Volume 4: South-East England

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Current Display: Winchester (Old Minster) 16, Hampshire Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
Winchester City Museum, Historic Resources Centre, Hyde House, Winchester, accessions no. 2943 WS 4
Evidence for Discovery
Found in archaeological excavation north of Winchester cathedral in 1964 in rubble from destruction of tenth-century and earlier nave of Old Minster; Final Phase 48 (Provisional Phase 832), late tenth-century
Church Dedication
Old Minster
Present Condition
One bed face survives; the carved surface is battered.
Description

Reconstructed diameter at bed face, 49.8 cm (19.6 in). The moulding is composed of two bands, c. 3.5 cm wide, separated by a deep groove. The lower band has a curved outline, the upper slopes quite sharply inwards.

Discussion
This carving could have been an earlier piece incorporated in the tenth-century work. It has a different feel from nos. 9–15 which (apart from no. 10) are from the demolition of tenth-century parts of Old Minster, where there is little likelihood of earlier pieces having been reused. But this drum could come from the seventh-century nave. The diameter of 50 cm or 1.5 Carolingian (Drusian) feet should be noted.
Date
Late tenth century or earlier, perhaps late seventh
References
Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle forthcoming a, fig. 141, no. 14
M.B.; B.K.-B.
Endnotes

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