# Digging Up Greenwich Park!



## Rosemary (Jun 12, 2007)

Channel 4  Time Team
*A Roman temple in sight of the Millennium Dome Greenwich  12 March 2000*
  The Time Team dig gets under way in Greenwich Park, the oldest of Britain's royal parks and birthplace of Henry VIII:
  Various earthworks are readily visible within the park boundaries, including a large number of Saxon barrows and a mound, surrounded by iron railings, that has long been associated with Roman remains on the site.
  The railings were taken down, but nothing could be done about the dry ground. This resulted in Chris Gaffney resorting to an unorthodox, but effective, method of locating the line of Roman walls beneath the surface. This involved tapping on the ground with an upturned pickaxe and judging the presence of stone beneath the surface by the change in sound.  (*Very technical indeed!) *'Just dig on the dry bits,' as Tony Robinson's new archaeological dictum had it. 

  Time Team wanted to confirm that the rectangular structure was indeed of Roman origin, and to find out whether the building had been a temple, a villa or a military or other establishment.
  A Roman roof tile was found and other evidence from this and the 1902-3 excavations that this had been the site of a Roman temple. Because of its location on high ground on the line of Watling   Street, the main Roman highway from Canterbury and the south east, it would have formed an important and readily visible landmark as that road approached London.
*(The Time Team showed how **Watling   Street** actually ran through **Grenwich**Park**.)  *_This is one program I always watch...very interesting. 
_


----------



## Pyan (Jun 12, 2007)

I agree, great programme: just wish that they would give themselves more than three days sometimes!


----------



## Talysia (Jun 12, 2007)

I agree about giving them more than three days - especially when all of their finds seem to come about half an hour before day three ends!  That said, I do like the episodes where they're working on a project for a number of months, and just show the very best bits of the dig.


----------



## Rosemary (Jun 12, 2007)

Yes, it is a pity they only have the three days!  It is one of the few programs I watch on TV... and I have now got a Google Alert for any new facts about Time Team!


----------



## Wybren (Sep 25, 2007)

I love time team, I look forward to tuesday nights when its on. I just wish that we could get them on dvd.


----------



## Talysia (Sep 25, 2007)

Just found this website, so I thought I'd share it here.

Time Team - Channel 4 - Tony Robinson

It's got some interesting stuff on there, too.


----------



## Dave (Sep 25, 2007)

If you stand up the hill above Greenwich (where the Old Observatory is) the view is incredible. You can see most of London, North right into Essex, and everything coming up the Thames from the Sea. I'm not surprised that it has been the site of very ancient settlements. Defensively it is exactly where you would want to build a fort. I am surprised that there is no post-Norman castle there, but maybe it is too far from a river crossing to have been important, though the old main London-Dover road is just on the other side of the park, through Blackheath. Interesting that it could have originally ran through the park instead.


----------

