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Look at that, one of the finest\n manor houses in Britain.
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It was built for a powerful family,\n played host to Charles I.
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You can imagine how excited\n the archaeologists were
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when they discovered the moat\n of this Grade I listed building.
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Except there was one tiny problem.
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Look at this map the archaeologists\n drew. There's the house,
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here's the moat and does it go\n up to here and turn round the house?
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No, it goes hurtling off\n in that direction.
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This is the direction\n the moat's going in
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but what on earth's going on,\n what's it protecting?
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There have been several theories -
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from a Roman fort to a royal court,
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from a chapel to a heavily\n fortified cattle enclosure.
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And we've got just three days\n to rip up this field
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and find out what this\n has got to do with that.
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Please don't let it be\n a cattle enclosure, please!
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Not a cattle enclosure.
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Llancaiach is just north of Cardiff,\n sitting on a plateau of land
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in the middle of the rolling\n South Wales Valleys.
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The earth works we're here\n to investigate were first recorded
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in the 1970s but, so far,\n all attempts to establish\n what they are have failed.
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Where he's coming in is where that\n ditch was shown from through there.
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Yeah, yeah.
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But it makes sense to assume\n they've got something to do
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with next door\n Llancaiach Fawr Manor,
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where the powerful Pritchard family\n once entertained Charles I.
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And the manor itself,\n now a museum and education centre,
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is also a bit of a mystery\n because no-one knows
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if it was the first house\n to be built on this site.
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You've got this whole place to run
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and you've got coach loads of kids\n coming in and all the tourists
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and you've invited us\n here for three days.
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We have indeed,\n I just really want to know
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whether we've got anything else\n that's earlier than about 1530,
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which is the date we think the house\n is, because I don't think
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it is the only thing\n that's important on this site.
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It's always struck me\n as rather strange
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that we have\n this potential moated enclosure
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and it actually goes out in the\n opposite direction from the house.
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And, in this document\n from the Royal Commission,
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it says, "This might\n be a Medieval moated site
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"or on balance,\n more likely of Roman origin."
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And then the golden words,
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"excavation will be required\n to decide the matter."
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So you're quite happy\n to fend the kids off\n and let us get on with it.
47
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Absolutely.
48
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So, do we have an earlier\n moated house or even a Roman fort
49
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in this enormous field?
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It's a big question
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and for once we're not waiting\n for geophys to answer it.
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There are definite earthworks there,\ndefinite earthworks.
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Because some of the team have\n decided to break with tradition
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and open a trench immediately.
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Look at that,\n not only a trench but a big one!
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Here are the three wise monkeys\n of archaeology.
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Ben, how come we've\n got a trench in already?
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Stewart had a wander this morning
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and he picked up\n these three low earthworks
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but they seem to line up\n with the possible moat
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so we thought we'd go for it,\n we couldn't wait any longer.
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A couple of years ago\nthey put a trench
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across where they think\nthe earthworks were
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and they found two rows of stones,
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two sort of banks of stones\nwith a post hole in the middle.
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Until we open up a bigger area,
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we won't know whether\nwe can identify these stone rows,
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whether we can find any more\npost holes, we've got to think big.
69
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Surely this is going to be\n the easiest dig we've ever done -
70
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the house, the moat, something\n in the middle, bosh, go home!
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Yeah, except the term "moat"\n on an Ordinance Survey map
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covers a multitude of sins.
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What does he mean?
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All it means is that\nsomebody's seen a depression.\nFirst of all, what is a moat?
75
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It could mean a water filled ditch,\nit could just mean a dry ditch,
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it could be functional, defensive,
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it could be for fish, it could just\nbe something that looks nice
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in your grounds. We've got no idea\nwhat this thing is until we dig it.
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So, our first trench has gone in\n over the tantalisingly visible bit
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of the L-shaped earthworks\n that everyone is calling a moat.
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In this first trench\nit's always so important.
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I reckon you learn more\nfrom that first trench than you do
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all the other ones you put through,
84
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it gives you that first impression\nof the site.
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We suspect this earthwork\n may only be one corner
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of a much larger feature
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with some potentially stunning\n archaeology in the middle.
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And until John and his team\n finish their survey of this field
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we can only guess what that might be
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Stewart, do me a favour, tell me\n our moat isn't a cattle enclosure!
91
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(LAUGHS) The problem with any ditch\n that turns a corner with a bank,
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historically, people think of moats
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and moats they associate\n with medieval manors and so on,
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but that could be the corner\n of any type of enclosure.
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Like it could be\n a corner of a Roman fort or fortlet,
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a medieval moat,\n it could be a cattle enclosure.
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But we've got to remember just\n beyond that set of trees up there,
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there's a fine manor house, so\n we've got to take those trees away
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and perhaps see in this field\n that we're part of the landscape
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that goes\n with that manor house over there.
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To work out what's going on\n in the field,
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we need to find out\n as much as we can about the house.
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And the most obvious thing\n about our Llancaiach Fawr Manor
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is that it's a house\n of wealth and power.
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Which is probably\n not that surprising,
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considering it belonged\n to a powerful Welsh dynasty\n called the Pritchards.
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As far as we know,\n the history of South Wales goes,
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Pritchard was quite important\n during the Civil War.
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He was Governor of Cardiff Castle\n and then of Cardiff itself.
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And he comes from quite\n an important family.
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They're thought to be part\n of the royal line from Glamorgan
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and that's the genealogy\n they want to hold to.
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Going back to Ifor Bach,\n who was sort of a King of Glamorgan,\n some centuries beforehand.
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I know it's early days yet,\n but what do you think
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might be the relationship\n between this house and that field?
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If we've got what looks\n to be a moated enclosure
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that's heading out across the field,\n it's always made me wonder
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whether there's the possibility\n that there's an earlier building.
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We just need to try and see\n if we can find it.
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So could our potential moat\n enclose the ancestral home
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of the Pritchard family?
122
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Well, archaeological digs\n have shown time and time again
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that posh houses are built\n on top of or next to\n slightly less posh houses,
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belonging to an earlier generation\n of the family.
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And it seems unlikely\n that a house as grand
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as the current Llancaiach Fawr was\n the first to be built on this site.
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It's as though, you might\nhave had a big post in there.
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And Ben and Phil have now hit\n the first evidence
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of the mysterious earthworks\n that promised so much.
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That bank out there\nis one row of stones.
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This could be\nthe post hole in the middle.
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And then we go that way
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and we have another row of stones\nwhich is the other bank.
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Who knows, geophysics might be able\nto track it all the way across?
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Picking up the rest\n of this earthwork feature,
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and what's inside it,\n in this lovely flat field,
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should be a walk\n in the park for geophys.\n What could possibly go wrong?
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It's lunchtime day one,\n we've put in our first trench.
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It was over where this moat-like\n feature is supposed to be,
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and sure enough it's there.
141
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But the problem\n with this moat on the maps
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is that it looks vaguely L-shaped,\n nothing more.
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But now John has done the geophys,\n is everything clear?
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As clear as mud.
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What do you mean?
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Well, I've got\nan old stream bed for you,
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ridge and furrow ploughing,\na few lines,
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nothing that looks like a moat ditch
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and I can't see any evidence\nfor an enclosure.
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In other words, the field\n could be completely empty,
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which is not good news with\n two and a half days still to go.
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where we're looking for a moat\n which rather than going round
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the medieval house over there seems\n to be going off in this direction,
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which is a bit of a puzzle.
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But in order to solve it, John's\n been out with his geophys team,
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and frankly, Ben, I think we now\n know even less about this site
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than when we did when got here,\n look at that.
