The Best Episodes of Time Team Season 5

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   8.0/10(31 votes)

   #1 - Richmond Palace - Richmond, Surrey

   S5:E11/4/1998

   Filmed between 25 and 27 July 1997. The team are camped on an immaculate suburban lawn next to the Thames. They are searching for the now vanished Richmond Palace, site of the death of Elizabeth I. But amazingly nobody is exactly sure of its whereabouts. The first task is to dig up the lawn under the supervision of landscape gardener Martin Whitaker. Immediately they find evidence of a substantial high status Tudor building. They are joined by palaces expert Simon Thurley and local historian John Cloake. Tudor expert Hazel Forsyth shows Carenza how to make a pomander. Plants from the garden are used by Maria Lis-Balchin to brew up some Elizabethan perfume. The property owner was The Baron van Dedem.

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2. 

   8.2/10(30 votes)

   #2 - Bronze-Age Trackway - Greylake, Somerset

   S5:E21/11/1998

   The team go to the Somerset levels in search of a 4,000-year-old wooden trackway. The quickest way to get across the marshes that used to exist here in the Bronze and Iron Ages was across wooden walkways. Now the team hope to find evidence of these footbridges.

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3. 

   7.7/10(32 votes)

   #3 - Viking Graves - Orkney, Scotland

   S5:E31/18/1998

   The team go in search of evidence of the invasion of the Vikings, and its influence on ancient Britain. The team travel to the Orcadian island of Sanday to try to find out whether four mysterious mounds there are evidence of a Viking settlement or even a Viking burial site.

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4. 

   8.3/10(34 votes)

   #4 - Roman Villa - Turkdean, Gloucestershire

   S5:E41/25/1998

   3 days of live excavation. The weekend ended with evidence of a Romano-British villa complex that is one of the largest ever found in Britain. This programme is an edited version of that weekend. They discover that the villa dates from the very first days of the Roman occupation. Amongst their new finds is an entire, untouched Roman water course.

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5. 

   7.2/10(23 votes)

   #5 - Copper-Age Settlement - Mallorca, Spain

   S5:E52/1/1998

   Time Team goes abroad to tackle one of its most challenging sites. They search for evidence of one of the most enigmatic cultures in the world on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The Beaker people flourished in Europe around 4,000 BC, but there is very little evidence of their civilisation, which is thought to have made the first use of metal.

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6. 

   8.0/10(29 votes)

   #6 - Aston Eyre Farmhouse - Aston Eyre, Shropshire

   S5:E62/8/1998

   Filmed between 27 and 29 June 1997, the team go to Shropshire and search for a complex of medieval buildings in Aston Eyre, where the only remaining building is a farmhouse that used to be a gatehouse. They are joined by archaeologist Mark Horton and archivist Paul Stamper. Tree rings expert Dan Miles tries to get some dates from beams in the gatehouse. Ian Pritchett demonstrates a traditional lime kiln. Finds: potential earlier structure found at end of day three, but time ran out before they could determine what it was.

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7. 

   7.6/10(30 votes)

   #7 - Cathedral Hill - Downpatrick, County Down

   S5:E72/22/1998

   Recorded between 19 and 21 February 1997, the team look for the early monastic buildings on Cathedral Hill, where according to legend St. Patrick built a monastery and was buried. They are also digging up medieval finds, including roof tiles and glass, which indicate a high status building. They soon identify the large double ditch which originally enclosed the monastery complex. Victor tries his hand at medieval calligraphy and helps create an illuminated manuscript with a portrait of a familiar face, complete with hat and feather. We also see some vellum making.

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8. 

   8.0/10(30 votes)

   #8 - Deserted Medieval Village - High Worsall, North Yorkshire

   S5:E83/1/1998

   Filmed between 10 and 12 October 1997, Time Team go to High Worsall, near Middlesbrough, a village that almost completely disappeared hundreds of years ago. Finds: 14th century buildings and manor house, pristine spindle whorl. Experimental demonstration: fishing and cooking caught fish. Also, historians Robin Bush and Dawn Hadley are followed while they research the village and create a timeline.

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