The River Itchen (Part 2)

Shawford to Winchester (5 miles)

Last time, we bid farewell to the Itchen at Shawford, well into what geographers call the river's middle course (where it's neither a shallow trickle struggling to merit inclusion on OS maps, nor a sprawling channel supporting the luxury yacht industry). A defining feature of this stage is that the river valley tends to stay rather flat, as any bumps have been removed by the water's erosive power ever since the glaciers retreated. The Itchen has had some assistance in this from the London and South Western Railway, the watercress trade (the two were bedfellows for a considerable chunk of the industrial era) and the canal builders. But that doesn't mean there are no hills nearby, particularly here.

It's impossible to agree on where a particular geographical area begins and ends, but in the case of the South Downs, Winchester is regarded as the the south-west corner. Standing on the platform at Shawford station, you can just see above the trees green peaks heading off the to east, although I had to wait until my train pulled out to do so. Admittedly this didn't take long, as there was only myself and one other passenger getting off from the five carriages to Waterloo, a peak-hour supplement to the hourly two-coach diesel. You have to be in the front carriage to actually get off here, as the platforms are so short the guard will only open one door. Last time I was here there was a diversion in place due to riverbank maintenance, and although the section had re-opened the works were still going on a few hundred yards further on, so I still had to take a detour. This meant crossing the river over a narrow concrete slab, on the foundations of what had clearly once been a much larger bridge at a canal lock, then trying to locate laminated card direction signs, which wasn't easy. Even when I was certain I'd found the right path, my progress was slowed to a crawl by muddy craters at periodic intervals along the track.

The din of the M3 was very close by now, and although some thought had clearly been put into disguising the motorway from the surrounding landscape its presence was very obvious.
Having reached a relatively mud-free stretch the huge cutting at Twyford Down becomes very prominent, and the Itchen Way finally goes under the M3 with the river. Having built the motorway south as far as the A34, and a stub from Bassett to Otterbourne, this bit round Winchester was the only remaining impediment to a non-stop Southampton-London journey, especially as a woefully inadequate 1930s bypass was linking the two loose ends. Unfortunately, the land in the way was variously a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a prehistoric settlement and a pretty significant chalk hill. What was more, the land was owned by Winchester College, who refused to sell it. Having ruled out a tunnel on cost grounds, the motorway planners then attempted to carve a 100-ft deep slice through the entire mound, much to the anger of campaigners, who proceeded to cause an almighty stink and occupy the site. The environmental protests set the project back by years, led to the resignation of the principal of Winchester College, and cost the road builders millions of pounds extra - in fact by the time the costs had been paid for, they came to more than the tunnel originally considered too expensive, (although no doubt that would have been objected to as well). The section between junctions 9 and 11 is reckoned to save traffic twelve minutes.

Hockley Viaduct, the 'Spitfire Bridge'

And yet it's not all bad news. The construction of the motorway meant that the old bypass could be removed, and there's little trace of it now (save for the slip roads on its course). This means that the river is once again peaceful thanks to the main road being the other side of a huge slab of chalk, and a chunk of St Catherine's Hill removed in the 1930s has been replaced. Seven hectares of grassland have been created to replace the one and a half lost on Twyford Down. The only relic of industrialism is the narrow embankment of the former GWR Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. The viaduct where it crosses the river is locally referred to as 'Spitfire Bridge' as a stricken fighter is supposed to have crashed into it during the war. It's worth remembering that railways were as objected to in the nineteenth century as motorways are today.

I didn't follow the Itchen Way exactly along this section but climbed the ridge, and then up St Catherine's Hill. This was the reason the M3 had to go through Twyford Down - an ancient hillfort was an even more outrageous route for the motorway. It's at the centre of a strange circular valley, like a water splash in slow motion bouncing up from a green pond. The sides are pretty steep, so a long wooden stair system has been constructed up to the top, from where there are some marvellous views of Winchester. To the west is St Cross Priory, whilst to the north and east hills formed an undulating horizon. Only looking south, back where I had come from, did the motorway and a huge park-and-ride site blot the view. It's strangely quiet up here and as other folks tend to take a while to puff their way up the steps it's not hard to get the place to yourself for a bit.

Coming back down St Catherine's, all that remains is to make way into the city itself. After an uneventful stretch of riverside, the path comes to a road and then by the side of the playing fields of Winchester College, where there was football practice going on. This bit of the Itchen is still in the navigable section and the water was flowing very high over the weirs after all the recent rain. After the college itself the next important building is Wolvesey Castle, where Mary Tudor had her wedding breakfast, although it's a ruin today (thanks, Cromwell). The walls were most likely built over the boundaries of the Roman city of Venta Belgarum, and there's a tiny piece of Roman stonework under an arch further up. Shortly after this the Itchen runs under another bridge and through City Mill, reaching Durngate Bridge a little further on. It's here that I decided to leave the bank (considering it a good start point for the next stage) and go through the town to the station.

Winchester High St

Winchester is considerably nicer than Southampton, having escaped serious war damage, and retained its old buildings. Even the fire station is 1930s deco, rather than the postwar police HQ opposite. There's the cathedral, of course (been in a million times; dislike the turnstiles) and the town hall, and the High St (pedestrianised) with its large clock and up-market clothing retailers (Jack Wills-yes; Joules-yes; Edinburgh Woolen Mill-yes). Even Boots is half-timbered (possibly Victorian fakery) whilst my luthier has a shop in the side streets. At the top of the street is the Westgate, Winchester's equivelent to Southampton's Bargate, and Winchester Castle, which contains the possibly not genuine King Arthur's Round Table.

Next time, we'll be turning east and travelling further up into Hampshire. I might possibly even reach the river's source, but not until the weather here improves...