Ad Gefrin: Anglo-Saxon Palace

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Eleanor Janega is on a field trip to uncover the secrets of the Anglo-Saxon palace at Ad Gefrin, the summer residence of King Edwin of Northumbria. Joined on site by experts Chris Ferguson and Professor Sarah Semple, she explores recent archaeological discoveries that reveal grand halls, unique timber structures, and hints of mass Christian conversions. From the mysterious grandstand to the epic feasts hosted by kings and queens, these find buried deep in the ground paint a vivid picture of medieval power dynamics and the site's critical role in Northumbria's golden age.

See the artefacts at the Ad Gefrin Museum

How The North Turned Christian

The Venerable Bede

Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Matt Lewis.
0:02.6	And I'm Dr. Eleanor Yonaga.
0:04.2	And we're just popping up here to tell you some insider info.
0:08.0	If you would like to listen to Gone Medieval ad-free and get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:14.5	With the History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries.
0:20.6	Such as my new series on everyone's favorite
0:22.8	conquerors, the Normans, or my recent exploration of the castles that made Britain. There's a new
0:29.9	release to enjoy every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe, or find the link in the show notes for this episode.
0:45.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Eleanorianica and welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the
0:55.2	greatest millennium in human history. We uncover the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking
1:01.8	details, and the latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the Normans, from kings to
1:07.9	popes, to the Crusades. We delve into the rebellions, plots, and murders that tell us who we really were.
1:17.3	And how we got here.
1:27.3	It's the 7th century.
1:29.9	And in the rugged landscape of Northumbria, an Anglo-Saxon palace sits at the edge of a wind-swept hill.
1:37.9	It's a place where kings, queens, and entourages from over the sea once gathered.
1:47.0	Where the threads of medieval politics and religion were brought together in early medieval majesty.
1:51.5	This is Ad Geffrey, the royal palace of King Edwin of Northumbria.
1:58.2	For centuries, its location was a mystery.
2:01.6	The venerable bead hints at mass conversions to Christianity here in his famous history of Britain.
2:07.3	Yet the palace itself eluded discovery.
2:11.7	That is until a 1949 aerial survey revealed mysterious crop marks north of Yevering, a small village northwest of Newcastle,
	...

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