The Corpus: Winchester (Old Minster) 21

Volume 4: South-East England

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Current Display: Winchester (Old Minster) 21, Hampshire

Overview

Object type: Shaft of engaged colonnette

Measurements: H. 20 > 14 cm (7.9 > 5.5 in); W. 19 > 13 cm (7.5 > 5.2 in); D. 16 > 2.5 cm (6.4 > 1 in)

Stone type: Yellowish-grey, medium-grained, oolitic limestone, with detrital-shelly streaks, and end-bedded; Combe Down Oolite, Great Oolite Formation of the Bath area, Great Oolite Group, Middle Jurassic

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 526

Corpus volume reference: Vol 4 p. 286

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Present Location

Winchester City Museum, Historic Resources Centre, Hyde House, Winchester, accessions no. 2943 WS 49

Evidence for Discovery

Found in archaeological excavation north of Winchester cathedral in 1965 in destruction rubble deriving from tenth-century east apse of Old Minster; Final Phase 59 (Provisional Phase 644), c. 1093-4

Church Dedication

Old Minster

Present Condition

One bed face survives; the surfaces are battered.

Description

Reconstructed diameter of column 14 cm (5.5 in). The colonnette was part of a decorative scheme projecting 14.7 cm (5.8 in) from the wall face. The capital does not survive.

Discussion

This piece probably comes from the tenth-century east end. It was found near Winchester (Old Minster) no. 22 and in a demolition layer of the same date.

Date

Late tenth or early eleventh century

References

Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle forthcoming a, fig. 142, no. 21

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

Endnotes