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This is Kew Gardens, world-renowned for its world- class plant collection and magnificent greenhouses. But 250 years ago, he was well known for a very different reason. It was the royal playground of George III, the British Versailles, and at its center stood the magnificent White House. This was George's favorite home, and we came here to find it. We have one really important clue-this sundial, which is supposed to mark the location of the palace where George spent some of his craziest years. But how big was he? What did he look like? And most importantly, where is he now? Team Time has only 3 days to figure it out.
This is our goal - a magnificent White House, as it was when George III moved here. And given the handy sundial, finding it should be very easy. Well, you are absolutely right. We actually have an X marking this spot. But we have all this evidence about the White House here, but we just don't know what's archaeological excavations that have been preserved here will be able to tell us. Jonathan, what would you like to see as a result of the next 3 days? Well, we know that there was some work done here, significant work by William Kent, one of England's most respected architects. But we don't know if he simply attached the facade to the old
house. And after his work was completed, we don't know what George III did with it when he moved here in the 1770s, 80s. It seems to me that you both have quite architectural goals, but all I can think about is this poor, scared, lonely, crazy man being stuck here for so long. Do you think there's a chance we could get evidence of his life? Of course. I mean, once we can dig up some trenches, we'll start excavating the rooms of the building, and if we're lucky, we'll find artifacts and finds in them that will give us a glimpse into the lives of these people. It is not surprising that geophysicists are focusing their search for the palace around the sundial. The red building in the back is a Dutch house that was the nursery for all 15 of
George's children. This is one of three surviving buildings that were part of the palace complex. The other two are kitchens to the west and a greenhouse to the east. Jonathan will give us a tour. Here we are. There is a sundial. Yes. There is a greenhouse. If you look at the resistance, I think it's right there. Strong, isn't it? It exactly matches the facade of the greenhouse. This is an important moment for Jonathan. This is the first physical evidence of the existence of the palace, which he had previously only known about from books and documents.
Well, I walked around the side of this building for 6 years, hoping to see him one day, and here he is. I mean, it has to be that wall, right? What's confusing is that it looks like 4 or 5 m. Well, that would be more than.right? Well, that's definitely a wall. I mean, this is the garden facade of the house itself, right? I mean, it could be a big solid wall with rubble on both sides, or we could see a wall with a floor. Yes. A kiss. Yes. Do you think this is a significant gap?
Well, it's possible that this could be an entrance, but we don't know where the corners are. Where on earth is this? Um, well, it's on this side of the sundial. I mean, basically we have a wall running along this line right here. We.We don't know where she turns. We do n't know where it turns from that end. But the entrance you're referring to would be about here. It's 11:00 AM on the first day, and our first trench begins to the right of the sundial, where we hope to find evidence of the front wall of the White House. We may be allowed to dig up one of Kew's most magnificent lawns, but we'll have to be on our best behavior, as some of Britain's most skilled gardeners
will be watching our every move. In summer or winter? But Phil's thoughts, as always, are focused on archaeology, and even before the turf is removed, it sounds promising. About 5 m wide. Even better, Q provided us with some great equipment to help us get there even faster. My God. Look at this. Brilliant. What is he doing there? He is there. I mean, I guess it only works well if you have a nice lawn, but it's still nice, right This is my little Swiss roll. Where to put them?
Push them back in there. We know that there was once a Tudor mansion on this site, and one of the questions we want to answer is whether it was demolished to make way for the White House, or did the architect William Kent build his magnificent stucco palace around it? And we hope Phil's excavations will help us find the answer. But it is still early days, and there It seems Phil just found a gravel pit. It's not just digging that will help us uncover the secrets of the White House. Stewart will use Q's extensive collection of 18th century maps to help us pinpoint its location more precisely. But the real key to this place is a survey of the palace conducted by architect William Chambers.
It shows the plan of the building in great detail, and from it we can already identify some of the rooms. The state rooms would be here, along the garden facade. This would be an inner courtyard, and the royal toilets would be hidden behind. But geophysicists seem to think they can do just fine without a plan. They just received the second set of results from the heart of the palace. Well, we're just thinking about maybe another ditch. Yes. Yes? Where will he go? What do we have? What does the top say Look, here's your first ditch. There.
Right. If you want to put something in, I would actually make a moat like this. And the reason is that you're looking at this possible interior wall here. This is good enough. And then you look at those answers. Then you can see if there are any intact floor levels. I mean, these are the main walls. Yes. I think it will do something similar. Yes. So we're right in the middle of the house with this second moat, right? It is what it will be Sooner or later, we will want to know what is happening inside as well as outside.
10 to 2, that's what it was. What are you. We're digging a second ditch to try to find some of the inner chambers of the palace. And once we find clear wall lines, we'll use the Chambers plan to confirm where we are in the building. Phil spent 27 years raising sod by hand, but he has been exposed to new technology and is taking a crash course in mechanical sod cutting. We need a little more practice before I let him out on my lawn. I think Ash is very commendable, even if I do say so myself. While George was locked here, trapped in his own madness, what was happening in the outside world?
It was a time of turbulent events in Europe. Napoleon ruled the continent. Britain at one point stood alone against the French Empire. It was a time of great industry. The Industrial Revolution was advancing rapidly. It was a time when Britain became much more confident, much richer. Ironically, at the same time, they revered the old mad king, who was a very useful figure. This place was used as an asylum when he suffered from porphyria, which is considered madness. So after a certain point in the late 1780s, I think people were
a little aloof about him. So he wasn't really crazy. He just had some absolute.At the time they thought he was completely crazy. But since then, we, we, we, have realized, or medical historians have realized, that it was actually a blood disease, not old age. It is likely that by the time of his last illness, in 1810, he had truly gone mad. He was old, he was blind. He must have really been suffering from some kind of old age. But before that it was a blood disease. Did he really talk to the tree? I'm afraid so. Yes, he did all sorts of terrible things that he was reminded of when he recovered. In the first trench, where we had hoped to find the palace facade, Phila's layer of gravel turned into a huge pit,
notable for its complete absence of archaeology. Fillet. What? Is this a huge hole in the ground with nothing in it? Yes. No, it's a huge pit filled with gravel. But there is no archaeology. Well, that's all part of the story, Tony. They, uh, demolished the building, they made a big hole, and they filled it with gravel. Nick wants to close the trench and move Phil to another one. I have to say, I'm concerned about whether we'll actually get much out of this. It seems to me that this could be one huge looting trench, and we might have lost everything. But that's enough,
Phil. We can't spend all day digging a trench that belongs to Tony, it's Tony, it's.It's only day one. This trench hasn't been opened for a very long time. We haven't found the palace yet. We must continue. You're not going to pull me out of this trench yet. Apart from Phil, everyone is increasingly worried that the building may have been completely looted, and we may be left with nothing. So it's a huge relief when, right under the turf, trench two yields brickwork. Oops. And look at the line of this too. It's just.It exactly matches.It. with the greenhouse course.
This is moving in the right direction Smell the palace. And just across the clearing, in the first trench, Phil also looks quite pleased with himself. What do you have? Look, we have the back wall of something like a cellar. One edge of it extends here. And the leading edge is over there. And from it, extending from it, we have the floor going in that direction. In this direction. How are you feeling, Nick? I was convinced, well, almost convinced, that we wouldn't get much out of this trench, that we were chasing a lost cause.
Phil was right, and I have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased. So what are we going to do tomorrow, Phil? Well, we'll chase that floor over there and hopefully find the front of the palace there. So, we have a fragment of the basement here, we have a fragment of the interior wall there. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get inside the palace of King George III. Everything was going so well last night. It seemed like we found a fragment of Mad King George's palace over there in Phil's trench, and another fragment in this trench here. But now it's the beginning of the second day, and suddenly we're faced with a big problem.
John, what happened? The geophysics simply doesn't align with any of the plans we have for buildings. The sizes are all wrong. We can clearly see this wall in Phil's trench. That's good, that's the front wall. But we geophysicists know that this wall is 25 meters away. But the plan shows that it is only 15. They simply do not agree. Nick believes the best way to solve the problem is to test John's geophysics results by digging a trench in the clearest part to see if it is indeed part of the palace. But he can't. Well, if we look at the plan here, right on the plot line where we want to lay the trench, there is a gas pipeline. And we can't touch it. So, this is the end of this trench. So, we are completely stuck.
