Time Team (1994–2014): Season 13, Episode 6 - Eastry, Kent - full transcript
This is the village of Eastry
in Kent and over the years
the villagers here have been
tantalised by Anglo-Saxon finds.
A warrior grave came up
at the back of this house,
behind there, another
burial laden with finds,
but the most intriguing discovery
was made just down the road.
This beautiful gilded brooch
dates to around 600 AD.
Like some of the other finds nearby,
it must have belonged to someone
with a bit of cash to chuck about.
So, why did it end up here?
Is this mysterious hill a clue
to Eastry's Anglo-Saxon past?
Could there even have
been a palace here?
As usual, we've got just
three days to find out.
In the 7th and 8th centuries,
the village of Eastry was one of
Anglo-Saxon Kent's most
important settlements.
According to documents,
it was a focus of authority,
a major administrative centre.
And with high status finds
unearthed at Highborough Hill,
just a mile from Eastry village,
it seems the site could have been
at the heart of
this Saxon power base.
Graham Caspell's family have farmed
the site for almost a century.
When did you realise it
was something special?
Well, I suppose really,
from a very young age,
standing up here,
you could just see for so far
and just think - well, this must
have some historical interest.
Have there been many finds up here?
There have been finds
all around the hill,
from various different time scales,
so, yeah, there have been.
Mick?
Mick?
< Hi, there.
Mick?
< Hi, there.
Why are we here?
Because this hill
is very interesting.
Apart from the finds you've been
talking about, there are features
that are even on the early maps,
look.
Look at that! Ancient remains.
It's like Dungeons and Dragons.
And then the air pictures
you see, like this one,
have got soil marks or crop marks.
You can make all
sorts of things out of this -
we've thought of it as a big
enclosure or several enclosures,
so something's going on here and
we've got to find out what it is.
I've seen the gilded brooch.
Where did that come up?
That one came up from
this corner here, but in
this corner here right opposite
came what's known as a
plated disc brooch,
which is a kind of a sandwich
of gold and silver.
So things are spread right
across this whole field
so we've got to have a good look.
Mick, it's a very hilly
hill in a flat landscape.
Could it be man made?
I don't think it's man made,
but I think it's been used a lot -
you can pick prehistoric flints up
round the edge by walking across it.
It's the sort of hill that no-one's
going to ignore in the past.
So, what are we going to do?
We're going to do some
geophysics across the middle of this
to see if we can pick up these
ditches, but even if we don't
pick anything up,
we'll still put a trench in
to see what these features are.
Trench one will confirm if the
series of features is actually
an enclosure that surrounds
some high status buildings.
To pick up these features,
it will be one of the longest
we've ever dug on Time Team,
running over 60 metres from
the bottom to the
very top of the hill.
Trench two on the south of the hill
will investigate these interesting
geophys results.
Because so many high status finds
like this 6th century Saxon brooch
have been found here in the past,
we've roped in an unprecedented
number of metal detectorists
to comb not just the
spoil heaps but the whole
three acres of Highborough Hill.
Andrew!
And after just hours,
the strategy's paying off.
I don't know if you can
see the look of satisfaction
on these people's faces -
some might say even a trifle smug!
We never find anything decent
halfway through day one,
but Jamie - what happened?
We've just been doing the
metal detecting survey of the area
and this was the first
good signal we'd had.
Isn't it beautiful?
What is it, Helen?
Well, it's an Anglo-Saxon brooch
dating to the 6th century AD.
We think its made of silver,
but we'll have to get it cleaned.
And look, it's got a garnet on it.
You can tell it's a garnet because
of the way if flashes and glitters
as you move it in the light.
You've demonstrated what
you can do in two hours.
By the end of day three, I want
the rest of this brooch, OK?
But why would such high status
finds be here on this hill?
What would their wealthy
owners be doing in this area?
In Saxon times, the name
Eastry referred to a district -
the eastern region of the
Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent.
The region needed an administrative
centre, and a place of assembly.
According to 8th century documents,
somewhere in Eastry
there was a villa Regales -
a Latin term that refers
to a king's high hall.
This major residence would have
been a centre for the community,
a wealthy power base and a
regular home to the King of Kent.
So if there is such a major
residence on Highborough Hill,
it could explain the
glittering high status finds.
Are you all right, Bridg? I
believe you've got something for me.
Are you all right, Bridg? I
believe you've got something for me.
Aha! Yes!
And in trench number two,
Bridg has found what may be
a key piece of supporting evidence.
Look - two bits of pot
Rebecca's got out of this feature.
Oh, that's a bit more like it.
Erm, looks Saxon to me.
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
I think so, yeah.
This is the rim sherd from a jar -
very typical of the middle Saxon
pottery you get in Dover.
Erm, 450 to 850.
OK. What sort of size
vessel is that going to be?
It's hard to tell - they're
handmade, not thrown on a wheel,
you can see, it's quite uneven.
But it's probably something with
a rim diameter of about that,
and that sort of size of body.
Oh, quite big, then.
Oh, quite big, then.
Nice globular cooking pot,
very typical of the Saxon period.
And the topography - the position -
of this pit is quite interesting
cos we're on a south-facing slope.
You often get early middle Saxon
settlements on south-facing slopes.
You're in the sunshine,
but you're out of the wind.
If you're on the top
you're in the wind,
so it makes a nicer place to live,
I suppose, more comfortable.
So we could have a little
Saxon settlement on this slope.
If Paul's right
and there was a settlement here,
this could be the site of
Eastry's Saxon centre of power.
But no structures have yet
turned up in the long trench
where we thought there might
be a substantial enclosure.
Another less thrilling idea is that
Paul's settlement was just a few
low status huts
on the side of a hill.
Hopefully, these trenches
will give us an answer.
But there's also another contender
just down the road
in Eastry village.
Eastry Court is a listed mansion
in the centre of the village.
Based on documentary evidence,
its owner David Freud
believes that it's his house,
not Highborough Hill,
that holds the key to
understanding Anglo-Saxon Eastry.
Posh house, isn't it?
Posh house, isn't it?
Very nice, isn't it?
Oh.
Hello, David, can we have a
look inside your wonderful house?
Hello, David, can we have a
look inside your wonderful house?
Come on in.
It's a bit good, isn't it? Have you
got any idea how old it is?
Well, we've got some clues and,
er, show that here,
when we go behind this
Georgian panelling...
Whoa! Have a look at this!
And here we've got a wall
with some doors in it
and the wall dates from 1294.
We know the date because
we found the bills and it
actually cost - the hall of which
this is part - cost 11 pounds
and five shillings and something.
So, this is the end of
the hall where it's going into
into the kitchens and the
pantries and stuff like that?
into the kitchens and the
pantries and stuff like that?
That's right.
Do we know if there was
anything here before that date?
We do know that in that year,
they pulled down the hall that was
sitting there before.
So we know that it was
continuously occupied for a
reasonable period before that.
And prior to that hall?
Well, the rumour is that before
that it was an Anglo-Saxon palace.
Mick, I think ten years ago I would
have got so excited at the prospect
of an Anglo-Saxon palace, but the
number of times we've hunted...
of an Anglo-Saxon palace, but the
number of times we've hunted...
Absolutely.
..for Anglo-Saxon palaces
and what do we find?
..for Anglo-Saxon palaces
and what do we find?
NothingI
Exactly. Are we going to
be on to that this time?
Well, it's possible - we've got
some early timber work anyway.
We're right next to the church -
it's the right sort of site,
it's a nice, big, flat site
so I'd be more hopeful here than
some others we've looked at.
Wherever the palace exactly is,
Eastry would have been the ideal
place to build one.
A major Roman road
runs through the village,
while the coast and port
of Sandwich are four miles away.
And the building would
have been pretty impressive.
Our very own designer
and trained architect Raysan,
is trying to reconstruct one.
I've started making a basic model
of a sort of a Saxon hall and
really now, I could do with help.
Well, it looks absolutely lovely.
But one of the things
that does spring to mind
is you're going to need a door
in the middle of each long wall
and it's going to have to be
higher than the wall
because you've got to be able to get
through without banging your head.
The second thing is, I don't
think the roof is high enough
because we need to be able
to accommodate something like
a cauldron chain above a fireplace.
How long was that, Sam?
Estimated 18 feet,
the length of the chain.
You've got to have the
cauldron and fire underneath.
So a really high building.
We're talking about a high hall
visible for many miles around,
designed to be seen,
shining across many lands -
it's wonderful stuff.
Finding such a building
is a real challenge,
with very few examples in
the country, let alone in Kent.
The problem is,
in this part of the world,
we've never found
anything like this.
All we've got are these wonderful
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries,
one of the biggest concentrations,
full of gold and all the rest of it.
And in terms of the settlements,
we have virtually nothing.
Mostly, where they have been found,
in Canterbury and elsewhere,
they are small, sunken huts.
So, if we can even find big
rectangular buildings as post holes,
you've really hit the jackpot.
Where is this palace? Is it down
in the village at David's house?
Or could it be up on Graham's hill,
with the settlement
we seem to have found?
It's got to be out there somewhere!
The search means
splitting our resources.
In Bridg's trench, yet another
find only adds to our confusion.
Over here, this iron vessel,
that's what it looks like.
But it is sitting in this same
material that the Saxon feature
over there is cut into.
Just cos it's near something,
it doesn't mean it's the same date.
But, I mean,
if it is a whole iron vessel
and it is Saxon, then that is
very unusual for a settlement site.
Something you'd expect
to see in a cemetery.
I'm not saying it definitely isn't,
but it's unusual.
All you can do is
lift it and X-ray it.
It's the only thing we can do
in the state that it's in.
So, perhaps, the hill is a burial
site, not a settlement -
a kind of barrow -
a hill-based cemetery.
This would explain the high status
brooches buried with their owners.
Helen, intrigued by the idea
of graves, opens a trench
in an area of the east side
of the hill where metal
artefacts have been found.
