0:00:10 > 0:00:13The Story of the British
0:00:13 > 0:00:17is one of the most astonishing tales in history.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It's a tale of struggle and war,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25but also of huge achievement
0:00:26 > 0:00:30From small beginnings, Britain became a great empire,
0:00:30 > 0:00:31the workshop of the world.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38And the real makers of our history were the British people themselves.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Resilient and creative, they built our society,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46they won our rights and freedoms.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Today, we're many nations, and countless tribes,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58but we are still British
0:00:58 > 0:01:02and what unites us all is our history.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07The Great British Story.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29It was the Romans who first named us,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and in a sense, defined us.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38"How lucky you are, you Britons," wrote one Roman,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40"more blessed than any other land,
0:01:40 > 0:01:45"endowed by nature with every benefit of soil and climate.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49"Your winters are not too cold, your summers are not too hot.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53"And to make life even sweeter,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57"your days are long and your nights are short.
0:01:57 > 0:02:03"So, that while to us Italians, the sun may appear to go down,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05"in Britain it just seems to go past."
0:02:16 > 0:02:19How are you? You're looking suitably attired for the occasion.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22In the life of nations,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25just as in people's lives, anniversaries and celebrations
0:02:25 > 0:02:27are good times to look back.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30I was a big fan of Princess Diana
0:02:30 > 0:02:34and I LOVE William, I think his mum would be really proud of him.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Good moments to reflect on what has made us
0:02:39 > 0:02:43for our history gives meaning and value to our present.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46It tells us where we've come from, who we are,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49maybe even gives a clue to where we're going.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54And ours is an extraordinary story.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03This is the story of the people of Britain over 1,500 years.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07The Welsh, the Scots, English, Irish too,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11have played a great role in the story of Britain.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12But it's also the story of the people
0:03:12 > 0:03:15who've come here to settle over the centuries -
0:03:15 > 0:03:17from the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20to the peoples of Asia and the Indian sub-continent,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Africa and the Caribbean, who've come in the last few decades
0:03:24 > 0:03:27to help build modern British society.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30This small island off the shore of Europe
0:03:30 > 0:03:33has played a role in the history of the world
0:03:33 > 0:03:36out of all proportion to its size.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41From the deep past to the continuing present,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43this is OUR story.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45# He taught us how
0:03:45 > 0:03:47# To wash and pray
0:03:47 > 0:03:49# And live rejoicing
0:03:49 > 0:03:52# Ooh, yeah, yeah
0:03:52 > 0:03:54# Oh happy day
0:03:54 > 0:03:56# I give to you, yeah... #
0:03:56 > 0:04:00And the story will take us right across the British Isles -
0:04:00 > 0:04:04from Merseyside, to Skye,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08from the Black Country, to Cardiff and Antrim.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13But our tale begins in East Anglia,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16in the little town of Long Melford, in Suffolk.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Over the next few months, the people here,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27along with a host of other communities across the UK,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29will be sharing their knowledge,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31their documents, photos and memories.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34- Look at these lovely seals on the bottom.- Yeah, yeah.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Unique sources which will help build our story.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42He used to say that he had relatives...
0:04:42 > 0:04:46The gardening club, probably Melford Hall, on there.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48That is so wonderful, isn't it?
0:04:48 > 0:04:52- These are amazing social documents, actually.- Oh yes, yes.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55But first, they're going to put their spades into the soil
0:04:55 > 0:04:58on a communal dig, led by Carenza Lewis
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and her team from Cambridge University
0:05:01 > 0:05:06One metre square test pits in as many different places as possible.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10'What we're hoping to find, first of all, is clues to the history
0:05:10 > 0:05:13'of the community, before the documents begin.'
0:05:13 > 0:05:18Yeah, I think, I think it's worth trying it here, don't you?
0:05:23 > 0:05:26So, what brought us here to Long Melford in Suffolk?
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Well, it's a classic English small town,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31with very deep historical roots.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37The people of Melford have lived through the Industrial Revolution,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40civil wars, the Black Death.
0:05:42 > 0:05:43Like most places in Britain,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47their history as a community goes back a very long way.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52But don't think this is just local history,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57for at the grass-roots you can also find the national story.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01We started yesterday, and then we were finished today,
0:06:01 > 0:06:02and filled the hole in.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05We're site number 17, there's number 8 there.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07With 50 test pits, we soon began to expose
0:06:07 > 0:06:09the layers of Melford's past.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Bits of clay pipe.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Where you are now is about 250-300 years ago.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17Ooh!
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Victorian china, Tudor jugs...
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Your classic sort of, sort of milk jug ware almost.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26There was Anglo-Saxon tableware.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29So, we've got this grey ware right the way through
0:06:29 > 0:06:31the last half of the pit.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35The three trays there and that tray at the back are all medieval.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And then, we made an exciting discovery.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It's a road,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I'm almost certain it's a road, and I wonder
0:06:42 > 0:06:44if it might be the original Roman road.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46We sort of looked at it on the map
0:06:46 > 0:06:51and were able to plot a line all the way through from the school
0:06:51 > 0:06:53and we now feel that that's where the direction is,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57we thought we'd put our pit here and looks like we've struck gold.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Rome at the centre!
0:07:00 > 0:07:02I should head off East, and you head off West,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04and I'll join you in a minute.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07'And if you want to understand the British story,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09'you have to start with the Romans...'
0:07:09 > 0:07:12It's almost like a London Tube map, or a GPS.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15'..because it was they who brought civilisation
0:07:15 > 0:07:17'to Britain for the first time.'
0:07:17 > 0:07:20We're heading into Iraq, Mesopotamia.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22'This copy of a fourth century Roman map
0:07:22 > 0:07:24'shows our place in their world.'
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Hadrian's wall.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Here I am reaching the very end of the Roman world,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33the Pillars of Hercules, the straights of Gibraltar.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36'From the Atlantic Ocean in the West...'
