Downpatrick, County Down

Cathedral Hill at Downpatrick is one of Ireland’s most sacred sites and has a rich history stretching back as far as the fifth century, when it’s thought that Saint Patrick founded the first church here. But how much of that important history still survives under the ground? In last Sunday’s programme Time Team were offered the rare opportunity to find out. I’m Robin Bush and welcome again to Time Team extra. The programme which I’m delighted to say gives us a chance to look in more depth at the background history associated with last Sunday’s Time Team programme. Joining me today is Dr Peter Harbison of the Royal Irish Academy who of course was with us on that dig. He’s an expert on the early church in Ireland. I thought we’d start this weeks programme with something you didn’t get to see on Sunday. And this is it, the letter of permission from the Bishop, without which we couldn’t even put a spade in the ground. This is the faculty as they call it, and it’s a beautiful thing isn’t it, complete with the Bishops signature and seal. So we had our permission to dig on the Cathedral Hill at Downpatrick, but I think everybody realised what a challenge we had on our hands.