Digging for Britain Catch up, Series 12: 5. Chariots and Slaves on BBC 4

Digging for Britain

Series 12: 5. Chariots and Slaves

Alice travels through the west of Britain, exploring the region's most exciting archaeological digs. \n\nA previously unknown Roman villa complex is unearthed west of Oxford, including the well-preserved foundations of a villa.\n\nOn the island of Anglesey, at a World War II airbase that was the site of the most significant iron age discovery ever made in Wales, MOD metal detectorists discover a fully articulated horse bridle and small part of a chariot.\n\nAlice travels to Llantwit Major, where she joins archaeologists searching for a long-lost monastery founded by the venerated Celtic saint, St Illtud, which would have once been at the centre of Christianity in Britain.\n\nIn Ilfracombe, a picturesque seaside town on the north coast of Devon, archaeologists digging ahead of a new housing development have discovered the sturdy remains of a 17th-century farmhouse, with finds that help show the role Devonshire merchants played in the transatlantic slave trade. \n\nAt a massive road infrastructure project on the edge of the Cotswolds, archaeologists have stripped back 60 hectares and discovered the foundations of a mysterious, isolated building that would have been situated on the Roman road-side of Ermine Way.\n\nFinally, Alice heads to her hometown of Bristol, where investigations on the plot of a proposed shopping centre in the densely populated area of Bedminster have uncovered the site of an 18th-century water mill.

Source: BBC 4

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