0:00:02 > 0:00:06In 1850, a full-scale riot broke out
0:00:06 > 0:00:10during a service here at St Barnabas in Pimlico.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13A huge mob had gathered outside.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17100 policemen had to be drafted in to control them
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and members of the congregation were commissioned as special constables
0:00:21 > 0:00:24in order to line up here against the screen
0:00:24 > 0:00:27and protect the choir.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33What had inflamed the mob was what they saw as Catholic practices taking place.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37And they weren't alone. Queen Victoria herself
0:00:37 > 0:00:41said that they should put a stop to these ritualistic practices.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49'The Victorian period saw a boom in church building.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52'But, surprisingly for the industrial age,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55'many in the church turned for inspiration to the mystery
0:00:55 > 0:00:58'and symbolism of Britain's medieval past.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05'I'm Richard Taylor. I write books that unravel the meaning of Britain's churches.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10'I'll be reading the religious architecture of the last 150 years
0:01:10 > 0:01:17'to discover how religious turmoil, two world wars and modern culture
0:01:17 > 0:01:20'have all shaped Britain's churches.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25'And also to find out what value the ancient images of Christianity,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30'reinvented so many times, may still have in the present day.'
0:01:46 > 0:01:49'This church, St Barnabas, where the riots took place,
0:01:49 > 0:01:54'was the very first to be built by a radical new movement
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'that would change the look of churches across England.'
0:02:03 > 0:02:10The spark for the revolution that swept through English church buildings was a sermon,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15preached in 1833 by an Oxford theologian called John Keble.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Keble reminded his congregation
0:02:18 > 0:02:22that when the people of Israel had turned their backs on the Lord their God,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24God had punished them,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29and he predicted a similar fate for England if England did not mend its ways.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37'By the 19th century, the Church of England had become almost an arm of the state.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41'Inside Britain's churches, where once there had been saints,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44'there were now symbols of worldly status.
0:02:44 > 0:02:50'Even the great rood had had to make way for the royal coat of arms.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'Keble's sermon tapped into a growing belief
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'that the established church had lost something special.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59'Its sacred mystery.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03'The new thinking he inspired became known as the Oxford Movement.'
0:03:05 > 0:03:08In their zeal to return Britain to godly ways,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13the Oxford Movement yearned for the Christian world order of the Middle Ages.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Then, so it seemed to them, the nation was united
0:03:17 > 0:03:20in its perfect love of God.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26So what could be more natural than to adopt the architecture and style of the Middle Ages, too?
0:03:26 > 0:03:30This was seen as being the perfect vehicle for Christian worship
0:03:30 > 0:03:35and it came to have an impact on almost every church in the country.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39'The Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42'laden with meaning and symbolism,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46'was lovingly recreated and, once again,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49'the structure itself conveyed a message.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52The church is designed not just to be a building.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56It's a standing sermon. It's meant to inspire people
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and teach people, so every element in it
0:03:59 > 0:04:02has some moral message.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04The roof doesn't just keep the rain off,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08it's there as a symbol of faithfulness and protection.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10The pillars aren't there to keep the roof up,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15they're symbols of the teachers of the church, of the bishops.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18'And it wasn't only the architecture of the Middle Ages
0:04:18 > 0:04:22'that swept back into churches, but also its rituals.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'The Oxford Movement reinstated the mass,
0:04:26 > 0:04:31'reviving the Catholic belief in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36'In the 17th century, Protestants had replaced the altar
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'with a Communion table, set amongst the congregation.'
0:04:40 > 0:04:46Now, the altar is in pride of place and behind a screen.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49This was outrageous,
0:04:49 > 0:04:54separating off what was going on up there in the Eucharist from the people down here.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58'And in keeping with the altar's renewed status,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02'the decoration around it is equally sumptuous.'
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Everything is covered. There are saints,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11there's grapes, there's flowers.
0:05:11 > 0:05:17Everything that can be covered with decoration is covered with decoration.
0:05:17 > 0:05:24For hundreds of years, the English had associated their faith with a simplicity.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29It had been defined against the extravagance of Rome,
0:05:29 > 0:05:35against the extravagance of those continentals that we were endlessly fighting wars with.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41So to find that fervour, that decoration back here
0:05:41 > 0:05:42was outrageous!
