The Taxman's Tavern: Roman Mansion (Alfoldean) | S13E12 | Time Team

After you watch this episode, check out the official commentary video on the Time Team Official KZbin Channel! • Time Team Commentary: ...
The team travel to Alfoldean in Sussex to uncover a mansion, an official Roman coaching inn. Located on Stane Street - now the A29 - the mansion was at the heart of a much larger community. The team ambitiously set out to uncover the story of the whole settlement, and as trenches are opened over a 600-metre expanse of land, the archaeologists uncover structures and finds that suggest Alfoldean was once a thriving village.
Series 13, Episode 12
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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[@tetchan5964]

Time Team is one of those programs that as soon as I hear the opening theme song, I can feel my body start to relax.

[@bobbybaldeagle702]

Time team is what I like to watch on the nights when I'm in to much physical nerve pain to sleep. I get so involved in the show that it gets my mind off the pain. Time team is the best pain pill I know of... LOL... Be blessed my friend.... BBE..

[@man.in.the.woods.artist]

Nothing like the relaxing sound of aggressive drumming, eh? (I agree!)

[@sandra127100]

It’s my nap time sound track just about every day.

[@HighKingoftheElves]

indeed, when i hear the theme it takes me back to the good old days of Discovery civilisation, a time when you could get serious history documentaries and everything wasn't about Race or Gender

[@jessicamegan1994]

Oh my days, I didn't realise other people feel the same. It's an amazing relaxing TV series

[@Liz-sc5dg]

Three years ago, this was the first ever Time Team I had watched. Now I have a cat named Tessera. Thank you Time Team!

[@MossyMozart]

@Liz - >^_^

[@Debbie-henri]

Should have called it Clawdius.

[@georgeb.wolffsohn30]

I love the feet showing under the tent as they surreptitiously move it across the field, like they have to sneak it away. It reminds me of a Monte Python skit.

[@alboyer6]

Thinking the same thing. Especially when it is happening in the background when they are taking about something else.

[@anitamaney1864]

As in 'trojan rabbit'?😀

[@Happyheretic2308]

Terry Pratchett - The Luggage….

[@MH-ms1dg]

and Bridg laughing herself off XD

[@sgrannie9938]

My thought exactly 😂

[@divaden47]

I just love how the archeologists all change their minds half a dozen times during the course of each programme. The only constants are Stuart and John....and the wonderful Tony who doesn't believe anything anyone says!! Love it!!

[@mattg768]

Used to watch this every Sunday on TV, they literally don't make them like they used to. Now all that's on TV is crappy celebrity TV shows and the chase EVERY NIGHT??? Bring back Time Team. Its no wonder kids are all thick these days.

[@georgeb.wolffsohn30]

Have you seen their effort to bring Time Team back ? I can't wait for that to start.

[@raingram]

They are bringing it back, that's why this channel exists.

[@johnhandley6406]

When Helen went up in the helicopter. I felt her reaction really gave you a sense you were with her and her being lifted up above everything. A great moment

[@L0j1k]

Wow Stewart really did an outstanding job in this one! I mean of course they all did. And Phil's new hat! GREAT EPISODE!!

[@anntee9036]

Phil is very chuffed by this new hat 😂😂😂

[@randymarsh625]

Tony : This would have been a massive undertaking! Neil : Its not just one guy and his wheel barrow is it

[@alcidae]

The British knack for understatement is a thing of beauty.

[@Jack-hy1zq]

Time team is so relaxing that I put an episode under my pillow every night....I always fall asleep before the end without fail.

[@trishriederer1857]

Tony's voice is my sleep aid too and I say that with much appreciation

[@trishriederer1857]

I do find the episodes interesting tho so I will start where I last remember the next night so I can hear the whole episode eventually

[@deltadom33]

After 15 years Phil decided to get a new hat Selling copies of phill hat would fund time teams future episodes Keep the classic episode coming

[@coppertopv365]

Auction off the old one..

[@deltadom33]

@@coppertopv365 that would be cool

[@christinamoxon]

And replicas of Mick Aston's jumper, hat and gloves.

[@deltadom33]

@@christinamoxon definitely Mike Aston's jumper

[@associatedblacksheepandmisfits]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ABC1701A]

Ave Vespasian. As someone else mentions, Lindsey Davis has several books set in this area. Body in the Bathhouse from memory. Set in Sussex during the reign of Vespasian. Great to see Time Team again, there's a dearth of decent programmes on television now and this was one of the best.

