Time Team S11-E01 Syon.-House,.London

Syon House in Chiswick, West London, is one of the country's finest and best-preserved stately homes. Yet few people know that somewhere in the grounds once stood one of England's richest abbeys, founded by Henry V.
The abbey finally fell foul of Henry VIII in 1539 - but what might be left?
Despite its central role in the conflicts between church and state throughout the 16th century, very little is known about Syon Abbey. What sort of layout did it have? How big was it?
Early results from the dig are both exciting and confusing but, amidst much argument, the team slowly build a picture of what was once a truly extraordinary building.

[@EmmaOnATangent]

It just isn't a classic Time Team episode until Phil has jumped into a trench and exclaimed "Oooh Ahhr!".

[@SandraNelson063]

We'll have that! 😅

[@mikekaup5252]

I see that English ladies are dying their hair in ridiculous colors like American women. It's quite depressing to see them being stupid enough to copy this idiotic trend. Americans should NOT be considered fashion leaders. They are losers with no sense of class. I'm an American and I hate to see these things copied.

[@janielaurel]

"and we've got just three days to find it" ... I can't say how many times I've been through this series ... every episode of every year. It brings me joy and peace of mind. I am so grateful they're still here on KZbin.

[@micahfoley9572]

same here. it's like a tradition. every once in a while ill scour youtube for a playlist and let it run for days

[@valeriekaye3354]

Ain't it grand?

[@janielaurel]

@@valeriekaye3354 - yep, and oddly, I'm running through the entire series a year after I posted that comment. It's like family. I love these people so much, and I've learned so much about British archeology/history over these many years. Thank god for Time Team.

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

We are really strange people 😂😂😂

[@janielaurel]

@@jacquelinevanderkooij4301 Yes we are, and we're darned proud of it :D :D

[@rjborremans4033]

Sad to see Mick Aston was not present for such a huge discovery...as this sort of thing certainly was his specialty.

[@zacksbeyondourplate6784]

Like so many recently discovered Time Team and working my way thru every season and then for a second viewing!!!

[@PaulMahon-w2b]

Just wait until you hopefully forgot about an episode.....

[@PaigeDWinter]

6:40 "ooh ah! we'll 'ave that!" I love how cute Phil gets when he gets excited. He's like a happy Golden Retriever. You can actually imagine him wagging a tail. LOL!

[@ddmagee57]

At my house we call Phil "bird dog".

[@PaigeDWinter]

@@ddmagee57 as someone who has had a bird dog before, this fits perfectly!!! LOL

[@RalphM-zc3kd]

Apologies up front for contributing a comment that doesn't pertain this particular episode, but it's just occurred to me how much I appreciate the fact how many of the on-air personalities in this series are shown to be willing to get their hands dirty, including Tony, Mick, and the invited specialists. The series that killed the show introduced co-presenters who were never in the trenches. And the resurrected series is going the same way. Even Helen is merely an onlooker/advisor. Sigh.

[@mermeridian2041]

Go Stewart!! Love this series and am incredibly grateful to Reijer Zaaijer for enabling my obsession!

[@CharleneJTaylor1968]

Thank you Reijer for uploading all of Time Team episodes. I have enjoyed watching every single one of them. Love how every member of the team interacts with each other, which made me fall in love with history & archeology. 🇨🇦

[@rachelectroDC-84]

Phil is so cool. He can spot an artifact from a mile away; tiny bits that look like a random pebble to my untrained eye! Love that he was right, and that there really WAS a gargantuan abbey stood in that spot. Also love how thick that West Country accent becomes when he's excited. What a legend. 👑

[@ecat6423]

Love the conversion problems. Phil:"we're at 54 feet" geophys, looking confused:"I only work in meters"

[@angelitabecerra]

Lol, I only work in feet

[@haplessasshole9615]

Phil clearly has a preference for Imperial measurement. Often, he'll say, "We're at 54 feet in old money." That cracks me up, because I remember the hoo-hah, even over here in the States, over the shift from "old money" to a decimal currency.

[@brianbaas8650]

Well you can tell that John is a scientist, and Phil just digs holes.... 🤣🤣😂

[@ISTEasnoneother]

@@brianbaas8650 … if l missed your sense of humour here, l hope you have surely noticed how much the scientists rely on Phil to make sense of a trench, especially when the archeology gets complicated?? Phil is NOT just digging holes, he is a Key Field Archeologist on the investigations.

