Time
Flyers - the episodes
Reading
Between the Lines
In
the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds, a series of extraordinary network
of mysterious lines stretch over 15 miles of hillside.
Time
Flyers explores the various theories that might explain the lines
and the funnel shapes leading towards a river.
One
of the team believes that they might have been used to herd animals
towards fire pits as part of an extraordinary Celtic pagan festival,
Beltaine ("the mouth of fire"), only hitherto recorded
in Ireland and Western Scotland.
Last
summer the first ever excavation of these remarkable lines solved
the mystery as to what exactly they were built for, and by whom.
The
Village That Disappeared
Scattered
throughout Britain are over 3,000 villages that have disappeared.
This
week the Time Flyers team takes to the air to map out one of these
forgotten villages in Somerset.
From
the ground it appears just like a few irregular bumps and ridges
in the field. But from the air, and given the right light, it's
possible to see the outline of several houses and fields.
This
was once a medieval village that has long disappeared. In the Doomsday
Book it is described as the village of Hemington.
But
what finished the village off? It might have been economic reasons,
but a more grisly truth is being unearthed at a church nearby.
For
here there are records of the plague hitting Hemington in the 14th
century. Local accounts also describe a plague pit in the graveyard.
But
the crucial piece of evidence come from an ancient hearth stone
excavated at one of the houses allowing the Time Flyers team to
solve the mystery.
The
First Roman Frontier
This
film explores the first Roman frontier that was ever built. It wasn't
on the Danube, it wasn't in Asia minor, in fact it was between Stirling
and Perth in Scotland.
The
Time Flyers team investigates the astonishing collection of forts,
watch towers and Roman roads in the area, many of which have only
been spotted in the air.
In
the process the team is reappraising the conventional story of the
Romans in Britain and their relationship with the local iron age
Britons.
Contrary
to popular belief, the Romans made peace as often as they waged
war.
The
Lost Avenue
The
spectacular stone circle at Avebury is part of the Stone Age complex
of sites in south west England that includes its famous older brother,
Stonehenge.
Recently
archaeologists have uncovered a completely new avenue leading away
from the Avebury stone circle.
It
was an aerial photo of a peculiar mark in a field close to Avebury
which gave them the first crucial clue.
Last
summer Time Flyers joined the dig excavation to find some of the
missing stones that they believe are buried which once made up the
avenue.
They
will also ask whether the avenue was used for funeral rites (one
of the stone ages mounds will be excavated for human remains) and
what Avebury's relationship to Stonehenge might be.
It's
a story of pagan rituals, druids and cutting-edge archaeological
science as the Time Flyers team recreated what happened to the huge
stones that made up the avenue.
The
Missing Section of Offa's Dyke
Offa's
Dyke is the man-made boundary that was created by the Saxon king
Offa in the 8th Century AD, to defend the border between England
and Wales.
It
is the longest defensive wall in the UK, actually longer than Hadrian's
Wall.
An
artificial bank was created that reached a height of two and a half
metres at places, with an accompanying ditch which was at points
20 metres wide.
But
mystery surrounds a stretch of the dyke at Welshpool.
On
one side of the River Severn, the dyke approaches the banks but
disappears just short of the water. It reappears on the other side
- but five miles downstream.
As
a defensive structure it would have been continuous, as the river
is easily fordable. So where is the missing stretch of dyke?
Using
the helicopter and an ambitious reconstruction of the dyke, Time
Flyers sets out to solve the mystery...
The
Missing Castle
The
border area between England and Wales has a greater concentration
of castles than anywhere else in Britain.
This
week the Time Flyers team investigates a castle in Shropshire that
is supposed to have been there since the Norman conquest.
But
when they arrive they quickly discover that the castle appears much
more modern. Moreover,
from the air, it's possible to see strange patterns in the neighboring
fields.
This
film explores how the Time Flyers discover a whole new castle, buried
in the ground, that dates to the medieval period.
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