Dinmore Hill is an idyllic spot deep in the Herefordshire countryside with a prehistoric secret. Back in 2007 archaeologists made a surprising discovery on the hilltop, the remains of a huge bank and ditch system in the woods. Could Dinmore hide one of the biggest Iron Age hill forts in Britain - we had been called in to find out.
There were two stretches of bank and ditch we wanted to investigate, one located to the west in the woods and the other running along the eastern side of the hill. The big question was - did these two stretches join up to enclose the entire hill and create a massive hill fort?
Francis was keen to get started and while he waited for geophysics to process their results he put a trench in across the most visible earthwork on site. He was hoping to find the ditch and bank system on the eastern side of the hill which had shown up in aerial photographs.
But soon after the first trench went in, the geophysics arrived. John had been looking for the defences and evidence of structures in the interior of the fort. Not only did the results not show any buildings, they hadn't even spotted the big bank and ditch. What was going on? Francis had a solution - if in doubt about the geophysics, open a really big trench!
In the woods Phil was going to investigate the big ditch and bank discovered in 2007. He opened trench 2 through the defences to find out more about how and when they were built.
Back in trench one, and to everyone's relief, Matt had found the big ditch, even though the geophysics hadn't spotted it. It was huge, but did it link up with the ditch Phil was excavating?
As Day Two started the heavens opened. Time Team usually takes place in any weather but this was ridiculous - within minutes everything was sodden including the archaeology and the archaeologists. Work had to stop in the trenches as there was a risk they could collapse. But a torrential downpour wasn't going to dampen Phil's enthusiasm and work continued in his trench after it had been protected by a rather fetching marquee.
Francis braved the weather as well, opening more trenches in the interior of our potential hill fort to look for evidence of occupation. Unlike the initial results the new geophysics had provided several interesting targets, but one by one they all proved to be natural. There seemed to be nothing man made on top of the hill.
But we did get results and undoubtedly Phil had the trench of the dig. He'd uncovered a beautifully built bank alongside a colossal ditch which had been cut into the rock. Constructed by hand, this would have been a massive undertaking for the people who dug it back in the Iron Age - it would have been the ultimate defensive weapon.
There was, though, the big question still to answer - was this a hill fort? Francis was convinced it was, in spite of the lack of interior structures or any evidence that our two sets of ditches met up to form a circuit. But landscape investigator Stewart Ainsworth had other ideas. He believed that instead of surrounding the hilltop, our two ditches weren't linked at all and dated from different periods.
Henry Chapman, our archaeological surveyor, stepped in to solve the mystery. His computer model of the landscape showed that the promontory edges had been artificially steepened; effectively creating an earthwork defence that surrounded the hill.
After three wet, tough and confusing days Francis was sure we had cracked the site. There was a vast earthwork built around the hilltop after all. The ditches that made up this circuit were different in style so they were probably dug by different groups who used Dinmore Hill as a central meeting place. It was a place where there could have been feasting and religious ceremonies performed by the local Iron Age tribes.
Most impressive of all, we made it through three days of prehistory without anyone using the word "ritual" - possibly a Time Team first. Although we have just used it...
