Winchester Festival of Archaeology to return this month

The festival will be held at the Winchester City Museum in the Square on Friday, July 19 until Sunday, July 21 from 10am to 5pm.

The event, organised by Hyde900 in partnership with the Hampshire Cultural Trust, features the ongoing excavation of Hyde Abbey, a medieval monastery which was destroyed in the time of Henry VIII. Running throughout the festival will be a display of finds from community digs from 2016 to 2023, showing how Hyde has changed over the centuries.

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There will be a range of hands-on activities for visitors to take part in (Image: Hyde900)

Visitors of all ages can take part in hands-on activities, creating a beeswax seal as was done in medieval times. Participants will be able to help prepare the wax for the seal and then impress the stamp of the abbot of Hyde’s seal of 1537, just prior to the dissolution of the abbey. Their seal to take away will be authenticated by the Abbot of Hyde.

Other attractions include a tile-making workshop, where visitors can choose which pattern tile to make from those found in the cloister of Hyde Abbey. Tiles will be fired and glazed for later collection.

Those over the age of 10 can try their hand at calligraphy, meeting one of Winchester Cathedral’s team of scribes, watching a demonstration of calligraphy skills and then having a go at calligraphy under their guidance.

Meanwhile, Dr John Crook will be giving a talk, entitled “There’s a monk at the bottom of my garden!” at St Bartholomew’s Church, King Alfreds Place, Hyde, on Saturday, July 20 at 7.30pm. The talk will start by summarising the archaeological investigations at Hyde Abbey which began in 1787, culminating in a previous community dig in 1998-9 which revealed the plan of the east end of the church.

The community excavations organised by Hyde900 since 2016, the main subject of Dr Crook’s talk, continue to shed light on the layout of the abbey, and especially of the archaeology beneath the 19th and early 20th century gardens established in the area south of the site

David Spurling, Hyde900 event organiser, said: “Apart from John’s talk and these really exciting workshops a display of finds from the seven community digs will illustrate the changes that Hyde has experienced from prehistoric times through to the current Victorian housing.

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Dr John Crook, pictured at the 2018 Hyde900 community dig, will be giving a talk at the festival (Image: Hyde900)

“We are very lucky that our three dig advisors, Dr Dave Stewart, Dr David Ashby and Dr John Crook, will be on hand to explain the amazing results of the digs.”

More recently the excavation of a culvert has revealed the likely location of the latrine block and the dormitory, which will perhaps be excavated in future community digs.

Booking for the events is recommended. More information can be found on the Hyde900 website.