[@MH-ms1dg]

@@ISTEasnoneother right, if the line of logic was that using feet automatically means Phil is less intelligent, then .... hmpf

[@JayWalkerTexasRadio]

Reijer Zaaijer thank you for the uploads AND thank you for editing them so tight. I know that was a bit of work but it sure makes the viewing experience much more enjoyable.

[@scarletfluerr]

Here, here. Thank you! I am enjoying this series immensely.

[@danielmiller5715]

100% agreed 👍

[@sammom8599]

Reijer has become to me this myth of a person who I am very grateful for. As you say the editing is well done and I’m glad they are still up for us to enjoy. Thank you !

[@cookiesshorts6118]

Barney Sloane finally returns to TT! He was one of the principal Field Archy's for years, then disappeared, and returns as a monastery expert.

[@semisophisticate63]

I love the interactions between the people on this show. Respect but a healthy dose of skepticism tempered with good humour. :-)

[@mikesloothaak679]

I really enjoy the show as an ongoing example of how scientists at their best engage with evidence and each other. They know their informed guesses are not turned into truth by speaking louder or enlisting allies, but by the experimental evidence. They would never argue against opening a trench because the data it would expose might prove them wrong.

[@raunothomas]

Yes, indeed. It reminds me the best conversations with best of english... and irish persons. I am just boring estonian. ;)

[@911Dox]

Recently I got rid of my cable signals & the payments that went with it & now rely on the internet for my TV program fix. My wife & I watched a few episodes & we are very happy this show is available online & FREE. Thank You for posting these episodes, it's greatly appreciated. We have watched almost all of the first 8 years available in the last 4 days. Talk about going over the top, I am going to replay all of the seasons one more time. ...& we subscribed. Cheers!!

[@jjpetunia3981]

I know these have been up for years but I want to add my thanks for uploading them. They have brought me hours of enjoyment and help keep me sane. I never tire of them.

[@Iluvthe1960s]

I live about a mile down the road from Syon and have always lived in the area I’ve been there a hundred times to the garden centre that’s attached to it with my ex who loved the place so this is really interesting to me, I’ve never thought about it as a monastery I always go back to the story about Henry VIII’s body resting there in the chapel on way to burial and bursting open when the gasses in his body exploded, I now see the place in a different light

[@bethbartlett5692]

Jonathan is a pretty impressive Professional. He and Stewart are both stellar at their Professions and John worries unnecessarily, keeping his greater success energies at bay.

[@lindasue8719]

I've been binge watching it now I'm starting the second decade! I can't believe it's half over!

[@billie-jobenway8658]

Besides all the videos RJ has here there is another person who has the TT Lives, digs, specials RJ lacks. Between these two guys they have it all. Can't thank them enough. kzbin.infoplaylists

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@billie-jobenway8658 Also look on YT for *Time Team America* (not as good as this but still worthwhile), *DigVentures* and the many *TT* spin-offs.

[@joshschneider9766]

Digventures is raksha daves current job. She runs it.

[@micheleploeser7720]

I love the camera angles that show the beauty if the finds. Great camera work, and the stories are so enlightining.

[@notpopeye]

When Tony discusses the row between geophysics and architecture, all I could think was: "I think 'John the Geophysicist' makes a great Saint name." Lol.

[@Fox1nDen]

+notpopeye St. Geophysicist sounds right, they have endured so much unearned guff over the many years of the series. I mean, is it reasonable to assume ever response is what you were looking for? what about the passing of many years, and backfill in landscaping, recycling building materials, you don't KNOW what it is until you DIG it. It is the three-day limit that makes everyone crazy. how about a series of follow ups to all these sites? do we know more about them now? did we figure out who the skeletons were? or did we lose interest when TV lost interest in making the episode? Back to Geo. Phys, it is a wonder they did not mutiny, the way they are blamed for the outcomes, considering they would have had to sink a trench just anywhere without them...

[@chuckers07]

And then "Stewart Strong Eye" would have made a good Scottish King.

[@shamsam4]

I love this show.

[@jackrabbit.]

