The Hunt For King Offa's Legendary Dark Age Palace | Time Team | Chronicle

King Offa is widely regarded as the greatest king in British history. Time Team head for Herefordshire in search of his legendary royal palace. It was from here that the great Anglo-Saxon king ruled the Kingdom of Mercia from 757 to 796.
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[@lellyt2372]

When Time Team was first broadcast I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was absolutely amazing to see actual archaeology on screen and the drawings and super-imposition over the landscape was so exciting to me. I had always wanted to be an archaeologist and this was so wonderful to watch. Obviously I wasn't the only one as this show went on for years and years and remained popular all along. Fantastic to watch it again. Ironically, it never gets old !

[@Allannah_Of_Rome]

I seriously can't get enough of time team, I'm addicted beyond belief!! 😁

[@jesperlarsen6649]

Very addictive

[@stewartcameron3595]

Tell me about it!

[@VioletDeliriums]

It's like Top 40 for history...or something. King Offa is one of the biggest hits of all time! WOOOOOH!

[@Missangie827]

Phil looks as if he could build a Saxon mortar mixer without instructions - he is such a character!

[@jturtle5318]

He's happier knapping flint.

[@atomic_wait]

When the local kids would trespass on his grounds he'd yell 'Offa my lawn!'

[@joshbeatty7211]

😂😂

[@kirkcrist]

Offa.

[@kattetzlaff4051]

The Welsh you mean. ..

[@xxmattopsxx3931]

And then behead them.

[@louiseedwards29]

😅😅😅

[@nancyhammons3594]

Phil "You lift, and I'll grunt"! LOL! I love the way Tony and the Time Team include the local children in their quests.

[@TheSonicdruid72]

I can only imagine how many future Archeologists this show inspired?

[@safeysmith6720]

37

[@lynnclapper997]

These videos are addictive

[@badbiker666]

This is a great example of the kind of archaeology that Time Team was originally intended to perform. They have a strict time limit of three days to dig some strategic trenches and attempt to come up with answers to specific questions. How many times have we seen a Time Team episode in which we were left with more new questions than answers to the original questions. But, that's not a bad thing. As Tony says in his epilogue, they were able to come up with enough evidence to give other, future, archaeologists a head start to further delve into the mysteries of this area. I would dearly love to see follow ups on this and any other digs where young archaeologists build upon what the Time Team uncovered.

[@Kholdaimon]

I wish that they did a follow up of this site, just to show what has been found after Time Team left, because I am sure it would have received a fair bit of attention from archaeologists.

[@Shlin1]

My love for history grew a lot more since I watched these programs. I wish South Africa had history and reality programs on TV about archaeology, archaeologists, and their fieldwork like you guys have there in the UK.

[@Alex-ve8uq]

You wouldn't find much in wakanda.

[@DungTran-li2wn]

medieval england is so fascinating.

[@lindadeal3344]

Was Offa the same as Arthur as they sound somewhat alike!!

[@buk6708]

I have the $3.49 subscription. But I watch on KZbin more. These are awesome videos man. Feels like I am getting good value.

[@phaedrapage4217]

It sucks digging up sod without machinery. I stripped sod by hand to put in a big herb garden about 6 or 7 years ago. And I did it with two bulging discs in my lower back. (And about a month later, I planted 50 rose bushes.) If I ever do another project like that, I'm definitely going to hire someone else to do the digging! Lol

[@bethbartlett5692]

Heavy I suspect.

[@LovePrettyNailsLady-Jay80]

Fascinating and interesting. I love history.

[@JohannesVanDerStuyvebode]

You are gorgeous

[@mobileasaurus]

I fell asleep watching KZbin and was fully woken up by the sound of metal loudly hitting stone over and over.

[@nevillemignot1681]

I do wonder why Dr Peter Reynolds is not appear in this episode, he being an expert on things built in that era that helped in everyday life. And he worked so well with Stewart working out what the 'Lumps and Bumps' were all about.

[@TermiteUSA]

Phil 11 mins in: "GIT CHUR FINGURS OUUT TH' WAY"

[@leehaseley2164]

If you haven't walked Offa's Dyke, you haven't lived❤❤❤

[@elizabeth-gl8ki]

Time Team Gold.