Well, we want to dig another trench behind the building here. It's somewhere here. Yes, yes. We want to determine the location of the back of the building. But they can't dig a trench behind the building because they don't know where it is yet. So now Stewart and his cards have to solve this problem. He is trying to figure out why there is a discrepancy between Chambers' plan and the results of the geophysical surveys to see if he can link the location of the palace. Have you scanned this yet? Yeah, we.we.uh.Neil just got around to it. Yes. Um, and we also have this plan that he's scanning right now, and it's the actual floor plan of the building.
Hopefully, with a little error, we can overlay this on this map and determine which room we're digging in. So we can deal with the geophysical mess, right? Good. OK. Unaware of the confusion unfolding around them, the archaeologists in trench two were quietly uncovering more brickwork, and they made our first find. David Greetings. I heard you have something you want to show me. Yes. I have a great little find here. Look. Oh, that's fantastic. And this is the stem of a royal wine glass from the Georgian era, and it takes us right into the heart of palace life. Georgians loved their alcohol and drinking it from bright
glassware. The higher-class glasses found in the palace were extremely intricate with scrollwork patterns on the stems and elaborately decorated bowls. They must have been extremely difficult to make. So we tasked modern glassblower Bob Crooks with recreating some Georgian-era glasses. So, where are you going to start? Well, now we're going to make a leg that spins with air. It's a bowl and a stem, all in one piece. And what we have here, at the bottom, we make four grooves in it. And eventually, when it's actually covered in clear glass, they'll trap bubbles in each of
these grooves, which will then spin later in the process. So, you now put it back in the bucket of molten glass. That's the secret - keeping the glass at a constant temperature and constantly rotating it so that the pattern can curl inside the stem. It's a complex process that took a crew of five men to create, but he makes it look simple. Hi, John, this is Stuart. Do you have those maps, Stuart? We are starting being made now. I can just see the house falling on your geophysics, John, and it will be printed in a couple of minutes. It's good if you can do it in 1 minute instead of 2. You're Bob works with lead glass. What is its advantage over the soda glass previously used in England?
Well, it was supposedly invented to compete with it, but in reality it was much stronger. It had excellent light refraction. It magnified things. The wine looked good in it. The chandeliers looked great in it. And it was very strong. In fact, it was a British specialty, and even gin glasses in pubs were made from it. Fantastically. This is so beautiful. Smooth. So, one is done, six remain. My God, do you like to complicate things? Well. Where did this come from? But what is it?
Let's see. I mean, we just finished it in the back to get rid of what we thought was rubble from the demolition, and there's just a huge block of standing masonry. Look, you have. you have a brick extending here, a brick, a brick cladding extending here, and then this massive core there. Okay, let's figure it out. Um, it's going that way, right towards the Dutch House. Right. Here, this wall you had before, yes. it deviates at approximately an angle of 90 Right. So, I believe it should be on the palace line. So, if that's the
exterior wall there, that's right. that aligns with the greenhouse, I believe it is an interior wall. Why it has two skins, I have no idea. But, if I were betting, I would bet at least £2, maybe £3. This is reckless., and this is the front facade of the house. So, finally Phil and Jonathan are convinced that they have found the facade that should overlook the most magnificent rooms of the palace. Isn't that right? No, according to Stewart and Henry. Jonathan, come here. Let's see. Well, we're already in the middle of day two. Yes. And listen to what he learned. A little, uh, wobbly, I'm afraid.
What do we have? Well, we managed to pinpoint where the White House is and where your trenches are. Phil's trench is in the garden, probably opposite the path. And the other trench just touches the house over there. That's where it is, guys. Nick, we wasted our time. Well, well, absolutely not. I mean, we found.This is something that I'm absolutely baffled by, because we found archaeology. We found some good archaeology in Phil's trench. Um, and we were just looking at that. We were just discussing the implications of what this means. And because we were very, very happy that it was in the corner of this pavilion.
