Belgae’), initially with wooden defences, and laid out on a grid pattern. The embankment between what are now known as the ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower’ Barracks is constructed. Stone walls have replaced the wooden defences and the town extends to some 150 acres, making it the fifth-largest in Roman Britain. The town is virtually abandoned after the withdrawal of the Romans and during the Dark Ages is gradually resettled by the West Saxons, who refer to it as ‘Venta Caester’, over time corrupted to ‘Wintoncaester’ and finally ‘Winchester’. The Episcopal seat of the See of Wessex is moved to Winchester from Dorchester-on-Thames.

871	King Alfred the Great is crowned King of Wessex at the age of 21 and establishes his capital at Winchester. He begins the building of the New Minster, and a now-demolished royal palace, situated between the cathedral and the present High Street.

1067 1100	King William I, the Conqueror, begins building a castle at the northern end of the present site, although he continues to live in the Saxon palace in the centre of the city. Some foundations of the new Castle, to the north of the Great Hall, remain visible and open to visitors. The castle green is laid out to the west, behind what is now The King’s House, extending considerably beyond the other side of the present railway cutting. King Henry I is proclaimed King at the Castle on the death of King William II Rufus.
1135 1141-1153	The death of King Henry I in 1135 marks the beginning of one of the most important periods in the history of Winchester and the Castle. King Henry I’s daughter the Empress Matilda is the legitimate heir but her cousin Stephen, Count of Blois, claims the crown. The Castle plays a pivotal role in ‘The Anarchy’, the nineteen-year period of civil war between the Empress and the King. On 2 February 1141 the forces of the Empress Matilda capture King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln; in Winchester the Bishop, (King Stephen’s brother, Henry de Blois) surrenders the Castle and the Treasury to the Empress on 2nd March, and withdraws to the Episcopal palace at Wolvesey Castle. On 31 July the Bishop flees Wolvesey Castle when it is besieged by the forces of the Empress, led by her illegitimate half-brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester. The Empress herself comes to Winchester Castle from her headquarters at Oxford to oversee the siege. Troops led by King Stephen’s wife, Queen Matilda of Boulogne, first relieve Wolvesey and then besiege Winchester Castle. For seven weeks the forces of the Empress Matilda (at Winchester Castle) fight those of Queen Matilda (at Wolvesey Castle) with the city bearing the brunt. The Royal Apartments are completely destroyed, the north of the city burnt to the ground and forty churches in Winchester razed. The Empress flees to safety at Gloucester, but the defeat, known as ‘The Rout of Winchester’ leads to the surrender and capture of the Earl of Gloucester by the Queen’s forces at the bridge over the Test at Stockbridge; the Empress agrees to exchange him for King Stephen, still held at Lincoln. Although the civil war drags on for another twelve years the Rout makes it apparent that neither the Empress nor the King can achieve outright victory. The civil war ends in late 1153 when King Steven and Prince Henry Plantagenet, son of the Empress and grandson of King Henry II, sign a treaty, variously referred to as of Wallingford, Westminster or Winchester, by which the crown remains with King Stephen to pass on his death to Henry, who subsequently succeeds as King Henry II.
1174	Queen Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, is imprisoned in the Castle by her husband King Henry II.
1207 1209	Prince Henry of Winchester, the future King Henry III, is born in the Castle to Queen Isabella of Angouleme, the second wife of King John. Queen Isabella gives birth to a second son at Winchester Castle, Prince Richard, first Earl of Cornwall, later King of Germany and King of the Romans.

1216	The rebellion by the barons against King John and invasion led by Prince Louis of France, later King Louis VII the Lion, leads to the capture of the Castle by the Prince in what comes to be known as The First Barons’ War.

1217 1222- 1235	The Castle is recaptured by King Henry III. King Henry III constructs several new chapels, modernises and enlarges the Royal Apartments, and builds the present Great Hall, which is the only part of the mediaeval castle still standing.