We watch this in my archaeology class, and Phil is my favorite just because of how thick his accent is :D

[@891Henry]

Why is it that nobody ever thinks of looking in the basement of the house until the end of day three? It has happened more than once. That is the first place I would look to see if they built the house on the foundations of the Abbey Church.

[@piccalillipit9211]

ONE of my fave episodes this...

[@bridgetsigler9953]

I was named after this St Bridget, my birth falling mere hours after her old feast day of 8 October

[@callmemonkh9020]

"Oh..ah! We'll have that!"

[@MaraMcDuff]

19:45 shovelsful of dirt exploding up in front of John is too funny... Standing there looking down, and up comes a blast of dirt 🤣🤣🤣

[@12412...]

That's steward but yeah it was funny :D

[@msmltvcktl]

What's hilarious to me is that GeoPhys John's last name is 'Gater', and he spends so much time walking (your gait is your walk..."gaiter" -> Gater lol).

[@tkadlec]

And gators (short for alligators) walk from place to place 😅

[@alanatolstad4824]

Darn...this one ended too quickly! I wanted MORE!!!

[@gretchenvandewalle1068]

Phil's image on the new stone feature- wonderful.

[@Jobotubular]

surprised he didn't even comment on that ....

[@lindasue8719]

About Phil's fingernails… I just noticed this for the first time : long nails on the right hand and short nails on the left hand. That's typical for a guitar player! I'm still a newbie to the show, so I don't know if it's come up anywhere that he plays. PS- just did a search… Yes he does play guitar.

[@carolmollman9809]

Linda Susan 2686 I think he was filmed playing the guitar after hours in the American episode at Jamestown (don’t know the episode number! ) He was quite good.

[@joshschneider9766]

he plays classical guitar extremely well.

[@johnmoss6631]

Linda Sue, you are the first person who has commented that they searched Phil’s bio and discovered that his fingernails were long for a reason. Everyone else makes ignorant and stupid comments about his nails on a whim, without doing an iota of research. Thank you.

[@deborahparham3783]

Not just classical guitar, he also loves the Blues. He was in a Blues band when he was younger and loved the way Peter Green played.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

thanks for posting

[@MsSmudge14]

It is fantastic how they figured out roughly what the building and church looked like. To think King Henry VIII was there for one night is exciting. The mason did gorgeous work.

[@ohkaygoplay]

I've come to love hearing Phil exclaim, "Oo, Ah!" :) And Tony cursed?!?! "Before the two of you start getting too bitchy..." O_O Tony.

[@wildbill6675]

Absolutely love the shows we have nothing like this in the states

[@poolbear2160]

Stuart and John should have their own show lol. Or remake the Odd Couple.

[@bettygreenhansen]

Time Team has done it once again... I can visualize the fleeing nuns yelling, “Grab the masonry!”

[@lizzy66125]

great episode!

[@peggyjenkinson4514]

Watched BBC today. The hot, dry weather shows many sites all over England. With photos on fields, castles,etc. Time Team would have loved this.

[@susanf.7737]

Peggy Jenkinson Was thinking exactly the same, Peggy.

[@stupidturntable]

Philippa of Lancaster was´nt the sister of Henry IV, but his daughter. Also, she married Eric of Pomerania, the Danish king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden united in hte Kalmar Union by his adoptive mother, Danish queen Margaretha the Great. Eric was born as Boguslaw in Rügenwalde, Pomerania with is present day Darłowo, Poland.

[@BoredCertified]

Phil's running! He's so dear! :)

[@KYIRISH1]

Wow! What a discovery. Great work by all. One of the most informative and well produced episodes. Historically it rock bottoms out my opinion of The VIII but I'm sure no one really cares what I think. Which is OK.

[@elizabethbarnes9685]

Henry VIII delayed the dissolution of Syon Abbey because that’s where he sent his female relatives that pissed him off. His sister when she married Charles Brandon and Catherine Howard during the investigation and trial. Also, I miss Mick!

[@stannousflouride8372]

Trench one is here: 51º28'34.8"N, 0º18'42.7"W

[@batymahn]

I used to do Happy Hour with a bunch of construction engineers. It's amazing how often they screw-up in major ways. What if the church was destroyed not only to make Henry VIII happy but to cover-up an construction screw-up in the middle? You would not want your most elaborate church to come tumbling down in the middle...

