In the Halls of a Saxon King (Sutton Courtenay) | Series 17 Episode 4 | Time Team

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Iron Age settlement (Cornwall): • FIRST LOOK: Time Team ...
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In Sutton Courtenay, Tony and the team investigate a set of buildings once occupied by Anglo-Saxon royalty. It's the rarest of archaeological sites and uncovers the biggest Saxon building ever discovered in Britain. Aerial photography of an apparently featureless Oxfordshire field revealed crop marks that suggested to archaeologists it was once the site of an impressive collection of 1,400-year-old buildings.
Series 17, Episode 04
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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[@LoveratLoves]

As an Australian Anglophile - I bloody love this show - it;s the absolute best.

[@SimonLloydGuitar]

I'd forgotten just how superb these classics episodes were. Tony makes them so watchable too.

[@_f355]

that scene in the pub where Tony toasted to J.R.R and "our own Bilbo Baggins - Professor Mick Aston" has left me weeping. may you rest in peace, our own Bilbo Baggins!

[@kathycarlson7947]

Yes, I cried, too. Amazing show, amazing people.

[@kathycarlson7947]

Another episode that gave chills. I used to teach Anglo-Saxon literature, so the word "battles" delighted me. I wish I'd had this episode to show to my students before I retired. Kudos!!

[@Mimzie-Arizona]

Awww. That's great

[@dinerouk]

I wish they had discounted the annoying little turd years ago!

[@dinerouk]

T R is a crawler!

[@philipnesbitt3334]

Mick was the ultimate boss for me. Helen was the expert so he willingly let her make the decisions even though he was in charge and would be responsible if it went wrong. Shows just how much he respected and valued everyone that he worked with.

[@campcrafter4613]

The young ones are now the masters!

[@deborahparham3783]

​@@campcrafter4613They had excellent teachers.

[@irt1971]

Helen's extremely intelligent, so Mick trusted her, it worked out very well, I think this was one of their best digs!

[@gigmcsweeney8566]

Time Team was simply one of the best television programmes ever produced. The whole team were amazing, and the way they worked together to discover incredible finds which helped us better understand our past was an unmissable joy. Bless them all.

[@MegaMeaty]

I have watched just about every episode, and there is a couple things I don't understand. I live at 10 thousand feet, and our average temperature is about 35 degrees Fahrenheit or about 1 degree Celsius. I looked up the average temperature in the area they are working, and they always wear heavy clothing in just about every episode, but this one. In the summer here it gets about 78 degrees, and we take the coats, and shirts off. We wear as little as possible at our peril, because the sun is much stronger at ten thousand feet. We call it teets, and balls out. Why does time team never seem to be warm? I looked up the temperature in those parts of Btitian, and it seems it gets just as warm as the top of the mountian were I live. Are the British not cold hardy - or is there something I am missing. Even at ten thousand feet we never wear that much clothing in the summer. I want to get neked at 50 F, because I am so used to the -30F winter.

[@maxmoore9955]

I agree with that statement 100% .

[@gerdcelinejensen8294]

Thank goodness they have started again! 🤗

[@gerdcelinejensen8294]

​@@MegaMeaty 😂😂Well said, we are used to cold weather too, and when the weather hits 16°C here, we go in shorts or think clothes! 🤷‍♀️😁

[@user-qs7gx7rp7m]

​​@@MegaMeatyBelieve it's the humidity. A weather hardened Canadian, I never experiened the damp cold I did while stationed at 'Fort Anne' ? (North shore down from London) dresses in woolen kit of a re-created Loyalist Reg't. Shook my faith in the idea of 'Jolly Good England' but it was restored when a young boys soccer team showed up & played as though it was 'balmy'. They still make tough kids in England . . .

[@amandachapman4708]

One of the best! Phil and Matt sparking off each other like Morecambe and Wise, and Helen getting red in the face with enthusiasm. Very funny, heartwarming, and massively interesting.

[@N1RKW]

Phil winning the contest with "Up thine!" gave me a good, hearty laugh.

[@jtzoltan]

From all the episodes I've seen (maybe 5 so far) it seems like Phil always wins the contests with Matt. The other contest that comes to mind is the Roman town episode in the Welsh marches where they were judged on how well they gave a Roman speech. Phil was deemed the winner there too.

