The Church of St Michael-without-Kingsgate is recorded in the register of John of Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester 1282-1304. The church was also known as St Michael-in-the-Soke, the eastern suburb of the medieval city. Some fifty churches and chapels existed in Winchester before 1300; by the C18 eight medieval parish churches remained, of which six still survive. St Michael's became redundant in the 1970s, after which it was acquired by Winchester College.
Plans of 1822 show that the existing church had a N aisle of equal width to the nave. A five-bay arcade bisected the church, and the chancel was located in the SE bay. The sanctuary was interrupted by the eastern bay of the arcade. This suggests that an earlier chancel had been demolished, and that the chancel was relocated into the nave. The nave arcade was demolished in 1822 and the entire space ceiled over, creating a late-Georgian 'preaching box'. A centrally-placed, rectangular chancel was added with vestry on the S side; this plan corresponds with the footprint shown on the 1871 OS map.
Although the S wall of the nave is marked on the 1822 plans as 'new' this was evidently not the case, but a central entrance was added while the existing SW doorway was blocked. Butterfield's plan of 1882 shows that a small section of the E end was demolished to accommodate a longer chancel; the 1822 doorway was blocked and the SW entrance reinstated. A new N aisle, narrower than the original, aligned with the N wall of the chancel, was envisaged, but only the eastern pier is shown on the plan; the remainder was never completed.
The cache itself is near the church, but not on church grounds.
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