0:00:06 > 0:00:08HE EXHALES
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Seriously high now.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Oh, that's a wobbly one.
0:00:15 > 0:00:1740m now, I reckon.
0:00:17 > 0:00:18I can see the cab above me.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21What an office that is.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26I can see the sea.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'I'm climbing 200 foot to the top of
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'a huge crane in the centre of Cardiff.'
0:00:33 > 0:00:37This is the last 5m, before the very top.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Just got to straddle my way across here.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41Get past this point.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Hello.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45You all right, mate?
0:00:45 > 0:00:47Wow.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49He's just turning it around for a better view,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52but he warned us to hold on cos it gets a little bit juddery.
0:00:52 > 0:00:53So I'm holding on!
0:00:54 > 0:00:58I'm on the building site of the new BBC Wales headquarters
0:00:58 > 0:01:01and it's the biggest construction project in the city.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09This is a perfect example of how this city is constantly evolving.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Billions of pounds will soon be spent on redevelopment.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15It's one of the UK's fastest-growing cities.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22But sometimes I feel that this place is a little bit too quick
0:01:22 > 0:01:23to forget its past.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I want to learn about those little pieces of history that tell me
0:01:27 > 0:01:30all about how Cardiff became the city that it is today.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34'My name is Will Millard,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37'I'm a writer and an explorer.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'This place is my home, and I love it.'
0:01:40 > 0:01:41Great stuff.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44I'm going in!
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'I'm going to explore how Cardiff grew from
0:01:48 > 0:01:51'a tiny, little town into a modern metropolis.'
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Ooh, look.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56This is something else, down here.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01'I've got unprecedented access to places you never get to see,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04'and they don't tell the familiar story.'
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Oh, my goodness me! Look in this place.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It is satanically dark down there.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Pretty, pretty foreboding.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17'I'll be venturing above, below, inside and all around the city.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19'It's going to be uncomfortable...'
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Wow.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22'..exhilarating...
0:02:24 > 0:02:25'..and dangerous.'
0:02:26 > 0:02:28My heart's starting to go now.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31'This is the city as you've never seen it before.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34'If you think you know Cardiff then think again.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37'It might be our last chance to see some of the history that is
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'vanishing right in front of us.'
0:02:40 > 0:02:45I'm walked across jungles on my own in Western Africa,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49but this is definitely about as scary as it gets for me.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04There's not a lot left that predates
0:03:04 > 0:03:06the Victorian era in Cardiff.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07But the history goes back beyond
0:03:07 > 0:03:09the Romans and, for centuries,
0:03:09 > 0:03:10it wasn't even a city,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12just a tiny trading town.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15Hello, Simon, how are you doing?
0:03:15 > 0:03:17'I've come to meet artist Simon Fenoulhet.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19'He's fascinated by the city's past,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'and he reckons he's found a truly hidden piece of history
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'that's remained undiscovered for hundreds of years.'
0:03:26 > 0:03:28OK, so why are we here, Simon?
0:03:29 > 0:03:32We're in the site of the old Blackfriars Friary,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35in the grounds of Cardiff Castle.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38And in the 13th century, there were two friaries - one here and
0:03:38 > 0:03:42one the other side of the castle, the Greyfriars.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44I imagine, back in the 13th century, here,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47- Cardiff would have looked very different?- Completely different.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50A very small town, a little over 2,000 people.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54I'm still a little bit mystified as to why we're exactly here, though?
0:03:54 > 0:03:57It's because I want to show you something I've found.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00A stone tunnel which has been hidden for many, many years.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03'I can't reveal where Simon is taking me
0:04:03 > 0:04:07'because it's on private land and it's also unsafe,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'but it's right in the centre of the city.'
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Simon, this is ridiculous.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14It's not a very big entrance.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Not a very big entrance? How big were these friars?
0:04:16 > 0:04:18They must have been midgets!
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Are you telling me that you think that was laid in the 13th century?
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Yeah. This is the ancient stonework, here,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26you can see at the top, and the walls inside.
0:04:26 > 0:04:27And the tunnel goes off
0:04:27 > 0:04:31at a very acute angle underneath the ground, over here.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Right, I think I'm going to go in first.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I'm going to grab a camera off James,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37so you can see what it's like inside.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Now, come on, Simon, have you got any expert tips for me,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45apart from turn on the torch and suck your stomach in?
0:04:45 > 0:04:48It's a wriggle to begin with. Once you're inside, you can crawl.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Right, let's turn this on, torches are on.
0:04:51 > 0:04:52Oh, my goodness me.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54Right.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Right, I'm going for it, guys.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00See if I can find the night-vision switch.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01There we go. Right.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Oh, good grief.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06- How are you doing?- It is tight.
0:05:08 > 0:05:09Simon, I wish I hadn't had
0:05:09 > 0:05:12that extra slice of toast for breakfast, mate!
0:05:14 > 0:05:15He's in.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17Wow.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Christ, he wasn't lying.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26Goodness me.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33I can't believe those monks would have been using this,
0:05:33 > 0:05:34walking down it.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38It's a lot longer than I was expecting as well.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43These aren't built for the modern man.
0:05:43 > 0:05:456' 1" of me is really struggling here.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48Ah.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53You can see here, either the roof's fallen in, or the ground's come up.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55I think I'm going to see if I can get over it, actually.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56See if I can get over that.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Wow.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06This is seriously...
0:06:06 > 0:06:08seriously tight.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09Over this collapsed mound.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12PHONE RINGS Oh, no.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14My phone's going off.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Yeah, all good. All good.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I'm just having a look over the mound.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25My back is pinned against this
0:06:25 > 0:06:2813th-century stone wall ceiling.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30HE LAUGHS
0:06:30 > 0:06:33My hood... My hood's caught on the roof!
0:06:34 > 0:06:36HE GRUNTS
0:06:36 > 0:06:37OK, I'm in. I'm over.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43That's definitely as far as I can go.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45It's completely collapsed beyond this mound.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Ah, you right behind me, mate?
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Honestly, Simon, I don't know what to say. What a discovery.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56What an incredible, incredible piece of history.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Nothing was built here, since the time of the Greyfriars,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- until the 1960s.- Right.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05So, whatever's here's got to be really old.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08What on earth was it being used for?
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Well, that's the big question, isn't it?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Lots of people think it could have been some sort of escape tunnel,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15because it goes directly to the castle from here.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16It's a nice thought,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20but I wonder if it's more likely to be something like water supply.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23- Right.- But it's nice thought to think it could be an escape route
0:07:23 > 0:07:27- if the castle was under siege, for example.- Sure.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31It's impossible to know have far this tunnel goes past that collapse,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34but I can't help but wonder how many more like this
0:07:34 > 0:07:36might be hidden under Cardiff?
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Like Simon said, back in medieval times,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Cardiff was just a small town,
0:07:49 > 0:07:51and it remained like that for hundreds of years,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53a rather unremarkable place.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58But then, things really began to change,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01thanks to one super-rich family - the Butes.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04For several generations, their extraordinary wealth
0:08:04 > 0:08:07completely changed Cardiff's fortunes.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10In the late 18th century, the first Marquess inherited his earldom,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13acquiring the castle and a lot of its surrounding land.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20After the Glamorganshire Canal opened in 1794, Merthyr's
0:08:20 > 0:08:23coal and iron could be transported much faster to Cardiff's seaport.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29It was the second Marquess of Bute who capitalised on this.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Using the family money, in 1839 he constructed a masonry dock
0:08:33 > 0:08:36to handle the hugely increased sea trade,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and where I'm heading next was part of that development.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The canal here is actually a part of Cardiff that I'd like to think
0:08:46 > 0:08:47I know quite well.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I used to walk along this canal every day, on my way to work.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53And then, much later, I started fishing it quite a lot as well.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55But, really, to be perfectly honest, beyond this stretch,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57I don't really know were it goes.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02So this is about as much as I know.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03The canal comes around the corner there,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06it forms something of a moat along the castle wall,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and then it gets to this point, and it disappears completely.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14And I really have no idea where it goes next.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16But I'm hoping to meet a man who does.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18- Hey, Will.- How are you doing?
