Time Team Special: Dover Castle | Classic Special (Full Episode) - 2009

FULL EPISODE | CLASSIC TIME TEAM SPECIAL
Between 2007 and 2009, English Heritage restored Dover Castle, a fort built by Henry II and the most expensive secular building in Europe at the time, to its original 1180s condition. As a key fortress connecting Angevin France and England, it was one of many constructed at the time, but served as a centre-point of the empire and a showcase of his power. £2.45 million was spent on recreating the appearance of the main keep's interior. Around 250 people including academics and artisans were involved in researching and recreating period accurate items ranging from armour and weapons to furniture, clothing, utensils, and tapestries.
Original broadcast date: 19th December 2009.
Discover more about the Dover Castle here: www.english-heritage.org.uk/v...
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[@brunosmith6925]

The depth or artistry and craftsmanship in Britain is remarkable. We can all be proud and thankful that these precious skills have been preserved and are being put to excellent use.

[@helenamcginty4920]

This sort of thing is done in other countries as well. In France a whole 12th century castle has been built using medieval style tools and equipment like treadmill elevators to lift stone etc. There are 4 British documentaries covering the particiation of 4 English people for Guédelon castle. The videos are on you tube. They cover building, decorating, lifestyle etc.

[@cindytucker3065]

Absolutely!!! As an American, I am in absolute AWE!!! I want to go to that medieval craft show, too!

[@jestermoon]

We do what we can 😂

[@NorwayT]

Another ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ BRILLIANT Episode from Time Team Official! I'm gobsmacked at the level of Artisanry and Craftsmanship that English Heritage has managed to conjure up! It leaves me with a good feeling that these Ancient Arts and this pivotal part of European, and especially English Heritage is still being kept and taught. I SALUTE EVERYBODY involved with this project, but especially the Young Craftsmen & Artisans who have chosen a profession that keeps the Heritage alive and enriches the Lives of us all. Hopefully one day my tired Viking bones will make it across the North Sea so I may see this wonder with my own eyes!

[@julienelson8162]

The restored castle is magnificent, and so, also, is this episode. Thank you so much for making it available to us in 2024. ❤

[@marcfilippone181]

What's most remarkable to me is that this project was done with a budget of £2.45 million. It seems to me to be impossible to have this many artisans and artists working on such a large array of furnishings and decorations on this size budget. Perhaps some craftsmen donated their time? Whatever the case is, kudos to everyone involved, and this has to be one of my favorite Time Team episodes.

[@happygrandma5637]

Yes, even though 2.45 pounds is a lot of money no matter what, the years this was almost 20 years ago. A spectacular monument to the wonderful people of English Heritage and to the craftspeople involved.

[@nbk9372]

Many of these artists, and craftsman have been providing their services to the UK Royal Family, the Dutch RF and Finland RF. As long as there are monarchs in the EU, their skills and trade crafts will be in demand, skills passed on to family members or apprentices.

[@beastshawnee]

In Hollywood that would need a budget of 234 million and the quality would be crap. In my City the budget would be huge but not t would be pocketed by someone and only a mess made of the place,

[@dl7596]

@@beastshawnee beastshawnee, " huge but not t would be pocketed by someone"

[@AgnesC1111]

I was thinking, a Master's Degree in medieval arts program.

[@magdahearne497]

From being a child I often wondered what castles in England looked like in their prime rather than being cold & bleak looking....this has answered all my questions & made my dreams come true of the wish that I could look through a window in time & see it all. Thank you for sharing it 🌺

[@Debbie-henri]

What an excellent idea - to furnish a castle as the inhabitants intended. I've visited many a British castle, and it is difficult to imagine the reality when you're standing in a series of cold, bare, dark, grey rooms, this backed up by the paltry additions Hollywood puts into a film. So, to see it like this brings home the real opulence kings and queens would have enjoyed in those times.

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

It's time for another Classic Special from the archives! Join us right here, 7pm (GMT) on Saturday for the premiere watch-along.

[@SimonLloydGuitar]

Thank you so much for this upload. As an Englishman , I find our story incredibly moving.

[@SirWhig-esq.]

Hurrah for Time Team. ❤😊

[@user-wu9gr9xm8p]

Always grateful for these videos, they are an important part of our life (humanity)!

[@phranerphamily]

The specials are always awesome.

[@dthomp06]

Ahhhh! Home. My grandparents lived in Dover when I was growing up so I’m Very familiar with the castle and the Dover environs. Loved watching this. Thanks.

[@helenamcginty4920]

My parents met in 1944 at a dance in Langdon nearby. My father was in the army stationed at Dover and my mother in the WRAAF on radar at St Margarets Bay. They married in Dover in June 1945.

[@suemcculley7710]

The classics are the BEST 💖

[@user-gz2qh1ie8d]

Definitely!