But on the other side of the hill,
the metal detectorists are
adding to their collection.
Tony, look at that - the most
brilliant golden object!
Wow! Where'd you find it?
Wow! Where'd you find it?
Just down there.
Just from metal detectoring?
Just from metal detectoring?
Yep.
David, could that be Saxon?
It could be, but I'd
want Helen to see it.
It's just possible that
it might be more recent.
It's just possible that
it might be more recent.
Tantalising!
It's lovely, isn't it?
Beautiful. Stunning.
Look at that!
Isn't that good?
Well, we hope it's good. Graham!
Oh, my god.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Isn't that gorgeous?
It may be Saxon.
It may be Saxon.
May be. Right.
But we'll have to wait for Helen.
So, if the brooch is Anglo-Saxon,
did it come from a settlement,
a grave or even a palace?
While the jury's out, Mick's still
determined to test the theory that
the palace may be in
the village at Eastry Court,
so geophys set off
to survey David's luscious lawns.
Meanwhile,
another extraordinary find
has been made at Highborough Hill.
Look at this, come on over.
It gives John Gater a reason
to feel smug, believing he's
won a geophys jackpot.
This is a first.
You haven't finally found
something, have ya?
That is the first time
we've ever found a windmill.
Windmill?
I've been told there was a
windmill on top of the hill.
We are on the top of the hill.
Where is it?
If you extend the trench a
couple of metres under the digger,
what I think you're going to
find is the cross pieces,
the timber supports
for the windmill.
Do we know when it was up here?
Do we know when it was up here?
Well, some of them are
12th century, apparently.
It's for you to find out, cos if
that's the first time we've got
a windmill in geophysics,
you can buy me a pint.
Oh, comes in cheap -
I hope it ain't there then!
All right, Ian,
let's find the windmill!
After a few hours,
John Gater wins his pint off Phil,
because we do find the cross
beams of a windmill
that once stood on the hill.
But it's medieval and doesn't help
us in our quest to understand
what the Anglo-Saxons
were doing here.
I can't remember a first day on
Time Team when we've had
so many really good finds.
And yet the irony is, we've got
no Anglo-Saxon structures,
no cemeteries, no palace -
what's going on?
Well, it's been really hard for me
to accept that it's not a cemetery.
But we've had no graves, no bones,
so I've come to terms with it.
And what else it might be?
Have you got any ideas, Mick?
The thing that I've come up with
which might work is that I wonder
if this isn't a meeting place -
one of these moot sites where people
gathered for proclamations
and trials and stuff like that?
So, what about all the finds?
So, what about all the finds?
Well, they are things
that get dropped at the time,
but there's no structures here.
How do you feel about a moot?
It's quite a radical suggestion
for the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries.
First of all,
I have to look at the finds
to see the breaks - could they
have been here hundreds of years?
If it was a moot hill,
what would its association
have been with the rest
of the country round about?
You'd expect there to be,
as there was in later times,
a central meeting place
to serve a big estate.
But because it's not permanently
occupied, you'd expect
the main residence, the hall,
the farm buildings, the church,
to be somewhere else on that estate.
So, where might that be here?
So, where might that be here?
Well, I think in this case
it's probably down at Eastry,
down by the church and Eastry Court.
So, the answer to what's going here
could lie down there?
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Tomorrow?
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Tomorrow?
Yeah.
You up for a pint?.
You up for a pint?.
Mine's a shandyI
It's the beginning of
day two and yesterday,
we were trying to solve the mystery
at Highborough Hill up there.
How come we were getting
all these Anglo-Saxon finds?
Could we have a cemetery?
Might there be a palace?
We certainly weren't coming up
with any structures and by
the end of the day, Mick thought
what we might have was a moot hill
or meeting place and all the finds
were just things that people dropped
when they were meeting each other,
but he also thought that the key to
the whole mystery might lie, not up
there, but down here at Eastry Court
where John's being geophysing.
Mick, what do you think the link
could be between a moot hill
and this place here?
Well, you'd expect the moot hill to
be the administrative and probably
legal centre of a big estate.
You'd also expect another centre
that was the agricultural centre,
the church and that sort of
stuff and I think that's more likely
to have been down here
where the later medieval church is.
So somewhere round here is where
I'd expect the early centre to be.
Yeah, but what do you expect us
to find under the gardens?
That's my problem.
I think right here, there's gonna be
bits more of this medieval building.
We know this is a medieval hall
inside, there'll be other structures
going with that
in either stone or timber.
I would also probably expect burials
because the graveyard probably was
bigger, came further out from
the church, and under that could be
Saxon buildings and stuff as well.
There's probably a whole
sandwich of stuff in this area.
Have you got anything
on your geophys
that by the remotest stretch
of the imagination
could reflect what he's just said?
I've probably got all that,
but I just don't know where.
I mean, it's a fantastic garden
but it's a nightmare from our point
of view - there's drains going
through, there's paths,
it's been landscaped,
the levels have changed.
From what you've described,
to be honest, I think our best
target are these responses here.
They might be wall footings
and that's just here.
It's close to the church, the
buildings, let's give that a try.
I think anywhere in this area
would be useful to us.
So you're happy to
put in something here?
Absolutely, that's ideal.
Hang on a bit. David, stop
lurking, watching us working.
This is your house, your lawn, do
you fancy helping us dig the trench?
Yeah, yeah.
You'll have to put on older clothes
than that, you look far too smart.
I'll see you later.
I'll see you later.
OK, we'll see you later.
I want to see him sweating.
Drive him hard.
Mick puts in the first trench
right next to David's house.
While hopefully this will give
us the archaeological story,
Stewart sets off on his own mission
to find out what the landscape
can tell us.
Studying old maps, he's
tracking pathways and routes
to find evidence of
a royal Anglo-Saxon site.
He's particularly interested
in the location of Eastry Church.
Although it's medieval,
the original church on the site
might have been Anglo Saxon.
Around the time we expect
a centre of power at Eastry
in the 7th century,
Christianity was spreading in Kent
and a new church would have been
at the heart of an important estate.
For Stewart, the present church
could lie right in the middle of
an Anglo-Saxon royal enclosure, and
if there's a royal enclosure here,
there would have
been a palace here too.
David's now sweating away,
ruining his own garden
trying to find evidence
of this palace.
Stewart thinks this is a small
price to pay for the promise of
a very rare building.
It starts to get really exciting
because we've got this 1841 tithe
map showing the plan of the village.
So where are we now?
In the grounds of the garden, there?
Just there and that's Eastry Court.
Can you see that big shape
in there like a big rectangle?
Very pronounced rectangle
in the middle.
It's influenced the layout of
the whole village, and that's
been preserved as a shape.
If you look at it on
the aerial photograph,
you see it's all that area there.
We're in that garden.
Down this side is a stream valley,
down that side is a valley
and there's a big plateau here
with this very distinctive area
of ground which has never been
encroached on.
I think this is
exactly the sort of place
you'd get a Saxon estate centre and
then the church sitting inside it.
But it's not just the landscape that
suggests there was a palace here.
There's also a legend of
persecution and treachery.
[ Skipped item nr. 390 ]
CLAP OF THUNDER
In fact, our earliest reference
to a palace in Eastry
comes from the 670s, from a story
of royal betrayal and bloodshed.
David, as soon as Sam knew
we were coming here,
he went "Oh, great, there was
a murder here, a murder!"
What was it?
A royal murder of two princes,
Ethelbert and Ethelred, two princes
of Kent, murdered by their cousin.
Undoubtedly, the background
story is dynastic feuding
and he murders them
secretly at night
and thinks he's got away with it
by burying them in the King's hall,
but because of shafts of light that
radiate out, the murder is revealed.
So what's this
white light all about?.
It's an indication of a miracle.
It's a miracle light, God's light,
and it means that we've got saints.
So it's like a Hammer Horror?.
The light comes on
and, "Ah! It wasn't me, chief."
Exactly.
Interestingly, the bodies
were moved to the chapel
and if the medieval chapel is on
the remains of an earlier chapel,
we're now sitting bang on where
the two princes were buried.
So there could be a pair of little,
innocent, sweet, darling princes
buried somewhere
under these flagstones?
Unfortunately, we won't find
the murder victims because we know
that they were translated
to Ramsey in Huntingdonshire.
So no bodies?
Almost certainly not but you might
find the murder weapon, perhaps.
Oh, I like that idea.
'On day one, we found a spectacular
brooch on Highborough Hill
'that seemed to be Anglo-Saxon.
'Not only that but the brooch
appeared to be high status.
'Now, after a little cleaning
it's time to hear the verdict.'
All morning, the diggers up on the
site have been saying, "Is it Saxon?
"Is it Victorian?" Helen, you're
the specialist, what is it?
Well, it is actually Victorian.
Oh!
There are a few things
that give it away.
The really big giveaway
is the solder on the back.
The Victorians added separate
fixings to their brooches
and the Anglo-Saxons didn't,
especially not on a gold piece.
Secondly,
ovals in plain wire, wrong.
Should be twisted, beaded wire
on something Anglo-Saxon
but the real clincher,
the most obvious thing,
is on these balls round here
they're dented so they're hollow.
Anglo-Saxons did not make things
with hollow gold balls on them.
Everything was solid.
So I'm afraid it is Victorian.
What I don't understand is
there must have been 20 trained
archaeologists there, thousands
of pounds of taxpayers' money
invested in their education and
yet everyone was really tentative
about whether or not it was
modern or Anglo Saxon. Why?
Well, I did my PhD
on this kind of thing
and I still was
a bit nervous about it.
It's because until it's cleaned up
you can't see the details and both
the Victorians and
the 7th century Anglo-Saxons
are both copying Roman designs
of jewellery.
They were both trying to look
as classical as they could
and both doing pretty well.
So ultimately, they are
going to look very similar.
