Bakewell The Great Antiques Map of Britain

'Britain is stuffed with places famous for their antiques

'and each object has a story to tell.'

Hello!

'I'm Tim Wonnacott and as the crowds gather

'for their favourite outdoor events around the country,

'I'll be pitching up with my silver trailer to meet the locals

'with their precious antiques and collectibles.'

I'm feeling inspired myself. Thank you very much.

'Their stories will reveal why the places we visit

'deserve to be on the Great Antiques Map Of Britain.'

Today I've come to the Bakewell Food Festival,

in the heart of the glorious Derbyshire Peaks.

'It's brimming with people

'who've brought along their fascinating objects.'

The provenance that these have hung in the state drawing room

at Chatsworth from the 1850s is all very important.

'Which give a fantastic insight

'into the area's unique antiques heritage.'

-So it's a brilliant Derbyshire success story, in a way.

-It is.

'And, of course, they want to know

'what their precious treasures might be worth.'

£600 and £900.

£50 each.

£7,500.

'And what do you think this unusual little creature could fetch?

'Find out later on.'

-You'd never sell it, would you?

-Oh, no!

-Oh, no!

-Never. No.

THEY LAUGH

I'm in the heart of Derbyshire

surrounded by the most glorious rolling countryside

that is the Dales.

With the occasional glimmering glimpse

of the River Wye peeping out.

History has made its mark here.

The area is steeped in agriculture.

Sheep and cattle still penned in by countless dry stone walls.

The cotton mills evoke the impact locally

of the Industrial Revolution.

Quarrying and mining, with the business in precious minerals,

though much reduced, continuing to this day.

I'm crossing the River Wye one last time,

over one of the oldest bridges in the country,

dating back to the year 1200,

heading for the capital of the Peak District.

When you think of Bakewell,

you might associate the place with one of these -

a Bakewell tart.

Well, you'd be wrong because the food purist would tell you

that actually the Bakewell pudding is the proper fodder in these parts

and it's the pudding that put Bakewell on the food map.

And at the Bakewell Food Festival...

-PHOTOGRAPHER: C'mon!

-Look happy!

It's this famous food heritage which connects us

to some unique collectibles once owned by Ann Greaves, who,

it's claimed, created the Bakewell pud.

They've been brought along by her great-great-great-grandson, Paul.

It's been passed down through the generations from 1800.

I hope he can give me some sort of background as to how they were made

and that to our family they are very, very important

and they're priceless.

Now, Paul, on the face of it,

these look like tatty, tin cookery dishes

but they're pretty special to you, aren't they?

They're special because they were used

by my great-great-great-grandmother,

who was Mrs Ann Greaves who was the landlady of the Rutland Arms,

which stands in the square here, from 1803-1857.

Right.

And during that period of time,

she made her Bakewell puddings in these pans.

And they've been handed down through the family,

through the generations ever since.

They've never left Bakewell.

And I have to say that tin wear

is a very interesting 18th-century collectible

because, basically, it's iron with a thin layer of tin

annealed to the surface, which gives you something that you can cook off

without flavouring the food.

And, of course, the tin doesn't rust, which is what iron would do

if you were putting it in the oven and then washing it up

and all the rest of it.

These little dishes do illustrate perfectly the tin maker's art

because the seams are all soldered...

..the thing has a rollover edge, so you don't cut yourself.

It's perfectly comfortable to the feel.

And what I love about your three Bakewell pudding dishes

is they have this gorgeous patination, don't they?

There's little bits of grubby food and grease

that has been left on these.

They've never been scrubbed clean with a wire brush.

No, no, no.

You've got the filth of ages on them,

which gives them this very special look.

And frankly, they're very difficult things to value.

They're worth a pound or two each without the provenance and history

attached to your family and the Bakewell pudding.

Yeah.

Now that we know that, though,

if you were to put them in a sale in Derbyshire,

with all that history and provenance,

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make £50 each.

And they shall be handed down through the family for generations to come.

This is one of the jewels in Bakewell's crown - Haddon Hall.

Overlooking the glorious River Wye, where fish are abundant.

In 1865, this estate was the first place in the world

to adopt a new rule for fishing -

dry flies only.