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Like someone sneezed on it!
159
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Yeah, that's not quite\nthe idea of geophysics, is it?
160
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'Basically this geophysical phlegm\n has found no hint of the moat
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'or any suggestion for\n the earlier medieval house
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'we'd hoped to find in this field.
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'And as for the moat, well,
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'Ben and Phil have worked out\n what the surveyors actually saw.'
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If we look here,
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this mound of stones,\nboulders and pebbles here,
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that's more or less conforming\nwith where the moat should be.
168
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But I have to say there's nothing\nin this trench that looks
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terribly moat-like and it ought\nto be here. There's no moat.
170
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'Oh, dear, so the moat, the reason\n we came here, doesn't exist.
171
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'But all due credit to John.
172
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'The geophys has thrown up\n something unexpected
173
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'that's got Ben\n and the team intrigued.'
174
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There's some sort of linear feature,\na ditch, something like that,
175
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running up here, turning a corner\nand coming down here.
176
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This is enclosing a very large area.
177
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That ties in with something that\nPhil's got at the end of the trench.
178
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We think we've got a feature\nrunning in that direction.
179
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But until we get\na section across that ditch
180
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we can't tell what date it is.
181
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It could be much earlier than\nthe medieval period.
182
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We've got to dig it basically\nand have a look.
183
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And what's intriguing about\n this newly discovered enclosure,
184
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is that it, and what's inside it,\n appear to be under,
185
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in other words earlier, than the\n medieval ridge and furrow ploughing.
186
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Well, let's have a go,\ncarry on, and we'll see what we get.
187
00:11:00,730 --> 00:11:04,090
So, as well as investigating\n it in trench one,
188
00:11:04,090 --> 00:11:09,330
we're opening a second trench\n further along its northern boundary.
189
00:11:09,330 --> 00:11:11,010
I think we've got an edge there.
190
00:11:11,010 --> 00:11:14,410
This is quite compacted,\n I think that's our edge.
191
00:11:14,410 --> 00:11:18,690
We've been working on the theory\n that our main field may have
192
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been the site of a posh house
193
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that's earlier than\n the next door grand Manor House.
194
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Austere looking, isn't it?
195
00:11:25,770 --> 00:11:27,250
It is rather grim and grand.
196
00:11:27,250 --> 00:11:32,130
But to work out if that's the case,\n we need to get as many dates
197
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from this site as possible.
198
00:11:33,650 --> 00:11:37,690
including the correct date for\n when the Manor House was built.
199
00:11:37,690 --> 00:11:41,730
So it's cutting through this\n original beam here with a partition
200
00:11:41,730 --> 00:11:44,770
and it looks like this\n whole corridor had been added
201
00:11:44,770 --> 00:11:46,690
early 17th century.
202
00:11:50,530 --> 00:11:55,970
If we look at this collar, it's\nnot in a great condition, is it?
203
00:11:55,970 --> 00:11:59,490
What about the purlins,\n they look original, with peg holes
204
00:11:59,490 --> 00:12:00,730
for the rafters.
205
00:12:00,730 --> 00:12:03,690
So we've brought\n in a dendrochronologist
206
00:12:03,690 --> 00:12:07,490
because, oddly enough, the best\n dating evidence for a house is often
207
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found in the roof timbers.
208
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It's either significantly later than\nanticipated or significantly earlier.
209
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We'll pick that up with the dendro.
210
00:12:18,930 --> 00:12:22,610
And that would potentially allow us\nto fit it into the family history.
211
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Hopefully we'll get\nresults to you by day three.
212
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Brilliant.
213
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The dendro dates and digging\n will have to be our main sources
214
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for the early story of\n Llancaiach, because there's almost
215
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no written history for the Pritchard\n family prior to the 16th century.
216
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That was all passed down\n through word of mouth.
217
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But we do at least have\n an impressive family tree.
218
00:12:54,730 --> 00:12:58,730
They claim that they went back\na very long way indeed.
219
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From up here you will see\nthey trace their descent back
220
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to a distinguished hero\nin the 12th century,
221
00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:11,410
a man called Ifor ap Meurig, better\nknown as Ifor Bach, Ifor, the small.
222
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We know the Pritchard family\n lived somewhere in this area
223
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from at least the 1200s.
224
00:13:18,090 --> 00:13:23,770
But the first recorded mentions\n of a house at Llancaiach
225
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don't appear until the mid 1500s.
226
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(READS ORIGINAL TEXT)
227
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"We saw mist with no healthy heart
228
00:13:38,450 --> 00:13:42,730
"and rain as a shroud\nover Llancaiach."
229
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Do we know where they're living\n before our house is built?
230
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Unfortunately we don't\nand it'll be very exciting indeed
231
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if the archaeology can show that\nthere was a major manorial centre
232
00:13:56,090 --> 00:14:01,010
of the Middle Ages here,\nprior to the house that we know of.
233
00:14:04,330 --> 00:14:07,450
We don't seem to have\n any evidence for a medieval manor
234
00:14:07,450 --> 00:14:11,010
in the big field.\n But we're not giving up.
235
00:14:11,010 --> 00:14:12,130
Oh, yes.
236
00:14:12,130 --> 00:14:13,170
Structure there.
237
00:14:13,170 --> 00:14:16,850
Because Stewart has a theory.
238
00:14:16,850 --> 00:14:19,890
If you come a bit further,
239
00:14:19,890 --> 00:14:23,650
there's the other side of it\n against that tree there, look.
240
00:14:23,650 --> 00:14:25,650
You'd easy get a cart over this.
241
00:14:25,650 --> 00:14:27,610
This is a seriously big bridge.
242
00:14:27,610 --> 00:14:29,770
'He thinks the landscape\n may hold a clue
243
00:14:29,770 --> 00:14:34,290
'to the location of an earlier house\n on the other side of the vast site.'
244
00:14:35,690 --> 00:14:38,450
Guys, you could have chosen\n a slightly nicer place!
245
00:14:38,450 --> 00:14:41,490
What we're starting to do\n now is kind of understand
246
00:14:41,490 --> 00:14:42,970
the site as a whole.
247
00:14:42,970 --> 00:14:46,290
We started out in the field\n on the other side over there.
248
00:14:46,290 --> 00:14:50,490
We're now thinking 180 degrees\n different, the house is over there,
249
00:14:50,490 --> 00:14:55,250
we're completely on the other side\n and looking through the maps,
250
00:14:55,250 --> 00:14:59,370
through time, what we see\n is that the main road that probably
251
00:14:59,370 --> 00:15:03,570
this house is associated with,\n actually we're standing on it now.
252
00:15:03,570 --> 00:15:06,450
The house is facing south.
253
00:15:06,450 --> 00:15:09,970
So there must be some entrance in\n this corner rather than that one.
254
00:15:09,970 --> 00:15:13,690
Do you think this is\n the first house on this site?
255
00:15:13,690 --> 00:15:16,650
I don't think anything in the house
256
00:15:16,650 --> 00:15:18,970
shows anything on that site before.
257
00:15:18,970 --> 00:15:21,770
So is there unlikely\n to be another structure here?
258
00:15:21,770 --> 00:15:24,410
No, no, there could be\n one in the vicinity of it.
259
00:15:24,410 --> 00:15:26,250
Ha, ha, ha, maps.
260
00:15:26,250 --> 00:15:28,530
Why did you go "Ha, ha, ha, maps"?
261
00:15:28,530 --> 00:15:31,690
Well, here we have the tithe\n map for the area.
262
00:15:31,690 --> 00:15:34,450
You can see there's\n the house complex there,
263
00:15:34,450 --> 00:15:40,010
there is a field here\n with a number 1483 in it.
264
00:15:40,010 --> 00:15:47,330
On the apportionment that goes with\n that, 1483 has the name Hendra.
265
00:15:47,330 --> 00:15:50,010
Our Welsh speaking historian says
266
00:15:50,010 --> 00:15:54,530
it's a very important name often\n applied to "the Old Settlement"
267
00:15:54,530 --> 00:15:59,210
or "the Old Place" and anything with\n that name is likely to have been
268
00:15:59,210 --> 00:16:02,730
fossilised in the geography\n of the place by the Middle Ages.
269
00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:06,330
There might be something very old\n just in that field over there,
270
00:16:06,330 --> 00:16:08,290
that was here before that house.
271
00:16:09,530 --> 00:16:13,970
'So, thanks to his beloved\n maps, Stewart believes that
272
00:16:13,970 --> 00:16:18,530
'this area to the south of the house\n may contain an earlier settlement.'
273
00:16:20,050 --> 00:16:23,570
So geophys once again\n find themselves surveying
274
00:16:23,570 --> 00:16:27,210
another nice, big, open,\n flat piece of grass.
275
00:16:28,650 --> 00:16:32,370
Once again, it's the perfect\n site for a geophys survey.
276
00:16:32,370 --> 00:16:33,970
Any vibes?
277
00:16:33,970 --> 00:16:36,210
Um...
278
00:16:36,210 --> 00:16:40,010
So once again, what could\n possibly go wrong?!
279
00:16:42,250 --> 00:16:46,370
Is this a Stewart idea\n or is this actually bona fide?
280
00:16:46,370 --> 00:16:50,130
I wouldn't say\nanything against Stewart.
281
00:16:50,130 --> 00:16:52,210
Not when he's in the back of shot.
282
00:16:52,210 --> 00:16:55,250
Moment of truth... Hm.
283
00:16:55,250 --> 00:16:58,050
Oh, dear!
284
00:16:58,050 --> 00:17:02,250
Once again, John can see\n no evidence of any structures.
285
00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:04,770
That was well worth\nwaiting for, wasn't it?
286
00:17:04,770 --> 00:17:06,050
Yeah.
287
00:17:06,050 --> 00:17:08,290
Well, back to the drawing board.
288
00:17:08,290 --> 00:17:11,130
This was a Stewart plan, wasn't it?
289
00:17:11,130 --> 00:17:12,970
Yeah, pretty sure it was.
290
00:17:12,970 --> 00:17:18,130
So, if there is an earlier house\n here, then where on Earth is it?
291
00:17:18,130 --> 00:17:22,250
This morning, I thought this big\n field presented us with one of
292
00:17:22,250 --> 00:17:26,490
the easiest, most straightforward\n Time Teams we'd done in a long time.
293
00:17:26,490 --> 00:17:29,330
Nine hours later, I'm not so sure.
294
00:17:32,690 --> 00:17:35,770
Ben, can I remind you what\n this Royal Commission report
295
00:17:35,770 --> 00:17:38,170
written 35 years ago actually says?
296
00:17:38,170 --> 00:17:43,050
"This could be a medieval moated\n site. On balance, however,
297
00:17:43,050 --> 00:17:46,090
"a Roman origin is far more likely,
298
00:17:46,090 --> 00:17:50,290
"but excavation will be required\n to decide the matter."
299
00:17:50,290 --> 00:17:53,490
Well, we've done the excavation,\n it don't seem to be medieval,
300
00:17:53,490 --> 00:17:57,570
it don't seem to be moated and it\n doesn't seem to be Roman either.
301
00:17:57,570 --> 00:17:59,010
Correct.
302
00:17:59,010 --> 00:18:02,810
But does this mean that there isn't\n an earlier building on this site?
303
00:18:02,810 --> 00:18:07,090
No, I don't think it means\nthat at all, I think logically
304
00:18:07,090 --> 00:18:10,210
it's likely that an early building\nwould be somewhere round here.
305
00:18:10,210 --> 00:18:12,210
So what's the strategy for tomorrow?
306
00:18:12,210 --> 00:18:15,450
Well, as you can see,\nthere's beautiful lawns,
307
00:18:15,450 --> 00:18:18,050
we can't come busting in here\nwith a big machine,
308
00:18:18,050 --> 00:18:20,450
but we can get some\ntest pits in here.
309
00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:24,290
And hopefully we'll come across\nsome deposits, some layers,
310
00:18:24,290 --> 00:18:27,690
something that gives us a clue\nwhere this early house might be.
311
00:18:27,690 --> 00:18:29,370
Well, we may have lost our moat,
312
00:18:29,370 --> 00:18:32,410
but do we have\n an earlier building on this site?
313
00:18:32,410 --> 00:18:34,370
Well, the only way to find out
314
00:18:34,370 --> 00:18:37,610
is to put our shovels\n into this beautiful garden.
315
00:18:37,610 --> 00:18:38,170
I can't wait.
316
00:18:44,370 --> 00:18:47,810
here at Llancaiach Fawr Manor\nin South Wales,
317
00:18:47,810 --> 00:18:49,930
and we may not have found\na medieval house here
318
00:18:49,930 --> 00:18:54,250
in the so-called moat field,\nbut we definitely have archaeology.
319
00:18:56,090 --> 00:18:58,810
Oh, joy, two bits of charcoal.\n Oh, yeah, lovely.
320
00:18:58,810 --> 00:19:04,050
Because both trenches are picking up\n traces of a massive enclosure ditch
321
00:19:04,050 --> 00:19:06,490
discovered by geophys.
322
00:19:06,490 --> 00:19:09,370
I do wonder whether it could be\n seriously old, yes,
323
00:19:09,370 --> 00:19:12,170
prehistoric if you like.\n I wouldn't mind betting.
324
00:19:13,370 --> 00:19:17,010
And that will now be our major\n investigation here
325
00:19:17,010 --> 00:19:20,530
because we've established\n there isn't a medieval moat here,
326
00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:23,530
in spite of what it says\n on the maps.
327
00:19:23,530 --> 00:19:26,250
What the Royal Commission saw\n were two banks
328
00:19:26,250 --> 00:19:29,490
and a slightly hollowed area\n in the middle and I think
329
00:19:29,490 --> 00:19:32,690
what has created one of the banks\n is this big stony feature
330
00:19:32,690 --> 00:19:34,050
running through here.
331
00:19:34,050 --> 00:19:36,650
And what do you reckon that is?
332
00:19:36,650 --> 00:19:40,890
At the moment it is a bank\n and that's all we can say about it.
333
00:19:40,890 --> 00:19:45,530
Do you think we'll be able\n to date these two features?
334
00:19:45,530 --> 00:19:49,010
Well, we got no sort of firm\n dating evidence but what these,
335
00:19:49,010 --> 00:19:52,810
these features do seem to respect\n is the medieval ridge and furrow,
336
00:19:52,810 --> 00:19:55,930
so I suspect that some of this\n is probably medieval.
337
00:19:55,930 --> 00:19:58,530
What I don't understand is that,\n just behind you,
338
00:19:58,530 --> 00:20:02,690
there's a bunch of stones going\n in a completely different direction.
339
00:20:02,690 --> 00:20:06,730
That is what is so important, Tony,\n because it is not going
340
00:20:06,730 --> 00:20:10,370
in the same direction at all,\n it's a totally different direction
341
00:20:10,370 --> 00:20:16,170
and we think this could be a much,\n much earlier, prehistoric enclosure\n on the site.