0:09:18 > 0:09:20How are you doing? Callum. Callum Cooper.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23- Fantastic to meet you, Callum. - Great, thank you.- Cool.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Where Callum's taking me is not only restricted from the public
0:09:26 > 0:09:28but it's also dangerous.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31Going in!
0:09:32 > 0:09:33Ooh!
0:09:35 > 0:09:37God, that smells a bit, doesn't it?
0:09:37 > 0:09:41I have never seen the city of Cardiff from this view before.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47It's dark, it's quite cold, and half the city's rubbish
0:09:47 > 0:09:49has made its way down here, by the looks of things.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52When I first came to Cardiff, Callum, I think I just made
0:09:52 > 0:09:55the mistake of assuming this was some sort of naturally occurring
0:09:55 > 0:09:57canal that ran into a little bit of a moat around the castle.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00But, actually, there's much more to it than that, isn't there?
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Yeah, I think a lot of people do think that.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05But it's a necessary part of operating the docks.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09This canal, dock feeder, takes water from Blackweir,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12off the River Taff, down to the dock system,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and it keeps the docks topped up with water, so it means we
0:10:15 > 0:10:21always can maintain around 39-40 feet of dock level inside the port,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and that's important for shipping.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28This canal was built in the 1830s by the Marquess of Bute.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31By providing the dock with a continuous water supply,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34it allowed ships to load and unload,
0:10:34 > 0:10:35even when the tide was out.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38It gave Cardiff one of the first
0:10:38 > 0:10:3924-hour working docks,
0:10:39 > 0:10:40setting the city on its way
0:10:40 > 0:10:42to becoming the world's
0:10:42 > 0:10:43biggest exporter of coal.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47- It's quite a place, this, isn't it, Callum?- It is.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50You'd never know you're right in the city centre, really.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Whoa!
0:10:53 > 0:10:54I was nearly in, then!
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Who built this, Callum?
0:10:57 > 0:11:01- During the 1830s, mainly Irish immigrants...- Really?
0:11:01 > 0:11:02..from Southern Ireland.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05They built the feeder, they built the docks,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07and this work put bread on their table.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09You can imagine, you're leaving Ireland, probably, what,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11around the time of the Great Potato Famine,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13you come in here, you're looking for work,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and this is the job that you get, digging out this place.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18I mean, it's brutal conditions.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20- It's tough walking down here today, isn't it?- Indeed.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23But, apart from Callum and the crew, nobody knows we're down here.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27And this feels very much like a secret part of the city.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29It looks a bit dark and ominous in there. Do you know much
0:11:29 > 0:11:31about what's in that tunnel?
0:11:31 > 0:11:32My right wader is leaking,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I'm going on the surface route and I'll see you on the other side.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37All right, sounds good!
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I guess I'm on my own, then.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40I don't really know what to expect.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43I can tell you now, though, it's actually quite cold in here
0:11:43 > 0:11:44now I'm in the dark.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47I'm not going to go in alone. I've got my cameras and I've also
0:11:47 > 0:11:51got our safety guide, Vasey, who's very kindly agreed to come in.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52So I'm going to swap helmets now.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Get the torch on. Hope for the best, isn't it?
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Go for it, see what you find.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59All right. I'll see you later, lads.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Over 50 million gallons of water run through this canal every day
0:12:09 > 0:12:12but Callum has temporarily restricted the flow back at
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Blackweir so we can make our way down.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18But we haven't got long before the levels rise again.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20It's getting deep here.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23I'm already well above my belly button.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25And you're thinking about the things
0:12:25 > 0:12:28that your legs are brushing up against.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Iron rods. Eels.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Maybe there's even some bodies down here, somewhere - who knows?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36I can hear cars going over my head.
0:12:36 > 0:12:37This is quite something else.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42- What do you reckon that is, there? - Manhole cover?- Yeah.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Like you say, there'll be people
0:12:44 > 0:12:47putting their feet on there, walking past.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50I can't believe I'm right below the centre of the city.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It's an odd mixture of post-war concrete and Victorian construction.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00So even down here,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03you can see how the modern Cardiff has built over its own past.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09The canal runs for over three miles,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12much of it hidden under the centre of Cardiff.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16It's amazing to think this early 19th-century technology is
0:13:16 > 0:13:19still secretly playing a vital role in running the docks today.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26It's a very dark, low-looking tunnel over here.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28That, that looks eerie.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32It's amazing, the dull thud of traffic, we've left that behind now.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33It's gone very quiet.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35That's one of the city's big pipes.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39I don't know whether that's water or sewage or whatever that is.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41I think, above me now is actually
0:13:41 > 0:13:45the main commercial centre of Cardiff.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48I reckon most people shopping and drinking coffee have no idea
0:13:48 > 0:13:51that this canal I'm walking down is right under their feet.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Big concrete joists, holding the whole world up above my head.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Stalactites down here as well.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07That's awesome.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I mean, that's accumulated there over years and years and years.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23We've been walking now for a good 10-15 minutes,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and it's not letting up. It's absolutely pitch-black.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27It's nail-straight, though.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30As far as the eye can see, there is no daylight.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32It is satanically dark down there.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37So, I think, unless I'm going to commit to walking all the way
0:14:37 > 0:14:40to the docks, this is probably the point I should turn back.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46My safety expert tells me the water levels are beginning to rise,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48and the current is getting stronger.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50It's time to go.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53You can really, really feel it in the back of your legs,
0:14:53 > 0:14:54walking against it.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56I mean, I know on the way back,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59how far it is to get back out of here
0:14:59 > 0:15:00and to get to relative safety
0:15:00 > 0:15:04but I also know that they'll have opened the gates down at
0:15:04 > 0:15:08the Blackweir on the Taff now, and this Taff water's coming in.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10I certainly wouldn't want to be down here in a storm,
0:15:10 > 0:15:11I can tell you that for sure.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Pretty, pretty foreboding.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The key to the entrance where Callum is meeting us
0:15:20 > 0:15:22has long since disappeared.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24No-one's been down here for years.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Is that you, Will?
0:15:27 > 0:15:28Enjoying your journey?
0:15:28 > 0:15:29Just got a bit carried away.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Ah.
0:15:34 > 0:15:35Out into the sunlight.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39What an experience.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40Amazing.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44The feeder canal flows for over three miles from Blackweir,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48in Bute Park, to its final destination at the East Dock.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Today, it's an unassuming lake for local residents.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55It's hard to believe now, but in the 19th century,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58this place was buzzing.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00We can get an idea of what it must have looked like
0:16:00 > 0:16:02from this footage from 1930.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09The Bute family eventually built four enormous docks,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12linked to the valleys' coal seams by a railway network.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16With nearly nine million tonnes of coal being exported every year,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19it made Cardiff the coal capital of the world.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23And it was the Welsh coal that fuelled the British Empire.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The city had become one of Britain's most vital assets,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30and it needed to be protected.