All thanks to local fishing fanatic James Ogden, who invented a fake fly

to replace the real thing.

I'm meeting up with historian Richard Ward.

This man, Ogden, he twigged that to tempt a fish,

-a decent insect...

-Yes.

-..preferably dry...

-Yes.

..presented just over its nose, expertly cast

is the way to catch a fish, right?

Many thousands of anglers had seen that when they cast their flies,

sometimes that very first instant that it's on the water

when it was dry and still floating in those days was their best chance.

Ogden thought, "Why not make flies to float, anyway?"

-Right.

-Rather than just the first few minutes.

So the first few minutes, naturally they sink.

Ogden came up with a revolution.

He did, he started tying them deliberately to float.

And something special happened here

on the 5th and 6th of June, didn't it?

It did, yes.

He'd been invited to come and fish and prove

that his artificial floating flies would catch fish

during the mayfly time.

Now, everybody that fished for mayflies on here during mayfly time

used live mayflies and he came along with his artificial flies.

People laughed at him, said it wasn't going to work

and he demonstrated that it did work very effectively.

And he...it caused a revolution cos the very next day,

the Duke's steward made a rule that only a single artificial floating fly

was to be used on this water.

-And do you celebrate that still?

-I do, with this rod.

I go out and fish with it on the 5th of June every year

with a James Ogden rod and James Ogden reel

and catch some fish just to remember James Ogden.

And what is special about Ogden's rod?

-He found out he could cast a long distance with a short rod.

-Right.

And so, he made this rod, called it Multum In Parvo,

meaning much in little, and he was right.

Ogden devoted his life to fishing, making an international

business selling his rods, tackle and dry flies.

Richard's agreed to demonstrate Ogden's dry-fly method just for me.

-Right, Tim.

-Oh, my gosh. I don't believe it.

Look at that, a 150-year-old piece of fishing equipment

and he's caught a fish, how marvellous is that?

Now, Richard, you let the thing go

and release it back into the river, right?

Absolutely.

A rather intriguing Ogden rod has been brought in for valuation

by Peter.

I run a fishing tackle shop here in Bakewell.

I've been working here since 1989.

A few years ago, a chap wandered in and he wanted a more modern rod

to go fishing with and we did a swap.

It doesn't look much. It's a bit battered, it's a bit knocked about.

But I think it's a rod which performed an important part

in the history of modern dry-fly fishing.

So we've got that spiky bit with his name on down at the bottom...

-Yes.

-..which you jam into the ground.

-That's right.

You've then got a section here into which you'd fit your reel.

-Reel, yes.

-The handle is in a bit of split cane, isn't it?

A bit of rattan.

-Yes quite unusual, that.

-Quite unusual.

And then, it's a two-section rod, do you know what the material is

that was used actually for the rod itself?

I'm not sure. I think it was something called lancewood.

But they fit snugly don't they, like that? That's beautifully made.

-But to keep them together, you put a bit more string.

-Yes.

A bit of whipping around that

and then you've got yourself a short fly rod.

Dry-fly rod.

Is there any special historical significance

to this particular rod, do you think?

-Well, it was certainly made prior to 1871...

-Right.

..because in 1871, he brought out a completely new range of rods

made out of split cane, which made his name and his fortune.

This pioneered, this predates that date.

You don't think that this rod could actually have been used in 1865

-when he started the whole process off, do you?

-We believe so.

Well, wouldn't that be fantastic?

'So how much would this rod fetch at auction,

'especially if it really was used by Ogden himself?

'Are you hooked?

'Well, you'll have to wait and see.'

Bakewell people clearly love a party.

Apart from this food festival, the other great annual celebration

around here is the Bakewell Agricultural Show,

which has been going for nearly 200 years.

It's a chance for Derbyshire's farmers to shout about what they do,

and if they're lucky, they might pick up a prize or two -

like this particularly impressive antique silver trophy

which has been brought along by Janet.

Dad managed Bakewell Show, and I've brought one of our silver trophies,

which is presented to the best shire colt or filly in the show.

And in 1932, King George V won it outright.

Well, this is rather a splendid object, isn't it?

Absolutely beautiful.

The trophy says on it, "Bakewell Farmers' Club,

"the Bakewell Champion Challenge Cup valued at 20 guineas"

and it's awarded to "The champion shire colt or filly foal

-"exhibited at the show."

