The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-09-14
Ii. A. J. WHAlL0N
VISITS ANCIENT
ENGLISH TOWN

III q lcIlcT WIittcu HUN tuC III
worth Officers Cub in Tidworth, Eng
former physician Of this city has writ
ten his wife an interesting description
of trip he made to historical old Win
chester, England, near South Hamp-
ton. Lieutenant Whallon is attached
TO the British army and is now sta
toned at Leeds, England, in the medi
cal reserve.
II arrived here at 1890 o'clock.
had heard that Winchester was real
old town and that it had fine old
was anything like as old, or fine, or
interesting as 1t turned out to be. The
houses look to be over 1000 years old,
and some Of them really are The
cathedral itself Is over 1900 years old,
and a new part Of 1t is 800 years old
II Is a magnificent building both with
tiful as Westminster Abbey, but still
extremely impressive in every partic-
ular.
There are some tombs Of the arch
bishops Of Westminster dating back to
the early part of the f1teenth century
before America was discovered The
and are comparatively modern. as they
reckon time there. being only a few
hundred years old. They have some
old boxes high up on the walls, which
they claim contain the bones Of some
Of the very early English kings-King
Canute, King Ethelbert, the father OF
Alfred, and a good many others. You
see. up until q few hundred years ago
winchester was the seat of govern
ment in England, and the kings all
lived there.
Many American Troops.
King Alfred was buried in the church
yard Of the old abbey that stood about
a mile away, but when the abbey
crumbled into ruins. the churchyard
with its graves was neglected, and
so now they are not Just sure Of the
exact location OF the good King Alfred.
There Is a fine statue in honor OF him
in High street, Winchester. The carv-
ing both in wood and stone In the
cathedral are perfectly beautiful. The
rafters (huge ones each one made Of
a whole oak tree) are just as they
were during the time of William the
Conqueror, whose celebrated invasion
took place, as you may remember. in
1866. The organ Is a fine one, and
they played for the pleasure and In
honor of the Americans present, play
ing THE Star Spangled Banner" and
mime Eyes Have Seen the Glory OF
the Coming Of Our God"
There are thousands Of thousands
OF American soldiers in Winchester,
some arriving and some leaving by
every train.
81 also went to see the Old West
Gate which Is as old or older than
the cathedral. II Is the same now as
when It was built, being part Of the
old wall that ran around the city.
There is tower overlooking the
bridge and you can stand on the top
OF 1t for observation as they used to
stand on 1t to watch for and to fight
of their enemies. 1t has quite cal
lection Of old curios and treasures.
Then close by It visited the Great
Hall OF Old Winchester Castle, which
is also very old and is the place where
the kings used to meet with their lords
and barons for plans and to make
laws. In the castle and hanging on
the wall Is q table which they posi-
lively claim to be the real table of
King Arthur and his knights. They
have every proof possible for It is
known to have been hanging right
there where II is now for over 800
years. The old writer's describe 1t as
hanging there saying that 1t has al
ways been there since the days of
King Arthur and his Knights OF the
Round Table.
After visiting the Castle I went up
TO the camp which ia up a steep hill
and from there could get fine view
OF the whole city. There are lots of
American and British troops in camp
here and it sure did me good to see
so many Yanks again"