0:00:01 > 0:00:04This is a series about the hidden histories
0:00:04 > 0:00:06of Britain's Oldest Family Businesses.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Few businesses last beyond two generations.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Against the odds, these families have survived in their trades
0:00:16 > 0:00:19for more than three centuries.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24This is the 188,933rd day
0:00:24 > 0:00:25of Balsons at work.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29They've come through 50 recessions,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31the Industrial Revolution,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34two World Wars and the rise of internet shopping.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Really things were very sad after the war.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42There was no money. There was no money anywhere.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We'll meet the present-day head of each family
0:00:46 > 0:00:49as they face a crossroads in their working life.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51And we will follow them as they go on a journey
0:00:51 > 0:00:53into the past of their business.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59Jonah Toye! Fantastic! See, I was very worried about Jonah.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03This programme is about the Durtnell family,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06who have been builders since 1591,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08during the reign of Elizabeth I.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Alex Durtnell has just taken over
0:01:13 > 0:01:16at a difficult time in the construction industry.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Sometimes you just think it would be nice to have a day of good news.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23It's just one knock after the other knock after the other knock.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26And, it's... You think, crikey!
0:01:26 > 0:01:27Over the last 400 years,
0:01:27 > 0:01:32the Durtnells have worked in wood, brick, steel and glass.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38They've built country estates and council estates,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40town houses and cottages.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45So, they learnt nothing from the Fire of London.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47THEY LAUGH
0:01:48 > 0:01:51This is a history of the homes we live in
0:01:51 > 0:01:54told through the story of a family that has built them.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Rural Kent, the village of Brasted.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15After 422 years, it's all change once again
0:02:15 > 0:02:17at the top of R Durtnell and Sons,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Britain's oldest family building business.
0:02:23 > 0:02:2638-year-old Alex Durtnell has recently taken over.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31The company is currently working on 18 building projects...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Have you got the keys for Dad's office?
0:02:33 > 0:02:35..including at schools, a cathedral
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and luxury homes for those that can afford their expertise.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42- Hi, Jeff.- Hiya.- How are you? - All right. You're busy, aren't you?
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Yeah, I'll ping you an e-mail and we'll get a date organised. OK.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48He's replaced his father, who'd been running Durtnell's
0:02:48 > 0:02:52since before Alex was born and who made it a thriving construction firm
0:02:52 > 0:02:54which turns over about £50 million a year.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57Right.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Alex has a tough act to follow.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02This is my father's office.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05We've bunged him over here to keep him out the way.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Unfortunately, he's still got a key to get in opposite,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13but he's in here and so, yeah, so let's try...
0:03:13 > 0:03:14Ah!
0:03:17 > 0:03:20The book Alex is taking away from his father's office
0:03:20 > 0:03:22is a history of the Durtnell family,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26written 60 years ago by his late uncle, Cyril Durtnell.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32You've got the family crest there, the original one,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35so you've just got a real mixture of stuff.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38You've got references, family trees,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41the story of different names of houses etc.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44So it's quite, it's quite in-depth.
0:03:44 > 0:03:45Have you ever read this book?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Not cover to cover.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54It's in that sort of typo that gives you a bit of a headache really.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Alex has spent all his adult life in the construction trade,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01mostly working for his father at Durtnell's.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06As he tries to come to grips with his new role
0:04:06 > 0:04:08as head of the business,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Alex now wants to find out about its past.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15We've got various ledgers that go back a while.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17There's 1920... 1919 there.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20I remember as a child, you know, going to London.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22There was a lot of arm waving out the window,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24"We built this and we built that."
0:04:24 > 0:04:26And, sadly, there wasn't in-car TV's back then
0:04:26 > 0:04:29so we actually had to listen to what dad was saying.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31I thought, "God, how boring is that?"
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Of course, now, I do the same thing with my children.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37"We built that", or whatever, and we have a pride.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43Just general owners, owners through the ages. Notice the facial hair.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49It's more than their impressive beards that has inspired
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Alex's new curiosity about the working lives of his forebears.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57He wants to find out how it was for the previous Durtnells
0:04:57 > 0:04:58who stood alone at the top.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05It is a lonely job because you are representing the shareholders
0:05:05 > 0:05:10and the family and so you have to be a step back from everyone else.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Hand on heart, I don't know the history of all these people,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16but I think these guys probably have been through that themselves.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20It would be interesting to know how they dealt with it.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Durtnell's has been based in Brasted longer than anyone can remember.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Alex has always been told his family has been building around here
0:05:34 > 0:05:39since 1591 - in the time of Elizabeth I and Shakespeare.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45And that, back then, the Durtnells were carpenter builders,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47who didn't build in brick or stone,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49but exclusively in wood.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53But Alex has never seen proof of any of this.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02So, following a lead in Uncle Cyril's book, he's come to London
0:06:02 > 0:06:06to find evidence of his Elizabethan ancestors being carpenter builders.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09We are going to Lambeth Palace,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16to see if there is anything there that can enlighten us
0:06:16 > 0:06:20on past Durtnells and what they did in their careers.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Sort of give us a bit more information on
0:06:22 > 0:06:25how the business started.
0:06:25 > 0:06:26In Elizabethan England,
0:06:26 > 0:06:31much of people's financial affairs was administered by the church.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34If there was a Durtnell carpenter building business in Kent,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37it would have been under the jurisdiction
0:06:37 > 0:06:39of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46So, Alex is at Lambeth Palace to meet archivist Giles Mandelbrote.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48- Hi, Giles. Nice to meet you. - Hello.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Alex Durtnell. Good afternoon.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57This volume contains the official record
0:06:57 > 0:07:01of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06Now, if we turn through to this leaf of parchment here,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10we are now in the year 1608,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12- and starting here...- Oh, yeah!
0:07:12 > 0:07:15..and going through to the top of the next page
0:07:15 > 0:07:19is, in fact, your ancestor's will.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22- Shall I just read you what it says? - Yes, please.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27In the name of God, Amen, I, Brian Darfnell, carpenter...
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Carpenter?
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- ..saying carpenter, yes. So, it's very interesting.- Mm.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35So, where he says carpenter, I think that means that he's running
0:07:35 > 0:07:39- a carpentry business.- Yeah.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43The will actually mentions lands which are being bequeathed.
