Photograph of St Bartholomew's Church, Winchester
Taken about 1870
Originally the Church of St Bartholomew lay within the precincts of Hyde Abbey and served the lay servants of the Abbey as well as the small village community of Hyde. The monastery had been founded by Alfred the Great and was relocated to Hyde in 1110 when the city centre had become overcrowded as a result of the building of the Norman Cathedral and Palace. Little remains of the early church, although the west tower is thought to have been constructed with stones from the Abbey buildings following its dissolution under Henry VIII.
By the early 1700s St Bartholomew's had fallen into disrepair and the ruined chancel was walled off from the body of the church. The following century saw major restoration work including the rebuilding of the chancel in the 1830s, and its enlargement in 1857-9 by the Winchester architect John Colson.
The photograph was taken by Winchester photographer William Savage (1817-87) and is found in an album of his work.
