Festival of Archaeology

During the annual Festival of Archaeology, Hyde900 offered the opportunity to experience life in medieval times through a variety of medieval crafts - tile-making, calligraphy and - new for 2024 - the opportunity to make a replica of the Abbot of Hyde Abbey's seal.  

Courtesy of Hampshire Cultural Trust, the ever-popular workshops took place in the City Museum where trainee tile makers made replicas of tiles found on the site of Hyde Abbey, calligraphers learnt the basics of roundhand script, and Abbot Salcot signed off newly-created seals.  

Finds from the 2016-2023 community test-pit excavations in local gardens were on display with experts on-hand to answer questions about the discoveries.

Dr John Crook's talk explained how the Hyde900 community digs have revealed the plan of Hyde Abbey and increased understanding of the architecture of the buildings.  Dr Crook is an architectural historian, archaeological consultant, and photographer, and has been Hyde900’s archaeological consultant since 2016.