[@speakupriseup4549]

He Offa'd his honour She honoured his Offa From that night forth he was on 'er and Offa

[@bethbartlett5692]

My word, that is so bad, but cute! 😉

[@crisslastname9417]

5/10/23: Awesome!

[@louiseedwards29]

Absolutely always drove me nuts how Carenza never, ever tied her hair back. When she was digging, I mean.

[@LordPubeck]

Is no one going to talk about the spuds? 😁

[@benediktmorak4409]

for me though it is not even 3 days. but still - binge looking - od some of the old episodes that i have not seen yet.

[@aaronsaunders6974]

king offa reminds me of prince humperdink

[@VintageYakyu]

Offa lot of medieval history on this channel.

[@laserbeam002]

What I am wondering is...Suppose the owner of the land did not want them occupying and digging up their land. Does the owner have any right to tell them "No way your are coming on my land and digging it up".

[@evanhadkins5532]

I think they need the owner's permission.

[@pumbar]

Offa, the greatest king in British history? Athelstan or Alfred? Oswald, Penda or Cadwallon?

[@Go-Dawgs]

I have searched for An Indepth Documentary on Offa. Any suggestions please??

[@pumbar]

Michael Wood did a reasonable on you might enjoy, it's here on youtube, search for - In Search of Offa - In Search of the Dark Ages - 1979

[@marilyncuaron3222]

Alfred gets my vote. Offa may have been more powerful, but Alfred was to my mind ahead of his time..do we know what Offa started his rule with? Alfred had a few loyal men in the scenic parts of Althelney swamp. He was a superb tactician and a fierce soldier, but to his mind, there was more to kingship than war. He was devout and lived like it. But for me, his true legacy was his championship of literacy and learning. 12:36

[@marilyncuaron3222]

All of the above?

[@pumbar]

@@marilyncuaron3222 A superb comment. I can see where you are coming from but it still has to be Athelstan?

[@BinkyTheElf1]

I’m surprised the measurements couldn’t be worked out by figuring out the distances and angles of the field-boundaries and landmarks from the dry scan & the real world references/ objects, etc. If only I remembered more math & trigonometry, to exactly express what I mean…. Once you measure everything at the site (width, length, field-angles from corners, etc., wouldn’t it be possible to put that on the scan-map?

[@jturtle5318]

48th great grandfather.

[@kylelee9474]

[@bethbartlett5692]

... and Anglo Saxons were some strange Peoples, they come to England and completely rolled back all advancements made by the Romans. Roman homes had central heat and a simple system for waste removal, Terracotta Roof Tiles, and Stone Foundations. The Anglo Saxons had Wood Huts and Long House Buildings with Thatch Roofs, a Fire in the middle of a Dirt Floor and zero waste removal. Nevermind their Table Manners. Germanics of 400 - 1800 AD/CE with slow forward progress.

[@ConLustig]

I know it may sound a bit self-victimizing, but as an American it makes me so sad so much history from what would be dated 'medieval' in my local has been completely destroyed and as an armature local historian (or more honestly friend of several local historians) its even more disgusting knowing the locations of important indigenous landmarks within walking distance but since they now sit under 'public' parks, factories, and private houses, there will be no consent-let alone funding and general enthusiasm-to uncover and preserve the history here. Most people don't even know a good portion of the original people still live only about 20 minutes away

[@Finalmarco]

How old is this documentary?

[@paddybrennan3644]

Well Tony has hair? 90 s ?

[@williamfindspeople4341]

Mick Aston died in 2013

[@lilyivey5933]

this episode (series/season 7, episode 10) aired march 5, 2000

[@olejoergenmalm16]

How many "An "Offa" you can't refuse" comments are here now?

[@VioletDeliriums]

0:48 Is the reason you only have three days to find out because the term paper for your history 101 class is due? Maybe you shouldn't have procrastinated so long...the photo was taken 34 years ago!

[@annephillips1870]

Because they’re working academics, and contrary to popular belief, academics have an incredibly demanding schedule. Plus, they have to coordinate local heritage experts and film crews too.

[@VioletDeliriums]

​@@annephillips1870 They are working for capitalists making money in the entertainment business, and so they are more like to skimp when it comes to needed research and exploration in order to meet a deadline for airing. An academic spends the time needed to get accomplish research properly...or they don't publish it.

[@susanstein6604]

How come I never heard of King Offa?