I really need to sit down and look at this. You're sure he's right, aren't you? I'm not.I'm not sure you're right. This.This doesn't look right. This looks wrong Look at its size. This corresponds to scaling and measurements. Well, scaling explains geophysics, certainly. If Stewart is right, the White House is located much further north than we thought. So whatever Phil found, it couldn't be the front wall. Jonathan, you're twitching. Something's wrong here, you know? Do you see the size of the greenhouse? Yes. Absolutely true.
This is on this plan. The White House is one and a half times longer than the greenhouse. Then if you take the center of this, it will be there. They are the same length. It's 50%. Well, I mean, the obvious thing is that you're going to have to dig a trench on that end. Yes. Yes, we will do what we said. We'll still try to find that back wall, but mostly on the map. The next thing to do, I think, is to double-check that it's correct by looking for the back wall as you showed. So, dig another trench to give you some thought. I think so. And I'm going to break the news to Phil. Fillet.
Hello, Tony. Can I go into your trench? Yes. Remember how happy you were yesterday because you decided you were digging in the right place and not the wrong one? I think there were some doubts at all. Well, I think there is, my friend. According to Stewart, you're in the wrong place. You can go home. Look. This is a house. Yes. He is your trench. In the garden. Well, then I would say that archaeology disagrees with that. Well, because. What if you clenched your fist like this?
I say, well done. I'm like, I'm really behind you. Look. This is not a competition. It's a real relief, that's all I want to say. We are uniting to find out the truth about the palace. Let me explain to you what I think is going on here. Yes. First, they dug a huge ditch. This is the natural bedrock on that side. There they dug this huge foundation ditch and actually built a massive wall at its base. Now, just behind where Jonathan is, there is one end of the wall that we found yesterday, and the other end is right here. So they have this massive wall going in that direction. We also have a wall going at a 90° angle to it.
This one is here. And we know that this one and this one have the same time because you can see that these bricks overlap each other. So this wall and this wall must be from the same time. There is no way this material could be a garden feature. No way. It is so deep down, so massive and wide. It is designed to carry something extremely heavy. If this plan were correct, the facade of the White House would face a huge structure that would cover it. And no view of the gardens shows us that such a thing once existed. I don't.I don't.I don't believe it. But I don't know what it is Just a little thought occurred to me. It's not like a ha- ha, is it? Will you be left with a big gap?
Haha-it's like one of those ditches. The ditch. So that the sheep do not come near the house. Interesting thought. Will it be that massive? Why build bricks inside it? But if so, if I am, if I am kind of throwing her back with an element, could that be haha? Yes. Why does haha have to be at an angle? Well, I don't know. Phil's suggestion that the archaeological finds in his trench might be haha is not as far- fetched as it may seem. George III was affectionately known as Farmer George because of his passion for sheep farming at Kew. So it's entirely
possible that he installed the ha-ha to protect the palace from his flock. And he did n't just raise farm animals here. He also had a private royal menagerie where he kept kangaroos. I can only assume they came here with, um, Joseph Banks, who was on the ships, yes. At first unofficially, because he went, um, with Captain Cook on the Endeavour. Eventually they arrived at Botany Bay and he writes in a letter that he saw this 80-pound mouse jumping towards him, which is a great description. And of course, what did they do? They shot her and ate her. But they bred very successfully here, and, um, George III actually always tried to give them away. And you know, there are
these letters from the aristocracy of the country where they write to each other, "Oh my God, you know, George III tried to give me a kangaroo, and I had to tell him my fences weren't high enough." His medical records go with him on walks. And they all seem to end up going to see the kangaroo. I mean, it's a daily walk. So, I think I'll bury a few concerned doctors. Yes, that's true. That would be great. You are going to do it. First, Nick and Jonathan agreed to search the back wall of the palace, using Stuart's new map for reference. But Nick, having time to think about it, decided to ignore Stuart's testimony and
dig a third trench, relying on archaeological findings. Good. I said I've eaten a lot of hats in my time. This one could be a Stetson. So, we think that's where the back wall is, according to Chambers' plan. Well, if Phil is on the front wall, then an 18th century survey shows it to be 95 feet long. So that's 95 feet. Because I'm going on the assumption, um, or firm belief that Phil found the front wall. If not, if it's part of the garden, then it's the base of Nelson's Column. Trench three explores the back wall of the palace, which becomes increasingly important as in trench two the brickwork begins to look like a courtyard. This latest discovery could confirm both theories, as it could be either inside the palace
or in the garden. And then if you go out, if you go through this wall, you actually end up in a courtyard. Yes. Hmm, and then I can explain some bits of what's going on here. The last phase seems to be this drainage that goes past here and cuts through this brickwork, this wall that's right here and right here. Yes. Hmm, and then of course we have other fragments. We might have a soak or something here behind me. Hmm, more fragments, again fragments of the courtyard, rubble of the courtyard. So, we have a courtyard, but is it inside the palace? Now that Phil has moved to the third trench, it all depends on whether he can find the back wall and finally find the palace. If he finds the wall, we will know that the courtyard is inside. If not, then
Stuart is right, and we will return to the garden immediately. Tony, I think you'd better come and look at something. Tony, I'm on my way. You wanted to get as close to George III as possible, did n't you? I wanted to. We even have a photo of him. Look at this. Oho. What kind of coin is this? This is a Maundy threepence coin. So, uh, given to the poor, uh, with twopence, a penny, and a fourpence since 1772. So, this was actually one of those coins that the monarch gave out before Easter. That's right.
We also have another coin that is also very interesting, don't you think, Jonathan? Yeah, well, I like that coin, Tony, it's a beauty. She's 50 years older, um, from the 1720s. And you can see that it's actually quite worn out. Hmm, the king's head is almost flat there. So, this one has been around for quite a while. So, it must have been in someone's pocket when the White House itself was being built. Do we know why it has such an unusual shape? Well, it comes from somewhere in the trenches. She's all from around that drain, isn't she, Jonathan?
Far from inside the gutter. It actually comes from filling the drain in the center of the trench. So it's good that this will happen. Down While the coins have given us an idea of what was going on during George's time at the palace, Phil may finally be able to tell us where the palace was. Wow, that looks more like him. This is a wall, isn't it, Phil? Oh, that's right, if I ever saw one. Is that why you say there's a wall here? All I see are small scattered stones. Ah, but that's because you're not looking there, Tony. This is absolutely solid. Look at this. Absolutely solid. And look, individual bricks. Here is one. It goes there and back. He is next.
This doesn't happen with crushed stone. This is a laid brick. It seems to me that this indicates that the survey information was completely accurate. I'm afraid so What can't you get from a rail, right? What we found, I think, demonstrates that the 1771 map doesn't actually match the beam. So this is actually quite important to know. Yes. Let's.Let's. Let's have a little more triumph. This also demonstrates that the archaeological research was impeccable.
Let's see where you actually placed the trench and said we predicted we would get. Um, yes, you can get rid of that. Yes, that's the one that was wrong. I think I'm being scammed here. This is our moat, isn't it Which shows that there should be a wall on this line. Now, with any luck, she should get it back. There may be an error of a meter or two, but not 25 meters. Yes. Okay, let's assume. Let's assume for a moment that we stopped racking our brains. What should we do with this ditch now?
We have already mentioned that there So, we are still interested in this cellar. So, there could be a lot to take out here, and there could be some very interesting finds at the base. But the beauty of it is that we actually discovered a wall in this ditch, and we discovered these walls here in this ditch, and we have now discovered that wall in that ditch. So what this really means is that we can go anywhere on the building plan, dig a trench, and know what we're going to find. We really got to grips with these three ditches. Stuart is completely confused. He can't understand how a map can be so inaccurate. So he goes back to the drawing board and assembles all the old maps from scratch. Directly across the lawns from our trenches,
hidden behind trees, stands a small building that served as the kitchen for our palace. Tony, look at this. Steeply. Meals were prepared here for King George III. I didn't expect this. Yes, we have here, um, a big fire pit for roasting meat. So, all these grates are for putting your half of beef or something else on the tray. And this mechanism is lowered down by weight and rotates the spit itself. So, uh, all of this has been there since the 18th century. But those pieces of meat would be huge, wouldn't they?
Well, the most interesting thing is that there are so many little stands for so many different skewers, because we know from the household accounts that they prepared so many different dishes every day for the royal court. What kind of thing is that? For the queen and princesses, there are about 18 dishes, most of which are meat, very exquisite things. Lamb tenderloin and asparagus. The sad thing is that the poor king has a very simple dinner. He has lamb chops and, um, lamb, and that's basically it, with, um, apple dumplings and jelly. Okay, we have meat. How about two vegetables?