0:07:43 > 0:07:50And one would only go to the trouble of having this proved
0:07:50 > 0:07:56in a superior court if there were significant goods or estate.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00So, it does indicate that there is a certain amount of wealth.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02It's interesting.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Alex has always been told his business was founded in 1591.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Brian's will is dated 17 years after that, in 1608.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Brian was only in his 50s when he died.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19So, in 1591, he was in his 30s - at just the right age
0:08:19 > 0:08:22to start up his own carpenter builder business.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Relieved, I suppose. It could have all been a sham.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27You always think one day someone will say,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30"Well, how do you know that? Prove it."
0:08:30 > 0:08:33But to see that there's the Archbishop of Canterbury's records
0:08:33 > 0:08:37confirming that he was a carpenter, a carpenter with a big "C",
0:08:37 > 0:08:39ie, he probably ran a business of carpenters
0:08:39 > 0:08:43but of a decent level, decent size, I suppose, is nice.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45It backs up the start of the business.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Brian Durtnell worked in the late Elizabethan period.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56After the defeat of the Spanish Armada,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59England enjoyed stability and prosperity.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Kent, being close to London and known as the Garden of England,
0:09:04 > 0:09:05was especially rich.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Many of those who did well here built themselves flashy,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12decorative houses to display their wealth.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It was a golden age for wood-built houses, like Poundsbridge Manor,
0:09:18 > 0:09:23completed in 1593, two years after the start of the Durtnell business.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30And there is documentary evidence which suggests Poundsbridge
0:09:30 > 0:09:31was the work of Brian Durtnell.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40420 years later, Poundsbridge is still standing,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43a short drive from where Alex's office is today.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50With permission from the present owner,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Alex will be shown round Poundsbridge
0:09:52 > 0:09:53by building historian David Brooks.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56- Hi, David.- Good morning, Alex. - Nice to meet you, how are you?
0:09:56 > 0:09:59- Fine, thank you. - Good to see you, good to see you.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01What do you think of this lovely old house, then?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Well, it's still standing, which is quite novel.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09Alex has never explored Poundsbridge.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12He hopes looking round the house will tell him about the techniques
0:10:12 > 0:10:15of his forebear, Brian, who founded the family business.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23- Hello.- Hello, hello. May we come in?
0:10:37 > 0:10:39This was an open hall,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42so it would have been open right the way through to the roof line.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46This would have been something like a flagstone floor
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and then sleeping bedroom areas up above it.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54If you look at that post there, can you see the tool marks on it?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57- Yeah.- Where that's been cut by hand.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00And that could have been cut by a Durtnell?
0:11:00 > 0:11:02It may well have been.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Who'd have thought, eh? That's why it's so well done.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Now we go up into here then, Alex.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17These timbers here, Alex, appear to be original
0:11:17 > 0:11:19and here we've got some carpenter's marks.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Yeah. Across there.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23- Up there. Some of them.- And there.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25- Yeah, some of them... - Most of them have, actually.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27The carpenter's marks are a telltale sign,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31the result of a building technique called timber framing.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Huge oak timbers provided a sturdy skeleton.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41The rooms inside were then created with smaller oak timbers.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46This entire frame was put together offsite.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50The carpenter then marked every timber to show where it fitted
0:11:50 > 0:11:51before he disassembled the frame
0:11:51 > 0:11:54and then carted the timbers to the building site.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59So when the cart delivers all the timbers,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02they look at number three, number four, OK right, where it is.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Now, we can't see the corresponding... Well, we can here.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08We can see the corresponding marks there.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10This is the original flatpack construction.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13- This is Ikea, but 19...1593.- Yes.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Timber framing goes back thousands of years.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22In late-16th century England,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25it was a highly sophisticated construction technique
0:12:25 > 0:12:28used in everything from a barn to a palace.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Mind your head as you come up.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36If you come through to the bedroom,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40see, we've got very similar details, all hand cut.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44- Is that original, would you say that's original?- Yes, definitely.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Really? You know, to me, you know,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49some of these look like they could have gone through a machine.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50You know, they're quite neat.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53They've obviously taken a bit of time on some of these,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55- they haven't rushed them.- No.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Look at the detail on it, the time and effort they spent on that,
0:12:59 > 0:13:00because that is very nice...
0:13:00 > 0:13:03- Oh, yes, it's lovely. - ..that detail on there.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10When you look at the detailing and the timber,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14it was certainly a sort of a level above in terms of the carpentry.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17It's interesting because this sort of building is,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20we are building stuff like this, current stuff like this, you know,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22for guys with sort of five, six bedrooms,
0:13:22 > 0:13:23nice houses and nice materials and so on,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27and I think that is a sort of similar, you know,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29level to what we've got here now behind us.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Just like his father used to do,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Alex is visiting one of the building sites that Durtnell's is working at.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54It's a £10 million contract to build 15 luxury homes in a former quarry.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58- So this is unit 1.- 15.
0:13:58 > 0:13:59Sorry, beg your pardon, unit 15.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01This is a show house, nearly finished,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04so it gives a good flavour of what you are going to get.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07So what's in here, Mark?
0:14:07 > 0:14:10- This is what they call an open-plan living area.- Right.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Alex knows that everyone is watching how he will measure up
0:14:16 > 0:14:20to being chairman and chief executive of R Durtnell and Sons.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Before he took over, Alex's father John and Uncle Richard
0:14:29 > 0:14:31ran the business successfully for 40 years.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Uncle Richard died five years ago.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Though Alex's father John remains one of the firms seven directors,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43he's now semi-retired.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48You have to remove yourself from the stage, really,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52to let your successor find their feet
0:14:52 > 0:14:57and establish their way of doing things and dealing with things.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01And if you are there, well then, you are in the way, aren't you, really?
0:15:01 > 0:15:05The very important bit is that he leads the show.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07In our industry, you get some peaks and troughs,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09you get bubbles, you get crashes,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12so you have to sort of bend with the market, don't you?
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I guess Alexander will try things in the future
0:15:16 > 0:15:18and good luck to him and maybe some of them will fail,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23maybe some will succeed and that's... that's absolutely right, isn't it?
0:15:24 > 0:15:26Alex's first year in charge
0:15:26 > 0:15:29has been at a difficult time in the construction industry.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Over 7,000 British building firms have gone bankrupt
0:15:32 > 0:15:35since the financial crash of 2008.