[@shinshiro5289]

Of course you won't hear of him because they just don't want you know the real history that they hide it

[@GodsOath_com]

England should replant its forests

[@ellen4956]

Just look for the snake pit..

[@TheAnemarie]

so once again they dind´t find anything

[@Seashed]

Why don’t you spend seven days instead of three?

[@LovePrettyNailsLady-Jay80]

Because the 7th day is made for rest. Lol. Probably because that's all they're allowed on that spot

[@louisramosa]

Because they all had full-time jobs as well, this was mostly done on weekends as far as I know

[@johnmclachlan1023]

They asked for 7 but 3 was the best offa.

[@nevillemignot1681]

If you watch the final day of the dig were one of the diggers is told 'To get on with it', it might give you some idea why there is such a time frame imposed here, and the name of 'Time Team' may give you another clue.

[@paulrudd1063]

KZbin is really becoming an organisation that wants to promote nothing more than self-absorbed promoters of plastic culture. One by one, the interesting and unique creators are becoming discouraged from producing more content. Your channel is one of the only reasons I haven’t cancelled my subscription. KZbin is really becoming facile.

[@boogiesmell5181]

Sadly that's very true. The lowest common denominator and all that. Over simplifications, stupidity, short clips, nonsense, quick laughs, this is what people want and get. As Huxley wrote, it's what we love that will destroy us. KZbin is very much a part of this glorification of simplicity and selfish hedonism.

[@motojunkie8348]

Id hate the be the land owner. Imagine owning property and finding out its protected so you can never do anything with it. Knowing gow governments works im sure they just confiscated it to

[@boogiesmell5181]

"Offa let his wicked wife (Cynethryth) persuade him to murder Æthelberht". As Dr. John Blair says, this is according to a legend written down hundreds of years after the alleged event. In other words, a fairy tale. This was written down by toxic monks, who were never objective and always, always misogynistic, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the wife had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder. Naturally a monk based in an abbey founded by King Offa would do what he could to absolve Offa of his role in the event. In the 15th century another genius monk came to the conclusion that the executioner was a chap called Grimbert, no doubt after careful in depth investigation into the case. Most of the time these guys were just making things up on the spot. There was no distinction between fact and fiction or any concept of historical veracity. God was the only fact checker, and he was totally fine with this method. Yet another 15th century monk wrote that Æthelberhts detached head fell off a cart into a ditch where it was found, before it restored a blind man's sight. That must've been pretty cool.

[@Ubique2927]

Scheduling an area is just a big waste of time. It is impossible to do anything. Even dig for archeology. Stupid. I'm surprised she didn't schedule the site at 10:00 am on day 1!

[@alicemilne1444]

Calling Offa the greatest king in Britain and claiming he was a major European king is an egregious example of English people's ignorant and distorted view of history. Offa was an Anglo-Saxon king who controlled most of southern England, but not Northumberland. Serious historians don't see him as having any sway outside that area and certainly not in Europe.

[@tonyhancox3657]

Time Team must be happy you are able to correct their ignorant and distorted view of their history.

[@alicemilne1444]

@tonyhancox3657 Time Team very often have an extremely biased view of history. If you have studied history in languages other than English (which I have: French, German and Spanish), Offa is either not mentioned at all or only in passing.

[@thecapedgremlin0001]

I like this show, but what they don't tell you is they destroy a lot of rare artifacts with there excavator...and when the actual archaeologists see it, they pretend it didn't happen or try not to show it...typical....lol

[@paddybrennan3644]

So stupid The bureaucracy in Britain It’s been designated a historical site Based on what? And so you can not use equipment

[@nevillemignot1681]

There are different levels that English heritage can impose [There are 5 i think], and mostly they are enacted to safeguard our history, and the most frequent one imposed is that most of the digging is done by hand.

[@Horseyperson12]

Seems like most of the time they don't have much of an idea what's there. It appears that at 😊some time they realized that with all the modernization coming they had to protect everything that even had a hint of archeology. Willy nilly. Seems they should have a better system to allow professionals to help them figure out exactly what's there.

[@Hinata.Sakaguchi]

they are experts but need more time. clearly 3 days is not enough to solve that site.@@Horseyperson12

[@roberttelarket4934]

King Offa was a lesbian in disguise!!!

[@jeffcranmer9419]

Why only 3 days?

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

Why would they only have three days? I'm not believing that, there's no reason for it and they did way more than three days of work.