0:05:42 > 0:05:46It was an affront to Englishness
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and it was an affront to God himself.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57'I've come to meet Father Jones,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00'a priest in the tradition of the Oxford Movement,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04'to understand why passions ran so high.'
0:06:05 > 0:06:09People in the Oxford Movement, what was driving them?
0:06:09 > 0:06:12A belief that the Church of England was a Catholic church,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and the Catholic church of this land,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19and a desire to proclaim that and teach it to people
0:06:19 > 0:06:24and to teach it to everybody. A deep knowledge that the nature of religion
0:06:24 > 0:06:27was not something connected to the state,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29but the gospel that had come from God,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33the Church not as a department of civil service,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37but actually God's instrument for salvation, hope and eventually glory.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Why did people react against it in the way that they did?
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I think the criticisms exist at two levels.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49One, that it was simply making the Church of England like the Roman Catholic church,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54and secondly, that this was a form of mummery and dressing-up.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Was is divisive, then? To some degree, it must have been divisive.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01It was divisive. Many clergy were dragged through the courts.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04A number of them went to prison, in one case for nine months,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09for wearing the vestments that are worn in a huge majority of Anglican churches today.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14- Do you think the movement was misunderstood? - I think it was misunderstood,
0:07:14 > 0:07:20particularly in its early period. I think it was seen as attempting to undo the Reformation,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25whereas I think, perhaps, Anglo-Catholics felt themselves, and I'm sure they were,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28restoring the Church of England to her right mind.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36'Despite strenuous resistance, Anglo-Catholic churches spread across Britain.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39'The movement seemed unstoppable.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44'In fact, half of England's parish churches surviving today
0:07:44 > 0:07:49'were built in the 19th century, many on these Catholic principles.
0:07:49 > 0:07:55'As a result, a whole industry sprang up of church furnishers and decorators.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58'Best known was Morris and Company,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03'founded by William Morris, who provided stained glass for many of these buildings.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16'I've come to what has been described as the country's most complete Victorian church.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21'And it, indeed, represents the pinnacle of the Medieval revival.'
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Good heavens! All this technicolour.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31But what immediately hits you in the face...is that.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42This is the age of the Penny Post and the railway.
0:08:42 > 0:08:49This church was built in the same decade that Darwin's Origin Of Species was published,
0:08:49 > 0:08:54and here you have a doom painting, an image of the last judgement,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58just like you would've seen in the Middle Ages.
0:08:58 > 0:09:05It shows you how Victorians were regarding the Middle Ages as the perfect Christian era
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and wanting to take on board
0:09:07 > 0:09:11those aspects of medieval Christianity
0:09:11 > 0:09:13that they saw as most fruitful.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38'There's no question that the Victorians were sincere in trying to recapture
0:09:38 > 0:09:40'the faith of the Middle Ages.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45'But I'm left wondering, just how successful were they?'
0:09:45 > 0:09:49When I was visiting the medieval churches, one of the joys of them
0:09:49 > 0:09:53was the sense that people were taking a part of themselves
0:09:53 > 0:09:55and putting it into these buildings.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58And the Victorians were doing the same.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01They were taking part of themselves in their churches.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05But they were doing it wearing someone else's clothes.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10They were trying to recreate an ideal of the Middle Ages.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12And there's a problem with that.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17The second time around, it's just that bit more self-conscious,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and that creates a distance.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25The Victorian style isn't for everybody now,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27and it wasn't even then.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34'Hundreds of new churches were built,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39but increasingly, this style was imposed on ancient churches, too.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44'William Morris, who had poured his energies into the Gothic revival,
0:10:44 > 0:10:50'was beginning to realise that, in the rush to restore old churches,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53'something very precious was being lost.'
0:10:53 > 0:10:58I'm going to Inglesham, to a church near to where William Morris lived and which he loved.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02I want to understand why, what it is about this place
0:11:02 > 0:11:06that made him want to save it from restoration.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Ooh!