[@jodyknight]

@@jtzoltan Yes, one wonders if he might be too sore a loser to bear with, so it's better for all to let him win lol.

[@jodyknight]

Them flinging off at each other had me laughing I love this episode.

[@julianbennett3772]

What a wonderfuk show! A fellow archaeologist, I knew Mick when he was still Taunton in the 70's, and even lived in his house there for a while. A great character, the same then (with more hair!) as in these shows. A most incredible and effective lecturer for evening extra mural classes. His death was a great loss to archaeology. But I especially liked this TT as Sutton Courtenay was in my backyard when growing up, and knowledge of the site is what helped draw me to a career in archaeology.

[@roisncarroll6078]

Rip Victor Ambrus Literally made history come alive

[@August222]

Helen is magnificently charming, intelligent, and entertaining. The people who ended this show are a curse on humanity.

[@nigelh3253]

Agree with you about the end of the shows. They had a hugely successful format, which they messed around with and got in new people/presenters. Plus the TV time slots varied so loyal audience was lost. Great shame!

[@Wppk765]

Here, here!! Fie upon them and a pox ‘pon all their houses!!!

[@kevinjohnbetts]

@@nigelh3253 Had Mick Aston not died so suddenly shortly after leaving (he had his reasons which aren't important here) I think Tim Taylor would have made good on his promise to get him back on the show and we might have seen a few more series. On the other hand there are few shows of this ilk that run for five years let alone twenty with most later seasons running into double figures. I didn't see the last few seasons or some of the specials because my enthusiasm for it all was waning having watched them all from the first show. After a long break I find I appreciate them more than I did back then. Maybe it's nostalgia or maybe they were genuinely good and the problem was me! Whatever I'm glad we can watch these old episodes whenever we feel like it and it's pleasing to know they're making new shows with some of the old (time) team.

[@nigelh3253]

@@kevinjohnbetts I bought several of the DVD box sets of Time Team and they make a great binge watch. And I'm pleased how popular TT has become with both it's original TV eps and the Internet reincarnation. Obviously Mick Aston was a huge driving force with his great enthusiasm coming across, plus the field archaeologists who developed TV personalities as the TT series progressed. The earlier series called 'Time Signs' is an interesting watch, but presumably it was Tim Taylor who came up with the three day format of Time Time which became hugely popular. And the episodes don't date (no pun intended), partly due to the narration by Tony Robinson always using the present tense. Time Team was a programme where all the elements came together and we're greater than the separate parts. (A cliche, maybe, but true!)

[@kevinjohnbetts]

@@nigelh3253 'Time Team' managed to walk that fine line between being entertaining and being educational. Not always successfully but those occasions were rare. And I'd agree wholeheartedly with your closing statement, cliche or not.

[@marcmorel7246]

Even though i've already watched every episode ever made, i keep coming back for more. After all these years these guys almost feel like family

[@jodyknight]

We do the same and yes, they do start to feel almost like family after all the years we've watched them.

[@Mimzie-Arizona]

Yes me too

[@equaliser2265]

They are my family apart from a small dachshund called Hans.

[@annfahy2589]

Truely felt like family miss Bilbo Baggins! Why didnt Phil get kept on❤

[@johnbacon1854]

One of the best historical shows ever produced. You could see on Helen in this one, the amazing importance of being there, and finding all that history from 1500 years ago. I know Tony has to play the part of Commentator and questions everything, but I am sure behind the scenes he is lierally walking around buzzing having been part of years of being part of some of the biggest and most important digs in the UK. If you get history, then these digs and finds are close to mind blowing.

[@dinerouk]

I care litle of what Tony has to say, He seems bent on making a joke or or some facile remark!

[@pingpong5000]

Helen's emotional expression says it all, Time team was one of the most interesting programs on TV back in the 1990's, I loved it. The archaeologists involved moved this program up to another higher level, they were such great folks I actually became very found of them, rewatching them all again now I am retired is joy revisited. Up them!

[@dinerouk]

Ditto!

[@dinerouk]

Ditto!

[@tooclaws]

How lovely is Helen. :)

[@callumbyrne3692]

Sam Newton is my favourite guest historian on this programme! He’s so wacky. People like him make history so much more fascinating.

[@theg0z0n]

This is probably my favorite episode of Time Team

[@616rico]

Today I learned Rap Battles date back to the Anglo Saxon period

[@scarletmaye]

So technically epic rap battles of history was an accurate description

[@joeyr7294]

Phil makes me laugh in most episodes but Matt and his banter in this episode was great lol 🍻

[@jmitch5161]

This is my favourite ever episode. Must have watched it a dozen times

[@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

Wassail! Wassail, I'll tell you Wassail, you get in in bottles, it's strong and it's pale! The BEST programme ever broadcast on UK tv was this. No Sunday was complete without watching it.

[@dinerouk]

Wassail Song from Steeleye Span: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKfaqHijhtKGjdU

[@caitlinallen8400]

Watching Phil, Mick, and Tony playfully bicker about who knows best where to dig makes my heart happy 😄

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

"...the thinking man's Dungeons and Dragons..." almost killed me

[@nancymills1884]

I always chuckle at Tony’s skepticism and sarcasm. He puts a sudden reality check on the everyone’s excited theory. Then he has to back pedal a bit when the final reveal comes.

[@shri081]

When LOTR and specifically Theoden and the kingdom of Rohan got a mention…I was wearing a silly ass smile on my face…. two of my favourite things combined….and that Rohan/Rohirrim theme track on the violin pulls on my heart strings every time I listen to it…till this very day…

[@Loafinbaker]

Having discovered Time Team while in the hospital in July, I have become enamored with the show and the team. While they are doing truly professional and serious work, they teach both the audience and each other. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone into archeology of some point.

[@wolfiehaunteddollsbethel-s1377]

Time team kept me going , 2 years ago when I tested positive for covid, I was on lock down for almost 2 weeks, all I did was watch time team, I just love this program, god bless the time team

[@emeraldthunder]

Nice to see more classics episodes coming out, I really love Time Team. It's got me into history and archeology. I can't wait for the new episodes.

[@deltadom33]

I can't wait for new episodes

[@King_Alfred_849]

When are they due to be aired and who's presenting them ? 🙏

[@emeraldthunder]

@@King_Alfred_849 Spring 2022, I can't remember the presenters names , you can find out more on the Time Team offcial channel.

[@louismarshall6976]

So bittersweet,this program makes me happy then sad.l love it.

[@barryconway]

Over and above the incredible archaeology, it is the camaraderie and enthusiasm - not to mention the professionalism of this team which excites me. Chapeau!

[@welshxwanderer7739]

Another great Time Team episode. The main reason why I got a history degree 😊❤️

[@matthew9871]

As is so often the case, Stuart comes in at the end and sorts it all out.

[@Tiahanako98]

P

[@rodritchison1995]

As is so often the case, Stuart proves himself to be a Druid Wizard.

[@ivanolsen7966]

just where is Stuart in this episode

[@matthew9871]

@@ivanolsen7966 Minute 42

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

The sheer scale of construction for communal buildings of this pre-Roman era is really mindboggling to me, esp. given the limitations of contemporary tools, materials, manually-operated machinery and transport methods! The level of engineering involved and the personnel coordination required to make these enormous great halls possible is remarkable to think about - particularly given we have a modern tendency to think of these peoples as 'primitive', disorganised and pre-technological.

[@hirnlegorush]

"dei mudder hämmert mit wolfs " lol didnt knew that "dei mudder" jokes were popular even back then lol

[@darlenedowney17]

Glad to hear you tell us it’s fine not as bad as it looks, again. Then pointing out the giant granite rocks overhanging, yaa we hadn’t noticed at all 😂😂😂😂❤❤

[@mothmagic1]

Mick turning the dig over to Helen, no pressure there then. A great archaeologist like Mick giving you control is a terrifying prospect. Amazing how they can see things we lay people have trouble picking out. Believe it or not I can actually understand some of the Saxon English as it is very close to German which I can just about manage.

[@bcpatterson012]

Love Phil..."Careful with my Shovel"!!..another great episode..

[@HelloIAmJo]

I love Paul so much. He's the only pottery man for me 😍

[@BenSHammonds]

I really like Helena Hamerow, such a beautiful and intelligent lady, the times she was on the program always are my favorites.

[@gitie1791]

The great enthusiasm of Phil is amazing!

[@dinerouk]

while the antithesis of enthusiasm is Tony! I often turn the sound off when he speaks!

[@grimmstein3714]

Around 20:00 there’s this competition of insults and as a northern German I’m really surprised to understand most of the Saxon dialect! It sounded more like actual slang from Hamburg > Mudda=Mutter=mother and it is still used in this form. Great detail from one of the best TT episode.

[@TimL1980]

Despite the fact that there is less exciting material surviving I find the excavations of saxon or iron age sites much more interesting than the tudor or victorian ones!

[@silverhooligan1256]

This is my favorite episode so far: the energy of team, personal dynamics, camaraderie, and academic enthusiasm are so engaging. I have a degree in Medieval Studies (from migration period to 15th century) and I love how the breathe life into history. I do wish Tony would stop referring to it as the dark ages, a misnomer.

[@anthonykent8139]

A wonderful programme. Always so good humoured!

[@dinerouk]

Because it's British! Get a lot of British men together and doing something that they love and you get humour. Especially when there's beer at the end of it!

[@martinmarsola6477]

All the best, Time Team. Alway look forward to your weekend videos. Cheers mates! 🇬🇧😊👍🇺🇸

[@robertfletcher3421]

I think if some Anglo Saxon could have had a premonition of what future people were doing on their site it would have pleased them.

[@mariohinke4487]

10:47 funny how as a German speaker one is apparently able to understand Anglo Saxon by just hearing it for the first time. I was able to understand about 70% of what he was saying straight away. I am wondering how much a native English speaker would be able to make out as he said it hardly doesn’t need any translation at all.

[@waltonsmith7210]

As a native english speaker, I can barely understand anything but an occassional word.

[@timticklerful]

As an English person, I understood about 90% of it. It oddly sounds a lot like northern Scottish dialects.

[@Gamleman]

As a Swede I understood everything almost perfectly, very strange, was not expecting that at all..

[@IreneWY]

Its6a germanic language, so it makes sense. Middle English is a also understandable for German speakers.

[@gjclark2478]

My late father spoke like this. He could converse with older folks where us kids could hardly understand. I will add, I'm from Wiltshire born and bred (just down the road from phil) we still use Anglo Saxon words in our Wiltshire dialect. We were taught French at school I just wish they did German which was possibly easier in my region.....

[@wildbill6675]

Another good show I love this crazy bunch of people especially phil he's so laid back and cool 😎

[@streetcat1510]

Phil was most definitely not laid back and cool talking to Tony from 5:97 to 6:11

[@adrianhudson1116]

What an absolutely fantastic episode, I don't know what else to say, it was perfect

[@bosse641]

Wonderful episode. What a great and awesome find of that Saxon hall. Wow.

[@jakeaitchison4388]

love Paul's sarcasm when dating the pottery

[@kennethsonier1766]

I've only recently discovered this program and am totally enthralled, just a remarkable team 👍☮️

[@brianhaskard1042]

Helen is so lovely when she blushes, then along comes Faye 😊

[@MoreFormosa]

Awesome, some fresh TIME TEAM! great stuff from our Britt friends

[@dinerouk]

Only one t needed :)

[@MossyMozart]

I wish that the USA had a greater interest in the sociological and archeological past. Geological and biological history, though incredibly interesting, are the fields that seem to hold the most interest in the scientific community. Finds concerning people that ARE made rarely excite media coverage. For example, I only recently found out, in the PBS series "Native America", that Mayans actually lived within the now-existing borders of the USA, not just in the Yucatan and southward. Even though I don't descend from Native Americans, the low-ebb of interest in my country's past feels so rootless.

[@silverhooligan1256]

I agree!

[@ellenl.5581]

This was a treat. Central California, USA

[@MickCampin-jp9kb]

RIP MICK ASTON. It was a pleasure to meet you.

[@jmitch5161]

This has always been my favourite episode. Awesome. Thankyou!

[@venator76]

Amazing episode, I love Time Team! Cheers from Brazil.

[@wabisabi6875]

Bravo! One of the very best episodes: they find the very elusive Saxon hall!

[@cristobalin3]

Time team at its best. Marvelous.

[@andrewtaylor7377]

Simply amazing. One of the greats.

[@Eowyn3Pride]

@10:19 ok, ok, ok...instant like for honourably mentioning King Theoden and Meduseld!!!😁❤️❤️❤️🍻🧝‍♀️🧝‍♂️🧙‍♂️

[@Genocidejim]

Brilliant . Time teams been a childhood dream. Loved it when it was on

[@SteveMikre44]

Always enjoyed this Time Team episode...

[@jamiewashere]

One of my favourite episodes ever! Such an amazing find.

[@matt_cummins28]

These are even better the 2nd (or rather 3rd time; I'm old enough to have watched them on TV)! Hard job, being an "archeological policeman". He must be just as keen in his heart as all the team (and us, obviously).

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The fact that the anglo-saxons hat the equivalent of rap battles is still amazing. Instead of fists it takes wits to beat your opponent.

[@Glassgirl2009]

Another excellent classic episode from Time Team, I just wish they would post some of the episodes from series 4 on here as there aren't any from that one.

[@nonamerooster5413]

I love time team❤ It’s great to see Mick again, sad to hear about his death a few years ago… Phil, “careful with my shovel!” 😂

[@loribriesacher2145]

Dr Turley you are a light. Thank you.

[@TermiteUSA]

Hello from the Colonies:)

[@firefox5926]

which one you from im kiwi myself :)

[@TermiteUSA]

@@firefox5926 East Coast USA, Maryland. Long way from you haa

[@robbybobby6483]

Hello! From New England USA.

[@206stonner]

R.I.P. Mick you are missed.

[@NinaHansen2008]

Apparently Sutton Courtney is now thought to be the birthplace of the Empress Matilda, one of the only two legitimate children of Henry I.

[@stevenbrown8857]

Superb episode, like catching up with old friends 😊

[@mariansmith7694]

Really Great Dig. Thanks

[@omarra6781]

I love Phil. I love 'em all, but I really love Phil.

[@charliebuttocks2400]

That’s got to be one of the best time teams phill seems to have gone completely insane..

[@joytothworld]

Great too learn of my Ancestors.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks so much for posting.

[@dave7072]

Good, heart warming & interesting indeed. well done All. :)

[@zealandzen]

That guy Matt? is a great sport. Hilarious Phil.

[@v.britton4445]

Love the show .💙

[@ianjackson5150]

Just superb!

[@bigsarge2085]

Fascinating!

[@karenwilson9528]

About the dog skull offering. I've heard about much earlier British buildings when 'ownership' and 'fighting over resources' first stated. As a way for a community to show they and their ancestors owned land they would do this. When a person died they would be berried in their house. The house was then filked in - very early version of a berrial mound - and laft as a monument to the deceased. An early grave/ berrial mound. It showed any new person the current inhibitors claime to the land because it was a way of showing generations of occupation. The dog skull after the building fell out of use reminded me of that.

[@PTER-vh9jg]

Love this episode!

[@reuse_or_die]

One of my favourites

[@rgsnr8702]

great and informative dig

[@benediktmorak4409]

Of course TT ALWAYS could.And always delivered.... The only thing that was not quite right.Tony's translation for the -Grubenhaus-. Has nothing to do with grub, things to eat. But more a Grube, a pit. Because these buildings were half dug into the ground, a -Grube - (in German language...)

[@annfahy2589]

Brilliant 👏 👏 ❤

[@75YBA]

🇨🇦❤️’s Time Team!

[@ragnarironspear1791]

Best show on the planet

[@martianvideo]

Up thine!!!!!

[@elizabethjury2930]

Fabulous i really enjoyed this video even to the old language 🌻

[@anothervoice9578]

Aaaaaaaaaaand to the Anglo Saxons .... Please take a bow. Great job!

[@karenwilson9528]

We wasted one trench on a blob that turned out to be a blob. Now we are opening a trench over the entrance - the one place that, by definition, is an absence of structure!

[@funnyriverred2501]

I am pretty sure they are trying to say that the Saxon halls is where "your mom is so fat" jokes came from...

[@jackhartford521]

“The thinking man’s Dungeons&Dragons!” ❤️

[@realityslidersmandelaeffec6594]

Loved it

[@kasie680]

Ritual exchange of insults, sounds like our Christmas Day! 😂😂😂 Up Thine! 😂😂😂