The Chicksands military base in the heart of Bedfordshire is home to the joint armed services intelligence departments. Very hush hush, as they used to say in the 1940s.
Time Team was invited there by the base commandant, Brigadier Chris Holtom, to try to discover a bit more about the history and archaeology of the officers' mess. The mess was once a part of a 13th-century monastery, run by a home-grown English order known as the Gilbertines.
The Gilbertines were no ordinary monastic order. Best known for their unusual practice of having both monks and nuns on the same site, they were the cause of both gossip and, at times, scandal.
What secrets could Time Team unveil about the nuns and monks who lived here?
29 авг 2024