Winchester Cathedral is not only famous for its size and magnificent Gothic architecture but also for the underpinning work that was carried out between 1905 and 1912. This work ran into a number of serious problems due to a high-water table and poor ground conditions. The former meant that the underpinning work had to be carried out by a diver, William Walker, who has become a legend for his heroic work. The need for the underpinning work has seldom been questioned and the purpose of this paper is to examine the evidence on which this key decision was taken. The lessons learned are important for civil engineers and architects called in to advise on the need for the stabilisation of historic buildings and monuments.

Professor John Burland, CBE, DSc(Eng), FREng, FRS, NAE, FIC, FCGI was educated in South Africa and studied Civil Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. After studying for his PhD at Cambridge University, Professor Burland joined the Building Research Station in 1966, became Head of the Geotechnics Division in 1972 and Assistant Director in 1979. In 1980 he was appointed to the Chair of Soil Mechanics at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. He is now Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator at Imperial College. Professor Burland has been responsible for the design of many large ground engineering projects such as the underground car park at the Palace of Westminster and the foundations of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. He specialises in problems relating to the interaction between the ground and masonry buildings. He was London Underground's expert witness for the Parliamentary Select Committees on the Jubilee Line Extension and has advised on many geotechnical aspects of that project, including ensuring the stability of the Big Ben Clock Tower. He was a member of the international board of consultants advising on the stabilisation of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City and was a member of the Italian Prime Minister's Commission for stabilising the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Jamie Standing is Professor of Ground Engineering at Imperial College London. Professor Standing teaches Soil Mechanics at undergraduate and masters level. He is an active researcher who has supervised a large number of MSc and PhD projects. Professor Standing has published numerous papers mostly relating to ground and structural response to tunnelling and full-scale field monitoring but his interests and papers also cover unsaturated soils and engineering geology. He has held a number of posts within learned societies and other academic institutions, including member of the Geotechnique Advisory Panel (2006-2008); visiting professor at the Beijing University of Technology (2008-2011); editorial panel member and assistant scientific editor of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology (2013-2018). He is currently a member of three technical committees of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (TC204, TC220 and TC301).