The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester

A definitive multi-volume study of Winchester’s Anglo-Saxon minsters—Old Minster, New Minster and Nunnaminster—integrating archaeological, documentary and scientific evidence to reconstruct their development, burial practices, and role in royal power and the cult of St Swithun.

This three-volume work offers a comprehensive study of Winchester’s three Anglo-Saxon minsters – Old Minster, New Minster and Nunnaminster/St Mary’s Abbey – together with their cemeteries, domestic buildings, and elements absorbed into the Norman cathedral including the setting for the cult of St Swithun. Scientific evidence, and documentary, architectural, and artistic sources are woven into the results of the major excavations carried out on the sites of Old and New Minster between 1961 and 1970, and later work on Nunnaminster/St Mary’s Abbey, to present a new synthesis of Winchester’s ecclesiastical landscape.

Volume 1 explores the archaeology of the first church, its documented origins in the mid-seventh century, and north Italian inspiration. It traces the architectural and liturgical development of Old Minster into a major complex celebrating the cult of St Swithun, its design inspired by the Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. Documentary sources for the foundation of New Minster, the memorial church for the house of Wessex, on the Frankish model of Saint-Denis, are examined; archaeological evidence, though less extensive, confirms its final scale and magnificence before its documented removal to Hyde Abbey. The destruction and robbing of the two minsters during the building of the Norman cathedral are detailed.

Volume 2 analyses burial practices in the Old and New Minster cemeteries, and their British and Continental parallels. Their evolution into the medieval Paradise cemetery follows, with the later ‘memorial court’ focused on St Swithun’s original burial place. Key finds are summarized, including gold braids from the probable grave of the ninth-century prince Æthelstan. The architectural setting in Winchester Cathedral of St Swithun’s cult is examined. The archaeology and history of Nunnaminster and its successor St Mary’s Abbey are explored. The wider context for the Minsters as part of the evolution of Winchester as royal power centre is summarized. An appendix reviews cross-plan churches in the Byzantine empire and Europe.

In addition to the illustrations with the text, Volume 3 contains detailed plans and sections, photographs, phasing charts, and images of manuscripts, artefacts and comparative churches.

Volume 4.i.1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

I. INTRODUCTION

II. METHOD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

III. PREPARATION FOR PUBLICATION

IV. GEOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL SETTING 32

V. THE AREA OF THE MINSTERS IN ROMAN AND SUB-ROMAN TIMES

VI. THE CONTEXT FOR THE FOUNDATION OF OLD MINSTER

PART 2: OLD MINSTER

I. THE FIRST CHURCH (Final phase 20)

II. ALTERATIONS, ADDITIONS, AND THE USE OF THE FIRST CHURCH (Final phases 21–32)

III. SUMMARY: OLD MINSTER FROM c.648 to c.900

IV. THE ADDITION OF THE WESTERN FAÇADE (Final phases 33–6)

V. THE ADDITION OF CHAPELS TO THE EAST SIDE OF THE WESTERN FAÇADE (Final Phases 37–40)

VI. SUMMARY: OLD MINSTER FROM c.900 to c.970

VII. MARTYRIUM: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DOUBLE-APSED LINK BUILDING (Final phases 41–5)

VIII. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WESTWORK (Final phases 44–5)

IX. THE MONUMENT OF ST SWITHUN IN THE WESTWORK (Final phase 45)

X. THE EXTENSION AND REBUILDING OF THE EAST END (Final phases 46–8)

XI. THE LAST CENTURY OF OLD MINSTER (Final phases 45–56)

PART 3: NEW MINSTER

I. THE FOUNDATION AND SITE OF NEW MINSTER

II. THE NEW MINSTER CHURCH

III. THE DOMESTIC BUILDINGS OF NEW MINSTER

Volume 4.i.2

PART 4: BURIAL AT THE OLD AND NEW MINSTERS

I. INTRODUCTION

II. WRITTEN EVIDENCE

III. BURIAL INSIDE OLD MINSTER

IV. THE OLD MINSTER CEMETERY

V. BURIAL AT NEW MINSTER

VI. GRAVE TYPES AT THE OLD AND NEW MINSTERS

PART 5: THE DEMOLITION OF THE OLD AND NEW MINSTER CHURCHES, THE BUILDING OF THE NORMAN CATHEDRAL, AND THE CREATION OF THE MEMORIAL COURT

