A new book has been published about the bishops of Winchester.

The Winchester Powerhouse is the first volume of a study covering the lives of around 100 bishops before the Norman Conquest.

The book, written by Anthony Paice, looks at how the bishops helped to make Winchester the powerhouse of the kingdom of Wessex, and eventually of all England.

The bishops were key counsellors to the Wessex kings and helped to introduce Saxon legal codes and the judicial process.

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Anthony Paice has published his new book The Winchester Powerhouse (Image: The Book Guild Ltd) They also helped to ensure that Winchester remained the most prestigious diocese in England until the Reformation.

Anthony, who was born in Winchester and educated at Peter Symonds School, said: "I was born and brought up in Winchester and from an early age inculcated its long historical tradition and importance.

"Before entering secondary education, I would go down to the cathedral and, in the absence of guides in those days, would offer my services to early post-war tourists from America; this was usually rewarded with half a crown."

Anthony is a long-serving intelligence officer and has previously published books about the 1990 Kuwait crisis and a biography of a parish priest.