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Winchester began as a Roman town. It was built about 70 AD. The Romans called the new town Venta Belgarum which means the capital of the Belgares (who were the local Celtic tribe before the Roman conquest). Roman Winchester was made a civitas or regional capital. Roman Winchester was built with its streets laid out in a grid pattern. In the middle of the town was the forum. This was a market place lined with shops and public buildings.
An important building in Roman Winchester was the public baths. Romans went to the baths not just to get clean but also to socialise. There were also temples in Winchester. At first the buildings in Winchester were made of wood but by the third century some were replaced with brick and stone. Wealthy people in Winchester lived in splendid houses with glass windows, mosaic floors and walls painted with murals. However the poor lived in simple wooden houses.
At first Winchester was protected by ditch and an earth rampart, probably with a wooden palisade on top. However at the beginning of the 3rd century Winchester was given stone walls. Winchester now covered 144 acres, which made it the 5th largest town in Roman Britain. There were also suburbs outside the walls. However, like other Roman towns, Winchester declined in the 4th century.
The last Roman soldier left Britain in 407. Town life then broke down. Winchester seems to have been abandoned. When the Saxons arrived in the 6th century a small number of them may have lived in wooden huts within the walls and farmed the land outside. However Winchester ceased to be a town. The Saxons called q Roman settlement a caester and they called Venta Belgarum, Venta Caester. In time this was changed to Wintancaester and eventually became corrupted to Winchester.
From 597 monks from Rome began the task of converting Southern England to Christianity. In the mid 7th century a Minster church called the Old Minister was built inside the Roman walls of Winchester. (A Minster church is one with a monastery attached). It was later known as the Old Minster. In 676 the Bishop of Wessex moved his seat to Winchester and the Old Minster became a cathedral.
Late in the 9th century Alfred the Great revived the old Roman town. To defend his kingdom he formed a network of fortified places where men could gather to fight the Danes whenever necessary. Alfred often repaired and revived old Roman towns for this purpose. Winchester was rebuilt with the streets laid out in a grid pattern and people were encourage to come and live there. Soon Saxon Winchester was flourishing.
In 901 Alfred's successor founded a second Minster church in Winchester, called the New Minster. In 903 Alfred's widow founded a nunnery known as the Nunnaminster. (It was later called St Marys Abbey). Later in the 10th century the monastery attached to the Old Minster church was reformed and became St Swithun's Priory.
In the 10th century the New Minster, St Swithun's Priory and the Nunnaminster were centres of art and learning. They were famous for their illuminated manuscripts (decorated books), jewellery, embroidery and metalwork.
From the 10th century there was a mint in the town. Winchester may have had a population of about 8,000 and there were suburbs outside Westgate and Northgate. There was also a Royal Palace in Winchester. It was probably built in the early 10th century.
In 1066 after the battle of Hastings, King Harold's widow stayed in Winchester but when the Normans arrived she surrendered the town and was allowed to leave in peace. William the Conqueror rebuilt the Royal Palace. The new palace was twice the size of the old Saxon palace. William also built a castle in the west of Winchester. Sixty houses were demolished to make way for it. At first it was made of wood but in the early 12th century it was rebuilt in stone.