-That's right.

When this cup was first presented, it was valued at 20 guineas,

so the prize that they did keep was 20 guineas.

But this is particularly special, because on the reverse,

we've got an inscription for 1932, when apparently King George V...

-That's right.

-..won this cup not once, not twice but three times.

And the rules are that if you win it three times, you get given the cup.

You can keep it, yes.

Instead of keeping it, he generously re-presented it to the society.

-He did indeed.

-So that they've got it in perpetuity.

And I had no idea that George V was a breeder of shire horses.

What we all forget is how important shire horses were for centuries...

-In those days, yes.

-Exactly.

There were apparently some 20,000 shire horses still being used

by delivery firms in the 1920s.

The decoration is vaguely Victorian,

in looking at these swags of flowers,

on a trophy that's neoclassical in design

with these two scrolling handles

and could be a piece of Adam silver dating from the 1770s.

In fact, it's hallmarked "Sheffield 1909", which is slightly odd.

And I just wonder whether it had been made as a presentation

trophy for some other purpose before the Farmers' Club took it over

and used it as their shire trophy.

But it's got this great mixture of elements in it,

which is slightly strange but very attractive.

Yeah, "But what..." - I hear you cry -

"..could a great lump of silver like this be worth?"

All will be revealed later.

Derbyshire oozes picturesque charm

but underneath this lush countryside lies buried treasure.

Well, sort of.

This area is mineral rich,

and people have been mining its hidden depths for centuries.

Crikey Moses, this is like some journey to the centre of the Earth.

Jules Verne, eat your heart out.

HE CHUCKLES

Down the road from Bakewell is Castleton -

the only place on the planet to find blue john.

And there are just two working mines left.

Here we are in the Treak Cliff mine.

And here, squashed between the limestone rocks,

is a vein of blue john.

But if you look within that mass carefully,

you can see all the crystals.

Once that's mined and removed and then cut, then polished,

you get that glorious substance that just typifies

Derbyshire and its mines.

I'm off to see some lovely bits of antique blue john

with retired miner Peter Harrison.

Well, I learnt to polish blue john when I was nine years old.

Rubbing down something like a little specimen

on about three different qualities of Carborundum,

and then I was too young to go on the machine to polish it.

But you started then when you had left school.

Mining the stuff and making it into objects?

Well, yes, that started in 1945.

But what really interests me

is blue john as a collectible,

because it is the Holy Grail of collectibles, really, isn't it?

It is, it really is.

What a lot of people don't realise is that, down the blue john mines,

there are a great variety of veins.

As far as this gorgeous goblet on the end is concerned,

this handsome fellow has been turned out of

a solid block of blue john,

-which is the bowl bit.

-Yes.

And then, the stem has been turned out of another block

-and then the foot out of another.

-Yes.

So, they're effectively three pieces of blue john.

Now, next door, Pete,

we've got a really substantial-sized piece of blue john,

-but the colouring is very different, isn't it?

-Yes.

This one is unadulterated blue john,

there is no iron in it, no nothing.

It's all blue john.

This one has iron in it,

which makes all the yellow colours.

This would be about 1790 to 1830.

The rings that make up this vase are stuck together

when they're quite thick,

and then it involves turning the outside into a nice shape

and then grinding out the inside

and that takes a long time.

Another mineral unique to the Peaks is Ashford Black Marble,

and Pat has brought along some of her collection.

I've lived in Bakewell for over 40 years,

I've brought some examples of Ashford Black Marble.

Well, they would've been Victorian, mid-Victorian

or probably, early 20th century,

but I've no more idea than that.

We have these different coloured stones,

which are set into the so-called black marble.

Cutting each of those different coloured stones

-is a skill in itself.

-Yes.

And then you have to cut out the black marble to make a recess

and plant the coloured stone into it.

Then the hole has to be polished over.

-So it's a brilliant Derbyshire success story, in a way.

-It is.

But, if we take this little object,

which, I guess, is a desk seal.

Once upon a time, that flat plate at the bottom

would have been engraved with somebody's crest

or, possibly, initials,

and for the sealing-wax process, before you seal up an envelope,

it would have been used for that purpose.

And if you were a tourist

visiting Derbyshire in the 19th century,

you'd very much like to go home

-with a little pressie for your relations, wouldn't you?

-Yes.

And here, on the paperweight,

when you look at the stone used in the leafage,

-that's lovely, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's got some variegation in it, and then a central, sort of, spine.

Delightful.

I would've thought the best piece that you've got is this seal,

that would be my favourite anyway.

And I can see that selling in an auction

for between, I don't know, £100-£150...

-Good gracious.

-..something like that.

And, with a little bit of damage on that paperweight,

I guess it might be worth perhaps as much as £100-£150.

-You don't want to sell them, do you?

-No.

My husband had a collection of minerals,

which was started in the mid-19th century,

which I still have, of Derbyshire minerals,

so it's all part of a total collection.

Chatsworth sits in regal splendour just a few miles outside Bakewell.

It has jaw-dropping interiors

with collections of just about everything that you can think of.

But sometimes, like anybody else, they need a clear-out

and in 2010, Jane was there to buy these wall brackets.

They're absolutely gorgeous.

I fell headlong in love with them

when I saw them at the Chatsworth Attic Sale.

My late husband and I bought them and they're just marvellous.

They're so intriguing, interesting

and it's part of the history of the land, really, isn't it?

The Chatsworth Attic Sale

-was quite an event here in Derbyshire.

-It was, it was wonderful.

Yeah. I was actually behind Jerry Hall.

She was bidding in front of me. That was so exciting.

-What? On the same lot?

-No, no, no. Sadly, no.

Something far more expensive.

I mean, outbidding Jerry Hall

-would be quite an accolade, wouldn't it?

-It would.

The Chatsworth Attic Sale was such a big deal, it made national news.

We have grandfather clocks, we have artworks, we have vases.

This is one of about five tables.

I think we can get about 24 to dinner here.

All of this stuff has been sitting around

not doing a great deal for a long time.

'The auction lasted three days and 20,000 objects were sold.'

We've got an angel who is crouching

-with her hands crossed across her chest.

-Yes.

She's in a devotional pose, really.

But the thing has a practical purpose,

because the outstretched angel's wings and this platform

go to make a flat surface,

so that when that's placed against a wall,

-of course, you can use them practically as brackets.

-Yes.

Where do you have them at home?

They're in my office at home on the wall

and they have candles or flower arrangements.

Well, there you are.

-So you're using them for their proper purpose.

-Absolutely.

On the back, there's the original maker's label,

which is really fascinating for me.

It says "Susse", but as you can see from the label,

-it says that they dealt in patented paper products.

-Yes.

So they were well familiar with producing moulds

for paper and plaster-related objects

and these brackets are made of plaster

that's then being covered in a bronzed effect

-to make them look like metal.

-Yes.

And what I think is amazing is that in the state drawing room,

the Duke of Devonshire would have used fake-metalwork-looking brackets

in his state drawing room,

-kind of says something, doesn't it?

-It does, rather.

-I mean, it's interesting.

-Yes.

'So how much would you have to pay for something

'that might have once hung in his Lordship's state drawing room?

'Ha, ha! You'll have to wait to find out.'

The Industrial Revolution hit the Peak District with a vengeance.

In the once small community of Belper,

an early pioneer was one Jedediah Strutt,

who built his first mill here in 1786.

When it burnt down, it was replaced by this one in 1804.

Local historian Mary Smedley explains the origins.

The mills were built as cotton-spinning mills

and all they ever did was produce cotton thread,

there was never a further end product.

It was then sold to the customers to be woven into cloth.

He wanted to harness the power of the River Derwent,

and I don't know how he did it,

but however he did it, it was a wonderful job

because, today, it's still providing power

in the form of hydro-electricity.

But it's Jedediah's great grandson who's connected to our next object,

which is owned by Neil.

I've brought my very large oil painting of one of the Belper mills,

possibly done about 1850.

It's the earliest known large oil painting of the early mills

and an added bonus, I noticed, when I bought it rather cheaply,

is that it belonged to George Herbert Strutt,

who was one of the mill-owning family,

a descendant of Jedediah Strutt.

So there's lots of interesting things about it.

What I like to do often with a painting of this type

is to spin it round

and see what information we can glean from the reverse.

So, you can see it's an oil on canvas

but, intriguingly, we've got this exhibition label.

This exhibition in Derby in 1870

does at least pinpoint the fact that the Strutt family,

the original builders of this mill,

owned the picture in 1870

-and clearly lent it for the exhibition.

-Yes.

Because, if you're going to drill down

to the likely value of a painting like this,

it makes a tremendous difference

if you can attach a hand of a possible artist to the scene.

Could be by a man called Niemann,

-who painted scenes of this type.

-Yes.

And, if that was substantiated,

probably, this picture in an auction, properly attributed,

-would bring between, say, £600-£900 at auction.

-Yeah.

-Well done, thank you very much for bringing it.

-OK.

-Very nice to see you.

-It was a pleasure.

-Great.

In Victorian times,

Peak District towns like Bakewell, Matlock and Buxton

were a big hit with tourists and the market positively boomed

for locally-made souvenirs and novelties,

like Annie's curiosity.

I've brought something which I bought when I lived in Norfolk

and I was very homesick for Derbyshire when I lived in Norfolk.

And so, this says "From Matlock" on it,

so that's why I bought it

cos it was a connection with home.

So I've had it about 30 years now,

but I'm not quite sure what it is.

This thing is what's called a peep egg...

-Oh!

-..because it's vaguely in an egg form.

-Well, I've never heard of one of those.

-No.

So thank you for telling me.

-Well, you own one, actually.

-I own one.

And the idea is that because the alabaster is light sensitive,

-in other words, the light goes through the stone.

-Yeah.

When you look through this little grubby lens,

it's got a little bit of dirt inside and that you can't help,

because inside the lens, if you look carefully,

you can see a little image, as you know,

and the first image that you see is The Crescent.

And that little image, as a tourist,

would remind you of your trip to Buxton

and looking at that glorious bit of Georgian architecture,

-which, of course, we can see today.

-Yes.

Then you give it a little twizzle

and it takes you to another scene,

which is Ashwood Dale,

Dale being the Old English word for valley.

If you look very carefully, what I love about that image

is that you can just make out the railway line.

-Yes, the little trains.

-Exactly.

-Yes.

And then, the last spin gives us a little diorama

-which shows a whole lot of minerals.

-Yes.

So it goes back to the heart of what has been going on in Derbyshire

-for centuries.

-Yes.

Do you love it even more now?

Oh, I do. Yes. THEY LAUGH

So, if I was putting a value on it,

I think you should think about, say, between £100-£200 for it.

-But you'd never sell it, would you?

-Oh, no!

-Oh, no!

-Never, no! THEY LAUGH

And those brackets from Chatsworth?

Well, I reckon, with such a great story behind them,

they're worth about £750.

-So I think they're delightful.

-Thank you.

And all the more so because they're connected with glorious Derbyshire.

Absolutely.

'As for Janet's marvellous silver trophy...'

I'd insure it for £7,500, pay the premium

and if it did go walkabout, then you'd have a sum of money to go

-and find another splendid trophy.

-To replace it.

-Right, that's fine. Thank you very much.

-That would be my advice.

'To value the Ogden fishing rod,

'I contacted specialist auctioneer John Stephenson.'

It would probably fall into the 80-120 bracket,

where most of the collectibles of this type of rod market is.

If it were to be rare in terms of fishing history,

what might it be worth then, John?

Bearing in mind this guy in effect

changed dry-fly fishing in the 1840s, '50s and '60s period.

So we would probably look more

in the thousands than the hundreds...

-Really?

-..and the condition at that point wouldn't really matter either,

because if the provenance was solid

and that rod was used,

especially on the Haddon Estate,

to do that particular job,

it almost turned history in fishing,

then it would be THE collectible

-from that area.

-OK.

So, yeah, with provenance, we'd be

in the thousands, not the tens.

-Are you happy?

-Yeah, I'm very happy. Thank you.

'Wow!

'Just shows how important the story is to the value of an object.

'If this is THE rod James Ogden used,

'it could fish out an awful lot of money.'

What a great day we've had today

and such quirky objects here, in Bakewell.

You could say it's been as sweet as pie

-or, should I say, pudding?

-HE LAUGHS