2016
Trench 1 and 2
In a new development, Hyde900 worked with local archaeology organisation WARG to investigate what lay beneath a garden in King Alfred Place which covers a key corner of the demolished Hyde Abbey.
The hope was to find the south transept of the Abbey church. The area had not been investigated since prisoners at the adjacent County Bridewell (Winchester’s prison) dug over the area to make a garden for the prison governor in the late 18 century.
There were, however, many finds, dating back to the time of the Abbey, that had been made in the Alswitha Terrace area.
The plan above shows the position (in yellow) of the dig and the best estimate of the outline of the Abbey complex as it existed in the 15th century. (Image data courtesy of Winchester City Council and the Hampshire Cultural Trust).
The dig was opened by Helen Rees of Hampshire Cultural Trust and sixteen volunteers took part in 22 two-hour sessions throughout the four days.
During an Open Day, anyone interested in the archaeology of the neighbourhood could visit the site, viewing the finds and see the volunteers at work at the various tasks: diggers, sievers, cleaners of finds and the labelling and recording of finds.
Anyone with any “finds” from Hyde or further afield could bring in their objects to the site, to take advantage of the expertise of experts supporting their dig. These included site supervisors from WARG: Chris Sellen, Techer Jones and Don Bryan, and from the University of Winchester, David Ashby and Mike Brace.
Finds included clay pipes, roofing slate, Victorian pottery, nails and screws, a cow’s tooth and a considerable quantity of clinker, a Roman tile and small fragments of glazed and decorated tiles
The star find of the first day was a small attractively curved worked piece of flint, identified by Don Bryan as a Neolithic scraper (used for removing hair from the skin of animals).
Although finding the southern (i.e. east-west) wall was the aim, a north-south wall was discovered.
After much discussion, the consensus was that in all probability, the eastern wall of the south transept had been found. This was largely based on the proximity of the trench to the previously assumed position of the eastern wall.
No doubt the matter will be much debated in future months, but the thought that the dig might have moved the assumed position of the Abbey church 1.5 metres to the west was an exciting conclusion to the dig.