The druids of Celtic Britain are remembered as mystical holy men. Holding the secrets of nature. But ancient sources also accuse them of human sacrifice and even cannibalism. The Truth Behind s2e7: The Secrets of the Druids, National Geographic 2009
Britain is a hugely diverse religious society. But of all the faiths practised here only one is truly British: modern pagan witchcraft, otherwise known as Wicca. Wicca is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. Professor Ronald Hutton, Britain’s Wicca Man, Together 2018
Developed in the 1940s by a middle-aged nudist from the New Forest called Gerald Gardner. ibid.
What kind of man in 1930s England decides to become a witch? ibid.
Gardner was interested in the positive side of the occult … He wanted to take Wicca to the masses. ibid.
Summer 1939: a golden age of exploration and archaeology is coming to an end. It was an era that saw adventurers set out to explore the remotest corners of the globe in search of clues to unlock our ancient past. And it was during that last summer of peace as the world stood on the precipice of a war that threatened to end civilisation itself, that three extraordinary treasures were discovered, treasures that would radically change our understanding of the origins and diversity of human culture. And bring us closer to our distant past. Janina Ramirez, Raiders of the Lost Past I, BBC 2019
The discovery of an incredible Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Suffolk, dating from the early seventh century A.D. The final resting place of a supremely wealthy warrior king. ibid.
The single greatest archaeological discovery ever made in England: the Sutton-Hoo hoard. ibid.
Ship burials are incredibly rare in Britain: there are only two others ever discovered at this time. ibid.
Oserberg ship, Norway, excavated 1904-1905. ibid.
Treasures of unimaginable quality emerged thick and fast. ibid.
These Saxons and Angles and came together and gave us the basis of the English language. ibid.
A pair of spectacular shoulder clasps. ibid.
The miraculous story of the hoard’s survival. ibid.
This was Page One of England’s history. ibid.
5,000 years ago, before the Egyptians built the pyramids, a mysterious people created some of the greatest monuments of the ancient world. They were the pagan tribes of ancient Britain, and over 3,000 years until the coming of the Roman legions, they built villages of sea-stone like Skala Brae [Orkney], massive tombs like Maeshowe, mounds of chalk and earth like the mysterious Silbury Hill, and the most famous monument in Europe, Stonehenge. Lost Worlds: Pagans, History 2006
They want to find out whether Stonehenge was part of a much larger, now forgotten ceremonial complex that formed a gateway to the land of the dead. ibid.
It was only a matter of time before the Saxons were back on English soil ... The Anglo-Saxons were pagan. Bettany Hughes, Seven Ages of Britain 410 A.D. – 1066 A.D., Channel 4 2003