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Weird Britain Season 3 Episode 1
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00:00Britain, an ancient isle full of mystery and wonder.
00:05I'm Andy McGrath and I want to explore the fables, folklore and unusual phenomena, myths and legends that lie hidden
00:13in our domain.
00:15I will travel the length and breadth of our enigmatic island, investigating the different counties and countries that encapsulate this
00:23ancient land.
00:23I will be joined by experts in their fields as I uncover modern tales of UFOs, cryptids, ancient kings, monsters,
00:33megaliths, ghosts, history and tradition that make up the cultural fabric of Weird Britain.
00:45Coming up on Weird Britain.
00:48I am in Shropshire, a county full of folklore and mystery.
00:52I investigate the legend of the Devil's Chair and visit a hill said to have been made by a giant
00:59who planned to kill the people of Shrewsbury.
01:02My friend Jane explores an ancient cave and meets with historical adventurer Graham Phillips.
01:09I travel to Offers Dyke, Ludlow Castle and visit the grave of the last city town.
01:16I meet with Jane to learn about the history and hauntings of Shrewsbury Prison.
01:21And finally, go on a quest with Graham to uncover the final resting place of the legendary once and future
01:28king, Arthur.
01:34I begin my investigation of Shropshire on its western flank at the Stripper Stones.
01:39These quartzite rock formations are steeped in folklore.
01:43This rock formation is known as the Devil's Chair, said to have been built by old Scratch himself.
01:50Now the story goes that the Devil was returning from Ireland heavily laden with huge rocks that he kept in
01:57his front apron pocket.
01:59Why did he have these rocks?
02:00He had them because he wanted to take vengeance on the people of Shropshire.
02:04And the way that he planned to do this is by filling in the Valley of Hell's Gutter with these
02:08rocks, thereby damming in the river and flooding this plain.
02:12Fortunately for the people, he did not succeed.
02:15His apron straps broke, spilling the rocks right here where you see them today.
02:20And the Devil was angry, he was furious, he jumped up and down on the spot, trying to drive those
02:26rocks into the ground.
02:27And it is said, if he had succeeded, that all England would have fallen.
02:32This isn't the only story associated with this place.
02:36There's another one up at the Devil's Chair.
02:37I'm going to check that out right now.
02:49I am now sat here on the Dark One's throne, on the Devil's Chair.
02:54Now it's said, on the longest day every year he would hold a black mass.
02:58And he would summon his demons, devils, witches and warlocks in this valley below.
03:03They would have mass here.
03:04He would ask them, which of you has the blackest heart?
03:06Which has done the cruelest deeds?
03:09And whoever won out would be anointed king of evil for the year to come in a terrifying ritual.
03:15They said, all the locals hereabout would avoid this place on that day.
03:19This story has similarities to another tale nearby of a cruel giant who wanted to take vengeance against the people
03:27of Shrewsbury.
03:36To the north east sits the wrecking.
03:39This hill towers over the local landscape and is a favourite walking spot amongst the local populace.
03:45This is Wrecking Hill, where the story of the wrecking giant takes place.
03:50Now the wrecking giant, he had a grudge against the people of the town of Shrewsbury.
03:54And he wanted to drown them with the River Severn.
03:57So he picked up his huge shovel and, getting as much earth as he could, started to make his way
04:03to the river.
04:04On his way, he met a cobbler carrying hundreds of old customers' shoes.
04:09And the cobbler, realising what he wanted to do, said to the giant, the river is very far away.
04:14Look at all the shoes I've worn through just trying to get there.
04:18And the giant, feeling a bit tired and not so angry anymore, decided to dump all of that earth right
04:24here, creating Wrecking Hill.
04:26Not only does this story have a similarity to that of the Devil's Chair, it also reminds me of Silbury
04:33Hill.
04:34Only this time it was the devil and not a giant who wanted to destroy the town of Avebury.
04:39Now I'm wondering, could Bards have been responsible for spreading these stories across the country?
04:45Perhaps in exchange for room and board? Who knows?
04:49Now this area is steep in history and mystery and also some very famous authors.
04:54One of whom wrote the Lord of the Rings. He came to this area. He lived nearby.
05:00He saw these rolling fields and the Lonely Mountain in the distance as well as Mirkwood right behind me.
05:06And decided this was the place he would base Middle-earth upon.
05:19Slightly east is the village of Cainton.
05:21Where dug into the sandstone there was a cave shrouded in mystery and lore.