[@chemlights]

Fishing Like an Eskimo!?!? Im from Alaska and thats hilarious, Its Ice fishing!!

[@ron44968]

Phil is the best

[@Everywhere2]

Moind moi 'at!

[@joannamallory2823]

I love it when he gets excited...'ooh! Oy!' lol.

[@tripleransom4349]

"Oooh! Oy! Lookit 'at! 'Ere's summat all roight.' to quote him more fully.

[@graficjack]

I never doubted Jonathan Foyle for a minute!

[@BlackIjs]

I did lol. Sounded like he was just making things up on the fly.

[@angelitabecerra]

This house is the very same that the Duke of Northumberland summoned Lady Jane Gray to inform her of her cousin's death, King Edward VI, and proclaimed her as the Queen of England.

[@minimaker5600]

It boggles the mind as to where all the stone from the church went. Although, since so many churches/abbeys were torn down during Henry's reign, someone had a good removal business going :o)

[@valeriekaye3354]

Probably to other buildings, recycling...

[@bluenoteone]

Oh, once again: Thank you Henry!

[@bluenoteone]

I'm glad that at least one other got it...thank you as well.

[@gwendodd9262]

I enjoy this channel very much and watch regularly l like the variety

[@johnnorris8567]

This is the second gardens TT has come up against Lancelot "Capability" Brown. I don't remember the earlier episode but Brown made TT earn their pay.

[@petenielsen6683]

When I hear the word "canonized" I still picture a person being shot out of a canon at the fair or circus.

[@scarletfluerr]

That made me giggle.

[@Nirrrina]

Funny, now I'm going to be thinking that too.

[@ebybeehoney]

...like the great Gonzo!

[@bumfit5491]

That’s how they make puffed wheat the quakers canonized it...

[@arrowfodder8653]

I think Philipa is an intetesting person. She seems to have been a very capable regent, more than her husband the king. I remember seeing her grave in Vadstena a few years back.

[@Roaproductiondk]

Thanks for the uploade

[@tompahdea9263]

That is a beautiful sculpture!

[@sharimullinax3206]

Thank you, Reijer Zaaijer! Get episode!

[@sarahcoleman5269]

Our Phil is so articulate, "Oh, ah! oh, hey! I'll take that, yeah?" 17:45 Getting too "WHAT", Tony? My innocent American ears. O_O

[@joannamallory2823]

Wonderful. Phil's glee is contagious. What a find! I wonder if they've done any new digging about in recent years in this site....is there new info?

[@bethbartlett5692]

Stewart Rocks!

[@leshatcatski5089]

Damned! Alice Roberts with pink hair!

[@svenhoek]

Dreamy!

[@LQOTW]

Excellent episode. I love it when Tony puts the kibosh on the 'bitchiness'. :-)

[@Fox1nDen]

+amsterdamsel yeah.

[@42dpi]

Fox1nDen pony

[@susanhuntley9262]

Revisiting this series. Series holds up, comments fail 😀

[@rick5793]

I really do enjoy this show BUT I honestly do believe it gives true archeology a disservice because of the 3 day limit.

[@PaulMahon-w2b]

Think of as an intro for others to be allowed to follow 😊

[@MissWitchiepoo]

This is fun, Saint Birgitta was one of my ancestors:)

[@gregb6469]

If she was a nun, how did she have descendants?

[@MissWitchiepoo]

She was married at age 14 and had 8 children:) I think she was a very smart woman. Funny thing is that my own name means the holy one or the saint:)

[@MissWitchiepoo]

Not many remember that show:)

[@cathjj840]

Many older nobles retreated to the monastic life after they'd done their duty by the king and by reproduction.

[@niklar55]

It all goes to show, what a megalomaniac, and fool, Henry VIII was.

[@bobbyhood101]

There's a possibility that if his brother had lived or Catherine had been a true Latin princess and delivered a proper number of heirs England probably wouldn't have become Protestant! It's quite possible that whole history of the world could have been changed!