0:15:37 > 0:15:38It's become an industry
0:15:38 > 0:15:41in which only the canny and resilient survive.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46How would you describe the present climate in your industry, then?
0:15:46 > 0:15:47Pretty crap.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52It's not, it just seems...
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Sometimes you just think it would be nice to have a day of good news.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59It's just one knock after the other knock after the other knock,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01you know, and you think, oh crikey.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03But it's bloody hard.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05I mean, winning work is very hard, doing it is hard,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08surveying it is hard, everything is, you know,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11you're pricing jobs against six, seven, eight other contractors.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Then you price it and they beat you up about timing
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and all this sort of stuff, and you're thinking, "Oh, God."
0:16:17 > 0:16:19I'm not looking for sympathy, but that's just how the industry is
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and that...unfortunately, that's what we're in and what we know
0:16:22 > 0:16:24and we have to make the best of it.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29As Alex continues to grapple with the challenges ahead,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33he's about to return to his investigation of his family's past.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40It seems the business took off because Brian Durtnell
0:16:40 > 0:16:44exploited the demand for flashy timber-framed houses
0:16:44 > 0:16:47among the growing merchant class of late Elizabethan England.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Now Alex wants to see if that entrepreneurial spirit
0:16:52 > 0:16:55continued in the generations after Brian.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59So he's travelled from Brasted to London
0:16:59 > 0:17:03for an appointment with building historian Elizabeth McKellar.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- Hello, Elizabeth.- Hi, you must be Alex.- Yeah. Morning, how are you?
0:17:08 > 0:17:09- Nice to meet you. - Yes, good to meet you.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Elizabeth has asked him to meet her in Bedford Row,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16on the edge of London's financial district.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Some of the houses here were built in the late 17th century.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23With a population approaching a million,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26London was then the biggest city in the world
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and it had just been struck by a catastrophe.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The Great Fire of London was just the most spectacular of many fires.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Towns burning down was a longstanding problem.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46It wasn't the first time it happened.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48But because it was so devastating...
0:17:48 > 0:17:52I mean, four fifths of the city were destroyed.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55You can imagine if four fifths of the city burnt down today.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57- The priority was to rebuild what's lost.- Sure.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And everyone was desperate about their businesses,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02it was the commercial heartland and so, you know,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06they were just rebuilding the existing as fast as possible.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10It was understood that London had burnt down
0:18:10 > 0:18:12because it was built of wood.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16So in 1667, the Rebuilding of London Act was rushed through.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22This made it law that the city must not be rebuilt in wood,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24but of something less combustible.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28If you could afford it, stone - but mostly brick.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33And to enable that to happen,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36a lot of people flood into bricklaying,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38looking at this as a way to make money.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41John Evelyn, the diarist at the time,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44refers to them as scoundrel builders and vermin.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48- Because they are untrained and... - Yeah, sure.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50..they're just cobbling up streets.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Brick houses were quick and cheap to erect
0:18:54 > 0:18:58and London's expanding population couldn't get enough of them.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Soon brick-built houses were springing up
0:19:02 > 0:19:04even beyond where the pre-fire city had stood.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Most of these hasty developments have been lost,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15but a few better quality buildings survive, like here in Bedford Row.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22These houses here were built by somebody called Nicholas Barbon,
0:19:22 > 0:19:27who was the biggest builder and speculator in London at the time.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29This one, in particular,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33is very much as it would have looked in the 1680s, so incredibly plain.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35But they're very simple, aren't they?
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Very simple. It's a brick box,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42they are mass produced, mass designed
0:19:42 > 0:19:45and Barbon made a fortune.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48So he certainly, at one point, was spectacularly rich.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50What would you have done?
0:19:50 > 0:19:54You're there 1666, Alex Durtnell is there, you are running the firm...
0:19:54 > 0:19:57I would have come to London quickly and jumped on the bandwagon.
0:19:59 > 0:20:00Alex has no idea
0:20:00 > 0:20:04if his 17th-century forebears shared his entrepreneurial instincts.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08Brasted, as the crow flies,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10is something like 15 miles from the centre of London,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12if you take a dead straight line, so it's very close,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17but it would be interesting to see if they were entrepreneurial
0:20:17 > 0:20:21and picked up the pace quickly or pottered around in the villages.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23It would be interesting to know.
0:20:28 > 0:20:29To find out if his forebears
0:20:29 > 0:20:32exploited the post-fire bricklaying boom,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Alex deduces who was running the business at the time.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41After the Elizabethan carpenter builder Brian Durtnell began it,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44two generations had passed by 1666.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49The business was now in the hands of David Durtnell.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53From Uncle Cyril,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Alex has discovered that in the years after the Great Fire,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01David Durtnell built himself a home and workshop called Fords
0:21:01 > 0:21:03in a row of cottages in Brasted.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Alex is off to look at Fords cottage,
0:21:11 > 0:21:12he wants to see if it was built
0:21:12 > 0:21:15with any of the techniques pioneered after the Great Fire.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20Small windows, they had big windows.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Predominantly timber frame, I guess, behind the tile hanging.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34No, not...not really no, they... Completely opposite!
0:21:35 > 0:21:38So if you're saying at a similar time, I think you said,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41then, obviously, the word hadn't quite got to Brasted
0:21:41 > 0:21:43or to the Durtnell family anyway,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45that we're actually moving on to brickwork.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49- Hello.- Hello.- Are you Gary? - I am, yes.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52- Hi, Gary, Alex Durtnell, nice to meet you.- Come on in.
0:21:52 > 0:21:53Thank you for letting us into your...
0:21:53 > 0:21:57- No problems, just turn the light on. - ..into your house.- Just come on in.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00- Thank you. I've driven past these so many times.- Have you?
0:22:00 > 0:22:02But I have never been inside one.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04It's quite a nice little old cottage.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09- Lovely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Built by...- One of your relatives.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10One of my relatives.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14So they learnt nothing from the Fire of London in terms...
0:22:14 > 0:22:19This is Poundsbridge Manor, isn't it? Similarly, nice feeling,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22little smaller windows, nice beams,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24you know, sort of nice layout and so on,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26which is completely the same
0:22:26 > 0:22:29as the building nearly 100 years earlier, I guess, isn't it?
