21 A Winchester Walk
Winchester High Street .
was historically a spot where butter and other country produce was sold ( much restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1865 ), before reaching Westgate , Winchester ’ s second surviving medieval gate .
Within the gate is a small museum with a range of displays relating to Tudor and Stuart Winchester , including a magnificent ceiling of oak boards , vigorously painted in bright colours with portraits and scrolling foliate designs in anticipation of the Winchester marriage , in 1554 , between Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain . Discovered by chance in 1885 when a partition was taken down at Winchester College in the original Warden ’ s Lodgings , the ceiling has been on loan to the Winchester Museum for display at Westgate since 1980 . There are also exhibits that relate to the gate ’ s use as a prison from the 16th to the 18th centuries . From the roof of the gate , there are fine views over the city .
Just beyond the Westgate , to your left , is Castle Avenue , with its flanking ranges of Victorian and post-Victorian buildings , leading us on to the early 13th-century Great Hall . Little else survives of the medieval castle begun by William the Conqueror on Roman foundations .