The Corpus: Winchester (Old Minster) 09a

Volume 4: South-East England

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Current Display: Winchester (Old Minster) 09a–b, Hampshire

Overview

Object type: Two fragments of lathe-turned column or baluster

Measurements: a: H. 7.2 > 3 cm (2.8 > 1.2 in); W. 9.5 > 2.5 cm (3.7 > 1 in); D. 3.6 > 0.5 cm (1.4 > 0.2 in) b: H. 7 > 3 cm (2.8 > 1.2 in); W. 6.5 > 3 cm (2.6 > 1.2 in); D. 2.5 > 0.2 cm (1 > 0.1 in)

Stone type: Pale yellowish-grey, medium-grained, shelly, oolitic, limestone; Combe Down Oolite, Great Oolite Formation of the Bath area, Great Oolite Group, Middle Jurassic

Plate numbers in printed volume: Fig. 40; Ills. 531-532

Corpus volume reference: Vol 4 p. 281-282

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Present Location

Winchester City Museum, Historic Resources Centre, Hyde House, Winchester, accessions nos. 2943 WS 89 (9a), 2943 WS 38 (9b)

Evidence for Discovery

Found in archaeological excavation north of Winchester cathedral in 1965. Fragment a, in masons' chippings layer derived from demolition of tenth-century east apse of Old Minster; Final Phase 60 (Provisional Phase 677), c. 1094 to late eleventh-century. Fragment b, in rubble from destruction of tenth-century east apse of Old Minster; Final Phase 59 (Provisional Phase 644), c. 1093-4

Church Dedication

Old Minster

Present Condition

a: no bed face survives; the carved surface is somewhat battered. b: one bed face is just present; the carved surface is crisp.

Description

a: Reconstructed column diameter 44.4 cm (17.5 in). Two bands c. 2 cm wide are separated by a moulding almost 1 cm wide, raised 0.5 cm, with a sloping upper side and almost horizontal underside. The upper edge turns in towards another element.

b: Reconstructed column diameter at bed face 44.4 cm. The incomplete moulding is composed of a sharply angled lower part and a concave upper band or bands.

Discussion

The two fragments were found near each other and are from the same drum. This drum probably came from the tenth-century east apse of Old Minster, completed c. 993–4.

Date

Late tenth century

References

Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle forthcoming a, fig. 141, no. 6 (fragment a), no. 13 (fragment b)

M.B.; B.K.-B.

Endnotes