Northumbria

Following on from the Northumbrian Time Team Special that has just been broadcast on Channel 4, Tony Robinson sets off on his most curious walk yet, across the ancient and turbulent kingdom of Northumbria. In the seventh century, at the height of the Dark Ages, the rule of Northumbria stretched from Edinburgh to York: a mighty power in post-Roman Britain. But this was a land where a battle was raging for the souls of the people. Over five days, from Melrose in the Scottish Borders to Holy Island off the coast of Northumberland, Tony is on the trail of one of Northumbria's greatest sons: Saint Cuthbert. Through the Tweed Valley and across the Cheviot Hills, it's a journey through a murky history laden with myth. But by investigating the communities, power bases and landscape of seventh-century Northumbria, Tony aims to understand the pagan land in which Cuthbert spread his simple brand of Celtic Christianity. The height of Cuthbert's career was as prior of the holy island of Lindisfarne. He achieved his greatness by healing the rifts between his own Celtic Church and the dominant Roman Church to the south. His legacy is still celebrated at the great cathedral of Durham. Two newly uncovered holy wells, caves, Saxon palaces, ancient hill forts and Viking graves transport Tony back 1300 years to a strange and mysterious time of turmoil. The remote island of Inner Farne provides a bittersweet ending to this heroic tale: the final proof that Cuthbert preferred solitude, reflection and nature to the power-politics of Dark Ages Britain.