0:00:08 > 0:00:13In the Middle Ages, Britain was a land of wood.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17The people depended on it, for warmth,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20for shelter.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27But to the medieval mind, wood spoke not just of earth,
0:00:27 > 0:00:28but of heaven.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34It was the perfect medium to show images of the divine.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45This film will look at how carvers and carpenters transformed tough,
0:00:45 > 0:00:50gnarly oak, into stunning objects to worship God.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52In medieval times, as that soared up,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56it must have been wonderful, just wonderful.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01We'll see how carvers decorated places of worship,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05as the church secured its grip on the nation.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09We think, of course, that they were primitive, that they weren't
0:01:09 > 0:01:13great artists. We've not changed greatly, their skills were enormous.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And we'll look at how the Crown displayed its divine right to rule
0:01:20 > 0:01:23through creations like the Coronation Chair.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29I think it has, sort of, mystic powers, still.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33These great works were nearly all lost,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37laid waste by a century of incredible destruction.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43And yet there are still people
0:01:43 > 0:01:45who battle to keep these traditions alive.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The masterpieces created by carvers and carpenters,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57give a unique insight into the medieval mind itself,
0:01:57 > 0:02:03in all its strangeness and incredible grandeur.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21This is the story of a lost world.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25A world destroyed by image-breakers and Puritans,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29who wanted to return the nation to a state of godliness.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36And churches and cathedrals were to be their battlegrounds.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42During the Reformation of the 16th century,
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Henry VIII began a "cultural revolution".
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Religious imagery was stripped away -
0:02:50 > 0:02:52a distraction from the Word of God.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58This destruction was continued by radical Puritans
0:02:58 > 0:03:00during the Civil War of the 17th century.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08An incalculable amount of religious art was lost...
0:03:10 > 0:03:15..as woodwork was destroyed by fire or the axe.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20In some cases,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22there's a real passionate venom
0:03:22 > 0:03:25in the way they attacked, the Protestant reformers attacked,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29these old images and you hear stories of them rejoicing
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and building bonfires in the streets, of wooden saints
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and dancing around them. In other cases, it's very clinical.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42They would destroy the absolute minimum they needed to destroy.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47So you have instances of saints that have got their faces cut off,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50but the rest of them is left where they are.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53It's almost as if the victors in the battle of the faiths,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58want to leave the conquered lying on the field of battle,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00wounded, mutilated, for everybody to see.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07And these religious convulsions,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11mean that British medieval woodwork can now only be viewed
0:04:11 > 0:04:13in fragments,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15because for every statue that survived,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18tens of thousands did not.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30These image-breakers caused far more damage than they knew.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34In their religious frenzy, they ended a woodworking tradition
0:04:34 > 0:04:37that stretched back thousands of years.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Because wood had been fashioned into images of the divine,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45long before Christianity even came to Britain.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54When the Roman General, Julius Caesar, arrived in Britain,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58he found a land covered in great oak forests.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02And the natives were ruled over by a priestly caste -
0:05:02 > 0:05:04the Druid.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Druids played a very important role within the Celtic society.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14They were law-givers, they were soothsayers, in many ways,
0:05:14 > 0:05:15they were seen as magicians.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20Their name, if you think about it as two parts - "dru" and "wid" -
0:05:20 > 0:05:24that can be seen as "oak knower" or "knower of oak."
0:05:24 > 0:05:29This idea that the Druids had this knowledge of the oak tree,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33this wisdom of wood, that is so important for both their rituals,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35but also their understanding of the world.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43Little survives from these strange tree rituals practised by Druids.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51But hidden away in this storeroom at Exeter Museum,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53is a unique survival.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02Deposited in wetlands, more than 2,500 years ago,
0:06:02 > 0:06:07this wooden doll was only unearthed again in the late 19th century.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23We've got a little figure, carved from a branch of an oak tree.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25The wood was green, so fairly fresh.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31He's got his head, covered in what seems to be a sort of resin,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33then a body, missing the arms...
0:06:33 > 0:06:37..there's a hole about here, where the arms would have slotted through.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42And then he's got an erect phallus, so it suggests fertility, I think.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46And that maybe also suggests that it's not just a wooden toy...
0:06:49 > 0:06:53..that is part of the ritual world, it is part of their ritual life.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00I mean, he's a very special object to me.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04So yeah, I curate thousands of objects in the museum,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07but to look into the eyes of a fellow
0:07:07 > 0:07:12from 2,500 years ago is something very special,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15to, kind of, wonder how he would've been used,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19how he came to be deposited in the wetlands.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36The nature gods of paganism
0:07:36 > 0:07:39were gradually banished by the coming of Christianity.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44In the 6th century,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48the Pope in Rome despatched St Augustine to our shores,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51who converted King Ethelbert to Christianity.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57With this great symbolic moment,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01you might think that nature worship would come to an end,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05but one of the reasons people on these islands
0:08:05 > 0:08:09adapted to Christianity was its links...to wood.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Wood is important, within the Christian religion,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16partly because of its Old Testament heritage.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20In the book of Genesis, of course,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23the most important event takes place when Adam and Eve eat from
0:08:23 > 0:08:25the Tree of Knowledge
0:08:25 > 0:08:30and that brings about the Original Sin and it's only with
0:08:30 > 0:08:32the death of Christ on the next tree,
0:08:32 > 0:08:37the Tree of Salvation, the crucifix, that Original Sin is wiped out.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41So, trees bracket the entire Christian faith.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52The very earliest forms of worship were often a kind of tree worship.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55They took place in groves of trees
0:08:55 > 0:09:01and, as building began, columns were built out of wood.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03So when you look at a space like this one,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and you look down the rows of columns,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08you can imagine them as rows of trees,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and you can imagine yourself standing
0:09:11 > 0:09:13in one of those sacred groves.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40This is the oldest wooden church,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43not just in Britain, but the whole world.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57It still has its original timber walls, dating from 1060 AD,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01six years before the Norman conquest.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Since its inception, the church has evolved into a celebration
0:10:05 > 0:10:08of the role of wood in Christianity.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12It has an oak-covered bible,
0:10:12 > 0:10:17created from the same ancient wood as the walls
0:10:17 > 0:10:22and a grand 18th-Century carved eagle lectern.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30And there are images of Edmund the Martyr,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33the original patron saint of England,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36who was killed after being bound to a tree.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43The word "Greensted" means "a clearing in the forest."
0:10:43 > 0:10:48There is a suggestion that it was built on a pagan temple or site.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52The trees, wood, timber, would be very important,
0:10:52 > 0:10:54because it is in the middle of a forest
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and you would've had people worshipping here,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00those who were working within the forest -
0:11:00 > 0:11:03foresters, charcoal makers, etc.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09It's always very quiet, it is always very peaceful
0:11:09 > 0:11:11and no matter how many times I visit,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13there's always something that you notice
0:11:13 > 0:11:17that you didn't notice before. Maybe because of the light,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19you see something in a different perspective.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Maybe it's because of the atmosphere within here,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25maybe it's just the calm and peacefulness
0:11:25 > 0:11:29of the churchyard outside. I know many people who come here
0:11:29 > 0:11:34and all they come here for is to sit quietly and say a prayer, maybe.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36And I think that sums up the place.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48But for all the triumph of Christianity,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51it seems as if people weren't quite ready
0:11:51 > 0:11:54to abandon the ancient tree myths.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00You can still find traces,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03even within a great Christian place of worship.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06In Sheffield Cathedral
0:12:06 > 0:12:10is a collection of faces merged with foliage -
0:12:12 > 0:12:14the infamous Green Man.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18And they were obviously a favourite form for wood carvers.
0:12:23 > 0:12:29I think you can see in the Green Man, the artists' response to nature,
0:12:29 > 0:12:34because some Green Men are screaming and some are laughing
0:12:34 > 0:12:38and it feels like the person who's created them,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40is putting something of their own response
0:12:40 > 0:12:43to being surrounded by forest or marshes or whatever,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46as they would have been in those days, into the Green Man itself.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51The great majority of Green Men are pretty blank.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55It's almost as if they've become trees themselves.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02Green Men proliferated in churches up and down Britain,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07the spirit of the forest invited into Christian places of worship.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14And he lives on, even in the 21st century.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Master carver, Chris Pye, is one of a dying breed of Green Man carvers,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23working in traditional oak wood.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28It's not really a matter of fighting the wood.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31It's a matter of, sort of, dancing with it, finding a way of
0:13:31 > 0:13:36working with it that the wood is cut in the way it likes to be cut.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43And the strange, savage spirit of the Green Man
0:13:43 > 0:13:47is displayed all around Chris's house.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Really, if you push me, I don't know why I do it.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00I just feel somehow connected with myself, as a human, the wood...
0:14:02 > 0:14:05and this way the Green Man and the wood are actually combined,
0:14:05 > 0:14:10so that the leaves are part of the face, the wood man.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16When I carve a Green Man, there's this great sort of,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19sense of tradition and hierarchy.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21I was taught by somebody, who was taught by somebody,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24who was taught by somebody and so on, who knows, by somebody
0:14:24 > 0:14:26who carved a Green Man.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32And Chris uses the same tools and techniques
0:14:32 > 0:14:36as those early carvers who created the first Green Men.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43A very typical carving tool is probably about 140 years old,
0:14:43 > 0:14:44I would think.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48It's still able to be used, and it will be used for another,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50you know, several generations.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56On the handle, we have one, two, three, four, probably with my own...
0:14:56 > 0:15:01..five names. So, there are a number of carvers who've had this tool
0:15:01 > 0:15:06before me, and eventually this tool will go to another carver,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08who'll put their name below mine,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12so you have these ghosts of the carvers using these sort of tools,
0:15:12 > 0:15:14quite present on my bench as I'm carving
0:15:14 > 0:15:16and I think that's very fascinating.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36While the Green Man was generally seen as being passive and benign,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39he did have a more violent brother...
