Winchester Cathedral

An excellent presentation by David Farthing, a member of the Winchester Cathedral guides group, on the subject of William Walker, the diver who saved the foundations of the crumbling walls and arches of the cathedral.

The decision to shore up the foundations by digging deep trenches and fill them with concrete was failing as water continually flooded into any trenches dug and so made the enterprise look pretty hopeless.

However, project engineer Francis Fox had the idea of using a diver to get into the water and lay the bags of concrete, slowly building up the levels of support.

William Walker was the diver.   He wore a heavy diving suit and from 1906 worked 6 hours a day, in depths up to 6 metres, in darkness.   He gradually placed 25,000 concrete bags in trenches which took him 6 years.   Eventually the water could be pumped out and workmen could lay concrete blocks and bricks to shore up the crumbling foundations.

This amazing achievement by William Walker was recognised in l912 when he was presented to King George V and Queen Mary.   He was later awarded the MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order.)

Sadly he died in l918 from Spanish Flu.   A small statue of him in his diving suit is to be seen at the far end of the cathedral.

David Farthing was clearly passionate about the subject and his presentation with pictures and drawings made it extremely interesting and easy to understand.