0:22:35 > 0:22:38David Durtnell seems to have foregone the opportunity
0:22:38 > 0:22:40to make easy money from bricklaying.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Instead, he stayed true to his craft.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50In his will dated 1682, he called himself a carpenter.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Gosh, so it's pretty, er, as is, isn't it?
0:22:55 > 0:22:57It's nice to think that, you know,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01relatives built this and lived here, which is quite cool.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05You grow up with knowing about the family business
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and all that sort of thing and locally in Brasted and whatever,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11but the fact he lived here and tried to make a go of it
0:23:11 > 0:23:14when times are hard and stuff, it's nice, yeah, just to say...
0:23:14 > 0:23:17And it's a long time ago, it's not like, "Oh, Grandad lived here,"
0:23:17 > 0:23:23this is 12 generations ago, maybe, 11 generations ago, a long time.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27So, yeah, I just think that's quite special.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36The Durtnell family lived and worked at Fords for the next 100 years.
0:23:38 > 0:23:39And all through this time,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43the Durtnells still described themselves as carpenters.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50This was the 1700s, the Georgian Age of the Enlightenment
0:23:50 > 0:23:52and the scientific revolution.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56And the brick box that had been pioneered after the Great Fire
0:23:56 > 0:23:58became the standard British home.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03By the 1790s,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07even Brasted had been transformed by elegant Georgian houses.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Alex wants to find out how sticking with carpenter builder traditions
0:24:14 > 0:24:19throughout the 1700s affected his family business.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21So he's arranged to meet a local historian
0:24:21 > 0:24:24who knows about the Durtnells in this era, Bob Ogley.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- Hello, Bob.- Hello. - Alex Durtnell.- Hello, Alex.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34- I've heard you, I've heard your name before.- Oh, right.- All good.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39- Good, well, I knew John very well, how is he?- He's still here.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41He's still semi-retired. We're trying to get rid of him, but...
0:24:41 > 0:24:43I thought you'd got rid of him completely.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Well, we tried to, but Mum won't have him at home, so we sort of...
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Bob is in Durtnell's boardroom
0:24:49 > 0:24:51because on the wall here is a family tree
0:24:51 > 0:24:54with facsimiles of the signatures of Alex's ancestors.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00The signatures from the 1700s are mostly taken from wills.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04At every generation in this century, the estate gets smaller.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09These people had been carpenters
0:25:09 > 0:25:11and, somehow, they kept it going
0:25:11 > 0:25:15through 200 years of fluctuating family fortune.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20But then it went downhill, it went badly downhill.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26There is no record of what the Durtnell carpenter builders
0:25:26 > 0:25:27worked on in the 1700s.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32The surviving wooden structures from this era
0:25:32 > 0:25:34are mostly just sheds and barns.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It's very likely that by the end of the century,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41these were the only buildings for such outdated craftsmen.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48So that's the, that's the background and it was this fellow...
0:25:48 > 0:25:50That one or that one?
0:25:50 > 0:25:52It was this one, Richard Durtnell.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- OK, yeah, yeah.- The second.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57You can see there's an X,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00which means that he couldn't even sign his name, so, he...
0:26:00 > 0:26:04- I mean, was education important if you were a...- No, I doubt it.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05..a carpenter? No, no, I doubt it.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11When he died in 1791, he left £100, that's all.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12I mean, he was known...
0:26:12 > 0:26:17he's gone down in history as the family's prize failure.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20I think it's a little bit cruel.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23The business was in very, very bad condition.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25The end of Durtnell's was in sight.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29The illiterate Richard Durtnell,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32known in the family as Richard II,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35was the third generation to live and work at Fords since David,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37just after the Great Fire of London.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Richard II was followed by his son, Richard III.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47This document, which the family still has,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49reveals what Richard III did
0:26:49 > 0:26:52in a desperate effort to save the family business.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55It's not known where he got the money,
0:26:55 > 0:27:00but in 1802, he somehow raised £360
0:27:00 > 0:27:03to buy a new and much larger business premises.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09To explain the critical importance of this investment,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Bob is taking Alex onto Brasted Village Green.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- He lived at Fords.- Yeah.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18And in 1802, he bought Constables.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25He fenced off the land around here, and it was quite a big site,
0:27:25 > 0:27:30that is where he positioned himself and that is the land he bought,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34that is what became the family business we know today.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Buying Constables and the land around it
0:27:37 > 0:27:41was a risky investment for Richard III.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44But now he had space for a builder's yard.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Durtnell's offices are based on the land Richard III bought
0:27:51 > 0:27:56and Alex's father, John, can remember this place 30 years ago,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59when it was still operating as a builder's yard.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Lots of buildings, there was the paint store, the nail store,
0:28:03 > 0:28:08the glass store, the workshops and metal departments and joinery works
0:28:08 > 0:28:10and so on, all as a, all as a hub.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16By setting up his yard,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Richard III made a strategic change in how the family business worked.
0:28:22 > 0:28:23Before the 19th century,
0:28:23 > 0:28:28the construction industry had been fragmented into competing artisans.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Builders had been either carpenters or bricklayers or stonemasons.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36All had worked for themselves and jealously guarded their craft.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Then, in the early 1800s,
0:28:41 > 0:28:46pioneers like Richard III set themselves up as general builders.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49In his yard, he brought together
0:28:49 > 0:28:52all the various different construction crafts,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54not just carpenters or bricklayers,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57but ironmongers, glaziers and so on.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03The Brasted yard was a one-stop shop
0:29:03 > 0:29:07that did everything from foundations to fittings.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Alex wants to know if Richard III's gamble paid off.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Nearly all the papers from the Durtnell business
0:29:18 > 0:29:23in this important era were lost during the Second World War.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26But Uncle Cyril, who wrote the family history,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30read some of Richard III's personal journals before they disappeared.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40"His business interests in 1828 were widespread over Brasted..."
0:29:40 > 0:29:43which is where we are now, "..Westerham, Sevenoaks, Mitcham,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46"Deptford, and London, among other places.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50"Over 150 customers appeared in the 1828 book."