[@CaptainCed]

Take a shot every time Sir Tony says that something "dominates" something else.

[@davidevans3227]

it's a toke for me 🙂

[@kamilaferens682]

I got chills when they revealed the final interiors, what an amazing change!

26:40 Thats Tod from Tod Cutler :) How cool to see him in this "old" time team. This was a brilliant episode and brilliant project back then and it still is.

[@michaelbelisle8930]

this was the best special yet . the end was like walking back in.

[@killeresk]

Time Team is such a great show, love it.

[@alaynarb1]

We visited in 2021. Fabulous place. We are English Heritage members and visited 2 days to see everything there. Make sure you give yourself time to tour the castle and the WW2 tunnels.

[@barrettemonique9070]

This is magnificent! Very royal and very real. I was transported back in time and nearly brought to tears at the same time. Congratulations.

[@user-by9dr5fl4q]

Same here, but it happens to me almost in every episode where more about the past is discovered. It may be both, because I'm passionate about history and because we don't have that historical vastness here... I'm from Argentina, imagine that any historical European building can be older than my country. Of course, we've dinosaur fossil deposits in our Patagonia, a record of human settlements from about 12 thousands years ago, and then nothing until pre-Hispanic cultures.

[@astronomyphilly]

Mega cringe, get a grip

[@deborahfedge3823]

@@user-by9dr5fl4q I recently saw a special about the previously unknown pre Hispanic cultures found all along the Amazon. Lidar has made it possible to find structures under the canopy and ground. I wish I remembered the title. It would have been a NoVA or Nat Geo. Your continent had great civilizations in theAmazon Basin, archeologists are only just finding it, hidden by the trees and “hills”, just as European and Middle Eastern, Persian and Greece archeology revealed cities under the “tells”. List and other new technologies were needed to find them. In some respects, archeology is always new.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

​@@astronomyphillyI know? "It brings tears" 😂🤣

[@qdrju007]

Cześć wszystkim. Pozrawiam z Warszawy

[@-Ripcord-]

It’s been so cool watching this show evolve and the cast age (and sadly pass away). Sir Tony, you’ve helped make this show the art it is

[@gaylaaustin7468]

I was at Dover Castle in 2019. It is magnificent. P.s. it kinda looked like they rode their horses right into the castle too

[@SandraNelson063]

Yup. No manners!😊

[@cacamilis8477]

Of course they would have! Why would you leave your best horse out in the rain, outside of the secure walls? Ridiculous!

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

That bad of a 💩HOLE is it??

[@114H-DBackroads]

Wonderful show. Love the factual history that was created. Tony always brings the excitement..and comedy to special.

[@melissacoelho8413]

What they did is absolutely amazing! I would love to see this in person, thank you so much for sharing this.

[@LarryThePhotoGuy]

I love the medieval track lighting!

[@thomasrotweiler]

I suspect in medieval times these rooms would have been lit by candles. Big ones, lots of them. Too much of a fire hazard these days.

[@worldmusic09]

@@thomasrotweiler But one could recreate the candles in electric versions I think.

[@nnagle9224]

Gorgeous - both the refit of the castle and the narrative. Now I understand castles and their accouterments. The colors were as rich as stained glass windows and properly muted when they were inside the castle and properly lit. Thank you.

[@dl7596]

nnagle9224, "The colors were as rich as stained glass windows and properly muted when they were inside the castle"

[@Caratacus1]

I knew from his own KZbin channel that Tod Cutler worked on this. Nice to see him in the vid even if he was non-speaking.

[@Jamison1888]

He makes some amazing stuff love his channel

[@LadyShigeko]

Thanks for sharing this Episode with us

[@seanmcnally6658]

Each of the crafts is worthy of their shows. Great work.

[@MrScoffins]

Love the medieval LED lighting. So authentic!

[@Rich6Brew]

It's interesting how technology gets forgotten about for centuries, then is brought back to everyday use through research and development.

[@silva7493]

I am thrilled to see this! It gave me goosebumps, for once not only to search my imagination for how these incredible historic spaces may have looked, but to SEE the fabulously beautiful way they may have been!!! Amazing job, Brits!!!!!

[@andrewchirgwin4136]

Manuscripts, paintings, descriptions plus a little speculation. What a marvellous transformation. Magnificent.

[@theodoroseidler7072]

I was there last September. Loved every bit of it and of the surrounding town. Well worth the trip.

[@bjdefilippo447]

I love Dover Castle. What a wonderful restoration project!

[@Luddite1]

Great to see the superb Sir Tony Absolutely stunning and you’ve popped Dover back onto my ‘must visit’ list !

[@tylermiddaugh1515]

amazing. ive always tried to envision it in my head and now i dont have to :)

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

I spent 7 years at school just up the road from Dover Castle. I’m amazed that they were able to film so much footage in blue skies… :)

[@britboy70]

my family and I happened to visit on the day of the official opening. Amazing experience. I grew up just outside Folkestone so Dover castle was somewhere we visited frequently.

