2017
Five test pits were dug during the three days of Hyde900’s Bank Holiday Weekend Community Dig (supported by WARG, the society for Winchester archaeology and local history) by over 130 volunteers from five to 70 years of age, under the guidance of experienced WARG supervisors. Many local primary school children were involved including, in particular, Year 5 pupils from the local St. Bede School who took part in Hyde900’s first ever Archaeology day at the school.
Enthusiasm for involvement in the dig was wholesale from old and young alike. Among the many visitors to the dig were the Mayor of Winchester, Councillor Jane Rutter, and Parliamentary candidate Steve Brine along with Fiona Mather, a candidate for the County Council elections. The open Visitors’ Day on Sunday attracted a constant throughput of people observing the dig including several TV crews.
Excavations in the gardens of two houses in King Alfred Terrace covering what is believed to be the cloisters of Hyde Abbey revealed a mass of building and other material dating back to the middle ages. However it wasn’t until the final day that startling conclusions were reached which could transform our understanding of this area of Winchester.
Two major surprise discoveries lit up the final hours of to shed new light on the history of Hyde and to solve a mystery linked to St. Bartholomew’s church.
Potentially most important was the unearthing of a significant amount of Roman mortar fragments together with tesserae (small blocks of clay used in a plain mosaic floor) in one of the five trenches which had been opened up by the volunteer archaeologists.
Located at a level lower than that of an adjacent wall and floor – probably part of the medieval monastery – this prompted a re-evaluation of the site.
Abacus with Roman tesserae from Trench 7 on top
“The volume of material that we have found opens out the possibility of a building from the Roman era in this location,” explained David Ashby from the University of Winchester. “The Roman road from Winchester to Silchester ran about 100 metres to the west and it is possible that this material came from a nearby house in the countryside just to the north of the Roman city. But we had never seen this before.”
The discovery also suggested that the cloister could have been deliberately built on an area where previous buildings could be used as a base. In other parts of the Abbey site, it was necessary to import a ‘raft’ of clay to provide stability.
The second exciting discovery was of two Quarr stone ‘abacus’ fragments datable by their style to the first half of the 12th century. Originally thought to be plinths, these were identified by Dr. John Crook (consultant archaeologist to Winchester Cathedral) as being the load-bearing stones which are placed on the top of column capitals.
Trench 7 - intricately moulded stone voussoir
Measurements undertaken by Dr. Crook showed that the abacus dimensions matched exactly those of the capitals which are now on display in St. Bartholomew’s church and which have long been believed to come from the Abbey cloister.
“The St. Bartholomew capitals are exquisite works of medieval art of international importance but until now we have only seen them in isolation,” said Dr. Crook. “By discovering the two abacus fragments, however, we can now begin to visualise the capitals in context. We are developing a better idea of how they would have appeared in the medieval Abbey.”
After the dig, the householder decided to take a closer look at what had been exposed in Trench 7. Having scooped away some loose mortar he realised that what he'd come across was almost certainly a capital to a column (a very rare object in the Hyde context) and as he trowelled further, there appeared to be a series of these capitals. With the agreement of the householder and Tracy Matthews, Winchester City Council Archaeologist, the stones were carefully exposed and lifted under the expert eye of Dr John Crook and the context explored.
A key reason for this was the vulnerability of these important finds – described by Dr Crook as “of outstanding international importance”– being less than 20cm below ground level. The result was a treasure trove of materials in all probability from the cloister arcade, and/or possibly the adjacent cloister building.
A voussoir (top left) and a selection of other finds from the adjacent layer – including fragments of abacus (top row)
Following further investigations, the ‘capitals’ have been identified as ‘voussoirs’ (wedge-shaped stones which constitute an arch).
The Hyde900 team sifted the adjacent mortar for other reused materials and found 60 discrete items of stone mouldings in addition to the voussoirs, some of which show the possible effects of burning.
These have been carefully cleaned and added to the database of finds for the Abbey.
That's Solent newsclip - 2017