Back at Highborough Hill, there's
still no sign of Anglo-Saxon
graves or buildings. It clearly
isn't a barrow or burial ground.
Mick's idea of a meeting point
is the only theory still standing.
But at least, Matt has found
some evidence of a structure
at the bottom of trench one.
Matt, what do you think
this is now?
Well, we've got down to
the top of this chalk and it's
a road of some sort with huge flint
nodules that have been packed in at
the bottom and then chalk has been
tamped down all the way across it.
But the strangest thing about it,
it's like that deep so far.
Half a metre.
Half a metre.
Really solid road, yeah.
So what kind of road might that be?
Well, let me show you one that was
dug up in Yorkshire that I think
really sort of
explains what we've got.
There, they had a hollow way that
had worn out over the years with
cattle and people walking on it,
and it got so deep and boggy
that in the end they decided to put
a properly built road of boulders
and stones in the bottom of it.
That's what we've probably got
here - a hollow way, which has been
reinforced with the new road built
up and they're probably doing it
because this is probably
going up to the mill
on the top of the hill
and it's gonna get a lot of use.
It couldn't be Saxon?
I don't think so. Mills like that
don't come in till the 12th century
so if it's going up there,
it would be later.
I mean, my guess is at the moment
that this hollow way might be
a bit earlier, it might even be
Roman or something like that
but the filling and everything
is probably late medieval.
So where's the Anglo-Saxon?
Well, we've got various finds
from across the site
but what we haven't got is any
structures at all to go with them.
By the middle of day two,
Highborough Hill hasn't
revealed any more of its Saxon past.
In fact, apart from a high status
brooch, the finds on the hill
have been almost entirely
prehistoric and medieval.
Even the iron pot which we'd
hoped was a Saxon cemetery vessel,
turns out under x-rays to be
nothing but a modern paint pot.
Perhaps it was magnolia.
With no burials or structures
other than a bit of road,
Mick's left with
only one course of action.
Mick, why are we
closing down the hill?
Because I think we've done all
we need to do and can do up here
and we need to work elsewhere.
Our ideas that we've got about it
won't be helped by more holes.
What ideas?
What ideas?
Well, we had this idea that it might
be a meeting point, a moot hill
where assemblies were held.
Another possibility
which has come up
is that it might actually
have some sort of...
Well, we don't have a term for it,
a sort of symbolic centre, I suppose.
If you go along the Roman road
along there and you look back
across to this, it looks like a
great barrow and I'm just wondering
whether the name that we've got
now of Wodensborough, the village
over there, didn't actually
apply to this and it wasn't thought
that it was where Woden was buried
or worshipped or something like that,
and that's why the finds are here.
Would the name have shifted
from one place to another?
Well, I think it could, it could
have happened in the 18th century
when there was this amazing find,
apparently consisting of 30 glass
vessels at Wodensborough,
and people might have said,
"What could have caused this?
"Oh, maybe the place name's in
the wrong place", and just moved it.
If this is a cult centre,
it's even more likely to have been
a meeting point as well,
that's documented in lots of stuff.
This is typical Time Team. None
of us will be able to prove this,
but we all think it's
a really plausible theory.
BELL TOLLS
At least in Eastry village,
Stewart's found
some solid evidence
of a Saxon enclosure.
This fairly ordinary looking
pathway, I think, is a remnant of
the boundary of this Saxon estate
centre we've been looking for,
because just when you get to here,
see how it drops off on that side?
It must be a couple of
metres high here.
It must be a couple of
metres high here.
This, that we're on top of,
is the remnant of the bank
that defines the western side
of this enclosure.
That side's the village
cos that's outside the enclosure,
that side's inside,
and we're on top.
We've actually walked along a big
broad bank and it's this that's
been preserving this boundary
for God knows how long, in fact.
That's good, that is.
But not far away, the first trench
at Eastry Court hasn't shown up
any sign of a palace
or any Anglo-Saxon finds.
Promising geophys results persuade
Mick to open a second trench
at the bottom of the garden and
a third trench near the church,
ripping up even more
of David's lawn.
If that looks all right
when he replaces it, I'm a Dutchman.
Is your gardener
going to be very happy?
Dennis is going
to be deeply miserable at that.
Oh, dear.
Despite the lack of
evidence from the trenches,
Stewart's still banging on that
the garden is in a royal enclosure.
Stewart, all day you've been saying,
"we're in the right place."
We've dug loads of trenches now
and we haven't found the palace.
And I'm going to carry on
saying we're in the right place.
If you look at this photograph
we took from the helicopter,
this is the area of the enclosure,
there's the church, there.
This bit I've highlighted in white,
that actually survives on
the ground, it's a footpath now.
What makes you think
that just because we've got
a bit that's extant there that there
were all those other bits there?
Because they're continued
in the mapping.
You can see their boundaries
are continued through
the different generations of maps
and they still exist to this day.
Why so much space?
It's a very big enclosure
for a relatively small palace.
Yeah, again I think that's
designed for status reasons.
You want your buildings
to look impressive
with lots of open spaces around
them, rather like, you know,
Buckingham Palace isn't hemmed
in with lots of other buildings.
It's got nice spaces around,
it emphasizes the dramatic size
of the buildings in the middle.
But if the royal Saxon enclosure
and palace are in Eastry village
and Mick's right that there
is a Saxon ritual centre
on Highborough Hill,
could the two be related?
Can we borrow those, Frank?
Mind your head now.
Will do.
Stewart, now on a roll, must have
had a shot of divine inspiration.
He's got yet another theory.
Oh, Stewart,
come and have a look.
So where's Highborough Hill
from here?
Can you see that pylon?
Well, the site's just
to the right of that pylon,
it's behind the trees there.
Let me show you on this portable,
interactive digital workstation.
It nearly flew away from you then.
We're here on the church at Eastry
and Highborough Hill is over there.
Now they look detached, don't they?
You can't really see any connection
between the two but what's emerging,
looking at the landscape, is that
there's a network of parallel roads
established in this landscape
long before the Roman period.
I've started to mark them up
in pink coming through here.
You can see one of them
over there going through
the middle of those
yellow fields of rape.
The green?
The green road, yeah.
And there's another one crossing
over the hill over there, the green
hedge line coming over the top.
Well, what's interesting about one
of these roadways, this one here,
it actually goes right by
Highborough Hill,
i.e., Highborough Hill
is on a major route way
so Mick's idea of a
meeting place makes sense.
They would have been
on the road, yeah.
We've also got another one
which comes out of the corner of
this enclosure at Eastry
and it heads out the back
and actually takes you up
towards Highborough Hill.
I think Highborough Hill
is on a major network of roads
but also we've got a connection
between this enclosure
and Highborough Hill itself.
And remember that bit of road
Matt found on the hill
earlier in the day?
Thanks to Stewart,
we now think this very road
is part of the one that runs
between the hill and the enclosure.
And Stewart's got yet another idea.
Another interesting aspect is that
we've got a little corner
inside this enclosure here,
which is just down there, it's
now called the recreation ground.
It's a nice open green space
and it's always been within
this enclosure. The village
has never encroached on it so
the chances of it being disturbed
by later development are quite thin.
So are you thinking what
I'm thinking? Trenches.
Yeah, absolutely.
The recreation ground
Stewart wants to investigate
is in one corner of the enclosure,
but with jumbled
geophys results there,
Mick's instead putting all his
resources into Eastry Court gardens
with trenches clustered around
the other side of the church.
Fuelled by his conviction,
Stewart tries to persuade
Mick that opening trenches in the
recreation ground is a priority.
But Mick's not having any of it.
It's very busy here, Mick,
but we haven't forgotten
about the recreation ground?
No, but I was very worried about all
those earthworks over the top of it,
whether they were later cottages
or whatever, whereas this had
nice geophysics on it
so I thought we'd start here.
Right. I'm very keen
to look at that area
because there's been finds
up from that area.
I'm worried that we'll leave it.
We should sample over a big area.
We've got three things going on
in here anyway.
It's all a bit lopsided, it's
all on this side of the church.
We have enough on our
hands for the moment.
But we will go
over there, won't we?
I'm sure we'll
get there eventually.
Is that a promise then?
Is that a promise then?
No. No, it's not, no.
By the end of the day we've moved
all our resources to Eastry Court
in our search for the palace,
but having not yet found anything,
how far has that got us?
Mick, in a way I don't feel
that we've advanced at all
from where we were on day one.
We knew that that hill had got some
amazing finds and sure enough
it's got more amazing finds.
We have moved on. We've now got
a lot of holes open in the village.
So we're well on the way to sorting
out what's going on under Eastry.
But the hill itself
has been pretty intractable.
Yeah, it's been terrible.
I feel really inadequate
because as you say,
I don't think we are
any further on with it.
No, but we are, because the local
archaeologists have said to me
this evening that they now know more
about that hill that they did,
or what the context
of those finds are.
So they don't feel
that we haven't moved on,
they now know a
lot more about the hill.
Yeah, but we haven't got the link
between the hill and the village.
Yeah, but we haven't got the link
between the hill and the village.
I think we have.
I think looking at the pattern of
roadways, it fits into a pattern
which link it with Eastry, which is
where the core of the activity is.
Yes, but links the hill to what?
Well, the centre of activities in
Eastry which we shall get hopefully
when we finish digging
all those holes in the middle.
We haven't finished them yet.
I think we're confident
we're digging in the right place.
We've dug in one bit and
we've got a great opportunity
to dig in another bit
and that's the recreation ground.
And we shall
start that tomorrow.
You've been putting it off.
Yes. I have today but we
shall start it tomorrow.
Yeah?
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah.
So can we find the heart
of Anglo-Saxon Eastry?
Will we find it underneath
the recreation ground?
We'll know tomorrow, won't we?
Cheers, mate!
Cheers, mate.
Beginning of day three here in Kent
and we've had some fantastic
finds up at Highborough Hill.