1265	In The Second Barons’ War, Simon de Montfort, 5 ^th Earl of Leicester and leader of the rebellion, fails to take the Castle but destroys much of the city.
1302	King Edward I and Queen Margaret narrowly escape death when the Royal Apartments are once more destroyed by fire.
1346 1348	The ‘(Long)Bowmen of England’ muster at the Castle before embarking for France at Portsmouth for the campaign culminating in the Battle of Crécy. King Edward III plans a ‘Hall of 300 Knights’ at Windsor Castle and commissions the construction of an Arthurian Round Table as its centrepiece. He runs out of money before the Hall can be built and the table, at this stage unpainted, is sent to Winchester to be hung in The Great Hall of the Castle, probably on the east wall.
1415	King Henry V gathers his troops at the Castle before embarking for Agincourt at Portsmouth.

1485 1516 1522	King Henry VII defeats King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth and brings his wife, Queen Elizabeth of York, to the Castle for the birth of their first son, Prince Arthur. King Henry VIII orders the repair of The Great Hall, and the painting of The Round Table, to include the Tudor Rose at its centre. King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon visit Winchester and entertain the Emperor Charles V, the Queen’s nephew, at the Castle.

1554	Queen Mary I and King Philip of Naples and Jerusalem, (later King Philip II of Spain), son of the Emperor Charles V, are married in Winchester Cathedral.

1646	The English Civil War: the Castle remains a Royalist bastion until Oliver Cromwell takes it in 1646; Parliament orders the destruction of the Castle fortifications, to little effect; it remains largely intact and The Great Hall is barely damaged.

1682	King Charles II holds a Summer Court at Winchester. The Dukes of York and Buckingham build houses in the city; Queen Catherine of Braganza takes up residence in Canon Street and Mistress Nell Gwynne in St Peter Street. The King agrees to purchase the ruined Castle, the castle green and other land (extending to some 8 acres) from the City for £2,622. He instructs his Surveyor General, Sir Christopher Wren, to build a palace on the site. The new palace, known as The King’s House, stands with its central portico a little to the north of the present fountain pond and is constructed on three sides of an open courtyard, facing the west door of the cathedral and aligned so a formal Grand Avenue would connect the two buildings.

1685	King Charles II dies before The King’s House is completed and although the building is roofed no interior work has begun. The original estimate of £10,000 has risen to £44,623; the project is abandoned by King James II.

1702	Queen Anne has an estimate prepared for the completion of the palace as a gift to her husband Prince George of Denmark but the continuing expense of the War of the Spanish Succession prevents the work, and much of the land is sold.

1730	Serle’s House, in Southgate Street, is one of the first private houses to be built on the site after the land sales. In the 20^th Century it becomes the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Hampshire Regiment and is now the regimental museum.

1755	The King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) was formed, comprising of four battalions (6,500 men) of the 60^th Royal American Regiment.

1756-1763	The Seven Years War; the palace is home to several thousand French prisoners, many of whom are buried on the site.
1775- 1783	During the American Revolutionary War French, Spanish and Dutch prisoners are held in the palace. The wounded and crew of a French hospital ship, the Sainte Julie, are brought to The King’s House having landed at Poole. A fast-spreading infection kills all the prisoners (and their gaolers) soon after their arrival. The dead are buried in the ancient ditches of the old castle.

1784 1789	The recently raised 54^th Regiment of Foot is stationed in The King’s House. The Round Table is repainted, retaining the 1516 design.

1792-1796	King George III provides The King’s House as a hostel for 700 French clergy fleeing the Revolution.

1796	The War Office assumes responsibility for the buildings as a military establishment. It is probable that the arms of King George III, currently to be seen in the centre of the pediment of The Gurkha Museum building, were carved for the central portico of Wren’s palace at this time.

1809-1815	The Barracks are used as a muster station prior to embarkation from Portsmouth during the Napoleonic Wars.

1830 1839	The Officers’ Mess is constructed on the south side of what is now Peninsula Square, subsequently rebuilt in the late twentieth century as Castle Keep. The railway line to the west of the Barracks is opened. Excavation of the cutting revealed mass graves of prisoners who had died whilst incarcerated in the Castle.

1850	A new military hospital is built on the north side of the Barracks adjoining the entrance at Romsey Road, (now The Mons Court, and the oldest building on the estate), following the changes introduced on the advice of Florence Nightingale after The Crimean War.