[@juniorloaf12]

Also, if Catherine's nephew Charles V, HRE, hadn't just led a horrific sack of Rome earlier that same year, and laid siege to Pope Clement he might have been more willing to grant an annulment. I'm sure he was afraid sanctioning Henry VIIIs divorce

[@ebybeehoney]

Part of growing up with entitlement...

[@scorpionlxvi]

Yeah how dare a king care more for the. Wellbeing of his kingdom by securing an heir and avoiding a messy civil war of succession bad enough his daughters going at it the way they did not to mention all the wealth being sent to rome to no benefit for england

[@joshschneider9766]

Get real Henry the right was a selfish psycho whose dad stole the throne and was so horrendous they called him the winter king. There's letters in the British archives by Henry the seventh crooning over particularly well struck coinage. With a dad like that you really think he cared? Bah

[@codyswickard285]

Oooooh Raaaa

[@cathjj840]

Fabulous international library, Swedish nuns - intelligent thought by informed women: what could go wrong? That said, holier-than-thou and control freakiness in the Brigidine order sounds pretty Swedish. (Ask the other Scandinavians)

[@benediktmorak4409]

- Geophys - was there already 4 years ago... So i wonder how much time on ANY of those digs they were before Tony's - Time team has only 3 days to find out -. Obvious that shows also that many on the team, if not everyone, had other - jobs - and those - 3 days - were strictly for - the show -.

[@janehollander1934]

25:36 🫢"HISTORIAN" Phillipa Gregory?!?🧐...yeah right🤭. If she is considered a historian then Henry the VIII would have been proclaimed: 'best Husband & Dad of the Century' 🤣✌🏻.

[@phoule76]

27:03 haha it's so easy to wind up John, poor s.o.b.

[@TheMaryberry153]

Are we just not going to acknowledge at all that the historical man who built the house was named Capability Brown?! Like that's an everyday common name like James or John.....

[@roswithaprochazka912]

It's a nickname. He was christened Lancelot. But he was so good at his job that he earned the byname Capability.

[@00BillyTorontoBill]

beautiful house.... but sadly 10km away from Heathrow... right on the glide path.

[@barbroevanderlindquist4128]

Now looking back, at thise program i am more than a bit comfuse over that the team not had a mutch broder background dig in the Vatikanen library and in Vadstena , Sweden and in Oxford and Cambridge ! Mutch broder Cambridge is the Saint Birgitta worth.....as I learned it was mutch her work that the pope was going back from Avinong to Rome! To mutch dum thougts in this part that could have been mutch better done with historical facts on the table! Barbro Sweden 😊

[@HiImSeanIPlayBass]

Carenza is an absolute bombshell.

[@077jason]

barney slone is one of my favs pitty he didnt get more air time

[@jeanneamato8278]

I was rooting for Jonathon all the time

[@codyswickard285]

True

[@Glorindellen]

Where's Mick? He's always so keen on monastic sites.

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

Probably ill. He suffered badly off and on throughout the series.

[@Glorindellen]

@@philaypeephilippotter6532 0;

[@jaa1263]

The church looks like another from the same order - it's in the town of Maribo i Denmark. It's still in use today.

[@LQOTW]

jaa1263 Really? How interesting! Too bad THAT didn't make it to air - it would be awesome to stand inside something so historically and architecturally important.

[@jaa1263]

amsterdamsel If you google "Maribo Domkirke" (that's in Danish) and thoose pictures, you can se the church, and why I recognised it.

[@jaa1263]

jaa1263 Just googled "Vadstena Church", that was the motherchurch. It look like the one i Denmark.

[@annakavalec835]

Wow!

[@neenmach]

So what do they do with all these diggings? Just cover it back up, or does it become something better?

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

Usually the digs are filled in, the artefacts examined fully by museums, _full_ reports published freely on the 'Net and further digs on the site, if thought necessary, are carried out by other archæologists.

[@SigEpBlue]

Just an observation, but it seems like every Time Team episode that's shot close to London has the constant background noise of jets flying overhead. Is it really this noisy in or around London?

[@JuleyC]

Yes it is :(

[@Jobotubular]

@@JuleyC - and every other city with a major airport.

[@almostcrazycosplay]

Great episode. Loved the reconstructed image at the end. Calling Gregory a historian is problematic for me though.

[@NolaGal2601]

I agree 100%.

[@LQOTW]

Robin Jungbluth How come?

[@fedraescuderohaldane6962]

+amsterdamsel Because she has a doctorate in 18th century literature, and only did some history courses. Plus, have you read any of her historical novels? Not exactly historically accurate, to say the least.

[@areyouavinalaff]

lol you clearly don't understand the nature of a historical novel. a novel implies that it's made up story and any aspect can be made up... historical just implies set in the past... it doesn't have to be a factual history lesson, so what's the issue exactly? a historian isn't just someone with paperwork to say they've got "qualifications"... any research into the past, regardles of field of interest, qualifies you as an historian whether it's amateur or otherwise... but I think having a doctorate in C18th lit' does kinda qualify as being an historian... a literary historian. how you apply that C18th literary study into your own literary works is open to artistic license. I have to ask, how accurate was C18th literature in its story telling? it seems there's some snobbery here in determining what a person needs to do in order to be considered an historian.

[@blackbob3358]

LADY gregory, please ! that's so remiss of you, pleb !!!

[@berniemccann8935]

Another good reason to dislike Henry VIII.

[@basstrammel1322]

This isn't even the top of the iceberg. He turned into a evil villain, murdering hoardes of peaceful civilians.

[@Fox1nDen]

they don't have any flooring within what they say is the 108 foot wide church... was the pier base a support for a courtyard lattice roof? the inner walls of the cloisters going down both sides could have been completely wooden, and then they should be looking for post holes instead of stone walls. However, they seem to have settled on twin churches unified by central pier base supported ceiling. To get the true story on it they need to spend more than 36 hours on it, that's near obvious; I wonder what else they tried to find since the episode.

[@TeresaTrimm]

First aired January 4, 2004.

[@CelticLady01]

Out of all of the sites that the team has been to, has any of the landowners tried to rebuild/restore/reestablish any of the buildings?

[@KingMbeki]

30:55 what is the name of the hymn?

[@TheLeonhamm]

www.chantcafe.com/2018/11/cantus-sororum/ I am not sure which one, but part of the linked collection (above).

[@matthewwilliams2709]

Am curious if a historical site is confirmed to be upon property how does such effect its real estate value as well its taxation

[@carolinejohnson6879]

Why would they build Syon right under the Heathrow flight path? 😂

[@Nilguiri]

Heathrow would have only been a small aerodrome back then.

[@diane8885]

It has been in the same family since 1594. Way before Heathrow

[@annafaber4007]

wow just like a detective,it's a pitty you only have tree days

[@hemglassbil]

Her name was Saint Birgitta not Bridget.

[@angelitabecerra]

Bridget is the Anglicized version of Birgitta, both are correct.

[@tinaseitz9617]

I wonder is this Philippa Gregory the same one who wrote all those historical novels about the War of the Roses and the Tudors?

[@JuleyC]

It is her.

[@Tawfield73]

It is NOT Chiswick or Brentford it is in the Boundry of ISLEWORTH London borough of Hounslow

[@alyxj]

I'll second that. It is not Chiswick. It is Brentford, however. It has a Brentford postcode: Syon Park, Brentford TW8 8JF. The Battle of Brentford of 1642 was fought there and in the town.

[@MattiasDavidsson]

When did Matt debute for time team?

[@cookiesshorts6118]

Pretty sure this was the first Matt sighting.

[@outdoorsy01]

13:40 the moment we all realise how much he has probably missed from each survey

[@MattiasDavidsson]

So, trying to find out later information about the abbey tells the sad story of modern ways of storing information. Basically all sites linked to on the web that should contain information about the later excavations, plans etc are now removed. So, what is the latest about the abbey? Did it continue under the house or not?

[@cathjj840]

I wished they'd put more attention on finding the library.

[@giovanniserafino1731]

Actually, subsequent archaeological research clearly shows that the Abbey did not continue under the house. It was discovered that the stones were brought there, and we're not part of the original foundation .

[@TheTiffanyAching]

@@giovanniserafino1731 Wikipedia has a brief description of the follow-up work, here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syon_Abbey#Archaeological_excavations

[@colinfew6570]

Brigid was hanging around the entire time and never even spoke to her? grrrr.

[@christianpatriot7439]

VIII had the right idea.