We're still putting in
trenches down here at Eastry Court
but could the centre of
our Anglo-Saxon royal estate be here
in this little recreation ground?
Phil, I see they've got you
working here at last!
Well, somebody's got to
otherwise we'll never find out!
At Eastry Court, digging continues
in our search for the palace,
with a new trench opened
next to the house.
Just when we thought the
Highborough Hill story had ended,
Mick's now having his ear bent
by John Gater,
who's determined to excavate
some unexplored geophys anomalies.
The thing is, Mick, on day one,
I'd got this very distinctive
area of noise.
We've got anomalies
that extend for 20,
25 metres across the hillside here.
25 metres across the hillside here.
Yeah.
At the start, I didn't know
if it was cemetery or occupation.
But we're not quite sure what the
occupation is, because it's very odd.
It is.
Well, I think therefore to -
you know - abandon it not knowing
whether we've got Saxon here...
you know - abandon it not knowing
whether we've got Saxon here...
Yeah.
Because we haven't dug
some of the features...
Because we haven't dug
some of the features...
Yeah.
It seems we haven't
answered the question.
I think we need to get dating
material out because at the moment
all we've got is a couple
of sherds of medieval.
Yeah, but we haven't got just
two bits of medieval pot,
we have got medieval pot from this
ditch and from the pit down there.
This is one load of medieval stuff
that's come out of all the features
up here, except for two bits of Sax,
Saxon pot that were actually
stratigraphically above the
medieval in one of those pits.
So, they're derived
from something on the top.
So, they're derived
from something on the top.
I mean, if you're happy to
ignore this then, and dismiss that
as being possibly being Anglo-Saxon,
you're saying it's all medieval.
In the time we've got,
why don't we just strip another area
and given your worry about
dating evidence, dig whatever
feature we're on top of in there,
so that we get some more dating
evidence of one sort or another
but we don't strip that big
an area that we can't handle it
in the remaining time that we've got.
Mick reluctantly agrees
to go along with John's idea
and extends the top of trench two...
..while in the recreation ground,
Phil's pulling out all the stops
in the hunt for the palace.
But with the lack
of any hard evidence,
our palace remains a virtual one.
With help from our historians,
Raysan finally reveals
what such a palace may look like.
When people looked at it
in the surrounding countryside,
how do you think they
would have felt about it?
how do you think they
would have felt about it?
Well, it's the great ideal that it...
The equivalent of
Camelot in 7th century Kent,
as a building that is the focus
for all that is good and noble, it's
a place of identity and solidarity.
If you were a football supporter,
it would be your great stadium where
the great action,
the great dramas took place.
I can see that its dimensions
are really grand but would it have
been the colour of a garden fence?
An interesting possibility is that
they would have had some gilt paint,
it parallels the description
we have of the temple of Old Upsala
which could be seen shining
and there was something
described as a golden chain around
its roof that shone for miles around.
So there could be some kind of
decorative frieze on the...?
So there could be some kind of
decorative frieze on the...?
Exactly, exactly.
That's what I'd do
if I had one of those.
Would you put money on there being
one of these in Eastry?
From the documentary sources,
which as far as the 7th century go,
are very, very good -
emphatically yes, Tony.
I'm absolutely convinced that
it was here and looked like this.
The search for such a building
continues at the recreation ground.
Phil!
Phil!
Yo!
Have you got a palace
in your trench?
Have you got a palace
in your trench?
(LAUGHS) No, not all.
I mean, we've got two scruffyish
looking features - there's one
in there and one in there - they
might turn out to be something
but apart from that, nothing.
Stewart - you promised me
a royal palace.
I could almost smell
the mead and the roast boar.
I still think we're in the
right place for the right reasons.
But that's the critical point -
there doesn't seem to be any debris,
modern or post-medieval debris.
To me, that implies that
the village hasn't been allowed
to spread into this enclosure that
we've identified, which implies that
somewhere around this space
is something very special.
Mick, why are these palaces
so difficult to find?
Because they're built of timber,
post holes and stuff like that,
and really, you need a large area
to see whether the plan of post-holes
and slots makes any sense. So, where
they've been found is in gravel pits
where you can strip a large area and
see what the plan of everything is.
It's difficult with little holes
in an occupied area to
piece anything together. But this is,
this is incredibly clean, isn't it?
That is the most amazing thing -
to be in the middle of a village
to be in the middle of a village
and find nothing.
to be in the middle of a village
and find nothing.
Yeah.
It's always great on Time Team
when they get enthused about
finding sweet fanny adams, isn't it?.
What are we supposed to do?
I think we dig more holes.
Much to Stewart's relief,
Mick opens a second trench
in the recreation ground.
Over at Highborough Hill,
John's fight to re-open the dig
has paid off. Well, sort of.
Was it worth it?
Was it worth it?
I think so. Look, we've got more
features that we didn't know about
and we've got Saxon pottery.
and we've got Saxon pottery.
What's that feature?
We've got a ditch, Tony, that's
running up this brown material
up towards the hill
and round in that direction.
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
Well, it came from the ditch.
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
Well, it came from the ditch.
It did.
So can we now say we've got
a Anglo-Saxon ditch?
If you want
to see the pottery...
Tell me if this is evidence
of a Saxon community.
(LAUGHS) Is this it?.I
It's Saxon. 850 AD.
This is the sum total
of our finds in your trench, John?
Another triumph for geophys.
At least this is better
then what's been found
in the trenches of Eastry Court
gardens - absolutely nothing.
Hello, Paul.
Hello, Paul.
Oh, hi, Helen.
'In a newly opened trench
at the recreation ground,
'at least there's a glimmer
of hope.'
Don't get too excited -
it's probably not the biggest
piece of pottery you've ever seen.
But, erm,
it's a piece of decorated
early Saxon pottery.
That's amazing. It is minute.
That's amazing. It is minute.
It is, but...
That's amazing. It is minute.
It is, but...
But you can see those grooves -
what are they made with?
It's combing. It's what you get with
the classic Anglo-Saxon urn with the
combed panels with the stamps in,
that sort of thing. Something
along those lines, I think.
So, does this mean...accessory
vessel in a grave, or a cremation,
or could this be the kind of thing
that's used on a settlement site?
Hard to say.
I mean, decorated pottery tended to
get mainly used in graves but you do
get it on settlement sites as well.
It's not very common on settlement
sites but you do find it.
It's not very common on settlement
sites but you do find it.
Might it indicate
a particularly high status site?
We can't say that from that,
no, it turns up on sites
of all different sorts of status.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
That's a start, certainly.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
That's a start, certainly.
Yeah, that's absolutely brilliant.
But another minute piece of pottery
seems little consolation for having
found no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon
palace in any of the trenches.
So, why haven't we found it?.
Aah, that's a good question.
If you look at this photograph
that we took from the helicopter,
I've put these yellow dots -
these are the trenches
that we've dug in this area.
I've done something similar
over the top of...
This is a Royal Anglo-Saxon palace
in Northumberland, and at the
same scale, I've drawn on dots which
match the spacing in our trenches.
We could have dug like that and...
Missed the palace.
Missed the palace.
..missed it,
we could have dug like that.
Missed the palace.
..missed it,
we could have dug like that.
Missed it.
We could have dug 50 trenches
and carried on missing it.
But we've only dug in one section
of the enclosure - why didn't we
excavate there and there
and there and there?
Well, that was a bit frustrating
that, because all this area in here
- we couldn't get access into it.
The farmer wouldn't let us get in.
So, we've missed it by bad luck.
Well, that and the fact that we
really needed to strip large areas
as they've done when they've
found palaces on other sites
to see the patterns of post holes
and timber slots.
It's difficult to do in
a village that's still lived in -
you can't bulldoze it
all out the way.
By the end of the day,
no more finds or structures
have been found in the enclosure.
So, yet again, Time Team has failed
to find an Anglo-Saxon palace.
But we have found something out
about Anglo-Saxon Eastry.
In the 7th century, a community
would have thrived here in Eastry.
Near a Roman road and the coast,
it would have been an important
and powerful centre for East Kent.
High status finds
on Highborough Hill
led us to think
the palace was there.
We now think it was
an Anglo-Saxon ritual centre,
where valuable offerings were made.
Through Stewart's investigations,
we've revealed that the hill was on
a network of ancient roads linking
it with an Anglo-Saxon centre
at Eastry village.
We now believe that
it was somewhere in the village
that the palace was once built -
inside a royal enclosure
with Eastry Court, the church
and recreation ground at its heart.
'But there are still questions
our landowners want answers to.'
Graham was playing on that hill
when he was a little boy -
what can we tell him about it?
Given how emotional these three days
have been for you and that hill.
Well, it's still a mystery
wrapped in an enigma.
It's producing the most
stunning objects which look like
they must have come from graves -
we've excavated the areas around it,
and there aren't any graves -
I do not understand it.
So what would be your best guess
as to what was going on up there?
So what would be your best guess
as to what was going on up there?
Well, I think actually, Mick's idea
about it being a cult centre
devoted to Woden might well be the
best hypothesis we've got, which we
just then need to go out and test
in other places, because we really
don't know anything
about cult centres.
But they produce this kind of range
of wonderful metal work.
And the answer might be
that next time you go up on
the hill, you just offer up
a little prayer to Woden -
good harvest for you,
few answers for us!
What about the village?
That's what David's interested in...
We know a lot more about it now
and we've got this
rectangular enclosure in the middle -
inside that is your house
and the church. I'm sure that's the
centre of the Saxon palace complex.
If there's one thing you would
like to know from the work that
we've done, what would it be?
I'd like to know
if this is the site
of the original Saxon palace
and where the murder was done.
I think almost certainly,
it's either under your house
or it's just immediately to the east
of here. But we won't actually
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
I'll call you.
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
I'll call you.
OK!