1856	The Rifle Brigade starts a long association with the Barracks and Winchester.
1858 1894 1899-1901	The KRRC joined the Rifle Brigade and the site becomes the Rifle Depot. The Wren palace is destroyed by fire; the Rifle Depot removes to Gosport and the Army commissions a new purpose-built barracks on the site. The foundation stone for the new barracks is laid by The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). The architect is Ingress Bell, who, with Aston Webb, created the Cromwell Road frontage of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, Imperial College, London, the University of Birmingham, and the Old Supreme Court Building, Hong Kong. Two new model barracks are constructed: Short Block, (now housing the Gurkha and King’s Royal Hussars’ Museums), and Long Block, (now The King’s House). Bell works in the style of the English Baroque Revival, as at Dartmouth, to reflect the nature of the original Wren buildings. Much of the Wren portico is incorporated in the new central section of The King’s House. The arms of King Edward VII, on the throne at the time the new barracks are commissioned, are incorporated in the new central pediment.

1901	The Rifle Brigade returns.

1914-1918	At the beginning of The Great War a tunnel is built from a small platform on the railway line below the existing Romsey Road railway bridge direct to the hospital, (now The Mons Court) which had survived the 1894 fire.

1939-1945	The Second World War: the Barracks are used to house troops before embarkation, particularly in 1944 when American forces assemble in preparation for the Normandy Landings. Inspections of troops are held by Churchill, Eisenhower, Mountbatten, Montgomery and others in what are now the formal gardens of Peninsula Square.

1961- 1964	The Army vacates the site for the barracks to be modernised. Major works range from reconstruction of the parade ground, including a new drainage system and extensive interior alterations to The King’s House and other buildings.
1985	The Light Division leaves Peninsula Barracks for the new purpose-built ‘Sir John Moore Barracks’ at Flowerdown, on the Andover Road to the north-west of Winchester, now the home of the Army Training Centre, or ‘ATR Winchester’.

1986	Peninsula Barracks are closed as a military establishment.

1988	Short Block becomes home to The Gurkha Museum and The King’s Royal Hussars’ Museum. The Guard House (the first building on the right as you enter the Estate from Romsey Road), hosts the Adjutant General’s Museum, and ‘T’ Block (the next building on the right) the Rifles Museum.

1990-1995	Various plans are proposed to develop the site, including use of the parade ground (now Peninsula Square) as a car park. Winchester City Council gives consent for demolition of all the buildings of the Lower Barracks except the Chapel (now the cinema) and replacing with high-density housing, and for conversion of the Upper Barracks buildings into student housing. Bankruptcy of the developer causes the plan to be dropped. The charity ‘Save Britain’s Heritage’ (now SAVE) mobilises public support and, together with the Winchester architect Huw Thomas draws up a scheme to reuse the existing buildings by converting them into 100 homes whilst at the same time opening up 5 acres of parks and gardens which had been closed to the public for 300 years. Planning consent is granted under Section 106 of The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 thus imposing permanent conditions, including the provision of public access.

1994	Try Homes (later Galliford Try) acquire the Upper Barracks and parts of the Lower. The Peninsula Barracks Management Company Limited (PBMC) and The Long Block Management Company Limited (LBMC), subsequently re-named The King’s House (Winchester) Management Company Limited (‘KHMC’) are formed to manage the Estate and The King’s House respectively after the completion of the development.

1995	The former Officers’ Mess on the South side of the square is demolished and rebuilt in replica as Castle Keep under the supervision of Huw Thomas.

1996	The NAAFI and NCO’s Mess building is converted to five houses as The Wren House.

1996	Long Block (renamed The King’s House) is converted into 29 apartments. The formal gardens of the Square are constructed to the designs of Huw Thomas in the English Baroque style.

1998	Try Homes sell the site of what is now Queen’s Court to Linden Homes which constructs the new building.

2004	The Peninsula Square Management Company Limited (PSMC) is incorporated to manage Peninsula Square on behalf of PBMC.

2008 2012 2017 2018	PBMC purchases the freehold of Peninsula Square and parts of the Lower Barracks from Try Homes for £1. The Lower Peninsula Barracks Management Company Limited (LPBMC) is incorporated to manage the Lower Barracks, consisting of Gar Street, Archery Lane, Beaumond Green, Constables Gate, and what is now known as Provost Place, on behalf of PBMC. The remaining undeveloped buildings in the Lower Barracks are completed as Provost Place KHMC acquired the freehold reversion to The King’s House and it’s 29 long leasehold apartments
	Robert Linn Ottley January 2018 from sources including an original paper by Major R D Cassidy MBE, revised in 2010 by Derek Collinson