Time Team Day 3 - Richmond

Good morning, I am on Day Three of Thirty-One Days of the Time Team for October.  Today I am fast forward to season five and a look at Queen Elizabeth I and her palaces.  This episode has a run time of 50:25.

The Time Team is investigating a lost palace that has connections to Queen Elizabeth I.  It was a grand palace on the Thames.  There had been a palace on the site for over 200 years.  This palace was originally established by King Edward III.  It was the center of court life for decades and it was where Queen Elizabeth I died.  However, nobody knows where it really was.  Is there something left of this palace?

Mick and Tony look over a painting of the palace and talk about where the palace could be.  It was a massive palace, but Time Team planned on where the royal apartments were.  They meet up with a local historian, who goes over the plans for the palace and they discuss theories as to where the palace will be.  If this historian is right, then the Time Team may be discovering something extra special.

The Time Team will be restricted to three trenches, will the Time Team manage to find something in just three trenches?  John Gater and his geophysics results are a bit confusing.  The Time Team will have to take their time in interpreting the results.  Trench One goes in very carefully.  It was rather annoying that the residents were very reluctant to do more trenches.  They will be under the watchful eye of a landscape gardener to make sure everything goes back into place.  This makes me wonder why did the owners even bother to allow the Time Team to dig.

The original Richmond Palace was built by Edward III, then by Henry V.  Henry VII, Elizabeth I’s grandfather rebuilt the Palace and Henry VIII would have altered this palace as well.  The archives are opened up and examined to learn more about the palace.  Richmond Palace was one of the first brick-built palaces.  Dr. Simon Thurley, an expert in royal palaces talks about Richmond Palace.

Trench One is turning up bricks and it may have come from the Tudor era.  Thurley takes a measure of the brick and concludes that it comes from the Tudor Era.  However, the Time Team is not just looking under the lawn for the Tudor Palace.  They are going to take to the Thames and look for a piece of the palace that ended up in the Palace.  Finding the stone may be easier said than done.  However, with the low tide and Phil’s help, the archeologists find the stone and bring it out.

Trench one is yielding stone after stone and Mick is having a ball putting them together.  They are coming up with Tudor windows to go with the Tudor Walls.  I would say that it is turning into a very successful first day so far for the Time Team.  Mrs. Franklin, who owns the property, pops out and takes in the sight of the stone that came from the window.  Man, day one is so good for the Time Team, I hope that they can keep up with the momentum.

More geophysics results come in and trench two goes in.  Back at trench one, there is some confusion as to what wall they are looking at.  Was this wall an outer wall?  Or was this part of an extension?  Stewart Ainsworth goes over the maps of the palace and concludes that it was part of the extension.  Will the Time Team be able to expand trench one?  Or will just dig trench three?  Because of the limits that the residents are putting on the Time Team, this decision is proving to be a challenge.  John Gater is pushing for a long extension if the Time Team plans on expanding the trench.  I am again annoyed with the residents.  So will the Time Team find more of the Richmond palace?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

Well, with the restrictions put on the Time Team, it felt like we did not even get a start on the story of the Richmond Palace.  It was good to see what the Time Team could accomplish with their three trenches.  It would be something to potentially show to a history class.