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
in Kent and over the years
the villagers here have been
tantalised by Anglo-Saxon finds.
A warrior grave came up
at the back of this house,
behind there, another
burial laden with finds,
but the most intriguing discovery
was made just down the road.
This beautiful gilded brooch
dates to around 600 AD.
Like some of the other finds nearby,
it must have belonged to someone
with a bit of cash to chuck about.
So, why did it end up here?
Is this mysterious hill a clue
to Eastry's Anglo-Saxon past?
Could there even have
been a palace here?
As usual, we've got just
three days to find out.
In the 7th and 8th centuries,
the village of Eastry was one of
Anglo-Saxon Kent's most
important settlements.
According to documents,
it was a focus of authority,
a major administrative centre.
And with high status finds
unearthed at Highborough Hill,
just a mile from Eastry village,
it seems the site could have been
at the heart of
this Saxon power base.
Graham Caspell's family have farmed
the site for almost a century.
When did you realise it
was something special?
Well, I suppose really,
from a very young age,
standing up here,
you could just see for so far
and just think - well, this must
have some historical interest.
Have there been many finds up here?
There have been finds
all around the hill,
from various different time scales,
so, yeah, there have been.
Mick?
Mick?
< Hi, there.
Mick?
< Hi, there.
Why are we here?
Because this hill
is very interesting.
Apart from the finds you've been
talking about, there are features
that are even on the early maps,
look.
Look at that! Ancient remains.
It's like Dungeons and Dragons.
And then the air pictures
you see, like this one,
have got soil marks or crop marks.
You can make all
sorts of things out of this -
we've thought of it as a big
enclosure or several enclosures,
so something's going on here and
we've got to find out what it is.
I've seen the gilded brooch.
Where did that come up?
That one came up from
this corner here, but in
this corner here right opposite
came what's known as a
plated disc brooch,
which is a kind of a sandwich
of gold and silver.
So things are spread right
across this whole field
so we've got to have a good look.
Mick, it's a very hilly
hill in a flat landscape.
Could it be man made?
I don't think it's man made,
but I think it's been used a lot -
you can pick prehistoric flints up
round the edge by walking across it.
It's the sort of hill that no-one's
going to ignore in the past.
So, what are we going to do?
We're going to do some
geophysics across the middle of this
to see if we can pick up these
ditches, but even if we don't
pick anything up,
we'll still put a trench in
to see what these features are.
Trench one will confirm if the
series of features is actually
an enclosure that surrounds
some high status buildings.
To pick up these features,
it will be one of the longest
we've ever dug on Time Team,
running over 60 metres from
the bottom to the
very top of the hill.
Trench two on the south of the hill
will investigate these interesting
geophys results.
Because so many high status finds
like this 6th century Saxon brooch
have been found here in the past,
we've roped in an unprecedented
number of metal detectorists
to comb not just the
spoil heaps but the whole
three acres of Highborough Hill.
Andrew!
And after just hours,
the strategy's paying off.
I don't know if you can
see the look of satisfaction
on these people's faces -
some might say even a trifle smug!
We never find anything decent
halfway through day one,
but Jamie - what happened?
We've just been doing the
metal detecting survey of the area
and this was the first
good signal we'd had.
Isn't it beautiful?
What is it, Helen?
Well, it's an Anglo-Saxon brooch
dating to the 6th century AD.
We think its made of silver,
but we'll have to get it cleaned.
And look, it's got a garnet on it.
You can tell it's a garnet because
of the way if flashes and glitters
as you move it in the light.
You've demonstrated what
you can do in two hours.
By the end of day three, I want
the rest of this brooch, OK?
But why would such high status
finds be here on this hill?
What would their wealthy
owners be doing in this area?
In Saxon times, the name
Eastry referred to a district -
the eastern region of the
Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent.
The region needed an administrative
centre, and a place of assembly.
According to 8th century documents,
somewhere in Eastry
there was a villa Regales -
a Latin term that refers
to a king's high hall.
This major residence would have
been a centre for the community,
a wealthy power base and a
regular home to the King of Kent.
So if there is such a major
residence on Highborough Hill,
it could explain the
glittering high status finds.
Are you all right, Bridg? I
believe you've got something for me.
Are you all right, Bridg? I
believe you've got something for me.
Aha! Yes!
And in trench number two,
Bridg has found what may be
a key piece of supporting evidence.
Look - two bits of pot
Rebecca's got out of this feature.
Oh, that's a bit more like it.
Erm, looks Saxon to me.
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
I think so, yeah.
This is the rim sherd from a jar -
very typical of the middle Saxon
pottery you get in Dover.
Erm, 450 to 850.
OK. What sort of size
vessel is that going to be?
It's hard to tell - they're
handmade, not thrown on a wheel,
you can see, it's quite uneven.
But it's probably something with
a rim diameter of about that,
and that sort of size of body.
Oh, quite big, then.
Oh, quite big, then.
Nice globular cooking pot,
very typical of the Saxon period.
And the topography - the position -
of this pit is quite interesting
cos we're on a south-facing slope.
You often get early middle Saxon
settlements on south-facing slopes.
You're in the sunshine,
but you're out of the wind.
If you're on the top
you're in the wind,
so it makes a nicer place to live,
I suppose, more comfortable.
So we could have a little
Saxon settlement on this slope.
If Paul's right
and there was a settlement here,
this could be the site of
Eastry's Saxon centre of power.
But no structures have yet
turned up in the long trench
where we thought there might
be a substantial enclosure.
Another less thrilling idea is that
Paul's settlement was just a few
low status huts
on the side of a hill.
Hopefully, these trenches
will give us an answer.
But there's also another contender
just down the road
in Eastry village.
Eastry Court is a listed mansion
in the centre of the village.
Based on documentary evidence,
its owner David Freud
believes that it's his house,
not Highborough Hill,
that holds the key to
understanding Anglo-Saxon Eastry.
Posh house, isn't it?
Posh house, isn't it?
Very nice, isn't it?
Oh.
Hello, David, can we have a
look inside your wonderful house?
Hello, David, can we have a
look inside your wonderful house?
Come on in.
It's a bit good, isn't it? Have you
got any idea how old it is?
Well, we've got some clues and,
er, show that here,
when we go behind this
Georgian panelling...
Whoa! Have a look at this!
And here we've got a wall
with some doors in it
and the wall dates from 1294.
We know the date because
we found the bills and it
actually cost - the hall of which
this is part - cost 11 pounds
and five shillings and something.
So, this is the end of
the hall where it's going into
into the kitchens and the
pantries and stuff like that?
into the kitchens and the
pantries and stuff like that?
That's right.
Do we know if there was
anything here before that date?
We do know that in that year,
they pulled down the hall that was
sitting there before.
So we know that it was
continuously occupied for a
reasonable period before that.
And prior to that hall?
Well, the rumour is that before
that it was an Anglo-Saxon palace.
Mick, I think ten years ago I would
have got so excited at the prospect
of an Anglo-Saxon palace, but the
number of times we've hunted...
of an Anglo-Saxon palace, but the
number of times we've hunted...
Absolutely.
..for Anglo-Saxon palaces
and what do we find?
..for Anglo-Saxon palaces
and what do we find?
NothingI
Exactly. Are we going to
be on to that this time?
Well, it's possible - we've got
some early timber work anyway.
We're right next to the church -
it's the right sort of site,
it's a nice, big, flat site
so I'd be more hopeful here than
some others we've looked at.
Wherever the palace exactly is,
Eastry would have been the ideal
place to build one.
A major Roman road
runs through the village,
while the coast and port
of Sandwich are four miles away.
And the building would
have been pretty impressive.
Our very own designer
and trained architect Raysan,
is trying to reconstruct one.
I've started making a basic model
of a sort of a Saxon hall and
really now, I could do with help.
Well, it looks absolutely lovely.
But one of the things
that does spring to mind
is you're going to need a door
in the middle of each long wall
and it's going to have to be
higher than the wall
because you've got to be able to get
through without banging your head.
The second thing is, I don't
think the roof is high enough
because we need to be able
to accommodate something like
a cauldron chain above a fireplace.
How long was that, Sam?
Estimated 18 feet,
the length of the chain.
You've got to have the
cauldron and fire underneath.
So a really high building.
We're talking about a high hall
visible for many miles around,
designed to be seen,
shining across many lands -
it's wonderful stuff.
Finding such a building
is a real challenge,
with very few examples in
the country, let alone in Kent.
The problem is,
in this part of the world,
we've never found
anything like this.
All we've got are these wonderful
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries,
one of the biggest concentrations,
full of gold and all the rest of it.
And in terms of the settlements,
we have virtually nothing.
Mostly, where they have been found,
in Canterbury and elsewhere,
they are small, sunken huts.
So, if we can even find big
rectangular buildings as post holes,
you've really hit the jackpot.
Where is this palace? Is it down
in the village at David's house?
Or could it be up on Graham's hill,
with the settlement
we seem to have found?
It's got to be out there somewhere!
The search means
splitting our resources.
In Bridg's trench, yet another
find only adds to our confusion.
Over here, this iron vessel,
that's what it looks like.
But it is sitting in this same
material that the Saxon feature
over there is cut into.
Just cos it's near something,
it doesn't mean it's the same date.
But, I mean,
if it is a whole iron vessel
and it is Saxon, then that is
very unusual for a settlement site.
Something you'd expect
to see in a cemetery.
I'm not saying it definitely isn't,
but it's unusual.
All you can do is
lift it and X-ray it.
It's the only thing we can do
in the state that it's in.
So, perhaps, the hill is a burial
site, not a settlement -
a kind of barrow -
a hill-based cemetery.
This would explain the high status
brooches buried with their owners.
Helen, intrigued by the idea
of graves, opens a trench
in an area of the east side
of the hill where metal
artefacts have been found.
But on the other side of the hill,
the metal detectorists are
adding to their collection.
