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Tributes to Christopher Webb

20 December 1938 – 25 September 2015

A number of tributes have been paid to Chris Webb, who passed away on 25th September. He was a long-standing supporter of the Winchester Excavations Committee, as well as many other local organisations. Winchester Excavations Committee members recalled his passionate support for the King Alfred Busses, his early support for the fight to save Hockley Viaduct from destruction in the 1980s, his help with the campaign for a tunnel under Twyford Down, and above all Chris’ gentle humour and kindness.

A few words from Martin Biddle:

‘Chris was a good friend and archaeological enthusiast. He grew up in a household with a profound interest in the past; his parents were members of the Egypt Exploration Society and Chris accompanied them on a number of visits to Egypt, Central Asia and Europe as a boy.

He served as a member of the Winchester Excavations Committee for many years, and was also on our management committee, where his enthusiasm and wise comment were greatly appreciated.’

Over one hundred people attended Chris’ funeral, including representatives from the Winchester Excavations Committee, The Rifles (Chris was in the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry – 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) as one of the last National Servicemen), Friends of King Alfred’s Buses, Friends of Hockley Viaduct and the City of Winchester Trust.

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Lecture at Winchester Cathedral: ‘Bishops, Kings and Saints in Early Medieval Winchester’

15th July 2015 7pm

'Bishops, Kings and Saints in early medieval Winchester' - Sarah Foot is  the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford and a Lay Canon of Christ Church Cathedral.  She has written extensively on the history of the Anglo-Saxon Church and is currently beginning work on an intellectual biography of the Venerable  Bede.  Her most recent book was Ethlstan: the First English Monarch (Yale UP, 2011).

This lecture will explore how Winchester became not just the political base of the kings of Wessex (later of all England) but also the most significant cathedral church in England, second only to the archiepiscopal seat at Canterbury.

Tickets: £10, available online from the Cathedral Box Office or by phone on 01962 857 275.

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CBA Festival of Archaeology a great success in Winchester

2015 saw the National Festival of Archaeology co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) celebrate its 25th year. Hundreds of events were on offer nationwide, organised by museums, heritage organisations, national and country parks, universities, local societies, and community archaeologists. Thousands of people were involved in events across the UK designed to bring archaeology to life.

Visitors excavating artefacts at the ‘Be an archaeologist’ day at Winchester Discovery Centre. © Hampshire Cultural Trust

In Winchester, the Hampshire Cultural Trust teamed up with the Winchester Excavations Committee to organise three events across the city.

Bishop Tim Dakin gives the walking tour a special treat by opening the Bishop’s Water Gate, which links the Cathedral and Wolvesey Palace.

‘Be an archaeologist’ day at the Winchester Discovery Centre

We started the festival with a drop-in session at the Discovery Centre on Saturday 11th July. This family friendly event was very well attended and allowed people of all ages to experience life as an archaeologist. Various activities were on offer including drawing, sorting, identifying and recording real archaeological finds from excavations in and around Winchester.

Archaeological walking tours of Winchester with Professor Martin Biddle

On Saturday 18th July Martin Biddle led an archaeological walking tour of Winchester. This proved so popular that a second tour was held on Saturday 15th August to meet demand. The walk, which started at The Great Hall, explored the Anglo-Saxon streets, the Anglo-Saxon Cathedral of Old Minster and New Minster, and the Bishop’s palace at Wolvesey, and ended with a private view and (well-needed!) light refreshments at the City Museum. An excellent and thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all.

Visitors handling artefacts at the Fascinating Finds Day at Winchester City Museum. © Hampshire Cultural Trust

Fascinating finds day at the City Museum

A drop-in session at the City Museum marked the end of the official two weeks of the festival. Attendees were able to handle archaeological objects from the collections with the museum’s curators on hand to answer questions.

All three events provided an excellent opportunity for members of the public to find out more about archaeology in Winchester and explore some of the excellent finds in the archaeology collections.

At the site of Old Minster. By kind permission of the Dean, visitors were allowed onto the Cathedral Green to see the site of Old Minster at close hand.
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The Winchester Mint receives excellent review in British Numismatic Journal

A new review in The British Numismatic Journal has described the Winchester Mint volume of Winchester Studies as 'the most important work of reference for the study of Late Saxon coinage to have been published in recent times'.

Andrew Woods, Curator of Numismatics at the Yorkshire Museum's Trust writes:

'A its heart is a dazzling detailed corpus of coins struck in Winchester between the reigns of Alfred and Henry III.  This is as near comprehensive as possible and includes die-links, weiths, diameters and provenance of over 5,000 coins, in addition to images for virtually all die combinations.  It was compiled by the late Yvonne Harvey and the scale of her efforts in its production are staggering, with tens of thousands of comparisons needed to complete the die study alone.  Students of Late Saxon coinage should be grateful to her for producing such tremendous resource and it will be a fitting legacy that her work is likely to act as the foundation and inspiration for a whole new generation of scholars. '

'...The book will continue to be important and relevant as a foundation for much further work for many years to come.  Any collector or scholar of the period should have a copy on their shelf.'

 

 

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