esey#, which is said to mean Wolf's Island, is quite close to the
east end of the cathedral. It contained at one time a regular residence
of the bishops of Winchester, the greater part of which was erected by
Henry de Blois. The remains of this castle are very ruinous, though the
outer walls and the exterior of the keep are in good condition still.
Woodward pointed out traces of a refectory with a Norman arch and
window. The building more than once underwent attacks, the earliest
being during the struggle between Stephen and Matilda, in which Henry de
Blois took a vigorous part. Finally, in 1646, Cromwell practically
destroyed it, after it had held out against him in the Royalist cause.
It served as the residence of many well-known characters in history, and
among its bishops Cardinal Beaufort died there. Mary slept at Wolvesey
Castle in 1554, before her marriage at Winchester. Bishop Morley
commenced building a modern house close by the old site, and subsequent
bishops completed it. Only the middle portion of this, with the Tudor
chapel, now remains, the southern end having been pulled down by Bishop
Brownlow North. The ruins of the castle can be seen from the top of the
cathedral tower.

On Wykeham's charter for the incorporation of his new foundation,
"Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre," is the date October 20, 1382; but
it seems that long before this date and up to the actual completion of
the #College# buildings, the bishop superintended the education of the
boys for whom his institution was founded, housing them in temporary
structures in the meantime--possibly in S. John's parish, on S. Giles'
Hill, it has been suggested. Before Wykeham's time, and indeed before
the Conquest, it appears that the monks of S. Swithun's institution had
a school at Winchester, at which no less celebrated a pupil than Alfred
the Great was brought up. We have already touched on the subject of
Wykeham's ideas on education, and the change which he brought about by
his colleges at Winchester and Oxford, and it is not necessary to go
into the subject again. The College buildings lie beyond the southern
limits of the cathedral close, on the south side of the narrow College
Street, being entered by a gateway with an ancient statue of the Virgin
in the niche over it. This door leads into the quadrangle, about which
are ranged various parts of the college. A further arch under the tower
in this court leads to a larger quadrangle, in which are