342
00:20:16,170 --> 00:20:17,450
So, Ben, everyone around here...
343
00:20:17,450 --> 00:20:18,530
Yeah.
344
00:20:18,530 --> 00:20:21,770
..believes that there was\n at one time a moat in this field.
345
00:20:21,770 --> 00:20:23,010
Yeah.
346
00:20:23,010 --> 00:20:26,850
We've had people leaning over\n that gate for the last 24 hours
347
00:20:26,850 --> 00:20:29,290
saying, "Oh, digging there -\n digging the moat, are you?"
348
00:20:29,290 --> 00:20:30,370
Yes. Why?
349
00:20:30,370 --> 00:20:32,970
The thing is,\nthe Royal Commission came
350
00:20:32,970 --> 00:20:36,250
and they saw some earthworks\nand I guess they did well to spot
351
00:20:36,250 --> 00:20:40,090
these features cos they describe them\nas slight, but given that they're
352
00:20:40,090 --> 00:20:43,850
close to this big fortified house,\nit was natural to think this could be
353
00:20:43,850 --> 00:20:47,370
a possibility, a moat and once you've\nput it on a map, it must be true.
354
00:20:47,370 --> 00:20:50,890
Do you now think that this field\n isn't going to be able to tell us
355
00:20:50,890 --> 00:20:53,370
why this house was here\n in the first place?
356
00:20:53,370 --> 00:20:56,730
We've clearly got interesting\nthings going on in this field -
357
00:20:56,730 --> 00:20:59,170
these rubble banks,\nwe've got this early feature
358
00:20:59,170 --> 00:21:02,090
that Phil's been dealing with.\nThere's definitely a story
359
00:21:02,090 --> 00:21:06,090
to be told here but I'm not sure\nit's going to get us to where
360
00:21:06,090 --> 00:21:07,450
the early house is.
361
00:21:07,450 --> 00:21:11,330
There is actually a chance\n that this big feature
362
00:21:11,330 --> 00:21:13,370
was a cattle enclosure,
363
00:21:13,370 --> 00:21:15,450
a horse paddock or something else,
364
00:21:15,450 --> 00:21:18,330
but because these banks\n and potential post holes are
365
00:21:18,330 --> 00:21:22,850
so criss-crossed by later\n ploughing, it'll have to remain\n an enigma.
366
00:21:24,650 --> 00:21:27,210
Diane, I've got some bad news\n for you.
367
00:21:27,210 --> 00:21:29,970
OK, break it to me gently, then.
368
00:21:29,970 --> 00:21:33,650
It also means I need\n to have a chat with Diane.
369
00:21:33,650 --> 00:21:38,170
There is nothing that ties in with\n this house at all in this field.
370
00:21:38,170 --> 00:21:40,730
Right. OK, so where do we go\nfrom here, then?
371
00:21:40,730 --> 00:21:43,170
I don't know.\n How do you feel about that?
372
00:21:43,170 --> 00:21:44,610
It's difficult
373
00:21:44,610 --> 00:21:47,290
because it creates more questions\nthan it answers.
374
00:21:47,290 --> 00:21:51,890
You know, I can't imagine that this\nfield, you know,
375
00:21:51,890 --> 00:21:54,290
they just suddenly put\na house here in the 1530s.
376
00:21:54,290 --> 00:21:57,010
There's got to be something\nthat went before it.
377
00:21:57,010 --> 00:21:59,650
It's such a perfect location,\nnear the Roman road,
378
00:21:59,650 --> 00:22:02,650
near the river, near the ford,\nyou can't imagine that people
379
00:22:02,650 --> 00:22:05,810
haven't used it for living on\nsince time began almost.
380
00:22:05,810 --> 00:22:08,610
If we want to find evidence\n of an earlier house
381
00:22:08,610 --> 00:22:10,570
or the first version\n of that house,
382
00:22:10,570 --> 00:22:11,810
we've got to move\n in that direction.
383
00:22:11,810 --> 00:22:13,210
That's fine.
384
00:22:13,210 --> 00:22:16,570
Moving in that direction means\n moving into your lovely garden,
385
00:22:16,570 --> 00:22:20,010
moving into your lovely garden means\n ripping it up, at least bits of it.
386
00:22:20,010 --> 00:22:24,650
That's fine. We'll just dig holes\nin the lawn and see what happens.
387
00:22:26,050 --> 00:22:28,730
So a lot of our effort is now\n shifting to the area
388
00:22:28,730 --> 00:22:31,610
immediately around the standing\n Tudor manor house,
389
00:22:31,610 --> 00:22:34,850
as we try to find any previous\n buildings that may have stood
390
00:22:34,850 --> 00:22:36,570
on this site.
391
00:22:38,450 --> 00:22:41,930
The test pits are so close to\n the house, because geophys have
392
00:22:41,930 --> 00:22:45,570
already eliminated an area further\n to the south, that Stewart
393
00:22:45,570 --> 00:22:49,290
thought may contain a hendra,\n an early Welsh settlement.
394
00:22:49,290 --> 00:22:54,490
But undeterred, Stewart has another\n target, as he believes
395
00:22:54,490 --> 00:22:57,970
there should be some sort of\n structure on the original road
396
00:22:57,970 --> 00:23:00,170
into the site.
397
00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:03,890
We need to get across to as close\nas that wall as possible,
398
00:23:03,890 --> 00:23:06,250
so looking at some sort of L-shape.
399
00:23:06,250 --> 00:23:09,010
What we're looking for here,\n if we can find our level
400
00:23:09,010 --> 00:23:12,130
and we can chase it back,\n it'll be a funny-shaped trench.
401
00:23:12,130 --> 00:23:16,850
It's a funny-shaped area, we've\ngot to have a funny-shaped trench\nas well!
402
00:23:16,850 --> 00:23:20,130
We're putting in a couple\n of trenches here,
403
00:23:20,130 --> 00:23:23,850
because we'd expect an earlier\n manor to have a defensive wall
404
00:23:23,850 --> 00:23:29,610
and a gatehouse, because during\n medieval times, this was\n the wild Welsh west.
405
00:23:29,610 --> 00:23:31,650
Constant feuds and lawlessness
406
00:23:31,650 --> 00:23:34,250
meant that even the most\n powerful families
407
00:23:34,250 --> 00:23:36,010
needed to defend themselves.
408
00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:40,490
It's funny that on that door,\nthere are no defences at all...
409
00:23:40,490 --> 00:23:41,570
No.
410
00:23:41,570 --> 00:23:45,050
..even though that's\nthe first door you come to.
411
00:23:45,050 --> 00:23:47,570
But the second door,\n pull that across.
412
00:23:49,410 --> 00:23:54,090
Certainly, the current manor house\n is a monument to the art\n of survival.
413
00:23:57,130 --> 00:23:58,330
All right.
414
00:23:58,330 --> 00:24:01,930
And... same thing.
415
00:24:01,930 --> 00:24:05,130
Another draw bar,\nbut we're on the first floor.
416
00:24:05,130 --> 00:24:10,130
Now that doorway there goes through\n to the Lord's private quarters
417
00:24:10,130 --> 00:24:12,210
and that's defended in the same way.
418
00:24:12,210 --> 00:24:16,050
The Pritchards could barricade\nthemselves in there\nif all else failed.
419
00:24:16,050 --> 00:24:20,530
If all else really fails they can\n go down this escape stair,\n to another part of the house.
420
00:24:20,530 --> 00:24:24,370
You'll see that this is a house\n of power and paranoia.