[@wakandaforever4291]

You lived every American child's dream 😊

[@joshschneider9766]

Hello Tony. Good to see you old boy. Youre like a warm and loving welcome into the new year. And the castle is as permanent as ever. Ill never forget my visit to this magnificent show piece of a building. Truly serves its intended purpose even all these centuries later. I would never mess with it's owner that's for sure 😂

[@SK-du5ns]

Absolutely magnificent. Kudos to all involved recreating this historical recreation.

[@bardo0007]

I remember this episode when I watched it in 2009, I always wanted to visit that part of the country.

[@madziara1045]

Zapiera dech w piersiach! Cudowny efekt!👏👏👏

[@_34_Lies]

It was weirdly-interesting to see the tapestry, mid-creation as it were... I couldn't help but be drawn into thinking about the world as it might have been back then, when everything was so much more ordered, much slower to play-out - perhaps - making it so much easier to digest. Today - by comparison - the tapestry would have likely found itself on a news-reel (minus what ended up on the cutting room floor), so it was useful, from that much at least, to be able to create a internal picture of life as might have been like, vs how it appears now. Excellent episode, and one I remember with fondness. Thank you.

[@MikeH-sg2ue]

I’ve seen Dover Castle many times, but only from afar! I hope to make it back there again, someday! Knowing the history, makes it that much more fascinating! Thanks for this great educational presentation! Keep your smiles on!

[@SIG442]

Oh this is so lovely, can learn a lot like this! Thank you to the team and Tony!

[@user-kt3zv1cm5j]

One of my favourite specials!

[@karenburrows9184]

Living, breathing history. Henry would be pleased.

[@edwardpincus]

Wonderful and amazing. Brilliant. Thank you for making this fascinating piece of history available. Bravo! Well done!

[@ChristaFree]

A new time team video always makes me so happy!!

[@pedenmk]

What a great episode. Time Team you've hit a home run on this one. Thanks for sharing.

[@caroleinwv]

One of my favorites!

[@PaddyWV]

I used to know the maintenance bosses at English Heritage years ago. They used to pinch stationery (like old style paper backed carbon paper) from the war time stores at Dover! 😮

[@LilieDubh]

Someday we will get to visit Dover Castle. Someday.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Go to FRANCE instead it's better and i live in ENGLAND..

[@essbee1240]

Fantastic to see my home town castle brought to life!

[@simonk1025]

Absolutely fantastic, how they have brought the castle back to life as it may have looked is an education to me and has changed my perception of life (for the fabulously wealthy) in those times.

[@leannemayor5755]

Love seeing tony ,the days of mick Phil and all the gang . Time team classic is just wonderful and although the new time team are good tony brought an certain energy and excitement and all those side workers raksha was my favourite anyway this is wonderful to see xo

[@MsINSANE2]

This is absolutely incredible! I love your specials and I really love this one. Very, very educational.

[@jamesstewart4402]

-stunning, thank you Sir Tony and Time Team. Having attended Dover College (many years ago), my weekly sports enjoyment was cross country running, which included going around Dover Castle. Great seeing the old historical spot. Greetings from Johannesburg ZA

[@richardsanchez5444]

Tony is a badass individual.

[@hsimpson6581]

Anytime Tonys on Count me in!❤

[@debbralehrman5957]

Amazing so glad they did this. If nothing more people will stop thinking that the last century was the start of the use of colour. (color) Thanks Time Team 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@reneedover1863]

So awesome to see as my grandparents are from England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, France. We had named my son Colton not knowing till he looked up Dover castle that a gate is called coltons gate. Very cool.

[@3251JOE]

A confluence of the medieval and the modern is seamlessly presented in this wonderful program. It is both entertaining and informative. Many thanks!

[@deborahborlase7100]

Unbelievably beautiful!!

[@kimberleyfung-loy9772]

Love this! Like Versailles, it's as if you go back in time and are right there

[@awallner1]

I was defending my doctorate in 2009. How time flies.

[@Sloth-Olympics]

Fun show dont care if its repeated Old Or what-not

[@simonBailey-dy3qy]

The castle is beautiful 😍

[@brianb5276]

Hello from Poughkeepsie. Looking forward to this one!

[@penny1186]

I spent 4 years in the UK and traveled to France twice, but I never got to see Dover. I really need to go back. The scenery seen in your video is absolutely amazing.

[@victormorris3680]

The locals say that most travellers just see the road out or in,,I worked on the cross channel ferries for thirty years so I've seen Dover from all the angles and weather,the castle still impresses me.

[@Sandra-Gibora]

Love Tony Robinson! And thank you so much for bringing this fantastic documentary to KZbin! What an amazing project.

