Thoughts of an Onlooker - Hyde Abbey 1995 – 99 - TrustNews Spring 2000
Nowhere is the phrase 'Spirit of Place' more apt than at Hyde Abbey. Seven years ago, when looking for a house, before I was even aware of the full history of the area, I felt that indefinable tug which tells you that you have found the right place. It was my good fortune that the Hyde Community Archaeology Project sprang into life in 1995, and over the next five years the whole area round me gradually revealed its secrets.
In the 1997 season, a small peak was reached when the building straddling the Mill stream was fully investigated, yielding in its final hours the prize of the beautifully sculptured lady's head with carefully coiffed hair and painted make-up still intact. It would have rejoiced the heart of the 13th C. mason to know that his defiled work had emerged from that 15th C. wall and once again could be admired for its beauty.
The last two seasons of '98 and '99 concentrated on the church area, north of the leisure centre. With the enthusiasm and extra muscle-power of American Earthwatch helpers extending the efforts, the whole vast scale of the hidden church started to emerge, reaching its culmination in a cross section of the majority of the East End. Along with interest and awe, one started to feel one could enter into the daily round and worship of the monks of the Abbey. How they managed the influx of the pilgrims yet kept the essential privacy of their sanctum bore echoes of our Cathedral life today with its crowds of visitors, providing, one has to say, the essential income for the upkeep of the building now as then.
1999 being the 1100" anniversary of the death of Alfred, much was made in the media of the search for his bones. On site, for the diggers and the watchers, it was much more a feeling of reaching the goal of unravelling the complexities of the building. 'Have you found him yet?' was frequently half-humorously tossed in over the fence.
So what happens next?
One fervently hopes that a simple representational scheme can be devised to mark the site where, once, was buried one of England's great monarchs, not only would we be paying our respects but it would give the people of Hyde and the modern-day 'pilgrims' pleasure, appreciation and sensation of that special 'spirit of place'.