421
00:24:28,090 --> 00:24:30,770
There's no such paranoia\n over in the moat field,
422
00:24:30,770 --> 00:24:35,010
more a profound sense of relief\n and jubilation
423
00:24:35,010 --> 00:24:38,290
because we've just made\n a remarkably rare discovery.
424
00:24:38,290 --> 00:24:42,250
Isn't that wonderful?\nThat looks very prehistoric
425
00:24:42,250 --> 00:24:46,770
and it looks like it's tending more\ntowards the Bronze Age than...
426
00:24:46,770 --> 00:24:47,570
Well, that's...
427
00:24:47,570 --> 00:24:50,010
..Iron Age, but let's have a local.
428
00:24:50,010 --> 00:24:53,010
I was going to say!\n Let's have a local knowledge.
429
00:24:53,010 --> 00:24:56,530
It's got to be Bronze Age, hasn't it,\nwe feel Bronze Age, yeah...
430
00:24:56,530 --> 00:24:57,170
That is stone.
431
00:24:57,170 --> 00:24:59,890
That is really something.\nI've never dug a piece
432
00:24:59,890 --> 00:25:03,130
of Bronze Age pot up in my life\nand I've been digging over 50 years.
433
00:25:03,130 --> 00:25:05,170
You've never, ever dug a piece of...
434
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:08,690
I've seen pieces in museums,\nbut no, no, no never seen anything.
435
00:25:10,570 --> 00:25:14,450
This pot suggests that people may\n have been living here during
436
00:25:14,450 --> 00:25:19,170
the Bronze Age, and when you\n consider the whole population\n of the UK 4,000 years ago
437
00:25:19,170 --> 00:25:23,650
was only about 200,000, it's\n like finding a needle in a haystack.
438
00:25:25,290 --> 00:25:29,610
But this should be an ideal\n place for a little Bronze Age\n settlement,
439
00:25:29,610 --> 00:25:31,730
down by the stream,\n lovely place.
440
00:25:31,730 --> 00:25:32,290
Yeah.
441
00:25:32,290 --> 00:25:35,890
I think we're oh, just superb,\n let's find some more.
442
00:25:35,890 --> 00:25:37,170
Yeah, yeah.
443
00:25:37,170 --> 00:25:39,570
This is the field\n that refuses to die.
444
00:25:39,570 --> 00:25:45,450
Yesterday evening we discovered\n that we hadn't actually got\n a medieval moat here.
445
00:25:45,450 --> 00:25:48,650
Then this morning we thought\n we might have something prehistoric,
446
00:25:48,650 --> 00:25:52,370
and this afternoon we've discovered\n that yes, we have got prehistoric
447
00:25:52,370 --> 00:25:55,890
and it's actually Bronze Age,\n which is apparently quite rare.
448
00:25:55,890 --> 00:26:00,010
But all that brings into question\n our understanding of John's geophys.
449
00:26:00,010 --> 00:26:02,690
A bit Monty Python, two chairs\n in the middle of a field?
450
00:26:02,690 --> 00:26:04,250
Yeah, we need the desk.
451
00:26:04,250 --> 00:26:07,650
Presumably looking for a medieval\n moat is rather different
452
00:26:07,650 --> 00:26:11,210
from trying to find something\n prehistoric in the geophys.
453
00:26:11,210 --> 00:26:13,530
Yeah, the problem we've got is,
454
00:26:13,530 --> 00:26:16,170
all this medieval ridge\n and furrow ploughing,
455
00:26:16,170 --> 00:26:19,250
it's masking what's below,\n and the ploughing has not only
456
00:26:19,250 --> 00:26:21,170
eaten into the archaeology,
457
00:26:21,170 --> 00:26:23,970
it's certainly eaten into\n the magnetic responses.
458
00:26:23,970 --> 00:26:29,570
So trying to understand\n the geophysical anomalies\n it is even more difficult.
459
00:26:29,570 --> 00:26:32,450
OK, so if you forget about there\n being anything medieval here
460
00:26:32,450 --> 00:26:35,530
and you forget all this ploughing,\n is there any evidence
461
00:26:35,530 --> 00:26:39,090
in your geophys of something\n that might be prehistoric?
462
00:26:39,090 --> 00:26:41,770
Well, the stream like that\n may be of interest now,
463
00:26:41,770 --> 00:26:43,770
then some of the ditches.
464
00:26:43,770 --> 00:26:47,770
Clearly these come into play.\n We've now extended the survey down
465
00:26:47,770 --> 00:26:50,210
and look at some of these\n curving responses.
466
00:26:50,210 --> 00:26:53,130
It could be we've got a prehistoric\n landscape here.
467
00:26:53,130 --> 00:26:55,010
So day one here, day two over there
468
00:26:55,010 --> 00:26:58,130
and now it looks like we're\n going to come back here again.
469
00:26:58,130 --> 00:27:00,290
That's the way it goes.
470
00:27:00,290 --> 00:27:03,690
That sounds very stony\n down there, Raksha.
471
00:27:04,610 --> 00:27:10,370
Back over at the house, our quest\n for an earlier medieval manor\n is falling apart.
472
00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:12,770
I've just found a piece\n of plastic...
473
00:27:12,770 --> 00:27:14,530
Oh, no!
474
00:27:14,530 --> 00:27:15,810
..in the middle of it.
475
00:27:15,810 --> 00:27:17,050
No!
476
00:27:17,050 --> 00:27:22,090
If there had once been a building\n in this area, we'd have expected\n to find some evidence of it
477
00:27:22,090 --> 00:27:25,770
but there's not even a sniff\n of anything medieval.
478
00:27:25,770 --> 00:27:29,050
I think we've actually got\nto call it a day on this one.
479
00:27:29,050 --> 00:27:32,170
I don't think we're going to get\nto where we want to get.
480
00:27:32,170 --> 00:27:35,610
And as for Stewart's latest\n target...
481
00:27:35,610 --> 00:27:37,690
Well, er,\n over here we've got natural.
482
00:27:37,690 --> 00:27:38,130
Yeah.
483
00:27:38,130 --> 00:27:41,570
Over here we've got natural\n and over here we've got natural.
484
00:27:41,570 --> 00:27:45,370
We have a sewage pipe there\n and a beautiful 19th century\n cobbled surface.
485
00:27:45,370 --> 00:27:46,610
Have you got underneath?
486
00:27:46,610 --> 00:27:48,970
Well, we have and we've got natural.
487
00:27:50,210 --> 00:27:51,890
No gatehouse at all.
488
00:27:51,890 --> 00:27:54,290
No gatehouse, no road,\n no boundary ditch,
489
00:27:54,290 --> 00:27:56,370
none of what Stewart thought\n was here.
490
00:27:56,370 --> 00:27:58,570
It was worth a try.
491
00:27:58,570 --> 00:28:00,610
Not really!
492
00:28:00,610 --> 00:28:05,130
'Oh, dear! So not only no moat\n but nothing medieval outside
493
00:28:05,130 --> 00:28:08,890
'the Tudor house either\n and certainly no major defences.'
494
00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:14,690
If there isn't anything here after\n all, we're really up the creek,\n aren't we?
495
00:28:14,690 --> 00:28:16,170
I don't think we are.
496
00:28:16,170 --> 00:28:19,370
We've come here to test a\npossibility - why is this house\nhere?
497
00:28:19,370 --> 00:28:23,130
Is there anything earlier here?\nAnd there's a range of possibilities.
498
00:28:23,130 --> 00:28:26,050
It could be that there was\nan earlier ancestral home
499
00:28:26,050 --> 00:28:29,210
and they simply built this grand\nnew house in the same place.
