A Village Affair | FULL EPISODE | Time Team

There's a problem in the chocolate-box village of Bitterley in Shropshire; the villagers have been exploring a bumpy field and believe that their village used to be much bigger, with the field full of houses and streets.
Series 19, Episode 2.
Time Team is a British TV series following specialists who dig deep to uncover as much as they can about Britain's archaeology and history.
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#TimeTeam #BritishHistory #TonyRobinson

[@JeffreyAu1]

I love the look on Phil's face and his response when Tony tells him the village doesn't have a pub. "Deserted village.. I think they all went somewhere else for a pint"! LOL! One of Phil's best lines ever.

[@seleeneparis]

spoiler alert: the ruins are of the pub. XD

[@dannysullivan633]

Would love to sit down and have a pint with phil

[@greywater3186]

They don’t serve pints of bitter in Bitterly

[@larrimos]

These episodes just drive home the realization that we lost someone special when Mick passed away. I hope he now knows where all the good stuff is buried and is spending eternity digging through it...at speed!

[@georgielancaster1356]

When people like Mick die, I just mourn the knowledge lost. It is so sad it cannot be willed to someone.

[@valeriekaye3354]

Mick is still teaching generations yet. Let's teach our children to listen, really listen...

[@DiggingForFacts]

"We'll just play the mad archaeologist card if he gets stroppy about it"...Mick was a treasure

[@britters220]

“It will be time for your medicine again if you go on like that” Mick was amazing.

[@angelapiccolella1491]

Time Team is visual comfort food. I tend to go back to it in stressful times.

[@wagoneer81]

Yep. Every one in a while, one does need a break.

[@equaliser2265]

Very true, that's why I'm here.

[@eskimberly7424]

Every time I see and hear that intro I feel happy.

[@FollowingUsernamesR]

Yes, this is what I do instead of sleeping now...

[@robsniffen7597]

Amen!

[@arthurslaughter4122]

The heavy digger operators should get more credit. they are absolute artists.

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

They are indeed.

[@RoadhouseDeluxe]

To be able to take such precise a cut with so imprecise a machine always impressed me

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

It sounds like some of them are/were actually field archeologists themselves, so they had TWO sets of amazing skills 😲 In some of the episodes it appears that higher vantage point & different angle of light they had in the digger cab actually allowed them to better see certain dirt gradients etc and point them out to the ground crew?

[@jodyshepard9482]

Think of all the money spent on each of these episodes! All the clever extras: pubs, barrels, Matt's history stints, tents, pit-repairs, mud-cleaning, horse shoes, you name it. Thanks. Those extras add so much.

[@flederfox]

i love these. brits sniff at 1902 archeology where as i would have pits all over my back yard if someone told me there was a victorian era garden out there. i'm so jealous of the history available in the european back yard equivalents. these vids are really keeping me going, please upload more

[@mermeridian2041]

And thank YOU, Time Team, for helping me keep my sanity During the Times of COVID! I love the explorations and the banter and the findings and the...everything!

[@loricarter2394]

I love time team, lol. I also enjoyed Tony’s joke in the opening dialogue lol

[@JohnDought]

Time team is like a great back massage it is so relaxing to watch. Do I love time team!

[@riz3310]

Mr. Truth it’s my go-to when I’m in the mood to watch something but not really in the mood to watch anything.

[@robsniffen7597]

The Time Team Crew is a national treasure!

[@scottmalpass5569]

I have been a big fan of Time Team for quite a while. Stumbling across This episode dealing with the village of Bitterly is very special. My ancestors were from Bitterly. One of my distant cousins traced my family (Malpass) back to 1685. My great times eight Grandfather, John Malpas became church warden that year. He died in 1699. It was fascinating to watch Tony and the Archeological team explore the theory of two Bitterleys. My heart skipped a beat when they walked into the old Norman church. Looking at that faunt and wondering how many of my family had been baptized there. Scott Malpass, Chicago, Il., U S.A.

[@valeriekaye3354]

My heart skipped a beat just reading your last thought in your comment, Scott. Indescribably special.

[@Ollelmvg]

I love this episode as many of my ancestors came from this village

[@TercelRepairManual]

Mine too! Small world... tiny village.

