Episode 1:
In our opening episode, our Viking special, we first chance
upon a 9 foot 3 inch Tudor giant in Hale village near Widnes,
a bouncer for the local lord who fought and beat the King’s
champion. Spitting distance away flashback 500 years before
and you’d have seen the boys who liked a bit of pillaging
on Saturday night coming up the Mersey. What should we do?
Running would be a good idea. Today the area is well worth
metal detecting. Over the last 10 years those marvellous men
with electronic machines have unearthed 245,000 objects –
increasing our knowledge of all things archaeological. Why
was Viking treasures buried? The experts at Liverpool and
Chester reveal some interesting theories. Next its Midsomer
Murder in Bidston Village. Imagine. Out you go to do a bit
of weeding and clunk. It’s big. It’s nothing you’ve seen before.
Who you gonna call? No not Ghostbusters. Not Time team. Next
up to Meols we go. What Lies Beneath a pub car park? Another
Sutton Hoo? A convenient link then to Elsie Lloyd who is the
only surviving witness to the unearthing of the 90 feet ceremonial
ship burial compete with gold regalia, probably the most important
archaeological find in the UK. Can you imagine seeing a Saxon
king being raised from his grave only to disappear into the
sand as the air hit the ancient corpse?
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Episode 2:
Sherlock Holmes is an inspiration for this episode and Mark
recruits 250 little detectives from Grappenhall primary school
to dig their mums’ back gardens up (sorry mum) looking for
treasure er I mean evidence of sacred Bronze Age burial lands.
One week later they’ve discovered tons of stuff including
Roman coins and flint flakes mixed in with the snail shells
and Victorian beer bottles! A quantum leap to Bidston hill
er ok a trudge up the sandstone outcrop to see the Romano
Celtic carvings reveals a 2,000 year+ Cat goddess, and a praying
man. Up hill and down dale our intrepid Lost Treasures team
are in search of the Cheshire and Mersey cats. Not a lot of
people know this but the Phoenicians were early visitors to
these shores in 650 BC in search of bronze and tin. Mark believes
that subsequent cultures adopted the cat as a positive icon.
We follow the feline trail from Wirral through Grappenhall
near Warrington with the earliest part of the church dating
from the Saxon era, Stretton and Pott Srigley and its famous
cat face carving. Can Mark find the Druid sanctuary hidden
on the moors nearcBuxton? You know the answer to that. Our
journey concludes on the Buxton Road, ending up at the Cat
and Fiddle Pub. Ah well this is TV archaeology. Meeow.
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Episode 3:
If this series has an underlying theme it’s about Lost Treasures
being lost because someone somewhere wanted to lose them forever.
Most of us know the principles behind the Da Vinci code (warts
and all). A guy has a belief. Someone else doesn’t want him
to have that belief because it doesn’t fit with the establishment
story. So it just goes underground. The Knights Templar were
one such group. Many follow their trail to exotic climes such
as Malta. No need if you are short of a few bob. Birkenhead
Priory has two templar graves. We chat to a modern knight templar.
Why was the Norman Castle of Hamo De Massey in Dunham Massey
lost for future generations?
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Episode 4:
Continuing our theme of lost cultures, whatever happened to
the Druids? Were the omnipotent Romans successful in their oppression
of this knowledgeable and noble race? Our journey for evidence
takes us from Chester all the way up through Ribchester and
to Hexham on Hadrian’s Wall. Cue nasty battle. We know from
current conflict in Iraq that military success doesn’t always
do what it intended to do. These practices had been continuing
for centuries before the Romans arrived. Megalithic tombs at
Anglesey, a Druid stronghold for centuries, provides some clues.
If the Romans had managed to eradicate these practices how come
Druid tradition is still a way of life for many people here
in the Granada region? Oh if you think you are excluded from
such weirdness, did you celebrate Halloween last year?
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Episode 5:
Spellbound Mark explores witch country around Pendle Hill in
Lancashire to investigate the truth behind the sorcery and myth
of the ten Pendle witches who were hanged for their 'crimes'
in 1612 at Lancaster castle. Much of the drama was played in
neighbouring villages as several dysfunctional families fell
out and dabbled in witchcraft with dire consequences.
In bleak mid-winter Mark visits a little shop of glorious horrors
"Witches Galore" to find out why we are so fascinated
with witchcraft. The English Civil War sparked a second witch
hunt with the reign of terror of 'Witch hunter' Mathew Hopkins.
The satanic mills of Lancashire and the industrial heritage
of Burnley are investigated - how could 12 workers live in one
tiny house? Finally at Townley Hall we see some "fantastic"
lost treasures and hear about a man loses his head once and
for all....
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Episode 6:
Where is the smallest city in the world? Tune in. Mark is on
the trail of another baffling mystery. We're really looking
for a long lost Saxon stronghold, one of many which kept those
nice Viking chaps at bay just when they were getting itchy feet
(and swords). Not only that, dinosaur footprints have turned
up in the sleepy little village of Lymm and the vicar isn't
too pleased (only joking vicar - one lump or two?!)... Woe on
woe, more mysterious severed heads keep turning up in local
folks' back gardens without warning. Not a mad axeman (no sh..
sherlock!) but some weird Celtic practice I bet... And there's
lots more but it's late and I'm getting scared so I'm stopping
there...
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Episode 7:
Our Arthurian expert Mark believes he's located the site of
Sir Gawain's legendary battle against the Green knight. We jump
into the story at the sacred waters of Holywell but are transported
to the town of Leek (complete with parking ticket) to unearth
a lost abbey which disappeared when Henry VIII had a hissy fit
with the Roman church and thought "I know I'll just close
em down and nick all their treasures". Now that's what
I call real power, really corrupted. We take the waters at a
lost celtic sanctuary and unravel the mysteries of the Stonehenge
of the north...ah it's all in a day's work. But what about the
Green knight? Well that would be telling...
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Episode 8:
Sometimes a place exceeds all expectations - and Liverpool is
just that place. Like another famous man in black, our intrepid
caped crusader surveys Gotham City from the top of the Liver
Building and discovers the "place on the pool" is
crammed full of lost treasures. More than we can fit in one
programme. You might know what modern "scouse" is
but do you know where the "scouse" dialect came from?
Clue: They didn't take for an answer either! Ever heard of Liverpool
castle? No, well you're gonna see it in the fleshy stone. And
we're going where no film crew has gone before - right to the
pub before we're forced to don hard hat and descend 60 feet
below the streets of Liverpool city to explore the convoluted
mind of eccentric Victorian tunnel mad genius Joseph Williamson
- the mole of Edge Hill. You'll be transported to Neptune's
Rings (er good job it wasn't Uranus we were visiting...) Mark's
magical mystery tour of Liverpool ends on a big reveal - the
only surviving one in the world - a priceless artifact from
the Titanic disaster and Liverpool has it safe and secure...
Time Team? The kings are dead - long live the new kids on the
block!
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