The early church was rebuilt beginning in the late 11th century under Walkelin, the first Norman bishop of Winchester. He chose a very unpromising site - the ground was so marshy that thousands of wooden piles had to be driven intio the ground to make it solid enough to build what was then the longest church in Europe. Even today, the cathedral crypt is prone to flooding. When William Rufus (William II) died in the New Forest in 1100 he was buried beneath the tower crossing of the Cathedral. Such was Winchester's importance in the Middle Ages that the Cathedral was used as often as three times a year for royal court functions.

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