Time Team S15-E10 Keeping Up with the Georgians, Hunstrete, Somerset

The Team are in a field just outside Bath to investigate the remains of what could have been one of the country's finest Georgian houses.
The seach is on for Francis Popham's country house ¿ a mansion he planned on 'a most grand and magnificent scale'.
Only five arches of the main portico remain above ground today, but because Georgian architecture is based on regular, fixed proportions, what remains ought to provide a good aid to working out the plan of the rest of the building.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

LERD! Pretty Jonathan, the fabulous Brigid, and a mention of the best pottery expert par none Paul Blinkhorn all in one scene!!! These are the best people all in one!

[@statickaeder29]

Lovely horse you've got there, Tony - can I ride him? Lovely form.... Also this may be the best quote in all of Time Team: "Well, I've been slapped round the face by the wet haddock of reality..."

[@susanhazard632]

What a great skill set of Ian- digger and digger operator. I am very admiring!

[@kirkmorrison6131]

I find his and some other operators skill amazing

[@basstrammel1322]

He is the unsung hero of TT.

[@adamsjerome1839]

As I heavy equipment operator I marvel at the skill of Ian, the elder in his swing shovel. My style is driving the the teeth and bucket into the soil and ripping back. Ian is a brain surgeon, I am a Yahoo with a diesel, hydraulic blundering around.

[@susanhazard632]

@@adamsjerome1839 Well said!

[@BlueSaphire70]

"Well I've been hit by the wet haddock of reality"- Jonathan's realization just cracked me up! Too funny!

[@Kris-bw7cv]

Love the episodes with Francis Pryor.😁

[@arrienl6372]

I found this program just yesterday. And I love it. I love the set up of the whole thing, the people, and also the graphics, with which buildings and the various objects come alive. Beautifully done. What a treat these are.

[@lisakilmer2667]

Isn't Jonathan Foyle a treat! Intelligent, articulate, learned, yet funny and humble enough to admit when he's wrong! I'm glad TT snapped him up when he retired from being Curator of Royal Historic Palaces (the job Lucy Worsley took over, and she's one of the best history presenters in the annals of good TV).

[@Jenalgo]

He gets you wet does he?

[@miekekuppen9275]

Not to mention he´s mighty cute.

[@Pauldjreadman]

I call Jonathan "The Royal Archeologist" I agree he is great .

[@silviac221]

@@miekekuppen9275 and has beautiful eyes.

[@JacobafJelling]

Jonathan is really cool. A nice addition to the team

[@silviac221]

and really gorgeous.

[@JacobafJelling]

@@silviac221 sexist

[@notthatbitchagain6857]

Someone get Phil a pint. His grubby charm is enjoyable.

[@gnome_farmer]

Phil is awesome, nasty hat and short shorts.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks for posting.

[@miekekuppen9275]

I want Paul Blinkhorn to have his own show.

[@miekekuppen9275]

Or, you know, all of them in general. But Paul today.

[@WashuHakubi4]

Wow, when that picture of Sir John Popham came up at 1:38 I thought it was Tony on a really bad day. Francis Popham kinda looks like the type who would play pranks on his guests. And congrats to Time Team for discovering the first house in England to be made of Manganese.

[@xxspudsmomxx]

WashuHakubi4 I think sir John Popham painting looks like Phil! Lol

[@WashuHakubi4]

Well, he definitely seems to have Tony's nose. No earring though. Hmmm...

[@michellearohde]

Holy crap, Phil's "Manganese?" made me laugh until my stomach hurt!

[@CologneCarter]

Let me in on it. English is only my second language, so I unfortunately also heard manganese.

[@HotelPapa100]

CologneCarter They repeated it for him: "Mind your knees"; "Pass auf Deine Knie auf!"

[@CologneCarter]

HotelPapa100 Thanks. Even with you clearing it up, I had to listen to it several times to be confident I heard/understood what they actually said. But then, I manage to mishear German every now and then too and get words of a different meaning and have ask people to repeat themselves.

[@shinitaisenpai9057]

out of all the comments you posted here, that never happened, this didn't happen the most.

[@tompahdea9263]

It is always a kick to listen to others not from your area. I remember a while back when the first Mrs Trump was guiding a television crew around her apartment in Trump Towers and she continually was s=saying "aria" and I though that she was making reference to opera but then after listening for about 15 minutes she came to an aria that was matched up with living room then it dawned on me she was saying area' as "aria". And when you get into voices from various place sin Great Britain there can be great variance in pronunciation that may take some time to get to understand.

[@restezlameme]

"Slapped round the face by the wet haddock of reality"

[@mattkaustickomments]

This very same thing happened to a friend of mine in modern times. He built a mansion, over extended himself, the foundation done on the cheap failed, bank foreclosed and he never got to live in it. A real shame, it was a super cool house.

[@silviac221]

I will never understand the idea of having a medieval castle with a moat and pulling the building down to build something else and, on top of it, filling in the moat to turn it into a path!!! A castle with a moat would be my dream home, in case it´s not clear by now.

[@jamespfp]

8:25 -- The music being reused ever episode makes this next lyric inevitable -- "You take the high ridge and I'll take the low ridge and Phil will have a trench dug before us!"

[@helix1061]

Awesome!

[@Jigger2361]

... lol 4:58 Phil saying "that's the same MO - ER (mortar)" god I miss the Team

[@phoule76]

mo'er

[@haplessasshole9615]

@@phoule76 I'd render it as "mor'ar," retaining the Rs, and indicating the glottal stop. As a writer, I'm always thinking about how I'd spell dialects. Dickens and Twain were masters at it.

[@silviac221]

@@haplessasshole9615 yes, that´s my render too. I was going to make that comment but was sure I wasn't the first one to notice so I looked for it.

[@haplessasshole9615]

@@silviac221 You know who else is great at writing dialects? J.K. Rowling. Shortly after I made that comment last year, I re-read the *HP* series. Before Harry and Hagrid reached The Leaky Cauldron, I realized that Hagrid no longer sounded like Robbie Coltrane in my head -- he sounded like Phil Harding. Harding is already a larger-than-life character. Imagine if he were actually the size of Hagrid!

[@silviac221]

@@haplessasshole9615 Yes, Phil would make a good Hagrid in a film! He's larger than life and clearly a fantastic archaeologist, too. I have only read the first HP book. The thing is I'm not British and so I don't hear the accents so well. But I do think Sam Gamgee's English is "summut" different too ;). Should reread a little to remember.

[@stannousflouride8372]

The portico is here on Google Earth: 51°21'24.7"N 2°30'35.6"W

[@Neddoest]

Cheers!

[@Jaqueli9er]

Francis: "Mind your kness..." Phil: "MANGANESE???" I love Francis, he is my favorite, and I love Phil, but the two of them together is just priceless!

[@jdfireworks1969jd]

Is there a Phil Harding fan club? If so I want to join.

[@sallyannwilson9300]

There is a Phil Harding appreciation society on Facebook

[@gnome_farmer]

Phil is my favorite member of the team.

[@karmicpopcorn6440]

@@sallyannwilson9300 bah humbug. I requested a join and they turned me down sight unseen. I'm feeling a bit miffed. Who needs em? I'll follow Wessex Archaeology. Bloody snobs. Lol they probably didn't like my avatar, which was a cultured statement about 2020 and distance learning curves....Edvard Munch, The Scream. No sense of humor them.

[@rubyjools]

@@karmicpopcorn6440 try again & apply to the top one with most members.

[@sallyannwilson9300]

@@karmicpopcorn6440 declined? Phil shall hear about this!. No seriously do try again.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

I love how pretty Jonathan calls these amazing stately country homes "piles" like Tony always does 😂

[@GrahamCLester]

"In 1595 Popham presided over the trial of the Jesuit Robert Southwell and passed sentence of death by hanging, drawing and quartering. He also presided over the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh (1603) and the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot, including Guy Fawkes (1606). He was also involved in the trial at Fotheringhay Castle of Mary, Queen of Scots (1587) which resulted in her execution." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Popham_(judge)

[@thefunkosaurus]

Sounds like a right prick.

[@haplessasshole9615]

@@thefunkosaurus In the portrait, he looks pretty grim. He has that constipated look of the terminally self-righteous.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

The american specialist is so lucky. Imagine leaving the colony (fellow american) to be so involved in the archeology of the mother land! The farthest I've been outside the US was a brief dip into Mexico floating along the Rio Chama 🇲🇽

[@mikarama69]

I am a descendant of the Popham family.

[@ej3016]

Dan Ketchum thought Phil was "deaf" - I'd say his selective hearing (not wanting to hear Tony's blathering) was still turned on - he cracks me up - but he's down in the trenches with all the younger ones!

[@MrLotrecht]

For me the remaining Walls looks like typically 17th Renaissance Style in Italy!

[@jw9939]

The premier is now on time team original channel and it is season 15 episode 7 on their channel

[@laurabrooks7655]

Francis Popham puts me in mind of Mick Aston.

[@rusty6408]

Those sunglasses Tony. Come on mate.

[@gregb6469]

So what happened to the second mansion, the one that had been erased from the map? Is there another episode where they dig it?

[@tompahdea9263]

Well, at lest for this structure and time period an earlier question I had about how was paneling attached to mason/brick/stone walls accomplished since I am familiar here in the US they used wood blocks placed in the face of a wall instead of a brick to attch the paneling, at least for 1900s construction. So they used metal pins set in the walls. which I imagine they would do with an understanding as to what was to be done with the decorating of the inside surface? or would they occasionally chip out wall facing and then put in the hooks after the walls had been set up but not plastered?

[@0623kaboom]

end of day 2 and no one has said they built the georgian house around the medieval one using the older one as the main support and the newer one as a facade and getting it's support and structure from the better older foundations .... it seems so obvious then you can have a hall around the outside of the old house decorated with the new posh of the era and still have your primary house and party rooms in the old house and just rework them as you build around to them

[@digitaurus]

Some of the Cambridge University college courts are actually medieval buildings with a Georgian facade slapped on them

[@uncannydan]

36:30 Matt and Paul...true T.T. members under duress~ gotta bring them back.

[@carpii]

good luck with that. They stopped making Time Team 5 years ago

[@viktorbulow3388]

@@carpii And all we get now are shit series/movies about heroes. Better milk that cow until we hit 70. Bring back quality stuff like this so watching TV isn't such a snoozefest.

[@carpii]

Yep, it's sad. If you like historical stuff, American PBS have produced some great mini-series over the years. Texas Ranch House, Colonial House, and Frontier House are all interesting

[@areyouavinalaughisheavinal5328]

37:09 innit

[@paulbriody297]

Pronunciation of Palladian/Palladio so weird.

[@MrLotrecht]

I do not agree that there where 3 styles build . I think the older stones are comming fro the older buildings just in a reuse!

[@Jean-yn6ef]

💚

[@DanKetchum007]

Manganese. :) Phil is deaf as a post.

[@henrybeenh7076]

What kind of accent does Phil have? He sounds like one of the stone trolls from the Hobbit!

[@w.g.hunter1300]

+Martin Both That there's a Wiltshire accent!

[@henrybeenh7076]

Thanks!

[@charlesinglin]

+Martin Both That there's a wonderful accent. Love it.

[@haplessasshole9615]

I recently re-read the Harry Potter books. In my head, Robbie Coltrane's voice has been replaced by Harding's whenever Hagrid speaks.

[@thomaspatton4401]

Or Rubeus Hagrid from Harry Potter.

[@OnlyOneTubing]

cowboy builders!

[@timothyhart7587]

This is episode 7, not 10.

[@bluenoteone]

Maybe the blokes wife put the footers in and a friend came to look in on his project; he told the wife the footers were too narrow and won't hold the weight....so, she gave up the project.

[@davidwright7193]

He was a true gentleman are you accusing him of having to buy his own pottery? pace Alan Clark

[@keefgrump5193]

Why doe,s Phil wear a hard hat but not knee protectors with his hot pants?

[@derekeuchner1800]

Hot pants. That is all.

[@miekekuppen9275]

I´m guessing the hard hat is mandatory in certain circumstances while knee protectors aren´t. He wears knee protectors in one episode when his back´s given way and he´s kneeling more to avoid straining it.

[@maeve4686]

Guess I'm a bit late. In the US, we'd call Phil's shorts "Daisy Dukes" in reference to an old tv show, The Dukes of Hazzard. But, I absolutely love his legs. No matter how old they get.

[@xsk8rat]

Does the fellow at @1:41 (Sir John Poppam?) look like a very grumpy Robin? Or am i on dope?

[@thefunkosaurus]

Could it not be both??

[@margomoore4527]

Trying to improve appearances resulted in the destruction of what almost overnight became a white elephant to the next generation. Was it a waste of money? Well, it provided a livelihood to a generation of builders, tradesmen, craftsmen, and a staff of servants. But its glory was so evanescent, superficial, and ultimately ephemeral, that when I look at the painting, I see a house molded of white sugar, that melted in England’s rain. A grand conception that was never really real. A Georgian dream.

[@itmademesignup9508]

After this episode, Phil quit the team and opened a Georgian pub on Hunt Street.

[@elizabethbarnes9685]

ItMadeMeSignUp No Mick, no Phil? I may need to stop watching

[@OurHumbleLife]

@39:55 No one discards money...you SPEND it.

[@Desoxyri]

So if you throw away or lose a coin you would said that you spent it?

[@cathjj840]

You can spend a pretty penny - old Popham did on his show house - but you can certainly chuck an ugly penny, one as bent out of shape as the poster with an attitude.

[@sierramade]

Tony you should school up on riding. Like don't hang on your horses face

[@trollmeistergeneral3467]

That historian Elaine Chalus doesn't sound English - she sounds American. Just what is an American doing in the U.K. working as an historian?

[@nicoladoering5030]

Didn't you know? Sometimes people go abroad to work! ;-p

[@hellspite]

Dear God this one is boring. Still better than the garbage on US TV.

[@thomaspatton4401]

It's pretty bad when the worst of UK T.V. is still better than US T.V. That is because U.S. producers treat their viewing audience like a bunch of slobbering halfwits. In contrast, the UK producers treat their audience with a decent amount of respect giving them credit for some intelligence. I would say in our own defense though that we are not all halfwits. there are those among us who are capable of stringing at least several coherent thoughts and theories together. We are the ones who long for more intelligent television programming.

[@dominangel23]

"And archeologists should be able to tell". Sorry old mate. Archeologists must be able to guess and 90% of the time get it wrong and even then be able to make excuses as to why they got it wrong. Nice job if you come from the right classes.

[@t.j.payeur739]

Quite actually, the most boring Time Team that I've seen up to this point..and I've seen them all...

[@narcoleptic8982]

I thought it was cool. They don't often dig holes that deep, it was cool to see a ten foot high wall dug appear of the ground.