0:16:30 > 0:16:31I'm taking a boat to find out
0:16:31 > 0:16:33how the Victorians did just that.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37This is it, I'm off.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Heading out of the Cardiff Bay barrage and into the Severn.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Flat Holm Island is the southernmost point of Wales.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50It's also still a part of the city,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54and this ancient rock has played a vital role in protecting Cardiff.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Today, you can only visit through a specially organised trip.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03But back in the Victorian era, 50 soldiers were stationed here.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Queen Victoria feared a French invasion
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and, because of Cardiff's importance to the Empire, in 1866,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Flat Holm was chosen as an artillery defence.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15There's an almighty piece of hardware
0:17:15 > 0:17:18lying on the grass over here. Look at this.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Look at the size of this cannon!
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Goodness knows what that could have been used to take out.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27It's a piece of formidable defence.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The shells that went into that must have been quite something.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33I imagine gave quite a crack as well.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36The shells weighed 115lb,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39but they could still hit a target several miles away.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Wow.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46I'm going to put my torch on.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52These underground passageways would have been a dangerous place,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55with soldiers handling hundreds of live shells.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58It looks like that would have stored quite a lot of ammunition as well.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06There were nine huge cannons housed in separate pits,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11but what's most fascinating about these guns is that they disappeared.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Sat on a spring-loaded mounting, when a gun was fired...
0:18:17 > 0:18:20..the recoil would force it into the pit, where it could be reloaded.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24It made it virtually impossible for enemy ships to spot them.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25Ingenious.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Peter Sampson is the Flat Holm Society chairman.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32He tells me that, as well as a military defence,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36this island had another role in protecting Cardiff.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39- It's got an ominous presence about it.- It certainly has.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43The only offshore isolation hospital in the UK.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46You're looking at the cholera hospital.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48By the mid-19th century in Cardiff,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51nearly 1,000 people had died from cholera.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53The disease was rife on the Continent,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56and with ships from all over the world docking at the port,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59the city couldn't risk further outbreaks.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Flat Holm was Cardiff's first line of defence
0:19:02 > 0:19:03against the deadly disease.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Infected vessels were ordered to dock at this island.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09What was cholera actually like?
0:19:09 > 0:19:11As I understand it,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14it give you severe vomiting and diarrhoea, and could be deadly.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16It's quiet an extreme length to go to, isn't it?
0:19:16 > 0:19:18They really must have been terrified.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21They were so afraid of it, they made sure that Cardiff would be
0:19:21 > 0:19:25safe by bringing the infected people here to the island.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Goodness me, it's really become quite overgrown, isn't it?
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Yeah, this would have been a six-bed ward,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32with doors through there to the nursing station,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34and the bathrooms, etc.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36And in here, there would have been six beds for the infected.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Was it just cholera on here, or was there ever anything else?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41One chap was brought over here with bubonic plague.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44He died and was cremated.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But the crematorium was a stone furnace,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51enclosed in a wooden shed.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52And when they cremated him,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54actually, they set fire to the wooden shed,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58so the crematorium also burned down at the same time as the cremation.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00So it was a total cremation.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01It's not that funny, is it?
0:20:01 > 0:20:03But that certainly did for him, then,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06if they actually burnt down the crematorium as well as the body.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07- Yes.- Blimey.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It really was used quite a lot to protect the mainland, wasn't it?
0:20:10 > 0:20:12You have those gun fortifications down here,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15the cholera hospital here stopping the spread of disease.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Well, it was always the main defence against any form of invasion,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21either by illness or by enemy.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24So it's a main place of defence against anything which could
0:20:24 > 0:20:26harm the people of the Channel ports.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30The hospital became essential.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35Nearly 900 ships a week were coming to Cardiff to load up with coal.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39By the time the city opened a third dock in 1874,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42it was even possible to walk across the docks by stepping from
0:20:42 > 0:20:44deck to deck of the ships moored within them.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49As money poured into the city of Cardiff
0:20:49 > 0:20:53from the booming coal industry, the population exploded.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55It was here in Grangetown
0:20:55 > 0:20:57where many of the working class people were housed.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59In fact, this area was known
0:20:59 > 0:21:02for having some of the poorest of the poor.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04There were more paupers living here than anywhere else
0:21:04 > 0:21:09in the entire city and an 1873 the census put the average number
0:21:09 > 0:21:13of people living in each cottage as 13.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15It was very, very different, obviously, for the people
0:21:15 > 0:21:17that were managing the money.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19For themselves they built huge mansions,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23one of which can still be seen today in Llandaff.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29This place was built in 1856 by the Insole family.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31They owned the Cymmer Colliery in the Rhondda Valley
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and it made them extremely wealthy.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36For nearly half a century,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39these mine owners and coal shippers spent phenomenal sums of money
0:21:39 > 0:21:42lavishly improving and redeveloping their mansion.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Most of it has been derelict for nearly three decades
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and it's currently closed to the public,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53but Gray Hill and Elaine Davey from the Insole Court Trust are going to
0:21:53 > 0:21:56show me how Cardiff's Victorian elite used to live.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00- Well, welcome to Insole Court. - Follow me. This is a beautiful room.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Oh, wow, look at this.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04That is something else, isn't it?
0:22:04 > 0:22:07That is amazing, look at that painting.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09It looks so medieval, doesn't it?
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Well, that's Gothic revival fashion at the time.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Goodness me, so the Insole family would have sat in this room
0:22:14 > 0:22:17- with a cigar and some brandy, was it?- That's right, yes.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20This was eventually used as the smoking room,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22as the gentlemen's smoking room.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- So only men allowed, was it? - I would imagine so.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29The evidence of all the smoking is in the lovely Penarth alabaster,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31because this pink is quite stained now.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33If you think of it compared to the...
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- Oh, no way, yeah. - ..alabaster in the hall...
0:22:35 > 0:22:38I see what you mean, Elaine. At the top here. Look at this.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39Actually, you can see, can't you,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42that it's much paler down the bottom here and then,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46as the smoke's gone up, it's turned it that nicotine brown?
0:22:46 > 0:22:48It's like being in one of those sort of old school pubs, isn't it,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52where you can still see the ceilings are covered in tar and nicotine?
0:22:54 > 0:22:58'The conditions down the Insoles' mines were tough and dangerous.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00'It was extremely physical work
0:23:00 > 0:23:03'with a real risk of flooding and explosions.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06'Children as young as ten were labouring incredibly long hours
0:23:06 > 0:23:08'for a pittance.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12'Meanwhile, the huge fortunes made from their hard work
0:23:12 > 0:23:15'allowed the family to live in absolute luxury.'
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Wow!
0:23:19 > 0:23:21My goodness me.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25That ceiling, there's something almost spiritually moving
0:23:25 > 0:23:27about something like that, isn't there?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30You almost imagine it in the Vatican City.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31It's quite church-like, isn't it?
0:23:31 > 0:23:33"The wealth of the mind is the only true wealth",
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- and "the fount of wisdom flows through books."- Oh, yes.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38You can see what a reading place,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40what a place for books this would have been.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44I find it quite hard to buy into "the wealth of the mind is
0:23:44 > 0:23:47"the only true wealth" whilst looking up at a ceiling
0:23:47 > 0:23:51that presumably would have cost tens of thousands of pounds
0:23:51 > 0:23:54- in today's money to make. - Absolutely.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57'I'm imagining what this place would have looked like in its glory days,
0:23:57 > 0:24:02'full of exquisite furniture and all the trappings of the high life.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05'Every aspect of design seems to have been the very best,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09'the most exclusive, the most expensive,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11'right down to the tiniest detail.'
