Tag Archives: City Museum Winchester

Win Guide to March

Lainston House
Lainston House

Ladies and gentlemen of Winchester, spring has nearly sprung! And it’s about time too.  According to the astronomical definition, the first official day of Spring in 2015 is on March 20th.  Some of you will be celebrating this momentous burst of growth and sunshine with the Winchester duathlon on Sunday March 22nd which this year is being held at Lainston House.  It’s a 2.5km run, a 7.5km bike race and a further 2.5km run, followed by a private bbq.  Billy the falconer will be on hand with his birds of prey to keep the children (and adults) entertained.

Others might prefer to celebrate with the  CAMRA Winchester Real Ale and Cider Festival, which is being held at the Winchester Guildhall on Friday 20th & Saturday 21st March.  Tickets are running low so do book in advance to avoid disappointment.  There will be tutored beer-tasting sessions available introduced by writer and beer expert Adrian Tierney-Jones and over a hundred different real ales, ciders, perries and foreign bottled beers to behold.

Cream teas on the Watercress Line
Cream teas on the Watercress Line

Mum’s the word on Sunday 15th March, and the Watercress line is offering a traditional afternoon cream tea onboard a steam train. Don’t forget to order some spring flowers from the divinely named Mills in Bloom Florists & Vintage Interiors, where Mother’s Day local deliveries are available all day on Saturday 14th March.  Other gifts on offer include vintage items, pictures, glassware & china. The aforementioned Lainston House will be offering a homely 17th century barn or 3AA Rosette awarded restaurant lunch, and a champagne tea. All guests attending the three-course Sunday lunch will also be treated to a free falconry display. The Winchester Hotel and Spa are also planning lunch or afternoon tea treats, with a prize draw to win a luxury spa day for two. The whole party will receive a free glass of fizz – or non-alcoholic fizz for the kids and non-drinkers. And the day can be rounded off with a few giggles at the Theatre Royal Winchester which will be presenting Richard Herring and his take on death, love, religion and spam javelins at 8pm.

The Cathedral’s newly refurbished and relaunched Refectory will be hosting a special evening on the 13th March at 7pm to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s fourth novel, Emma. Tickets are £40 and include a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, a three-course meal and tea or coffee. After dinner, Dr Nigel Paterson will give an illustrated talk about Austen and what we know about her from circa 1815. Some ideas will also be given about following in Jane’s footsteps around places she would have known 200 years ago. Dr Nigel Paterson regularly gives after-dinner talks about Jane Austen and other topics of cultural interest. Educated at Winchester College and then Jesus College, Cambridge, he was later a Senior Lecturer in English for the University of Winchester.

Captain Finn and the Pirate Dinosaurs
Captain Finn and the Pirate Dinosaurs

Les Petits Theatre’s Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs will be on offer for young theatre fans at the Theatre Royal between Wed 25th – Thurs 26th March (Wed 4pm & Thurs 1.30pm, 4pm).  And if you’re keen to ‘cultivate’ your kid, don’t forget to call into the City Museum, which has plenty available for children such as sorting artefacts like an archaeologist, brass rubbing, Anglo-Saxon pot design, quizzes and the opportunity to try on all sorts of period costumes and see what you’d look like as a Roman, a Saxon, a Victorian gent or an Edwardian lady. Adults welcome too! The museum has just acquired a large collection of locally collected archaeological items, due to go on display in Autumn 2015.

FIGURE GROUND - Yorke Dance Project
FIGURE GROUND – Yorke Dance Project

Finally, our editor recommends the Yorke Dance Project ‘Figure Ground 2015’ at the Theatre Royal on 24th March. Founded by dancer-turned-choreographer Yolande Yorke-Edgell, the company’s lush and lively mixed bill features the quartet Lingua Franca, the first new work in a decade by the American-born UK modern dance giant Robert Cohan OBE. No spring chicken but still a sharp-witted creative, Cohan turns 90 on March 27th. The programme also includes Yorke-Edgell herself in the revival of a Cohan solo dating from 1978, a sextet by the promising (and, at 17, certifiably young) Charlotte Edmonds and a septet by Yorke-Edgell set against a computer-animation backdrop. You can read more on the company and its work later this month on this website, but for now we can all start to kick up our heels in anticipation of the impending season.

A right Royal fuss: The Hunt for King Alfred

 King Alfred
King Alfred

His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester, visited the University of Winchester in June 2014 to hear about the discovery of remains in the current Alfred campaign. And, as you are about to read, with good reason…

Winchester has long associated itself with the legendary King Alfred (846-899), described as “The Greatest Englishman” by Winston Churchill. Alfred’s statue, situated at the bottom of the high street in line with the Westgate, marks the layout of the city’s streets under his design. Winchester’s historic patriotism is reflected in this iconic figure, referred to as “King of the English” by his contemporaries. The image of royalty triumphant in war, and yet also functioning as a peacekeeper, is manifest in the statue’s composition. Alfred’s victory over the Vikings, his large-scale street planning, the building of churches and a Royal Palace formed the structure of Winchester and the notion of a capital city of Wessex. The design of “Old Minster,” meaning old church in Anglo-Saxon, can still be detected as marked by cobbles in the Cathedral close. Anglo-Saxon history, however, which spans the 5th-11th centuries, isn’t as visible in our lives today as the Norman-Romanesque castles, cathedrals and medieval street designs. Being harder to uncover makes the mystery of King Alfred’s remains even more enticing.

The hunt for our Royal ancestors has taken a more feverish turn. It all began with the mass hysteria created by the Richard III Society over the latter’s possible remains beneath a Leicester car park. Similar events in Winchester, however, have in recent months taken a more serious tone. Previously an unsuccessful search involved the radio-carbon dating of a set of six skeletons, including five skulls excavated from St Bartholomew’s Church exhumed from the site of Hyde abbey in 19th century. This sparked interest in uncovering the remains of King Alfred, but was subsequently dated as too late to be identified with him. And yet all was not lost to history forever as this investigation paved the way for a wider hunt. It seems that these were not the only remains with links to the King’s burial, said to have been at the High Altar of Hyde Abbey.

Winchester Museum
Winchester Museum

Some remains already excavated from Hyde Abbey for safekeeping sat quietly in two boxes in The Museum of Winchester’s storage, patiently awaiting a well-funded and high-profile research project to come their way. It did, under the direction of Dr Katie Tucker, a researcher in human osteology at the University of Winchester. Last year these boxes of bones from Hyde Abbey were carefully transferred from storage to their next hiding place, deeply ensconced in the warren of corridors in the University’s archaeology department. Dr Tucker has paid particular attention to a section of hip bone separated from the collection and found at the location of the Abbey’s high altar – a position reserved for the most important and high-ranking individuals.

Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder

Although deeply hush-hush, it became common knowledge in the history department that King Alfred was secretly hidden away in our university buildings. This created an exciting rush as we went to lectures knowing that something – or someone – magical was in our midst. The results, however. are slightly more vague. Dating and analysis placed the bone between AD 895-1017, and belonging to a man between 26 and 45 or over. King Alfred died in his early fifties in 899. There are, however, more possible identities such as King Edward the Elder or his brother, Ethelweard, who were also buried at the abbey.

Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. (Cambridge University Library, Ee.3.59: fol. 3v)
Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. (Cambridge University Library, Ee.3.59: fol. 3v)

Now that the novelty has worn off, especially after the broadcast of a BBC2 documentary in January 2014, I ask Professor Barbara Yorke (Emeritus Professor in Early Medieval History, University of Winchester) what all the hype was really about. Is this King Alfred or not? And what does the project mean for the future? Professor Yorke stresses that radio-carbon dating is not precise. “The bone, if it is a royal one, could just as easily be that of one of Alfred’s sons who were also buried there,” she explains. “There were also quite likely other significant Anglo-Saxons moved from New Minster to Hyde, such as abbots.” Although one bone can reveal information about diet, perhaps, if it were to actually lead to the discovery of more bones then the state of play would get much more interesting. “Personally I would love to know what Alfred looked like,” Professor Yorke remarks, “and whether he did suffer from a serious illness, as his biographer suggests”. Bringing these ancient characters to life would certainly generate interest in the Anglo-Saxon past. “I would like people to be as interested in Alfred’s son Edward the Elder, as he was also a remarkable king who ruled more of England and was more of a patron in Winchester. A verified tangible relic would act as a focus of interest in him, but we are not there yet, and more finds would be necessary to distinguish him from Edward (and, potentially, another son) – though I’m not sure if one could ever certainly do so.”

Rumour has it that a hunt is on for Alfred’s ancestors in order to help identify the bone. As Professor Yorke clarifies, “The potential of DNA and other scientific analyses is very exciting, but it’s still being developed. A few years ago the remains of a granddaughter of Alfred, named Eadgith, were excavated in Magdeburg cathedral. (She married a German emperor). Water residue in her teeth confirmed that she was likely to have been brought up in southern England – quite different from those of other people in Magdeburg cathedral – and really was Eadgith. However, although they had most of her bones, it was not possible because of their condition to extract DNA from them. The radio-carbon dates were way out for her lifetime, possibly to do with her diet. Eating fish can skew the results.”

Mortuary Chests, Winchester Cathedral
Mortuary Chests, Winchester Cathedral

So although the Alfred campaign has not bought the great King back to life through a tangible and identifiable body, it has sparked interest in his sons and granddaughter. All of this is incredibly important to Anglo-Saxon history. Meanwhile the excitement of DNA testing, and the thought of identifying real Royal figures with remains, is far from fading. The mortuary chests that belong in Winchester Cathedral are said to hold the bones of Anglo-Saxon kings and their Danish successors, including King Cnut. They’re being conserved, and it’s no secret that future aspirations lie in re-articulating the skeletons and DNA-testing. The bones, it seems, were unfortunately mixed up when the Civil War soldiers threw them through the Cathedral’s stained-glass windows to break the images of saints. “The kings and bishops in the mortuary chests would pose major problems,” cautions Professor Yorke, “as the bones have moved around a lot. This could affect radio-carbon dating and other scientific tests, and it would be very expensive to do other than take samples. There is much of potential interest in them, but it may need to be further away in the future. Detailed study may have to wait for further scientific advances.”

Imagining a line-up of Anglo-Saxon Kings buried here at Winchester, fortifies its historic legacy even more. Let’s hope that successful DNA testing is not that far off, as the opportunity to find out what each king looked like and who they were makes a mysterious other world suddenly become human, tangible and almost living.

By Rebecca J S Nice

Writer, dance critic, history geek and Winchy lover. Rebecca is a mature student at The University of Winchester studying Choreography and Dance combined with History. After teaching for eight years, she now writes for various publications and blogs about dance and all things arty-farty, whilst drinking copious amounts of tea and day dreaming in Winchester’s many café windows. @rebeccajsnice