‘Winchester Banksy’ Strikes with Admired Wall Painting

Published on: 24 Oct, 2022
Updated on: 27 Oct, 2022

By Hugh Coakley

An anonymous Winchester artist, dubbed the ‘Winchester’s Banksy’, has been active in Guildford with a wall painting appearing overnight in an alley off Chapel Street.

Hendog wall art of a little girl with a teddy bear appeared overnight in Chapel Street in August.

A local trader in Chapel Street said it was painted during the night on August 17. She said: “It looks good there. Lots of people have commented and taken photos”.

Hendog wall art appeared in Chapel Street

The Hendog art started to appear in Winchester in March 2021 and was initially thought to have been by Banksy but that was said to have been denied.

It was reported to have been “quickly announced that the artist’s name was “Hendog” – however, no other details of the artist has been released other than his illustrator name”.

Hendog has been popping up all in the south from Winchester to Southampton to our own Guildford. Screenshot from the hendog_art Instagram page.

Passers-by were enjoying the unexpected and charming wall painting. Comments included:

“Great, love it! I hate normal graffiti but this is good.”

“It’s pretty decent.”

“It brightens up the wall.”

“It’s a bit Banksy. Well done.”

“I like street art and the more political the better.”

Responses to ‘Winchester Banksy’ Strikes with Admired Wall Painting

Dave Middleton Reply

November 16, 2022 at 1:12 pm

To be honest, I preferred the wall as it was. It had character and spoke of ages past and the skill of the men who built it. The yard that it stands in is featured on the 1739 map of Guildford, back when Chapel Street was known as Black House Lane. While I doubt that the wall dates back quite that far, it certainly has some age to it.

To my mind, these ‘artworks’ are little more than stencilled cartoons, regardless of who they may be created by. If that wall belonged to me, I’d be out there with a pressure-washer, removing this, in my view, unwanted addition.