The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester

This three-volume work offers a comprehensive study of Winchester's three Anglo-Saxon minsters Old Minster, New Minster and Nunnaminster/St Mary's Abbey together with their cemeteries, domestic buildings, and elements absorbed into the Norman cathedral including the setting for the cult of St Swithun. Scientific evidence, and documentary, architectural, and artistic sources are woven into the results of the major excavations carried out on the sites of Old and New Minster between 1961 and 1970, and later work on Nunnaminster/St Mary's Abbey, to present a new synthesis of Winchester's ecclesiastical landscape. Volume 1 explores the archaeology of the first church, its documented origins in the mid-seventh century, and north Italian inspiration. It traces the architectural and liturgical development of Old Minster into a major complex celebrating the cult of St Swithun, its design inspired by the Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. Documentary sources for the foundation of New Minster, the memorial church for the

empire and Europe. In addition to the illustrations with the text, Volume 3 contains detailed plans and sections, photographs, phasing charts, and images of manuscripts, artefacts and comparative churches. [Publisher's text]

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