Beyond the West Gate is an obelisk, set up in commemoration of a visitation of the Plague in 1669, when the country people brought their produce and left it outside the gate to be taken in by the city dwellers, who deposited the money for the goods in bowls of vinegar, whence it was abstracted by pincers, to avoid infection.  The stone on which the exchanges were made is incorporated in the base of the obelisk.

The West Gate is the only one that remains of the principal entrances to the city, as King’s Gate, with the little church of St. Swithun perched on top, was of secondary importance.  This West Gate escaped the fate that has overtaken so many of our old city gates owing to its having been used for some time as a smoking room for the adjacent hotel.  This apartment above the crown of the gateway arch is, like that over the West Gate of Canterbury, used for the purposes of a museum, wherein are deposited such interesting relics as the Winchester bushel, cloth measures, and ancient instruments of punishment.  At one time the room was used as a prison, and the walls are covered with names or marks made by those who were incarcerated here.

The gate is of fourteenth-century date, the two panels with armorial bearings seen on the western side of the archway being later insertions.  Through the gateway a delightful view is obtained of the picturesque High Street, with many a high-pitched gable rising above the masses of irregular architecture; while an ancient clock on a wooden bracket juts out from the old Queen Anne Guildhall, which has a statue of Her Majesty over the entrance, the Curfew Tower rising on one side of the building.  A new Guildhall of greater architectural pretensions has been erected in the Broadway, the original one being now used as a shop.

[Illustration:  The butter cross]

From the West Gate the High Street slopes down to the Itchen.  On the right stands the old Butter Cross, in rather a cramped position.  Two reasons have been given for its name:  one, that during Lent, those wishing to eat butter could do so by consuming it by the cross; the other, and more probable, explanation is that here came farmers wishing to dispose of their butter, which they exposed for sale on the steps of the cross.  The structure is of fifteenth-century date, but has been much restored, the only original figure on it being that of St. Amphibalus.  Just beside the cross is the interesting little opening that leads into the Close, and in which is the entrance to St. Lawrence Church, of which nothing is visible from this point but the doorway, and the tower rising above the surrounding houses.  This church has been said to be the Mother Church of the diocese of Winchester, an idea that may have owed its origin to the fact that before proceeding to the Cathedral to be enthroned the bishops designate enter this ancient church to robe and “ring themselves in”.  Only the other day, May 6, 1911, Dr. Talbot followed this old custom, and the people listened eagerly for the number of rings, as these are supposed to denote the number of years the bishop will be at the head of the diocese.  It may be of interest to chronicle that Dr. Talbot rang nine times.