Local History

On Wednesday 1st October 2008, Tony Robinson, Phil Harding and the rest of Channel 4's Time Team descended on Salisbury Cathedral to carry out a three day archaeological dig.

The hugely popular programme has been running for 15 years, but this is the first time permission as been given for the team to excavate in the grounds of the cathedral.

The ambitious plan is for the Time Team to to recreate how the seminal structure and its surroundings looked during the time of one of its most colourful bishops - Richard Beauchamp who resided there in the 15th century.

Phil Harding hard at work!

The team will reveal the ornate chancery chapel he built for himself and uncover the original bell tower - the stand alone building that supported the original spire to the north of the cathedral.

The bell tower was built at the same time and by the same people who constructed the cathedral and by investigating it the team hope to learn more about how the cathedral was engineered.

For presenter Tony Robinson, the dig is a chance for him to return to a town he'd visited often as a child.

He said: "One of my earliest holiday images is of this cathedral and the landscape. A lot of my family come from The Collingbournes, and I was always in and out of Salisbury on holiday as a kid.

"But apart from anything else, it is such a magnificent cathedral and of course as a southern Englander it's the capital of England as far as I'm concerned."

In 2000, an evaluation of Beauchamp's chapel revealed some leg bones, apparently in situ, so as part of the excavation, the Time Team hope to reveal the full skeleton to try and establish if these are the remains of Bishop Beauchamp.

The Salisbury Cathedral edition of Time Team will be shown on Channel 4 later in the year.