I. THE DEMOLITION OF THE OLD AND NEW MINSTER CHURCHES AND THE BUILDING OF THE NORMAN CATHEDRAL

II. ST SWITHUN’S TOMB AND THE MEMORIAL COURT

PART 6: PARADISE AND ST SWITHUN’S CHAPEL

I. THE CREATION OF THE PARADISE CEMETERY

II. ST SWITHUN’S CHAPEL

III. THE PARADISE CEMETERY

IV. THE NORTH CLOSE SINCE THE REFORMATION

PART 7: ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION AT THE OLD AND NEW MINSTERS

I. STONE SCULPTURE

II. RELIEF-DECORATED AND PLAIN ANGLO-SAXON GLAZED TILES

III. GLASS TILE

IV. WINDOW GLASS

V. WALL PLASTER

VI. THE NEW MINSTER WALL-PAINTING

VII. BELLS

PART 8: ECCLESIASTICAL AND OTHER ARTEFACTS FROM THE OLD AND NEW MINSTERS

I. FINDS FROM THE OLD AND NEW MINSTERS

II. ECCLESIASTICAL OBJECTS

III. POSSIBLE ECCLESIASTICAL OBJECTS

IV. PERSONAL POSSESSIONS

V. EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS

VI. COINS

VII. POTTERY

PART 9: THE ARCHITECTURAL SETTING OF THE CULT OF ST SWITHUN IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL, 1093–1538 by John Crook

I. INTRODUCTION

II. MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE 964

III. THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

PART 10: NUNNAMINSTER/ST MARY’S ABBEY

I. WRITTEN EVIDENCE

II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

PART 11: KING AND CHURCH IN AN EARLY CAPITAL

APPENDIX: THE CROSS-PLAN OF OLD MINSTER IN ITS EUROPEAN AND ENGLISH CONTEXT

Volume 4.i.3

INTRODUCTION

COLOUR PLATES

BLACK-AND-WHITE PLATES

FIGURES

PHASING CHARTS

INDEX

Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle Mag. art. (Aarhus), FSA

Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle was a Danish archaeologist whose technical brilliance transformed archaeological excavation in England. Joining the Winchester Excavations Committee in 1964, she introduced metric measurement and established new standards of precision in stratigraphic excavation, recording and analysis. Her rigorous methods shaped the practice of the Winchester excavations and influenced a generation of archaeologists trained on the site. Through her work at Winchester and later at Repton she helped transform how archaeologists excavate and interpret early medieval churches and cemeteries, reshaping understanding of Anglo-Saxon England, early Christianity in Britain and Viking activity. These foundations made possible the posthumous publication of these volumes on Winchester’s Minsters. 

Martin Biddle CBE, FBA, FSA

Martin Biddle is the Founder and Director of the Winchester Excavations Committee. He has an extensive archaeological career, but is perhaps most recognized for his excavations in Winchester where, from the start in 1961, he introduced a multi-period and multi-disciplinary approach employing archaeology, topography, and historical archives. In this, the second of the Winchester Studies series to publish in detail the analysis and synthesis of the excavations, that integrated approach has been most crucial to the full understanding of the excavated remains.

• By (author) Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle
• By (author) Martin Biddle

‘The monumental study of the three Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester is the life-long project of Martin Biddle and his late wife Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, and has finally come to fruition in three volumes. Furnished with abundant illustrations including 34 colour plates, it covers all the surviving evidence, written and archaeological, as well as information concerning the site from Roman times onwards and comparable churches in England and on the Continent.’ – Leofranc Holford-Strevens

—