4 THE Books TIME TEAM GUIDE TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF BRITAIN & IRELAND TIM TAYLOR Great Britain and Ireland are home to some of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. Stonehenge, Hadrian’s Wall and Ironbridge are familiar to us all, and each year thousands of us flock to witness their spectacular beauty. But what can these fascinating sites teach us about the lives and times of our ancestors? Here, in this beautifully illustrated and impeccably researched book, Tim Taylor and the experts behind Channel 4’s much-loved Time Team select Britain and Ireland’s most interesting archaeological sites and use their specialist knowledge to reveal the people behind the monuments - their ways of life, their religious beliefs and their impressive skills, strength, technology and ingenuity. Split into regional chapters, the book features a range of unmissable locations from each area, and also focuses on the Time Team’s see-before-you-die sites, explaining just why they are so important to our understanding of the past. There is a guide to key points to watch out for at each major site, as well as often-missed fascinating facts from the archaeological reports, beautiful photographs and stunning reconstruction drawings from the show’s illustrator, Victor Ambrus. Encompassing sites from hillforts and motte-and-bailey castles to Roman villas and Neolithic graves, this comprehensive guide provides a fresh, illuminating and invigorating insight into the human history behind the landscapes of Britain and Ireland. 1905 026013 £20.00 THE TIME TEAM GUIDE TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF BRITAIN & IRELAND with Professor Mick Aston DrTadhg O’Keeffe Guy de la Bédoyère Phil Harding Francis Pryor Helen Geake Dr David Caldwell Carenza Lewis TIME TEAM GUIDE TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF BRITAIN & IRELAND TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS 61—63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA a division ofThe Random House Group Ltd RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA (PTY) LTD 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney New South Wales 2061, Australia RANDOM HOUSE NEW ZEALAND LTD 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand RANDOM HOUSE SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa Published 2005 by Channel 4 Books a division of Transworld Publishers This book is published to accompany the Time Team television series produced by Videotext Communications Ltd in association with Picture House. Copyright ©Videotext 2005 The right of Tim Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Illustrations copyright ©Victor Ambrus 2005 Design by Martin Hendry Maps by Hardlines Ltd Picture research by Louise Thomas Index by Christine Shuttleworth A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 9050 2601 3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Printed by Appl Druck, Wemding, Germany 13579 10 8642 Papers used by Transworld Publishers are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. Contents Foreword 180 by Tony Robinson 7 North-west England Introduction 196 by Tim Taylor and Yorkshire the Time Team 8 1O 214 South-west England North of England 36 236 Southern England Southern Scotland 58 252 Greater London Scottish Highland and Islands 78 268 South-east England Northern Ireland 96 280 Wales Republic of Ireland 118 Top Ten sites Heart of England by the Time Team 312 What happened when? 315 142 East of England Index 316 164 East Midlands Acknowledgements 319 6 Foreword At some time in 2005 we will be going to Roman legionaries must have made of it, and our 150th site. Over the last 13 years or experiencing the extraordinary richness of so, Time Team has travelled all over the country. Orkney’s archaeology and the beauty of some Each site we’ve visited, and spent our usual three of Ireland’s early Christian sites. Some of the days excavating, has given us the chance to get sites that most surprised me were the industrial together some of the most knowledgeable sites. People don’t always associate these with archaeologists in the country. During this archaeology, but I was particularly impressed by process we’ve often referred in our discussions Ironbridge, because it seems that this really was to the nearest ‘great and good’ sites, and it has the start, in Britain, of the world’s industrial been fascinating to hear our experts talking revolution. about them and how they relate to the places This book reflects something else which we’ve been digging. doing 13 years ofTime Team has made clear to During the discussions, I’ve not only felt that me — the fantastic variety of Britain and Ireland’s it would be great to visit these sites with some archaeology. Not only the sites themselves, of our experts, but also that many of these sites but the amazing objects archaeologists have have new insights and new perceptions to be uncovered. It is also exciting and somehow experienced. What you might end up reading in encouraging to realize that on many of the the booklets and on the presentation boards is sites we hope you will get to visit, secrets are not necessarily the end of the story. still waiting to be uncovered. Many of these Time Team has always tried to get beyond places were excavated generations ago, and the surface story and see what was really going new discoveries are still to be made. These sites on, and ask the sort of questions the viewer and their amazing stories are alive and changing, wants answered. In this book, Tim and the rest and hopefully waiting for today’s generation of the team have tried to apply this approach of archaeologists to continue the story. and to give you a Time Team-style introduction I hope you enjoy having Time Team take you to some of the sites we find the most round Britain and Ireland, and that this guide interesting. inspires you to get out and look at some of the My own favourites relate to locations visited world’s best archaeology. It is never that far from as part ofTime Team’s digs. I remember digging your own doorstep, and you might even bump on Hadrian’s Wall and thinking just what the into Time Team along the way. 8 Introduction HIS BOOK IS Time Team’s guide to great Our intention has been to give the reader a British and Irish archaeology. It tells the story selection of the archaeological sites that we of how archaeological sites have changed the way believe matter. For example, hillforts, henge we think about the past and about how people monuments, passage graves, Roman villas, motte- used to live. And, in some cases, how we are now and-bailey castles: these are an important part of changing the way we think about the classic sites. our archaeological past, but how much do we The book explores in depth more than 50 understand them? When we wander round these classic archaeological sites, representing those the sites, gazing up at the lumps of stone or Time Team believe are the most important and magnificent fortifications that are thousands of interesting in Britain and Ireland. Some of the years old, or even just looking at lumps and bumps choices are surprising, and others will make you in the ground, are we really aware of what they take a second look at some of our greatest tell us about how people lived in the past? archaeological sites. In addition to these major We’ve tried to approach each site as though we sites, we also include more than 225 fascinating, were undertaking a typical Time Team piece of revealing, typical and/or enigmatic places. research. In the cases where we have dug on or