Time Team: Season 20, Episode 4

20 - 4:

Tony and the Team help charismatic Hektor Rous, the son of 'Aussie Earl' Keith Rous, piece together the mysterious history of the family's Tudor country home in Suffolk. Hektor Rous moved from Melbourne to Suffolk in 2004 to try to rebuild his family estate's fortunes, and established premier events such as the Latitude festival in its 3500-acre grounds. The estate has belonged to the Rous family since the 1500s and now handsome Hektor is desperate to find out all he can about his illustrious ancestors and the houses they once occupied. In 1773 a drunken butler supposedly set fire to Henham Hall's wine cellar, sending the whole place up in flames. Can the Team piece together the family home's history, and find out if the butler did it? There's nothing visible where the house used to stand, and there's almost nothing left of the huge Georgian mansion that replaced it. Geophysics shows up the clear outline of a Tudor house, but can the Team work out what it looked like; whether it was one of the finest houses in the land, as some claimed; and the truth about its demise? After nearly three days of uncovering piles of fancy decorations and Tudor bricks, the archaeologists and Hektor discover a huge surprise. Could there have been three mansions on the site? The answer to all their questions may lie in the infamous cellar. But can they can find it... ?