0:15:40 > 0:15:42..the Wild Man of the Wood.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49This intimidating figure was originally a bracket,
0:15:49 > 0:15:54or support, on a medieval house, a warning to keep your distance!
0:15:58 > 0:16:03The bracket depicts a Wild Man standing with his club,
0:16:03 > 0:16:08he's standing on top of a grotesque dog-like mask,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12he's, literally, under his heel and the Wild Man
0:16:12 > 0:16:16is a fascinating character in medieval culture.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21He's known from at least the 12th century, and probably long before,
0:16:21 > 0:16:27and he is symbol of strength, of virility,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29that's very clearly emphasised
0:16:29 > 0:16:32by this enormous phallic club that he's holding.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38He's a symbol of unreasonable urges.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44He symbolises, too, the natural life force that is
0:16:44 > 0:16:45running through trees
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and it's particularly fascinating to remember
0:16:48 > 0:16:50that a bracket like this
0:16:50 > 0:16:55would've been carved from green or unseasoned timber,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59so, as it were, the life force in the timber has been converted
0:16:59 > 0:17:02into this wonderful figure.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Wood was crucial to the Christian faith
0:17:12 > 0:17:16and, because it was so important to people in the Middle Ages,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20wood was the perfect medium to teach the stories of the Bible
0:17:20 > 0:17:24to even the most uneducated churchgoer.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34One of the most important Biblical figures for medieval worshippers
0:17:34 > 0:17:37was the Old Testament figure of Jesse,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40who was always depicted at the base of a tree.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46He was seen as the root of Christianity,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48the start of a royal line,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51that would eventually lead to the birth of Jesus Christ.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58In medieval society, your bloodline was all-important
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and Jesse was proof that Jesus came from noble stock.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And on the English-Welsh border,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Jesse was to take on a truly remarkable form.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17This solitary figure
0:18:17 > 0:18:22is just a small piece of what the carvers intended.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26It was originally the base of a huge array of statues.
0:18:26 > 0:18:32Attacked during the Reformation, it's still a monumental work of art
0:18:32 > 0:18:37that seems to carry otherworldly, pagan resonances.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47It's the recumbent figure of Jesse, who was the father of David.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50It's the visual aid for Christianity,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54because that piece going up there, actually continued
0:18:54 > 0:18:59with figures on either side, to represent all of the forebears
0:18:59 > 0:19:03of Joseph, who was the putative father, anyway, of Jesus.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And it showed all of this lineage,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and it was to fulfil the prophecy in the book of the prophet, Isaiah,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12that "when the Messiah comes, he will be of the house of David,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16"the stem of Jesse." So, for an illiterate population,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19this was him telling them what it was all about.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24And you will see this, sort of, indent here,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27where there would have been a jewel
0:19:27 > 0:19:30so, painted all over, one piece, astonishing piece,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33and this stem that would've gone right up there
0:19:33 > 0:19:37is a branch of the oak, so it must've been very difficult
0:19:37 > 0:19:40to get the right piece of oak, by the craftsman
0:19:40 > 0:19:42and then worked on...
0:19:42 > 0:19:45..presumably just this one piece...
0:19:45 > 0:19:47..brought in here and it must've taken them ages to do it,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49because it's extraordinary,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53the way they've managed to capture the flow of the garments.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Look at that lovely flow there.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00And the fall - the way the cloth then falls over his knee.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03You can see the belt, look at it here,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06there's the crosspiece, just falling away and the buckle,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11it's natural and I think that's what's so very clever about it.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16And we think of course, that they were primitive and crude,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18there's that general feeling of people,
0:20:18 > 0:20:19that they weren't great artists.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23We've not changed greatly. Their skills were enormous.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30As the church grew in power and wealth,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34it embarked on a great construction project.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38This building boom was to see places of worship
0:20:38 > 0:20:41in every town and village across the land.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45And the demand for carpentry only increased,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48as woodcarving became a trade.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53As early as the 13th century,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57a carpenters' guild was set up, to ensure the quality of their work.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00There was a strict hierarchy in place,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04with labourers at the bottom, doing all the wood preparation,
0:21:04 > 0:21:08apprentices and journeymen carvers in the middle,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10creating more detailed work,
0:21:10 > 0:21:16but at the top, was the great figure of the Master Carpenter.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Master Carpenters were gentry.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22They were highly-respected men,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26who travelled widely, from commission to commission.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31I think these craftsmen were highly-respected artisans.
0:21:31 > 0:21:38Well-paid, comparatively, but unlike our image of 20th century artists,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42the work they were doing was not self-expression to put it like that.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46They were providing a product.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52And there's one place these craftsmen wanted to work.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57East Anglia was one of the richest areas of medieval England,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00because of its thriving wool trade.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05The most prosperous people in the region,
0:22:05 > 0:22:10spent their money on creating and furnishing magnificent churches,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13that both honoured God and their generous donors.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Woodcarvers were commissioned to transform churches
0:22:24 > 0:22:27into places of wonder and awe.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36And the grandest, most theatrical al of all this decoration,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38was the Rood Screen.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Rood Screens separated off the main body of the church,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54where the congregation was,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56from the place where the action was,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59from the priests who were performing the Mass,
0:22:59 > 0:23:05and what you would have had was this boxed-off area,
0:23:05 > 0:23:11where the sound of the chanting and singing would've floated out
0:23:11 > 0:23:12into the congregation,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15incense might have floated out into the congregation,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18but it was not participative,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20people weren't taking part in the service.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It was all going on inside this perfumed box.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32This screen is one of the largest in the country -
0:23:32 > 0:23:35over 50 feet long and 20 feet high.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And it was carved in the style of the Middle Ages -
0:23:40 > 0:23:42the Gothic.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49The Gothic conveyed the glory of God through light,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51intricate decoration...
0:23:53 > 0:23:56..that reached up to heaven itself!
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Timber, because it is light, easy to work and very strong,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07it can break the sinews of reality in architecture,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10it can imitate stone forms, but do it in such a way
0:24:10 > 0:24:13that it's inconceivable that they could be stone.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16And so the onlooker has this "wow factor".
0:24:16 > 0:24:18He sees something that looks as though it's built of stone
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and yet, it's far too big. How is that structurally possible?
0:24:22 > 0:24:26The Gothic aesthetic is very much bound up with creating spaces
0:24:26 > 0:24:30that people are overawed by. They can't comprehend them.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33They are structurally impossible, and, of course,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36timber is the perfect way of creating those kinds of spaces.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43On top of the Rood Screen would've sat a rood -
0:24:43 > 0:24:45a cross or crucifix.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Roods were systematically taken down and destroyed
0:24:50 > 0:24:53during the 16th and 17th centuries.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Indeed, until the beginning of the 20th century,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01every single rood was believed to have been lost.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13But in 1912, a remarkable discovery was made.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25These are the remains of the only rood
0:25:25 > 0:25:27to survive from the Middle Ages.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39It was discovered in the walls of a church in Gloucestershire.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42I think it speaks very powerfully,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44about the way people valued these images
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and somehow, when you're looking, from a medieval perspective,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50when you're looking at an image of Christ, dead on the cross,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54all of the, kind of, religious emotion that stimulates,
0:25:54 > 0:25:55as you gaze upon it.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59I think we can't really underestimate how deep that went.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01It is an extremely beautiful piece.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04There is something very particular about the quality of wood
0:26:04 > 0:26:07that animates these sculptures and makes them lifelike.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10There's a degree of naturalism in this, I think,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12particularly in the way death is rendered,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15that, I think, probably did create strong connections
0:26:15 > 0:26:16with the congregation.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22I do have a very strong response to it.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Not least of all, because both fragments are so incredibly fragile.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Now, part of their history was they were inured in this church wall.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34They'd largely rotted, as a consequence of that,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36and they're rotted from the inside out,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40so in fact, what you're looking at is essentially, like two eggshells.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42There isn't anything in the centre of them.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44But it makes me even reluctant to handle them,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48because there is something so ephemeral about them,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51you feel they could just really dissolve and disappear.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Laurence Beckford is working to restore a lost Rood Screen.
0:27:23 > 0:27:29These 16th century panels were originally from a Devon monastery.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33They were dismantled and removed during the Reformation.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41They only survived because they were reincarnated as a chimneypiece
0:27:41 > 0:27:42in a local stately home.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Laurence is one of the few carvers who can bring this
0:27:52 > 0:27:55sort of medieval woodwork back to life.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00He is recreating what was lost in fresh oak, which will then
0:28:00 > 0:28:03be stained, to fit in with the rest of the work.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08And Laurence has a special affinity for rood screens.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15When I started my apprenticeship,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19the company I worked for did a lot of ecclesiastical work
0:28:19 > 0:28:23so I was sent to the churches, historic buildings
0:28:23 > 0:28:27and I was faced with medieval woodwork, medieval screens,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28fantastic tracery
0:28:28 > 0:28:31and, obviously, I was in awe.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35I was a young chap, I saw this wonderful, wonderful carving,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38full of life, full of vigour and I thought,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40"I'd love to work on screens like that."
0:28:43 > 0:28:47When you work on a piece of original medieval woodwork,
0:28:47 > 0:28:52you have to really study the tool marks, the way the lines flow
0:28:52 > 0:28:58and you start to learn how to free those carvers were.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I think many people think they were maybe at a bench
0:29:02 > 0:29:04and they were being told exactly what to do.
0:29:04 > 0:29:05I don't believe that.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07I think they were very free,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09they were allowed to express
0:29:09 > 0:29:11their inner feelings
0:29:11 > 0:29:14and that's what I can see in the woodwork now.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16So as I work on those pieces of carving,
0:29:16 > 0:29:21I almost get a feel of what they may have felt and I have to feel that,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23I think, because I need to put that into my work
0:29:23 > 0:29:26otherwise you will see a huge, huge difference.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Over the years of carving, it's become part of me
0:29:31 > 0:29:35and I don't know what I would do if I didn't carve now.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38It's really, really in me
0:29:38 > 0:29:45and it's taught me a lot about life.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47How, if you...
0:29:47 > 0:29:50How you can achieve something from very little
0:29:50 > 0:29:53from a piece of plain wood
0:29:53 > 0:29:57with the commitment and focus and ideas in your head.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03How you can, with some tools, you can produce some lovely works of art.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15As well as roods and rood screens, medieval carvers became
0:30:15 > 0:30:20masters at enriching the performance of sacraments within the church.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42This 15th century baptismal font cover was designed to protect
0:30:42 > 0:30:45the holy water from contamination.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Some said, even from theft by witches.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59At the top is a pelican, shedding its own blood -
0:30:59 > 0:31:01a symbol of Christ's sacrifice.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07On the count of three, from underneath, just slowly up.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10One, two, three.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13It's also a great feat of medieval technology.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17It retracts upwards like a telescope.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20In medieval times, as that soared up,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23it must have been wonderful. Just wonderful.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30But this font cover is not just an incredible work of art,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33it's also a miraculous survivor.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37During the English Civil War,
0:31:37 > 0:31:41it attracted the attention of the radical puritan William Dowsing,
0:31:41 > 0:31:45who led a troop of image breakers through East Anglia.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Well, in the 1640s, William Dowsing
0:31:52 > 0:31:57was appointed to destroy any religious symbols in Suffolk.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02His officers came to Ufford, where the churchwardens
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and other people of Ufford resisted their admission -
0:32:05 > 0:32:08he could not get into the church.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12So he came again later in that same year to inspect the church,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15inflicted a great deal of damage but,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19describing the font cover as glorious, he let it be.
0:32:27 > 0:32:33The font cover is just very special to everyone in Ufford
0:32:33 > 0:32:37and the children and grandchildren of people who lived here
0:32:37 > 0:32:39come back to be christened here.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46It's difficult to describe the emotions
0:32:46 > 0:32:49which the font cover creates.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55It's just part and parcel of the heritage of the people of Ufford
0:32:55 > 0:32:57and I think we all feel that.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00It gives us a sense of pride, which is probably a great sin.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16But carpenters didn't just create images of the divine for churches.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21They could also conjure up visions of damnation.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43These bench ends show the Seven Deadly Sins.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48The sinners being swallowed by a giant fish.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Here, you can see two lovers embracing,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57showing the sin of lust.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Here, a drunken lout pouring wine, to show the sin of sloth.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09And here, you can even see avarice, with his little money bags.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14For a largely illiterate population,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17this was a visual reminder to obey God's law.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24In the Middle Ages, where there is a sense of order,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27there is also a corresponding sense of disorder.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30So the ordered universe, God's universe,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32has its exact mirror opposite -
0:34:32 > 0:34:35the disorganised, the chaotic, the evil.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39And it is in articulating that evil or that opposite
0:34:39 > 0:34:42that the good and the ordered is reinforced.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00The practice of carving bench ends
0:35:00 > 0:35:02almost came to an end with the Reformation.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08But it was revived in this church, St John the Baptist,
0:35:08 > 0:35:09in the 19th and 20th centuries.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Here, you see the religious iconography
0:35:16 > 0:35:18you might expect in a church.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25But many designs are far more unexpected.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29They were paid for by village parishioners,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31commemorating lost loved ones.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41This bench end was for a stonemason, showing his mallet and chisel.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51The carver Laurence Beckford created this boat on a rocky sea
0:35:51 > 0:35:54in memory of a local merchant seaman...
0:36:01 > 0:36:05..and this intricate foliage scene for the rector's wife,
0:36:05 > 0:36:06who died in the early '90s.
0:36:13 > 0:36:19Unlike the medieval bench ends which tell Biblical stories,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22this is very much a personal bench end.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25And it depicts the wildlife and nature
0:36:25 > 0:36:28because she was a wonderful gardener, really loved gardening.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33The foliage is living, the timber is living, the foliage is living,
0:36:33 > 0:36:40the design is living and you can carve twists and curls.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Here, for example, you have a turnover
0:36:43 > 0:36:47and you can get lovely undulations
0:36:47 > 0:36:49and a very lovely sort of suent line.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Absolutely... Carving foliage in oak is fantastic.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56It's not very often and common
0:36:56 > 0:37:00for the family member to commission a bench end such as this
0:37:00 > 0:37:04and the merchant ship one but they obviously feel
0:37:04 > 0:37:08very deeply and their partner obviously was a huge part
0:37:08 > 0:37:12in their life and they believe it is worth commemorating.
0:37:12 > 0:37:18And they must have immense joy when it is completed and it is fitted.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22They must feel very proud of their lost one
0:37:22 > 0:37:27and I think it is a fantastic recognition of that person's life.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29You know, it's wonderful.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48As the church grew more powerful,
0:37:48 > 0:37:52so did the pride and ambition of some of its priests.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00A great cathedral was never just about the glory of God.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04It was also the seat of bishops who were princely figures
0:38:04 > 0:38:07with great power and wealth at their disposal.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09CHORAL SINGING
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Much of the splendour of Exeter Cathedral is because of
0:38:16 > 0:38:21the extravagant and rather proud Bishop Walter de Stapledon.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26In the early 14th century, he was given the Bishopric of Exeter.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30A year's revenue from the cathedral was spent on a great feast
0:38:30 > 0:38:32to celebrate his enthronement.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50De Stapledon created the greatest tribute of all the Middle Ages
0:38:50 > 0:38:52to the role of the bishop.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03A special place within the cathedral, reserved just for him,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06where he would sit in splendour before his congregation.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15This is the Bishop's Throne -
0:39:15 > 0:39:18a 60 foot wooden canopy,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21pointing like a giant finger towards God.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28It was made by local craftsmen over a period of six years.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Almost hidden in this grand confection
0:39:39 > 0:39:40is the apostle St Peter,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43the first Bishop of Rome,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47showing the Bishop's role had a direct link to Christ himself.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56The throne looks splendid now because, in early 2012,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01John Allan and Hugh Harrison led the restoration of this masterpiece.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08The throne was covered in scaffolding,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12which allowed them to explore areas even the Bishop wouldn't have seen.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15There we go.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21We are standing under the vault of one of the most
0:40:21 > 0:40:25extraordinary pieces of medieval woodwork in Europe
0:40:25 > 0:40:28and it is immensely richly carved.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32It is also extremely complex in its construction
0:40:32 > 0:40:36and it is really the first magnificent grand piece
0:40:36 > 0:40:40of medieval woodwork to survive in England.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44They carved it with such verve that you can still see the chisel marks.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46In fact, one of the carvers,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49he had a nick in his chisel
0:40:49 > 0:40:51and you can actually see the little lines
0:40:51 > 0:40:53where the wood isn't cut
0:40:53 > 0:40:56because of the nick in the chisel and you think,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58"He must have been not very happy
0:40:58 > 0:41:01"and had to send his chisel back to the blacksmith, probably,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04"the next day to get the nick taken out of it."
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Well, I think everyone knows this is a great masterpiece.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14It's one of the most famous objects in medieval art in England.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15But somehow, when you get up to it
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and you see the sheer amount of work in it
0:41:18 > 0:41:23and the sheer panache of it all and the fantastic quality
0:41:23 > 0:41:27and the complexity of it, it just takes your breath away, doesn't it,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- that they achieved such things? - Yes, it's absolutely superb.
0:41:35 > 0:41:36But Exeter also shows that
0:41:36 > 0:41:40while woodworkers could master the profound,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42they could also be ridiculous.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Far away from the gaze of the congregation,
0:41:47 > 0:41:52hidden under the choir stalls, are some rather daring carvings.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00Monstrous mythological creatures.
0:42:04 > 0:42:05An alluring mermaid.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15A centaur firing an arrow.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22These remarkable objects are called misericords -
0:42:22 > 0:42:24places to rest during prayer.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28It comes from this idea of the seat of mercy
0:42:28 > 0:42:32but because the seat was actually underneath the bottom of somebody,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35you couldn't really have sacred depictions there.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40It's amazing, some of the scenes that survive on these misericords.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Wood, of course, was just a cheap material
0:42:45 > 0:42:48and I think people were carving fabulous beasts and animals
0:42:48 > 0:42:50and dragons and wyverns and all the rest of it
0:42:50 > 0:42:52just cos it's fun.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02And from down below to on high,
0:43:02 > 0:43:07carvers would create elaborate decoration, insisting on perfection
0:43:07 > 0:43:11even though no human eye would really be able to see it.
0:43:13 > 0:43:19One way of beautifying your cathedral was to create a great boss
0:43:19 > 0:43:23to cover over the joins where the ribs in the ceiling meet.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27This amazing chunk of oak
0:43:27 > 0:43:30is one of the oldest objects in our collection,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33made at the very beginning of the 14th century
0:43:33 > 0:43:37and it's a ceiling boss from St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42What we have in this swirling and complex design
0:43:42 > 0:43:45are leaves curling around
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and out of the leaves
0:43:48 > 0:43:53springs forward the head and claws of a lion
0:43:53 > 0:43:58that is grasping a bone in its jaws.
0:43:58 > 0:43:59Having been removed from the vault,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04we can see it in a way that no-one using the cathedral 700 years ago
0:44:04 > 0:44:07could have seen it because we can see the underside of the boss.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13So what we can see here is the sheer physical effort that carvers
0:44:13 > 0:44:16had to put in to create something like this.
0:44:16 > 0:44:22We are seeing, vividly, the marks left by the chisels.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26This would have been a huge amount of work, hollowing out.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28Heavy, hard work.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32So there was a lot of chopping out needing to be done
0:44:32 > 0:44:37before the delicate work on the outside could be completed.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42Medieval woodcarvers had spent centuries using their work
0:44:42 > 0:44:44to beautify churches and cathedrals.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50But there was increasingly a tension between the power of the priests
0:44:50 > 0:44:52and the power of the Crown.
0:44:52 > 0:44:58And both claimed to derive their authority from God himself.
0:44:58 > 0:45:04And some of the finest woodwork was to be used as a political weapon.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08At the beginning of the 13th century,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12the militaristic Edward I wanted to make a grand statement
0:45:12 > 0:45:14about the elevated nature of kingship.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19He created an iconic object that has been
0:45:19 > 0:45:22at the centre of British life for 800 years,
0:45:22 > 0:45:25last used during Elizabeth II's coronation.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Edward's Coronation Chair, which has crowned monarchs
0:45:36 > 0:45:40since the Middle Ages, recently underwent restoration
0:45:40 > 0:45:45in Westminster Abbey by the conservator Marie Louise Sauerberg.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01'We made a studio onsite for the Coronation Chair.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03'To treat it, to stabilise it,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06'is basically the headline of what we are doing.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11'We have had to mend the seat.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13'There was a couple of fractures in it.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16'Some old repairs, we redid
0:46:16 > 0:46:20'so that we were sure that they were stronger than they were before.'
0:46:23 > 0:46:26The chair has received a battering since its creation.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31The Victorians tried to tone down its gilding
0:46:31 > 0:46:33through varnishing it brown.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36It was bombed by suffragettes
0:46:36 > 0:46:38and, most visible of all,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41the chair is covered with centuries-old graffiti.
0:46:44 > 0:46:50There's something like 300 initials and names carved into the chair.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54All this graffiti is mainly Westminster schoolboys
0:46:54 > 0:46:57and they are mainly 18th-century inscriptions.
0:46:57 > 0:46:58We have got one here -
0:46:58 > 0:47:05a P Abbott who slept in the chair one night in July in 1800,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07spending probably more time, well,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11definitely more time than any monarch ever spent in the chair.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13It is said that, if you paid a shilling,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16you could scratch your name into it.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19A lot of these scratches here are probably pen marks -
0:47:19 > 0:47:22people taking little pieces of the chair
0:47:22 > 0:47:24to have and to hold, to eat, who knows?
0:47:24 > 0:47:26It could have had, sort of...
0:47:27 > 0:47:30Yeah, I think it has, sort of, mystic powers still.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39One of the earliest monarchs to receive his coronation on the chair
0:47:39 > 0:47:42was Richard II in the late 14th century.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47The moment was captured in this painting,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50commissioned by Richard himself -
0:47:50 > 0:47:53the first accurate likeness of an English monarch.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Richard was the first king
0:47:58 > 0:48:01to insist on being the sole ruler in the kingdom,
0:48:01 > 0:48:05with the nobility obeying him absolutely.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10He demanded to be called Royal Majesty - a new invention -
0:48:10 > 0:48:13and for his subjects to bow the knee in his presence.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19But he made his greatest statements about his belief in his omnipotence
0:48:19 > 0:48:20through art.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29This is the Wilton Diptych.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33It was a portable altar piece commissioned by Richard,
0:48:33 > 0:48:34painted on Baltic oak.
0:48:36 > 0:48:42It was Richard's attempt to show he was anointed to rule by God himself.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Here, you see Richard receiving the flag of England from an angel
0:48:46 > 0:48:48before Jesus and Mary.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54All of the angels are wearing Richard's emblem - a white hart.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00And angels were to play a special role
0:49:00 > 0:49:03in the signature artwork of his reign.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12In 1393, Richard's master carpenter Hugh Herland
0:49:12 > 0:49:19sailed 660 tons of oak down the Thames in great barges from Surrey.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24This wood was to be used to remodel Richard's palace at Westminster.