05:26I'm here at Cainton Caves in Shropshire. A place shrouded in mystery, myth and legend.
05:33A place that in recent years has came to light as possibly a place connected to the Knights Templar.
05:39Are cultists come here? Satanists apparently come here? Or do they?
05:45I'm here to meet historical detective Graham Phillips. Hopefully he can shed some light on this place for me.
05:55Graham, I don't think I've ever been anywhere quite like this and I can see why people call this a
06:02temple of sorts.
06:04Apparently it's connected to the Knights Templar. Can you tell me a little bit about who they were?
06:10Yes, the Knights Templar were warrior monks who fought in the Holy Land during the Crusades.
06:16And they got into all sorts of weird mystical stuff like ancient magic and things like that.
06:23They claim to have found old manuscripts in the Middle East that they brought back that told them how to
06:27do all sorts of mystical things.
06:30It's believed that they had some connection with these caves.
06:34First of it's called a temple and it's recorded as being a temple in this area.
06:39And when you get a place that's associated with the name Temple, like a place called Temple Hardwick for example,
06:44it's normally that there was a Templar preceptory like one of their headquarters in that area.
06:50So it could well have been used by the Templars at some point.
06:53When it first was dug out again in recent times, because it was all filled in with rubble over the
06:58years,
06:59they found a sword here that the BBC got so interested in that they paid to have it analysed.
07:05And it was medieval and it did date from the Knights Templar's time in the 13th century.
07:11So they found a medieval sword down here?
07:14In here amongst the rubble. Obviously somebody at some point had filled it in.
07:18And it was amongst that rubble.
07:20Well, what's your theory on that, Graham, as someone who knows a lot about the Knights Templar?
07:25Do you think it's likely that this place was used by them? And why would they have came underground?
07:30Well, the Templars, after 1307, the church declared them an illegal organisation
07:37because they were getting up to magic and stuff like that, according to what the church believed.
07:42It wasn't good. It was devil worship.
07:44So in areas where they continued, like perhaps in this area,
07:49they had to do it literally underground in places to do their rituals and ceremonies
07:55in a place that no one would see them.
07:57And there are many places throughout England, for example,
08:01where you get places like this that were used by the Templars,
08:05but many of them go back much earlier.
08:07They just so happened to start using places that were originally dug out in the rock,
08:12back before the Romans came.
08:14So if we're looking at the Knights Templar then,
08:17presumably we're talking 14th century, possibly into 15th century,
08:21but I know there are people that claim these caves are not that old,
08:25more like 18th or 19th century.
08:27What do you think about that?
08:28Some of the carvings here are definitely much later.
08:31For example, some of these pillars that you find around you,
08:34they were put here around about the year 1800 by a man called Thomas Young,
08:40who bought the area, and he found these caves already here.
08:44But the story of this will go back way earlier.
08:47This area is associated with the pre-Roman Druids,
08:52the priests of the ancient Celtic people that were here before the Romans came.
08:56This woodland directly above us is called the Rookery.
09:02And that name goes way back, it's recorded on old maps.
09:06And very often, names of woodland that are associated with birds
09:11were places where the Druids would have one of their open-air temples called a grove.
09:18Rooks, crows and ravens were considered the most important sacred spiritual birds to the Druids.
09:27In fact, when they died, they would very often be laid out on a platform
09:31to allow such birds to eat their flesh.
09:34It's called sky burial.
09:36Now, they quite often would have underground cut-out caves that they made in sandstone areas, just like this.
09:43So I think there's a possibility that this could, especially because it's right below the area called the Rookery,
09:50that this could have been an early Druid temple.
09:53And the reason for these places was they'd come in here, they would chant...
10:00You get this really weird echo effect.
10:03And they believed that the Rook God, or the Crow God, or whatever area they were in,
10:08would help them by making sure that the harvest was plentiful.
10:13Shall we have a go and see how it sounds if we try some chanting here in this chamber?
10:19OK, I'll do the deep notes, you do the higher ones.
10:21Yes, all right. Let's see what happens.
10:22Let's go for it.
10:40Now, for that to happen in that way, to get that resonating thing, I would say was deliberately fashioned for
10:46those kind of acoustics.
10:48You only get that when it's been made as a chapel or a church or a temple or something.
10:52I think that means this was deliberately made.
10:54What do you think the chanting would have achieved for them, or the changing, the shifting of vibrations down here?
11:01Was that symbolic? Or did they believe that the energy changing actually did something, do you think?
11:06Julius Caesar writes quite a lot about the Celtic people of Northern Europe.
11:10And he says that they believe that chanting actually enabled seeds to grow better.
11:17And what's fascinating, there's part in one of his writings where he actually says that they came upon people during
11:24one of his expeditions,
11:25that actually had built an underground chamber where they could chant specifically to make the soil above them more fertile.
11:33And we've got plenty of soil above us here.
11:35Well, it's nice to think maybe we've done our bit to help whatever's growing above us. Bluebells, I think.
11:40There are.
11:41Yeah.
11:42Yeah.
11:42All right.
11:42Well, let's have a look around, shall we? See what else we can find.
11:48This here, that's very interesting.
11:50It is what's known as the All-Seeing Eye, a triangle with an eye in it.
11:55If you're familiar with the dollar bill, there's one of those on that.
11:59The Masons used to use them to represent the All-Seeing Eye of God.
12:03But in the occult, it's used to represent the All-Seeing Eye of the Mother Goddess.
12:08You mentioned that occultists use the All-Seeing Eye graham for certain things,
12:13but have you seen any evidence anywhere else of any darker practices?
12:18Down that dark passage there, there is something that is called traditionally the gateway to hell.
12:26Do you want to see it?
12:27Er, I don't think so.
12:29Well, I'll show you when it is.
12:32Okay.
12:39So, Graeme, this is what you were telling me is the gateway to hell.
12:42Rich people, if they had a grotto on their land like this is, no matter how long it had been
12:47there,
12:48they'd think, oh, let's carve something in it that's going to scare people.
12:52And they created these gateways to hell.
12:54And they looked just like this.
12:55There's a few examples around the country.
12:58And in these little holes here, they'd usually put glass ornaments to reflect the light, the candlelight,
13:04so they looked all spooky.
13:06And the idea was they'd bring people here, and they'd scare them and tell them that beyond here,
13:11if we say the right words, do the right chanting, something will rise up from hell,
13:16and they'd come down here and try and raise demons.
13:19It was a bit of fun.
13:20But in more recent years, various people who practice the occult in modern times,
13:27or relatively modern times, have thought that there might have been some genuine occult practices
13:33going on behind these gateways to hell, and have actually done rituals at such places
13:38in the hope of trying to summon up something from hell.
13:41Why they'd want to do that, I'm not quite sure, but this is one of those things.
13:47Well, I was going to say to you, actually, because, you know, you talk about that it was just for
13:50entertainment,
13:51but there have been people here who believe that there is a connection to the other side through this doorway.
13:58Is it possible that things have been done down here to lift the veil?
14:03Well, yes. I think people, certainly in more recent years, certainly in Victorian years,
14:08in the late part of the Victorian era, was known as the occult revival.
14:12Everybody got into spiritualism and seances and that sort of thing. It was massive.
14:17I mean, you had little else to do. There was no internet, no TV,
14:20and raising the dead was a big hobby of people in the late 19th century.
14:25It certainly was done in jest. More recently, it was done seriously, and in the Victorian period,
14:31they may have even succeeded in what they were doing.
14:35Well, I think let's not stand here any longer, Graeme, because if they did succeed, that might be open.
14:41Should we make our way out?
14:42I'll follow. No, in fact, I'm going third.
14:55To the southwest, there was an ancient man-made earthwork that stretches as far as the eye can see.
15:02This is Offa's Dyke, built by Offa. Who was Offa? Offa was King of the Mercians.
15:09But he was much more than that. He was also King of Kent, King of Essex, and King of East
15:15Anglia.
15:15He had marital ties and trade ties to the rest of the English kingdom.
15:20In fact, he is credited with actually starting the unification of England as one power.
15:26But he had a problem. The Welsh here on the Shropshire border, there were skirmishes.
15:31They were coming into Mercian land and burning villages, taking livestock.
15:36He had to do something about it. So he decided to show the Welsh that he had power.
15:41He assembled a huge force. He built Offa's Dyke.
15:46176 miles long, 12 feet in height.
15:50This became the unofficial border between England and Wales and remained so to this very day.
15:56Now, you might wonder if there are any ghost stories associated with the Dyke.
16:00After all, it has been here a very long time. You would not be disappointed.
16:05In fact, Offa's son erected a Benedictine monastery not far from here.
16:10Upon its dissolution, people started seeing the ghosts of spectral monks wandering along the Dyke,
16:16singing prayers, hymns, and salutations on the high Christian holidays.
16:26A few miles east is the medieval market town of Ludlow.
16:33Ludlow Castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman Conquest.
16:37It is both steeped in history and mystery.
16:41One of these mysteries is the haunting of Marian de la Brutus, a noble woman who lived inside the castle.
16:48Now, during the 12th century, during the War of the Roses, Marian had a lover.
16:52This lover would climb into a castle by a rope that she would let down every night.
16:58But one night, instead of ascending the rope himself, he sent up a small army who invaded and seized the
17:04castle.
17:05Now, Marian was beside herself. She was betrayed and she killed him.
17:10She slit his throat with his own sword.
17:12In a moment of loss and despair, she threw herself off the tower in the castle, landing on the sharp
17:19rocks below.
17:19It said to this very day, on a quiet evening, if you ascend the tower, you could even see a
17:25ghost.
17:26Or, if you're brave enough, and you ascend the tower on the anniversary of her death,
17:31you might hear her saying,
17:33Betrayed. Betrayed. Betrayed.
17:45Next, I head north to the sleepy village of Rattlinghope, to visit the grave of the last Sinita.
17:54This is the grave of Richard Munslow in St. Margaret's Church.
17:57Now Richard Munslow was the last known Sin-Eater.
18:00You may ask, what is a Sin-Eater?
18:03Well, a Sin-Eater was a very poor person, usually,
18:06who would eat and drink over the grave of a non-repentant person.
18:09Now this would ensure that that person could enter into the kingdom of heaven.
18:14Also, that they would not rise from the grave as a ghoul or vampire.
18:18This was a very superstitious time.
18:19Now the Sin-Eater was on the lowest rung of society.
18:23You could not look a Sin-Eater in the eye without being cursed.
18:26Evil spirits followed them.
18:28Nobody would associate with them.
18:29They played an important role in those olden times.
18:33But Richard Munslow wasn't a poor person.
18:35He was a local farmer.
18:36He was quite wealthy.
18:38However, he lost four of his children to scarlet fever.
18:41And one can only assume that they had not repented.
18:44And Richard took on the role of the Sin-Eater
18:46so they could enter into the kingdom of heaven.
18:49Thereafter, he took on the same role for other local people
18:52who had not repented before death.
18:55In 2010, the local people held a ceremony in honour of Richard
18:59for his good deeds.
19:01He had ensured that everybody in this neighbourhood during his time
19:04had entered into the kingdom of heaven.
19:07Albeit this was very superstitious, but he had a good heart and he meant well.
19:11And as far as he was concerned, he was taking on the sins of those people.
19:15Who even knows if he himself got into heaven after all.
19:19He was so laden with the sins of the community hereabouts.
19:33Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire.
19:35And it's where I'm meeting with Jane to learn about his prison's history,
19:39hangings and hauntings.
19:41Jane, it's great to see you again.
19:43You too.
19:44It looks like you've brought me to a lovely old library.
19:47Tell me all about this place.
19:48Well, Andy, I'm afraid to say it's no library.
19:51This is Shrewsbury Prison.
19:54Now, there has been a jail here since 1793,
19:59shortly after the 1774 Jail Act,
20:02which actually sought to make the conditions for inmates in prisons much better.
20:07Before then, of course, old medieval jails were squalid in sanitary places.
20:13But after the Jail Act, conditions were more or less seen as more humane.
20:18So, Shrewsbury Prison was a place of incarceration and execution.
20:23And it was only decommissioned in 2013.
20:26So, for over 200 years, this place has stood here.
20:29One would imagine that a place that has stood so long as a prison
20:32had its fair share of famous inmates.
20:35Well, it has had some notable characters over the years.
20:38I mentioned executions.
20:39The last man to be executed here was in 1961, so fairly recent times.
20:45And that was a 21-year-old man called George Riley.
20:47He'd been convicted of murdering a 62-year-old woman.
20:51In fact, Andy, his ghost is said to haunt the prison to this day.
20:56You know, it's hard to believe that executions actually took place inside this building.
21:01I'm very curious about how they did it.
21:04Shall I show you?
21:05Sure.
21:05Let's go in.
21:06OK.
21:13Is this what I think it is?
21:15I'm afraid it is, Andy.
21:17Yeah, this is the drop.
21:18We are in the execution room.
21:20We know that 10 people were executed in here.
21:25But, of course, that was after executions were moved indoors.
21:29So, originally, executions actually took place outside at the gatehouse.
21:34And these were huge public spectacles.
21:37You know, families would come.
21:38People would bring their children.
21:40They would arrive early to get a good spot so they could see the execution.
21:43And if they wanted to take home a souvenir, they could buy a poster depicting the executed criminal to take
21:52home.
21:52So, it's unusual now.
21:54It's difficult for us to imagine.
21:56But back then, execution was entertainment.
22:00And people would bring their families to see it.
22:02By the mid-1800s, though, people started to wonder whether public executions were a good deterrent.
22:10They weren't really preventing crime.
22:12And also, of course, there was the moral dilemma.
22:15You know, should we be coming to see these kind of brutal acts at all?
22:19So, in 1868, public executions were outlawed.
22:24But executions were moved indoors.
22:26So, the last man to be executed in public here at Shrewsbury was John Mapp.
22:31He was 35.
22:32And he was convicted of killing a nine-year-old little girl.
22:36So, following his execution, executions were brought indoors.
22:39And that's when we see this in use.
22:43You'll notice there is a room next to the drop.
22:47That was the condemned man's cell.
22:50So, there's a window there now.
22:51That wouldn't have been there before.
22:53There was actually a bookcase.
22:54So, the door to the drop was behind the bookcase.
22:59So, if you're in there for your last night on earth, you don't know whether you're going out the door
23:05or how you're dying.
23:07They move the bookcase across at 8 o'clock in the morning.
23:10The bell rings outside.
23:12And you're executed.
23:14Once the execution has taken place, the bodies are taken down.
23:17And they were buried within the grounds of the prison.
23:20And they have found bodies here over the years during renovations.
23:25Quite sinister.
23:27So, we have death.
23:29The end of life.
23:31What comes after?
23:32Is there any sign of the afterlife in this prison?
23:36It's funny you say that because plenty of people believe the place to be haunted.
23:41And, do you know what?
23:41I have a belief that there are two types of hauntings.
23:44Two types of activity going on here.
23:47Spirits.
23:48Ghosts.
23:49The restless dead.
23:50But, also residual energy.
23:52If you think the fabric of this building has housed torment, anguish, sorrow, pain, regret, fear.
23:59All of these human emotions taking place in one building.
24:03Well, it absorbs that.
24:04And we can experience that if the conditions are right.
24:08There are ghosts and spirits here at Shrewsbury.
24:11And I'll tell you more about them out on A-Wing.
24:15Andy, before we go to A-Wing, I just want to show you this room.
24:19You can see we're below the drop.
24:21This is where the doctor would have been waiting to cut the body down, check the pulse, make sure the
24:28prisoner was dead.
24:29It's a horrifying thought to think that so many men, however deserving, lost their lives in this very spot.
24:37Now, talking about ghosts, I believe there was something you were going to show me in A-Wing.
24:41Yeah, come on. Let's go.
24:45Looking around, I wouldn't want to be here after dark.
24:48It looks very spooky and very lonely.
24:52Jane, tell me which ghost inhabits this part of the jail?
24:56Well, it's interesting you say that you wouldn't want to be here after dark because there are hundreds of people
25:01who pay to come here and stay here until the early hours of the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse
25:07of the ghosts here.
25:09Now, the ghost that's seen on A-Wing is a lady.
25:13It may seem unusual, but originally men, women and children were all kept here.
25:19Children would often be kept with their parents until a certain age.
25:23Now, the lady that's seen here is described as a grey lady, so she's your classic ghost.
25:29She appears as a mist-like figure and her presence is accompanied by a chill, a sudden chill that people
25:36feel.
25:37Now, people also report hearing the faint sound of sobbing.
25:41One theory is that she is possibly the wife of a former prisoner who was executed here.
25:48She then took her own life and her restless spirit returns, trying to be reunited with the spirit of her
25:55executed husband.
25:57But they're yet to be reunited.
25:59So, a tale in A-Wing of Shrewsbury Prison of a forlorn lady in grey.
26:06For the people visiting this place, hoping to see the grey lady, what brings her out?
26:12What's the best chance that they have of seeing her?
26:15Be here late at night.
26:17Be very calm and quiet and still and respectful and listen out for the swish of her dress first.
26:25Take note of the temperature changes around you.
26:29If you begin to feel incredibly cold very quickly, unnaturally quickly, she could be present.
26:35But most importantly, just keep an open mind and keep an eye on the shadows.
26:41People talk about seeing ghosts all the time.
26:44But how do we know that they're real?
26:46What evidence do we have?
26:48Many of the ghost hunters that come here, Andy, claim to have captured audio recordings.
26:53So, EVPs, that's electronic voice phenomena.
26:57So, literally a disembodied ghost's voice on their recorders.
27:02Often these recordings will give names.
27:04Sometimes they'll give dates or other bits of information.
27:07But many of those have actually been captured on C-Wing.
27:11Shall we go there now?
27:12Let's take it out.
27:12Come on.
27:21Earlier, you mentioned electronic voice phenomena.
27:26EVP.
27:27What had been captured in this place.
27:29But I don't quite understand how it works.
27:32How can we capture the voices of the dead on an audio device?
27:35Well, the theory behind EVPs and the electronic voice phenomena is that ghosts and spirits operate
27:42on a different frequency to our own.
27:44So, human hearing is actually very, very limited.
27:47We can only hear a certain amount of hertz on the sound wave.
27:51The theory is that spirits operate on a different frequency.
27:55And so, sometimes what we need to do is adopt the use of electronic equipment to aid us in
28:00capturing voices.
28:01So, for example, what a ghost hunter may do is go into a room, hit record, begin calling
28:07out, asking for spirits to leave their voice on the recorder, and then leave a period of
28:11silence.
28:12When they play that back, sometimes there is a response in the silence.
28:19That's what we call an EVP.
28:20That is a disembodied voice captured on the recording.
28:24How about the voice that was captured in this locale?
28:28What did it say?
28:29So, there's been the voice of a little girl captured here, and she's giving her name,
28:34apparently, as Frankie.
28:36Now, the investigator that captured that was a bit confused.
28:40She thought, well, that doesn't sound like a historic name necessarily, but apparently
28:43it is.
28:43And there's also the ghost of a little boy here, believed to be called William.
28:48He's been captured on digital audio recorders, crying and giggling.
28:52But here on C-Wing, this is where a lot of the paranormal activity takes place.
28:58Now, this wing was for vulnerable prisoners, so paedophiles, rapists, anyone who may have
29:06been at risk by being with the main population on A-Wing.
29:10But originally, women were kept here, and they would have been allowed to have their children
29:15with them up to a certain age.
29:18So, actually, we can explain why there may be child spirits here.
29:23But the C-Wing is where the most sinister spectre lingers.
29:29And this is an apparition referred to as Shadow Man.
29:33Now, Shadow Man is said to be a seven-foot-tall figure that lurks in the corners of the cells.
29:41Now, he is accompanied by an ominous presence, a very uneasy feeling, a feeling of dread.
29:49And people also hear footsteps just above your head, Andy, on the walkway there.
29:55So, all in all, I would say for Shrewsbury Prison, this is a paranormal hotspot.
30:02So, this is where we should do our investigation?
30:04I think so.
30:09You know, one of the things I never understood about my investigations is how you could see
30:15where you're going.
30:17It's completely black in here.
30:19Well, it is.
30:20I mean, your senses, funnily enough, adapt.
30:24And your eyes will adjust.
30:26You will, in a few minutes, you'll actually be able to see more than you can see now.
30:30But one of the reasons people investigate at night and in the dark
30:33isn't because ghosts and spirits come out at night.
30:36Of course, they're present all the time.
30:38It's just because our senses are heightened.
30:42You know, our sense of hearing, we're on alert.
30:44So, we are more likely to experience paranormal activity if one of our senses is deprived,
30:51our sense of sight.
30:53So, in this cell and the cells down this end of C-wing, this is where child spirits are more
31:00frequently seen and heard.
31:03Now, I've bought a really simple little tool here, Andy.
31:07This is a motion-activated LED ball.
31:10So, this will flash if something touches it or it's moved.
31:17So, if a breeze blows on it and it rolls down the corridor.
31:21So, what we're looking for, when I place this on the ground, is maybe for the children to
31:26come and play with it.
31:27Maybe they'll be attracted to the light.
31:29So, I'll pop that near the door, shall I?
31:31Sure.
31:32If that goes off, it's interesting.
31:35So, we'll just wait for it to settle.
31:39We wait and wait, but there seems to be no activity.
31:43It's time for a new approach.
31:46And Jane has suggested we sing a nursery rhyme to try to encourage the children's spirits
31:51to manifest.
31:59Sadly, it's a no-show.
32:02I didn't think we were that bad.
32:12Oh, look, Stux.
32:13Oh, Andy, I've got an idea.
32:15What?
32:16Get around there.
32:17Oh, gosh.
32:18What's going to happen?
32:20Oh, you're not serious?
32:21In you get.
32:23You're here for the full experience.
32:26Ready?
32:26Yeah.
32:27Uh-oh.
32:30Now, I think this could possibly be a first in paranormal ghost hunting history.
32:35I think this has ever been tried before.
32:37Do you know what?
32:38This is a very elaborate trigger experiment.
32:41Okay.
32:41I'm going to leave the motion ball here.
32:43Oh, gosh.
32:44And let's see if any of the ghosts of Shrewsbury Prison are triggered by this.
32:49You're not bleeding, are you, Jane?
32:50I am.
32:51Bye-bye.
32:51Oh, Jane.
32:54Dear.
33:09Finally, I head to the ancient Roman stronghold of Viraconium to meet with Graham, who's taking
33:15me on an Arthurian adventure.
33:18Graham, I've been to Cadbury Hill.
33:20I've even been to Tintagel.
33:21It seems like every part of Britain has a claim to the site of Camelot.
33:26Well, this is the real one, in my opinion, the historical Camelot.
33:30Now, let me give you the background to it.
33:32Arthur is said to have lived around 500 AD, 1500 years ago, and he ruled from the most powerful
33:38city in the country.
33:40The word Camelot, incidentally, was a name made up in medieval times to rhyme with the
33:44word Lancelot.
33:45So we know it wasn't called Camelot.
33:47We don't actually know what it was called.
33:49This is the ruins of a city that was called Viraconium.
33:53It was built by the Romans, and it now is called Roxeter.
33:57Now, this city here was the fourth most important city in Roman Britain.
34:03The Romans left Britain around 410 AD, leaving the country in a state of turmoil.
34:09Ultimately, the Anglo-Saxons from Germany started to invade, and around 500 AD, this is when Arthur
34:16is said to repel the Saxons and united Britain.
34:19Now, if he lived anywhere, I think he lived here, because you've got the four most important
34:27cities, London, Lincoln, York, and then this one.
34:30London, Lincoln, and York had all been invaded by the Anglo-Saxons by the time Arthur's around,
34:34so this leaves this as the most likely place in the country that he ruled from.
34:39This became the capital at the time Arthur lived.
34:41The archaeology shows that it was completely rebuilt and re-fortified at exactly the time
34:49Arthur is said to have lived.
34:52Now, did Arthur really come from here?
34:54Who was it who's doing all this rebuilding and re-fortifying this town, this city?
34:59Well, there's a monk who lived at the time called Gildas, who writes that a man who ruled here
35:06at that time was called Ursus, the bear, and in Brythonic, the language spoken by the Britons
35:14at that time, the word for a bear is Arthur.
35:18The bear is basically a title.
35:20A lot of Celtic warriors had titles of real and mythical animals.
35:23His real name was Owen Fanguin, and he had a father called Anian Girt, and he had a title,
35:32and his title was The Terrible Head Dragon.
35:36Now, you translate that into Brythonic, and it's Uther Pendragon,
35:41which is exactly the name of Arthur's father in the legends.
35:44So you've got a city, the most powerful in the country.
35:46We know this from historical documents.
35:48We know this from the archaeology.
35:50At the time when Arthur is supposed to be alive, ruling for the most powerful city.
35:56And we've got a man ruling here called Arthur, whose father is Uther Pendragon.
36:00This is Camelot case proved.
36:03So this is probably where he ruled.
36:06How about the place where he fell?
36:09Well, we're going there next.
36:10The Battle of Camelan, Arthur's final battle.
36:19This is the place where you believe that Arthur fell.
36:23Yep.
36:24At the time that King Arthur lived, Britain was divided into lots of separate feuding kingdoms.
36:32Eventually, later in his life, his nephew, according to all the stories, Mordred, rebelled against him.
36:39Now, historically, at the time Arthur lived, this river was a dividing line between one kingdom in the centre of
36:48England here and another kingdom there.
36:50And this side of it is where Arthur's capital of Viraconian was.
36:58And that side was ruled by a man called Medroth, very similar to Mordred.
37:02We don't know too much about him.
37:04But the earliest references to Arthur tell us that Arthur and Medroth fell at a place called Camelan.
37:14And this is a likely place for that to be.
37:17Take me through what actually happened here.
37:20How would this battle have unfolded?
37:22Well, there's an early description of the battle.
37:25It's in a book called the Mabinogion, which is a series of Welsh stories that were put together in the
37:31Middle Ages but date back much earlier.
37:34And there's a story in there called The Dream of Roneboy.
37:37And in that, Arthur is fighting a battle against Mordred.
37:40It is said to be at a place called Rydigros, and that is here.
37:45This bridge over there, it's all very recently a ford.
37:50And Rydigros means ford of the cross.
37:52And this was a ford across this river.
37:55And also in the story, Arthur is said to be on the banks of the river.
38:02Whether this actually happened or whether somebody imagined it during the Dark Ages, the action is set right here where
38:09we're standing now.
38:10That can't be denied.
38:12Anyone can read it in the Mabinogion.
38:15How about Camelan?
38:17Is there any evidence that this place actually existed?
38:20Well, it surprises me that no one's ever put this together before, because this little river here is called the
38:27very similar Camlad.
38:30I'm wondering, what does Camlan mean?
38:33Camlan actually means crooked bank.
38:36And if you look here, you'll see that is exactly what we find.
38:40It really is a crooked bank.
38:43It certainly straightens out the story.
38:45Tell me, what happened after he fell?
38:48Well, according to the story, he was taken away to the Isle of Avalon to be healed.
38:54And I think I know where that is.
39:01Arthur has fallen in battle.
39:04Tell me, what happens next?
39:07Well, according to the story, his body is taken to Avalon.
39:12Avalon, in the original story, is an island in the middle of a lake.
39:16And he's taken there, not to be buried, but for his wounds to be healed.
39:21And when he dies, eventually, he's buried on the banks of the lake,
39:28in a chapel called the Black Chapel, in a place called Birch Wood.
39:36That is the end of Arthur.
39:39So why here, Graham?
39:41What has this place got to do with Arthur's grave?
39:44I'd established that Arthur's capital was Viriconium, the Roman city.
39:48I wanted to find out next where the people who ruled from there were buried.
39:53And there's an old Dark Age war poem that tells us.
39:56And it says that they were buried at a place called the Churches of Basar.
40:01Now, this area here is called Baschurch.
40:04Baschurch, Churches of Basar.
40:06It has to be the same place.
40:08And just outside the actual village of Baschurch,
40:13there is a hill that was once surrounded completely by water.
40:18And archaeological work there has shown that there are earthworks on that hill
40:23showing it was being used at exactly the time that Arthur is said to have lived,
40:28as some sort of ceremonial place.
40:30An island in the middle of a lake, at the Churches of Basar, Baschurch.
40:36That, I believe, was the Avalon that Arthur was taken to, to be healed.
40:41Now, when he died, if he was then taken back to the banks of the lake
40:46and buried at a place called the Black Chapel,
40:49is there any archaeological evidence in historical documents
40:52that there was a chapel on the banks?
40:54Yes, and it was here.
40:57If you look from the air, you will see in the middle of what was the lake,
41:02there is this hill.
41:03It's called the Berth.
41:04That's the Avalon of legend.
41:07And right next to it, there's a big lake, a pool, called Berth Pool.
41:12That was just part of the water that once surrounded the whole of that hill
41:17in a massive lake.
41:19But, of course, over the years, it's been drained for farmland.
41:22And we're now standing here on the shores, if you like,
41:27of what would have been the original lake.
41:30And it is here that I believe that the Black Chapel where Arthur was buried was.
41:37And there's a few reasons why I think that.
41:39Firstly, this is called Birch Grove.
41:43He was buried in a place called Birch Wood.
41:46There was a chapel here dating from the right time.
41:49And if you take a look at this, in this book I have here,
41:54you will see, you can see, you're probably good at reading Latin.
41:59Read what it's supposed to have said on his gravestone.
42:10And if you look underneath, you will see what that means.
42:13Here lies King Arthur, the once and future king.
42:17When a limited excavation was done here a few years ago,
42:21something was found.
42:22And it was kept at a local museum.
42:24And now that museum's closed, so I've now got what was found.
42:28And this is it.
42:31It is part, clearly, of a gravestone.
42:34Can you see what's written on it?
42:36Heck.
42:37Yes.
42:37Here lies.
42:38We haven't got the rest.
42:39Here lies.
42:40Now, this could possibly be anybody's grave,
42:42but it's old and it's at the right place.
42:45Maybe, just possibly, this is Arthur's gravestone.
42:48And we're standing on his last resting place.
43:19And we'll see you next time.
43:32See you next time.
43:52See you next time.
43:53See you next time.
43:53See you next time.
43:53See you next time.
43:54Bye.
43:54Bye.
43:54Bye.
43:54Bye.
43:54you
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