I got very confused about jousts, horses hooves on tiled floors and the idea of some kind of elaborate masque with an audience in the round.

There's a lot to be said for good, old-fashioned print.

I've been reading up on the C4 website coverage. Looks like they changed their minds about the tiled floor. They were in two minds about the horses in the first place and that idea got dumped even before the tiled floor. I think.

Maybe one day we'll have a book about it. I wouldn't be surprised. It is a major discovery.

If it was a theatre, do you think the floor would have been flat or raked as in a Greek theatre ?

Can't see the point of a rake in this structure. The audience would be all around.

P.S. I see no reason why the colonnade wouldn't be tiled. But it looks like they came to distrust the idea that the tile they found was actually in situ.

Yes, and only ONE tile ? If there had been others, were they perhaps taken up and re-used. Are there other Mediaeval tiled floors in Windsor or its environs that have the same pattern?

I suppose a rake is only necessary when the audience are many and ye are few - like at the Royal Institution. Standing in front of Faraday's desk, with hundreds of faces looking down at you.

From the C4 coverage:

quote:

the 14th-century tile found apparently in situ last night turns out probably to be a stray tile similar to others used elsewhere at Windsor that became attached to mortar in the statue's base. It is contemporary with Edward III's Round Table building, however, even if it now seems unlikely that it was actually part of that building.

A raked stage helps to make the action clear to an audience that is all clustered on the downside of the rake. (It helps if said audience is seated in tiers as well of course.) The Round Table idea looks like a true theatre in the round, with no stage as such - more of an arena.

quote:

Originally posted by Pete:
they fixed the aircraft noise over the Syon Park dig a few years just fine but that is rather further from the airport. Praise for that is due to their top sound man, SAS. Bring Steve back to do the sound for the Windsor site, I say!

You're a very nice young man Dr Pete! Vbg!
The whole of that corridor is a really tricky place for us to work!!
The advantage we had at Syon of course was that we could stop and start and literally shot the whole prog in 40 second chunks between planes!
No stopping with the livey stuff of course!

I was at Buck House running around the enormous back garden plying my trade with Wookie etc and even ended up on More 4 doing a question for the break!!
The whole thing was very taxing to do but great fun
Feel a bit like a wet week today tho!! LOL!

I wish you lot would stop banging on about Tessa tho - she wouldn't have been writing her own scripts - the site producer would have done that.
And live telly is a very particular skill which few are good at and all the reports I was getting back from Windsor was of how nice she is and very good at her job.
Must say three cheers for Alice too tho - her first live tv ever and she did a storming job imho

My five penneth...

quote:

Originally posted by mlh:
Yes, and only ONE tile ? If there had been others, were they perhaps taken up and re-used. Are there other Mediaeval tiled floors in Windsor or its environs that have the same pattern?

I suppose a rake is only necessary when the audience are many and ye are few - like at the Royal Institution. Standing in front of Faraday's desk, with hundreds of faces looking down at you.

Wouldn't it be good if someone watching turns round and says I've got those tiles in my kitchen or cellar or somewhere, but i bet they are all long gone.

I did quite enjoy the big dig programmes but it sounds as though finds are still being worked on and theories discussed.

Is there enough material for another programme - in say six months time - where all the analysis on the finds during this programme is presented and the team's final thoughts, on what they dug up, could be laid out ?

Site producer at Windsor - was that Simon Raikes?

quote:

Originally posted by stevesas:

I wish you lot would stop banging on about Tessa tho - .......<...>................. all the reports I was getting back from Windsor was of how nice she is and very good at her job.

My five penneth...

The rest of us can only judge her on what we saw. I'm sure she's a lovely person, but not as a TT presenter. Only so much can be down to the script she had to work with ?

quote:

Originally posted by stevesas:
I was at Buck House running around the enormous back garden plying my trade with Wookie etc and even ended up on More 4 doing a question for the break!!

Which day was your question sas? If it was Saturday or Sunday, I must have missed it.

But if it was Monday there's still a chance as I still 4 hours of More 4 coverage to watch ...
.... not a Bank Holiday here in Scotland so had to go to work

It's amazing how you can watch so many hours on More 4 and still be left wanting more....! Fantastic stuff.

I almost wish they had done each of these sites on a separate Bank Holiday. It does sometimes concern me that TV producers might think the public needs fast moving action, so much so that everything ends up being glossed over and rushed. One hour to sum up 3 major sites...hmmm???

I kind of ended up not knowing how much more I knew at the end than when it started, in an odd kind of way.

And please, no more of that Merry Wife at Windsor. Time Team already has a fantastic, understated style. Please don't spoil it by occasional the wrong presenter...

Enjoyed the programmes but can't help but think that they were biting off more than they could chew doing all three sites simultaneously. An awful lot of material had to be crammed into the w/e.

Bet the Royal gardeners were going a bit green about the gills seeing all those trenches appearing

I love TT but the BRD was very confusing. The Windsor woman was a bit irritating but they did seem to have the most interesting archaeology. Who cares about a canal in Buck House garden when you can see it on all those paintings and maps. The guys in Scotland were good but the antagonistic banter with Tony was an unnecessary distraction. You spread yourselves much too thin guys.

Does anyone know if The Big Royal Dig will be made into an episode or two? and if so when is it likely to be shown? In spite of some negative comments from some I'm looking forward to seeing it (soon I hope).
regards,
rob
(australia)

quote:

Originally posted by SteveWLF:
Who cares about a canal in Buck House garden when you can see it on all those paintings and maps.

I have to agree. I'm not sure anything new was learned: they simply proved what was documented anyway. Windsor was far more interesting.

I don't think I would have been so impressed by the coverage if it weren't for the More 4 offerings. There was simply too much to cover in the highlight programmes. Having seen the "real" thing though did spoil the highlight programmes for me as it brought home how staged everything was when they brought in the main presenters. I loved the "fly on the wall" aspect on More 4.

Hi I agree with everything that brazilian says about Neil Oliver. Sorry brazilian, I'm first in the que. shelley. x

I found this article in my paper yesterday. Though you might all like to see it. Did look for an online version, but couldn't find one.

Proof That King Henry torched Holyroodhouse.
By Camilla Tominey, Royal Editor, Scottish Sunday Epress
Archaeologists are analysing evidence from the Palace of Holyroodhouse which could once and for all prove it was burned down by Henry VIII in the 16th century.
Until now, historians have only been able to rely on documentary evidence to support the belief that the English king ordered the destruction of the palace because Mary Queen of Scots would not marry his son.
Experts behind the Big Royal Dig, the televised excavation of three of the Queen's residences in the summer, did discover charred remains along the cloister walls which, once comprehensively tested, are expected to prove that theory beyond doubt.
However, now thanks to the Channel 4 programme Time Team, there can be little doubt that the man famous for his six wives torched Holyrood in revenge for Scotland's refusal to allow Mary to marry his son, Edward VI, as part of the Rough Wooing of 1544-48.
Nick Bridgland, senior inspector at Historic Scotland who oversaw the Holyrood dig, added: "We found an area of burning in the current gardens on the location of the cloister walls - a destruction layer of charred debris indicating a fairly large-scale fire. Further analysis should confirm the dating of that material. We knew he damaged it but now we have the proof.
"We didn't know how good the archaeological survival was going to be but what we have discovered has been quite remarkable."
Holyroodhouse dates back to 1128 when David I of Scotland founded an abbey on the site near Edinburgh Castle. In 1501 James IV cleared ground close to the abbey to build a palace for himself and his bride, Margaret Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII.
The Big Royal Dig was also at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace over a four day period in August to mark the Queen's 80th birthday. Presented by Tony Robinson, Channel 4 devoted a programme to each day's finds and followed the whole dig live on More 4, together with Internet coverage.
Along with evidence of the fire, archaeologists also unearthed parts of the square tower that formed James IV's original palace. More significant still was the discovery of part of the original monastic buildings, such as the monks' refectory, dating back to the 12th century.
Best known as the home of Mary Queen of Scots from 1561 to 1567, it is also famous for the brutal killing of her secretary David Rizzio by her jealous second husband, Lord Darnley, in her private apartments.

This forum features in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of British Archaeology. In the "In View" section:

quote:

Time Team: Big Royal Dig
More interesting than the 18 hours of live action were fans' comments on the C4 internet community forum. The manic pace was criticised, the women archaeologists were objectified and everyone missed Robin the archivist. Generally appreciative, but underwhelmed.