0:00:02 > 0:00:03From above, the British Isles
0:00:03 > 0:00:06are a patchwork of fields, towns and villages,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10but hidden amongst them are our heritage secrets,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13the remains of our industrial and social past
0:00:13 > 0:00:16and of course, those jewels in the crown, our country houses.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Today we're in Northern Ireland
0:00:23 > 0:00:26at one of our most important historic buildings,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29the stately home that was lived in by a family who, for two centuries,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32shaped the political landscape of the United Kingdom.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34The house has now been left to the nation
0:00:34 > 0:00:36and I'll be finding out about its past owners
0:00:36 > 0:00:39and some of the treasures unearthed within.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Also, Clare Balding will be in the Midlands,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48taking a close look at some of the finest stained glass ever made...
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I don't quite know what I was expecting,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52but I wasn't expecting this.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55..Charlie Luxton travels to the Lake District,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58where he'll be celebrating one of the unsung heroes
0:00:58 > 0:01:00of the Industrial Revolution...
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Once upon a time, these seemingly inconsequential pieces
0:01:03 > 0:01:05of shaped lakeland timber
0:01:05 > 0:01:09were fundamental to an industry that lead the world.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13..and special guest reporter Nick Hewer is taking to the skies
0:01:13 > 0:01:14to recapture the past
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and find out about the pioneers of aerial photography.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21I don't know how those guys did it with big plate cameras.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24You know something, it's not easy.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27This is the story of Britain's hidden heritage.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Situated on the tranquil shores of Strangford Lough,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03in County Down, Northern Ireland,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06is a dark and rather dramatic grey stone stately home
0:02:06 > 0:02:11that, in its day, has played host to prominent artists, writers,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13politicians and even royalty.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Its gardens, which were planted up in the 1920s,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18are acknowledged as some of the greatest in the world
0:02:18 > 0:02:21and yet, to many, this place is unknown.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23So today, I'm going to be finding out why this stately home
0:02:23 > 0:02:26has remained so enigmatic.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27Welcome to Mount Stewart.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Since the 18th century,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Mount Stewart has been the home of the Stewart family,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49holders of the title the Marquess of Londonderry.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54The estate itself was first acquired in 1744 by Alexander Stewart,
0:02:54 > 0:02:59a Presbyterian Scot who made his money in the linen trade.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02The initial house was just a small part
0:03:02 > 0:03:04of the splendid building that stands here now,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08a relatively modest beginning for a family who became legendary
0:03:08 > 0:03:10for the style and scale of their hospitality
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and their influence over almost two centuries
0:03:13 > 0:03:15of British and Irish politics.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20It took quite a while for the house to expand
0:03:20 > 0:03:22to the grand scale that we see today.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Most of the family's money in the early years
0:03:24 > 0:03:26was spent on forwarding their political ambitions.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28However, all that was about to change
0:03:28 > 0:03:30when the third Marquess came along.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33He married one of the wealthiest women in the country,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36an heiress to a coal and railway fortune in the northeast of England.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41So the newlyweds went on a spending spree here at Mount Stewart.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43They wanted a house to befit their status,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and one of the first additions was this enormous portico.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Big enough to drive a carriage under -
0:03:49 > 0:03:52something that would impress their guests.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01The house and gardens are now owned and run by the National Trust
0:04:01 > 0:04:04but members of the family do still reside at Mount Stewart,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08giving the place a real lived in, country house feel.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11The Trust's policy here is one of conservation -
0:04:11 > 0:04:14maintaining the house exactly as it was left.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19A wealthy family home with over 200 years of wear and tear on display.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23And although it may now be in suspended animation,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26keeping it that way is a monumental task.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39This is the staff preparing for the arrival of the public today,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42place setting the table with all the family silver.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Let's go and have a chat to them.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47- Hello! Hi!- Hi!
0:04:47 > 0:04:50You're both National Trust staff here, aren't you?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52How many of you are here, based here?
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Myself and Louise are two full-time staff members.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57That's all you've got? Just two full-time staff members?
0:04:57 > 0:04:58Two full-time and two part-time.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01They do the morning clean, the conservation team come in
0:05:01 > 0:05:03and help us care for the collection every morning.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05You got all the family silver in your hands.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08- So, does this come in and out every night?- It does.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10- For security reasons, it goes back in the safe?- Yes, exactly.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Yeah, absolutely. And also for conservation, so it's not left out,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17it's in specially made bags that we can just help care for the silver.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19OK, carry on, won't you? Don't let me stop you.
0:05:20 > 0:05:21Beautifully place set, Louise.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Is this the family coat of arms engraved on the glass?
0:05:24 > 0:05:26It is, it's the Londonderry coat of arms with the L.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28You got two different sets there.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30There's two there, isn't there? I've just noticed that.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Different eras. We've got different sets coming together,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36but you've also got the double Ls that have been embroidered on the napkins.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Erm, they were Edith Lady Londonderry's coat of arms
0:05:39 > 0:05:41and she had them all embroidered on all of her different sets
0:05:41 > 0:05:43so she could mix and match.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Would the guests, in the day, have eaten off the silver plates
0:05:46 > 0:05:47or would there be a plate put on top of it?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49As far as I can tell,
0:05:49 > 0:05:51looking at the usage on the plates, they would have eaten off of them.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55All the scratch marks are there from successive generations eating on them.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57So, yeah, very much a used service.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Mount Stewart makes a strong impact on all those who enter.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15It's hardly surprising, as the whole point of the house was to impress.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18So, who were the intriguing family who created the place?
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Gosh, Peter, this is incredible. I love this hall!
0:06:22 > 0:06:24- It's, "Wow!", Isn't it? - Yeah, it has the wow factor.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26This double height domed ceiling.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30- Especially with all this light flooding in.- Yeah, it's amazing.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Why did the Londonderrys want to get involved in politics
0:06:34 > 0:06:35in such a big way?
0:06:35 > 0:06:38They are independently wealthy, they had everything going for them.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Politics was power and, you know, really,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45the most famous of the marquesses of Londonderry
0:06:45 > 0:06:50was the second Lord Castlereagh - instrumental in the Act of Union,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53also heavily involved in the Congress of Vienna.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Sure, so it was all about power, literally about power.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59It was about power and access to power at the highest levels.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra stayed here in 1903.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The late Queen Mother, as Duchess of York, was here
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and, of course, people from the arts and the literary world.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12- Gosh, a whole mixture, really? - Absolutely.- Yeah.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17From Cabinet ministers to military commanders,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21the Londonderry family bought, fought or married itself
0:07:21 > 0:07:24into the upper echelons of British society
0:07:24 > 0:07:27but always, Mount Stewart remained the country retreat.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31From something very grand to something very subtle.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I like this room, is it a study?
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Indeed, yes, it was Lord Londonderry's sitting room
0:07:36 > 0:07:40when he came to live here from the early 1920s.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42- Is that him there? - Yes, that's him there.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44- Good looking couple.- Hmm.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46That's very clever.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49I've just noticed the shutters in the windows, look.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52There's faux spines of books stuck onto them.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Yes, those sort of mock bookend shutters, Paul,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58when they closed at night, create a, sort of, fabulous atmosphere.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- Oh, it looks like a library then, doesn't it?- Yeah.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- What are these? Guest books? - Visitors' books here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09This one, which actually commemorates the Royal visit, in 1903,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19- And then, in more recent times, from 1968, Prince Philip.- Prince Philip.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Wow.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Mount Stewart has a wonderful feel about it,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32with many generations of the Londonderry family
0:08:32 > 0:08:35having lived here, all making the place their own.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38There's a sort of historical mishmash of furniture and paintings,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42fabrics and colours, but they all work as a whole,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45held together by centuries of good taste.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Many of the contents are family heirlooms
0:08:47 > 0:08:51handed down through the years, but some are national treasures,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56like this set of 22 unassuming early 19th-century chairs,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00which hold an incredible story that harks back to 1814
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and the second Marquess, the famous Lord Castlereagh.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07He was instrumental in creating a lasting peace in Europe
0:09:07 > 0:09:08through his contacts.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11He gathered together the European leaders
0:09:11 > 0:09:13in what he called the Congress of Vienna.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15It was the end of the Napoleonic wars.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18This peace lasted for almost 100 years,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20right up to the First World War.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23So it was an incredible moment in European history,
0:09:23 > 0:09:28but to get 22 European leaders sitting down talking
0:09:28 > 0:09:30was absolutely remarkable.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34And guess what they sat on? These 22 chairs.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38'Each chair was carefully allocated to a delegate,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41'and later embroidered to record who sat where.'
0:09:42 > 0:09:44So, this one is the Duke of Wellington's.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46You can see his armoury on there.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48And that one is Lord Castlereagh's.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53That early Congress system became the precursor to the United Nations.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56How incredible is that?
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Later on, I'll be finding out about one member of the Londonderry family
0:10:05 > 0:10:08who was instrumental in bringing women the vote
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and somehow found time to create one of the finest gardens in the world.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15But before that,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18our reporter Clare Balding has been to the Midlands
0:10:18 > 0:10:19to find out about the race to save
0:10:19 > 0:10:23one of the country's greatest ecclesiastical treasures.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Nowadays, Britain's urban skylines
0:10:29 > 0:10:32are crowded with magnificent architecture,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34but take yourself back a few hundred years,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38and the only buildings that towered over the rest
0:10:38 > 0:10:40were our mighty cathedrals,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45with the impressive spires soaring skywards and pointing to the heavens.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Our mediaeval cathedrals were not just places of worship,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51but also tools of instruction,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53their statues and their stained glass windows
0:10:53 > 0:10:55telling stories from the Bible
0:10:55 > 0:10:59that an often illiterate congregation could understand.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14But the windows in this cathedral tell more than just a biblical story.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19They tell a tale of a race against time, a historic drama
0:11:19 > 0:11:22and a European treasure that only exists
0:11:22 > 0:11:24because of the dedication of one man.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30And the man I'm here to find out about
0:11:30 > 0:11:33is one of Britain's unsung heritage heroes,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37a man who saved one of the greatest ecclesiastic artworks in Europe
0:11:37 > 0:11:41and brought it here, to Lichfield Cathedral, for all to see.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49His name was Brooke Boothby, poet, translator of literature
0:11:49 > 0:11:51and patron of the arts.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Boothby had the ambition to restore the cathedral
0:11:54 > 0:11:57in his beloved Lichfield, which had lost all its glass
0:11:57 > 0:12:00when it was smashed in the English Civil War.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Brooke Boothby spent much of his adult life in Europe.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08In the early 1800s, he happened upon the Herckenrode nunnery,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10which had been dissolved and plundered
0:12:10 > 0:12:12during the French Revolutionary Wars.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18The Cistercian abbey, 50 miles east of Brussels,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21had been all but destroyed by Napoleon's troops.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25However, Boothby discovered that the abbey's stained glass windows,
0:12:25 > 0:12:31which dated back to the 1520s, were miraculously still intact.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35They'd been created by artisans at the very top of their trade
0:12:35 > 0:12:40and when Boothby saw them he realised their historical and artistic importance,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44immediately sending word to the Dean of Lichfield.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47And these are the letters?
0:12:47 > 0:12:49These are some of Brooke Boothby's letters
0:12:49 > 0:12:50and this is the one that he first wrote.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And you can see, wonderfully,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56"My love for a place which I consider with the affection
0:12:56 > 0:13:03"of a second home induces me to trouble you, my dear sir.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05"One of the many fine churches or monasteries
0:13:05 > 0:13:07"which have been destroyed,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10"one has fortunately been preserved.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14"I have contracted for the purchase of 17 windows of what appears to me
0:13:14 > 0:13:18"the finest painted glass I have almost ever seen,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22"which I should greatly desire to be placed in your beautiful choir."
0:13:22 > 0:13:23Gosh.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27- Is there any record of how much it all cost?- Yes.
0:13:27 > 0:13:34Altogether, the glass and the transportation came to £200
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and he was very particular that he expected the cathedral
0:13:36 > 0:13:39to reimburse him for £200.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42So it was an interest free business transaction,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44but he didn't want to be out of pocket.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Once installed, the beautiful windows drew admirers from far and wide,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55but were you to arrive at Lichfield to see them today,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57you'd be sadly disappointed.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Where is your great Herckenrode glass?
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Don't panic, it's not here, but it is coming back.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04We took it down in 2010
0:14:04 > 0:14:07for some absolutely essential restoration work.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09So, it's all gone?
0:14:09 > 0:14:12All seven windows dismantled piece by piece
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and packed away now for the conservation that needed to be done.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Over the centuries, the wind and rain had taken their toll
0:14:27 > 0:14:29on this world-class treasure,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33so the Herckenrode glass has once again had to be dismantled
0:14:33 > 0:14:37and this time taken to York, where each and every piece
0:14:37 > 0:14:40is undergoing extensive renovation.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Keith, hi.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Finally, I get to see it. Wow!
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I don't quite know what I was expecting,
0:14:48 > 0:14:49but I wasn't expecting this.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Well, this was work that was done, you know,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55at the height of the stained glass period.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59I wasn't expecting a lot of nudey bodies, but it's very beautiful.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Well, this is very much part of a religious scene.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05This is from the Last Judgement
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and you can see from the expressions on the faces
0:15:09 > 0:15:12that these are the ones looking in hope
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and, sort of, joy and probably will to go up to heaven.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18And yet, these are the ones that are being judged
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and they are distraught, and they'll be going down to hell.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25As artwork, does it move you emotionally?
0:15:25 > 0:15:29It certainly does because this is art,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32as far as stained glass is concerned, at its peak.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35When the glass returns to the cathedral
0:15:35 > 0:15:39it will, for the first time, sit behind a protective layer of clear glass
0:15:39 > 0:15:44which allows Keith and his team to remove some of the excess lead
0:15:44 > 0:15:47that had been put in over the years to repair leaks and cracks
0:15:47 > 0:15:51but which had been obscuring some of the artwork.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54The actual leading is in a sound condition,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57so we're not re-leading the windows
0:15:57 > 0:16:00but we are cleaning them, and we're taking the opportunity
0:16:00 > 0:16:05of actually removing some of the past repairs that were done.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10And then pieces at the edge, we're able to remove
0:16:10 > 0:16:15and take out the leads completely and glue the two pieces together.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18So we're edge bonding, you know, cracked pieces
0:16:18 > 0:16:21and removing leads, wherever possible,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23around the perimeter of each panel.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29The restoration of the glass panels began over two years ago
0:16:29 > 0:16:33and it's estimated it'll take another three years
0:16:33 > 0:16:36before they are ready to be reinstated in Lichfield.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Now, it's not just a case of repairing the lead
0:16:39 > 0:16:43and cleaning the glass. These are incredibly intricate works of art
0:16:43 > 0:16:47and over the centuries, some of the original brushstrokes have been lost.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51So the artists here are using both their knowledge of historic methods at the time
0:16:51 > 0:16:56and their own artistic skills to replace the finer brushstrokes.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Helen Whittaker is the artist
0:16:59 > 0:17:04who's been entrusted to restore the delicate Renaissance brushstrokes
0:17:04 > 0:17:07to the former glory that so captivated Brooke Boothby
0:17:07 > 0:17:11when he first saw them at Herckenrode Abbey.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14How do you assess this as a work of art? I mean, how good is it?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17This is absolutely exquisite painting.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21It's not only free - it's bold, it's confident, erm,
0:17:21 > 0:17:23and it's just full of life.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28I mean, I can well imagine that Boothby was quite drawn by this.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30You're tracing over lines that were there
0:17:30 > 0:17:32but presumably, in some cases, you're having to invent?
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Erm, no, I mean, fortunately,
0:17:35 > 0:17:37we can at least see the ghosting lines underneath.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39That gives enough information
0:17:39 > 0:17:43to actually, you know, trace those lines that were originally there
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and what's beautiful is, we're actually bringing back
0:17:45 > 0:17:48what they probably envisaged when they originally did it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51I don't, you know, this isn't meant to be a disrespectful question
0:17:51 > 0:17:54but why did they bother being so intricate with the faces
0:17:54 > 0:17:56when once it's up in the cathedral,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58nobody's really going to be able to see them?
0:17:58 > 0:18:01As a craftsperson, and I'm sure it was the same then,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05you love your craft so much that you want to do the best you can for it,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08so every piece is a jewel and it's treated like one.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12So, you know, the detail is there and it didn't actually matter
0:18:12 > 0:18:16if no-one could see it because the quality was there.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19In terms of the colour of the paint and also how it's made,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21are you making it up yourself every time?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Yeah, yeah.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27I mean, what we are using is, they used oxides in that day
0:18:27 > 0:18:31and we're pretty much recreating the colours with the oxides.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Obviously, we're not firing this back painting onto the glass
0:18:34 > 0:18:38but the colours, we're matching up by various samples,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40so we're trying to get it as near as we possibly can.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46Brooke Boothby was an extraordinary man.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49The lengths he went to, even in the midst of war,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51to save the Herckenrode glass that he had discovered
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and bring it back here to his beloved Lichfield Cathedral.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58And the exciting thing is that now the glass enters a new chapter,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and very soon it will be reinstated here
0:19:01 > 0:19:03to be enjoyed for centuries to come.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Later on Britain's Hidden Heritage,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Charlie Luxton will be visiting a Victorian time capsule
0:19:24 > 0:19:27that harks back to the Industrial Revolution...
0:19:28 > 0:19:30You going to make it?
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Yes! Brilliant!
0:19:33 > 0:19:35..guest reporter Nick Hewer takes to the skies
0:19:35 > 0:19:39to celebrate two pioneers of aerial photography.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It all started off with an old crate like this,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45a big plate glass camera and two great Britons.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49But first, we're back in Northern Ireland
0:19:49 > 0:19:51where my tour of Mount Stewart continues.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Home to the marquesses of Londonderry for 250 years,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57it's a house that is full of history.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00But there's one person in the family, above all others,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04whose passion for the house and gardens shines out.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08And that is Edith Lady Londonderry, the wife of the seventh Marquess.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12From the 1920s to the 1950s, she transformed the place
0:20:12 > 0:20:14from what had become a dark, Victorian house
0:20:14 > 0:20:19into a comfortable early 20th century country home.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Isn't it nice to enter a room, Maureen, through a secret door?
0:20:24 > 0:20:26It is. Children love this door.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Yes, Edith loved this room. This was her sitting room.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31The best light, south facing...
0:20:31 > 0:20:33You can follow it around all day long, can you?
0:20:33 > 0:20:35And the gardens are all around you here.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39But it's just as if she's gone out and she's going to come back again.
0:20:39 > 0:20:40Yes, all her books are here.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46Her desk, her gardening table, all the little mementos, photographs.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Yeah, everything you would associate with your own home,
0:20:49 > 0:20:50just on a larger scale.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Everything about this room is charming.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I would imagine when the shutter goes up,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59that crystal chandelier, shaped like a ship,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01at night-time looks like it's floating on the lough.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04- That was the idea, that was the idea. - Who is this gentleman here?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08- This is Charles, Edith's husband, the seventh Marquess.- OK.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12- In the 1930s, he was Air Minister in the British government.- Was he?- Yeah.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Flying was his passion.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17He was responsible for the development of the Spitfire,
0:21:17 > 0:21:18the hurricane, radar.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20- Well, that's incredible!- Yeah.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22The more you find out about the Londonderrys,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25- you realise it's a family steeped in history, don't you?- Oh, it is.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29They were very powerful and very influential.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Lady Edith is strikingly beautiful.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37She was a very attractive and commanding presence in any room.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42Not only was she a great social hostess, she was a political hostess
0:21:42 > 0:21:46and was credited with founding the Women's Legion
0:21:46 > 0:21:48during the First World War,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50the end result of which was
0:21:50 > 0:21:53that women in Britain got the vote in 1918.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56And it was in no small measure due to Edith Lady Londonderry.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00She was the driving force behind a lot of women's suffrage.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Perhaps Edith Lady Londonderry's finest legacy here at Mount Stewart
0:22:08 > 0:22:12are the celebrated gardens, ranked amongst the greatest in the world.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15And as you wander around, you can soon see why.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26When Edith first saw this place, she found it rather damp and depressing,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29but she began to realise its potential. She fell in love with it
0:22:29 > 0:22:34and, during the 1920s, created a horticultural masterpiece.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42- Neil, this is such a beautiful place, you must love your job?- I do.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46- Yes, I mean the work here is such a privilege.- Every day is a joy?- It is.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Did she design all of this herself
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and plant it up, or did she have professionals in?
0:22:51 > 0:22:52Oh, she did, she did it all herself
0:22:52 > 0:22:55- and she had some books for inspiration.- Yeah.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58And she really copied a lot of things and adapted a lot of things,
0:22:58 > 0:23:03and really, the whole garden is her expression, her artistic expression.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05So, yeah, she did it all herself.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10This is the Gardens of Italy, by Country Life, in about 1920
0:23:10 > 0:23:12and Edith's just sketched little ideas -
0:23:12 > 0:23:15- this is this exedral bench that we're sitting on here -
0:23:15 > 0:23:17just sketching things out
0:23:17 > 0:23:20and basically, she'd give that to her guys to build.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22- On the back of an envelope... - A little envelope.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25- Isn't that lovely?- Yeah. - Oh, this is nice.- It is, yes.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28- This echoes this. - This is actually the balustrade,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30if you look at the pots and the balusters.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35So she's actually taken that as the design for the balusters there.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40- From the gardens of Florence?- Yeah.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41So, it's stunning to see.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45And then the garden diaries Edith kept...
0:23:45 > 0:23:47It shows her evolution as a gardener, really,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52but in 1926 she came up with some stunning colour schemes.
0:23:52 > 0:23:53Look at those.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Oh, this is really nice.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57This is handwritten and hand drawn by her?
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Yeah, but the actual one which she is most proud of, I think,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02is this one here. This, sort of, sunburst.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Like an aerial view of what she's proposing.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07- Well, she did go up onto the roof. - Did she? And looked down?
0:24:07 > 0:24:08Looked down on it.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11So, we're using this colour scheme again,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13using half the plants that she used
0:24:13 > 0:24:17- and half that I think she'd like, had she been alive today.- Yeah.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21But if this were just a colour scheme you'd think that was fine -
0:24:21 > 0:24:22- herbaceous plants and bulbs.- Yeah.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26But, actually, what she was going for and was most proud of
0:24:26 > 0:24:34was not just herbaceous plants but also shrubs...standard trees -
0:24:34 > 0:24:37pyramid growing trees and standard trees
0:24:37 > 0:24:39in amongst the herbaceous plants.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41It's got a very strong vertical plane.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44So, you just get a sense of how beautiful...
0:24:44 > 0:24:49The way she used colour, you know, in a French impressionistic way.
0:24:49 > 0:24:50It's incredible,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53the attention to detail in this garden is just mind blowing.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Yes, it gets you on every level -
0:24:56 > 0:24:59as well as the planting and the colour, and the beautiful shrubs,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02which, often, you wouldn't find anywhere else
0:25:02 > 0:25:03growing outside in the British Isles.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07And what a view of the house from the terrace here. What's this?
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Just a little place to, sort of, sit under and shelter?
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Yeah, I mean, the loge there
0:25:12 > 0:25:15is just to, you know, to have tea out of the rain,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18but it also has a little bit of history
0:25:18 > 0:25:21in that there is a little bit of mediaeval sculpture there,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25which is from the House of Lords, which was bombed by Zeppelin in 1918.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27And that's just been set into the wall?
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Yeah, Edith got hold of a few bits
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and there's a few more bits in the garden further on.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34- Let's go and have a wander, shall we?- Yeah, let's.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35- Let's go that way.- Yeah.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45One of the most notable features of the gardens is the summerhouse,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47known as the Temple of the Winds.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49It has one of the most extraordinary interiors
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and later on in the programme, I'll be paying it a visit.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55But first, our reporter Charlie Luxton has been to Cumbria
0:25:55 > 0:25:58in search of a small but perfectly formed object
0:25:58 > 0:26:02that really did have a big impact on the Industrial Revolution.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16The majestic sight of Windermere, the largest lake in England
0:26:16 > 0:26:19and one of the centrepieces of the Lake District.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22People come up here to walk and climb
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and just soak up this beautiful scenery.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Today the Lakes thrive on one thing - tourism,
0:26:32 > 0:26:37but 150 years ago priorities here were rather different
0:26:37 > 0:26:39and it was only the odd writer and artist
0:26:39 > 0:26:41who came here to admire the landscape.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Whilst William Wordsworth was penning his poetry
0:26:46 > 0:26:47to the north of Windermere,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49the hills and valleys round here
0:26:49 > 0:26:52started to buzz to the sound of a new industry
0:26:52 > 0:26:54based totally on these...
0:26:55 > 0:26:57..bobbins.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Simple wooden reels,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01but they were central to the Industrial Revolution.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04And the Lake District made them in their millions.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Nowadays, the word "bobbins" can be a bit of a joke,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14but in the 19th century it was anything but.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18The bobbin is a forgotten giant of Victorian Britain.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19Absolutely vital to industry,
0:27:20 > 0:27:25nowhere more so than in the cotton spinning factories of Lancashire.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28These multi-storey mills were the largest in the world,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31each with thousands of spindles.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Each spindle demanded a constant supply of bobbins.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41And just a few hundred metres from the banks of Lake Windermere
0:27:41 > 0:27:45is Stott Park, now the only surviving example
0:27:45 > 0:27:46of a Lakeland Bobbin Mill
0:27:46 > 0:27:49that once would have supported the cotton industry.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Like the bobbins themselves,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Stott Park seems a rather humble and quaint place,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57and today it blends beautifully
0:27:57 > 0:27:59into its tranquil woodland location.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06'It is an absolutely incredible place this, isn't it?'
0:28:06 > 0:28:08It's like, it almost feels like it's unchanged.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Well, it's unbelievable, really. It was built in 1835.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16There's an extension through there, which was done in 1880, 1890,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20but after that it's just run as it is until 1971.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22I imagine you need quite a lot of bobbins
0:28:22 > 0:28:24for the size of the textile industry that we had?
0:28:24 > 0:28:28- In Oldham alone, there were 20 million bobbins.- On machines?
0:28:28 > 0:28:30On machines in Oldham, yes.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32And how many bobbins could this place make?
0:28:32 > 0:28:37- This place could produce up to 250,000 bobbins a week.- Wow.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41The industry settled here
0:28:41 > 0:28:45because it was so close to the giant mills of Lancashire,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49but the lakes also meant that Mother Nature could lend a hand.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Local woodland provided the key bobbin ingredient - timber -
0:28:53 > 0:28:57birch, alder and ash...
0:28:58 > 0:29:01..and the fast flowing water meant power for the machines.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Within 50 years of opening, though,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Stott Park took production to a new level.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11The water wheel was out, and in its place a newer innovation -
0:29:11 > 0:29:12steam.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17So, this engine arrived in 1880, from Yorkshire,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20where it had already had a previous life
0:29:20 > 0:29:22pumping water out of a coal mine.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26It's now running at about half the speed it would've done in its prime
0:29:26 > 0:29:30and even then it only produced about 30 horsepower,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32which is about a third of an average family car.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37But that was enough energy to drive ALL the saws in ALL the machinery
0:29:37 > 0:29:40all the way through the factory.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47Amazingly, that machinery is still here and still working,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50which gives me the chance of a bobbin making lesson
0:29:50 > 0:29:53with Stott Park guide Tracy.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57The Lakes once produced 260 shapes and sizes of bobbin
0:29:57 > 0:30:02but I'll be concentrating on just one rather modest effort.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07In the 1880s, the main work took place in the new lathe workshop.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12130 years later, that's exactly where I'll be working today.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17I've never seen so many belts before. Look at all the belt drives!
0:30:17 > 0:30:19It must have been quite dangerous?
0:30:19 > 0:30:20It would have been, yes.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23There were no guards on any of the machines, the walkways or the belts.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26- So you had to be very careful... - So this wouldn't have been here?
0:30:26 > 0:30:28No, there'd be nothing like that there.
0:30:28 > 0:30:29So how did you know where to go?
0:30:29 > 0:30:31Well, they were very clever about that.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Because of the amount of bobbins that they made,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35the floor level was about this high up.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Right the way round the workshop, there'd have been wooden shavings
0:30:37 > 0:30:39and they used to just dig out channels
0:30:39 > 0:30:41to get access through the shavings
0:30:41 > 0:30:43and if you always walked in the channel,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46you never walked into a moving belt.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49One of the most ingenious bits of kit
0:30:49 > 0:30:53is this 1860s semi-automated drill.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55The drill bits have been removed
0:30:55 > 0:30:58but the mechanism is in perfect working order.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Where the wood's been bored, you just take that bored wood off
0:31:01 > 0:31:04and then replace it with fresh wood to be bored.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08I mean, the ingenuity is just extraordinary, isn't it?
0:31:08 > 0:31:10It is very clever.
0:31:12 > 0:31:13Automation, though,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17meant that this machine could be operated by apprentices.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Boys aged eight or nine were brought in from Lancashire workhouses.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27At first they would simply strip bark and prepare fresh logs
0:31:27 > 0:31:31but by the age of 12, they were operating machines like this...
0:31:32 > 0:31:35..12 hours a day, six days a week,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37a pattern that would continue for years.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44With a hole now drilled through the block of wood,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48it's time to create something that looks more like a bobbin.
0:31:48 > 0:31:49- So, that goes on there?- Yeah.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54You're going to bring the back tool in first. Slowly.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- When do I stop?- You keep going, a bit harder.- Whoa!- That's it!
0:31:57 > 0:32:02Now, bring the front tool forward to cut out the barrel shape.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03There we go.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05- That's it!- Whoa!
0:32:06 > 0:32:09- So, that's it? - That's it, the roughed out bobbin.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11This is beginning to look more familiar,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15but a separate lathe is required to achieve the finished shape.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19- Wahey!- You've got your bobbin now.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21- And look at that! - There you go, one finished bobbin.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Look at that, we've made a bobbin!
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Hey-hey!
0:32:26 > 0:32:29This mill isn't just a museum.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31There's real history within these walls.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Being here is as close as one can ever get
0:32:35 > 0:32:39to experiencing this lost industry of the Lakes.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Today Stott Park is still dusty and noisy
0:32:44 > 0:32:47and just dangerous enough to feel exciting,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51but imagine what it was like in the late 1800s, in its heyday.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54During the Second World War, they diversified production
0:32:54 > 0:32:59to make the wooden rungs for rope ladders and the handles for shovels.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Later on, they would make egg cups and yo-yos,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04and skipping rope handles.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10And they were still producing bobbins commercially until 1971.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15But Stott Park is lucky to retain the expertise
0:33:15 > 0:33:19of someone who remembers the active days of the industry.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23David Steely worked at a nearby mill from the age of 15.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25I made a bobbin...
0:33:26 > 0:33:29- ..what do you think of that? - Good. As good as mine.- Is it?
0:33:29 > 0:33:32- Yeah!- I mean, how many of these do you think you've made in your life?
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Oh...thousands!
0:33:35 > 0:33:37- I should say millions, actually. - Millions?!
0:33:37 > 0:33:39I mean, how many did you make a day?
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Roughly, on that one, about 1,200.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43- A day?- A day.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Was there a camaraderie amongst the people you worked with?
0:33:45 > 0:33:46Did you enjoy it?
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Oh, yeah. Oh, you've got to enjoy it. Otherwise you'd get bored.
0:33:50 > 0:33:51You had to enjoy it.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53And what was it like as the mills were closing down?
0:33:53 > 0:33:57- Did it really feel like the end of an era for everyone?- Oh, it did.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02You thought you had a job for life, they'd always want bobbins, but no.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07It was the age of plastic
0:34:07 > 0:34:11that finally killed off the Lakeland bobbin industry.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13And of the 60-odd mills that once existed,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16this is the only one left intact.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Stott Park may now only produce the odd souvenir bobbin for people like me
0:34:23 > 0:34:26but I love the thought that this tranquil corner of the world
0:34:26 > 0:34:29was once a powerhouse of production.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31And while industries rise and fall,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35it shouldn't stop us remembering that once upon a time
0:34:35 > 0:34:39these seemingly inconsequential pieces of shaped Lakeland timber
0:34:39 > 0:34:43were fundamental to an industry that led the world.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Still to come on Britain's Hidden Heritage...
0:34:51 > 0:34:54Apprentice star Nick Hewer takes to the skies
0:34:54 > 0:34:57to celebrate Britain's very first aerial photographers.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Let's just see whether I can match the pictures taken
0:35:02 > 0:35:05by those great pioneers.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08But first, back in Northern Ireland,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12and my behind-the-scenes tour of Mount Stewart continues.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16What makes this place so special is that it doesn't feel like a museum,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20it really feels like you're walking around someone's home,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22just like one of the many house guests
0:35:22 > 0:35:25who were entertained here over the years.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Well, it's a real treat to explore the house. I like being nosy,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33it gives me inspiration.
0:35:33 > 0:35:34Now, the whole house, in fact,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37is full of the most wonderful fine art and antiques.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Everybody in the family, throughout their history,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43had an exceptional eye and very good taste.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47A lot of the furniture here was brought from their London residence.
0:35:47 > 0:35:48One of them was this bed,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51and it's got that sort of shabby chic look to it.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55A real sense of, sort of, faded elegance and a continental feel
0:35:55 > 0:36:00with this overhanging canopy with the family coat of arms up there.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02I like the fact that it's bruised and it's chipped,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04and the gilding is flaking off.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08It gives it, like the rest of the house, a real sense of theatre.
0:36:11 > 0:36:12But, of course,
0:36:12 > 0:36:17sometimes the line between well worn and worn out is a fine one
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and, like any historic home, Mount Stewart has suffered over the years from age.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Recently, when cracks started appearing upstairs,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25an investigation found that a main supporting beam
0:36:25 > 0:36:28had started to give way,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30leaving the house requiring extensive work
0:36:30 > 0:36:35and that, in any listed building, brings up the oncoming debate.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Restoration versus conservation.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Bring a house back to how it looked when it was new
0:36:40 > 0:36:45or leave it exactly as it was found, in all its faded glory?
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Well, Joe, you must see first-hand the problems,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52the structural problems here at the house,
0:36:52 > 0:36:54- cos you're the surveyor for the National Trust.- Yeah.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56I have, over the past few years,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59I've actually seen the conditions getting gradually worse and worse.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02And it came to the point recently, last year,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05where we felt something drastically had to be done.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07And I guess this is where it gets difficult
0:37:07 > 0:37:10because it's conservation against, sort of, restoration, really.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12There's only so much you can do, isn't there?
0:37:12 > 0:37:15There's only so much you can do because we're a conservation charity
0:37:15 > 0:37:18so our primary aim is to conserve what we have
0:37:18 > 0:37:20but at the same time, we can also take the chance,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22while we're doing the conservation work,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24to do some restoration work as well.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28What are the obvious signs that you are looking out for here
0:37:28 > 0:37:31in these big historic houses? What's the first thing that normally goes?
0:37:31 > 0:37:34The main problem is trying to keep water out
0:37:34 > 0:37:36and keeping moisture out of the building itself.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38They're very old buildings, so it takes a lot of work
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and a lot of time in trying to keep water out.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43So, really, it's all about prevention.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45It's prevention all the time.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47But it's not just the structure of the building
0:37:47 > 0:37:49that is suffering from the elements.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53The contents of all the rooms also require monitoring
0:37:53 > 0:37:56as they too are starting to feel their age.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Now, there's one thing in common
0:38:00 > 0:38:04that all of our historic houses suffer from. That's wear and tear
0:38:04 > 0:38:06and, of course, light damage.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Now, here's a wonderful example of what sunlight can do to an object.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12Especially right here,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15underneath this light scoop of the lantern up there.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Look at the colour of it. You can see it's particularly quite faded,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22but if I turn it around like that,
0:38:22 > 0:38:28there you are, look at that vibrant hue of blue, isn't that gorgeous?
0:38:28 > 0:38:31That's exactly how it would have been in 1750,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33when this chair was made.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35So, you can see there are two choices, really.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Restoration, complete with re-upholstery,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41or conservation, and in this case, it's got to be conservation.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45It's now being carefully monitored so it won't get any worse,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49but looking at this, you know, it just is such a loved chair.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52It has been used. There's wear and tear on it.
0:38:52 > 0:38:53You see, here, look,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56where it's starting to, sort of, pull apart there.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00That's somebody's neck and that's somebody's shoulders there, rubbing against it.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03It just gives us a picture of the social history of how it was used.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06It had family ownership and it's been well loved.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14When the same family live in the same house for many generations,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18furniture and belongings inevitably begin to accumulate over the years.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20Mount Stewart, with its many rooms,
0:39:20 > 0:39:25has become a treasure trove of unopened boxes and unseen artefacts.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29The cataloguing of the contents is an ongoing process
0:39:29 > 0:39:32and almost every week brings a new and exciting find.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40So, with only half of the house open to the public,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44it leaves a lot of rooms to discover lots more treasure in.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Absolutely, it's quite exciting.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Lots of costume, lots of other bits we're uncovering,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51very exciting time to be able to get it on show.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54- And you're finding this on a daily basis, are you?- Reasonably, yes.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56- OK, can we have a look inside here? - Absolutely.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00What have we got? Da-da, wow! Look at that! Whose was that?
0:40:00 > 0:40:03This is Frederick IV, Marquess of Londonderry.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07He was the Knight of the Order of St Patrick and this is his robes.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09As you can see, you've got the sash of the order.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12- When does this date back to?- 1856.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16Gosh, it looks like it was made yesterday, doesn't it?
0:40:16 > 0:40:18- It's fabulous.- The quality of the needlework! Can I touch this?
0:40:18 > 0:40:21- Please do.- It's a wool, isn't it? It's a brushed wool.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24It's brushed wool and this is the metallic thread, here.
0:40:24 > 0:40:25All the detail.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Again, details on the Shamrock and the Crown,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30being part of the chivalric order.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34- Oh, look at the lining. Oh, that's really nice, isn't it?- Padded.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38But it's the richness of the red that's as bright today
0:40:38 > 0:40:40- as it was 150 years ago. - Nice jolly scarlet.- Yes.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45Of course, once each new find is uncovered,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48the challenge for Mount Stewart's custodians
0:40:48 > 0:40:49is like with the rest of the house,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54to keep it in its current condition for future generations to enjoy.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Now, heritage comes in all different shapes and sizes
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and this week our guest reporter, Nick Hewer,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04has been to Wiltshire to celebrate two pioneers of the skies.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16Ever since I was a small boy, I've been fascinated by those pioneers
0:41:16 > 0:41:18who, whether by land, sea or air,
0:41:18 > 0:41:23managed to stretch the boundaries and extend our horizons.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27And today I want you to join me in celebrating a small band of aviators
0:41:27 > 0:41:31who, just after the First World War, kicked off a business
0:41:31 > 0:41:36that ended up leaving this country with the most extraordinary legacy.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Today I've come back to my home town of Swindon
0:41:39 > 0:41:43to investigate a very special photographic archive.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45It forms a comprehensive aerial account
0:41:45 > 0:41:48of a Britain that is now long gone.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52It's called the Aerofilms Collection.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Aerofilms was the country's first aerial photographic business.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04It was set up in 1919, just at the end of the First World War,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08when flying, quite frankly, was novel, daring and pretty dangerous.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10But it's the story of Aerofilms, really,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13it's a sort of story that absolutely intrigues me.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Pioneering, daring and successful.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19With satellite imagery
0:42:19 > 0:42:22and all those lovely helicopter shots you get in a programme like this,
0:42:22 > 0:42:27we're only too aware today of what our country looks like from above,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31but less than a century ago, such views had simply never been seen.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37In 1919, two men aimed to change that.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42Frances Lewis Wills was an expert in air reconnaissance,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46whilst Claude Grahame-White had been the most celebrated British aviator
0:42:46 > 0:42:48of the pre-war period.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52He owned his own aerodrome and plane manufacturing business,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55and the business which they started
0:42:55 > 0:42:59went on to take more than a million aerial photographs of our country,
0:42:59 > 0:43:04a national treasure that is only now receiving the attention it has long deserved.
0:43:05 > 0:43:06Right!
0:43:08 > 0:43:11So, this is the oldest material in the Aerofilms Collection.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12Want to look at the first plate they took?
0:43:12 > 0:43:16- When would that have been?- July 1919.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18Perfect.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21English Heritage, along with their Scottish and Welsh counterparts,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25have recently taken possession of the Aerofilms back catalogue.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28The precious negatives are now kept safe
0:43:28 > 0:43:33in a series of vast humidity and temperature controlled stores.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37So, that's it then? 1919, their first shot. Yeah.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40- There we go. There's the print.- OK.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45- What is it? It's a factory.- No, this is where they were based in Hendon.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48- OK!- This is the London Country Club.- Yeah.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50With its sports pitches,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53and these are Claude Grahame-White's factory buildings.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56- Right.- So, the first photograph they took was their home.- Was home.- Yeah.
0:43:56 > 0:43:57Why not?
0:43:59 > 0:44:01But from these local beginnings,
0:44:01 > 0:44:06the Aerofilms machine rolled out across the country in the 1920s.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10From smog-filled London to industrial Newcastle
0:44:10 > 0:44:13and the building of Tyne Bridge.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Whether it was for corporate clients, picture postcards
0:44:16 > 0:44:19or surveying work for the ordnance survey,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Aerofilms' work took them to all regions
0:44:22 > 0:44:27and left us with a lasting and artistic record of our country.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And for the first time in 2012,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34that record is now available for all of us to enjoy.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37The oldest and most valuable negatives in the Aerofilms Collection
0:44:37 > 0:44:42are systematically being cleaned, catalogued and geo-tagged
0:44:42 > 0:44:45for inclusion in a new website.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48And what have we got here, then?
0:44:48 > 0:44:52This is Liverpool, taken in September 1920.
0:44:52 > 0:44:58So, we're using modern technology to work with the levels, the exposure,
0:44:58 > 0:45:00and we increase the contrast
0:45:00 > 0:45:02to try and get the best out of the negative...
0:45:02 > 0:45:06- Without manipulating it. - Without manipulating at all.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10We try to remain as true to the original as possible.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13By the end of 2014,
0:45:13 > 0:45:21almost 100,000 images, spanning 1919 to 1953, will be fully searchable.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Looking at those photographs, that's one thing,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29but I want to get more of a feel for the early days of flying
0:45:29 > 0:45:30and aerial photography.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35Just how did those daring guys, way back after the First World War,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38manage to take those extraordinary photographs
0:45:38 > 0:45:40that we've seen in here today?
0:45:42 > 0:45:45To help find out, I'm heading across Gloucestershire
0:45:45 > 0:45:47to visit a small airfield.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49It's one of the few places
0:45:49 > 0:45:52where you can turn the aviation clock right back.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56This is a Stampe SV4 biplane.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03Built in the mid 1930s, it's still in full working order
0:46:03 > 0:46:05and it's about as close as I'm going to get
0:46:05 > 0:46:11to experiencing the world of Francis Wills and Claude Grahame-White.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13But it wasn't just the aviation technology
0:46:13 > 0:46:15that was from a different era.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20Right, so what we've got here is a genuine 1920s,
0:46:20 > 0:46:231930s aerial plate camera.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27Right. Not quite as sophisticated looking as the modern camera,
0:46:27 > 0:46:28that's for sure!
0:46:28 > 0:46:34No, this particular plate holder enables you to take two photographs.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37If you wanted to take more photographs, you had to have more plate holders.
0:46:37 > 0:46:38Just two exposures?
0:46:38 > 0:46:41- So they'd go up with a satchel full of these, would they?- Yeah.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46Imagine going through all that in the north of Scotland in February!
0:46:46 > 0:46:48And leaning over the cockpit.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50Leaning over with the wind passing at 90 miles an hour,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53or whatever it was, and get it right.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Well, now it's my chance to see if I can get it right too.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04I'm taking to the skies myself, 1930s style.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09But luckily for me, I won't be armed with plate glass technology,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12I'm getting a significant helping hand.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16Antique cameras like Colin's are real collector's items -
0:47:16 > 0:47:18very expensive rare things,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21and there's no way one of his is leaving the ground.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24So, we're going all modern. Modern digital.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Let's just see whether I can match
0:47:27 > 0:47:30the pictures taken by those great pioneers.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33My pilot today is Tizi Hodson.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36She's going to take me on an aerial tour of Cheltenham and Gloucester,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42an area photographed regularly by Aerofilms in the early years.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Now, this is real flying!
0:47:58 > 0:48:00No hint of duty-free...
0:48:00 > 0:48:02not a sign of any cabin crew...
0:48:03 > 0:48:08..they've not even bothered to tarmac the runway...
0:48:08 > 0:48:10but there's plenty of in-flight entertainment!
0:48:14 > 0:48:18In the 1920s, some of the local landmarks we know today
0:48:18 > 0:48:20were already familiar fixtures.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26Gloucester Cathedral, for instance, seen here in 1928
0:48:26 > 0:48:31and way back in 1920, the home of the Gold Cup, Cheltenham Racecourse.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36- Now, can you see the cathedral over there?- I don't see it.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39- I've got this spire that's in the way.- Oh, OK, I'll turn it round.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41There you go, is that better?
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Yes, that's much better.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46I've got autofocus, magic!
0:48:46 > 0:48:49And a whacking great zoom lens
0:48:49 > 0:48:52but it's still very difficult keeping the thing steady.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59So, here I am, soaring serenely over the Cotswolds in June.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03I'm sure this would hardly rank as Aerofilms' toughest engagement.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07And yet, strapped in, surrounded by wing and fuselage,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11it's really rather difficult to get a clear shot of anything,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14let alone the thing you're interested in.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16- You know something? It's not easy. - I know, it's not easy.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19- It is not easy. - You can't move at all.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23I don't know how those guys did it with big plate cameras.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25I do not, I cannot.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27- You got that?- Yeah.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30But the team of the 1920s did have one advantage.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35They were able to take a rather relaxed approach to civil aviation.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Aerofilms were well known for flying low
0:49:38 > 0:49:42and taking the odd risk in pursuit of the perfect shot.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49Happily, Tizi and I have not been pushing any boundaries today,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51but the sense of freedom you get
0:49:51 > 0:49:55and the simplicity of open air flying has been a real pleasure.
0:49:55 > 0:50:00Meanwhile, my photography has been strictly amateur.
0:50:00 > 0:50:01'Oh, that's terrible!'
0:50:03 > 0:50:04No.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Oh, that's not bad! Gloucester Cathedral.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Bit of wing.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14Oh, that's the racecourse, look, in its entirety.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Now, that...
0:50:16 > 0:50:20I'm not sure it would win a prize, but it'll do.
0:50:20 > 0:50:26So, amongst dozens of images, I've achieved the odd passable snapshot.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29On the other hand, the team at Aerofilms were masters,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32both of the air and the plate glass camera.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37In this area alone, there's evidence of their steady hand,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41their beautiful composition and their perfect exposure.
0:50:41 > 0:50:42And as the years pass,
0:50:42 > 0:50:47these images become an ever more important piece of our heritage.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I take my flying helmet off to those two entrepreneurs
0:50:51 > 0:50:53that started Aerofilms.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55Entrepreneurial, gung ho and daring,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58but they changed the way in which we see our world.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00Today it's a breeze -
0:51:00 > 0:51:03satellite photography, digital cameras, Sat Nav,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07but remember, it all started off with an old crate like this,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11a big plate glass camera and two great Britons.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29For the final part of my tour of Mount Stewart, in Northern Ireland,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31I've saved one of the highlights,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33a place that is not usually open to the public.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Standing to the east of the house, with fine views across the lough,
0:51:38 > 0:51:39is the Temple of the Winds.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42It was conceived by the first Marquess
0:51:42 > 0:51:47as a centrepiece for garden parties and outdoor entertainment.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51It is, in short, a summer house on a classical scale.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Well, it looks like I'm standing at the entrance
0:51:55 > 0:51:58of a very grand country house with fine architectural detail -
0:51:58 > 0:52:01fluted columns and Corinthian capitals.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04And if you think the outside is exquisite,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06wait until you see the inside.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Oh, wow!
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Gosh, what a summer house! What a party place!
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Could you imagine dancing and drinking, and partying
0:52:28 > 0:52:31underneath that flickering light?
0:52:31 > 0:52:33My word, look at the ceiling!
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Look at the intricate detail in the plasterwork.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39That's by William Fitzgerald, a local craftsman,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42a man at the top of his genre.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44What a floor!
0:52:45 > 0:52:50I don't think I've seen anything as good as that in my life on a floor.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Again, by local tradesman John Ferguson.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Mixed variety of woods here.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01Mahoganies, walnuts and the lighter detail, this blonde wood,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03well, that's holly.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08So, you've got wonderful variegated hues and great depths of colour,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12and beautiful, rich patternation all over this floor.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16This is spectacular, and it really has stood the test of time as well.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21God, what a privilege to come here and see this.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Well, the Temple of the Winds isn't the only tower on the estate.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38In fact, it's small fry compared to its bigger brother,
0:53:38 > 0:53:41which is all the way over there. Look at that, can you see it?
0:53:41 > 0:53:43Just sticking up on the highest point of land.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48And it gives you an idea of just how large their estate was
0:53:48 > 0:53:50because that was built on their land, look.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51It's massive!
0:54:04 > 0:54:07Scrabo Tower was built in 1857
0:54:07 > 0:54:11as a memorial to Charles Stewart, the third Marquess.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13He was one of the Duke of Wellington's generals
0:54:13 > 0:54:15in the Napoleonic wars
0:54:15 > 0:54:18and the great-grandfather of Winston Churchill.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Interestingly, the tower was built by subscription from local tenants.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24It tells much about the regard
0:54:24 > 0:54:27in which the Londonderry family were once held
0:54:27 > 0:54:30but also how, as the 20th century arrived,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34their aristocratic world was destined to change.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37'Well, it is certainly is an impressive view from up here.'
0:54:37 > 0:54:39I can understand why the tower was positioned here,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41so you can see it across the lough
0:54:41 > 0:54:43when you're looking out the windows at Mount Stewart.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45I mean, it's the highest point, isn't it?
0:54:45 > 0:54:49And it is impressive once you're this close. Why was it built?
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Well, it was built as a mark of gratitude to the Londonderry family
0:54:53 > 0:54:58for their role as landlord in the famine, the great potato famine.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01And it would have been those tenants who, during the potato famine,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04would have been very dependent on the goodwill of the landlord
0:55:04 > 0:55:07to see them through very difficult times, obviously.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14Well, we're nearly there, Olwen.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Do you know, it's built like a fortified building.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21- Meant to last.- Yes. - A monument for ever.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25- Yes, well, it looks like it'll be here for a while.- Look at that view!
0:55:25 > 0:55:27You can see all the land that the family would have owned.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Were they popular further afield
0:55:29 > 0:55:32or was it more about political divide?
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Well, yes, in many ways the history of the family
0:55:34 > 0:55:37has always been about political divisions.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43The seventh Marquess of Londonderry, as Minister for Education in the Northern Ireland government,
0:55:43 > 0:55:49was very much responsible for implementing an education act
0:55:49 > 0:55:52which, in some ways, was very forward thinking
0:55:52 > 0:55:56and sought to introduce non-denominational education here,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59but this was really very much weakened by opposition,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01both from the Catholic Church
0:56:01 > 0:56:04and from the Protestant church leaders as well,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07so it never really materialised in the way he hoped it would.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Were the Londonderry family seen as outsiders?
0:56:11 > 0:56:14I think, in some ways, by this time they actually were.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17I think the class to which they belonged,
0:56:17 > 0:56:18the landed elite, as it were,
0:56:18 > 0:56:23was, by this stage, starting to become seen much more as outsiders.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26They didn't quite get the political divisions that existed here.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30So, did this place do its job?
0:56:30 > 0:56:33Are they remembered, and remembered fondly?
0:56:33 > 0:56:35They are certainly remembered.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39Most people in Northern Ireland would be familiar with the name.
0:56:39 > 0:56:40I don't think most people
0:56:40 > 0:56:43would really associate this tower with the Londonderry family
0:56:43 > 0:56:45and certainly when a lot of people look at this,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47they know it is a landmark
0:56:47 > 0:56:49but in terms of remembering the famine,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51remembering them as landowners in this area,
0:56:51 > 0:56:53I think that's very much a part of history
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and not very much something that people are conscious of today.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Inevitably, as the 20th century progressed,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03the Londonderrys became increasingly detached
0:57:03 > 0:57:05from the political system.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07The cost of running their many stately homes
0:57:07 > 0:57:09and the burden of death duties
0:57:09 > 0:57:13meant that bit by bit, the estates and the contents were sold off,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19including their beloved country retreat, here in County Down.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23For nearly two centuries, the Londonderry family
0:57:23 > 0:57:25were at the very heart of political and social life
0:57:25 > 0:57:28here in Northern Ireland and Britain.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30The family may now have lost its influence
0:57:30 > 0:57:33but Mount Stewart, with its remarkable country house collection
0:57:33 > 0:57:35and magnificent gardens,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39stands as a lasting testament to this remarkable dynasty.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44If you'd like to find out more information on today's show,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47then check out our website at:
0:57:51 > 0:57:53Next time on Britain's Hidden Heritage,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56I travel to Gloucestershire and to a castle
0:57:56 > 0:58:00that has been occupied by one family for almost 900 years.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02This is incredible. Absolutely incredible.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04This is real history in the making here.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Clare Balding finds a set of historic photos
0:58:08 > 0:58:11that have helped to save some of our most important buildings...
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Wow, this is absolutely stunning!
0:58:13 > 0:58:18..Charlie Luxton goes to the top of London's very first skyscraper...
0:58:18 > 0:58:25I am now 180 metres above the whole of central London!
0:58:25 > 0:58:28..and guest reporter Dame Kelly Holmes
0:58:28 > 0:58:30celebrates an unsung fighting machine
0:58:30 > 0:58:33that changed the course of World War II.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36It's filthy, it's small, it's claustrophobic,
0:58:36 > 0:58:37but they've done us proud.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd