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Wessex Archaeology has been involved with Time Team from the very beginning through one of the programme’s best known characters, Phil Harding. In this section you can explore some of our work with Time Team, and find out what happens after the TV show.

How we worked with Time Team

Wessex Archaeology has had an involvement with Time Team from the very beginning, through one of the programme’s best known characters, Phil Harding. In recent years, however, we have taken over much of the archaeological ‘technical support’ for the team. Time Team’s main aim, of course, is to produce very good television programmes which have a wide audience, but what they do in the field is really not much different to our work as contract archaeologists, and it’s important that the archaeology is treated in the same way.

We are responsible for making sure that all Time Team’s trenches are properly recorded, using standard techniques, and that a report is compiled at the end of the dig, to present the results. We work closely with the people carrying out the site survey, the geophysical survey and the landscape survey, all of whose results are incorporated in our reports.

One of the rewards of our work with Time Team is the opportunity to work on a wide range of sites, some of which we would not normally get a chance to investigate. Over the years, our staff have participated in digs from Cornwall to the north of Scotland, in northern Ireland, France, Spain and the United States, covering a wide time span and cultural range – an Iron Age village in Cornwall, a Scottish broch, Caerwent Roman town, a Saxon cemetery, a Tudor bishop’s palace, a pioneering Manchester cotton mill and a Normandy D-Day site are just a few of the sites we have been involved in. One of the most recent sites was right here in Salisbury, where three trenches were dug around the cathedral.

Over the years, too, many interesting objects have been found. Alongside the everyday refuse of pottery sherds and animal bones have come gold and silver coins, Roman glass vessels, beautifully made Saxon brooches and some very early bone spectacle frames.

Behind the scenes Time Team recording at Salisbury Cathedral

Time Team reports

List of available Time Team reports produced by Wessex Archaeology.
Reports are available for series broadcast between 2003 and 2013.

 

Series 20 (2013)

  • Episode 1: The Forgotten Gunners of WWI - View the report
    (Broadcast 11 November 2012: Belton House, Lincolnshire)
  • Episode 2: Brancaster - View the report
    (Broadcast 6 January 2013: Brancaster Roman Fort (Branodunum), Norfolk)
  • Episode 3: A Capital Hill - View the report
    (Broadcast 13 January 2013: Caerau, Cardiff)
  • Episode 4: Henham's Lost Mansions - View the Report
    (Broadcast 20 January 2013: Henham Park)
  • Episode 5: Warriors - Report not available
    (Broadcast 27 January 2013: Barrow Clump)
  • Episode 6: Lost Mines of Lakeland - View the Report
    (Broadcast 3 February 2013: Back Strings, Coniston)
  • Episode 7: Horseshoe Hall - View the report
    (Broadcast 10 February 2013: Oakham Castle, Rutland)
  • Episode 8: Mystery of the Thames-side Villa - View the Report
    (Broadcast 17 February 2013: Dropshort Roman Villa, Oxfordshire)
  • Episode 9: The Lost Castle of Dundrum - Report not available
    (Broadcast 24 February 2013: Not WA Report)
  • Episode 10: Wolsey's Lost Palace - View the Report
    (Broadcast 3 March 2013: Manor of the More, Northwood)
  • Episode 11: An Englishman's Castle - View the Report
    (Broadcast 10 March 2013: Upton Castle, Pembrokeshire)
  • Episode 12: The Time Team Guide to Experimental Archaeology - Report not available 
    (Broadcast 17 March 2013: No report)
  • Episode 13: Twenty Years of Time Team - Report not available
    (Broadcast 24 March 2013: No report)

 

Series 19 (2012)

  • Episode 1: Dig by Wire - View the Report
    (Broadcast 22 January 2012: Watery Bay & Gateholm Island, Pembrokeshire)
  • Episode 2: A Village Affair - View the Report
    (Broadcast 29 January 2012: Bitterley, Shropshire)
  • Episode 3: The Drowned Town - View the Report
    (Broadcast 5 February 2012: Dunwich, Suffolk)
  • Episode 4: The First King of Racing - View the Report
    (Broadcast 12 February 2012: Newmarket, Suffolk)
  • Episode 5: Chapel of Secrets  - View the Report
    (Broadcast 19 February 2012: St Ebba’s Chapel, Beadnell, Co. Durham)
  • Episode 6: A Copper Bottomed Dig - View the Report
    (Broadcast 26 February 2012: White Rock & Hafod Works, Swansea)
  • Episode 7: The Only Earl is Essex - View the Report
    (Broadcast 4 March 2012: Earls Colne, Essex)
  • Episode 8: Secrets of the Dunes - View the Report
    (Broadcast 18 March 2012: Kenfig, Bridgend, Glamorgan)
  • Episode 9: Rome’s Wild West - Report not available
    (Broadcast 25 March 2012: Caerleon)
  • Episode 10: How to Lose a Castle - View the Report
    (Broadcast 1 April 2012: Castle Hill, Crewkerne, Somerset
  • Episode 11: King John’s Palace - View the Report
    (Broadcast 8 April 2012: Clipstone, Nottinghamshire

 

Series 18 (2011)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2011 episode guide.