[@elizabethschaeffer9543]

The Roman mystery novels cum history lessons by LIndsey Davis are wonderful ways to learn and enjoy a great story at the same time. Her erudition and her sense of wry humor make her novels ones I read and reread over and over. I thoroughly enjoy her character's comments on the British weather. Enjoy!

[@sunnyrivero7343]

I've just discovered this series here - I am HOOKED!

[@Lastbus511]

I grew up watching Time Team. It reminds me of my school days. It's a nostalgic thing for me, but I still find them intresting even now when I've seen them all before I keep going back to watch them. Started watching the very first episodes when I was about 7 years old. Still good.

[@georgeb.wolffsohn30]

I've been watching for about 3 years and I've watched all the way through at least twice. I learn something new every time. One observation is how Brits appreciate the whole compass of human occupation and development of the British isles whereas Americans tend only consider the period where Europeans occupy and conquer the continent. People grow up with a consciousness of the span of history in which they live.

[@mtcowboy3791]

I have enjoyed this British series for several years and was overjoyed to see them on the comeback!

[@eledatowle7128]

Perhaps the hipposandals were only used for medicinal purposes, but I see one big flaw in your test... You wrapped narrow straps around the horse's all-important suspensory ligaments, which run down the back of his cannons. That is asking for injury. These had to be strapped on below the fetlock, probably only around the coronet and hoof, as far from the tendons and ligaments as possible. It still wouldn't be comfortable for hard or long work unless they incorporated a leather pad between hoof and shoe, which is certainly possible, as leather hoof wrappings and pads are well known from ancient times.

[@jansenart0]

Read this before I saw it, absolutely the thin strips were wrong. I'd think tourniquet-wide would be more appropriate?

[@HannibalFan52]

That's why experimental archaeology is so important. If it doesn't work one way, you try another. I remember an episode of a children's show called '3 - 2 - 1 Contact!' that dealt with architecture. Dr. Peter Reynolds (of Butser Ancient Farm) showed and demonstrated a replica of an iron Age tool that some archaeologists thought was an oddly-shaped sickle. He proved that it was worthless as a sickle, but worked beautifully for splitting withies to make fences and walls for wattle-and-daub houses. My son and I got to try it out when we visited Butser in 2001.

[@MossyMozart]

@@HannibalFan52 - "3-2-1 Contact!" was a WONDERFUL show! I loved it and still remember the theme song: "...it's the moment where everything happens - CONTACT!"

[@Dovietail]

Holy Terry Pratchett, it's the luggage! Oh wait, they're just moving the tent. My mistake.

[@georgeb.wolffsohn30]

I was thinking more like Monti Python.

[@anapaulaschwarzerpaim5239]

Phil is my hero 🙌🏻

[@Stevenchefjones]

Id love to sit and have a pint with him and talk about digging a hole. 👍

[@richardwaldron1684]

15:49 - A new hat!!! I don't believe it, I was sure his trusty old one would be him him until the very end. A really great episode, it never ceases to amaze me how much they can determine about a site. Fantastic!

[@Jobotubular]

that wasn't his original hat, but one he'd had the past ten seasons or so. And should have replaced at least a season earlier

[@spacecat85]

The tent walking into frame with that music cracked me up X'D

[@brianknowles7130]

Great episode. At last John and his team get some credit [ well over due ] ..lol

[@jenBaker707]

Holy Shit Phil got a new Hat!!!

[@JohnWatkinsUK]

Crikey, if you want a local road resurfaced, just get Time Team to dig up the field alongside it!

[@njm3211]

Brilliant as you Brits like to say. Hats off to the hard work often done in horrendous weather. Cheers from sunny Sicily.

[@philjohnson1744]

I do love Mr. Gator getting his due.

[@jasonbecker4974]

These shows make my heart smile. I love every aspect of them; the archeology, the characters, the speculation, the art and artifacts...just so lovely. Thank you.

[@shellygenter8585]

I would love to see a part 2 to this one and maybe a week. This site seems to still have a story ti tell.

[@joellamartin7973]

This episode-excites me-as my maiden name Stonestreet, was said to have come from the origin Stane Street in Sussex, England.

