Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England.The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs National Park, along the course of the River Itchen.

Also in the late tenth century, the Old Minster was enlarged as a centre of the cult of the ninth century Bishop of Winchester, Saint Swithun.While staying in Winchester from mid-August to October 1819, the Romantic poet John Keats wrote "Isabella", "St.Agnes' Eve", "To Autumn", "Lamia" and parts of "Hyperion" and the five-act poetic tragedy "Otho The Great".Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain in 410, urban life seems to have continued at Venta Belgarum until around 450 AD, and a small administrative centre might have continued after that on the site of the later Anglo-Saxon palace.

Ford identifies the community as the In 648, King Cenwalh of Wessex erected the Church of SS Peter and Paul, later known as the Old Minster.

During the Middle Ages, the city was an important centre of the wool trade, before going into a slow decline.