0:29:50 > 0:29:53That's a lot of customers, that's a hell of a lot of customers.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55Big or small, it's a business
0:29:55 > 0:29:59as opposed to being a man with some tools as a carpenter.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02He sounds like quite a... quite a good, good chap.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09It's not known precisely who were Richard III's 150 clients
0:30:09 > 0:30:11and which buildings he worked on.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16His yard was set up to erect anything from a stable to a mansion.
0:30:18 > 0:30:19According to Uncle Cyril,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Richard III was the family's first modern builder.
0:30:24 > 0:30:25Going back a long time ago,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29it went downhill a bit and there is a bit tumbleweed blowing around
0:30:29 > 0:30:33and they were sort of living in not... I wouldn't say poverty,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35but it's certainly not as affluent as they had been.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38The Baldric type characters, do you know what I mean?
0:30:38 > 0:30:43In that sort of way, a bit... quite local, cut a bit of wood,
0:30:43 > 0:30:45and this guy - definitely seems a bit more about him.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49He seems like he is keener to push, expand, develop.
0:30:49 > 0:30:50And then it sort of comes up again.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54So I think, you know, sort of coming out from the sort of Baldric years
0:30:54 > 0:30:56to this slightly better...
0:30:56 > 0:30:59He seems to be the chap that's laid the sort of foundations
0:30:59 > 0:31:01for where we are now.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03I think all of us owe him a bit of a debt really.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06He did that through, through coming through from nothing,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10you know, he did it off his own back so, you know, it's good.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Richard III died aged 79 in 1845.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21His will is an impressive list, several pages long,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23of investments and properties.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28No Durtnell who has run the business since him
0:31:28 > 0:31:31has had to make something out of nothing, as he did.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40Today, Alex faces a very different kind of challenge -
0:31:40 > 0:31:42his father passed on a thriving business.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46But it is quite daunting
0:31:46 > 0:31:49because you don't want to be the one to, you know,
0:31:49 > 0:31:50bugger it up really.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55How would you feel if you were the one who...?
0:31:56 > 0:31:57Well, not great.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00Because it's gone on that long, it's the history...
0:32:00 > 0:32:03I mean, you wouldn't want to be the one to muck up a company anyway
0:32:03 > 0:32:06even if it was one, two generations old, because it's embarrassing
0:32:06 > 0:32:11and it's, you know, it's sort of a slur on your abilities, you know.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14But it... all I want to do is make sure that,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18eventually, whenever I hand it over to whoever is going to run it -
0:32:18 > 0:32:20hopefully it's a Durtnell and someone's interested -
0:32:20 > 0:32:22end up handing it over in a half decent shape.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33After Richard III, the family continued to prosper.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38By the mid-19th century,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41the business was run by the grandson of Richard III, Richard V.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46He's the great-great-grandfather of Alex.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Richard V's photo is on Durtnell's boardroom wall.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58When he took over, it was the Victorian age
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05This was the time of steam power and railway mania,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08when thousands of miles of iron roads were laid.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Across Britain, isolated villages were plugged in to the rail network
0:33:14 > 0:33:18and were turned into cities, it seemed to some, almost overnight.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Then in 1881, the railway came to Brasted.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30The Westerham Valley Railway
0:33:30 > 0:33:34ran from the village of Westerham through Brasted to Dunton Green,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37where it connected with the mainline to London.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41It was the brainchild of six local businessmen,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45among them Alex's great-great-grandfather, Richard V.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Alex has always known
0:33:50 > 0:33:53that Richard V was one of those behind the Westerham Valley line.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57But he has no idea how it affected the family business,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59so that's what he wants to find out next.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04The line was ripped up in 1961.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Alex is going to take a walk along the old route
0:34:12 > 0:34:13with rail enthusiast Bill Curtis.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15- Hello, Bill.- Hi, Alex, how are you?
0:34:15 > 0:34:17- I'm very well, nice to meet you.- Good to meet you.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20It's nice to see the straightness and the fact that, you know,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24you are standing on remnants below what we are standing on here of what was put in, it's fantastic.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27It's an interesting beginning to the railway because, obviously,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31businessmen, especially those in the hard trades,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34would have a great interest in having a railway built
0:34:34 > 0:34:39just purely to speed things up, you know, to bring economy to the area.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Yeah, and why do you think Richard Durtnell was involved?
0:34:43 > 0:34:45If you've promoted something
0:34:45 > 0:34:48which is going to mean that the towns and villages get larger,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50there is going to be more house building to go on.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56There is no evidence that I have seen
0:34:56 > 0:34:59that the promoters of the company,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01the Westerham Valley Railway,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04that is Richard Durtnell and the other businessmen,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07that they had any financial stake in the company.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10They would look to somebody else to do that.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15The money came from the extremely wealthy owner of Brasted Place,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17a large estate along the route.
0:35:19 > 0:35:20Called Squire Tipping,
0:35:20 > 0:35:25he contributed £60,000, which is about six million today.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29This paid for just four miles of single track that didn't
0:35:29 > 0:35:32even connect with a convenient junction on the main line.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37There was a fatal flaw in this railway right from the beginning.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Now, if you think about the fast trains that go to London,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42none of them stop at Dunton Green.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44This was always going to take you to Dunton Green,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48where you have to change trains if you are a London businessman.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51And you would always be on the slow chug up to town,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55so it didn't bring the prosperity, the business that everybody hoped,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57but it would have helped people like Durtnell.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02Being part of the Westerham Valley Railway Company
0:36:02 > 0:36:04gave Richard more opportunity
0:36:04 > 0:36:08because he was mixing with some quite powerful and influential businessmen
0:36:08 > 0:36:12- that perhaps he wouldn't necessarily have involved himself with before. - Sure, sure.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18Richard V even appears in the gossip column of the local newspaper.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21A report of the dinner on the night the railway opened
0:36:21 > 0:36:24shows him hobnobbing with Kent's great and good.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30"Great rejoicing.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35"The chairman proposed the prosperity of the towns of Westerham and Brasted. Hear, hear.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38"He would couple with a toast the name of Dr Thompson,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42"of Mr Fox and Mr Durtnell, who was connected with Brasted."
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Good lad! Yeah, yeah.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49He schmoozed into, into the important people locally
0:36:49 > 0:36:51and I'll have a bit of that and, you know,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54see what comes out of that, which was a bit of work I guess.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58"Westerham return train to London left Westerham Station at 9pm..."
