History
The Foundation of Hyde Abbey
On his death in 899, Alfred had been buried in Old Minster, on the site of the present Cathedral in the centre of Winchester. His son, Edward the Elder, carried out his father's ambition to build a new church - New Minster - in the centre of Winchester as a resting place for Alfred and his relatives. Edward directed the building of New Minster next to Old Minster, and the body of Alfred was moved and re-buried there in AD 903.
New Minster suffered damage on 23rd April 1065 when the domestic buildings were destroyed by fire. After the conquest, William the Conqueror appropriated the minster’s cemetery and built his royal palace within the minster’s precincts. Subsequently, land was bought at Hyde Mead just outside the north walls of the city and a new Abbey built.
Hyde Abbey was founded as a Benedictine monastery on the orders of Henry I and was to become one of the wealthiest monasteries in medieval Britain.
In AD 1110, the Benedictine monks of New Minister moved the bodies of King Alfred, his wife Alswitha and son, Edward the Elder, to the newly-built Abbey and laid them to rest before the high altar.
"The monks were enabled to leave their crowded site, the cause of many a serious inconvenience, and move to commodious quarters on the north side of Winchester, just beyond the city walls, known as Hyde Mead. Henceforth this important Benedictine house was known as Hyde Abbey.
The old site was surrendered into the king's hands, and was shortly afterwards restored to the cathedral church of St. Swithun. To the monks of Hyde the king granted another charter, whereby, amongst other regulations, it was arranged that a joint procession of the monks of St. Swithun and Hyde was to be made year by year.
Their new home was speedily ready for occupation, and in 1110 the monks of New Minster carried with them to the Abbey of Hyde, in solemn procession, their sacred relics, the great gold cross of Cnut's benefaction, together with the illustrious remains of Alfred, his queen and his son.
Henry I made several grants to the Abbey, among them the churches of Kingsclere and Alton and 5 hides in Alton which William I had given in exchange for land in the city of Winchester. He also confirmed to them the right of soc and sac, thol and theam and other liberties."
As well as the royal burials, the Abbey also acquired a number of relics from New Minster, including those of St. Josse (also known as St. Judoc) and the head of St. Valentine, gifted in 1041 by Queen Emma, widow of King Cnut.
As a result, the Abbey became a popular pilgrimage destination and stopping off point on the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury.
The Dissolution
In 1141, conflict between supporters of King Stephen and Matilda during the Siege of Winchester led to fire-damage and the Abbey had to be substantially rebuilt.
Afterwards, it prospered and acquired considerable land in the area until 1538 when John Salcot, the last Abbot of Hyde, surrendered the Abbey to Henry VIII’s commissioners at the dissolution of the monasteries. Some of the twenty Hyde Abbey monks were pensioned off, others stayed in religious service in the Winchester area. Two monks remained in Hyde as vicar and curate of St Bartholomew’s, another two became curates in City, and one moved to the Cathedral.
Hyde Abbey's treasures were dispersed and the buildings rapidly dismantled for their building materials and anything else of value.
Survivors from the lost library are the cartulary, the late-13th or early-14th century breviary, and the Liber Vitae.
Believed to date from 1031, the Liber Vitae (the 'Book of Life') recorded the daily life of the New Minster and (after 1110) of Hyde Abbey.
Four years later, when the antiquarian John Leland visited the site in 1542, the Abbey was already a thing of the past.
"In this suburbe stoode the great abbay of Hyde…", he commented. "The bones of Alfredus, King of the West-Saxons, and of Edward his sunne and king, were translatid from Newanministre, and layid in a tumbe before the high altare at Hyde."
For 250 years, the choir end of Hyde Abbey where Alfred and his family members were buried was gradually forgotten. Other parts of the Abbey precinct were developed, and a grand house built in the southwest corner. The area next to the stream seems to have been rough grazing, perhaps heaped with mounds of rubble.
The Bridewell
In 1788, the land was taken over by the county authorities for the site of a small local prison (Bridewell). The convicts were put to work digging the foundations and in doing so, they started to come across a number of graves. One observer was the local Catholic priest Dr. Milner who wrote:
"Miscreants couch amidst the ashes of our Alfreds and Edwards... In digging for the foundations of that mournful edifice [the bridewell] at almost every stroke of the mattock or spade some ancient sepulchre was violated, the venerable contents of which were treated with marked indignity. A great number of stone coffins were dug up, with a variety of curious articles, such as chalices, patens, rings, buckles, the leather of shoes and boots, velvet and gold belonging to chasubles and other vestments as also the crook, rims and joints of a beautiful crosier, double gilt."
The only visible structures that remain from the Abbey are the stone gateway, an arch that used to span the millstream and the church built for the pilgrims and lay-brothers, now the nave and chancel of St Bartholomew’s Parish Church.
From the 1860s onwards, the site was developed for residential use and is now mostly covered by high-density housing.
But if you know where to look, stones from the Abbey can be found hidden in plain sight all over Winchester!