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Rabbits, ducks.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15'Including the wallpaper,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18'which was created by designers to the super rich.'
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Oh, my goodness me.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24I was expecting you to open this door to a little room,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27- not another staircase. - And another set of rooms.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28Just goes on and on, doesn't it?
0:24:30 > 0:24:33- This is pretty amazing because this was the cold store.- Oh.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39- But you've still got that wallpaper. - Oh, yeah.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Even in the cold store.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Even in the cold store, they've got the exclusive wallpaper print.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46That says it all, doesn't it?
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I mean, talk about Gothic revivalism.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58It doesn't get more Gothic than a staircase winding round
0:24:58 > 0:25:00up into a castle turret, does it?
0:25:01 > 0:25:05'The Insoles lived here for three generations and each dynasty
0:25:05 > 0:25:07'put their own stamp on the house,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'bolting on extra features on top of this mishmash of a building.'
0:25:10 > 0:25:13This is absolutely spectacular, isn't it?
0:25:13 > 0:25:15What a spot they've picked for their place.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Well, they can watch their ships going out with all the coal,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20bringing all the money to the family.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22There's something about it, though, isn't there?
0:25:22 > 0:25:24I mean, you imagine they're kind of up here,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26drinking their brandy, smoking their cigars,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28they can look out that way to watch the coal...
0:25:28 > 0:25:30- Looking over their estate. - But do you think there's something
0:25:30 > 0:25:32a little bit gross about it as well, you know,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36given the kind of conditions in the mines during that period?
0:25:36 > 0:25:39The great irony of Insole Court is that the same year it was built,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42160 years ago, there was the largest industrial accident
0:25:42 > 0:25:44in South Wales at the time.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49114 men and boys lost their lives at the Insoles' colliery in Cymmer,
0:25:49 > 0:25:55and although the Insoles themselves and the management of their mines
0:25:55 > 0:25:59were acquitted of any wrongdoing, certainly there is some evidence
0:25:59 > 0:26:03that as the mine owners they ignored health and safety warnings.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06So presumably there was no compensation paid to anyone.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10That's right, the miners' families were paid no compensation.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14This is a fabulous, ornate piece of design and architecture
0:26:14 > 0:26:16and opulence, but it was very much,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19like all of South Wales' great houses,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23built on the blood, sweat and tears of many thousands of people.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Despite the intriguing architecture and historical importance of
0:26:29 > 0:26:33this mansion, until recently it was at risk from demolition.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It's only thanks to a hard-fought campaign
0:26:36 > 0:26:39by some passionate supporters that it was saved.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Going around Insole Court today really has brought home to me,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47you know, actually just how little we have left in Cardiff,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51in the city itself, of that industrial coal era.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55There were thousands of mansions just like this in this area
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and this is one of the very few that's still standing today.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01And it's something that's being forgotten and that's why
0:27:01 > 0:27:03it's so, so important that the heritage of this place
0:27:03 > 0:27:06continues to carry on, because without it,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08all of that is gone.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Insole Court demonstrates the extent to which
0:27:14 > 0:27:17the Victorian era brought money and development to Cardiff.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22By the 1870s, the coal industry had expanded Cardiff's population
0:27:22 > 0:27:27to nearly 60,000, and with that came the demands of modernisation.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Gas lighting first arrived in 1821, but towards the end of the century
0:27:34 > 0:27:37it was being used to generate heating and electricity.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39As the population increased,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42that meant more and more gas had to be produced and then stored.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Locked away on wasteland in the Grangetown area is one of
0:27:47 > 0:27:50the few remaining connections to that history.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54It's in plain sight for all to see, but like me, I bet most people
0:27:54 > 0:27:58have little idea what it was used for, let alone how old it is.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02The current owners have agreed to unlock the gates
0:28:02 > 0:28:03and let me take a closer look.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08This is the gas holder built for gas storage on the old
0:28:08 > 0:28:11- Grangetown gasworks site.- Right, OK.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13- When was it built? - It was built in 1881.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15It's an amazing-looking structure.
0:28:15 > 0:28:16And, Ray, you can actually remember
0:28:16 > 0:28:18- when this was in use, can't you? - Yes, indeed.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22I remember once bringing down my grandfather's lunch
0:28:22 > 0:28:24when he was working a long shift,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26crawling through all of the hot areas, you know,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30- over pools of smoking tar... - WILL LAUGHS
0:28:30 > 0:28:32..dodging steam engines. It was very good.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Health and safety was top of the list.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Pretty lax in those days, by the sounds of things!
0:28:38 > 0:28:41It's really quite impressive, once you've stood in the middle,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44- isn't it?- Yeah, it is, it's like a big theatre, isn't it?
0:28:44 > 0:28:46It feels a lot bigger from in here, actually,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48- than it does from outside, doesn't it?- Exactly, yeah.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51It's almost got that kind of stadium or coliseum feel to it, actually.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59The Victorians loved being ornate in everything they did.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01For something so functional,
0:29:01 > 0:29:06this holder features 16 cast-iron Doric columns with cornices
0:29:06 > 0:29:10in the manner of 15th-century Florentine architecture.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13That's not just me saying that,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15this structure has been officially listed.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20There's something about a lot of these industrial sites
0:29:20 > 0:29:24that I've been seeing, there's that Victorian flourish, almost.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Why did they go to such effort in what is actually just a gas holder?
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Confidence and pride. The Victorians were very confident.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38The gasworks on this site burned nearly 400 tonnes of coal a day
0:29:38 > 0:29:41to produce gas that would be stored in one of six holders.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46These containers consisted of vessels that sat inside
0:29:46 > 0:29:49the outer metal framework and they would rise and fall on tracks
0:29:49 > 0:29:51that run up and down the side of the walls.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56As the gas was pumped into the holder, the vessel would rise.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59When the gas was being used, the chamber would fall.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Living next door to these gasworks must have been pretty intense.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08It was an inferno of activity, and the local residents
0:30:08 > 0:30:11even complained to Parliament in London about the smell.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18So when I sit back at home with my gas hob and I can smell that gas
0:30:18 > 0:30:21before I spark it, would this place have really stank as well?
0:30:21 > 0:30:24So the smell that you smell in gas today is because of an odorant
0:30:24 > 0:30:26that we added to it in the network,
0:30:26 > 0:30:31but in those days the gas had a particular town gas smell to it
0:30:31 > 0:30:33because of the other constituents of the gas.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37You'd have tarry smells, you'd have hydrogen sulphide smells,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39that bad egg smell as well.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42I heard that local women sometimes would bring their children
0:30:42 > 0:30:46down here to actually smell the gas on the site because
0:30:46 > 0:30:50they believed it had some sort of restorative property. Is that true?
0:30:50 > 0:30:53It has been recorded that doctors would send their mothers down
0:30:53 > 0:30:57with children if they had a whooping cough or any other kind of
0:30:57 > 0:31:00breathing or chest ailment to come and breathe in some of the smells
0:31:00 > 0:31:03- from the waste products.- No way.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06And it sometimes used to make them sick and it actually seemed
0:31:06 > 0:31:08to work quite well, but it's certainly not something
0:31:08 > 0:31:10that GPs would advise doing these days.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13- WILL LAUGHS - Not on the NHS.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20By the end of the 19th century, Cardiff was networked for gas.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24The city streets and buildings could be lit 24/7.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29The result - literacy went up, crime rates went down.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Thanks to the Victorian ingenuity,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Cardiff was dragged from the Dark Ages into the modern era.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43By the end of the 1800s,
0:31:43 > 0:31:4720% of all the world's coal exports came from this city.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51The place was thriving back then,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55but a lot of the coal wealth was controlled by the Bute family.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59There were attempts to break that monopoly.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02I've come to meet railway historian John Buxton, and he's got the keys
0:32:02 > 0:32:07to a hidden construction that can help tell that story.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10It's private land, but he's called in some favours to gain us access.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13- So, here we are at the tunnel.- Yeah.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17- And as you can see, it's quite a structure.- It looks great.- Yeah.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21We have to go into the tunnel wearing safety helmets, though.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23- OK, I see, no worries. - So here's yours.- Fantastic.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27- Great, shall we go and have a look? - Let's go have a look.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29- So this is the Wenvoe Tunnel, is it?- Yes.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31It's almost like an optical illusion, isn't it?