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The glory of this place
0:11:20 > 0:11:25is the layers upon layers upon layers of history that you can see around you.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30All over the walls here in the Middle Ages you see the paintings,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32the biblical stories that they would've put up.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Leaves, branches, the little twist of an ankle there.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Then next, you've got the Reformation,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44the words, scripture in English, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48You've got, in the 18th century, these box pews.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And all of it is so simple.
0:11:51 > 0:11:57Morris's genius was to recognise that, in an ancient church like this,
0:11:57 > 0:12:03those layers upon layers of generation, of people giving of themselves into the church,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07is here to be valued and here to be preserved.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11This place, more than almost anywhere I've visited,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14is radiant with history.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24'And it was that history Morris feared could be lost forever
0:12:24 > 0:12:31'as mass-produced materials were being used to restore England's medieval churches.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35'His feelings came to a head in a famous encounter
0:12:35 > 0:12:38'here at another St John the Baptist church,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42'which was being restored by the Anglo-Catholic vicar,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44'the Reverend William Cass.'
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Morris came to the church to see what was going on
0:12:49 > 0:12:55and Cass came over and started showing all the work that was being done, very proudly,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58but he didn't get a very pleasant response.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Morris was silent,
0:13:00 > 0:13:08and as Cass showed the flooring and what had been done to the walls,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12Morris was quiet, until all of a sudden he exploded.
0:13:12 > 0:13:18"You've torn up the lovely local flag and you've put down this Birmingham tiling!"
0:13:18 > 0:13:22"Oh, dear, you're in the process of spoiling the church."
0:13:22 > 0:13:25And Cass was very upset.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27And the two men had a set to
0:13:27 > 0:13:30and it ended with Cass saying to Morris,
0:13:30 > 0:13:36"The church, sir, is mine, and if I wish, I will stand on my head in it!"
0:13:36 > 0:13:39What had Cass done that Morris found so objectionable?
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I think it was the industrialised 19th century
0:13:43 > 0:13:47pressing in on what had been a medieval church.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54'Cass thought that by using modern copies of medieval materials,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58'and by scraping away the plaster to reveal the stone,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02'he was recreating an authentic church of the Middle Ages.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04'Morris was appalled.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:10- What did Morris go on to do? - Morris went away and wrote a letter
0:14:10 > 0:14:13attacking the scraping of walls.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18And he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23- So it's for the protection of buildings, as if they're holding back the vandals.- Oh, yes, yes.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26They saw much of the restoration as sheer vandalism.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35'As the 19th century gave way to the 20th,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'the medieval revival pioneered by the Oxford Movement
0:14:38 > 0:14:41'had become the dominant architectural style in England.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47'In fact, it had become so universal
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'that it was even adopted by some of its most ardent opponents.'
0:14:54 > 0:14:58This looks at first glance like a medieval church.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02But it was built just before the First World War. And what does it have?
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Gargoyles, green men, higher altar,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10all of the accoutrements of a medieval church.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13And it's not even in the Church of England.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18The Presbyterians, who for centuries had almost defined themselves
0:15:18 > 0:15:21against the Catholic Middle Ages,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23were now building churches
0:15:23 > 0:15:30that absorbed this fashion for medieval romanticism.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37'Within a heartbeat of this church being completed,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40'such romanticism looked hopelessly fanciful.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44'The world descended into a war that would bring carnage
0:15:44 > 0:15:47'on an unimaginable scale.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57'Many of our churchyards bear witness to that terrible loss,
0:15:57 > 0:16:02'with the greatest collective act of remembrance that this country has ever seen.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06'Memorials to the dead of the First World War.'
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Here, the inscription is,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19"To the glorious memory of the men of Broughton Poggs"
0:16:19 > 0:16:25and there's name after name, all in this tiny village.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40You sometimes find in churches these.
