Spotlight on Local History with James Balme

It was way back in the late 1970s when I first became interested in the history that surrounds us and what evidence may lay just inches below our feet.

Aged just fifteen years old I decided to join a local amateur archaeological group allowing me to take an active part in excavations and research in the area. This was to prove to be a valuable experience and I learned a great deal about archaeology and history. I started to do my own research looking for evidence of our ancestors in the landscape across Warrington and Cheshire.
After many more years of research I began to find evidence of previously unknown activity from the Bronze Age and Roman periods. In 1996 I was to discover the remains of what had once been a small Roman settlement on the outskirts of Warrington where I went on to recover both Roman silver coinage and a rare Roman silver snake bracelet. It was at this time that my discoveries caught the attention of the local press and television. I started to make regular appearances on both BBC and Granada news programmes. My work continued and more discoveries came to light through my research. In 2000 I was to co-present a history documentary with former Granada presenter Fred Talbot entitled ‘The King’s Grave’ covering a full excavation of the Roman settlement that I had found. Following this I was contacted by BBC1 who had decided to make a documentary about my work. We filmed a half hour episode for the ‘Inside out’ series.

I carried on with further research for several more years walking the fields in search of further evidence. By this time I had started to write and present my own short history films teaching myself camera and editing skills to allow me to share my work with a larger local audience. As social media advanced it became possible to share my films much wider on the internet. But it was in 2006 that I received a phone call from Channel 4’s Iconic Time Team asking if they could join me at my Roman settlement to film an excavation for the 2007 series. The filming took place and the episode was first broadcast on channel 4 in March 2007.
It was at that time that I set up my own dedicated history channel on youtube under the name of Tvpresenter4history allowing my films to be viewed by a worldwide audience. Youtube was in its infancy with only a few channels existing at that time. Now some nineteen years later my channel has become a legacy channel with over seven hundred films, four thousand subscribers, two million views and recently announced as being in the top twenty UK history channels on youtube. As well as presenting and producing history films I began writing as a history columnist for local publications in 2020 covering historical sites in the area.

Today I’m pleased and proud to be the history columnist for Warrington Worldwide allowing me to highlight to our readers our history and heritage across Warrington and surrounding areas.
To view my history films and features simply visit my youtube channel Tvpresenter4history