0:32:31 > 0:32:34It just seems so long and dark and there's that tiny little spot
0:32:34 > 0:32:35of light right at the back there.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39Yes, just over a mile long, and it was built in 1888.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42It was a testament to the engineering and the scale of
0:32:42 > 0:32:45the coal industry in the late Victorian period.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47Right, that's why I understand this is something that's
0:32:47 > 0:32:50critically important to the Victorian coal industry in Cardiff.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Oh, yes, this line was a key artery from the coalfields
0:32:53 > 0:32:56- to the dock at Barry.- Cool. Let's try and crack her open then.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Let's try and get it open, yes. It might be a bit stiff.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05- There we are.- Great stuff. - Not as bad as I thought.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15In a classic tale of a self-made man, this tunnel was built by
0:33:15 > 0:33:18the engineer and colliery owner David Davies.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Originally a farmer, he became Wales's first millionaire
0:33:21 > 0:33:23during the late Victorian era.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31Fed up with the Butes' stranglehold on the South Wales coal industry,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Davies was the driving force in getting the neighbouring town
0:33:34 > 0:33:37of Barry its own railway and dock system,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39therefore bypassing Cardiff altogether.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45This tunnel was a key link in transporting the coal from
0:33:45 > 0:33:47Davies' mines to Barry.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51It took 3,000 men to build it and the fact he was willing to fund such
0:33:51 > 0:33:55a huge engineering project shows how much profit there was to be made.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00And Davies was right.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02By 1901, Barry had overtaken Cardiff
0:34:02 > 0:34:05as the world's leading coal exporter.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10It looks like a lot of work has gone into constructing this tunnel, John.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12Yes, it was a massive effort by hundreds of men.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17Basically, it was built with manpower, horsepower and dynamite.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21- What would the conditions have been like down here?- Very arduous.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24It's a very wet tunnel, as you can see, quite cold,
0:34:24 > 0:34:26quite dangerous, obviously,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28with dynamite and horses and men moving rocks.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Quite a dangerous job.
0:34:30 > 0:34:31And you can see here in the brickwork,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34it's a really seriously impressive construction.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37A lot of manpower, but also it's very well built, isn't it?
0:34:37 > 0:34:40Yeah, it's very well engineered. The Barry Railway, who built this,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43had a reputation for building very good structures
0:34:43 > 0:34:44and this is no exception.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50'The tunnel's only function today is to house a water mains pipe
0:34:50 > 0:34:52'that's used to supply Barry.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55'Water's a big feature down here anyway -
0:34:55 > 0:34:58'the tunnel can flood up to four feet deep
0:34:58 > 0:35:01'and water is constantly pouring through the brickwork.'
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Goodness me. I reckon this should be all right to drink, shouldn't it?
0:35:10 > 0:35:12It should be filtered.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16I'll tell you what, John, that's really nice.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18We could bottle that and go into business, mate.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23This must be the ventilation shaft we're coming up to.
0:35:23 > 0:35:24Yeah, just coming up to it now.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26We're about halfway through the tunnel.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29- But that's a lovely pool of light, isn't it?- It is, yes.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33- You can see the sky.- Ah, here we go.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35This is a really impressive-looking structure.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- What do you reckon, 40 metres? - At least, I would think, yeah.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42That's incredible. That's a really, really cool hole.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Why did they need a ventilation shaft, though?
0:35:46 > 0:35:47You need a ventilation shaft,
0:35:47 > 0:35:50or it's ideal to have a ventilation shaft in tunnels
0:35:50 > 0:35:53when you're operating steam locomotives because you need to
0:35:53 > 0:35:56disperse the smoke and the steam from the tunnels as quickly
0:35:56 > 0:35:58as possible, and this helps do that.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Right, so would people have been able to stand above ground
0:36:01 > 0:36:03and literally see billows of steam?
0:36:03 > 0:36:05- Oh, yes, yeah.- Wow.- Certainly, yeah.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Just trying to get my bearings, actually. What's up there?
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Well, we're right underneath Culverhouse Cross now,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13- the shopping centre.- We never are. - We are, yeah.- You're joking.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16- Do you want to pop in and get something? - WILL LAUGHS
0:36:16 > 0:36:18You would think that you wouldn't be able to miss
0:36:18 > 0:36:20a massive chasm like that,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23but all of the times I've been to Culverhouse Cross and driven around
0:36:23 > 0:36:26and just had absolutely no idea that this huge shaft
0:36:26 > 0:36:29and then massive tunnel was hidden down here.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Yes, well, it is capped over and it's not easy to find.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Are there many other stories for this tunnel?
0:36:36 > 0:36:38Well, interestingly, yes.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43The royal family, when they visited South Wales in the royal train,
0:36:43 > 0:36:45often were stabled in Wenvoe station.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47But during the Second World War,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50obviously there were air raids on and the Great Western Railway
0:36:50 > 0:36:54management were very concerned about the safety of the royal family.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56- Sure.- So instead of stabling it in the station,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59- they gradually brought it into the tunnel.- You're kidding.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01And the royal family stayed overnight
0:37:01 > 0:37:03in the train in the tunnel.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05I can't believe it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07So you mean to tell me that the royal family would have
0:37:07 > 0:37:09sat in here in their train, eating their dinner,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11maybe having a gin and tonic,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14staring at these walls to avoid bombing?
0:37:14 > 0:37:17- It's the safest place to be in an air raid, a tunnel.- That's amazing.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19Not very royal, though, is it?
0:37:22 > 0:37:26'The last time this tunnel saw a train was in 1963.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30'It's been closed ever since a fire in a signal box,
0:37:30 > 0:37:32'but this forgotten relic from the Victorian era
0:37:32 > 0:37:36'is still one of the longest tunnels in South Wales.'
0:37:36 > 0:37:39It strikes me as a bit of a pity, to be honest, John.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41I mean, it's such an incredible structure and it's still in
0:37:41 > 0:37:43such fantastic condition.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Do you think there's ever any chance of life after death
0:37:46 > 0:37:47for a place like this?
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Some tunnels like this have been refurbished and used as
0:37:50 > 0:37:54cycleways and walkways, so there is a possibility that it could be
0:37:54 > 0:37:57- used for that in the future. - That would be awesome, wouldn't it?
0:37:57 > 0:37:59I'll tell you what, though, going to need to do
0:37:59 > 0:38:01a bit of cleaning up in here first, aren't they?
0:38:01 > 0:38:04You won't get very far on a bicycle through all of this mud, but...
0:38:04 > 0:38:06No, there's an awful lot of work to do.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10But the structure's here, so who knows what may happen in the future?
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Back in the city centre, it's pretty difficult to find any clues
0:38:16 > 0:38:19to Cardiff's past before the 19th century.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21But I'm told they are there.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Peter Finch is a Cardiff born and bred historian.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I'm meeting him at the site of the old medieval castle that
0:38:27 > 0:38:31the Marquess of Bute turned into a Victorian Gothic mansion.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Peter tells me that a stone's throw from here
0:38:36 > 0:38:39is a glimpse into life that dates back nearly 2,000 years.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45And you can see that we're going down slowly as Womanby Street
0:38:45 > 0:38:47bends into Quay Street in front of us,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51which itself goes down further to Westgate Street,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54which is where the Taff flowed, amazingly.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56OK, so literally here...
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Literally here, where the cars are going now,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03was the River Taff, and the clue is in the name Quay Street.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Why is it called Quay Street? Because there was a quay here.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Way before we had docks, way before we had a canal,
0:39:10 > 0:39:15there was a town quay here in which wooden ships would tie up,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19coming up the tidal Taff to tie up just here.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23'A stone quay was built here around 800 years ago,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27'replacing a trading post which had existed since Roman times.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30'But in the 1840s, that quay became redundant.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33'The celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel
0:39:33 > 0:39:37'diverted the river so that he could complete the construction
0:39:37 > 0:39:39'of the South Wales Railway.'
0:39:39 > 0:39:43It must have been an enormous amount of work, to drain this and move it
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and to stick the River Taff over there. I mean, why did they bother?
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Rivers are dangerous things, particularly the Taff.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53Just down there was where St Mary's Church stood
0:39:53 > 0:39:55until the floods took its walls away,
0:39:55 > 0:40:00washed away its graveyard and took the bones out to sea.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03And what Brunel wanted to do was to build a railway station in
0:40:03 > 0:40:06the middle of this bogland, and the only way he could do it,
0:40:06 > 0:40:12he, as the great engineer he was, worked out, was to move the river.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Moving the river not only affected the geography of the city,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18but it also enabled the railways to transport much more
0:40:18 > 0:40:20coal down to the docks.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23In just 20 years, Cardiff went from shifting 100,000 tonnes a year
0:40:23 > 0:40:26via the canal to 2 million tonnes by train.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Come on, now, Peter, you know Cardiff inside out.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33If there was one secret spot that you were going to take me to
0:40:33 > 0:40:37that was going to absolutely blow my mind, where would it be?
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- For a burger.- A burger?
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'Every week, thousands of customers come through the
0:40:42 > 0:40:47'doors of this fast food restaurant, but upstairs there is a locked door
0:40:47 > 0:40:51'that's sealed away an extraordinary piece of Cardiff's past.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54'It's now a Grade II listed room, but it's closed to the public for
0:40:54 > 0:40:56'reasons of health and safety.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59'We're very fortunate they're allowing TV cameras in here
0:40:59 > 0:41:04'for the first - and what they say is the last - time.'
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Goodness me. Where are you taking me now, Peter?
0:41:06 > 0:41:12We'll go through the "staff only", and beyond here.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Oh, my goodness me.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18- We find ourselves in the Mahogany Room.- Look at this place.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20This is extraordinary.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23I would never have believed that there was going to be
0:41:23 > 0:41:25a place like this above a burger restaurant.
0:41:27 > 0:41:28I've never seen anything like it.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Of course, it wasn't always a burger restaurant.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35- If we go back about 300 years or so, this was a pub...- Was it now?
0:41:35 > 0:41:37..called the Green Dragon.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39- You can see it reflected in the stained glass up there...- Oh, yeah.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42..where, you see, a lot of important people who used to come here,
0:41:42 > 0:41:46the ship-owners, the councillors, the industrialists of Cardiff,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50and important decisions were made in here over a drink
0:41:50 > 0:41:53before they were really made in the city hall.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55Beneath these flickering gas lamps,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58surrounded by this lavish stained glass...
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Extremely English, I think. The English flag is up there.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05We can see there's a Dutch windmill above my head over here.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07- Where's that? Oh, up at the top there? Yeah.- That's right.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12- And I can't see anything significantly Welsh about this.- No.
0:42:12 > 0:42:13But this was a long time ago,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16and Cardiff didn't need to state its Welshness.
0:42:16 > 0:42:17It was, I suppose...
0:42:17 > 0:42:21It had just been made a city, and it didn't care - not then.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23This has to be one of the most unbelievable rooms
0:42:23 > 0:42:24I think I've ever been in.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26I cannot get my head around the fact that
0:42:26 > 0:42:27we're just above a burger restaurant.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30When you look at these, sort of, intricacies with the animals
0:42:30 > 0:42:33in the alabaster, and all of these incredible wood carvings,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36and the stained glass, but then you, kind of, come to this window here,
0:42:36 > 0:42:38you look outside, and I think about the amount of times...
0:42:38 > 0:42:41I mean, hundreds of times I've walked down that street,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44and never once would I have guessed that there was this place.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48We don't do the past in Cardiff is what I've learnt.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50There are a couple of little bits that hang on,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53like the castle and St John's Church,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56but virtually everything else gets wiped, as soon as possible.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57"Let's get rid of it."
0:42:57 > 0:43:01Nothing looks anything like that which it did,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and then you come in and you come upstairs in a place like this,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07and, whoa, there it is - the past once again -
0:43:07 > 0:43:09and this, magnificently, is one of them.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16'Walking through the centre today,
0:43:16 > 0:43:20'the modern shop fronts have hidden a lot of the history we have
0:43:20 > 0:43:24'still got left, but you only have to look up to see the past.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27'Peter's now taking me to Hodge House,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30'to access the roof, where only the engineers go these days.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35'It's a real monster that was built in 1915 by shop owners,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37'the Co-operative Wholesale Society.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40'It was an expression of Welsh wealth, opened at the height
0:43:40 > 0:43:42'of Cardiff's coal industry.'
0:43:42 > 0:43:48And it's styled loosely on the shops in Regent Street in London,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52although maybe not quite convincingly.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55'Six giant floors up, and there's still further to go to
0:43:55 > 0:43:57'take us back into the past.'
0:43:57 > 0:43:58- Well...- Great.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01I'll tell you, this really is one of those buildings that,
0:44:01 > 0:44:02when I'm walking down St Mary's Street,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04I just walk straight past without even noticing,
0:44:04 > 0:44:09- but luckily I've got keys and permission to go up here.- Terrific.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11- If you're up for it, Peter?- Yeah, we'll have a go and give it a go.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Oh, yeah, let's have a look.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16It's pretty steep.
0:44:16 > 0:44:17Vertical, even.
0:44:17 > 0:44:18After you.
0:44:22 > 0:44:23I'll catch you. Don't worry.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28'Its crowning glory is a four-faced clock tower,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30'and it's easy to miss from street level.'
0:44:30 > 0:44:32'The clock no longer works,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34'and up in this tower it's like time has frozen.'
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Wow. This place is awesome.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41- Check this out. - This is full of surprises.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43This is great, isn't it?
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Quite... We're right behind the clock face, right?
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Oh, look at! Do you know what? That's pretty smooth.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52- I reckon something's still moving here...- Oh. - METAL GRINDING
0:44:52 > 0:44:54I think we'll call it a day, there, Peter, actually.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Should do. We should do.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59- Inexperienced men that we are... - Inexperienced men.
0:44:59 > 0:45:00That's awesome, isn't it?
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Oh, a bit of a squeeze.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07'This bell was cast in 1915,
0:45:07 > 0:45:09'but, like the clock downstairs,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11'it hasn't functioned in decades.'
0:45:11 > 0:45:15How do you think Cardiff was viewed by the rest of the world back then?
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Well, back then, at the height of the coal trade,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Cardiff was known throughout the world.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24It was a very famous place that appeared in the plays
0:45:24 > 0:45:26and the novels that Americans were writing.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28Everybody had heard of Cardiff.
0:45:28 > 0:45:29We've declined since then.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32The First World War was good for Cardiff's trade.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36The coal was exported to fund the war, to fuel the ships,
0:45:36 > 0:45:37to fuel the trains,
0:45:37 > 0:45:41but, after that, the period of the Depression in the '20s,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43and Cardiff never recovered.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45The world moved on from coal.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47So, do you think, then, that it was, sort of,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49the case that all of Cardiff's eggs were in one basket, and when
0:45:49 > 0:45:52coal started to decline, they found themselves in a lot of trouble?
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Yeah, Cardiff, the one-trick pony.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Well, two-trick pony, really,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59if you count the steel that was exported from here.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03The decline was steady until you got to the 1960s,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06and by the 1960s we were exporting nothing.
0:46:06 > 0:46:07The trade had ceased.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Although Cardiff became the capital of Wales in 1955,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16it struggled to find its feet in the post-war climate,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20but it did find a new, secret role as part of the UK's defence
0:46:20 > 0:46:22against a terrifying global threat.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30After World War II, the prospect of a nuclear war between the USSR
0:46:30 > 0:46:33and the western Allies was very real.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36Our Government became increasingly worried an atomic bomb could
0:46:36 > 0:46:39be dropped on Britain from enemy aircraft.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42'For the first time ever,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45'we've been given access to film a building that was
0:46:45 > 0:46:49'a small part of Cardiff's secret Cold War defence plan,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53'hidden on a housing estate in the suburb of Llandaff.'
0:46:53 > 0:46:55I'm hoping to find somebody here, though,
0:46:55 > 0:46:57who's a bit of a Cold War expert.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Hopefully he knows where the door is. Ah, Jon.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03- Hi.- How are you doing? Great to meet you.- Good, thanks.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05So what is this place, Jon? It looks like a prison.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Yeah, well, this is a sub control bunker, built in the early '50s,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10in case of nuclear war.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12- Good grief.- So shall we have a look around?
0:47:12 > 0:47:15- Yeah, do you think we're all right? - Yeah, yeah, we...
0:47:15 > 0:47:17- We should put our head torches on. - Yeah, I brought two.
0:47:17 > 0:47:18Right, here we go, then, Jon.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21I'm guessing these lights switches don't work any more.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22No, there's no power in here.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24- Good grief, there's a lot of stuff on the floor as well.- Yeah.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27- It's covered in glass, mate. Watch your step.- All sorts in here.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31- Blimey, look at this!- Yeah. - So what was this place used for?
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Well, this was a communications sub control bunker.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35If there was a nuclear war,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39it would have become one of the centres of Government.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41And I'm guessing these places, in terms of the general public,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43this really was a secret, isn't it?
0:47:43 > 0:47:45It's like something out of science fiction, really.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48The Government didn't think it was necessary to tell people about these
0:47:48 > 0:47:51locations because, in the end, it was just about running the country.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54- Right.- So they didn't really care about protecting the public.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56So people like you and I, Jon, we would have been toast,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58- let's be honest.- I think so. Yeah.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02So how long would they have run a place like this for?
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Life would have got very difficult here within days and weeks.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07- Yeah, it sounds about right. - So, yeah...
0:48:07 > 0:48:09- I mean, I haven't seen a toilet yet, Jon.- Yeah.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11And, you know, the, sort of, psychological side of it as well
0:48:11 > 0:48:14would have been tough for everyone.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17Wow. Do you reckon it still works? I'm going to pull the chain.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22'But there are toilets, a kitchen and bunk beds.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25'For the civil defence personnel lucky enough to be sent here
0:48:25 > 0:48:29'in a nuclear attack, the plan was to stay as long as possible.'
0:48:29 > 0:48:32'The bunker was designed to be self-sufficient, presumably
0:48:32 > 0:48:36'while the rest of the city melted from radiation poisoning.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38'It was even equipped with its own generator.'
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Can you imagine being stuck in this room next to a diesel generator?
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Yeah, it'd be pretty smelly, and pretty loud as well.
0:48:44 > 0:48:45Oh, look at this. What's this here, now?
0:48:45 > 0:48:47That's a radiation dosimeter by the look of it.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49In the event of some sort of nuclear attack,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53this would be used to test levels of radiation after a nuclear blast.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55- Right.- So I think this is really unusual, actually,
0:48:55 > 0:48:56to find in a bunker.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58- It's brand-new. - Still looks pretty new.
0:48:58 > 0:48:59- That's absolutely spotless.- Yeah.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01And lots of bunkers...
0:49:01 > 0:49:04'There was also a games room - a welcome distraction perhaps
0:49:04 > 0:49:07'to while away the hours of the unfolding nuclear apocalypse.'
0:49:07 > 0:49:09- Look, there's a record player here, look.- Oh, yeah.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11So some reminders of the outside world here.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Yeah, look, what have we got here?
0:49:13 > 0:49:15"American Recordings - You'll Never Be 16 Again".
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Well, there's a cruel irony in that in the case of
0:49:17 > 0:49:20a nuclear holocaust, isn't there? WILL LAUGHS
0:49:20 > 0:49:22- Roy Orbison...- I think that's been deliberately put there, hasn't it?
0:49:22 > 0:49:24- Yeah.- Goodness me.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29# Oh, no You'll never be 16 again... #
0:49:31 > 0:49:33- Looks like it.- I think this probably was a control room.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35It looks like someone's thrown some darts through
0:49:35 > 0:49:36- the war room map up here.- Yeah.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Yeah, actually you can see bits of the map here, look.
0:49:39 > 0:49:40- Just little bit.- Oh, yes!
0:49:40 > 0:49:43So this would have been, I think, across the whole wall, actually.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45You can just see remnants here.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48'In 1953, officials estimated that in the event of
0:49:48 > 0:49:53'a nuclear bomb dropped on Wales, over 1.3 million people would die.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55'That's some terrifying figures.'
0:49:55 > 0:49:58You can imagine if someone levelled a bomb at the city centre,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01- this is almost the area that would be fried.- Yeah.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06That is a really quite scary, scary thing to consider, isn't it?
0:50:06 > 0:50:09'And the more enemy bombers carrying nuclear warheads,
0:50:09 > 0:50:12'the more chance of one of them slipping through your defences.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16'Spy photographs showed the USSR had quite a few.'
0:50:16 > 0:50:18MUSIC: White Cyclosa by Boards Of Canada
0:50:18 > 0:50:22'Where we are going next is a stark reminder of the lengths to
0:50:22 > 0:50:24'which Britain went to counteract that threat.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29'Hidden here in a forest is another bunker from the 1950s,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32'that shows Cardiff had its own important role in defending
0:50:32 > 0:50:34'Britain from nuclear attack.'
0:50:34 > 0:50:37CROWS CAW This is the top of a mountain.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39We're on a ridge. We're in a forest.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43There's crows croaking in the background, and then there's this
0:50:43 > 0:50:47very, very bleak-looking concrete block,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49almost, sort of, dropped out of the sky in the middle of
0:50:49 > 0:50:51this clearing here.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53It all feels...
0:50:53 > 0:50:55It feels a bit grim, actually. I'll be completely honest.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58This is not a nice feeling up here.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07So, in truth, it turned out to be a lot more difficult
0:51:07 > 0:51:10to get into this bunker than I anticipated, so...
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I've put a call in to our safety guy,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15and he's turned up with some ropes and some harnesses.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20'I'm feeling really anxious about this.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23'The only way in now is extremely sketchy,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26'and I've got no clue what's down there in the pitch black.'
0:51:26 > 0:51:31Could you pass me that camera, John? I'm holding on by my fingertips.
0:51:31 > 0:51:32Cool.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35- If there IS a bottom. - Just switch to night vision here.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Just flick the infrared on.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40There we go.
0:51:40 > 0:51:41Wow!
0:51:41 > 0:51:43This is something else.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48Goodness me.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50It is dark, it is tight.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54Good grief!
0:51:56 > 0:51:57Good grief!
0:51:58 > 0:52:00OK...
0:52:01 > 0:52:02All right, I'm down.
0:52:04 > 0:52:05Tell me when the rope's free.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07OK, good to go.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09Just sort this camera out.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Wow. OK, so I'm down at the bottom of the shaft.
0:52:26 > 0:52:27OK, that's better.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30We've got...
0:52:30 > 0:52:33some big old switchboard or something in front of me,
0:52:33 > 0:52:35looks like there's some batteries.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Just going to try and check the floor down here.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41Bit of debris, but it looks more or less safe.
0:52:41 > 0:52:42CLATTERING
0:52:42 > 0:52:45This isn't very nice now.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48Coming in around this old door.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Let's hope there's nothing round there.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Might just use the camera to check. It is...
0:52:54 > 0:52:57..pitch, pitch black down here.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00CLATTERING
0:53:00 > 0:53:04I've walked across jungles on my own in Western Africa...
0:53:04 > 0:53:06HE SIGHS
0:53:06 > 0:53:09I've stayed with isolated tribes in New Guinea...
0:53:09 > 0:53:12but walking around this place just outside of Cardiff
0:53:12 > 0:53:13up on the hill, in the dark...
0:53:15 > 0:53:19This is definitely about as scary as it gets for me.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Whooo...
0:53:21 > 0:53:23HE SIGHS
0:53:23 > 0:53:26'That's about as much as I can take here on my own,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29'and thankfully, I can hear the rest of the crew making their way down.'
0:53:29 > 0:53:31If you can get your foot...
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Get your foot on there - that's it, I've got you.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36- It's pretty tight, isn't it? - Yeah, yeah.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38- All right, mate?- Pretty good. - Welcome to the pit.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41- Shall we switch on to the good camera now?- OK.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49'With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52'the threat of a nuclear war seemed more serious than ever.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56'John tells me this huge bunker was one of about 30 secret bases
0:53:56 > 0:53:58'located all over the UK,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02'equipped with high-tech radar and communications equipment.'
0:54:03 > 0:54:06- That's stairs there! - Stairs, yeah, up to the next level.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08I didn't even see any of this stuff.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11And it looks as if this is the control room, in here.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14Look at this place!
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Essentially, this place would have been able to coordinate
0:54:17 > 0:54:19large gun emplacements on the coast
0:54:19 > 0:54:23to actually fire at incoming enemy aircraft carrying atomic weapons,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26so this was the first, kind of, form of atomic defence,
0:54:26 > 0:54:29this idea that you would have to shoot them out of the sky.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32'This was called an anti-aircraft operations room,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36'and it was situated miles from the guns it remotely operated.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38'That way, if the guns were hit by the enemy,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41'the military personnel were safely hidden here,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43'deep inside the bunker.'
0:54:43 > 0:54:47These would have been offices of the higher-ups, the military personnel,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49looking down on the control room, making decisions.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Exactly, looking down at the maps.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57- Making sure nobody's sleeping on the job.- Yeah.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01'Dozens of military personnel worked here in secret.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04'In the event of a nuclear war, an air purification system
0:55:04 > 0:55:08'and water filters meant the bunker could be sealed from radiation,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11'allowing the staff to remain down here for months.'
0:55:13 > 0:55:16I mean, it looked pretty big from the outside,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20but the inside just goes on and on and on.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23You see, a lot of people often think about the Second World War
0:55:23 > 0:55:25and the Cold War as kind of separate things,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27but this sort of place shows you that, you know,
0:55:27 > 0:55:29after the end of the Second World War,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31Britain was thinking about the world, how it was...
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Thinking about military threats,
0:55:33 > 0:55:35and this is a really good example of something like that.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38It's very much carrying on the kind of World War II thinking
0:55:38 > 0:55:39about defence.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42What was the point, then, that things started to wind down here
0:55:42 > 0:55:45in terms of, you know, the monitoring of the nuclear weapons
0:55:45 > 0:55:48that could potentially be brought over by aircraft?
0:55:48 > 0:55:52In the 1950s, once the missile technology did get better, these...
0:55:52 > 0:55:54The original purpose of this particular structure
0:55:54 > 0:55:55became redundant.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58And also, new radar technology came in, as well,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00so there was no longer any particular reason
0:56:00 > 0:56:03to have these types of structures.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08I don't think a lot of these Cold War structures
0:56:08 > 0:56:10are kind of well-known.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12They're not accessible, and in a sense,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14the Cold War seems to be almost a shut book,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17so people don't really talk about the Cold War any more.
0:56:17 > 0:56:18Is funny, isn't it?
0:56:18 > 0:56:21You know, if this was a World War I or a World War II site,
0:56:21 > 0:56:23there'd be a tour guide out the front,
0:56:23 > 0:56:25- probably someone selling ice creams and T-shirts, but...- Yeah.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28..the Cold War, it just didn't quite capture...
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Well, it's because it was passive defence, in a sense, isn't it?
0:56:31 > 0:56:34So these buildings were never used to help the country recover
0:56:34 > 0:56:35after a nuclear war.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38In a way, it's a hidden history for that reason, as well.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Dozens of these buildings were created,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43but then they were never used for their intended purpose.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45BIRDSONG
0:56:45 > 0:56:47In the 1960s, bunkers like this one
0:56:47 > 0:56:50were redesigned as regional war rooms.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Their purpose was to secretly house government officials
0:56:53 > 0:56:56who could run the country after a nuclear attack.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Amazingly, this one remained in operation
0:56:59 > 0:57:01right up until the early 1990s.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11And it was in the early 90s that Cardiff entered
0:57:11 > 0:57:14a period of considerable regeneration.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18With a huge amount of European funding and private investment,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22the city centre, the docks and the Bay were reshaped and rebuilt.
0:57:25 > 0:57:26Cardiff became the centre
0:57:26 > 0:57:29for Wales's devolved national government.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Billions of pounds of development money
0:57:33 > 0:57:35will soon change the Welsh capital once again,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38and from the top of the city's biggest building site,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41it feels like it's already happening.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45I think what I've learned is actually just how new Cardiff is.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Sure, people have lived here for thousands of years,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50but the city itself is relatively new,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54and its default setting is to delete the past and move on.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56On the one hand, that seems fine.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59Evolution is really important to any modern-day city,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02but there is always a price to pay.
0:58:02 > 0:58:08Cardiff was built on the backs of industry and hard graft,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11but it's new modern-day character revolves around retail,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14finance and communications,
0:58:14 > 0:58:18and I worry that with such a new, brave start,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22we might just forget where we once came from.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27# Cardiff in the sun
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# Sha la la la la la la la
0:58:30 > 0:58:36# Sha la la la la la la la La la la la la la
0:58:39 > 0:58:43# Cardiff in the sun
0:58:43 > 0:58:46# Sha la la la la la la la
0:58:46 > 0:58:53# Sha la la la la la la la La la la la la la... #