The journey of thirty-one days of Time Team continues. We are on day 8 and there are still plenty of episodes to share. In this episode, the Time Team is investigating a potential Norman castle underneath a 12th Century Hall. The setup for the episode is fantastic. Tony brings in a great deal of humor when he introduces the Time Team and Time Team’s task for three days. The 12th Century Hall is one of the best-preserved in England. Was there a Norman castle on the site?
The Time Teams starts by doing some geophysics on the site. The site has plenty of lumps and bumps around the hall site. There was an enclosure around the hall too. The great hall indicates that there was something attacked to it because there were bricked-up walls. The building that it was attached to is long gone. John Gaiter, the geophysicist is still looking for the building. There were potential sites, but nothing concrete. Phil Harding and John Gaiter argue over the results, but Phil goes ahead and opens up the first trench alongside the hall. There is one slight hiccup: an electricity cable. So they have to be careful with how they dig the trench. As the team puts in the first trench, there is a problem: no masonry. Tony comments that the lack of masonry could make for a long three days. The Time Team sets base in the Great Hall. Tony then explores the history of the previous owners of the lot. It used to belong to the crown until the Crown gave it to the Ferrers family. The Great Hall was decorated with horseshoes and this was a play on the family name. Farriers were the ones who worked with horses. The horseshoes were given by visitors to the property. The Ferrers family was close friends with Richard the Lionheart. Richard gave him the property. Stewart Ainsworth and an architectural historian walk the property to determine where the buildings were laid out. Meanwhile, the archeologists and the geophysics are having trouble with the site. They discover the problem geophysics had: clay. Clay acts like a sponge when it comes to geophysics. Tim Allen, the site inspector had for years wanted to dig the site. Tony discusses Tim’s hopes and ideas for the site. Geophysics will not help with this site. Stewart goes and walks the site to determine where to put the second trench. He finds the perfect place to put a second trench. In the first trench, Phil finally finds evidence of a wall. It is in line with the door that was bricked up in the Great Hall. They are also finding interesting archeology: demolition rubble and roof tiles. The second trench is also coming up trumps for the team and it seems Stewart was right. They found a door. This building could house humans or house horses. Tony then sums up the activities of day one. They may have found another area where to put in a third trench. On day two, they put in a third trench on the backside of the building. They also find additional walls on the stable site. The additional wall is proving to be confusing to the Time Team. Despite this confusion, the Time Team is finding some very interesting finds. Is the Time Team finding a Norman Castle? Tune in to the episode to find out. This would be a good episode to show for both the history and earth science classroom. If you have an independent earth science student, then they could check out this episode. Landscape archeology was front and center in this building because of the confusing results from geophysics. I hope that teachers will be able to find something from Time Team to use in a classroom.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |