The Eclipse Inn Winchester

The Eclipse Inn Winchester is a public house at 25 The Square, Winchester, Hampshire, England. Its 16th-century building was formerly the rectory of St Lawrence Church and has been Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England since January 1974. Its name comes from the pub’s position opposite the Sun Inn.

That combination makes The Eclipse Inn more than a familiar place for a drink. It is also stop 7 of 18 on Journey Through Winchester’s Past, a route that gives the building’s location and history a closer focus.

What is unusual about The Eclipse Inn?

The Eclipse Inn is unusual because its history reaches below the pub as well as into its former religious role. The tour material describes the building as the rectory of a chapel in the passageway, adding a detail that distinguishes this particular pub from an ordinary bar.

It also states that The Eclipse Inn is built above an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. That claim gives the floor beneath the pub a specific historical association, rather than leaving the building’s past only in its 16th-century date or Grade II listing. At 25 The Square, the pub’s identity is tied to the rectory, the passageway chapel and the cemetery beneath it.

What happened at The Eclipse Inn?

The Eclipse Inn is connected with the story of Alice Lisle, who was publicly executed in England in 1685 during the Monmouth Rebellion. The tour describes that rebellion as the last rebellion to Royal Rule in England, and identifies Lisle’s involvement as providing overnight accommodation to rebels.

According to the tour material, Alice Lisle walked out of a first-floor window to a purpose-built scaffold where she was executed. Her sentence was changed from burning at the stake to beheading after she was communed at the last minute.

The pub is also associated with a local haunting tradition: Alice Lisle is often said to appear on its first floor, especially around last call. That remains a story attached to The Eclipse Inn, not a definitive explanation of anything inside the building. The first-floor connection is part of what makes this pub’s history unusually specific.

How can you place The Eclipse Inn in Winchester?

Place The Eclipse Inn at 25 The Square in Winchester. When you visit, keep its former rectory role, its position opposite the Sun Inn and the stories attached to its first floor in mind. The building’s listed status, 16th-century date and reported position above an Anglo-Saxon cemetery all belong to this one pub.

For the historical context attached to this stop, follow Journey Through Winchester’s Past. It places The Eclipse Inn within a wider Winchester route while leaving you to examine this particular building for yourself.