0:36:58 > 0:37:00probably full of a load of drunks,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03"..subsequently a grand display of fireworks took place on the green,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07"the Westerham town band playing a selection of music during the display."
0:37:18 > 0:37:21It's a bit dusty, I might get all covered in dust.
0:37:22 > 0:37:23Alex doesn't know
0:37:23 > 0:37:27if Richard V's new social status benefited the business.
0:37:30 > 0:37:31Ah, knuckles!
0:37:31 > 0:37:35So he's got some safe deposit boxes out of the bank.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38He believes these boxes contain Durtnell account books
0:37:38 > 0:37:40going back to the late 19th century.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Durtnell's something, summary of accounts 1883.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Alex is looking for Richard V's account books for 1882,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56the year after the railway opened.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Oh, here we go.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Colonel Ward, so that's Wards...
0:38:05 > 0:38:06Earl Stanhope.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09Lord Bramwell.
0:38:09 > 0:38:10Tipping.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Squire Tipping is the wealthy local who had backed the railway.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Well, there is a whole page of it.
0:38:19 > 0:38:26House, gardens, mills, stables, laundry, carriage.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29There is a whole page of stuff for Tipping.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32And another bit here, another load of stuff for Tipping.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Basically everything in his estate, I guess, it seems like.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39£800 worth in '82. Good stuff.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44The account books show that, during the 1880s,
0:38:44 > 0:38:49Durtnell's regularly made annual profits of thousands of pounds -
0:38:49 > 0:38:51equivalent to hundreds of thousands today.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Richard V built himself a house beside the yard and lived there
0:38:58 > 0:39:02amid a retinue of servants, rather like his well-to-do clients.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09If you look at Richard Durtnell up there he's, he looks less...
0:39:09 > 0:39:13he's not of the Baldric era, but he looks more gentlemanly like
0:39:13 > 0:39:15in his dress and his attire and that sort of, you know,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19how he's sort of groomed.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24So clearly Richard V is ambitious... socially and in business.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29But not all Richard V's profits came from maintenance work
0:39:29 > 0:39:32on the crumbling mansions of Kent's old squirearchy.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Since the time of Elizabeth I, Durtnell's have built.
0:39:41 > 0:39:42And in late-Victorian Kent,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45there was once again a wealthy merchant class which wanted
0:39:45 > 0:39:49flashy houses like Poundsbridge to display their wealth.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52They were self-made men
0:39:52 > 0:39:55who wanted to set themselves up as landed gentry,
0:39:55 > 0:39:59ideally close to London where their business interests were often based.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05The house Lewins was built by Durtnell's for a retail magnate.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11One of the grandest mansions erected in Kent around this time
0:40:11 > 0:40:16was Foxwold. It was built for the lawyer Horace Pym in 1884.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Alex has heard his great-great-grandfather Richard V
0:40:24 > 0:40:28was somehow involved in Foxwold, so he wants to pay it a visit.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43I've seen pictures, but that's it.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45I've never seen it in real life.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Look at this, crikey. Big house.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Foxwold is in new hands now.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57But Alex has come here
0:40:57 > 0:41:00to meet a descendant of the original owner, Fern Ogley.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06- Hello, Fern.- Hello, Alex.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- Nice to meet you. - Pleased to meet you.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12- In the end, yes. We've brought the weather.- Unfortunately, yes.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Did Durtnell's build it or did they do some works to it?
0:41:15 > 0:41:18- I don't know really... - They built the whole thing.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20- They built this?- Yes.- Wow.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22This is my grandmother's notes.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26"Came into Foxwold," it says here, "built by Durtnell's."
0:41:26 > 0:41:27Oh, wow, OK. Great.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31Though it looks like Poundsbridge,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Foxwold was built with the latest techniques of the time.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Its main structural beams are not actually wood but iron.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45Durtnell's was paid £9,400 to build it -
0:41:45 > 0:41:47equivalent to over a million today.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52I believe there are 51 rooms supposed to be.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55OK, but it looks quite decent sized windows
0:41:55 > 0:41:58- and a nice vista on the other side so maybe quite light.- Lovely.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00So nicely designed and hopefully well-built,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03but it's one of those houses where you need it full of people,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05and children running around and lots of laughter.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09My grandmother grew up and had the most luxurious life here.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13She rode and they had balls and servants, dances and...
0:42:13 > 0:42:14Very nice, yeah, yeah.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18I bet life back then was very much to do with Upstairs Downstairs?
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Yes, I was going to say it's like Upstairs Downstairs,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23it wasn't quite as grand as... Downton Abbey.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25- You lived here for a bit? - No, I never lived here.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27- You didn't live here. - I visited my cousins.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30And how was that, was it a nice house to come and visit?
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Lovely, yes. Oh, and there was one lovely point about it.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37He built the most wonderful sewer down to Brasted.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41- Who did? Richard V? - Yes. And I think...
0:42:41 > 0:42:42Oh, well, that's a claim to fame.
0:42:45 > 0:42:46Oh, right!
0:42:49 > 0:42:53I'll take a picture of that on my phone, have it as my screen saver.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56That's when you know life is over -
0:42:56 > 0:42:58when you are taking a picture of manhole covers.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Richard V died in 1911 aged 76.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11He left his family business in better shape than it had ever been.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14There are two family Bibles here.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19This one is in two halves, as you see and, hang on, this one..
0:43:19 > 0:43:22Intrigued by what Alex has learnt so far about their forebears,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25his father John has dug up a couple of heirlooms.
0:43:27 > 0:43:28These are Bibles
0:43:28 > 0:43:32and they were originally owned by Richards III and V.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Both of them seem quite similar.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38They are entrepreneurial, I think,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42they seized opportunities, they diversified,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44they did both, I think, they did quite well.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49- So you are saying that these Richards...- III and V.- ..did well?
0:43:51 > 0:43:54- And so they started that, didn't they?- Yeah, sure, very much so.
0:43:54 > 0:43:55So the interesting bit is...
0:43:57 > 0:43:59- Where are we now? - Is it like that or is it like that?
