Treasures of Hyde Abbey
Client: Winchester City Council and The Hyde900 Committee
This Heritage Lottery funded exhibition tells the story of Hyde Abbey, once a huge and prosperous Benedictine abbey in Winchester, which was demolished in 1538 when Henry VIII desolved the monasteries of England.
The exhibition filled the 128 sq m Discovery Centre gallery in Winchester and brought together the Saxon and Medieval treasures which survived the abbey’s destruction.
With a large gallery to fill and a limited budget, our design solution illustrated the story of life in and around the abbey using a mix of informative graphics, interactive exhibits and a treasure hunt for younger children.
The exhibition was hugely successful for our clients, attracting over 14,000 visitors over its eight week run, 40% up on the HLF target figure.
Dr G T Denford, Principal Curator, Winchester Museums, wrote …
"On a personal level, staff from Winchester Museums found it a pleasure to work with the Springboard team, which made the whole project enjoyable … all this was achieved within a tight budget and with tight timescales.
I would certainly recommend Springboard Design."
Five ornately carved stone capitals from the original abbey were mounted on pillars in a facsimile arcade.
A model of the 12th century abbey was placed over a contemporary aerial photograph, allowing local visitors to see what once stood on the land their houses now occupy. This popular exhibit provided a dramatic illustration of the vast scale of the abbey.
In the centre of the gallery an arched, low light-level ‘inner sanctum’ housed two high security show cases. These displayed glorious medieval manuscripts borrowed from the British Museum and the Bodleian Library.
We asked local school children to decorated a replica of the abbey’s fabulous gold cross.