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Mountains of Southern India.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40'..to India, 7,000 miles to the East.'
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Elephante Nascuntur.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46The place where elephants come from, isn't that fantastic?
0:07:46 > 0:07:50'This marks the moment we Britons became part of global civilisation.'
0:07:50 > 0:07:53- Europe, Africa and Asia.- That's it.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Alter orbis.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58That's right, it is the Roman's new world, effectively.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59What were they looking for?
0:07:59 > 0:08:03And what were the riches of Britain that attracted them?
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Well the sources mention things like hides and dogs!
0:08:07 > 0:08:11They know there's a bit of precious metal over here, but the riches
0:08:11 > 0:08:16they're really looking for are the riches of glory, of conquest.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18New land, new revenues, there's a new place to tax,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20a new people to extract money from,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22which is what empires are often about.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25But as much as anything else, its about an individual emperor,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28in this case Claudius, who's the emperor, the Roman Emperor
0:08:28 > 0:08:31that begins the definitive conquest of Britain,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34showing he's a real Roman Emperor by taking a new piece of the world
0:08:34 > 0:08:35and making it Roman.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Brilliant!
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Lovely little samian ware.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Everywhere we dug in Long Melford,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50we found evidence of the Britons adopting Roman lifestyles.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51More and more and more Roman.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Oh, right, now that, that is really interesting.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58That is a bit of hypocaust flue tile.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00It's Roman central heating systems.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04We Britons then enjoyed a standard of living that we didn't get back
0:09:04 > 0:09:07until the 17th century
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Yes, it could be, actually.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11The Emperor Vespasian.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Under the Romans, the population thrived
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and grew to maybe 4 million people.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22I think that's quite an impressive pile of pottery, isn't it?
0:09:22 > 0:09:26You could probably say there's Romans in the vicinity somewhere.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31So, over the four Roman centuries,
0:09:31 > 0:09:37the ideals of Roman civilisation became ingrained in us.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41And not just in the south-east.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Here at Caerleon, in South Wales,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47there was a huge military and civil complex
0:09:47 > 0:09:50with all the amenities of Roman city civilisation -
0:09:50 > 0:09:53markets, baths and sports arenas.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54And more than that -
0:09:54 > 0:09:59local government, law, civic order.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02And a huge dig here is uncovering new evidence
0:10:02 > 0:10:06about Roman Britain's second biggest port.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14A miserable day when I woke up, pouring with rain,
0:10:14 > 0:10:20but it's not dampened the enthusiasm of the archaeologists.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23What they're finding here is nothing less
0:10:23 > 0:10:26than the Roman roots of South Wales.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29It's a part of Roman Britain
0:10:29 > 0:10:32which is almost forgotten about in some sense.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35People think of Wales as an upland country,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38as our Iron Age culture continuing through,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41but the South East is really, is,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44we should view it as part of the West Country,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47as more in keeping with Dorset and Somerset and Gloucestershire.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49I mean, it's highly Romanised, we have villas,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51we've got Roman towns, Roman fortresses, Roman roads.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55It's a fascinating part of the country.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01A dig on this scale can only happen with an army of volunteers.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03It's really exciting starting off a new project.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Yes, a lot of people unaware
0:11:05 > 0:11:07the Roman heritage in South Wales is so rich.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Yeah, I think we didn't, we didn't know the site was so big,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14I think it was just, you know a sort of Amphitheatre and then,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16it stops and then a humpy, bumpy field.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18I enjoyed the pot washing most of all,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20you have these big white trays and then there's
0:11:20 > 0:11:22this beautiful samian ware glowing in my hands
0:11:22 > 0:11:26after a good wash, all over the white trays.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Really fantastic feeling and holding and touching and thinking,
0:11:29 > 0:11:30you know, who held this last?
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The thrill of finding something is quite... Gets us up.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35And the mud, the mud is good.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37The mud is good? Are you serious? What do you mean?
0:11:37 > 0:11:42- Mud's brilliant! - You get to be five years old again.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47The Caerleon dig is guided by a huge geophysical survey.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48We know from the geophys,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52- there should be four walls going this way through this section. - Right.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Where's the wall come through?
0:11:54 > 0:11:56It shows the plaster underneath and the paint's been taken off
0:11:56 > 0:11:59but there's some red there.
0:11:59 > 0:12:05So Caerleon Isca was a big military town and port.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07This is like revolutionary.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10A whole new area of Roman...
0:12:10 > 0:12:12There's always something new to find.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Yeah, it's just so diverse.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Next door, was the civil capital of Caerwent,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Venta, which gave its name to modern Gwent,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26the whole conurbation a predecessor to today's capital, Cardiff.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Britain very quickly becomes
0:12:32 > 0:12:36part of this international Roman world of wealth and style.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41It's a thought that's hard for us to encompass but,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45in the Roman period, if you're living in Britain,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and if you're living in Syria, you're part of the same world.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56So, don't imagine the Romans in Britain as Italians in togas,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59the Britons WERE the Romans.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05And theirs was a cosmopolitan and multicultural world, a bit like ours.
0:13:07 > 0:13:13Up on Tyneside, near Hadrian's wall, is the Roman fort of Arbeia -
0:13:13 > 0:13:16the Fort of the Arabs.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And excavations here have found evidence of Roman Britons
0:13:21 > 0:13:24from and amazing variety of backgrounds and cultures.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32Victoris natione maurum.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35He's a Moore from North Africa, he's a black man.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Don't forget,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40there were black people in Britain before there were English.
0:13:43 > 0:13:4820 years old, a freed man of Numerianus.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53He's a cavalry officer for a Spanish regiment up here on Hadrian's wall.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00And Numerianus says, "Piantissime brosucutous est."
0:14:00 > 0:14:07He devotedly conducted the funeral of his former slave.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Very intimate relationship between the two men. Gay, perhaps?
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Beautifully carved.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Next to them, one of the most wonderful tombstones
0:14:19 > 0:14:25from Roman Britain, of a woman called Regina.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28She's the wife of a man called Berrates,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30wears a nice dress.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34She's opening, what's this, a box of treasures?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37You see the keyhole, the little half moon underneath?
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Well-to-do Roman society
0:14:41 > 0:14:45up here in South Shields, but here's the really great bit.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51Her husband is "Palmyrenus Nationne."
0:14:51 > 0:14:54He's from Palmyra in Syria,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57famous trading city at the other end of the Mediterranean,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01an Arab, if you like. And underneath to underline that,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05carved in Aramaic, the old language of Syria,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09"Regina, the free woman of Berrates, alas".
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Roman letters found on Hadrian's Wall,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18give us the voices of ordinary Britons,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22We asked today's Tynesiders to read them.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Dear Lucious, just a quick note to make sure you are in robust health.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29A friend has just sent me 50 oysters from the coast,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31so why not get over here tonight?
0:15:34 > 0:15:36I want to be clear with you,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38that I refuse to withdraw my membership of the mess
0:15:38 > 0:15:40or of the club.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45Maybe you saw me at the Goldsmiths, and that's how the story started.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51I have sent you by post, two pairs of socks from Satua,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55two pairs of sandals, and two pairs of woollen underpants.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59All the best to you and your messmates, from Elpis.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07For the party on the 19th of June, we need three casks of British beer
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and a couple of cases of Italian wine.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14And vinegar, fish sauce, chicken and extra barely for the beer.
0:16:18 > 0:16:19My dearest Flavis,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22I wonder if you could send me a few more things for my boys?
0:16:22 > 0:16:26I need six cloaks and five jerkins.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30I really need to smarten up now, and become a chariot officer.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33I'm on the point of getting my own wheels. Farewell.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36So across lowland Britain,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40the people enjoyed all the benefits of being Roman citizens.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47In their minds and in their imaginations,
0:16:47 > 0:16:48Rome was in their hearts.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Britons are Romans.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53New diet, new luxuries,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57new stuff coming in, new things to drink and eat.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02You'll even find olive oil and wine in Hadrian's Wall.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04I come from Birkenhead,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07you couldn't get olive oil in a shop in Birkenhead until 1980!
0:17:07 > 0:17:12And whether in Caerleon, Long Melford or South Shields,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16as one Roman writer put it, "How fortunate the Britons were
0:17:16 > 0:17:19"to live in such a delightful land."
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Over the four Roman Centuries,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28the people lived under the umbrella of Romanitas,
0:17:28 > 0:17:33safe in the knowledge that Rome would always protect them.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40But towards the year 400, the Roman world went into steep decline.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46The Roman Empire found itself increasingly stretched
0:17:46 > 0:17:48by barbarian attacks and separatist movements
0:17:48 > 0:17:53and the new Emperor, Honorius, moved the capital from Rome to Ravenna,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57in the marshes on the Adriatic coast, which is easier to defend.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01And out on the edge of the Roman world,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03the town councils in Britain were worried.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09have we got any apologies for absence?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11They faced mounting raids by Angles and Saxons from Germany.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Three of the reports are break-ins to garden sheds,
0:18:14 > 0:18:15so that obviously something..,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Their big fear was that to protect Italy,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Rome would withdraw its garrison.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27On the 24th of August, 410, Rome was sacked by the Visigoths,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30first time in nearly 800 years that the city had fallen,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and it's at that electric moment in history
0:18:33 > 0:18:37that the Emperor sends a famous letter to the citizens of Britain.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42The contents of the letter were
0:18:42 > 0:18:46recorded in the 500s by the Welsh historian, Gildas.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51It is with regret that we have to inform you that we can no longer
0:18:51 > 0:18:55commit precious and overstretched military resources
0:18:55 > 0:18:59to continue to fight off pirates and bandits,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02who cannot be pinned down by conventional warfare.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07The Roman garrison was pulled out.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10The Britons were told to set-up own coastal defences
0:19:10 > 0:19:12and home guard.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19The Romans even sent them pattern books on how to make Roman weapons.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22It's very nearly 2,000 years old.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25That would have been either ivory or narwhal.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30This is not a gladius, this is a spatha.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37He'd be a horseman, holding his sword on the right-hand side,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39which is unusual.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43So, he could get it and poke people.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49"People of Britain," the Emperor concluded,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51"you are on your own now.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54"Fight bravely and defend your lives and liberty.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58"It's your homeland, you must fight for it now."
0:20:07 > 0:20:13And so they said goodbye, meaning never to return.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16It's a wonderful symbolic moment in the story of Britain, isn't it?
0:20:16 > 0:20:20The Fall of Rome. And this is a great place to imagine it.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24And in the next few decades
0:20:24 > 0:20:27as great swathes of the cities fall derelict,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31the people revert to the old ways.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34They come back to these old Iron Age hill forts
0:20:34 > 0:20:37to take shelter behind their huge ramparts,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41as if battening down for the dark age that will follow.
0:20:42 > 0:20:49But as their world fragmented, new worlds began to coalesce.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55And out of them, our modern identities as Britons will emerge.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Here on Borough Hill in Leicestershire,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01a team of archaeologists, volunteers and school children
0:21:01 > 0:21:05are trying to find out what happened at the end of Roman Britain,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08when city life broke down.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10It's really difficult to know what does happen,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14because all the things we rely on in Archaeology disappear
0:21:14 > 0:21:16in that early fifth century period.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19The coins, the pottery.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23As archaeologists, we're left really in the dark.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25If you're looking for a dark age,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27from an archaeological point of view,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29it is the fifth century.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32It's a century of make do and mend.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I tried to find out where the entrance of the roundhouse is,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37so we're trying to define the edges.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39We want to find this edge here,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and hopefully it will come through over here.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46History's kind of focussed on the famous people, you know,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49the Kings and Queens, but no-one actually looks at
0:21:49 > 0:21:50the working class of people.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53They're not represented, I don't think.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59And as always in great crises in history,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02the ordinary people are left to carry on with their lives
0:22:02 > 0:22:05in the face of harsh new realities.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14In the early 400s, coins stopped being used.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16They can't pay the town councils.
0:22:16 > 0:22:22Jobs go, rubbish piles up and the cities are abandoned.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26And then in the 500s, catastrophe.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31A huge environmental crisis followed by famine, and plague.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41It was a perfect storm. Britain's population was probably halved,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43maybe worse.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47It's when you see what happens to our lovely Roman town
0:22:47 > 0:22:52at the end of the Roman period, it is not good news.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55You remember in the late Roman period we had that town,
0:22:55 > 0:22:56thriving settlement.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00When we go into the Anglo-Saxon period, complete armageddon.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Nothing, absolutely nothing.
0:23:02 > 0:23:08Not a single piece of pottery that could possibly predate 850.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12There's nothing like the level of occupation
0:23:12 > 0:23:17we've got in the Roman period for hundreds of years afterwards.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21We know the sub-Roman period is a period of population decline,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24that's, you know, outbreaks of plague,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27that we hear about hazily in historical records.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29It's one thing after another going wrong.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Central law and order breaks down
0:23:31 > 0:23:34and it's a fascinating thought really,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37"What would we do today if suddenly no one's enforcing law and order?"
0:23:37 > 0:23:41How long does it take for people to realise they've got to,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43sort of, defend their goods themselves,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and all of that civilisation to collapse.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50I think, we think we're so insulated today, in the Roman period,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53clearly even moreso and you just look at that map.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56It's just empty.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00And now, for a time in British history,
0:24:00 > 0:24:05there's no one clear narrative, but many regional and local histories.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10But certain threads though run through the tale.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Out in Western Britain, Romanitas continues.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22The Roman world didn't end all at one time, or in every place.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The so-called Dark Ages were not dark here.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33The coast went back 400 metres, only about 200 years ago,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36so an immense amount of erosion had taken place,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41and perhaps 5,000 objects have been found along this piece of shoreline.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45There've been found about half a dozen Byzantine coins.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47These are sixth century too.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50This is Justinian the first and there's Justin.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Just too much, I cannot believe this, look at this.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56If you turn it over you can see the
0:24:58 > 0:25:02mint mark at the bottom, Con, for Constantinople.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Constantinople! My God!
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Yeah, the far eastern end of the Mediterranean.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09What you're saying is, here in Western Britain,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13the ancient connections are still, are still alive?
0:25:13 > 0:25:16And they still think of themselves as Roman.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19You have these Latin inscriptions continuing in North Wales.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20In Anglesey!
0:25:20 > 0:25:24In Anglesey, yes! Which you can see from here.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28And so, it's not a surprise that really that in some ways
0:25:28 > 0:25:31we shouldn't be surprised that these things are here.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33What's been missing really in north-western England
0:25:33 > 0:25:37is the archaeological evidence and that's beginning to come to light.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38Tremendous.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44This is continuity of people speaking Latin,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47it's continuity of people thinking of themselves as Roman,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51well beyond the conventional end of the Roman period.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56So, at the fall of Rome,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59the Roman army went, but the people carried on.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04In South Wales, behind its Roman walls,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06the old capital of Caerwent
0:26:06 > 0:26:10remained the centre of local power into the Middle Ages.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14Late Roman world does come to an end.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16There is economic crisis, political instability,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21the Western Roman Empire does fall but the people stay put.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25In 410 AD, people don't just throw down the Roman pots
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and run away, life continues.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31In fact, parts of Wales
0:26:31 > 0:26:36were the last bits of the Roman empire to survive anywhere.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40In the fifth century, here in South Wales,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43a new order rose under Christian,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Welsh-speaking kings, still loyal to the memory of Rome.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53This has to be one of the most atmospheric buildings
0:26:53 > 0:26:56in the whole of the British Isles.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01Medieval wall-paintings, Dark Age carvings and sculptures.
0:27:08 > 0:27:14"Samson posuit hanc crucem,"
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Samson erected this cross,
0:27:18 > 0:27:23"pro anima aeus", for his soul.
0:27:32 > 0:27:39Latin is a bit scruffy, not classical,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42but they still feel connected with it.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00Great changes in history often happen like this -
0:28:00 > 0:28:03slowly and imperceptibly,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09one world becomes another.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23And among the bringers of change were the saints.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32Columba, David, Mungo and the most famous of all...
0:28:32 > 0:28:34My name is Patrick.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36I am a sinner, a simple country person
0:28:36 > 0:28:38and the least of all believers.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42My father was Calpurnius, he was a deacon.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47My Grandfather was a priest who lived in Bannavem, Taburniae.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51His home was near there and that is where I was taken prisoner.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53I was about 16 at the time.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58St Patrick was British, born on Hadrian's Wall,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01one of the remarkable men and women
0:29:01 > 0:29:05who saved what could be saved of Latin learning and Christianity.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08He spent some time up around the Slemish mountain.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14He shepherded, or herded pigs, or swine
0:29:14 > 0:29:18as they called them, and nowadays it'd be sheep, you know.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27- Where's the house?- It's on the Carnstroan Road there,
0:29:27 > 0:29:32down near number 30-something. 33, I think it is, maybe.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37How long he spent there, I don't know, you know.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Irish tradition says St Patrick worked for a while
0:29:40 > 0:29:42here at Slemish, in County Antrim.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45It would be sort of an enclosure for bringing them in,
0:29:45 > 0:29:47the pigs at night, keep them safe.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52- Is it still there?- Oh, you could, probably see it, you know.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56It seems to be near hand to where it says on the map, here.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59A Christian Briton, Patrick spoke and wrote Latin.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02It's fell down a bit, you know, and it's covered over with soil,
0:30:02 > 0:30:03and things. It's just...
0:30:03 > 0:30:08And he left the Irish an abiding respect for Latin civilisation.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11It'd have been built up higher, you know.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Patrick brought Christianity to the North of Ireland
0:30:14 > 0:30:20and his disciple St Columba took it back into Northern Britain.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23This group of Derry sailors built a Dark Age curragh,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27to follow the path of Columba, or Columcille
0:30:27 > 0:30:30who sails to Iona, to begin the conversion of Scotland.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37She's a modern version of the sort of boat Colmcille would have used.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41A very sea-worthy boat,
0:30:41 > 0:30:46so back in 1997 we made the voyage from Derry up through to Iona.
0:30:49 > 0:30:55Rowing by day, and coming ashore at night, and I'm sure that's the way.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59We sort of followed what we believed was
0:30:59 > 0:31:02a similar route that Colmcille would have used,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05- when he was banished from Ireland and sails to Iona.- Right.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10- Coasting, just going by the islands of the promontories?- Yep.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17The journey was no great challenge in a way, you know?
0:31:17 > 0:31:22Quite a natural thing for them to do. And for us.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Of course, yeah, yeah. And what was the inspiration behind it?
0:31:26 > 0:31:28We were celebrating the 1,400th anniversary
0:31:28 > 0:31:30of the death of Colmcille,
0:31:30 > 0:31:36so he died in 597, so 1997 we did the journey up through.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41The very natural way.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47We're down near Derry here, where his monastery was.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Quite a simple journey if the wind is in the right direction,
0:31:50 > 0:31:55to go up to Iona in the south, the south-west corner of Mull.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58There's a lot of the archaeology from the time of the saints,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02there's a lovely cross at Kildalton, just down on the south-east corner.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05There's an old monastic settlement on Texa island,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09the monk sailors were there.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15This is such an extraordinary age, isn't it, this so-called Dark Age?
0:32:15 > 0:32:17And doing it in such a practical way
0:32:17 > 0:32:20must give you a great insight into what went on then?
0:32:20 > 0:32:25We shared the same blisters hands and other parts of the anatomy
0:32:25 > 0:32:29that Colmcille and his crew would have experienced.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31For me, the boat is about being out there, on the sea,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34experiencing the nature, the wonder of where you are.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37It's basically fifth century technology,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39and we're all involved in modern sailing boats
0:32:39 > 0:32:41and modern boats, as well,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45with out jobs, and it's amazing just what this boat's capable of.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51We're not a crew any more, we're a family.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54# I am sailing...
0:32:54 > 0:32:59And wherever the saints built their churches, settlements follow.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03# Home again...
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Glasgow itself was founded in the age of saints by St Mungo
0:33:06 > 0:33:08in the sixth century.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10# I am sailing...
0:33:10 > 0:33:16With all its later histories, Glasgow too came out of this
0:33:16 > 0:33:21crystallising of identities in the Dark Ages.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23# Two can say... #
0:33:25 > 0:33:28This is Brian here, broadcasting very loudly
0:33:28 > 0:33:31from the centre and heart of Glasgow.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Oh, this is how archaeology should be.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Govan is one of the oldest continually inhabited places in the world.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55The Romans arrived in the Govan area in AD 81.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58The inhabitants were Britannic speaking Celts,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01who, according to Ptolemy,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05practised druidic rites and called themselves the Damnoni.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Later on they were recognised as the Britons
0:34:07 > 0:34:10of the kingdom of Strathclyde.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19This is Dumbarton Rock, on the river Clyde,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21Alt Clut, the Rock of the Clyde,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25the royal citadel of the Strathclyde Welsh.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29It was here at the time of the Fall of the Roman Empire.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34You come to a place like this and you see how history is geography
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and geography is history.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40The seas along the Western shores of Britain
0:34:40 > 0:34:43with their islands and archipelagos and their deep-cut estuaries
0:34:43 > 0:34:49have been places of contact and exchange for thousands of years.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Govan is important in a number of ways.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01First, the monolithic stones
0:35:01 > 0:35:04that once surrounded the site of Govan Old Church tell us that
0:35:04 > 0:35:07this place was sacred to the people who lived there,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10and had been for a very long time.
0:35:12 > 0:35:19Govan Old Church was built for the Clydeside Shipyard workers in 1888,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23but on Dark Age foundations.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30My excavations found foundations of probably a timber building
0:35:30 > 0:35:34with dry stone footings and some burials which had radio-carbon dates
0:35:34 > 0:35:37which take you back to the sixth century.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42The sixth century, fantastic. Here in the middle of Govan!
0:35:42 > 0:35:46Govan's secret is a collection of Dark Age stones
0:35:46 > 0:35:49that once stood among the graves in the churchyard.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54It's a drawing made from a 19th century survey of the churchyard.
0:35:54 > 0:35:55It's fantastic.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56Just fantastic, isn't it?
0:35:56 > 0:36:01You can see all the different plots all the layers are marked out here,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05the names of these people are ancient names -
0:36:05 > 0:36:06Govan Rowan, Anderson.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09It's a real social history, isn't it?
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Weavers of Govan, Weavers, Dalglish!
0:36:11 > 0:36:15You can't believe it really, can you? Oh, that is too much, isn't it?
0:36:15 > 0:36:18The thing that's so good about it is shows you the location of
0:36:18 > 0:36:24the old recumbent stones, so these kind of pale brown rectangles.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28We know where, at the end of the 19th century,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31all the sculpture was located in the churchyard.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33The stuff was never lost to be discovered,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35if you like, it's always been known.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44It's cathedral-like in proportion.
0:36:44 > 0:36:49It is, isn't it? The cathedral of Govan.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52These are Christian monuments, but their interlace and animal ornament
0:36:52 > 0:36:56come from much older artistic traditions of North Britain.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00They're all different.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09In the sanctuary, they've placed their most precious object,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12which is this sarcophagus.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15It's carved all over.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19Nothing really prepares you for this idea of the interlace treatment,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22and there's this figurative sculpture, the hunting scene.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26It's unique in Scotland, there's only one other in Britain
0:37:26 > 0:37:28that's even close to it.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31We have burials, Christian burials,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34from the late fifth and early sixth centuries,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37which are really the beginnings of Christianity in Scotland.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39This wasn't meant to go in the ground,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41- it's meant to be on display. - It's a shrine.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43It's a shrine, yeah, absolutely.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46A great dark age, sacred place.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49It is an amazing fact about Govan's history, isn't it?
0:37:49 > 0:37:55And very poorly appreciated, even by many people in Govan.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58You know, they are at a place where
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Christianity's been practised for 1,500 years.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06So, the ancestors of the Scots, Welsh
0:38:06 > 0:38:10and Cornish, too, were the people of Roman Britain and Ireland.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14But who were the English?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Well, their ancestors weren't British,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19and they'd never been Roman.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22They were immigrants from Jutland, Denmark and Germany.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26And they were the Anglo-Saxons.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29This is The Wash, Lincolnshire on the horizon,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32and we're here on the Norfolk side.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36You can see why this stretch of water was so attractive to those
0:38:36 > 0:38:37first Anglo-Saxon immigrants,
0:38:37 > 0:38:43it gave them sheltered anchorage after the gales of the North Sea.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Some of the earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements are found here along
0:38:46 > 0:38:50this stretch of the Norfolk coast and this is one of them.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55Snettisham. The first clue's in the place name,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58the ham, or the village of Snaet.
0:39:00 > 0:39:05Maybe that's the name of the first Anglo-Saxon who settled just here,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09under that great hill over there.
0:39:09 > 0:39:15That's where those first Anglo-Saxon's put down their roots.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20They came here, one imagines, with all the optimism of immigrants
0:39:20 > 0:39:25anywhere and at any time, thrown up on strange shores.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30But these were the ancestors of the English.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43To the native Britons, the Anglo-Saxon immigrants
0:39:43 > 0:39:47were the lowest of the low, fit only for the most menial jobs.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50In the 400s,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53they made their way across to the beaches of Eastern Britain.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57In the 500s, they kept on coming!
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Only ever a minority,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04they maybe added just 10% to the population of Britain.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06But they brought with them a new culture,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08and above all, a new language.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14And when we first pick them up in written records in the 600s,
0:40:14 > 0:40:20two things mark them out - their poetry, and their sense of humour.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Ic eom wunderlicu wiht, wifum on hyhte.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28I am a wondrous thing, a great hope or expectation for women,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31something that women look forward to.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35Stabol min is steapheah.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Rooted I stand on a high bed...
0:40:37 > 0:40:39Neoban ruh nathwaer.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42I'm shaggy down below.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Raeseo mec on reodne.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Rushes my red skin. Her eyes will be wet.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59- And the answer to the riddle is an onion!- An onion.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04- An onion. - What else could it be?
0:41:04 > 0:41:08- ALL: That Jazz! - Thank you.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11We still find them amusing today, don't we?
0:41:11 > 0:41:14There's this long tradition of slightly saucy humour.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19And riddles can almost undermine, or subvert conventional
0:41:19 > 0:41:22views of things, can't they?
0:41:22 > 0:41:24There is something more to a riddle than just a joke.
0:41:24 > 0:41:31They certainly liked to explore the idea of expressing an idea
0:41:31 > 0:41:34in completely different terms.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37The sun is God's Candle,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41the sea is the Gannet's Bath
0:41:46 > 0:41:51And words carry not just meanings but values, ways of seeing.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Even now, our keys words in English for feelings
0:41:54 > 0:41:58and relationships are Anglo-Saxon.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06It may be the greatest legacy of the English to the world.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11But they're not English yet.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15There'd been Angles and Saxons in Britain before the end of Rome,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17doing the menial jobs.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Security guards, labourers, cleaners.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Their first settlements were just inland from the coast,
0:42:23 > 0:42:28and one of the biggest yet found is here at Sedgeford, in Norfolk.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31We approached here, really, with two questions to answer.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34What is the size of the settlement, and also what is the status?
0:42:34 > 0:42:37And we are now getting insights that, you know,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40we have got something very large that's going on here.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45This is becoming a very significant site, indeed.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49What's so wonderful about this, is that the community itself
0:42:49 > 0:42:53is providing us with all this new information about our past.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Well, that's important to the project.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Part of the founding ethos of the project
0:42:57 > 0:42:59was to have community engagement.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01You know, it's their heritage.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06A lot of the people that you see working on the trench,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08they may have strong linkages to what they uncover.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11- They probably do! - Yeah, they probably do.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13Day out with the family.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Oh, fantastic. So where have you come from? Are you local?
0:43:16 > 0:43:19- Snettisham.- Oh, Snettisham, so you are local.- Yeah, very local.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21This is all part of your past.
0:43:21 > 0:43:22This bit here, yeah.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27To them, it would have been, where can they get a food source?
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Where can they... Survival isn't it?
0:43:29 > 0:43:32Whereas we kinda pick where the nearest posh school is, or whatever.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Theirs would have been like, "How can we survive?"
0:43:36 > 0:43:37Yeah, yeah.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42Our first clue to the early Anglo-Saxons is their diet.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Well, we've got so many now,
0:43:44 > 0:43:46what we do is we count them and weigh them,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and we can't actually archive them all, because there's so many.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52They lived a bare, subsistence life.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56The oysters we eat now are really small and tender
0:43:56 > 0:43:58but these would have been really meaty
0:43:58 > 0:44:01and actually quite disgusting,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03so I'm not too sure why they were eating them, in my opinion,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05just from a modern point of view.
0:44:05 > 0:44:11So, while the Christian Britons were still writing Latin
0:44:11 > 0:44:13and importing goods from the Mediterranean,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17pagan Saxon immigrants survived on oysters cooked in crude pots.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24It's complete. There's only a fragment out of the rim.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29It's hand-fired but also you can see, it's very,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31very crudely made, very hand-made.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37Characteristic shape for an early migration period Anglo-Saxon pot.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40It's a very rough and ready fabric, made and fired
0:44:40 > 0:44:42in the same sort of way as Iron-age pottery,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44and this is one of the things
0:44:44 > 0:44:47that makes early Anglo-Saxon pottery really difficult to date.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49You really need a good big chunk,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52especially if you've got something that's plain like this,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55to be able to work out the actual vessel shape of it.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58And a rough guess at the date?
0:44:58 > 0:45:00We won't hold you to it, of course.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02A rough guess, I'd say this is
0:45:02 > 0:45:04probably fifth century, rather than sixth.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Are we talking about a small migration?
0:45:07 > 0:45:09Oh, don't give me that!
0:45:09 > 0:45:12This is the eternal question, isn't it?
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Are there a few people coming over? Or a lot of people coming over?
0:45:15 > 0:45:19Where do things stand at present among you experts, I mean?
0:45:19 > 0:45:23I think we're perhaps veering back to more people coming over,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25but it's still exceptionally difficult to tell,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28and I think there is still a big amount,
0:45:28 > 0:45:33an elite takeover, followed up by large scale migration.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41But large scale migration brought conflict, fights over land.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The Anglo-Saxon poets remember one savage battle
0:45:47 > 0:45:51with the Britons, Welsh as they called them, here at Stoke Wood,
0:45:51 > 0:45:57in Oxfordshire, behind Charwell Valley services on the M40.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01It was fought with great fury
0:46:01 > 0:46:05and heavy losses on both sides, said the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, later.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12But the Saxons won and took many villages and great booty.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17And they pushed on, westwards, into the lands of the Britons.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33And in the end, says the British historian Gildas,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37the Saxon fire licked Britain from sea to sea.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42But what of the Britons,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44or the Cymry, as they called themselves?
0:46:44 > 0:46:46They never forgot the loss of
0:46:46 > 0:46:49lowland Britain to the Anglo-Saxons.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56The earliest Welsh poetry also tells of wars with the English,
0:46:56 > 0:47:00what the Welsh later called, "The matter of Britain."
0:47:00 > 0:47:07Dygogan awen dygobryssyn. Maraned a meued a hed genhyn.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12A phennaeth ehelaeth a ffraeth vnbyn.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16A gwedy dyhed anhed ym pop mehyn.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20That's from looking at it.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29The language, it defines us.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32It's that which makes you special or different.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Our children criticise myself and my wife,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41for being born in Shrewsbury, in England.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45And they say, why didn't you move to Welshpool or Newtown for our birth?
0:47:45 > 0:47:48I said "Just a minute," and I put an old map
0:47:48 > 0:47:50of the West on the table,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and I said, "Look, Shrewsbury and Shropshire
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"used to be part of Pengwenn."
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Welsh territory, we've loaned it to England for the time being.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04They were satisfied that they were born
0:48:04 > 0:48:07on a piece of Welsh land, in Britain, Brudein.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14It would take a long time to learn to live together.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17In truth, we're still learning.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28But from around the year 600,
0:48:28 > 0:48:33the Anglo-Saxon tribes began to be converted to Christianity
0:48:33 > 0:48:37by missionaries from Rome, and Saints from Ireland and the West.
0:48:37 > 0:48:43And now, small English Kingdoms arose - Mercians and East-Angles,
0:48:43 > 0:48:48and up hear in the North-East, the Northumbrians.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52This is a great place to sense that mysterious process
0:48:52 > 0:48:54by which part of Roman Britain became Anglo-Saxon England,
0:48:54 > 0:48:58and the low-land Britons became the English.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05The mouth of the Tyne, after the Romans,
0:49:05 > 0:49:10became the heartland of a small, Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian Kingdom.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15You can see the ruins of the priory on the promontory.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18There, inside the ruins of the Roman settlement,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20a stone church became the burial ground
0:49:20 > 0:49:22of the early Northumbrian kings,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25and their royal residence stood on this promontory.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32The Roman fort of Arbeia, the fort of the Arabs, had new masters.
0:49:37 > 0:49:42And I suppose, for early Anglo-Saxon rulers, a great,
0:49:42 > 0:49:48defended, stone walled centre like this was a very useful place?
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Yes, and also just the prestige of stone buildings,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54especially when you have the church coming in, and they're re-importing
0:49:54 > 0:49:58Roman methods of construction, way of life, and so on.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04We've got a mixture of different objects here.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09This is a gaming piece which has been made out of antler,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11but this one's been dyed green.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Gosh. And Anglo-Saxon, you think?
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Yes, probably sixth century, or later.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20How intriguing.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Then this is possibly Anglo-Saxon,
0:50:23 > 0:50:28I would like it to be Anglo-Saxon, it is a bone stylus.
0:50:28 > 0:50:34For when they sort of reintroduce writing on tablets with the church.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37Gosh, what a beautiful artefact that is, isn't it?
0:50:37 > 0:50:38Beautiful, isn't it?
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Board games and writing in the Anglo-Saxon period
0:50:42 > 0:50:44might suggest a high status.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47High status, yes. Yes, yeah, definitely.
0:50:48 > 0:50:49Tantalizing.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Yes.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58And here in the 600s,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02the first Christian, English civilisation develops,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06especially in two place famous in the British story -
0:51:06 > 0:51:08Jarrow and Wearmouth.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11It's just a lovely church, you know.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13It's just so full of history.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15I know a lot of churches are full of history,
0:51:15 > 0:51:21but you've got to remember, this dates back to the seventh century.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25- This was one of the first stone churches built.- Yeah.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28It would have only been up to the pillars,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32so it would have been a long, narrow church when it was built.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36Victorians came along later and added that side on.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38This gives you a wonderful idea
0:51:38 > 0:51:40of what a seventh century church looked like.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44You see the great long, tall, narrow buildings
0:51:44 > 0:51:46modelled after those early Roman basilicas
0:51:46 > 0:51:48that you can still see in Rome.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53Small windows, not these huge ones that the Victorians liked.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56And to do it they brought in architects, masons,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59I suppose that's what they mean by sementarii,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02craftsmen of all kinds.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07And the men and women who made that first English golden age,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10like Ceolfrith, Biscop and the historian Bede,
0:52:10 > 0:52:12are still local heroes here.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16And the one who does the donkey work,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Ceolfrith, the one who builds the churches.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23I'm a little bit in awe of Biscop, he was a wonderful man,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26and he had a vision.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28There would have been no Bede without Biscop.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32- And Bede was a Sunderland man? - Yes, he was.- Bede came to this church at the age of seven,
0:52:32 > 0:52:36stopped at the age of 13, and spent the rest of his life in Jarrow,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38so really, who does he belong to?
0:52:38 > 0:52:40You know, really, he belongs to two of us.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Well, there's the wonderful discovery that the plaster,
0:52:43 > 0:52:45the original plaster that was on the monastery walls
0:52:45 > 0:52:47around Jarrow was red and white stripes.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Yes, it was. Yes, it was.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50Well, there you are you see,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54these local, tribal identities are still so strong.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59A few miles up the coast from Wearmouth
0:52:59 > 0:53:02is it's sister church of Jarrow, where Bede was buried.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06The dedication of the church of St Paul,
0:53:06 > 0:53:0815th year of King Eggfred, and the fourth year
0:53:08 > 0:53:14of Ceolfrith, the Abbot, and founded under God's name of the same church,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16one monastery in two halves.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21My story is, he's still here.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26He lived here, and he's buried here.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29He died on the steps there, didn't he?
0:53:29 > 0:53:32And I think to myself, "No, I think he's still here."
0:53:32 > 0:53:35So, really, what I'm looking forward to,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38whether I'm still alive or not,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42they're talking about lifting up this floor and I think to myself,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46"Yes, lift that floor and I bet you, he's still here."
0:53:46 > 0:53:48And that's my story.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57And of course, Bede is still here,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01for he's one of the people who made us who we are.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06And we still carry him with us. That's how history works.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13From Bede's time, right down to the shipyards
0:54:13 > 0:54:18and collieries of Tyne and Wear, and the memories of the Jarrow march.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23That's why this is one of the key places in the British story.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29For it was here that Bede wrote the first great book
0:54:29 > 0:54:32on British history and identity,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35and this is it.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37It's not exaggeration to say that this is
0:54:37 > 0:54:42one of the most important books in The Story of Britain.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47It's one of the two earliest manuscripts of Bede's history,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50it may be the earliest, even, around 737.
0:54:50 > 0:54:59And Bede calls his book a Historia Ecclesiastica Of The Gens Anglorum.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04An Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation or People.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Bede uses this word, "Anglie," for English,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13all the way through the book,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17and it comes to include all the people living within roughly
0:55:17 > 0:55:22what we now call England. It's a very, very important idea,
0:55:22 > 0:55:29the idea that there was a single gens Anglorum, an English people.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31It's going to be a defining idea in English history.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33But it's really much more than that.
0:55:33 > 0:55:41As you can see, when you turn to...the opening,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44the first word of the book, it's not England, but Britain!
0:55:44 > 0:55:46Britain.
0:55:46 > 0:55:56Britannia oceani insula cui quondam Albion nomen fuit.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00Britain is an island in the ocean, formerly known as Albion.
0:56:03 > 0:56:11And then, lying off the shores of Europe, across from Germany
0:56:11 > 0:56:16and France and Spain, and the greater part of Europe.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Gives the length at 800 miles width of 200,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23not including the deep promontories
0:56:23 > 0:56:28and bays that stick out into the ocean.
0:56:28 > 0:56:35Oceano infinito, faces out to the boundless ocean
0:56:35 > 0:56:37where the Orkney Islands are situated.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Bede then gives us a description of Britain,
0:56:42 > 0:56:47"A land rich in forests and fields,
0:56:47 > 0:56:52"natural resources and rivers full of fish."
0:56:52 > 0:56:55The model for this description is in late Roman historians,
0:56:55 > 0:56:59but the real model is the Bible, the book on Genesis.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Britain is an earthly paradise.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15At this time, he says,
0:57:15 > 0:57:20five languages are spoken in the island of Britain.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22Anglorum, English
0:57:22 > 0:57:25British, by which he means Welsh,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Scottish, by which he means Irish,
0:57:29 > 0:57:36Pictish and Latin, which is the language that links us in communus.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45At the very end, he describes the book simply
0:57:45 > 0:57:49as the history of OUR island and its people.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58We found a floor which was mainly flint and clay.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05Really, really good, yeah, a real achievement.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08A little rim of a samian ware goblet, or something like that.
0:58:08 > 0:58:092,000 years old.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11Did you find any interesting things?
0:58:11 > 0:58:14Lots of interesting things.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Lots. We found masses of pottery of the Romans.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20- A Stepford ware!- Oh, wow!
0:58:23 > 0:58:26Thanks very, very much.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29You were great and we'll be back, I'm afraid.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34# Somewhere over the rainbow
0:58:34 > 0:58:40# Way up high
0:58:40 > 0:58:44# And the dreams that you dare to
0:58:44 > 0:58:50# Once in a lullaby... #
0:58:51 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd