Many congratulations are due to Mike Caldwell, Tim Fell and the late Sir Tony Walker for their persistence in overcoming many obstacles – including those presented by Winchester City Council – in driving forward the cricket pavilion project which is now due to be built in the North Walls Park in Hyde. It has been a triumph of dogged determination and energy (Hampshire Chronicle, front page, October 17). 

Maybe the City Council could now turn its attention to a much more modest building project – the restoration of the 'Grade One' Listed  Hyde Gate (one of the last remains of Hyde Abbey, the burial place of King Alfred the Great).

Since Hyde900 was established in 2005 local people have been campaigning for the proper maintenance and modest development of this historic but scandalously neglected example of medieval architecture.

What is more, with the recent designation of the adjacent St. Bartholomew's Church (originally the lay chapel for the abbey) as the official start point for the Winchester-to-Southampton stage of the Camino Ingles, the pilgrimage route to Santiago, there will be many more visitors to Hyde keen to understand the story of the abbey and the link to King Alfred.

They will be disappointed if they are greeted by a building with stones falling from the walls, pigeon poo spewing from the roof, litter strewn around  and a squalid floor surface. Not to mention a completely missed opportunity for telling an important part of England’s (let alone Winchester’s) history.

Surely we can’t allow Hyde Gate to fall into complete decay. It wouldn’t be cricket.

Edward Fennell,

Founder of Hyde900,

Egbert Road,

Hyde,

Winchester 

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