[@AndrewMartinIsHere]

“... the new trench pinpointed by John” Cue shot of John looking like he spent the night in the old trench 🤣

[@BinkyTheElf1]

Helen totally geeked out over her first helicopter flight over an archaeological site.

[@krisbest6405]

The British have not realised we love their scenery SO much it needs more programmes. I,m in leafy Canberra but nothing compares to these views.

[@joannfalcon6797]

I love, love, love Time team! It's so refreshing to have great entertainment. Besides I love history that's brought to life using imaging and story telling.

[@Scemoth]

This series brings back so many memories of me, my family, my cousins, aunt and uncle all getting together at my Nan’s house and putting on the telly to watch this!

[@deltadom33]

As my dad is a landscaper, during rain you can use gas guns to get rid of puddle filled pits and water pumps to get rid of water, I am always amazed at the weathers they have dug in and the different types of ground they have dug from flint to claggly clay which is extremely hard to dig in

[@Debbie-henri]

I suppose they are concerned that they may come across some delicate archaeology that couldn't stand the impact of such machines. But, you would have thought that, by now, someone would have invented a sort of suction device with a deep sponge insert at the business end. This would stop any unseen and delicate fragments from being 'moved' while the water was pumped through the sponge and away.

[@graemebrumfitt6668]

Whole day in the pub!!! Sounds like a plan. TFS, GB :) :)

[@daveseddon5227]

First aired in the UK on 9th April 2006

[@daryld4457]

Alright, mate?

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Wow that long ago??Damn I'm getting old..

[@dwightehowell8179]

I'm thinking I've never seen this one before. I will add that I would like to see further material about this site. Since the community predated the Roman building I'm a little surprised it all seems to have gone away. The road was still there and some traffic would have continued. A station of some sort would have seemed to have continued to be needed because travelers and traders would have continued to use the road. The local farmers would have continued to farm.

[@01123581321341]

Miles’ hat alone gets him legendary status

[@janesalisbury3686]

Another fantastic episode, more please. I am pleased and proud to be a resident of these wonderfully interesting isles, along with my ancestors..

[@Llllbbb.123]

Yes!! Finally a new hat. I know this is an older video but still glad.

[@RobBoudreau]

Two of my favorite "guest" archaeologists, Miles Russell and Mark Corney. Great show.

[@cdd4248]

I am consistently overwhelmed by the knowledge, education, written work and status of TT Guests.

[@Merylstreep1949]

Rumor has it that hotel was run by an ancestor of Basil Fawlty

[@madcowusa4277]

Thanks for the laughs here in Seattle.

[@Blackadder75]

named Biggus Dickus?

[@crogeny]

"Don't mention the Conquest!"

[@cdd4248]

LOL! I love it!

[@julias-shed]

Shocking Phil has a new hat?! 😀

[@jenniferprescott8655]

Ohhhh I love my Time Team time..thank you

[@devonseamoor]

Another great episode of Time Team Classics. That running along the ditch at the 15th minute, is fantastic. I can imagine how the layout of a pattern in that field, in one's mind, wants to be transferred to the legs at the same speed, hahaha....

[@egparis18]

The horse sandal looks more like a shoe for treating an abcess or founder, by holding a poultice or padding under and / or around the hoof to disinfect it and take some of the horse's weight off it, than an everyday shoe. A farrier or vet would know more about it than me.

[@cameleonfleuri]

Wow, that's a very clever and logical guess! I think you're right.

[@stephenhammond6962]

You should do a show on the new discovery made at Eastfield near Scarborough recently, sources say it’s like nothing else ever found in Britain 🇬🇧

[@BC-ui9yt]

Can you elaborate?

[@cdd4248]

- I Love that these videos never have any Thumbs Down- TT Fans are a group of good eggs!

[@terrydamron4770]

TIME TEAM CLASSIC... TEE SHIRTS WITH THE BOYS....

[@vickyleather1147]

This is one of my favorite Time Team episodes.

[@biggseybigg3875]

A absolutely classic thank you all

[@SIG442]

Something I am missing from this episode is the mention of how the soldiers would have stayed here. Would this be in tents or would there actually have been something like a barracks building? One or multiple? And can there be traces lect of this? Any left overs from their uniforms, weapons or whatever else they may have lost or left behind. This specific dig isn't over, I think it would be wise to check out more to see what else can be found and for that matter, where. It would be crucial to the story of this place to figure out a lot more. Specially with so little being known about the subject.

[@melissamybubbles6139]

Yay for Phill's new (probably old by now) hat!

[@dmiller5765]

This episode should be subtitled Phil's new hat!

[@losttribe3001]

That horse wearing Roman horseshoes reminds me of when I put feet protectors on my dogs! The horse didn’t seem too thrilled to be wearing them by the way he/she was stepping.

[@hillockfarm8404]

These days the conclusion is that the "hipposandals" are most likely a medical shoe, not a use in work against wear shoe.

[@cdd4248]

Hahahaha! Exactly what I thought too!

[@sarahholloway7393]

Wonderful episode

[@DarkRavenProductions]

one thing this episode taught me, as bad as you think your school uniform was it could have been a lot worse

[@Theravadinbuto]

I dunno, I thought that those ones had a certain,… um… style.

[@TheNatty88]

The long mustard coloured socks in particular were fabulous!

[@unclerojelio6320]

Helen!

[@aurevoiralex]

Cheers from Montreal, and thank you for another fascinating episode! 🍻✌️

[@Lastbus511]

I grew up watching Time Team, I started watching the very first episodes when I was about 7 years old. It reminds me of my school days. Lol. Nostalgically satisfieing.

[@nigelmansfield3011]

The Mansios were like Caravanserais in the Middle East and Central Asia. I've stayed in a Caravanserai it was so magical.

[@junkabella6324]

This was such a lovely episode! Monumental New Hat also!! :D

Another very nice program

[@royfearn4345]

What a splendid new hat! Just like the old one, but without the bacteria!

[@Listenclearly1979]

I was born in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia. Our easter celebration is called 'the golden horseshoe festival '. Apparently some fella rode a horse shod in pure gold through the town .

[@llantup]

I'm curious what the Romans would do when they were finished with a site like this. Would they have it torn down so no one else could make use of it, or just walk away and leave it?

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

The natives would of taken it to build there houses/cottages..

[@ImCarolB]

Will Britain have any farm land left? I do envy the likelihood of digging in one's field and actually finding something besides more rocks.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

They've only dug up 004% of BRITAN..Lols

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thank you.

[@natalieg90]

A epic monent in time team history. A new hat 😀nice one phil

[@glennymac14]

2:41 Woah, slow down, Neil! Need the English subtitles here.

[@georgeb.wolffsohn30]

I know, right ? The English mangle the English language just as much as Americans do.

[@sgrannie9938]

“If it moved, they taxed it.” 😂

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Exacly..Even windows couldn't get away from being taxed..

[@christianpatriot7439]

One of those veterinary horseshoes was used on an episode of the Christopher Timothy version of All Creatures Great and Small.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Couldn't stand that show..

[@alanatolstad4824]

Has anybody read Lindsey Davis? She writes amazingly realistic fiction about this period.

[@alanatolstad4824]

@Celto Loco Ooh. I'll be on the hunt for those! Thanx (I think!)

[@Happyheretic2308]

Love Lindsey Davis!

[@alanatolstad4824]

@@Happyheretic2308 I get them from different places, so end up reading them out of order. Oh well. It still helps to fill in the gaps! I have about 4 more to get to! i did get one of the suggested Rosemary Sutcliff, but it's on the back-burner, waiting!

[@Bareego]

As much as I enjoyed the archeology, I was most intrigued by the school uniforms, they looked decidedly interesting and old school.

[@tgbluewolf]

Looked appropriated from old Catholic priest cassocks with the Roman collar--which they probably were designed after, considering how Anglicanism took many things from Catholicism.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Probably Catholics we wore the near the exact same uniform..Shirt,Tie,Black shoes,Black trousers and your School's jumper and I hated it..Lols

[@AndyMartin401]

Brilliant

[@johnclapperton5556]

always interesting.

[@captainswoop8722]

Romans had a lot of people to do the digging. You have to keep a Legion occupied when it isn't fighting.

[@susytomable]

Thanks 👍

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

I’ve often wondered why Time Team doesn’t have 8 or 10 of those giant white tents for days like these. As often as rain is a problem in Britain, you’d think they would. If they’d had them, they would only have had to stop long enough to put them up.❤️🤗🐝

[@leifleifsen8913]

I’ve like it three times now. When I go back to check like, it’s gone and I have to like it again. My chat says 65 likes.

[@DipityS]

Not just one guy and wheelbarrow - Nil Holbrook did make me laugh 😂 I also got a poignant feeling of sadness for the horror these Roman citizens must have felt when their civilisation slowly melted away and these lovely comforts could no longer be found. Also, those student's uniforms are fantastic!

[@seanpaula8924]

I like the idea of the feast at the end.

[@TermiteUSA]

Hello from east USA.

[@Lastbus511]

"Hello" from the UK...

[@kaptainkaos1202]

Hello from Southern Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay.

[@adacox]

Howdy ... from the backwoods of Ky

[@DonniePalmer57]

Run! It's the multi-legged tent creature!

[@donnyrover1]

Time team is like a big cosy blanket... imagine if the romans hadnt bogged off in 410 or whenever by the end of the millenium they would have sorted....high rise flats , gyms , dual carriageways and probably the equivalent to Pizza land

[@jakesmerth1919]

I've learned a lot of things from this show but I do believe hearing that iron was treated as a Controlled Substance blew my mind. 30:47

[@jansenart0]

Phil's 2nd hat commemorative episode!

[@Fush1234]

That’s rite boys. Scratch shit out of the rover bonnet with bulldog clips. 🤣🤣🤣

[@LoonyArtDesign]

Everytime I see Stewart sitting so close to the edge in that Heli, I get a little bit nervous.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Sam..I hate heights even got a shiver down my spine just looking out that helicopter..Lols

[@Itsaboutthewaterlife]

Student's from Christ's Hospital. Quite spiffy uniforms.

[@alcidae]

At least they didn’t make them dig in the robes.

[@ADGreen-es6hm]

Gotta love Britisholgy

[@NitraKing]

29:35 - King Kerry out for a stroll

[@hollymunford6857]

Love this show! Yes my family! Ukulele HollyBloe USA

[@frankdoss6313]

Yup... That horse hated those steel-toed shoes

[@brianhaskard1042]

I attended a Comprehensive School, we had a school forge too.

[@kevinjamesparr552]

Ah! worked it out seeing PHil as he was

[@natalieg90]

You tube phil chops down a tree with a stone axe 😂if you wanna see the original phil

[@barbmcconnaughey3070]

Try to find Colin Renfrew’s film about Stonehenge. 😉

[@john2willis70]

Time team, do you fill the trenches back up when your 3 days are up or do you hand the site over to other architects to continue study on the site? Seems a waste to just cover it back up.

[@urbanurchin5930]

See my answer to Roger F above.

[@vulcan1429]

This camera man is a master at framing the female form. I love his work. Every squat and jiggle and down-blouse.

[@rogerf3675]

So i'm curious. After 3 days do you just even out the dirt and walk away, with it just being a delve into history ? Or do you hand off the sight to archeologists to continue discoveries for museums ?

[@cdd4248]

Good Question!

[@dannymiester5825]

What a ruddy good question, proberbly the nighthawkers move in

[@urbanurchin5930]

There are several questions that they take into account. Each site must be reviewed for it's merit and historical significance. The British Heritage Group is probably the entity that decides what scale (schedule) each dig falls under. There have been some episodes where the ground was filled back in - but even in a case like that, important notations, geological survey, and precise measurements are documented so that if there is any future digging - they are aware of what is there. Other sites are continued by local archeological students and university programs. And some may be determined to have less importance.

[@nicolawebb6025]

Once it's all recorded it was filled back in and a full report would be written and handed to English Heritage in England or their equivalents in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. There simply isn't the money available to do extensive digs any more.

[@gsf5882]

Strange how when it's further North and it rains they make a big deal out of the weather being because of their location. Like the episode before this being in North Wales. Or other episodes being in Scotland. They would say things like 'it makes you wonder why the Roman's came up here.' When it's closer to home further South they just treat it as normal. It rains everywhere in the UK!

[@hollymunford6857]

Mozingo!

[@MickCampin-jp9kb]

As soon as it started to rain lets all discuss progress in the nearest Roman public house

[@richtravis9562]

the roman dodecahydron mystery...just popped into my head, seals/stamps. have several different hard wax plaques, a different one on each face, degradeable so they would not last very long, or maybe even one use per face. think tax/import stamps, or to show payment for government goods.