Saint · Winchester · Famous
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If it rains on St Swithun's Day, bring the umbrella for six weeks.
See it clearly
Cathedral in central Winchester; open to visitors. Check before you go.
Move a saint who wanted the rain, and the rain will follow for forty days.
Swithun was Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. He asked to be buried outside the church, where rain would fall on him. When his remains were moved inside on 15 July 971, the story goes, a great storm broke and it rained for forty days, which gives the old rhyme: rain on St Swithun's Day means forty days more. Another tale says he mended a basket of eggs broken by workmen on a bridge. His shrine was destroyed at the Reformation, and a modern memorial now marks it in the cathedral.