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And the really, really, really interesting bit is,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05is it going to go up or is it going to go level
0:44:05 > 0:44:07- or is it going to go down? - Hopefully no worse than level.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Let's have a look.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Alex's younger sister Alexia isn't involved in the business.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19So here we are, lots of my brother,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23that's a family Christmas, I think.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27That's Dad and that's my mother and Alex and I.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29But like all the Durtnell family,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31she's keenly aware of the pressure on Alex.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35There has been a little bit of jostling at the top
0:44:35 > 0:44:37to fit everybody into their new role.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42So, you know, for my father to step aside and slightly backwards
0:44:42 > 0:44:45and my brother to step forward and into those big shoes
0:44:45 > 0:44:51will have been quite difficult and slightly unnerving,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53I would imagine, for everybody, because, you know,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56my father has been chairman for 40 something years,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59to then slightly swap over and backwards,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01it's quite difficult, I would imagine,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04because you are just used to doing something your way and successfully
0:45:04 > 0:45:06and then for it to change
0:45:06 > 0:45:09and perhaps you are nervous about the future and what will happen.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11So I think it's been quite tricky
0:45:11 > 0:45:13but the good thing is that, because they are very close,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15they can talk about it and work on it together
0:45:15 > 0:45:20rather than in a competitive way, it's a supportive way.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Alex knows that whatever the challenges ahead of him,
0:45:27 > 0:45:32his ancestors have come through worse before.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34One of the most testing times for the family
0:45:34 > 0:45:36was the early 20th century.
0:45:41 > 0:45:42In the First World War,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45the grandson of Richard V, Richard Neville Durtnell,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49was killed in 1917 at the Battle of Arras.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52So instead of Richard Neville,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55his younger brother, Geoffrey, became head of the business.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58Geoffrey is Alex's grandfather.
0:46:01 > 0:46:02Geoffrey had a hard start.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09During the war, people stopped building houses.
0:46:09 > 0:46:10Even when peace came,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14the wealthy upper classes that Durtnell's had been working for
0:46:14 > 0:46:16no longer had the money to build big houses.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21In 1922, Durtnell's made a loss.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25Though they soon got out of the red,
0:46:25 > 0:46:28for most of the interwar period, profits were slender.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Then in 1939 came the Second World War
0:46:34 > 0:46:36and house building stopped entirely.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Alex wants to find out how his grandfather Geoffrey
0:46:59 > 0:47:01got the business through the Second World War.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09So he's arranged to talk to Battle of Britain historian Robin Brooks,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12who has told Alex to meet him at a wartime aerodrome called Detling.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16- Hello, Robin.- Hello, Alex.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18- How are you?- Pleased to meet you.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Welcome to what's left of Detling Airfield.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26- Crikey. This is a Durtnell building? I hope not.- No, no, it isn't.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30Here at Detling in August 1940,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Geoffrey Durtnell got a chance to show how his building business
0:47:33 > 0:47:35could contribute to Britain's war effort.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42It was Tuesday afternoon, 13th August 1940,
0:47:42 > 0:47:48a raid was coming in, it was a really strong force of Ju 87 Stukas,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52out of the blue sky, absolutely devastating raid.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54It only went on for about five minutes,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56but during those five minutes,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59the airfield was hit so very, very heavily.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03It was one of the worst raids on any of the airfields in Kent.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09Detling performed a critical role in Britain's coastal defence.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13It was essential the RAF got it operational again.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16But their own construction crews were overstretched.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20So just days after the raid,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22Geoffrey Durtnell was asked to send a gang of men to Detling
0:48:22 > 0:48:24to repair the damage.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28After the raid, they would have found absolute devastation,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31two of the hangars were completely gone,
0:48:31 > 0:48:34most of the buildings received shrapnel damage,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37two of the air raid shelters were absolutely blasted,
0:48:37 > 0:48:40there were 67 people in these air raid shelters,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42they were killed outright.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Many of the bodies, of course, after the raid were unrecognisable,
0:48:46 > 0:48:47it was quite a job.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51Back then, being a builder in that environment was not just turning up
0:48:51 > 0:48:53and dealing with your day-to-day stuff,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57but also seeing the outcome of those raids, which was pretty ghastly.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59- That's right. That's right. - Having to deal with all that
0:48:59 > 0:49:02and probably put your hand to doing other things,
0:49:02 > 0:49:03like you say, perhaps moving bodies
0:49:03 > 0:49:06or dealing with people's possessions that had been killed
0:49:06 > 0:49:09and all that sort of stuff, which is pretty personal, isn't it, really?
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Many civilians did actually refuse to work on these airfields
0:49:12 > 0:49:16and it was only the threat of getting no pay that, I think,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19induced them to stay and to work to earn a living.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22- Life is easy now compared to that, I guess.- I should think it is, yes.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23I think I need to stop moaning.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31The work at Detling was perilous.
0:49:31 > 0:49:32But in the next six months,
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Durtnell's earned over £1,000 from it.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40It was the start of a busy and lucrative period.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42As well as working at other airfields,
0:49:42 > 0:49:46Durtnell's was contracted to build air raid shelters and tank traps.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52Like many builders, Geoffrey did his bit throughout the war
0:49:52 > 0:49:53and his business benefited from it.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Making annual profits of up to £4,000 -
0:49:57 > 0:49:59double the return in peace time.
0:50:10 > 0:50:1490-year-old Rosemary Browne was Geoffrey Durtnell's secretary.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18She went on to work for the family business for three generations
0:50:18 > 0:50:19and has known Alex since he was born.
0:50:21 > 0:50:27One of the things they always know is there's a solid rock behind them.
0:50:27 > 0:50:32There really is because the Durtnell thing, as people,
0:50:32 > 0:50:36they meet adversity and they do something about it.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41They don't sort of say, "Oh, woe is me, isn't it dreadful?" No.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43"What are we going to do to put it right?"
0:50:43 > 0:50:46This is, I've watched this attitude from the word go
0:50:46 > 0:50:50and I've seen so much of it over the years
0:50:50 > 0:50:52and they really do, they tackle it.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56One of the toughest times that Miss Browne can remember
0:50:56 > 0:50:57is the late 1940s.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01There was no more war work,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04neither was anyone building houses
0:51:04 > 0:51:06because, like meat and clothing,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09the amount people could spend on building work was rationed.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15All you were allowed was £10 worth of work
0:51:15 > 0:51:17and even then, it wasn't an awful lot.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19Really, things were very sad after the war.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22There was no money, there was no money anywhere.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28But Geoffrey Durtnell managed to find someone with money to build.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Well, it wasn't really much our standard,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36but we got a contract to build council houses.
0:51:36 > 0:51:37They needed them badly.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Well, I mean, you are not proud,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42you take what it is whether it's a council house or a log cabin.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45I mean, you still go and build it.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47I have to say, they're very realistic,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50they didn't turn their nose up at work.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55The Durtnell account books show that, in 1955,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Geoffrey got a contract to build 60 homes
0:51:58 > 0:52:02on the Sherwood council estate in the nearby town of Tunbridge Wells.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Alex has never seen these council houses.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09- Hello, Alex.- Nice to meet you.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11- How do you do? - How are you?- Nice to meet you.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Alex doesn't know how this contract affected his family business.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18To find out, he's with housing historian Peter Malpass.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23Together, they set off for the Sherwood Estate,
0:52:23 > 0:52:25where Durtnell's built 60 houses,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28all according to a nationally standardised design.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34You could see houses like this in any town in England,
0:52:34 > 0:52:39brick and tile houses like this, in rows or in pairs, perfectly common.
0:52:42 > 0:52:43In the decade after the war,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46the British government funded the construction
0:52:46 > 0:52:48of 1.5 million council houses.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54This vast building effort was part of an even more ambitious plan
0:52:54 > 0:52:55to shake up the housing market.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00I believe your firm was building
0:53:00 > 0:53:04big houses at the beginning of the 20th century...
0:53:04 > 0:53:07- Yeah, I think...- ..for rich people. - That's right, yeah.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12And then in the war, you were doing what was required for the war effort,
0:53:12 > 0:53:13which wasn't building houses.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16No, sort of Detling Aerodrome rebuild job, yeah.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20Exactly, so the work on this estate
0:53:20 > 0:53:23gave you some...some work,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26but it also gave you the experience
0:53:26 > 0:53:32of contracting to build quite large numbers of modest-sized houses.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37So it was making a transition and enabling you, in the longer run,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41to get into building at scale for owner occupiers.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44- Very much different discipline. - Yes, that's right.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46The repetitious work, it's...
0:53:46 > 0:53:51I think of the local authorities, in a sense,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54putting building firms into a position
0:53:54 > 0:53:57where they could go on and build private houses.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01The council house building programme was a sort of transition.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07In 1955, the massive council house building programme stopped.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11The government hoped private building firms like Durtnell's
0:54:11 > 0:54:12would now carry on building,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16paid for by a new generation of mass owner occupiers.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20In 1957, Harold Macmillan said to the nation,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22"We have never had it so good."
0:54:22 > 0:54:26So people were acquiring affluence for the first time,
0:54:26 > 0:54:29they were acquiring new consumer goods,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and buying a house was becoming affordable for many people
0:54:33 > 0:54:35in a way that it hadn't been in the past.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41The 60 houses Durtnell's built in Tunbridge Wells are the only homes
0:54:41 > 0:54:44the business is known to have built for a local authority.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50But the government's plan worked.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55In the following years, Durtnell's worked as a private developer,
0:54:55 > 0:54:59building hundreds of very similar houses all over Kent.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02Like this cul-de-sac on the edge of Brasted.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Alex has learned how, once again,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09his family had found someone with money to build
0:55:09 > 0:55:11and adapted the business to fit its new client.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Looking at different markets.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21You are used to doing the Foxwolds for Mr Pym.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24If that was not in abundance, then they were doing something else,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27like the 60 council houses in Tunbridge Wells.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30It's work, isn't it? You've got to...
0:55:30 > 0:55:32At the end of the day, you can't be too picky
0:55:32 > 0:55:34if there's not much work out there.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37I mean, he's doing what we're doing, he's carrying it on,
0:55:37 > 0:55:38we're just here to take it on
0:55:38 > 0:55:41and hopefully leave it in a better state than when we got it
0:55:41 > 0:55:43or in as good a state. And he is no different, really.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47And dealing with the same sort of things and issues.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51There's good and bad times. Never always a good time or a bad time,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54so he's been there and done what we've done
0:55:54 > 0:55:57through probably harder times, I should think, and good for him.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05Geoffrey Durtnell died in 1979 when Alex was only five.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11To get to know his grandfather better,
0:56:11 > 0:56:16Alex has found an interview Geoffrey made for the BBC 40 years ago.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18Alex has never listened to it before.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20'Mr Durtnell, is it good for business
0:56:20 > 0:56:23'being known as the oldest building firm in Britain?'
0:56:24 > 0:56:27'No, I am terribly proud of the fact that we are,
0:56:27 > 0:56:32'but from a business angle, I don't think it makes any difference.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37'I think people judge you on what you do and how modern you are.'
0:56:37 > 0:56:38'It seems a terrible thing to say,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41'but being the oldest building firm in Britain
0:56:41 > 0:56:46- 'doesn't seem to really be worth all that much.'- 'Financially?'- 'Yeah.'
0:56:46 > 0:56:48'No, but it's a hell of a kick.'
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Geoffrey's two sons Richard and John
0:56:54 > 0:56:56continued to grow the family business
0:56:56 > 0:56:59through the peaks and troughs of the late 20th century.
0:57:03 > 0:57:04It's been down to Alex
0:57:04 > 0:57:08to get R Durtnell and Sons out of the most recent long recession.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14Now he's completed his journey into the past of his business,
0:57:14 > 0:57:17he has learnt how some of his forebears have survived
0:57:17 > 0:57:19in the volatile construction industry.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31I think knowing more now about the family history...
0:57:31 > 0:57:34We knew quite a bit anyway but obviously we've added to that.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37..it does reinforce that you can get through it, you know.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40There's been far tougher situations, I guess,
0:57:40 > 0:57:42the family have been through in previous generations
0:57:42 > 0:57:44than what we have got now.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47They've done it, they've succeeded and there is no reason why,
0:57:47 > 0:57:51you know, we can't be here in another 100 years' time.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Yes, things are tough at the moment,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57you know, get on with it and stop crying sort of thing.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00And I think, generally, things will work out all right.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03Maybe that is a blinkered view, but that's what I feel.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Discover the secrets of successful resilient enterprises
0:58:18 > 0:58:21and the latest insights from business history. Go to...
0:58:24 > 0:58:27..and follow the links to the Open University.