Okay, then the meat from the spit, on the shoulder, bring it here, and you'll need to take it to the vegetable kitchen through that blocked archway. Are they still there? They are there. Let's see. Okay, Tony, we're on the other side of this door. Here, turn it back. So, was it a feed hatch? That's right. Meat, thank you. Pass it through it. Yes. And then, um, here's the vegetable cuisine. And was this the same table where the vegetables were prepared?
Cooking tables no doubt. Plates and other things are there, knives are hanging, chop, cook over there. Still here, right? Yes. That's right. The frying pans are steaming over there. Where should I go now? Here. Back to the meat. Yes. And we will make our way to the White House. Look, I'm not going to go all the way to the White House with my meat. It's about 50 meters. Yes. And through the wind and rain, if you go out through this door. So where else are you going? We'll look here. Here are the tunnel developments. But it is walled up.
How do we know where it leads? Well, we don't know. So I hope John can help us in the garden. John, why are you up there? I'm trying to see where the building is so we can track the tunnel. This. This is a completely stupid idea, is there something to it? Well, I don't know. We have.We just have to try it with radar. When will we have the results? Uh, not tonight. Tomorrow?
Well, hopefully we'll find the tunnel tomorrow. Two days ago I asked why we were even trying to find Mad King George III's palace if we were pretty sure we knew where it was. Well, after 48 hours I can categorically say that the palace is there. Or maybe there, or he could be there, or down there. And the one person who created this confusion more than anyone else is Stewart, who was practically kicked out of the venue yesterday after a single accusation about where he might be. But, like an archaeological Dracula, he returned from the dead with a different location for this overturned palace. I have to say that I don't know if I'm helping to clarify the
situation or making it even more confusing. That's the White House in the background. And here are three trenches. This one is behind you. So, as you can see, it's near the back wall of the White House. The one here is outside the house. And that trench over there, the most interesting one, which we thought was on the front wall of the White House, is actually inside the building, and the front wall may be even further back between the grass and the path. Stuart seems to be moving the palace from place to place. His first theory was here and the first trench was in the garden, which was wrong. But this latest interpretation of the cards is even more dramatic.
She shifts the palace 25 m to the south, placing the first trench in the middle of the building, and the rear wall envisaged by Philo in the third trench, in the outbuilding. Again, confusion reigns. Jonathan, you really raised eyebrows. Well, they did. When he said that we thought it was because I still think it's the front wall of the White House. If not, that's a cruel twist of fate, isn't it? Oh, you know, you did it all. You did a lot yesterday. You gave me a bad card. My trust in you was completely destroyed. And yet, the archaeology in the ground still confirms the best match we had yesterday. That wall over there-that's the
front of the building. And then, when we predicted that there would be walls in that trench behind, lo and behold, we found them. They are all located on the same level. Another thing-trench two, where we expected to find a courtyard in the middle of the house, is a courtyard. We have a vaulted underground structure where we wanted to make a basement. We have a front wall with nothing behind it for the front of the house. We have two options. The first thing we need to do is conduct a geophysical survey along the front of the house. This will allow us to determine the location of the main wall if it is further south than
Phil believes in his trench. The second thing we need to do is widen the trench behind us. We need to find some more architectural features inside the building, then we can fix our position. Then we will know where we are. There is actually a third option. I came up with this trench I dug yesterday. I don't know why we're doing this, because even if Stuart is wrong, he'll give another card. Oh, yes. I know. He knows me too well. Now listen, this morning, earlier, I.I actually climbed in there. And look, there's an end wall. Now, if we widen the trench a little, we can find out if this wall continues there. In other words, is it an integral
part of the house? And also, perhaps, is there a way back there, or is it a completely isolated structure. Yes. The geophysicists had hoped to find our secret tunnel, but they had to postpone their search to expand their survey and see if Stuart was right, and if the palace really did extend south of the sundial. Johnny, you will relieve us of this considerable suffering. Well, I'm not sure Stuart will be too happy. I mean, I extended the survey 35 meters beyond this wall, and you want more walls, right?
