High Wurzel: Cob-Walled Homes, a Hidden Manor and the 1354 Deer Park

Beneath windswept earthworks by the River Tees lies a village wiped from the map. Time Team races to decode High Wurzel’s story: cob-walled longhouses uncovered in North Row, a high-status complex emerging beside the church, and a silver pin and Henry VIII groat hinting at power and wealth. But why did the settlement vanish? A boundary ditch, geophysics highs, and post pads redraw the site, while fieldwalking turns up Roman scatter and a prehistoric scraper. Durham records reveal the Sayer family and a tantalizing date: 1354, when a deer park may have sealed the village’s fate. Is there an even earlier, higgledy-piggledy settlement beneath the planned rows? A final trench lands crucial Saxon-Norman pottery to challenge the timeline. Watch as trenches, maps, and manuscripts converge to reveal not one but two villages—and a vanished manor. Dive into the dig to see the surprises we leave buried in the edit and decide for yourself what ended High Wurzel. Watch now to catch every clue on site and in the archives. #TimeTeam #Archaeology #MedievalVillage #RiverTees #Geophysics #MedievalHistory #DesertedVillage