[@eskimberly7424]

Great name for a town. I’m from a state in the US with towns like Ord and Wahoo.

[@granskare]

I am from USA, I liked Time Team, and these specials are great!

[@sk13ppy]

Thank you very much for this great episode! I absolutely loved this because my 3x Gt Grandmother was baptised at St Mary, Bitterley in 1805. You've done digs at a few of our ancestral villages and I hope to see them in person next time I'm visiting the UK from Australia. 😍🥰😎

[@DuckReach432]

I would have loved it if we had got to hear the buildings expert talk about some of the features in the manor house. Great episode, regardless.

[@SIG442]

43:42 I have a theory that may help this case, Look between the 2 places, just slightly to the north. You see a lot of trees here that rather looks like a path heading in to a village and it's right on the side of a main road. The open gaps there are big enough to fit a whole village in as well and it's much closer to the church. Just north of that you can see something that appears to be small plots of land which may be medieval style land plots. I did take a look on Google maps and if you zoom in at the right level you can actually see lines here that make no sense, nature doesn't make straight lines or near perfect round shapes. I do think something is going on with this specific area. In one of those fields it seems to have large lines that may form a bit building. I bet that is a place to at least take some attention towards. Perhaps this is the location that they are looking for. On a modern Google maps image of this area you can clearly see lines that look rather odd in the same field that the team were digging in. But in another corner of the field which may suggest a new investigation may be valid for this field as well. For the mansion that was shown in the episode, yes there seems to be something in it's garden that appear to be lines (field just south of the pool) At first I was thinking of a possible moat (likely decorative) but looking closer you can see even more lines that may suggest a row of structures and a road. It may be wise to check this out again as well. I do have to say that this village seems to have a problem with showing how funny they are, if you look in and around the village you see lines in the fields that spell "Boom", something that I guess looks like a teddy bear and several other images. So I can not be sure of anything in that sense, they are not making it any easier.

[@MrBEA68]

I wonder what that unsung hero is who operates the digger in every episode. He already looked old when he first appeared and he looks as if he is a remnant of the times when steam powered his first digger... He never says a word, does he...

[@MrBEA68]

And then his name is called out; ”Ian!!!”

[@rbzvncnt]

There are some episodes where he is included in the discussions, as he is well placed (higher up) to spot decolorations in the ground... I see him as a full and valuable member of the team. But unsung he surely is...

[@Eisen_Jaeger]

He's been shown bantering with Phil a few times.

[@topmog]

His name was Ian Barclay and sadly he passed away in 2014. He was very talented with the excavator, just search for "Time Team Digital S20 DIG2 DAY3 - Ian's Excavator Tricks, a Grape in Paul's Mouth!" here in KZbin.

[@RobKoelman]

Hero indeed. These experienced operators of mechanical diggers are an important part of nearly every excavation. They can take out half of a meter of ground directly if needed, but are also capable of taken out just half an inch of soil, perfectly horizontally, if necessarily.

[@RobKoelman]

29:44 The late prof. Mick Aston wearing a t-shirt with the text 'Young Archaeologists Club'. Love it!

[@glenn134]

😄😄🤣🤣 Mick was a laugh wasnt he, And a good fella. He will live on in his work and these vids. Rest easy mate

[@amybarb25]

Poor Phil! No pub?! Thats craziness!

[@danrinker8498]

Phil without a pint??? we're NOT having that!

[@angeladawn805]

Random fact: I went to Uni at Bretton Hall, West Bretton - Wakefield. It was "One of only 3 dry villages in Britain". So I wonder who's number 3!!!! (we did have a student bar)

[@aresaurelian]

14:12 - ".. it be thyme for y'er medicine if ye go on about like that." 😅😆

[@thomasbougher8930]

I'd like to learn more about the Time Team connection to military veterans, like myself (Vietnam), and how direct interaction in the UK has brought healing to those wounded warriors involved. Personally, I love watching Time Team episodes, which incorporate elements of team work, as the name implies, along with discovery, and learning about our shared heritage, particularly since it is NOT political, when compared to our current media drivel.

