University of Winchester

The story of the University of Winchester started with a mission the Church of England had in the 1830s to create an institution that would train teachers to teach in poor communities. The Diocesan Training School was eventually established by Bishop Sumner in 1840. Its original location was 26/27 St Swithun Street, a grand terraced house only a short walk from Winchester Cathedral. It then moved to Wolvesey Palace before finally moving to the purpose-built buildings on West Hill in 1860 – a building that is still at the heart of our campus today. It was hoped that HRH Prince Albert – one of whose servants had previously attended the College for training – would perform the official opening of the new building; however his illness and premature death in December 1861 prevented that.In 1840 there were just ten pupils; today we have close to 8,000 students. In all of that growth and change our story, our long history, has followed in the way of the original mission to provide transformational education.