Wanted …

Digging for Britain is back, just twenty hours into the New Year, for series 10 (excluding a few specials). Alice Roberts is still the host, with Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior. The first episode included a Roman road in Bishop’s Stortford, an Iron Age matriarchy excavated in Dorset and a Lady of the Mercians (but… Continue reading Wanted …

The story of Dover Castle….

  When a land bridge connected us to the rest of the continent of Europe, the area that became Dover wasn’t of any particular importance but once the land bridge disappeared the white cliffs at Dover became the point on our coastline that is closest to France. July 2022 saw the port of Dover becoming… Continue reading The story of Dover Castle….

The Lost Plot (by the Guardian) and ‘The Lost King’ Exhibition

A number of film critics have now viewed the new Steve Coogan movie, THE LOST KING, about the finding of Richard III’s remains. Reviews have been mixed but generally quite positive; I imagine it might be one of those ‘marmite’ films, which viewers either love or loathe. A exhibition in The Wallace Collection had also… Continue reading The Lost Plot (by the Guardian) and ‘The Lost King’ Exhibition

Not what you expect with a water bill!

I also received this from Anglia Water about the “Rutland Sea Dragon”, an ichtyosaur found near Rutland Water. It featured in episode four of Digging for Britain, the latest series of which was shown over two weeks in January. As ever, Alice Roberts was the main presenter, alongside Dr. Onyeka Nubia and Dr. Cat Jarman.… Continue reading Not what you expect with a water bill!

The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (2)

Hugh Dennis and his small team of archaeologists are back on Channel Four and this time they have gone back a full two thousand years and beyond. The series starts in Falkirk with a fort and a piece of the Antonine Wall, apparently buried under several gardens and a bowls club. After some digging, the… Continue reading The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (2)

Ancient Secrets of Althorp

This fascinating Channel Four documentary, featuring Earl Spencer at his family seat since 1508, included a team of archaelogists led by Gone Mediaeval‘s Cat Jarman. They set out to rediscover a lost mediaeval village that was mentioned in the Domesday Book, for which there was some evidence in the cellars of Althorp House. Investigations in… Continue reading Ancient Secrets of Althorp

The HS2 Murder Mystery

Just as the construction Crossrail exposed human burial grounds, so has HS2. Here, in Wendover, Buckinghamshire we have an Iron Age burial that is likely to have followed a murder, possibly a ritual murder, or an execution.  An Iron Age  man was discovered, face down, his unusual  position indicating that he was most likely bound… Continue reading The HS2 Murder Mystery

SARUM LIGHTS–A COMMEMORATION

2020 is the 800th Anniversary of the founding of Salisbury Cathedral. Before ‘New Salisbury’ came into existence, the town stood on the windy cone of Old Sarum, a huge iron-age hillfort with massive earthen ramparts. There was a particularly forbidding Norman castle on the height, with a windswept bridge over a deep moat–here, Henry II… Continue reading SARUM LIGHTS–A COMMEMORATION

Music and Metal Detecting

Here is an interview by our own Ian Churchward (The Legendary Ten Seconds) about their new song: A song for a metal detectorist, covering  history and metal detecting … {link to 27 March}

Britain’s top burial sites?

This Sun article, which originally confused Richard’s Leicester with Henry I’s Reading, lists what they consider to be Britain’s top burial sites, although there is no detail on the supposed “Princes” in that urn, especially now that there is evidence to test the remains. Are there any others you might have included?