When Stephen and Stephanie Fry bought a few acres of prime Somerset pasture to graze their horses, they inadvertently also bought the remains of Buck Mill, an 18th-century water mill.
But as Stephanie began to look into its history, she realised that there may have been a flour mill on the site since Domesday! So she called in Tony Robinson and his sceptical team of archaeologists to help her unravel the mystery of their accidental mill.
For Professor Mick Aston the prospect was too good to turn down. As the diggers get to work uncovering the whole of the 18th-century mill, Mick takes off into the landscape to look for clues form earlier centuries. He finds more than he bargained for: the whole area was awash with the tell-tale mill streams needed to power grind stones.
As the three days progress, the dig throws up constant reminders of the importance of wheat and bread to the medieval population, and of how rich millers could become. The only spanner in the works for this perfect industrial dig is the surprise discovery of an Anglo Saxon comb...
17 мар 2013