  • Episode 1: Reservoir Rituals - View the Report
    (Broadcast 6 February 2011: Tottiford, Devon)
  • Episode 2: Saxon Death, Saxon Gold - View the Report
    (Broadcast 13 February 2011: West Langton, Leicestershire)
  • Episode 3: Romans on the Range - View the Report
    (Broadcast 20 February 2011: Langport Ranges, Somerset)
  • Episode 4: Hitler's Island Fortress - View the Report
    (Broadcast 27 February 2011: Les Gellettes, Jersey)
  • Episode 5: The Furnace in the Forest - View the Report
    (Broadcast 6 March 2011: Derwentcote, Co. Durham)
  • Episode 6: Under the Gravestones - View the Report
    (Broadcast 13 March 2011: Castor, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
  • Episode 7: The House of the White Queen - View the Report
    (Broadcast 20 March 2011: Groby Hall, Leicestershire)
  • Episode 8: Castles and Cannons - View the Report
    (Broadcast 27 March 2011: Mont Orgueil, Jersey)
  • Episode 9: The Mystery of the Manor Moat - View the Report
    (Broadcast 3 April 2011: Llancaiah Fawr, Gwent, Wales)
  • Episode 10: Search for the Domesday Mill - View the Report
    (Broadcast 10 April 2011: Buck Mill, Stoke Trister, Somerset)

 

Series 17 (2010)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2010 episode guide.

  • Programme 1: Corridors of Power
    (Broadcast 18 April 2010: City of Westminster)
  • Programme 2: A Saintly Site
    (Broadcast 25 April 2010: Baliscate Chapel, Isle of Mull)
  • Programme 3: Bridge Over The River Tees
    (Broadcast 2 May 2010: Piercebridge, County Durham)
  • Programme 4: In The Halls Of A Saxon King
    (Broadcast 9 May 2010: Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire)
  • Programme 5: The Massacre In The Cellar
    (Broadcast 16 May 2010: Hopton Castle, Shropshire)
  • Programme 6: Potted History
    (Broadcast 23 May 2010: Cunetio, Mildenhall, Wiltshire)
  • Programme 7: Death and Dominoes: The First POW Camp
    (Broadcast 3 October 2010: Norman Cross, Cambridgeshire)
  • Programme 8: Something For The Weekend (report not available)
    (Broadcast 10 October 2010: Tregruk Castle, Llangybi, Monmouthshire)
  • Programme 9: Governor's Green
    (Broadcast 24 October 2010: Governor's Green, Portsmouth)
  • Programme 10: Priory Engagement
    (Broadcast 17 October 2010: Burford, Oxfordshire)
  • Programme 11: There's A Villa Here Somewhere
    (Broadcast 31 October 2010: Litlington, Cambridgeshire)
  • Programme 12: Commanding Heights (not currently available)
    (Broadcast 7 November 2010: Dinmore Hill, Herefordshire)
  • Programme 13: Rooting For The Romans
    (Broadcast 17 April 2011: Bedford Purlieus Wood, Cambridgeshire)

 

Series 16 (2009)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2009 website.

 

Series 15 (2008)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2008 website.

 

Series 14 (2007)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2007 website. 

 

Series 13 (2006)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2006 website.

  • Programme 1: The bodies in the shed - Glendon's lost graveyard
    (22 January 2006: Northamptonshire)
  • Programme 2: Villas out of molehills
    (29 January 2006: Withington, Gloucestershire)
  • Programme 3: Rubble at mill - The birth of the Industrial Revolution in Manchester
    (5 February 2006: Manchester)
  • Programme 4: The first Tudor palace?
    (12 February 2006: Esher, Surrey)
  • Programme 5: The boat on the Rhine - A Roman boat in Utrecht (not currently available)
    (19 February 2006: Utrecht, Netherlands)
  • Programme 6: Court of the Kentish king
    (26 February 2006: Eastry, Kent)
  • Programme 7: The monks' manor - Brimham medieval monastic farm
    (5 March 2006: Brimham, North Yorkshire)
  • Programme 8:  Castle in the round (not currently available)
    (12 March 2006: Queenborough, Kent)
  • Programme 9: Sussex ups and downs 
    (19 March 2006: Blackpatch, Sussex)
  • Programme 10: Birthplace of the Confessor 
    (26 March 2006: Islip, Oxfordshire)
  • Programme 11: Early bath
    (2 April 2006: Ffrith, North Wales)
  • Programme 12: The taxman's tavern - A Roman mansio at Alfoldean, Sussex
    (9 April 2006: Alfoldean, Sussex)
  • Programme 13: Scotch broch - Iron-Age life at Applecross near Skye
    (16 April 2006: Applecross, Skye)

 

Series 12 (2005)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2005 website.

 

Series 11 (2004)

For background information about each episode, please visit the Channel 4 Time Team 2004 website.

 

The Big Dig (2003)

  • Extra report: Zinch House (one of the sites investigated during 2003 The Big Dig)
    (28th-29th June: Stogumber, Somerset)

Exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral

In 2008 Time Team came to Salisbury to dig around the cathedral. They were searching for the site of the 13th century Bell Tower and the 15th century Chantry Chapel of Bishop Richard Beauchamp, both demolished in the 18th century. 

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Following the programme, the Cathedral approached Wessex Archaeology's Graphics Team to prepare a special exhibition about the excavations. This was to be held in the Cloisters over the summer and autumn of 2009, and would include selected decorative stonework from the Cathedral’s own store. The brief was to design and supply eleven banners, a leaflet with a Bishop Beauchamp trail, two A3 posters to explain the stonework on display, and finally some artefacts from the Time Team dig and props to dress two display cases supplied by the Cathedral. 

 

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The end product was exactly as briefed and I was impressed with both the speed of turnaround and the level of care displayed throughout. Wessex were a pleasure to work with.

David Coulthard Salisbury Cathedral, Marketing and Communications Director