Neil Oliver: News, Interviews, History

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23. Lullingstone Roman Villa, Kent Oct 27, 2020

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In this episode Neil steps into an opulent Roman Villa grand enough to have housed the governor of Roman Britannia and maybe even put up a visiting emperor or two.

Lullingstone villa, in Kent, was built in the first century AD and developed and expanded over the next 300 years or so. Large in size, by anyone’s standard, and decorated with fine mosaic floors and beautiful wall paintings. With some archaeological detective work and painstaking restoration the interiors of this incredible building reveal nothing less than the arrival of Christianity into the British Isles.

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22. Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland Oct 19, 2020

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In this podcast we’re walking with Neil alongside the largest Roman artefact in the whole world, Hadrian’s Wall, the boundary of Empire. And we comes to a stop at a stretch of the Wall called Sycamore Gap, where one of the most beautiful trees in the British Isles stands.

Over 70 miles long, Hadrian’s Wall is an incredible feat of engineering. Interspersed with milecastles, barracks, forts and settlements, it’s a formidable wall dividing the long island into North and South. The Romans took around 6 years to complete the wall and it was built before there were any such people called the Scots or the English. The sheer ambition and hard work needed to construct it shows just how serious the Romans were about owning the British Isles.

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21. The Roman Baths, Bath, Somerset Oct 12, 2020

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In this episode Neil travels across the channel with legions of heavily armed, well trained Roman soldiers and heads to Bath in Somerset

In AD 43 a conquering Roman army invaded the British Isles and brought the modern world with it - forms to fill in, records to keep, taxes to pay, straight roads and central heating. Exploring Rome’s influence on the British Isles Neil takes us with him to Bath’s hot springs, the incredible natural phenomenon that brought two gods together - Sulis, the Celtic goddess and Minerva from Rome.

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20. At the End of the Earth, Inishmore Oct 05, 2020

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In this episode Neil takes us to a place of great power and beauty, an island off the west coast of Ireland, with its shoulder set hard against the mighty Atlantic.

High on the dramatic cliffs of Inishmore Neil explores two formidable Iron Age forts - Dún Aengus and Dún Dúchathair. The compelling mystery behind the remains of these breath-taking forts gives us a sharp reminder of the forces that shape the world we all live in today.

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19. Reflections of another World, Llyn Fawr, Mid-Glamorgan Sep 28, 2020

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In this episode we travel with Neil to one of the most magical lakes in the British Isles.

In the beautiful dark waters of Llyn Fawr, in Mid-Glamorgan, Neil comes face to face with the reflections of another world - home to ritual, ceremony and an ancient way of life that spanned the Bronze and Iron Ages. He rubs shoulders with an elite group of thinkers, whose power and knowledge spread right across the British Isles and discovers a hoard of incredible artefacts.

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18. The Dover Boat, Kent Sep 21, 2020

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In this episode Neil takes us on board the oldest known seagoing boat in the world – the Dover Boat.

Next door to the White Cliffs of Dover, one of the most unmistakeable, and instantly recognisable landmarks in the whole of the British Isles, Neil comes face to face with what for him, is one the most extraordinary artefacts he has ever seen. An incredible bit of ancient kit that was made by Bronze Age shipbuilders and used, by our ancestors, to travel and trade across the channel - Neil brings the Dover Boat to life.

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17. The Power Marriage, Great Orme, Llandudno, Sep 14, 2020

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This week Neil takes us with him to Llandudno to explore deep within the belly of a mountainous sea serpent.

Across the world the powerful marriage of copper and tin was producing a new metal alloy that was propelling the future of our species and driving a new age, the Bronze Age. Around 4000 years ago, at the Great Orme in Clwyd our ancestors started mining copper one of the metals needed to make this new metal alloy. The result, a vast almost industrial operation, helps shine a light on the drive, determination and sophistication of our ancestors - the mine they dug is the largest known prehistoric copper mine in the world.

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16. Dawn Of A New Age, Pendeen, Cornwall Sep 07, 2020

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In this week’s podcast we travel with Neil across the British Isles into the Bronze Age, investigating the metal alloy that would transform the human species.

The ancient world knew Cornwall as one of the richest sources of tin on the planet. And in the Bronze Age tin was in demand, because it is one of the two metals, along with copper, needed to make the new 'wonder' alloy, bronze. Neil takes us to Geevor tin mine on the incredibly beautiful Cornish coast exploring how this part of the British Isles played its part in helping to create the weapons, tools, jewellery and artworks that powered the world’s Bronze age.

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15. The Welsh Atlantis, Cantre’r Gwaelod. Borth, Ceredigion Aug 31, 2020

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This week Neil takes us to a place swirling with myths and legends.

In Cardigan bay lies the fabled Welsh Atlantis, Cantre’r Gwaelod. Legend tells of a rich land that was prized and protected but lost to an unstoppable flood. Setting off from Borth, Neil walks across an ancient landscape that intersects with history and archaeology to reveal some of it’s hidden secrets.

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14. The Time Traveller, The Amesbury Archer, Salisbury Museum Aug 24, 2020

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In this week’s episode Neil takes us to Salisbury to meet a Time Traveller from around four and a half thousand years ago who still has much to say.

Neil uncovers the stories this remarkable man tells us about the journey he took, walking right across Europe to Wiltshire in a time when you could hear the banging and clattering of building work at Stonehenge. Known as the Amesbury Archer, our Time Traveller was a man of great status. When he died, he was buried surrounded by beautiful flint arrow heads, fine archer’s wrist guards, gold and other precious metals - the richest Bronze Age burial ever discovered in Britain.

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