Tony, look at that - the most
brilliant golden object!
Wow! Where'd you find it?
Wow! Where'd you find it?
Just down there.
Just from metal detectoring?
Just from metal detectoring?
Yep.
David, could that be Saxon?
It could be, but I'd
want Helen to see it.
It's just possible that
it might be more recent.
It's just possible that
it might be more recent.
Tantalising!
It's lovely, isn't it?
Beautiful. Stunning.
Look at that!
Isn't that good?
Well, we hope it's good. Graham!
Oh, my god.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Isn't that gorgeous?
It may be Saxon.
It may be Saxon.
May be. Right.
But we'll have to wait for Helen.
So, if the brooch is Anglo-Saxon,
did it come from a settlement,
a grave or even a palace?
While the jury's out, Mick's still
determined to test the theory that
the palace may be in
the village at Eastry Court,
so geophys set off
to survey David's luscious lawns.
Meanwhile,
another extraordinary find
has been made at Highborough Hill.
Look at this, come on over.
It gives John Gater a reason
to feel smug, believing he's
won a geophys jackpot.
This is a first.
You haven't finally found
something, have ya?
That is the first time
we've ever found a windmill.
Windmill?
I've been told there was a
windmill on top of the hill.
We are on the top of the hill.
Where is it?
If you extend the trench a
couple of metres under the digger,
what I think you're going to
find is the cross pieces,
the timber supports
for the windmill.
Do we know when it was up here?
Do we know when it was up here?
Well, some of them are
12th century, apparently.
It's for you to find out, cos if
that's the first time we've got
a windmill in geophysics,
you can buy me a pint.
Oh, comes in cheap -
I hope it ain't there then!
All right, Ian,
let's find the windmill!
After a few hours,
John Gater wins his pint off Phil,
because we do find the cross
beams of a windmill
that once stood on the hill.
But it's medieval and doesn't help
us in our quest to understand
what the Anglo-Saxons
were doing here.
I can't remember a first day on
Time Team when we've had
so many really good finds.
And yet the irony is, we've got
no Anglo-Saxon structures,
no cemeteries, no palace -
what's going on?
Well, it's been really hard for me
to accept that it's not a cemetery.
But we've had no graves, no bones,
so I've come to terms with it.
And what else it might be?
Have you got any ideas, Mick?
The thing that I've come up with
which might work is that I wonder
if this isn't a meeting place -
one of these moot sites where people
gathered for proclamations
and trials and stuff like that?
So, what about all the finds?
So, what about all the finds?
Well, they are things
that get dropped at the time,
but there's no structures here.
How do you feel about a moot?
It's quite a radical suggestion
for the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries.
First of all,
I have to look at the finds
to see the breaks - could they
have been here hundreds of years?
If it was a moot hill,
what would its association
have been with the rest
of the country round about?
You'd expect there to be,
as there was in later times,
a central meeting place
to serve a big estate.
But because it's not permanently
occupied, you'd expect
the main residence, the hall,
the farm buildings, the church,
to be somewhere else on that estate.
So, where might that be here?
So, where might that be here?
Well, I think in this case
it's probably down at Eastry,
down by the church and Eastry Court.
So, the answer to what's going here
could lie down there?
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Tomorrow?
Yeah. And that's where we
should go and work next, I think.
Tomorrow?
Yeah.
You up for a pint?.
You up for a pint?.
Mine's a shandyI
It's the beginning of
day two and yesterday,
we were trying to solve the mystery
at Highborough Hill up there.
How come we were getting
all these Anglo-Saxon finds?
Could we have a cemetery?
Might there be a palace?
We certainly weren't coming up
with any structures and by
the end of the day, Mick thought
what we might have was a moot hill
or meeting place and all the finds
were just things that people dropped
when they were meeting each other,
but he also thought that the key to
the whole mystery might lie, not up
there, but down here at Eastry Court
where John's being geophysing.
Mick, what do you think the link
could be between a moot hill
and this place here?
Well, you'd expect the moot hill to
be the administrative and probably
legal centre of a big estate.
You'd also expect another centre
that was the agricultural centre,
the church and that sort of
stuff and I think that's more likely
to have been down here
where the later medieval church is.
So somewhere round here is where
I'd expect the early centre to be.
Yeah, but what do you expect us
to find under the gardens?
That's my problem.
I think right here, there's gonna be
bits more of this medieval building.
We know this is a medieval hall
inside, there'll be other structures
going with that
in either stone or timber.
I would also probably expect burials
because the graveyard probably was
bigger, came further out from
the church, and under that could be
Saxon buildings and stuff as well.
There's probably a whole
sandwich of stuff in this area.
Have you got anything
on your geophys
that by the remotest stretch
of the imagination
could reflect what he's just said?
I've probably got all that,
but I just don't know where.
I mean, it's a fantastic garden
but it's a nightmare from our point
of view - there's drains going
through, there's paths,
it's been landscaped,
the levels have changed.
From what you've described,
to be honest, I think our best
target are these responses here.
They might be wall footings
and that's just here.
It's close to the church, the
buildings, let's give that a try.
I think anywhere in this area
would be useful to us.
So you're happy to
put in something here?
Absolutely, that's ideal.
Hang on a bit. David, stop
lurking, watching us working.
This is your house, your lawn, do
you fancy helping us dig the trench?
Yeah, yeah.
You'll have to put on older clothes
than that, you look far too smart.
I'll see you later.
I'll see you later.
OK, we'll see you later.
I want to see him sweating.
Drive him hard.
Mick puts in the first trench
right next to David's house.
While hopefully this will give
us the archaeological story,
Stewart sets off on his own mission
to find out what the landscape
can tell us.
Studying old maps, he's
tracking pathways and routes
to find evidence of
a royal Anglo-Saxon site.
He's particularly interested
in the location of Eastry Church.
Although it's medieval,
the original church on the site
might have been Anglo Saxon.
Around the time we expect
a centre of power at Eastry
in the 7th century,
Christianity was spreading in Kent
and a new church would have been
at the heart of an important estate.
For Stewart, the present church
could lie right in the middle of
an Anglo-Saxon royal enclosure, and
if there's a royal enclosure here,
there would have
been a palace here too.
David's now sweating away,
ruining his own garden
trying to find evidence
of this palace.
Stewart thinks this is a small
price to pay for the promise of
a very rare building.
It starts to get really exciting
because we've got this 1841 tithe
map showing the plan of the village.
So where are we now?
In the grounds of the garden, there?
Just there and that's Eastry Court.
Can you see that big shape
in there like a big rectangle?
Very pronounced rectangle
in the middle.
It's influenced the layout of
the whole village, and that's
been preserved as a shape.
If you look at it on
the aerial photograph,
you see it's all that area there.
We're in that garden.
Down this side is a stream valley,
down that side is a valley
and there's a big plateau here
with this very distinctive area
of ground which has never been
encroached on.
I think this is
exactly the sort of place
you'd get a Saxon estate centre and
then the church sitting inside it.
But it's not just the landscape that
suggests there was a palace here.
There's also a legend of
persecution and treachery.
[ Skipped item nr. 390 ]
CLAP OF THUNDER
In fact, our earliest reference
to a palace in Eastry
comes from the 670s, from a story
of royal betrayal and bloodshed.
David, as soon as Sam knew
we were coming here,
he went "Oh, great, there was
a murder here, a murder!"
What was it?
A royal murder of two princes,
Ethelbert and Ethelred, two princes
of Kent, murdered by their cousin.
Undoubtedly, the background
story is dynastic feuding
and he murders them
secretly at night
and thinks he's got away with it
by burying them in the King's hall,
but because of shafts of light that
radiate out, the murder is revealed.
So what's this
white light all about?.
It's an indication of a miracle.
It's a miracle light, God's light,
and it means that we've got saints.
So it's like a Hammer Horror?.
The light comes on
and, "Ah! It wasn't me, chief."
Exactly.
Interestingly, the bodies
were moved to the chapel
and if the medieval chapel is on
the remains of an earlier chapel,
we're now sitting bang on where
the two princes were buried.
So there could be a pair of little,
innocent, sweet, darling princes
buried somewhere
under these flagstones?
Unfortunately, we won't find
the murder victims because we know
that they were translated
to Ramsey in Huntingdonshire.
So no bodies?
Almost certainly not but you might
find the murder weapon, perhaps.
Oh, I like that idea.
'On day one, we found a spectacular
brooch on Highborough Hill
'that seemed to be Anglo-Saxon.
'Not only that but the brooch
appeared to be high status.
'Now, after a little cleaning
it's time to hear the verdict.'
All morning, the diggers up on the
site have been saying, "Is it Saxon?
"Is it Victorian?" Helen, you're
the specialist, what is it?
Well, it is actually Victorian.
Oh!
There are a few things
that give it away.
The really big giveaway
is the solder on the back.
The Victorians added separate
fixings to their brooches
and the Anglo-Saxons didn't,
especially not on a gold piece.
Secondly,
ovals in plain wire, wrong.
Should be twisted, beaded wire
on something Anglo-Saxon
but the real clincher,
the most obvious thing,
is on these balls round here
they're dented so they're hollow.
Anglo-Saxons did not make things
with hollow gold balls on them.
Everything was solid.
So I'm afraid it is Victorian.
What I don't understand is
there must have been 20 trained
archaeologists there, thousands
of pounds of taxpayers' money
invested in their education and
yet everyone was really tentative
about whether or not it was
modern or Anglo Saxon. Why?
Well, I did my PhD
on this kind of thing
and I still was
a bit nervous about it.
It's because until it's cleaned up
you can't see the details and both
the Victorians and
the 7th century Anglo-Saxons
are both copying Roman designs
of jewellery.
They were both trying to look
as classical as they could
and both doing pretty well.
So ultimately, they are
going to look very similar.
Back at Highborough Hill, there's
still no sign of Anglo-Saxon
graves or buildings. It clearly
isn't a barrow or burial ground.
Mick's idea of a meeting point
is the only theory still standing.
But at least, Matt has found
some evidence of a structure
at the bottom of trench one.
Matt, what do you think
this is now?
Well, we've got down to
the top of this chalk and it's
a road of some sort with huge flint
nodules that have been packed in at
the bottom and then chalk has been
tamped down all the way across it.
But the strangest thing about it,
it's like that deep so far.
Half a metre.
Half a metre.
Really solid road, yeah.
So what kind of road might that be?
Well, let me show you one that was
dug up in Yorkshire that I think
really sort of
explains what we've got.
There, they had a hollow way that
had worn out over the years with
cattle and people walking on it,
and it got so deep and boggy
that in the end they decided to put
a properly built road of boulders
and stones in the bottom of it.
That's what we've probably got
here - a hollow way, which has been
reinforced with the new road built
up and they're probably doing it
because this is probably
going up to the mill
on the top of the hill
and it's gonna get a lot of use.
It couldn't be Saxon?
I don't think so. Mills like that
don't come in till the 12th century
so if it's going up there,
it would be later.
I mean, my guess is at the moment
that this hollow way might be
a bit earlier, it might even be
Roman or something like that
but the filling and everything
is probably late medieval.
So where's the Anglo-Saxon?
Well, we've got various finds
from across the site
but what we haven't got is any
structures at all to go with them.
By the middle of day two,
Highborough Hill hasn't
revealed any more of its Saxon past.
In fact, apart from a high status
brooch, the finds on the hill
have been almost entirely
prehistoric and medieval.
Even the iron pot which we'd
hoped was a Saxon cemetery vessel,
turns out under x-rays to be
nothing but a modern paint pot.
Perhaps it was magnolia.
With no burials or structures
other than a bit of road,
Mick's left with
only one course of action.
Mick, why are we
closing down the hill?
Because I think we've done all
we need to do and can do up here
and we need to work elsewhere.
Our ideas that we've got about it
won't be helped by more holes.
What ideas?
What ideas?
Well, we had this idea that it might
be a meeting point, a moot hill
where assemblies were held.
Another possibility
which has come up
is that it might actually
have some sort of...
Well, we don't have a term for it,
a sort of symbolic centre, I suppose.
If you go along the Roman road
along there and you look back
across to this, it looks like a
great barrow and I'm just wondering
whether the name that we've got
now of Wodensborough, the village
over there, didn't actually
apply to this and it wasn't thought
that it was where Woden was buried
or worshipped or something like that,
and that's why the finds are here.
Would the name have shifted
from one place to another?
Well, I think it could, it could
have happened in the 18th century
when there was this amazing find,
apparently consisting of 30 glass
vessels at Wodensborough,
and people might have said,
"What could have caused this?
"Oh, maybe the place name's in
the wrong place", and just moved it.
If this is a cult centre,
it's even more likely to have been
a meeting point as well,
that's documented in lots of stuff.
This is typical Time Team. None
of us will be able to prove this,
but we all think it's
a really plausible theory.
BELL TOLLS
At least in Eastry village,
Stewart's found
some solid evidence
of a Saxon enclosure.
This fairly ordinary looking
pathway, I think, is a remnant of
the boundary of this Saxon estate
centre we've been looking for,
because just when you get to here,
see how it drops off on that side?
It must be a couple of
metres high here.
It must be a couple of
metres high here.
This, that we're on top of,
is the remnant of the bank
that defines the western side
of this enclosure.
That side's the village
cos that's outside the enclosure,
that side's inside,
and we're on top.
We've actually walked along a big
broad bank and it's this that's
been preserving this boundary
for God knows how long, in fact.
That's good, that is.
But not far away, the first trench
at Eastry Court hasn't shown up
any sign of a palace
or any Anglo-Saxon finds.
Promising geophys results persuade
Mick to open a second trench
at the bottom of the garden and
a third trench near the church,
ripping up even more
of David's lawn.
If that looks all right
when he replaces it, I'm a Dutchman.
Is your gardener
going to be very happy?
Dennis is going
to be deeply miserable at that.
Oh, dear.
Despite the lack of
evidence from the trenches,
Stewart's still banging on that
the garden is in a royal enclosure.
Stewart, all day you've been saying,
"we're in the right place."
We've dug loads of trenches now
and we haven't found the palace.
And I'm going to carry on
saying we're in the right place.
If you look at this photograph
we took from the helicopter,
this is the area of the enclosure,
there's the church, there.
This bit I've highlighted in white,
that actually survives on
the ground, it's a footpath now.
What makes you think
that just because we've got
a bit that's extant there that there
were all those other bits there?
Because they're continued
in the mapping.
You can see their boundaries
are continued through
the different generations of maps
and they still exist to this day.
Why so much space?
It's a very big enclosure
for a relatively small palace.
Yeah, again I think that's
designed for status reasons.
You want your buildings
to look impressive
with lots of open spaces around
them, rather like, you know,
Buckingham Palace isn't hemmed
in with lots of other buildings.
It's got nice spaces around,
it emphasizes the dramatic size
of the buildings in the middle.
But if the royal Saxon enclosure
and palace are in Eastry village
and Mick's right that there
is a Saxon ritual centre
on Highborough Hill,
could the two be related?
Can we borrow those, Frank?
Mind your head now.
Will do.
Stewart, now on a roll, must have
had a shot of divine inspiration.
He's got yet another theory.
Oh, Stewart,
come and have a look.
So where's Highborough Hill
from here?
Can you see that pylon?
Well, the site's just
to the right of that pylon,
it's behind the trees there.
Let me show you on this portable,
interactive digital workstation.
It nearly flew away from you then.
We're here on the church at Eastry
and Highborough Hill is over there.
Now they look detached, don't they?
You can't really see any connection
between the two but what's emerging,
looking at the landscape, is that
there's a network of parallel roads
established in this landscape
long before the Roman period.
I've started to mark them up
in pink coming through here.
You can see one of them
over there going through
the middle of those
yellow fields of rape.
The green?
The green road, yeah.
And there's another one crossing
over the hill over there, the green
hedge line coming over the top.
Well, what's interesting about one
of these roadways, this one here,
it actually goes right by
Highborough Hill,
i.e., Highborough Hill
is on a major route way
so Mick's idea of a
meeting place makes sense.
They would have been
on the road, yeah.
We've also got another one
which comes out of the corner of
this enclosure at Eastry
and it heads out the back
and actually takes you up
towards Highborough Hill.
I think Highborough Hill
is on a major network of roads
but also we've got a connection
between this enclosure
and Highborough Hill itself.
And remember that bit of road
Matt found on the hill
earlier in the day?
Thanks to Stewart,
we now think this very road
is part of the one that runs
between the hill and the enclosure.
And Stewart's got yet another idea.
Another interesting aspect is that
we've got a little corner
inside this enclosure here,
which is just down there, it's
now called the recreation ground.
It's a nice open green space
and it's always been within
this enclosure. The village
has never encroached on it so
the chances of it being disturbed
by later development are quite thin.
So are you thinking what
I'm thinking? Trenches.
Yeah, absolutely.
The recreation ground
Stewart wants to investigate
is in one corner of the enclosure,
but with jumbled
geophys results there,
Mick's instead putting all his
resources into Eastry Court gardens
with trenches clustered around
the other side of the church.
Fuelled by his conviction,
Stewart tries to persuade
Mick that opening trenches in the
recreation ground is a priority.
But Mick's not having any of it.
It's very busy here, Mick,
but we haven't forgotten
about the recreation ground?
No, but I was very worried about all
those earthworks over the top of it,
whether they were later cottages
or whatever, whereas this had
nice geophysics on it
so I thought we'd start here.
Right. I'm very keen
to look at that area
because there's been finds
up from that area.
I'm worried that we'll leave it.
We should sample over a big area.
We've got three things going on
in here anyway.
It's all a bit lopsided, it's
all on this side of the church.
We have enough on our
hands for the moment.
But we will go
over there, won't we?
I'm sure we'll
get there eventually.
Is that a promise then?
Is that a promise then?
No. No, it's not, no.
By the end of the day we've moved
all our resources to Eastry Court
in our search for the palace,
but having not yet found anything,
how far has that got us?
Mick, in a way I don't feel
that we've advanced at all
from where we were on day one.
We knew that that hill had got some
amazing finds and sure enough
it's got more amazing finds.
We have moved on. We've now got
a lot of holes open in the village.
So we're well on the way to sorting
out what's going on under Eastry.
But the hill itself
has been pretty intractable.
Yeah, it's been terrible.
I feel really inadequate
because as you say,
I don't think we are
any further on with it.
No, but we are, because the local
archaeologists have said to me
this evening that they now know more
about that hill that they did,
or what the context
of those finds are.
So they don't feel
that we haven't moved on,
they now know a
lot more about the hill.
Yeah, but we haven't got the link
between the hill and the village.
Yeah, but we haven't got the link
between the hill and the village.
I think we have.
I think looking at the pattern of
roadways, it fits into a pattern
which link it with Eastry, which is
where the core of the activity is.
Yes, but links the hill to what?
Well, the centre of activities in
Eastry which we shall get hopefully
when we finish digging
all those holes in the middle.
We haven't finished them yet.
I think we're confident
we're digging in the right place.
We've dug in one bit and
we've got a great opportunity
to dig in another bit
and that's the recreation ground.
And we shall
start that tomorrow.
You've been putting it off.
Yes. I have today but we
shall start it tomorrow.
Yeah?
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah.
So can we find the heart
of Anglo-Saxon Eastry?
Will we find it underneath
the recreation ground?
We'll know tomorrow, won't we?
Cheers, mate!
Cheers, mate.
Beginning of day three here in Kent
and we've had some fantastic
finds up at Highborough Hill.
We're still putting in
trenches down here at Eastry Court
but could the centre of
our Anglo-Saxon royal estate be here
in this little recreation ground?
Phil, I see they've got you
working here at last!
Well, somebody's got to
otherwise we'll never find out!
At Eastry Court, digging continues
in our search for the palace,
with a new trench opened
next to the house.
Just when we thought the
Highborough Hill story had ended,
Mick's now having his ear bent
by John Gater,
who's determined to excavate
some unexplored geophys anomalies.
The thing is, Mick, on day one,
I'd got this very distinctive
area of noise.
We've got anomalies
that extend for 20,
25 metres across the hillside here.
25 metres across the hillside here.
Yeah.
At the start, I didn't know
if it was cemetery or occupation.
But we're not quite sure what the
occupation is, because it's very odd.
It is.
Well, I think therefore to -
you know - abandon it not knowing
whether we've got Saxon here...
you know - abandon it not knowing
whether we've got Saxon here...
Yeah.
Because we haven't dug
some of the features...
Because we haven't dug
some of the features...
Yeah.
It seems we haven't
answered the question.
I think we need to get dating
material out because at the moment
all we've got is a couple
of sherds of medieval.
Yeah, but we haven't got just
two bits of medieval pot,
we have got medieval pot from this
ditch and from the pit down there.
This is one load of medieval stuff
that's come out of all the features
up here, except for two bits of Sax,
Saxon pot that were actually
stratigraphically above the
medieval in one of those pits.
So, they're derived
from something on the top.
So, they're derived
from something on the top.
I mean, if you're happy to
ignore this then, and dismiss that
as being possibly being Anglo-Saxon,
you're saying it's all medieval.
In the time we've got,
why don't we just strip another area
and given your worry about
dating evidence, dig whatever
feature we're on top of in there,
so that we get some more dating
evidence of one sort or another
but we don't strip that big
an area that we can't handle it
in the remaining time that we've got.
Mick reluctantly agrees
to go along with John's idea
and extends the top of trench two...
..while in the recreation ground,
Phil's pulling out all the stops
in the hunt for the palace.
But with the lack
of any hard evidence,
our palace remains a virtual one.
With help from our historians,
Raysan finally reveals
what such a palace may look like.
When people looked at it
in the surrounding countryside,
how do you think they
would have felt about it?
how do you think they
would have felt about it?
Well, it's the great ideal that it...
The equivalent of
Camelot in 7th century Kent,
as a building that is the focus
for all that is good and noble, it's
a place of identity and solidarity.
If you were a football supporter,
it would be your great stadium where
the great action,
the great dramas took place.
I can see that its dimensions
are really grand but would it have
been the colour of a garden fence?
An interesting possibility is that
they would have had some gilt paint,
it parallels the description
we have of the temple of Old Upsala
which could be seen shining
and there was something
described as a golden chain around
its roof that shone for miles around.
So there could be some kind of
decorative frieze on the...?
So there could be some kind of
decorative frieze on the...?
Exactly, exactly.
That's what I'd do
if I had one of those.
Would you put money on there being
one of these in Eastry?
From the documentary sources,
which as far as the 7th century go,
are very, very good -
emphatically yes, Tony.
I'm absolutely convinced that
it was here and looked like this.
The search for such a building
continues at the recreation ground.
Phil!
Phil!
Yo!
Have you got a palace
in your trench?
Have you got a palace
in your trench?
(LAUGHS) No, not all.
I mean, we've got two scruffyish
looking features - there's one
in there and one in there - they
might turn out to be something
but apart from that, nothing.
Stewart - you promised me
a royal palace.
I could almost smell
the mead and the roast boar.
I still think we're in the
right place for the right reasons.
But that's the critical point -
there doesn't seem to be any debris,
modern or post-medieval debris.
To me, that implies that
the village hasn't been allowed
to spread into this enclosure that
we've identified, which implies that
somewhere around this space
is something very special.
Mick, why are these palaces
so difficult to find?
Because they're built of timber,
post holes and stuff like that,
and really, you need a large area
to see whether the plan of post-holes
and slots makes any sense. So, where
they've been found is in gravel pits
where you can strip a large area and
see what the plan of everything is.
It's difficult with little holes
in an occupied area to
piece anything together. But this is,
this is incredibly clean, isn't it?
That is the most amazing thing -
to be in the middle of a village
to be in the middle of a village
and find nothing.
to be in the middle of a village
and find nothing.
Yeah.
It's always great on Time Team
when they get enthused about
finding sweet fanny adams, isn't it?.
What are we supposed to do?
I think we dig more holes.
Much to Stewart's relief,
Mick opens a second trench
in the recreation ground.
Over at Highborough Hill,
John's fight to re-open the dig
has paid off. Well, sort of.
Was it worth it?
Was it worth it?
I think so. Look, we've got more
features that we didn't know about
and we've got Saxon pottery.
and we've got Saxon pottery.
What's that feature?
We've got a ditch, Tony, that's
running up this brown material
up towards the hill
and round in that direction.
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
Well, it came from the ditch.
What about the pottery, John,
where did you find that?
Well, it came from the ditch.
It did.
So can we now say we've got
a Anglo-Saxon ditch?
If you want
to see the pottery...
Tell me if this is evidence
of a Saxon community.
(LAUGHS) Is this it?.I
It's Saxon. 850 AD.
This is the sum total
of our finds in your trench, John?
Another triumph for geophys.
At least this is better
then what's been found
in the trenches of Eastry Court
gardens - absolutely nothing.
Hello, Paul.
Hello, Paul.
Oh, hi, Helen.
'In a newly opened trench
at the recreation ground,
'at least there's a glimmer
of hope.'
Don't get too excited -
it's probably not the biggest
piece of pottery you've ever seen.
But, erm,
it's a piece of decorated
early Saxon pottery.
That's amazing. It is minute.
That's amazing. It is minute.
It is, but...
That's amazing. It is minute.
It is, but...
But you can see those grooves -
what are they made with?
It's combing. It's what you get with
the classic Anglo-Saxon urn with the
combed panels with the stamps in,
that sort of thing. Something
along those lines, I think.
So, does this mean...accessory
vessel in a grave, or a cremation,
or could this be the kind of thing
that's used on a settlement site?
Hard to say.
I mean, decorated pottery tended to
get mainly used in graves but you do
get it on settlement sites as well.
It's not very common on settlement
sites but you do find it.
It's not very common on settlement
sites but you do find it.
Might it indicate
a particularly high status site?
We can't say that from that,
no, it turns up on sites
of all different sorts of status.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
That's a start, certainly.
Well, either is pretty exciting.
That's a start, certainly.
Yeah, that's absolutely brilliant.
But another minute piece of pottery
seems little consolation for having
found no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon
palace in any of the trenches.
So, why haven't we found it?.
Aah, that's a good question.
If you look at this photograph
that we took from the helicopter,
I've put these yellow dots -
these are the trenches
that we've dug in this area.
I've done something similar
over the top of...
This is a Royal Anglo-Saxon palace
in Northumberland, and at the
same scale, I've drawn on dots which
match the spacing in our trenches.
We could have dug like that and...
Missed the palace.
Missed the palace.
..missed it,
we could have dug like that.
Missed the palace.
..missed it,
we could have dug like that.
Missed it.
We could have dug 50 trenches
and carried on missing it.
But we've only dug in one section
of the enclosure - why didn't we
excavate there and there
and there and there?
Well, that was a bit frustrating
that, because all this area in here
- we couldn't get access into it.
The farmer wouldn't let us get in.
So, we've missed it by bad luck.
Well, that and the fact that we
really needed to strip large areas
as they've done when they've
found palaces on other sites
to see the patterns of post holes
and timber slots.
It's difficult to do in
a village that's still lived in -
you can't bulldoze it
all out the way.
By the end of the day,
no more finds or structures
have been found in the enclosure.
So, yet again, Time Team has failed
to find an Anglo-Saxon palace.
But we have found something out
about Anglo-Saxon Eastry.
In the 7th century, a community
would have thrived here in Eastry.
Near a Roman road and the coast,
it would have been an important
and powerful centre for East Kent.
High status finds
on Highborough Hill
led us to think
the palace was there.
We now think it was
an Anglo-Saxon ritual centre,
where valuable offerings were made.
Through Stewart's investigations,
we've revealed that the hill was on
a network of ancient roads linking
it with an Anglo-Saxon centre
at Eastry village.
We now believe that
it was somewhere in the village
that the palace was once built -
inside a royal enclosure
with Eastry Court, the church
and recreation ground at its heart.
'But there are still questions
our landowners want answers to.'
Graham was playing on that hill
when he was a little boy -
what can we tell him about it?
Given how emotional these three days
have been for you and that hill.
Well, it's still a mystery
wrapped in an enigma.
It's producing the most
stunning objects which look like
they must have come from graves -
we've excavated the areas around it,
and there aren't any graves -
I do not understand it.
So what would be your best guess
as to what was going on up there?
So what would be your best guess
as to what was going on up there?
Well, I think actually, Mick's idea
about it being a cult centre
devoted to Woden might well be the
best hypothesis we've got, which we
just then need to go out and test
in other places, because we really
don't know anything
about cult centres.
But they produce this kind of range
of wonderful metal work.
And the answer might be
that next time you go up on
the hill, you just offer up
a little prayer to Woden -
good harvest for you,
few answers for us!
What about the village?
That's what David's interested in...
We know a lot more about it now
and we've got this
rectangular enclosure in the middle -
inside that is your house
and the church. I'm sure that's the
centre of the Saxon palace complex.
If there's one thing you would
like to know from the work that
we've done, what would it be?
I'd like to know
if this is the site
of the original Saxon palace
and where the murder was done.
I think almost certainly,
it's either under your house
or it's just immediately to the east
of here. But we won't actually
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
I'll call you.
know unless you take your house down,
and we can have a look underneath it.
I'll call you.
OK!
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