0:49:33 > 0:49:34The result has been called
0:49:34 > 0:49:37the greatest work of art of the Middle Ages.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44A magnificent freestanding roof decorated with angels.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01The span of that roof is over 60 feet
0:50:01 > 0:50:05and there simply weren't oak timbers that could span that space.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08What Hugh Herland did instead
0:50:08 > 0:50:11was created a kind of joisting structure
0:50:11 > 0:50:14that allowed the roof to be covered in two stages.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17It is a structure called a hammer beam.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21Once it had been created in this form and ornamented with angels,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24the English public was clearly dazzled by it.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28Each of the principal trusses of the roof is carved
0:50:28 > 0:50:32with a figure of an angel holding the Royal Arms.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34And, symbolically, there are 13 trusses,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38which is the number of Christ and his apostles.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Here in this wonderful architectural metaphor,
0:50:40 > 0:50:45the heavenly court of Christ hovers in appreciation
0:50:45 > 0:50:51and protection over its earthly counterpart, the court of Richard II.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05The increasing ambitions of the monarchs inevitably led
0:51:05 > 0:51:09to battles with the other power in the land - the Church.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12The uneasy relationship between the two
0:51:12 > 0:51:17unravelled in the 16th century under the reign of King Henry VIII.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Henry saw the wealth and influence of the Catholic Church in Rome
0:51:25 > 0:51:28as an obstruction to his own power.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32He was the first monarch to declare that he should be
0:51:32 > 0:51:34the head of the Church of England.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40And this schism is all revealed in one remarkable object.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53In the 1530s, Henry commissioned this oak rood screen
0:51:53 > 0:51:56as a gift for the chapel at King's College.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58In a break with tradition,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01it was carved in the continental Renaissance style.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05It's less a religious object
0:52:05 > 0:52:08than an unashamed attempt to project the power of the monarch.
0:52:11 > 0:52:16It contains not just the initials of Henry VIII, Henricus Rex,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20it also has the name of his wife Anne Boleyn, Regina Anne.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And it is covered with images of military might rather than saints.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39This was one of the last rood screens to be erected in Britain.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The effect of the union of Henry and Anne
0:52:46 > 0:52:50unleashed the turmoil of the Reformation
0:52:50 > 0:52:55and the many wonders created by woodworkers over the centuries
0:52:55 > 0:52:57were now about to be destroyed.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10The religious revolutions of the 16th and 17th centuries
0:53:10 > 0:53:16finally brought an end to the golden age of religious oak carving
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and oak was now looking very old-fashioned as carvers
0:53:20 > 0:53:24turned to other woods as Britain's cultural horizons expanded.
0:53:26 > 0:53:27Grinling Gibbons,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30the greatest carver ever to work in these islands,
0:53:30 > 0:53:35rejected oak for the far suppler limewood in the 17th century.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38And in the 18th century,
0:53:38 > 0:53:43craftsmen like Thomas Chippendale used mahogany from the West Indies.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56But at the turn of the 20th century,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00one man was to revive the lost art of oak carving.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Robert Thompson was a craftsman who was obsessed with the Middle Ages.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14Based in the tiny Yorkshire village of Kilburn,
0:54:14 > 0:54:19he wanted to turn the clock back to before the Reformation,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23bringing fine oak carving back into churches.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31But Robert also introduced a delightful twist
0:54:31 > 0:54:34that would capture people's imaginations.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40He was to become famous in Britain and across the world
0:54:40 > 0:54:42as the Mouseman of Kilburn.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The Thompson family business is still thriving and keeps faith
0:54:52 > 0:54:56with Robert's vision of handcrafted medieval-style workmanship.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03But always at its centre is the legendary figure of the mouse.
0:55:07 > 0:55:08Great-grandfather was working
0:55:08 > 0:55:10with a fellow craftsman
0:55:10 > 0:55:14and they were working on a local church and the craftsman
0:55:14 > 0:55:18happened to mention he thought they were both as poor as church mice
0:55:18 > 0:55:20and, of course, a church mouse is working away
0:55:20 > 0:55:21with his chisel-like teeth
0:55:21 > 0:55:24and nobody knows he's there so he thought how nice it would be
0:55:24 > 0:55:27to carve a mouse on this particular piece he was working on.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29So ever since that day,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31each piece that we produce here at Kilburn
0:55:31 > 0:55:34has had a mouse carved on it.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37Each mouse is carved by the craftsmen who makes the piece of furniture
0:55:37 > 0:55:39so each one is identifiable.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42So, we've got 25 craftsmen so, basically,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44we have 25 different styles of mice.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48So we can each identify each other's work.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51We are in a world of mass production
0:55:51 > 0:55:56and, unfortunately, things have moved on at such a great rate of knots.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59There is still room for a small family business
0:55:59 > 0:56:02still using traditional craft skills.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05We are not mass production, we are hands-on.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09There is no substitute for a pair of those, at the end of the day.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18The wonders of the Middle Ages
0:56:18 > 0:56:21can still be glimpsed in our churches and museums.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Such was the violence of the destruction
0:56:32 > 0:56:34in the 16th and 17th centuries,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38it can only ever be a small taste of this lost world.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07But one final object shows that this type of religious art
0:57:07 > 0:57:10still holds a ghostly presence.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17In the 16th century, this church was attacked by Protestant reformers.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Its lavishly decorated rood screen was whitewashed
0:57:22 > 0:57:25and painted over with passages from the Bible.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Yet, over the centuries, something remarkable happened.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38The faces of Jesus and the saints began to bleed through again.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44It shows that, just beneath the surface,
0:57:44 > 0:57:46maybe more treasures of the Middle Ages
0:57:46 > 0:57:48are waiting to be resurrected.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd