The Church of England logoFaithWorshipLife eventsAbout the Church
Information Where to find us
Media Centre Home
Media

Church Commissioners tune in to Time Team’s ‘Street of the Dead’

8 January 2008

This week's edition of Channel 4's new series of Time Team was filmed on one of the Church Commissioners' farms near Bishop Auckland, in County Durham. The dig took place in April 2007 on Binchester Hall Farm, the site of one of the largest Roman forts in the country. 

Dere Street, a major Roman road from York to Perth, runs through the site.  Binchester dates back to AD 75 when it was built to guard the point where Dere Street crosses the River Wear. It was abandoned in AD 410.

The Commissioners' managing agent, Michael Appleton of Messrs Smiths Gore, said: "We were delighted to be able to help C4 by facilitating this important piece of research.  The results were absolutely fascinating and - without giving anything away - we now know that there was more to one of the region's Roman forts than historians had previously believed!" 

The episode, 'Street of the Dead', is to be broadcast at 17.45 pm on Sunday 13 January.

 

Notes

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners inherited Binchester Hall Farm in the early 20th century from the Durham Bishopric Estates.  The current tenants, the Sedgewicks, farm its 300 acres as a mixed arable/sheep holding.

The Church Commissioners' investment portfolio includes 112,000 acres of agricultural property (7% of their total assets), producing net rents of £6.3 million in 2006.