500
00:28:29,210 --> 00:28:32,570
It could be they arrived\non a green field site - "We're here,
501
00:28:32,570 --> 00:28:36,130
"we're imposing ourselves on this\narea, we'll build a big house here."
502
00:28:36,130 --> 00:28:38,930
The other thing is that\nalthough they're thinking a bit
503
00:28:38,930 --> 00:28:43,250
about defence, it's also\nthe beginning of the period\nwhere they're thinking
504
00:28:43,250 --> 00:28:46,930
about the picturesque qualities of\nthe landscape, so again is it simply
505
00:28:46,930 --> 00:28:50,610
that it's just a wonderful area\nto be in and they're just\nhedging their bets
506
00:28:50,610 --> 00:28:53,770
with a bit of defence because\nover there is the badlands, still?
507
00:28:56,930 --> 00:29:00,530
They're brave words but I don't know\n how much faith I have in them.
508
00:29:00,530 --> 00:29:02,090
After all, what do we have?
509
00:29:03,770 --> 00:29:06,570
Well, as far as I'm concerned,\n not a lot,
510
00:29:06,570 --> 00:29:11,130
apart from geophys being\n on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
511
00:29:11,130 --> 00:29:14,490
But just as I'm beginning to think\n this is one of the most
512
00:29:14,490 --> 00:29:17,570
frustrating sites we've\n encountered in a long time,
513
00:29:17,570 --> 00:29:21,170
we make our first proper\n medieval find.
514
00:29:21,170 --> 00:29:24,490
Gentleman, I think that might\n interest you somewhat.
515
00:29:24,490 --> 00:29:25,330
That's a bit nice, innit?
516
00:29:25,330 --> 00:29:26,730
Oh, oh!
517
00:29:26,730 --> 00:29:29,810
This little coin\n is a major discovery
518
00:29:29,810 --> 00:29:35,130
because we suspect it dates\n to before the time of the current\n manor house.
519
00:29:35,130 --> 00:29:37,330
That's a little penny, isn't it?\nLong cross...
520
00:29:37,330 --> 00:29:38,650
Long cross penny.
521
00:29:38,650 --> 00:29:40,690
Got the cross on one side,\n hasn't it?
522
00:29:40,690 --> 00:29:43,330
I'm not entirely sure cos\n if you have a closer look,
523
00:29:43,330 --> 00:29:44,530
there appears to be a cross\n on both sides.
524
00:29:44,530 --> 00:29:45,490
Oh!
525
00:29:45,490 --> 00:29:47,130
Let me put my glasses on.
526
00:29:47,130 --> 00:29:49,970
And would you believe it,\n it's not from the garden,
527
00:29:49,970 --> 00:29:55,130
it's from the moat field that\n we dismissed as having nothing\n medieval in it.
528
00:29:55,130 --> 00:29:59,290
What we can say is this is earlier\nthan the manor house, isn't it?
529
00:29:59,290 --> 00:30:02,610
Now it might just be that someone\n dropped out of a pocket or purse
530
00:30:02,610 --> 00:30:06,010
walking across the field,\n something like that but\n that proves
531
00:30:06,010 --> 00:30:10,810
that there were people in this field\n earlier than the manor house.
532
00:30:14,130 --> 00:30:17,010
It's now the end of\n a perplexing day two...
533
00:30:17,010 --> 00:30:20,090
well, it's perplexed most of us\n although there is one man
534
00:30:20,090 --> 00:30:23,450
who seems to be content with\n the results of his labours.
535
00:30:24,930 --> 00:30:28,090
I really am over the moon,\n I mean not only have
536
00:30:28,090 --> 00:30:32,850
we got our piece of Bronze Age pot,\n but more importantly, we've now not
537
00:30:32,850 --> 00:30:38,290
got one Bronze Age ditch but three\n ditches and the beauty of that
538
00:30:38,290 --> 00:30:42,610
is in that it implies that people\n have been living here for such
539
00:30:42,610 --> 00:30:46,250
a more extended length of time\n so we've got prehistoric
540
00:30:46,250 --> 00:30:49,850
occupation here for probably\n hundreds, if not thousands\n of years.
541
00:30:49,850 --> 00:30:54,290
Not only that, you've got\n some rather good finds.
542
00:30:54,290 --> 00:30:59,850
Very, very surprising finds, we\n have not one but two medieval coins.
543
00:30:59,850 --> 00:31:01,810
What sort of date?
544
00:31:01,810 --> 00:31:03,490
14th century.
545
00:31:03,490 --> 00:31:06,730
If they're 14th century,\n am I right in saying\n it is medieval
546
00:31:06,730 --> 00:31:07,650
but it's earlier than our house?
547
00:31:07,650 --> 00:31:08,970
Absolutely, yeah.
548
00:31:08,970 --> 00:31:13,410
We've finally extended activity back\nearlier than the present house.
549
00:31:13,410 --> 00:31:16,090
So there's all to play for.
550
00:31:16,090 --> 00:31:19,850
Not only have got something\n prehistoric and fairly epic
551
00:31:19,850 --> 00:31:23,170
but it looks as though something\n quite exciting was going on here
552
00:31:23,170 --> 00:31:27,250
in the Middle Ages, before that\n house was built. What'll it be?
553
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,680
And it's not just the weather\n that's taken a turn for the worse.
554
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:40,440
Have you started?
555
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,680
Well, we'd like to start if you\n tell us where you'd like us to dig.
556
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,120
Well, you're there.
557
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,280
The mood's also darker\n amongst the diggers.
558
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,320
Yes, but is there a map?\n You know, we can't dig it all.
559
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,000
In spite of our best efforts,
560
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,120
we can't find any evidence of an\n earlier manor here at Llancaiach.
561
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,400
But we're not giving up yet,
562
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,440
even if it means we have to turn\n the whole garden upside down.
563
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,920
So why are we putting\n this trench in?
564
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,800
Well, this is the backside\nof the house really
565
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,960
and, er, well, you see that up there,\nthe privy, garderobe?
566
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:21,640
That tiny little window there?
567
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:26,080
Yeah. This is the area where\nall the sort of rubbish and muck
568
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:27,560
would be deposited in.
569
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,040
And presumably we could\n possibly find evidence here
570
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,560
of an earlier phase of the building,\n if an earlier phase exists.
571
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:35,640
Absolutely, yes.
572
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,600
The thing is, hopefully we'll have\nsome rubbish pits or a midden heap,
573
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,640
something with some early pottery in,
574
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,000
because it's been remarkable\nhow clean this site is.
575
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,920
We've got very little pottery -\nit must be going somewhere
576
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:51,120
and pushing it towards the back\nseems a good candidate.
577
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:02,040
A lot's riding on this trench\n to the north of the manor.
578
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,000
We found no trace of\n an earlier house in the test pits
579
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,680
and trenches to the south,\n and yet common archaeological sense
580
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,960
suggests there could be\n an earlier manor here.
581
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,040
We've got to go back\n the whole way now,
582
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,640
so hopefully something else\n comes up further along
583
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,480
otherwise we're going to be\n rather disappointing again.
584
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,240
And all I can say to people\n is "natural"! (CHUCKLES)
585
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:28,000
'The Pritchards, who owned\n Llancaiach Manor, lived in the area
586
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,720
'since the 1200s and yet\n this house was built much later,
587
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,480
'although no-one's ever\n come up with an exact date.'
588
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,680
I hope he's in after all.
589
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:40,960
'Until now.'
590
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,280
Nigel, um, you've got\n a date for us?
591
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,240
'I have, and that date is...
592
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,920
'AD 1548 to 1565.'
593
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:57,560
1548 to 1565, and you're\n pretty certain about that?
594
00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:58,960
'Yeah, absolutely, black and white.'
595
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,440
OK, thanks ever so much, mate. Bye.
596
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,280
You murmured the word "later".
597
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:08,720
Well, yes, I mean, sort of, all\n the things in the Commission volume
598
00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:11,200
suggesting around the 1530s,\n so 1548 -
599
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,720
a little bit later than we thought\n but, you know, got a date.
600
00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:17,120
What does that date\n tell you about the house?
601
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,600
It tells us that the house is\nmore old-fashioned than we thought.
602
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,640
Looking at the mid-16th Century,
603
00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,760
you don't expect something\nlike this at that date, normally.
604
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,760
So we're a bit in the backwoods\n at that point?
605
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:30,040
A little bit, yes!
606
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,200
And you've been\n looking after this house
607
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:34,480
and doing all this\n reconstruction for ages,
608
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,760
but never actually known\n how old the house was.
609
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,560
No, we just...\n All we knew was around the 1530s.
610
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,040
That's fantastic to know, that's\n the thing, cos we've never known.
611
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,000
'With this date of roughly 1550,\n we've at least answered
612
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,920
'one of Diane's questions\n about Llancaiach.
613
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:54,840
'It also makes the coins we're\n finding in the next-door field
614
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:59,280
'all the more intriguing, because\n they pre-date the standing house.'
615
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,160
It's either a thrupence\n or a sixpence, er,
616
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:05,800
most likely of Elizabeth I.
617
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,320
Could it be something a bit special?
618
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,360
It's already special, I think.
619
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:14,440
'As well as this fantastic find,\n we've also discovered coins
620
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,280
'that are over 100 years\n earlier than the current house.'
621
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,280
I can see a crown. I can see a crown\n because we've got the fleur, the...
622
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,040
I'm so excited\n I nearly knocked the light over!
623
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:29,480
You can see one of the fleur de lys\n is complete in the middle
624
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:34,640
and a half fleur de lys at the end -\n the angular end of a crown.
625
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,480
These marks -\n kind of around 1280, don't they?
626
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,200
But instead of jumping for joy\n that we found evidence of an\n earlier house,
627
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,720
the archaeologists have taken\n a more pragmatic view
628
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,760
as to why the coins are here.
629
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,040
This coin could just have been\n dropped as an accidental loss.
630
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,840
It isn't necessarily evidence\n for earlier activity on this site.
631
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,680
Three or four coins,\ndifferent dates, all from this area.
632
00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:02,360
You've detected all the other spoil\nand the other trenches\nbut they're concentrated here.
633
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:03,680
That's interesting.
634
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,320
Do you think that might be evidence\n of settlement, or trading, or what?
635
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:11,280
It's evidence of where people have\ncongregated with money in their\npockets.
636
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,680
That's routeways, meeting places,\nthat kind of thing.
637
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:16,960
'And it would seem that Llancaiach
638
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,520
'was at a major intersection\n of routeways.'
639
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:25,200
We've got the house here\n and it's quite clear looking at it
640
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,120
that it's in a landscape\n dominated by deep valleys.
641
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,080
And the great advantage\nof the stream coming down there
642
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:33,920
is that it defines for you.
643
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,120
You've got a shallow path\nrunning through here that actually
644
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:41,000
allows you to run from east to west,\num, across the valleys.
645
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,880
It's something quite unique\nand important for this area.
646
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,440
This is one of the few places\n that routes from deep in the valleys
647
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,080
would meet with east-west traffic.
648
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:55,120
So the coins aren't evidence\n of a grand early house,
649
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,960
but more likely of a dodgy\n crossroads where, for centuries,
650
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,680
travellers tripped up\n and lost their loose change.
651
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,720
Is that another patch of charcoal\n in the bottom there, Phil?
652
00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:13,680
Yeah, it is, Tracey.
653
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,600
And yet this field has\n produced our best discovery so far -
654
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,280
a network of Bronze Age ditches,
655
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,600
some 3,500 years\n older than the house.
656
00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:30,120
But even with this information,
657
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,000
we still can't make head or tail\n of the geophys.
658
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:38,120
We've done more survey and we're\n getting the same sort of results.
659
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,120
I mean, we've still got\n odd lengths of ditches,
660
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:45,120
we've got odd pits, and they're\n scattered right across the field
661
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,480
but there's no clear patterns\n in the results.
662
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,280
There's no sort of discrete,\nnice juicy target to go for.
663
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:55,640
If I could extend that trench\nall the way down the field...
664
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,360
Hang on, how wide is that trench?
665
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:58,600
Er, very wide.
666
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,080
And you'd like to extend it\n the length of this field.
667
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:01,640
Yeah, why not?
668
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:03,000
Slightly impractical!
669
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,280
Just maybe, just slightly. I don't\nthink we can just go poking around,
670
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,160
hoping that we're going to hit\nsomething in here.
671
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:11,960
Keep looking - you might find\n something small and sexy.
672
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,440
In the meantime,\n I'm going on to another scene!
673
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,480
Right so, Phil, we've got\n all sorts of features in here
674
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,680
so when I've got schoolchildren\n coming in to go round the site
675
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,160
and I want to tell them\n what we found in the field,
676
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,120
what will I be able to tell them
677
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:32,040
about what was going on here\n in the prehistoric period?
678
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,760
Well, what you can say\nwith absolute certainty is that
679
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,240
people have been here\nfor at least 4,000 years.
680
00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:43,200
And we do have a lot of ditches.
681
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:47,760
Let's be clear about this - where\nMatt is, he's standing in one.
682
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,400
Next door is another one,\nand next door to that is another one.
683
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,840
Those ditches have been re-cut,\nthey've been re-dug,
684
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:59,400
they've been re-dug by hand.\nThat's a lot of effort.
685
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:03,000
What that does mean is that\ntheir boundaries have stayed static
686
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:04,080
for a very long time.
687
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:09,920
What is absolutely indisputable\nis that we've got one piece\nof early Bronze Age pot -
688
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:13,440
that's going to take us back\nto about 2000 BC.
689
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:17,840
So thanks to Phil and his diggers'\n dogged determination,
690
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,080
Diane has got a story\n to tell about this field.
691
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,720
Just not the one she was expecting.
692
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,760
But there is a chance that\n the kids who visit here
693
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:33,280
will be more interested in the story\n about the day Time Team took
694
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:37,360
a mechanical digger to Llancaiach's\n beautifully manicured lawn.
695
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,760
Because Ben, under the concerned\n watch of the manor's gardeners,
696
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:45,400
is opening another trench\n to the north of the house.
697
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,480
This trench is our absolutely last\n ditch attempt to find any evidence
698
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:56,240
of a house or actually anything\n medieval that pre-dates our house.
699
00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:57,240
Oh.
700
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,640
It's a cable but I don't think\nit's still connected to anything.
701
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:03,920
Let's hope not!
702
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,480
'Because our previous\n last ditch attempt to find
703
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:11,600
'something of archaeological note\n hasn't been completely successful.'
704
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:16,040
Just when we thought that we weren't\n going to get any archaeology at all,
705
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,840
away from the field over there,\n away from the house,
706
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,120
on the far side of\n the current boundary of that house,
707
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:27,920
where Faye and Raksha have been\n working on their own for ages,
708
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,240
they've found evidence not only\n of life, but of death too.
709
00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,320
Certainly evidence of death, yes.
710
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,800
We've got what looks like\n a dead horse.
711
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:36,800
A dead horse?
712
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,440
Can you date it?
713
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,200
We've got one bit of pottery from\n that trench, which is 17th Century.
714
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:47,680
So we can now say that some time,\n a horse died on this farm.
715
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:51,200
Thank you for your contribution\n to this story!
716
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,960
'I'll avoid any remarks\n about flogging a dead horse.
717
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:02,120
'But I can't help but wonder that,\n in spite of Ben's heroic attempts
718
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:04,720
'to re-landscape\n the whole garden...'
719
00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:06,600
It's natural. This looks natural.
720
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,680
'..we are now flogging\n a dead what-d'you-call-it.'
721
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:17,560
I just cannot understand the lack\nof pottery, rubbish, detritus.
722
00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:21,240
These must have been\nthe cleanest people in Wales.
723
00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:23,480
'The evidence speaks for itself.'
724
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:33,320
So here we go, the time line.
725
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,400
This is the Bronze Age,\n the little piece of pot there.
726
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,480
Nothing in the Iron Age,\n nothing in the Roman,
727
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,480
nothing in the early Christian,\n or the Viking or the Norman.
728
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,720
Here we are in the 15th Century -\n we've got two coins.
729
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:50,080
16th Century, a thimble.
730
00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,040
17th Century, a ropey piece of tile,
731
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,800
19th Century,\n a penny and a bit of pot.
732
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,960
Helen, what's happened?
733
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,240
Well, from the archaeological\n evidence it seems like we have
734
00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:06,680
a bit of activity here in the Bronze\n Age and then a great lot of nothing
735
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:09,880
until, in the 16th Century,\n people start dropping things.
736
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:12,560
Maybe they built a house\n and then they went away again.
737
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,880
I have to say in defence\n of all the people who were living
738
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,920
in all these vast aeons of time,
739
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,320
they might have made stuff\n that hasn't survived in the ground.
740
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:24,760
They might have done\n but that's absence of evidence.
741
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:29,280
It's dangerous to use that to argue\n that that is evidence of absence.
742
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:29,920
Yeah, yeah.
743
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:31,680
But it's getting there.
744
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,840
We've nearly got enough to say\n nothing was happening.
745
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:36,640
Is that too depressing?
746
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:37,640
No!
747
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,280
'Thank you, Helen!
748
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,840
'So we nearly have enough\n to say nothing was happening
749
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:46,480
'between the digging\n of these Bronze Age ditches
750
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,600
'and the building\n of the current manor.
751
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:53,320
'And that's a resolution of sorts,\n I suppose.'
752
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,160
It really doesn't help having\nthat native feature.
753
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,280
This ridge of the furrow?
754
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,120
It must have chopped the top of it.
755
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:04,560
But surprisingly, there is\n a faction of the team that thinks
756
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,320
the two could still be linked.
757
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,240
And it's all down to\n the medieval Welsh love of heritage
758
00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:12,120
and making a link\n with your ancestors.
759
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:16,680
We now know the ditches over there\n might be as old as Bronze Age.
760
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,240
They're certainly old.
761
00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:22,040
Do you think the Pritchards would've\n been aware of that when they built\n their house?
762
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,400
Phil and Ben seem quite confident\nthat whatever there was out there
763
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,120
could have been\nvisible in the 16th Century,
764
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,400
when they got here, and this could,
765
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:35,360
I think, have been a real attraction\nfor a gentry family.
766
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,600
So if it's an ancient place,\n to build a house next door
767
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:40,840
would give them\n a kind of air of legitimacy -
768
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:42,720
that "we've always been here".\n Yes.
769
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:48,320
This is a period when the antiquarian\nmovement is becoming more popular,
770
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:52,160
much more widespread,\nas part of the cult
771
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:55,040
and the education of the gentry.
772
00:43:55,040 --> 00:44:00,440
There was certainly a cache -\nthere was a value to having
773
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,080
what now,\nin modern archaeological terms,
774
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:04,880
we call an ancient monument.
775
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,360
Having that very direct and immediate\nconnection with the past
776
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,640
would have meant\na great deal to them
777
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,560
and I think it's very exciting,\nthe possibilities here.
778
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,560
We're now confident that echoes\n of that prehistoric landscape
779
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,280
would have been visible\n in the 16th Century.
780
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:26,240
But our hunt for\n an earlier medieval manor
781
00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:29,440
has been a completely different\n kettle of fish.
782
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:31,360
Well...
783
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,840
Digging produced nothing\n to the east of the building,
784
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:38,880
while geophys and test pits\n showed nothing to the south.
785
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,760
The results weren't too hot\n either to the west.
786
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:44,560
And as for the north,\n well we did find an electrical cable
787
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:45,560
and a dead horse!
788
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:50,240
If I was feeling generous,\n I'd call it a mixed result.
789
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,880
OK, after three days' excavation,\n are we in a position to say
790
00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:58,480
whether or not there was a\n medieval manor anywhere on this site
791
00:44:58,480 --> 00:44:59,600
before this one?
792
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:01,080
Yes, we are in a position\nto say that.
793
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:02,280
And what's the answer?
794
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:03,440
No, there wasn't!
795
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:06,400
I'm certain.
796
00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:09,960
Not one scrap of medieval pottery\nfrom all these holes we've dug.
797
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,560
And if there was\na medieval house here,
798
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:16,120
we'd find pottery everywhere -\nI'm sure of it. It's just not there.
799
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:20,120
We've not seen any background\n manuring on fields you get
800
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,800
when privvies are cleared out and\n they chuck the stuff on the land.
801
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:25,480
Which begs the question,
802
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:28,320
why did they build\n this place on a green field site?
803
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,120
If you think about what\n originally brought us here,
804
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:33,840
it was that people saw\n an earthwork over there.
805
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:35,960
And if it was visible\n in the 1970s,
806
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,120
it should have\n been visible in the 1570s as well.
807
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:42,320
I think that is what drew them here\n and we know that there was
808
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,560
an interest in the past on the part\n of the Pritchards
809
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,680
and we know that there's\n an interesting field name of Hendra.
810
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,520
I think those all point\n to this being a special place.
811
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,240
That's interesting - you're saying\n they may have built this place here
812
00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:56,800
because in folklore\n it was an important site.
813
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:58,760
I think there's every chance\n of that.
814
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:05,040
'So we now know the Pritchards\n didn't come here until the 1550s
815
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:08,320
'when they built a beautiful,\n if somewhat old-fashioned, house
816
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:13,440
'on a major crossroads beside\n some ancient, mysterious earthworks.
817
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,520
'And it's tantalising to think\n they were trying to forge a link
818
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:22,600
'with the great Welsh hero\n Ifor Bach, the 12th Century icon
819
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:27,120
'from whom the Pritchards\n claimed to be directly descended.'
820
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:31,040
Diane, I was talking to a couple\n of local people who work here.
821
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,680
And they were over the moon\n that we'd managed to
822
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:37,200
take the story of this site\n right back to the prehistoric.
823
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:38,760
It's absolutely wonderful.
824
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,560
You always hope you'll find things\n that are fascinating.
825
00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:43,400
But to find out we've got something
826
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,000
that's a Bronze Age\n enclosure is wonderful.
827
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,840
And we've dated your house.
828
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,560
Yeah. You know, every little bit\n extra just makes more of the story,
829
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:53,560
means you can tell a better story.
830
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,560
But what strikes me as really ironic
831
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:57,680
is that the people\n who put that house up
832
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:01,880
thought they were harking back to\n ancestors of 400 years previously.
833
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:05,920
But in fact, they were harking back\n to ancestors 3,000 years previously.
834
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:07,880
Yeah, amazing isn't it, really?
835
00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:38,240
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