[@QuakerLady]

Look into Waterloo Uncovered. Phil is involved in that project and it includes lots of vets who find it quite healing

[@nicolejosan6364]

Phils "There's no pub in the village" needs to be sung like this, to the tune of "There's a hole in the bucket" - There's no pub in the village, in the village in the village, There's no pub in the village, oh Tony my dear. Of course there's a fix for it... ROTFL.

[@TVeldhorst]

Its so beautiful in those sloping hills, wish i'd live there.

[@Dovietail]

I love listening to Alex say "Beouw-dings."

[@motaman8074]

Phil's hat is looking especially relic like in this episode.

[@Atomsk102]

1:02 "badumpbumb chhhh" one rimshot for Tony

[@kayerin5749]

I love this series too, but one of the first things I noticed and delights me no end is watching "Baldric" (from _Blackadder_ for those of you who've been living under a rock) lead the team and not get hit about or put down by _anybody_ ! He is delightful in this role as narrator and guide and deftly adds some humor and keeps them moving along (as well of course as the writers and editors!)

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

8:01 I knew that name & face were familiar!! The awesome Alex was part of a wonderful BBC team creating experimental archaeology programmes (Victorian Farm, Wartime Farm etc), living out the practical application of British agricultural history. Very highly recommend watching - the playlists are all available free on Absolute History YT channel. (Just be aware, AH's KZbin ad frequency is even more frustrating than Time Team Classic's, sigh!! 🙄)

[@piltdownman2151]

I’ve always been wondered how many of the kids they’ve introduced to archeology stuck with it.

[@MrTValleyguy]

I find myself hoping the team will go to a quaint old village and find John Steeds bowler and Emma Peels cat suit.

[@willheid]

@Kittykitty Katt portmarion in wales

[@Bareego]

If I had a house with a garden and the time team came knocking, they could dig wherever they like !

[@benzomanic2972]

Thanks for the nice quality!

[@uncannydan]

The irony~ Time Team is actually Time Less.

[@SK-du5ns]

Awesome upload as always. Cheers.

[@kayleeriley3591]

I love the alliteration word play at the beginning LOL

[@007vsMagua]

It would be neat if the villagers started a boys and girls archaeology club with older children appointed as straw bosses and teachers as instructors and administrators. Would be a great way to teach children history, culture, science, and process.

[@chrisleung3978]

they just don't shows like this anymore. nowadays its always the wow factor even with documentaries

[@RichardWHamel]

Lack of Pub; Negative mood; I think there is a relationship.

[@BrinToo]

Wot, No Pub! What sort of village is this? 😂

[@ancilodon]

I Alex Langlands is really Jason Biggs in a flat cap, putting on an English accent. Well done.

[@briangodfrey7424]

My wife says you should have named this episode "Bitterley Divided."

[@stephenearlenbaugh-ic8wt]

Thanks!

[@deserthunter8363]

I've watched them all before... very nice

[@lisagerman2111]

Time Team has helped in realizing the history of civilization (Great Britain/Ireland) significantly precedes Roman invasion. 60's/70's American school curriculum re pre-Bronze Age evolution was dismissive - these programs are providing such a different perspective on pre-written history :)

[@jasonhare8540]

Tony playing Alex and Mick against each other like a mom and dad who aren't necessarily in agreement 🤣🤣🤣

[@koeltefontein]

I am not a morning person but am sure that I would be up and ready to help an archaeologist digging.

[@MarcCarle]

Take you medicine again!!! So funny!

[@stephanieyee9784]

The Phil's Head pub. 🍻

[@gwadja]

Episode 244 (Season 19, Episode 2): A Village Affair, Aired: January 29, 2012

[@MoggiesTen]

I sure hope Phil got to keep that sign!

[@ShortBusScotty]

Again, It's obvious to me the reason they are so far apart is they were BITTER.

[@johnanthonyfingleton2954]

Love the show...

[@b-positiveginny]

Awesome Team🩷

[@cindydintn]

Time Team--how I drive my adorable husband absolutely insane!!!

[@uwusmolbean]

After the black death, Life in the village was never the same...