0:16:40 > 0:16:46The wooden crosses that were erected on the battlefields themselves during the war.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52This one memorialises Captain Hardcastle,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54all of those lieutenants
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and, dear God,
0:16:58 > 0:17:0478 NCOs and men, some of whom are buried near this spot.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06They don't even know where they were killed.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09That this was placed at the time
0:17:09 > 0:17:14by the companions of the men who fell,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17and was then later brought back by those who loved them
0:17:17 > 0:17:21to bring it here to an English parish church
0:17:21 > 0:17:26is itself, I think, a very moving act.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28An act of true remembrance.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34It was as a result of what happened in the Great War,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39this terrible loss of life, that there was a change in the church.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43A change to something that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and that was prayers for the dead.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Praying for the dead had been a common feature of the Middle Ages, but the Reformation threw it out.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56But now, in the face of this appalling tragedy,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01people wanted once again to pray for the people that they had lost.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05They wanted once again to have that communion with the departed.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17'Just as our medieval ancestors had built Chantry Chapels in which to pray for the souls of the departed,
0:18:17 > 0:18:22'now a new type of chapel was built for a similar purpose.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25'To commemorate those killed in war.'
0:18:34 > 0:18:38In many churches, a separate space was created
0:18:38 > 0:18:42in remembrance of those who had died in the wars.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Here it's fenced off in a corner of the church
0:18:48 > 0:18:51with its own dedicated altar
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and these words.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07Often in these places of remembrance, you have specific military references.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12Here, on either side of the altar, there is an angel and a soldier.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17On one side, the soldier is kneeling before the angel, who's crowning him,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22and on the other side, the soldier is standing for a kneeling angel
0:19:22 > 0:19:26who's handing him his sword, and he's guarding himself with his shield.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31And in the centre, there's an image of the crucifixion,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33of Christ's suffering and death,
0:19:33 > 0:19:38just as the people remembered here had suffered and died.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45'In the Middle Ages, people had seen in the image of a suffering Christ,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49'an echo of their own suffering.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53'Now, in the 20th century, the horrors of industrialised warfare
0:19:53 > 0:19:58'gave the crucifixion scene renewed relevance.'
0:19:58 > 0:20:03This is a painting by the great British artist Graham Sutherland,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06who'd been a war artist, but this was painted in 1946
0:20:06 > 0:20:12in the aftermath of the war, and it's his response to what had gone on.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16It takes the elements of a crucifixion scene,
0:20:16 > 0:20:22Christ hangs on the cross, his head hanging to the right at the moment of his death,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26but this is an intensely physical Christ.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30A great sheet of muscle hanging over the shoulder,
0:20:30 > 0:20:38the great bushy beard of a prophet, blood pouring from the wounds in his hands and feet.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42There were plenty of images of the suffering Christ in the Middle Ages,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47but in the Middle Ages, this would've been part of a grand theological scheme
0:20:47 > 0:20:52with a doom painting overhead and standing on the top of a rood screen.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Here, it stands alone, and there's a physicality to this
0:20:57 > 0:21:04that could only have come from someone who's seen one of the great horrors of the 20th century.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07AIR RAID SIREN BLARES
0:21:07 > 0:21:09EXPLOSIONS
0:21:11 > 0:21:15'The Second World War brought devastation to many of Britain's cities.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23'Three centuries earlier, the Great Fire of London
0:21:23 > 0:21:28'had cleared the way for Wren's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral.'