I would like them, yes. Well, this is the wall we had on the first day. And here are your 35 meters. Absolutely nothing. This is a modern road. I don't understand this, because if this is the front wall, then what's going on behind it makes absolutely no sense in any of our planning systems. This is something that is being done. I can't reconcile this with the evidence I have Are we happy that this is now the front wall? Well, I'm satisfied. Of course, we need Henry to plan all the walls in the trenches, map it out, and then get different building plans and move them around to see if we get the best match.
I think we focus too much on plans. I think we allow ourselves to chase the walls marked on the plans and which we try to find, when in reality we should let the archaeology speak for itself. The simple fact is that it's more complicated than we thought, right? Much more complicated. To make sense of it all, the maps are abandoned, and Henry sets to work mapping the exact location of each archaeological site. These results will be combined with Chambers' plan to find the best location, and this should allow us to finally find the palace. But in the third trench, Phil discovers even more confusion. What he thought was the back wall of the palace turns out to be part of a basement that
seems to be completely separate from the main building. Given what you have, it could be a separate building. It could be an outhouse or something, right? Considering what you have. What we don't know is what we have because we haven't cleaned it up yet, it's just that she does it that way. We know that this wall is not going in this direction right now. So it, it projects it further north in the building than we may have initially thought. So, based on archaeological findings, Stewart may still be right. He could still be right, and, um, we could have miscalculated the But there's one complication here, because if we were right here, finding the north
wall at about this point, we should be able to track him there. And to this trench here, yes. That's right. We just open it. And what Chambers shows on his plan is that there are a pair of royal toilets on the inside of the north wall at about this point . So, we need to find a small rectangular brick hole. Good. And here is a rectangular brick hole. Does this look like a toilet? Um, well, he has potential. Yes. This is a potential toilet. It's a bit small, isn't it? Can I climb into the trench?
How much space do you need? Well, you won't have much room to move. If you are a fat king, you will be stuck. If this is a royal toilet, then everything else starts to make sense. Okay, Annette, Neil, how's the No problem. I already have it in the system. Henry has finished recording the archaeological sites, and now the main thing is to see if he and Stuart can fit them into Chambers' plan. We may not yet have the location of George's house, but Chambers shows that it was magnificent. It embodied the grandeur of one of the most remarkable architectural periods in our history.
I think when George II starts to function, that's when Kew will flourish. And, um, we tend to think of the whole era from 1714 to 1830, the reign of the Georgian kings, as grand classical architecture. Houses of the George dynasty. That's right. But there's another side to this story, because the kings themselves, um, they broke all the rules. What they did when they got here was build around the garden of oddities that represented world architecture, Islamic, Chinese. So you could actually leave your house and travel around the world and back. Was George III as uncultured as we tend to think of George I?
Absolutely not. He was a very cultured man. Hmm, he loved art, he loved science. He was a wonderful patron. At the same time, there was a great contrast in his personality. He was also a great family man, but he also lived a very strict personal life, uh, so I think, uh, the family was created here at Kew. This was done to avoid the temptations of the court, if you will. George's attempt to live frugally and protect his sons from the vices of the court was unsuccessful. His sons rebelled against their Spartan upbringing and took to the bottle with a vengeance. Meanwhile, our efforts to create glasses they would drink from have moved to the next stage.
Bob Crooks made six wine glasses for us and they were given to our artist to decorate. Steve engraves the first glass with fruits and flowers. How long will it take to make a design like this? Well, this one will take 2 to 3 hours to finish the entire glass. Hmm, and this is the same process we used in the 18th century. Engraving the shape of the leaves, uh, using smaller circles for the feather and vine shaped edge. Uh, and as I said, the process hasn't changed at all. Uh, that glass takes 2 to 3 hours for the grapes and leaves.
This glass, uh, that has the Prince of Wales' feathers on it. But I've already spent 5 hours on this one. And is he more or less ready? No, no, I guess there's still three or four hours, uh, left to finish the design. Another type of decoration was applying a pattern directly to the glass with special enamel paint. It was a delicate process, and only the wealthiest families could afford such glasses. The designs they chose would reflect their passion for oriental or classical themes. And they would be a great way to demonstrate your sophistication and love of culture.
Hopefully they will be ready for the Georgian festivities later today. After three days of humiliation with his cards, Stewart finally rehabilitated. He managed to find a match between the features on the ground and Chambers' solid plan, and it looks pretty clear. This is Chambers' plan. This is a plan of all the trenches on all the walls here, in yellow, that you found. If you do that, put them together, we can explain what you are-each trait that you found. Let me walk you through it, okay? Over there, where we had trench number one, that ghost wall that you said was erased, that's the ghost wall of the south facade. And I take my hat off to you.
You are right. So I say this modestly. So you did a great job. If you go to the back, that's the ditch where Phil dug a deep ditch that fits that building perfectly, even separated by these little narrow slits here, for dumping trash or whatever else is in that building. But he definitely fits that, you know? Let 's move on. This wall you picked out matches exactly this wall on Chambers' plan. It just fits perfectly. Now that the dust has settled, Stewart doesn't want to take responsibility for the confusion. He blames the cards. A cartographic crime was committed here, I assure you. Are you sure this isn't your cartographic crime? Are you sure this is correct?
Absolutely sure. No, okay. Well, get to work. Looks good. Great, we found it. Thank God. Finally, we managed to find the exact location of the palace. And we can actually identify the rooms that we excavated. The wall in the first trench was the basis for the facade. And behind it lay the most exquisite state rooms. and dining rooms. The brickwork in trench two was a courtyard, and in its center would have been a majestic fountain. George's toilet was hidden in the back of the building. And Phil's mysterious floating cellar was part of an outbuilding attached to the back wall of the palace. The only thing Chambers can't help us with is our tunnel, which we believe
connects the kitchen block to the White House. But geophysicists are working on this. They are using radar to track the signal they picked up yesterday. And since it's quite rare to find a secret tunnel, all gardeners are willing to help. We found him. We found him. He's near the tallest tree over there. Yonder? And we laid the line, and it works. So, if I came out of the kitchen underground. Yeah. with a plate of meat, I would race in this direction, where I can't get to because of all these fences. I'll go around, okay?
Okay, I'll catch up with you See you later. Do n't give up. Come on. Here we are. Well, look, here's what we got on the radar. These reflections, I mean, we got their line. And when we mapped them, I mean, they just projected back in a straight line through the kitchen door. This could very well be a tunnel. We spent some time there, and what we're actually catching is sand. Oh, but a little.I don't care. We have something in a straight line leading back to.
Maybe it's a trail, and then a tunnel. Well, our time is up, and if it's good enough for John, it's good enough for me. One last question remains. What happened to the original Tudor house? And in trench two, Jonathan thinks he has the answer. So, here we are in the heart of the building. And we ask the question, was this a new building from the 1730s, or was it built on top of an older structure? Well, here we find the characteristic Tudor brick. How do you know they are Tudor? Well, they don't look like all the bricks that were made for the Georgian parts of this building.
There is not a single sandy or purple one among them. They are dark red and smaller than Georgian bricks. It is entirely possible to reuse them, but you must remember that there was an old house on this site in the 1670s. And John Evelyn visited it, saw its orange groves, and said it was magnificent for its time. That's what it is. Do we know if this part of the trench is part of a previous structure? They may be part of an older solid foundation or an internal garden. There are definitely some water structures flowing through it. And all we know is that they were still functioning when these Georgian chimneys were washed down the So, we now know
that the palace was originally a magnificent Tudor mansion with a beautiful secluded central courtyard. And when the royal family took over, it was expanded and renovated by William of Kent. He added a magnificent facade to the old house. The palace, surrounded by magnificent gardens, was George's favorite home for 30 years until it became too old and shaky to maintain, so it was demolished in 1802. Three days ago, I said I wanted to get into the heart of the White House. And in this trench we really did it. 200 years ago, when George III finished his ablutions, he would have walked down one of his beautifully appointed corridors, out into his open
courtyard with its turbulent water features and fountains. He would look into one of his state rooms, then open his large front door and look out into his garden, his own version of Versailles. And he would smile as he watched his drunken sons and their supporters frolic in the evening light. Well, yes, Tony. I have a glass with a white house on it that we made ourselves. George the Third. Hooray.