[@TimeLady8]

English understatement at its finest.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks

[@smontone]

I can definitely see how the changes made were not for the better. I miss Helen and Stewart and victor!

[@joanbrate]

Love this.

[@hdoddema]

Is this the best weather they've ever had on Time Team?

[@alisterx8698]

19:20…..the glare from the three domes 😂

[@jockbeems4798]

Makes sense to me; Move a mile or so away because so many people I knew died in our old town. Who would want to live there?

[@Damien_Clarke]

They don't have a pub! They have a church that sells something as ludicrous as eternal live, but not a pub! It seems they have their concepts for 'spirits' a little... hazy!

[@PaulMahon-w2b]

Pub should be built off the back😊

[@CDForney]

I’m ready to chuck the US and move to one of these adorable villages 😊

[@Ijusthopeitsquick]

Bring lots of money.

[@blaggercoyote]

Early days but I`m going with the theory of the owner of the manor evicting the villagers to improve the view which would be typical behaviour at the time!😫😡

[@jeffchan67]

The shocking thing isn't Tony's shirt The shocking thing is this is actually the second episode he's worn that in

[@BaburBaggins]

"we are not digging in the village. we are digging up the village" ... hehe

[@shanegrass889]

Loved Tony in Black Adder

[@rknowling]

It would have been nice to see Stewart Ainsworth in this episode.

[@deborahparham3783]

He is not there because the idiots from Channel 4 got rid of him and Helen and Victor. That was one of the reasons Mick quit.

[@mattkaustickomments]

So the original village was abandoned, it just wasn’t as big as everyone thought. I wonder how many years after abandonment for the new location of the village to spring up?

[@joshschneider9766]

Probably not long. Literally hundreds of towns in th UK are the result of plague abandonment. Survis had to go somewhere and all.

[@DarkZtorm]

Such bitterly dig this was xD What village does not have a pub? The name for sure fits this village xD Mary ann are such beautiful woman though.

[@BinkyTheElf1]

Bitterly is recorded as ‘Buterlei’ in the Domesday Book, which is the same root name as “Butterleigh”. Online: Butterley (Edwin Ralph). 1086 Buterlei, Butrelie, Dom. 1123 Butterlega, Leom. Cart. 1138 Buterlega, A.C. J.H.R. thinks this is Birley (q.v.). 1303 Buterleye, F.A. 1327 Boturleye, Plac. de Banco. 'Meadow where they make butter'. Or, possibly, from a personal name Butter or Buthar. (Onom. gives only one Buterus.) Cf. Butterleigh (Devon); Butterley (Derby); Buttery (Salop), Dom. Buterel; Butterworth (Lincs.), with this cf. also Cheswardine; Butterwick (Lincs.), with this cf. Chiswick; Bitterley (Salop), which is Dom. Buterlie, and Buterleye in 1286 and later.

[@doriWyo]

I am so going to miss Sir Tony's humor.

[@eoyguy]

Mary-Ann adds nothing to these episodes. The absence of Geo-Phys abuse, Stewart, Helen Geake, and my personal favorite, Brigid Gallagher, is really felt.

[@katerinakemp5701]

Dont know about the other two but Brigid went home to NZ.

[@brandonpliskin2310]

Brighid married raysan ( another TT member) maryannn is wooden. Dead eyes

[@thhseeking]

@@brandonpliskin2310 I read that Mary Ann is a large part of why Mick left Time Team and it finished. The show was going in a direction that Mick didn't want. Which is a shame. I really, really miss this show. The new episodes are OK, but they don't have the same backing as the original episodes, so there are so many fewer episodes. But it's good seeing some of the old crowd, and Sir Tony (aka Baldrick) is getting involved.

[@jeffburnham6611]

I have to wonder about the fields, and all those bumps the team thought were evidence of structures. During WW2 many of the fields would have been used to produce cereal grain for the war effort. It is possible that those bumps were just normal spoils of earth deposited there as fields were laid in. This goes for the entire island of Great Britain, so I wonder why this is never considered by any of the historians or archaeologists, as they certainly would have been aware of it.

[@equaliser2265]

Phil's sweaty hat makes me laugh.

[@Vaquero4382]

Am I the only one that noticed many places in that field that looked like backfilled pits and trenches?

[@thomasmills3934]

I wish I lived in a place with truly ancient ruins...

[@thomasmills3934]

There is a truly ancient ruin near me I guess. But we know so impossibly little about the culture that you could fit all of our cumulative evidence in a 10 minute video... just big grassy hills are all that's left.

[@gubjorggisladottir3525]

40:09 my impression was that the people did not "feel the smell" at all. Our brains get "immerched" in what is around us. We do not smell what is there, but others do. And when everyone "has the same smell" they do not smell the other houses or the smell is just "home" It is as when one has not bathed for a few days... you do not smell your own stink. Not at all.

[@Popsaircraftdetail]

I’m with Phil

[@jpdj2715]

1) A church of regional importance (font, 25 mi radius of importance) dating from before Henry VIII-ism schism. In a hierarchical RC organisation, such a church could have had two important things associated: the house of a clergy officer like a bishop or slightly less maybe, but nevertheless very prestigious in the region. That might also have some houses for servants, stables and maybe a (not so big) monastery. Hit by plague first and protestantism later, this may have become something to not talk about any more. 2) If the former is or was refuted, we have to still consider that Saxon villages had "common grounds". These came in two types "the grounds around a settlement where people collected their livestock, say, overnight. "The grounds in the centre of the village" that might serve the same purpose, but could also facilitate a market in the daytime. The word "brink" is used in my language to refer to these grounds and today is understood (if understood ...) mostly referencing the central common grounds. Time to drown all this into spirited oblivion, with a bitter .

[@kanfoosj]

What happened to the geophysics?!

[@MendTheWorld]

I offered my guess a few Comments up.

[@juliajs1752]

The argument for a village in medieval times is finding medieval pottery in the "new", existing village. But what would have kept the villagers from carrying their pots from the old houses to the new ones? If the old village was abandoned, people would have packed up their crockery and tools and moved them.

[@Ijusthopeitsquick]

They wouldn't have brought their broken pots.

[@EarMode]

I would love to have a pint with Phil.

[@ivanolsen7966]

" here's hoping they're not ' Bitterley ' disappointed " ....................................... you could tell he was coming back into shot to say something

[@BinkyTheElf1]

So nice to see excavator operator Ian Barclay in this episode. He had mad skills: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mX7ZZZd9q6qcatU

[@mattmclafferty6265]

Any chance you can upload more episodes? seen all the other few on youtube. Cheers. Gauranga :)

[@Star_Gazing_Coffee_Lover]

Was this the first episode after Stuart was let go?

[@rebeccagreenwood529]

This is the second episode that Tony has worn that shirt and I am obsessed with the apparent stain on his shirt. WHAT IS THAT TONY????

[@gillianwhitfield9746]

Beetroot? Blood?

[@rebeccagreenwood529]

Gillian Whitfield okay beetroot is a maybe but that’s definitely not blood. It’s almost hot pink. Also, why keep wearing the shirt?????

[@rebeccagreenwood529]

@@gn4317 But its not anywhere else on the pattern of his shirt

[@larrimos]

Mick gives him a hard time about that shirt in a different episode. It’s not a stain, although it looks like a classic jelly doughnut accident to me.

[@bobmcsnark]

The landowner lowkey looks like the king of Sweden

[@Jakathera]

AT 33:11 who has the 5th beer? either someone is camera shy or the setup team isn't counting to 4 correctly XD

[@davidcollins9512]

Or it was the Cameraman's.

[@helix1061]

Perhaps it might help to use Lidar.

[@HaesslichG]

38:25 - Alex doesn't do forging here as he has to do it later.

[@simonhawker9277]

if a village doesnt have a pub its not a village just a suburb

[@bethbartlett5692]

Where's Stewart? 😶

[@annekabrimhall1059]

Alex is new!! How old is this episode?!

[@MrKmoconne]

Did Bitterley ever get a pub?

[@barvdw]

At least for the duration of the dig, the village got one. Yet another thing to be grateful for to Time Team.

[@MendTheWorld]

17:30 Fee, Fi, Fo, Fopter, I see the shadow of a heli-copter.