Time Team archaeologists tease major development in hunt for Knights Hospitaller site in Shropshire

Last year, experts with the newly revived format of the Channel 4 favourite Time Team descended on Halston Hall and Whittington Castle in the search for a lost community of the Knights Hospitallers.

The Knights Hospitallers were a religious military order linked to the crusades and contemporaries of the fabled Knights Templar warrior monks. They were dedicated to John the Baptist, to provide care for sick, poor, or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land.

John Gater, an expert linked to the 1990s Channel 4 programme Time Team, is also a part of the online revival of the popular Sunday afternoon teatime hit show.

Mr Gater said it reminded him of a spectacular Time Team discovery from 20 years ago.

"And there we found something really special," he said.

The revived online version of Time Team uses the same frantic three days to find the history of sites. The full programme is set to be released on YouTube sometime in the spring.

The site was selected after topping a poll of Time Team fans on Patreon, which is the crowdfunding site used by the archaeologists to pay for the digs. It came to light thanks to landscape detective work by Professor Stewart Ainsworth. Professor Ainsworth is himself a veteran of the original Time Team show.

The site of the dig was near a chapel in the grounds of Halston Hall, described as a large site full of lumps and bumps. The archaeologists dug test pits, built a dome for all their discoveries and visited re-enactors at nearby Whittington Castle.

Halston boasts one of only two timber-framed churches in Shropshire. Experts believe it was built towards the end of the 15th century.

There is more technology available these days and the team used drones to map the site, and virtual reality and green screens to bring it to life.

Professor Ainsworth said he was "very, very happy" with all the experts available to understand what is a "really, really confusing site."

Other Time Team veterans involved in the renewed Time Team include Carenza Lewis, the Professor for the Public Understanding of Research at the University of Lincoln, and Helen Geake, an archaeologist and Green Party activist.

Ms Geake is an expert at looking through dusty old documents and she said she was able to find a wealth of information on the history of the site.

The main episode, featuring the full story and outcome of the dig, will premiere in spring 2023 – for free – on the Time Team Official YouTube channel.