Time Team Excavation Site Athelney

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The Guerrilla Base of the King" Athelney, Somerset 16 January 1994

Recorded between 16 and 18 April 1993, this episode's dig tries to find evidence of what the site's settlement looked like in the time of Alfred the Great, focusing on the search for Alfred's abbey and fort.

23 February 2003 Back to our roots Athelney, Somerset Return to Alfred the Great's abbey for the 100th programme.

At Athelney, in Somerset, Time Team revisits the site of one of its first programmes, filmed ten years previously in 1993. Back then, the Team was not allowed to dig within the area of the scheduled ancient monument. So the resulting programme – the first Time Team ever screened – is distinguished by the fact that, 100 programmes later, it is still the only one that doesn't feature any trenches.

Now, as it celebrates its 100th anniversary, Time Team is back – and this time English Heritage has given permission to excavate 400 square metres of trenches.

The history
We know that Athelney once stood as a lone hill among miles of marshes. The site was fortified by King Alfred, who used it as a base to launch attacks on Danes (Vikings) in the surrounding area. Through great skill – and the luck of the battlefield – Alfred managed to force the invading Danes out of Wessex and eventually out of the whole of southern England. Documentary sources, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, tell us that Alfred returned to Athelney after these battles and constructed an abbey on the site to give thanks for his victory.