[@chrisbassett8996]

wow they have done a fantastic job. As Tony said it doesn't look gardy at all it looks fabulous.

[@LuvBorderCollies]

Superb show. The before and after really made it top drawer. The difference was so captivating. The expert crafters like the embroidery workers didn't just do great work, they did Royalty Level skill.

[@LiRaby5173]

I often wonder what archeologists 500-1000 years from now will think when they find places like this. I wonder if they will understand that these were recreations or if they will think we were building places like this again because of the times we are living in now. I wonder how much of our records will remain especially since a lot of them are on computers. In my life time we've gone from computers taking up whole rooms to floppy disks to USB drives to now things being stored on the cloud. My daddy was born in 1931 and was a history major in college before they had pre-law. I sometimes wonder what he would think if he was still alive today of all the things going on in politics and other areas of our everyday life. I think it would be very interesting if we were able to see what the people think and "know" about our time frame in years to come. Tony reminds me so much of my daddy in looks and the knowledge he imparts. I love watching everything Time Teem especially since I'll never be able to travel to England due to my health but watching brings it to me. Thank you so much for the glimpse into history.

[@davidevans3227]

greetings from south wales, uk.. i wonder these things too sometimes.. 🙂 x

[@annafaber4007]

This is realy special, what a labour!!!

[@terri200]

The people who keep the artistry of old alive today deserve huge applause!! The colors are perfect, because to use color was extremely expensive in those days and showed the wealth of the owner!! Thank you for this excellent video!! I have loved you channel for decades!!🙏💖🪶💞✨️💜

[@Uffda.]

I got to visit when I studied a year in England in 2011-12 (I’m from Minnesota, USA) and it was really cool what they did with the place. It even had furniture and stuff you could sit on, interact with, etc… I dragged my friends around demonstrating what stuff was/was used for 😂

[@user-ee8jr8wn5o]

Wow, just Wow! I just added another place to visit urgently on my list.I wish things like this were undertaken by cultural heritage in The Netherlands.

[@SECRETORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR]

Go to the COTSWOLDS and YORKSHIRE, CIRENCESTER,WELLS, CAMBRIDGE, OXFORD,WINCHESTER and CHESTER and Leave that LONDON alone it's just a TOURIST TRAP..

[@PeasantsRevolt]

Amazing. I wish we had a medieval flea market here. My entire house is in that theme 😅

[@margielewis6009]

Thank you for sharing.

[@lizzy66125]

Absolute wonderful craftmanship ,beautifully done👏.

[@lauralake7430]

Just breathtaking

[@PerfectTangent]

It's Tod Cutler with more hair!

[@eighmeeloo]

Love the tapestries!

[@kathrynschauf1784]

Wonderful! Answered many questions!

[@SF-ru3lp]

The project is fabulous! What a privilege to see such of the process. Delighted to subscribe. G Ire

[@seanpaula8924]

Spectacular! Thank you Time Team.

[@beastshawnee]

Beckett was the first movie I remember seeing as a child at age 3. my Mom was an English teacher/scholar. She used to drag me to classes with her somedays. I was 4 as well when I first watched Macbeth in her Shakespeare class. We arrived for Beckett for the 2nd showing in 1964 and the first was still showing, I wandered around bored as Mom bought drinks. There was only a velvet curtain rather than a door to where the movie was still playing so…I peeked. I saw a murder happen on screen so I quietly cried and told my mom I didn’t want to see that movie because a man gets his head chopped off. I was panicking when she made me go see that movie, I tried so hard to convince her but nope. (yeah-my mom was negligent and not caring about a lot of things concerning me, many times-Loved her but she was not a great mom. ) But the movie was good in between deaths and I watched it again a couple times as an adult, even tho at 3 I was lost so far as politics between church and state. This movie was Probably another reason I never could believe in gods or rulers-LOL. eff em both.

[@sirdigbyminge1639]

Good work, spoiled by the spotlights.

[@FVJCJrChoir]

Thank you! That was simply marvelous. You always satisfy my curiosity and make me feel as though I have traveled with you to some other time and place. This special episode accomplishes in a most singular way! Well done, time team!

[@thhseeking]

You're right, Tony, you wouldn't have been able to see inside. You'd be out digging up turnips 😛 Sir Edmund might have had a look-in, though 🤣

[@simonhawker9277]

beautiful with track lighting

[@wadestear4750]

Loving it. More please

[@susanmacdonald4288]

Marvelous!

[@wazwulf2698]

amazing thank you sooo much

[@louie334]

😮fantastic .. fascinating and great work all..👑❤

[@maryhairy1]

Amazing!

[@debrah7548]

Magnificent!

[@jannarkiewicz633]

I can't write my comment on Dover Castle. 40 years ago... Ah..... Memories....

[@secondhand8950]

Top notch as always love Time Team xx