0:21:32 > 0:21:36'Now the terror and destruction of the Blitz
0:21:36 > 0:21:39'gave rise to a new wave of church building.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45'Many of the churches that emerged from the ruins
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'appear to be a clean break with the old,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51'rejecting hundreds of years of tradition.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:05On first impression, it feels almost like a public library
0:22:05 > 0:22:07or swimming baths.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10But I think that's a bit unfair. We're seeing it nowadays
0:22:10 > 0:22:13through eyes that are used to seeing spaces like this,
0:22:13 > 0:22:18this kind of brick, that kind of concrete, in a municipal context.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21You forget that this was built in 1960
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and was deeply radical for the times.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Traditionalists may not have liked it,
0:22:27 > 0:22:32but what you're seeing here is something that is deeply traditional.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The idea of sacred space.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41That starts at the outside with the statement that this is the Gate of Heaven.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45You step through that into an inner courtyard here,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48with the columns running around the inside.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55If you step through those columns, into the light,
0:22:55 > 0:23:00you're suddenly surrounded by angels, just as you would've been at any time
0:23:00 > 0:23:05in the Anglo-Saxon, Norman, Middle Ages, even the Victorian era.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08And then you've got the steps
0:23:08 > 0:23:11that raise you higher and higher
0:23:11 > 0:23:15until you get to the holy heart of this building,
0:23:15 > 0:23:22the altar here with its own metal tent to signify it as a special place.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26The altar is made of concrete, but clearly references
0:23:26 > 0:23:31the old stone altars of sacrifice of the ancient temples.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35I love the fact that, amid all this modernity,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38they haven't forgotten the thousands of years of history
0:23:38 > 0:23:42that pour into a place of worship like this one.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Churches are so funny, though, because you always find little details,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56in a place even as radical as this, that just screams "church" at you.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Over here, you've got hymn numbers
0:23:58 > 0:24:02set out just like they would be in any Victorian church.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05CHURCH ORGAN PLAYS
0:24:05 > 0:24:08DISTANT SIREN WAILS
0:24:34 > 0:24:37'Here, off the Peterborough ring road,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41'is a church very much of the 21st century.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46'You could be forgiven for thinking it's a shopping mall or company HQ.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'Unlike any other building I've visited,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56'when it's empty, there's nothing to let you know you're in a church.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00'Here is a space devoid of imagery.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08'This venue can hold 1,200 people,
0:25:08 > 0:25:13'and on a Sunday, you'll find few spare seats.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'It's only once you add the people
0:25:16 > 0:25:20'that this new place of worship becomes a church.'
0:25:20 > 0:25:23# Be high and lifted up
0:25:23 > 0:25:26# Be high and lifted up
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Instead of pews, you've got comfy chairs.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Instead of stained glass, you've got coloured lights.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Instead of incense, you've got smoke machines.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43And what's striking is what isn't here.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48The only traditional Christian image that I can make out in the whole space
0:25:48 > 0:25:52is the crucifix on the stage.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55# Lifted up
0:25:55 > 0:25:57# Jesus
0:25:57 > 0:26:01'There's a part of me that misses being surrounded by the architecture
0:26:01 > 0:26:04'and imagery of hundreds of years of history.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08'KingsGate is laid out more like a rock venue or a cinema.
0:26:08 > 0:26:14'But if this is what people are comfortable with, why not?'
0:26:14 > 0:26:19- # Hallelujah - Let's give the mighty Lord a shout of praise.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22- CHEERING - Yes, Lord!
0:26:22 > 0:26:23APPLAUSE
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Applauding God. How 21st century is that?
0:26:38 > 0:26:41'During this series,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44'I've read the messages handed down to us in stone,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47'from the dawn of Christianity in Britain
0:26:47 > 0:26:50'right up to the present day.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58'But I'm ending my journey not in the confines of the present
0:26:58 > 0:27:01'but in a building founded in the Middle Ages
0:27:01 > 0:27:07'which embraces the long and unique history of British churches.'
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Open the visitors' book to almost any church
0:27:13 > 0:27:17and you'll find comments like, "Lovely" and "Peaceful."
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Churches are fixed points in an ever-changing world.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27But what's struck me as I've traced through 1,400 years of the history of these buildings
0:27:27 > 0:27:33is actually the destruction, the turmoil that's taken place here.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40'The simplicity and solidity of the Anglo-Saxon churches
0:27:40 > 0:27:45'swept away by the triumphant Normans.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50'The Middle Ages, filling their churches with images of life and death,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53'then attacked by the violence of the Reformation.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57'The calm and elegant learning of the Enlightenment
0:27:57 > 0:28:02'challenged by the Victorians, scraping back those old buildings
0:28:02 > 0:28:05'and filling them with industrial stained glass.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09'And, in the 20th century, the impact of the wars
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'and attempts to re-imagine churches,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15'right up to the dawn of the digital age.'
0:28:16 > 0:28:20And that's why I will always visit these holy spaces,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22to bathe in their beauty
0:28:22 > 0:28:26and to read their history and their drama.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:32 > 0:28:36E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk