0:00:07 > 0:00:10Castles have stood indomitably in Britain for centuries.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Over almost 1,000 years,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18they've played a seminal role in the history of these islands.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21During the Norman Conquest,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24they were used as instruments of invasion...
0:00:24 > 0:00:25BLAST AND SCREAMING
0:00:25 > 0:00:30..and throughout the Middle Ages as a means to colonise the land
0:00:30 > 0:00:34and determine the destiny of both Wales and Scotland.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38But it was the centuries following the Middle Ages
0:00:38 > 0:00:42that would see castles undergo their greatest transformation yet.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50Now, these strongholds were to be tested by the latest weapons of war.
0:00:52 > 0:00:53Firing the cannon!
0:00:53 > 0:00:56CANNON BLASTS
0:00:58 > 0:01:00And to incorporate this new fire power,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03they had to be entirely redesigned.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08But their military use was slowly to give way
0:01:08 > 0:01:11as they became the architectural playthings
0:01:11 > 0:01:14of the fashionable aristocracy.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19The castle was to be the setting for seducing a sovereign.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24And from near-extinction, they were to be revived
0:01:24 > 0:01:27and venerated in both literature and art...
0:01:29 > 0:01:32..to take on the symbolic power of myth.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37The mighty castle would be transformed
0:01:37 > 0:01:40from strongholds built for conflict,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43to the romantic ruins of our imagination.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08In 1464, this bold and brooding fortress, Bamburgh Castle,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12here in Northumberland, came under violent attack.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But the offensive didn't come from marauding invaders
0:02:16 > 0:02:21across a hostile sea, nor from the lawless border region
0:02:21 > 0:02:25to the north where encroaching Scots had already attempted two sieges.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It came from inland, from the English themselves,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34at a time when the country was in the grip of civil war,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36a War Of The Roses,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40fought between the rival families of Lancaster and York.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43By 1464, Bamburgh Castle
0:02:43 > 0:02:47remained the last outpost of Lancastrian power in the north,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and in June, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52otherwise known as Warwick The Kingmaker,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55arrived here with a large Yorkist army
0:02:55 > 0:02:59to lay siege to the castle in the name of King Edward IV.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07For nine months, its sturdy walls had held fast,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10but alongside his archers and men at arms,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15Warwick now had the latest siege weapon at his disposal.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Three of the largest cannon in the realm,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25each weighing a tonne or more, were brought in by sea to finish the job.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39These great guns were now lined up in front of the castle walls,
0:03:39 > 0:03:44and Warwick issued his ultimatum, passing it to his herald to deliver.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Written by Warwick himself on behalf of King Edward IV,
0:03:54 > 0:03:59it was to be handed to the commander of Bamburgh as his last chance.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09This ultimatum was a dire warning to the Lancastrians,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and it shows just how much Edward valued the castle
0:04:12 > 0:04:14for its strategic importance.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Not only did he want to capture Bamburgh Castle,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19he wanted to take it intact.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24As it so clearly states, "If ye deliver not this jewel,
0:04:24 > 0:04:29"which the King specially desireth to have whole,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31"unbroken, with ordennaunce.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35"If ye suffer any great gun laid into the wall,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38"it shall cost you the chieften's head."
0:04:41 > 0:04:43But the Lancastrians stood their ground,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46so Warwick The Kingmaker gave the command
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and all the great guns fired simultaneously.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54GUNFIRE
0:04:59 > 0:05:04It was reported that the stones of the walls flew into the sea,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and with its subsequent quick surrender,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Bamburgh became the first English castle
0:05:10 > 0:05:12ever to be captured by cannon fire.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16What happened here showed that the latest siege weapon
0:05:16 > 0:05:21was a worthy match for these high and mighty castle walls
0:05:21 > 0:05:23and that the castle would have to adapt,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25it would have to incorporate this fire power
0:05:25 > 0:05:30if it was to remain the impregnable stronghold it had always been.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And it was the eventual winners of the Wars Of The Roses,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36the Tudors, who would make that change happen.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Within a generation,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52Henry VIII was to place the country in a very vulnerable position.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57His marriage to Anne Boleyn and her controversial execution
0:05:57 > 0:05:59had led to a break with the Catholic Church
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and the subsequent dissolution of the monasteries.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05A sequence of events that would usher in
0:06:05 > 0:06:08the reformation of the Church of England.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15This reformation made England and the 'infidel' Henry,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19as the Pope had labelled him, the prime target.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21With the alliance of Charles V of Spain
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and Francis I of France in 1538,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29such was the threat posed by these combined powers of Catholic Europe
0:06:29 > 0:06:33that Henry realised the pressing need to defend his realm
0:06:33 > 0:06:34at all costs.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38And for that, he would need a new kind of castle altogether.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Henry realised he would need a line of powerful new sea defences,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and it's strongly believed that he himself
0:06:51 > 0:06:53had a hand in their innovative layout
0:06:53 > 0:06:57which borrowed heavily from French and Italian fortifications.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03This unique drawing by his team at Hampton Court
0:07:03 > 0:07:06shows off a working design for the new Henrician Castle
0:07:06 > 0:07:10with the emphasis on fire power through numerous gunports
0:07:10 > 0:07:15or, as it was noted then, 'splays as the King's grace hath devised.'
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Low, thick, semi-circular structures called bastions
0:07:19 > 0:07:23would serve as platforms for heavy guns,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27while lighter guns could be fired from ports piercing the towers,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30to shatter enemy warships threatening from the sea.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34But which parts of England's coastline
0:07:34 > 0:07:36were most susceptible to invasion?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Henry sent agents out across the land
0:07:43 > 0:07:46to assess the most vulnerable parts of the coast.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48They sent their reports back to court
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and they were fashioned into detailed maps just like this one.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58In order to emphasise the areas at risk of enemy landings,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01the map-maker has exaggerated the size of the beaches
0:08:01 > 0:08:03and he's also shown where an enemy can't land
0:08:03 > 0:08:05by exaggerating the size of the cliffs.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Defensive measures include real and proposed forts,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and he's also shown church towers
0:08:11 > 0:08:14and beacons for conveying the news of an invasion to court.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Henry's chain of coastal forts were built at terrific speed,
0:08:19 > 0:08:2120 within a two-year period.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25It was the largest defence programme since Saxon times,
0:08:25 > 0:08:26and it was largely paid for
0:08:26 > 0:08:30by the proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34So religious faith now paid for royal castles.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50And two of Henry's finest castles are to be found here in Cornwall,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53facing each other at the mouth of the River Fal.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58These two headlands with their respective castles,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Pendennis here and St Mawes over there,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06safeguard the Fal estuary leading to Falmouth.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08A vast and deep body of water,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11it was considered a very tempting target by our enemies.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13It was a perfect natural harbour
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and the first safe landfall for ships crossing the Atlantic,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20coming from the Mediterranean or even further afield.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23It would be a perfect toehold in England.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29The close proximity of these two castles was due to the limited
0:09:29 > 0:09:31firing range of their cannon.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34With only one castle, enemy ships would have been able
0:09:34 > 0:09:37to evade their firepower and enter the estuary.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Pendennis Castle still offers us
0:09:41 > 0:09:44a glimpse into the working life of these fortifications.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49This is the original Tudor gun room.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51And with its seven gun embrasures,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54you get a sense of just how powerful this place was
0:09:54 > 0:09:59and also of the cramped, smoky and noisy conditions for the gunners.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01It was also a very dangerous environment, with risks
0:10:01 > 0:10:06of explosion from loose gun powder or of guns overheating.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09But to get an even better idea of the defensive power
0:10:09 > 0:10:11of castles like these,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13I'm going to get my hands on one of these beasts.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27So here it is, a replica Tudor cannon.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I'm particularly excited
0:10:29 > 0:10:31because I've never fired one of these before.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33The first thing we've got to do is load the charge
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and, for that, I need a powder scoop.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42I'm going to fill this scoop with coarse gun powder,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45which is the type of gun powder you use for the charge.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49The next thing to do is to very carefully
0:10:49 > 0:10:52put this scoop into the bore...
0:10:54 > 0:10:56..and then push it all the way down...
0:10:58 > 0:10:59..to the end of the chamber.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04And when it's down there, we just give it a twist,
0:11:04 > 0:11:05give it a shake,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and that means all of the gun powder will come out of the chamber
0:11:08 > 0:11:10at the end of the cannon.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The next thing to do is to get some wadding.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18They would have used dried grass like this or maybe some old rope.
0:11:18 > 0:11:19So I'm going to make that into a ball.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25And then put it down here.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I need to push that in with a ramrod.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36I'm going to push this all the way in,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and this'll compress all the gun powder
0:11:38 > 0:11:40up at the end of the chamber.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43I have to tamp down the charge,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46unfortunately no cannonball this time.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54The next thing we need to do is to prime the touchhole.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Now, for that, we need special, fine priming powder
0:11:57 > 0:11:59because the touchholes are quite small.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Time to safety up.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13OK, I'm ready to fire the cannon.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16And for that, I need this evil-looking thing here
0:12:16 > 0:12:18which is called a linstock.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22- SHOUTS:- Firing the cannon!
0:12:24 > 0:12:25CANNON BLASTS
0:12:27 > 0:12:28CANNON BLASTS
0:12:30 > 0:12:31CANNON BLASTS
0:12:35 > 0:12:36Impressive maybe,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41but many of Henry's coastal forts never even fired a shot in anger,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45though deterrence was always one of their most important functions.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48As one of Henry's ambassadors said in 1539,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51"What a realm will England be
0:12:51 > 0:12:54"when his grace has set walls that run around us.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58"England will then be more like a castle than a realm."
0:13:03 > 0:13:08All of these fortifications are designed to restrict
0:13:08 > 0:13:11the options of your opponent, so in doing so,
0:13:11 > 0:13:16they succeed, even if they do not face conflict.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21In a way, by building fortresses, what Henry VIII is showing
0:13:21 > 0:13:23is that he doesn't intend to be intimidated
0:13:23 > 0:13:26and that in order to overcome him, his opponents will have to
0:13:26 > 0:13:31stage a full-scale invasion, which lessens the chance that they will.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The deterrence these coastal defences provided
0:13:41 > 0:13:45is most evident here at Deal in Kent,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49the largest and most elaborate of Henry's new castles.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Deal stands squat to the ground, like a battle tank,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02to present as little and as low a target as possible.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04And, astonishingly,
0:14:04 > 0:14:10it has 145 gunports for cannon of various sizes and for handguns.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Few castles anywhere, of any period,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17have so much fire power built into them.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24Henry was extremely proud of Deal's design and layout...
0:14:25 > 0:14:29..so much so, that when his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34first landed on English soil in December 1539,
0:14:34 > 0:14:39she was banqueted here in the incomplete shell of the castle.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42But to really appreciate this castle,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45you have to see it as the Tudors never could...
0:14:45 > 0:14:47from way up there.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54With its six overlapping bastions,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56the characteristic geometrical layout
0:14:56 > 0:15:01of the Henrician castle is here at its most elaborate,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04giving, whether by accident or design,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07the striking impression of a Tudor rose.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12With Britain's frontiers now firmly protected,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16there seemed little need for our ancient inland castles
0:15:16 > 0:15:18to be defensive strongholds.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22The castle now became a symbol of wealth and nobility.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28During his reign, Henry VIII had picked out
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Kenilworth in Warwickshire as a prized ancient castle
0:15:31 > 0:15:33that should be maintained,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37as he stated, "For our resort and pleasure."
0:15:37 > 0:15:42It provided the very latest in comfort and residential splendour.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The way it was lit, the way the domestic space was divided up,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49the way it was set in the heart of the landscape, full of gardens,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52parks and sporting facilities.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54This is a palace, not a castle.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00By the time of the accession of Henry's daughter Elizabeth I
0:16:00 > 0:16:06in 1558, Kenilworth was in the hands of her childhood sweetheart,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13who continued to transform the castle in a bid to woo his Queen.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22However, one person stood in the way of their union - Dudley's wife.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25And her mysterious death the following year,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28apparently after falling down a flight of stairs,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31far from freeing Dudley to marry,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34plagued him with accusations that he'd arranged her death.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52But, guilty or not, Dudley was now an eligible nobleman
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and a serious contender for the Queen's hand.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Though cautious of the scandal surrounding his wife's death,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Elizabeth still made several visits to Kenilworth.
0:17:09 > 0:17:16Her fourth stay, in July 1575, was for an unprecedented 19 days,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19the longest halt of any royal tour in her reign
0:17:19 > 0:17:23and a reflection of the high favour in which she held Dudley
0:17:23 > 0:17:24at this time.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29For him, this was a last, desperate bid to win his Queen
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and he pulled out all the stops.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36To the thunder of guns, the explosion of fireworks
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and a fanfare by six trumpeters dressed in silk
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and standing on 8ft-high stilts,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45the Lady Of The Lake, guardian of Excalibur
0:17:45 > 0:17:47appeared over there on a floating island
0:17:47 > 0:17:50in the middle of a vast body of water,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53or a mere, that once surrounded this castle.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56And she did so alongside an 18ft mermaid
0:17:56 > 0:17:59and musicians riding a 24ft dolphin.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02The Lady Of The Lake then declared that she'd been safeguarding
0:18:02 > 0:18:07this castle since King Arthur's day and that she now offered it all up,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10along with all of its power therein, to Queen Elizabeth.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12And Elizabeth's reaction?
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Well, she certainly enjoyed the spectacle but she was heard to quip
0:18:15 > 0:18:18privately that surely everything
0:18:18 > 0:18:20she was being offered was hers anyway.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Dudley's conjuring of Camelot served a strong purpose.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33The Tudors claimed a direct lineage with King Arthur
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and it was a further attempt to legitimise Elizabeth's reign
0:18:37 > 0:18:41after she had been declared a 'bastard queen' by the Pope.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Kenilworth was to be a showpiece for her golden age.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49It's reputed that Elizabeth and her entourage,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53which included 31 barons and 400 servants,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56cost Dudley some £1,000 a day,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00that's roughly 175 grand in today's money,
0:19:00 > 0:19:05and that's on top of the £60,000, some 10.5 million quid,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08that he'd already spent improving the castle,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11including that very handsome tower behind me
0:19:11 > 0:19:15which was used as Queen Elizabeth's luxury state apartments.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Here's an interesting artefact from the Queen's apartments
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and it's not what you might think.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25It looks like a heavily-carved overmantel,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27but, in fact, it's believed to be
0:19:27 > 0:19:30the headboard from Queen Elizabeth's bed.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Here, you can see a carved 'E',
0:19:32 > 0:19:36and over on the other side is an 'R' carved into the wood.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Now, it stands of course for Elizabeth Regina,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44but it could as easily stand for Elizabeth and Robert.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Aside from her favourite pursuits such as dancing and hunting,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Dudley laid on bear-baiting, Italian acrobatics,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09and even a poet dressed as a singing holly bush who,
0:20:09 > 0:20:10in florid verse,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13tried to convince Elizabeth to stay for a few more days.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17And it's even said that the festivities were witnessed that day
0:20:17 > 0:20:20by a ten-year-old local lad named Will Shakespeare,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and what he saw made it into A Midsummer Night's Dream.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28HE PLAYS A MELODY
0:20:31 > 0:20:36For the duration of her 18-day visit, the clock which once adorned
0:20:36 > 0:20:39the southeast turret of the central tower behind me,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42you could still see exactly where it was today,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44was dramatically stopped
0:20:44 > 0:20:48to indicate that time itself stood still for the Queen.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51This was a moment frozen in history.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Kenilworth was a new realm,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56a realm based on the ideas symbolised by Camelot -
0:20:56 > 0:21:02something enduring, something noble, something worth protecting.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Whilst the Tudors may have turned castles into playthings
0:21:18 > 0:21:21for the fashionable aristocracy, it would be many years
0:21:21 > 0:21:25before castles entirely lost their military purpose.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And in the Stuart Age that followed,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34the defensive function of the castle would be enshrined in law.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43In 1628, the leading jurist of the day, Sir Edward Coke,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46published this book, a legal treatise
0:21:46 > 0:21:49called The Institutes Of The Laws Of England,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51in which he laid down the whole concept
0:21:51 > 0:21:53of something called Castle Law.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57In this law, he designated a person's abode as a place
0:21:57 > 0:22:01where they had certain protections and immunities.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04And it contains a line that has remained in common parlance
0:22:04 > 0:22:05ever since.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10"For a man's house is his castle,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14"and each man's home is his safest refuge."
0:22:21 > 0:22:25But in 1643, the second year of the English Civil War,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29it wasn't a man but one extraordinary woman
0:22:29 > 0:22:33who embodied Coke's dictum that a man's home is his castle.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39I've come to Corfe Castle in Dorset, probably my favourite castle,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41for its wonderful setting.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44And it was here that one of THE most extraordinary
0:22:44 > 0:22:49and largely untold stories of the English Civil War took place.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING
0:22:58 > 0:23:01This Civil War, fought between Oliver Cromwell's
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Parliamentarians and the royalists under King Charles I,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10caused ancient castles, fortifications and even town walls
0:23:10 > 0:23:12to suddenly acquire a value and function
0:23:12 > 0:23:15that had been almost forgotten.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16SHOUTING
0:23:16 > 0:23:18GUNFIRE
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And by 1643, with most of Dorset
0:23:21 > 0:23:24in the hands of the parliamentary forces,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Corfe Castle was holding out as a royalist stronghold.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33But when its owner, the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Bankes,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35was called away to attend the King,
0:23:35 > 0:23:40his wife, Lady Mary, assumed control of the castle.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45And together, with her six daughters and a force of just five men,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50Lady Mary now prepared to withstand any assault levelled at her.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55The first attempts to take the castle were pathetic
0:23:55 > 0:23:56to say the least.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00A small group of Parliamentarians pretended to be a stag-hunting party
0:24:00 > 0:24:02but their ruse was seen through.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06And then another, astonishingly, pretended to be a group of tourists
0:24:06 > 0:24:08wanting to look around the castle, but Lady Mary
0:24:08 > 0:24:12sent them all packing and ordered the gates closed to all comers.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Fearing further and more serious attempts on the castle,
0:24:19 > 0:24:25Lady Mary stocked up on provisions and called in reinforcements.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29And it was just in time because in June, 1643,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33the Parliamentarians launched a major siege
0:24:33 > 0:24:37with a force of between 500-600 Roundheads
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and two siege engines nicknamed The Boar and The Sow.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47The siege ensued for six weeks.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51The Parliamentarians were unable to breach the castle walls
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and proved easy targets for the royalist marksmen.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56With Lady Mary's garrison commander
0:24:56 > 0:24:59successfully protecting the Outer Bailey down there,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04Lady Mary herself took control of the Inner Ward up here.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05GUNFIRE
0:25:07 > 0:25:09GUNFIRE
0:25:10 > 0:25:12GUNFIRE
0:25:12 > 0:25:13GUNFIRE
0:25:14 > 0:25:18One account of the siege describes how Lady Mary herself
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and her daughters had to repel assailants on siege ladders
0:25:21 > 0:25:25by heaving down stones and hot embers from the walls.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33The siege ended with the loss of over 100 Parliamentarians,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37as opposed to only two of the castle defenders.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Lady Mary was clearly no pushover and, for rebuffing the siege,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43she gained the nickname Brave Dame Mary.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51For the next two years, Corfe Castle continued to hold out
0:25:51 > 0:25:53as a royalist stronghold,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55but its luck would not last.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02One night in February 1646, under cover of darkness,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05a royalist officer well-known to Lady Mary,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07called Lieutenant Colonel Pitman,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09arrived here at the South West gatehouse
0:26:09 > 0:26:12with what appeared to be a royalist relief force.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19But what the welcoming garrison didn't know
0:26:19 > 0:26:22was that Pitman had already been captured
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and had turned his coat, switched sides,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27in order to save his life.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30The relief force was nothing of the sort
0:26:30 > 0:26:33but really Parliamentarian soldiers in disguise.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37But by the time that they realised it was too late.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Pitman and about 50 of his soldiers had been granted entry
0:26:40 > 0:26:42and they set about seizing the castle.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48After several hours of fighting, Brave Dame Mary
0:26:48 > 0:26:49and her garrison surrendered.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56So Corfe was finally taken, but only by treachery.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03And what of Lady Mary?
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Here at Kingston Lacy, a few miles from Corfe,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14which subsequently became the Bankes' family home,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18a fascinating relic survives from the siege of Corfe Castle.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Brave Dame Mary may have lost her castle
0:27:27 > 0:27:30but she did retain her dignity
0:27:30 > 0:27:33and, for all of her fortitude and extreme courage,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37she was allowed to keep the keys to her castle.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42And she was allowed to keep all of them, from this absolute monster
0:27:42 > 0:27:44right down to this little chappie here,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47a symbolic reminder of this extraordinary moment
0:27:47 > 0:27:49in our castle history.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00Lady Mary's resilience
0:28:00 > 0:28:04had been a huge embarrassment to the Roundheads
0:28:04 > 0:28:05and, upon Corfe's capture,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Parliament realised they needed to make an example of it,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11so, with immediate effect,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14they ordered the destruction of the castle.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18However, they hadn't reckoned on its solidly-engineered structure.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Despite the most determined attempts
0:28:20 > 0:28:23to destroy the castle with gun powder,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26they simply couldn't raze it to the ground.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30The marvel of Corfe's construction meant
0:28:30 > 0:28:33that its immense masonry held fast.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Its walls bowed out and slid down the slope here,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39but they simply refused to be destroyed.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42With its custodian Brave Dame Mary defeated,
0:28:42 > 0:28:47it's almost as if the castle itself was resisting history's attempts
0:28:47 > 0:28:48to extinguish it.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Yet for Charles I, there wasn't a safe castle
0:29:04 > 0:29:06in which to make a last stand.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Instead, he was entirely at the mercy
0:29:10 > 0:29:12of the victorious Parliamentarians.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19Whilst Parliament and the army debated what to do
0:29:19 > 0:29:21with their troublesome King,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Charles had slipped quietly away from Hampton Court,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26where he'd been placed under house arrest,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29and he made sail across the Solent for the Isle Of Wight.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31He believed it was the perfect vantage point
0:29:31 > 0:29:33where he could stay in touch with his supporters
0:29:33 > 0:29:35both at home and on the Continent.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48But as soon as he reached his intended destination,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50here at Carisbrooke Castle,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53and surrendered himself to its governor Colonel Hammond,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Charles realised he'd made a serious misjudgement.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02Far from helping Charles to escape, Colonel Hammond became his jailer.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Charles was no ordinary prisoner and, to begin with,
0:30:08 > 0:30:13he and his large entourage enjoyed considerable freedom,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16hunting and hawking and careering about the island
0:30:16 > 0:30:17in their carriages.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22The meals he ate were hardly the food of prisoners,
0:30:22 > 0:30:2520-course feasts were prepared for him.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34This is the King's bedchamber.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Guards were set at his door to make sure that he couldn't escape,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41but he still managed to communicate with the outside world.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44There's even a letter that he sent from this room...
0:30:46 > 0:30:49..and it's fascinating because it's written in code.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Even after generations of scholarship,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56we still don't know what this cipher means,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59so it's a challenge for all you code breakers out there.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05As well as composing secret messages,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Charles was also planning his getaway.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17The King's chief ally in the castle was Henry Firebrace and,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20as relations with Parliament deteriorated,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22together, they plotted his escape.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27So the plan was for King Charles to escape out of his window here
0:31:27 > 0:31:30down a rope that Firebrace would have left in his room,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33and Firebrace would then meet him here.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Together, they would cross the castle yard
0:31:36 > 0:31:38to the base of the wall on the southern side.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Here, Charles would climb the steps to the battlements.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50The plan was to come here because it's a short drop
0:31:50 > 0:31:53to the ground below, and he could then scramble down the slope,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55meet a friend with a fast horse
0:31:55 > 0:31:57who would then whisk him away to a waiting boat.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01But none of this happened
0:32:01 > 0:32:04cos Charles was unable to fit through his window.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06The one thing he'd said to leave up to him,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09but he was unable to deliver.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Something to do with all of those meals?
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Charles was now thrown wide open to ridicule,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19as shown by this illustrated pamphlet
0:32:19 > 0:32:21that was distributed at the time.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25A further escape attempt ended in failure
0:32:25 > 0:32:27and forced Parliament's hand.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31In November 1648, Charles was escorted back to the mainland
0:32:31 > 0:32:36before being tried and found guilty of high treason against the realm.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Two months later, he was beheaded.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44So, poor old Charles got the chop,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47but I rather like the irony of what happened here,
0:32:47 > 0:32:52how a castle fit for a king so easily became a prison for one.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59But although Carisbrooke had served the Parliamentarians well
0:32:59 > 0:33:01in detaining the monarch,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05they had ideological objections to the whole idea of castles.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09They saw them as symbols of aristocratic and royal privilege.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14As the Civil War came to an end, Parliament began to draw up
0:33:14 > 0:33:18a big and worrying plan for castles throughout the land,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20namely slighting.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Slighting - in other words, partly destroying the fortifications
0:33:27 > 0:33:30so that they shouldn't be useful again -
0:33:30 > 0:33:34is the penalty that the victorious Parliamentarians inflict,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37particularly on royalist-sympathising towns
0:33:37 > 0:33:39and on royalist aristocrats.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It is a potent symbolic demonstration of the new order
0:33:42 > 0:33:44and it is also practically significant
0:33:44 > 0:33:48cos it means that they are less likely to be able to resist a siege.
0:33:53 > 0:33:54Here at Kenilworth,
0:33:54 > 0:33:59which had been such a spectacular showpiece for Elizabeth I,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Parliament now made a very lasting point.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Slighting the north face of this magnificent central tower
0:34:08 > 0:34:11was unnecessary from a military perspective,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13but it was the castle's most visible feature
0:34:13 > 0:34:18and its most potent symbol of the old royalist order.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22By tearing this place down, Parliament was displaying
0:34:22 > 0:34:24how it had torn open the heart of the monarchy.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40They even dug up the formal gardens, and drained the Great Mere.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45Kenilworth finally lost its reflected glory.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51By the 1650s, over 100 castles
0:34:51 > 0:34:55and fortified towns had been slighted across the country.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57But what Parliament hadn't quite realised,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00as witnessed at both Corfe and Kenilworth,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04was that slighting a castle was no easy feat.
0:35:04 > 0:35:05You could use gun powder,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09but the quantities you needed to bring down a castle were vast,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12and it rapidly became prohibitively expensive.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Or if you wanted to re-use the material,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19you needed teams of labourers, you needed masons, miners
0:35:19 > 0:35:20and carpenters.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Tearing these places down was often as challenging as putting them up.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Aside from the task of demolition itself,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34deciding which castles were to be slighted
0:35:34 > 0:35:36seemed to be equally difficult...
0:35:37 > 0:35:40..with the House Of Commons and House Of Lords constantly
0:35:40 > 0:35:43at odds with each other over which castles to ruin
0:35:43 > 0:35:45and which to maintain.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50And when it came to Windsor Castle here, which had been captured
0:35:50 > 0:35:54by Oliver Cromwell in 1642 and used as a prison,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57the bill to slight it, the proposal even to demolish it,
0:35:57 > 0:36:01was said to have been beaten down by just a single vote.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04It's fascinating to think that there was once a time
0:36:04 > 0:36:08when Windsor Castle, perhaps our most iconic castle,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11and the castle that symbolises our history and monarchy
0:36:11 > 0:36:13on an international stage,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16was being seriously considered for demolition.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24But although Windsor and other prominent castles survived,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27in truth, the slighting of castles during this period,
0:36:27 > 0:36:29was the single most radical change
0:36:29 > 0:36:34to the established architecture of England until the Second World War.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660
0:36:49 > 0:36:51and the end of internal conflict...
0:36:52 > 0:36:57..the castle began to be seen in an entirely different light.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02During the restoration and beyond, the castle underwent a distinct
0:37:02 > 0:37:06transformation in the public imagination.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10No longer a structure used to defend or uphold the realm,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13it came to symbolise a great historical past,
0:37:13 > 0:37:17almost as if it was defending the idea of a realm.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24This was something well understood by one of the leading architects
0:37:24 > 0:37:26of the day, Sir John Vanbrugh
0:37:26 > 0:37:30who, in 1707, wrote that he wished to give his designs
0:37:30 > 0:37:33"something of the castle air"
0:37:33 > 0:37:37and to make "a very noble and masculine show."
0:37:38 > 0:37:42And it's this little gem in Blackheath, South London,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45built by the architect for his family in 1718
0:37:45 > 0:37:47which best captures this ambition.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52For four years in his youth, Vanbrugh had been imprisoned
0:37:52 > 0:37:55as a spy in the French Bastille.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57But far from burying this experience,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01he drew on it to recreate a fortress or castle
0:38:01 > 0:38:06in miniature, complete with square flanking towers, a turret
0:38:06 > 0:38:11and even its rumoured secret escape tunnels running down to the river.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Vanbrugh's notion of a "castle air" gained ground
0:38:15 > 0:38:18during the early 18th century, and architects of stately homes
0:38:18 > 0:38:23across the country began to be inspired by this castle style.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30Vanbrugh's castle style led into a period of particular reverence
0:38:30 > 0:38:32for the medieval.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37This kind of revivalism really did embolden architects
0:38:37 > 0:38:39to do new things in architecture.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42They were looking back to a particular period
0:38:42 > 0:38:45with its pointed arches, quatrefoil windows,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49the romance of it all, for something that was quintessentially British.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52It was really a sort of pretence of history.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56It was a staging of the past in the present
0:38:56 > 0:39:01to show a patron and an architect's sensibility and understanding
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and an intellectual knowledge of that history.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And the chief exponent of this revivalism
0:39:09 > 0:39:12was the writer and politician Horace Walpole.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15As the son of the first Prime Minister
0:39:15 > 0:39:17and a relative of Admiral Nelson,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Walpole was steeped in the values of England's ruling class.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27In 1747, Walpole had chanced upon two cottages
0:39:27 > 0:39:31known as Chopped-Straw Hall, here on the banks of the Thames
0:39:31 > 0:39:34in Twickenham, and he set about transforming them.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38"I'm going to build a little Gothic castle," he wrote to a friend,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40"with battlements, pinnacles,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44"even a great round tower looming large in his vivid imagination."
0:40:02 > 0:40:05And today, it still closely resembles the earliest colour
0:40:05 > 0:40:07sketches that were made of it.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15Walpole's Gothic castle took its vast numbers of visitors
0:40:15 > 0:40:18on something of a mood journey back to the Middle Ages,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20to ancient strongholds,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23knights in armour and all the panoply of chivalry.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27Walpole wanted the experience to convey feelings of both gloom
0:40:27 > 0:40:31and warmth, and he even coined a term that conveyed both.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Rather brilliantly, he called it "gloomth."
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Walpole's Gothic castle, which he christened Strawberry Hill,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45stunned 18th-century society.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48It was unlike anything else in the country
0:40:48 > 0:40:51and was soon to become a tourist Mecca.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Walpole delighted in entertaining the gentry,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58foreign ambassadors and occasionally even royalty.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Such was the public's demand to see Strawberry Hill
0:41:04 > 0:41:07and sample a bit of "gloomth" for themselves
0:41:07 > 0:41:11that Walpole had to confine it to four visitors a day
0:41:11 > 0:41:13with published rules for their guidance,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15but strictly no children allowed.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22These are visiting cards, and they were recently discovered
0:41:22 > 0:41:25trapped behind the mantelpiece.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27And they give you a real sense of people
0:41:27 > 0:41:30desperate to come in and see this magnificent building.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34They're written on the back of old playing cards,
0:41:34 > 0:41:38and this one is from a tea merchant and, as it says,
0:41:38 > 0:41:40"They will be extremely obliged to him
0:41:40 > 0:41:45"to let them see his house at any time this morning."
0:41:45 > 0:41:49And the name of that tea merchant was Mrs Twining.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Perhaps unsurprisingly, living in this fantasy fortress
0:42:10 > 0:42:12began to rub off on Walpole
0:42:12 > 0:42:16for here, one morning in 1764, he awoke from a dream
0:42:16 > 0:42:20in which he'd imagined himself to be in an ancient castle...
0:42:25 > 0:42:28..where, on a great staircase, he'd been confronted
0:42:28 > 0:42:31by a gigantic fist in armour.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46And so vivid was his dream that later that day,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Walpole sat down and began to write a story based on his vision.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04The book that emerged, The Castle Of Otranto,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07is now widely considered to be the very first Gothic novel,
0:43:07 > 0:43:11containing all the classic tropes of mystery and horror.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14It was an immediate success, it sold out across Europe
0:43:14 > 0:43:16in a matter of weeks,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19and it lead the poet Thomas Gray to comment
0:43:19 > 0:43:21that it had made us all afraid to go to bed at night.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31"A clap of thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36"The earth rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour
0:43:36 > 0:43:37"was heard behind.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42"The moment Theodore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred
0:43:42 > 0:43:47"were thrown down with a mighty force, and the form of Alfonso,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50"dilated to an immense magnitude,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53"appeared in the centre of the ruins."
0:43:55 > 0:43:59With his novel The Castle Of Otranto and this incredible building
0:43:59 > 0:44:03which he described as "the prettiest bauble you ever saw,"
0:44:03 > 0:44:07Walpole had combined both the real and imaginary.
0:44:07 > 0:44:08His Gothic revival conjured
0:44:08 > 0:44:12a new, romanticised view of the noble castle,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16one inhabiting both our dreams and our nightmares,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and now presiding over a mythic realm.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28You could conceive of Strawberry Hill
0:44:28 > 0:44:29as one great big folly.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33It inspired other landowners, other patrons,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36to have the confidence to build their own follies
0:44:36 > 0:44:38within their landscape.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41But this was a very desirable thing to have within your grounds.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44It added an air of history to your landscape,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47an air of always being there.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51But it was part of this wider lust for the past,
0:44:51 > 0:44:55this wider reverence for the medieval past
0:44:55 > 0:44:58and a fascination with all things Gothic.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02But follies gave that kind of romance to your landscape.
0:45:02 > 0:45:03You could invite your friends,
0:45:03 > 0:45:07you could even attract tourists to come and see your folly.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19Around 1740, an architect named Sanderson Miller
0:45:19 > 0:45:24began building castle follies on the estates of his wealthy patrons.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28This one at Hagley Hall in Worcestershire,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32widely thought to be his finest, is one of the 30 or so
0:45:32 > 0:45:35that he completed across the country.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38The surprising thing about these castle follies
0:45:38 > 0:45:41is that Sanderson Miller built them as ruins.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45This is exactly what the very first visitors would have seen,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49and so convincing was it that they asked about the sieges
0:45:49 > 0:45:54it had endured and the blood that had been spilt inside its walls.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Our old friend Horace Walpole was among those
0:45:57 > 0:45:59who marvelled at Miller's creation,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03saying that it had the true rust of the Wars Of The Roses.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05"I wore my eyes out with gazing," he wrote,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09"my feet with climbing and my vocabulary with commending."
0:46:11 > 0:46:17The castle ruin now became part of an emerging Romantic sensibility
0:46:17 > 0:46:18born out of a reaction
0:46:18 > 0:46:20against the growing industrialisation
0:46:20 > 0:46:22of the countryside.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26It produced a new aesthetic known as the 'picturesque,'
0:46:26 > 0:46:30a concept coined by the Reverend William Gilpin
0:46:30 > 0:46:33in his series of books written for the leisured traveller.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Gilpin instructed his travellers
0:46:38 > 0:46:43to examine the face of a country by the rules of picturesque beauty.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46And he told them that the elegant relics of ancient architecture,
0:46:46 > 0:46:51such as castle ruins, deserved our veneration.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53In this wonderful passage from one of his books,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57he even sets out the principles of the perfect castle ruin.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00"..after all, that art can bestow,
0:47:00 > 0:47:05"you must put your ruin at last into the hands of nature to finish.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09"If the mosses and lichens grow unkindly on your walls,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12"if the ivy refuses to mantle over your buttress
0:47:12 > 0:47:15"or to creep among the ornaments of your Gothic window,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19"if the ash cannot be brought to hang from the cleft
0:47:19 > 0:47:23"or long, spiry grass to wave over the shattered battlement,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26"your ruin will still be incomplete."
0:47:33 > 0:47:37And it wasn't just writers who were embracing these aesthetic ideals.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The young Joseph Turner was already at the forefront of painting
0:47:43 > 0:47:45this new Romantic age.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54And he had a particular penchant for the castle itself,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56and it was Norham on the Scottish border
0:47:56 > 0:47:58that especially caught his eye.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Turner first saw Norham Castle from a stagecoach
0:48:05 > 0:48:08on his way to Berwick in 1797.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10He was only 22.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Of all the English castles built to repel the Scottish,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16Norham was the most savagely fought over
0:48:16 > 0:48:21until finally succumbing to a Scottish siege in 1513
0:48:21 > 0:48:24when the Great Tower was shattered by cannon fire.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39The cannons had long fallen silent by the time Turner
0:48:39 > 0:48:40came to paint the castle.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44And he would like to recount later in life
0:48:44 > 0:48:48that it was his first depiction of it that had launched his career.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55And this is the exact spot where Turner first placed his easel
0:48:55 > 0:48:59and to which he would return time and again throughout his life.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Eyewitnesses who saw him here would later recount
0:49:02 > 0:49:06how he took off his hat when the castle first came into view,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10made a respectful bow to the ruins, saying that it gave him
0:49:10 > 0:49:13as much to do as his hands could execute.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20In all of his paintings and sketches of Norham,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Turner was speaking for a generation who, like him,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29looked upon the noble castle as a window into an illustrious past.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35Turner had first visited Norham during a time of mounting unrest,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37and soon there would be new battles
0:49:37 > 0:49:40and fortifications for him to record...
0:49:42 > 0:49:47..when, in 1803, Britain, yet again, came under threat
0:49:47 > 0:49:49from its old adversary - France.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Turner had always been drawn to castle imagery, roaming the country
0:49:56 > 0:50:00sketchbook in hand, searching for castles to draw.
0:50:00 > 0:50:01But on the eve of war with France,
0:50:01 > 0:50:06his depiction of those castles became even more prescient,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08particularly his sketches of the south coast.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11He was observing a nation readying itself for war.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16In the background, you might have Dover Castle as a totem of the past.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19It represents history, time gone by, all the events,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21the battles that have gone on there,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25but then in the foreground, he noted details of soldiers
0:50:25 > 0:50:29building fortifications, ships testing their guns.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32He would sell those to printmakers and prints would be made.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36These images became a great comfort to many people.
0:50:36 > 0:50:37They were desirable,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40and they fuelled this patriotic fervour,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43this feeling that Britain was strong, Britain was ready for war.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51France was now seen to pose a far greater threat than ever before,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53in the shape of its emperor - Napoleon.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00In the early-19th century, he dominated the European mainland,
0:51:00 > 0:51:03and the threat of invasion was very real.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06He'd assembled a flotilla of invasion barges
0:51:06 > 0:51:09and he'd built up his fleet to challenge the Royal Navy.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17But as Britain once again faced imminent attack,
0:51:17 > 0:51:18its old sea defences,
0:51:18 > 0:51:22which had begun with Henry VIII's coastal forts,
0:51:22 > 0:51:24were deemed no longer fit for purpose.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29So a new line of what were called Martello towers
0:51:29 > 0:51:32would be needed to defend the beaches.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43A chain of Martello towers was built all along the south and east coast.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47They took their name from a fortress in Corsica, Mortella.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51It's typical of the English that we got the name wrong.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53But it's also typical of the English
0:51:53 > 0:51:56that we learnt from the strengths of our enemies,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01because the tower at Mortella took part in an epic engagement.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10On 7th February, 1794, two British warships with a combined
0:52:10 > 0:52:14fire power of over 100 guns had launched an attack
0:52:14 > 0:52:17against the French at their strategic stronghold
0:52:17 > 0:52:19of Mortella Point on Corsica.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26But despite heavy bombardment from the Royal Navy,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30Mortella stood firm, as recounted in a report prepared
0:52:30 > 0:52:33by the admiral of the Mediterranean Fleet - Lord Hood.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40The walls of the tower were of a prodigious thickness.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44And the parapet, where there were two 18-pounders,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46was lined with base junk,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50a kind of cable made with grass and filled up with sand.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54And although it was cannonaded for two days,
0:52:54 > 0:52:58within 150 yards and appeared in a shattered state,
0:52:58 > 0:53:00the enemy still held out.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06The number of men in the tower were 33.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Only two were wounded, and those mortally.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16So when it came down to it,
0:53:16 > 0:53:21only to 18-pounder guns were enough to defy the Royal Navy.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25The tower was eventually taken by a land assault,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27but what happened at Mortella Point
0:53:27 > 0:53:29had a very lasting effect on the British.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Impressed by its almost impregnable design
0:53:34 > 0:53:37and the small number of soldiers needed to mount,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41the Martello Tower now became Britain's latest incarnation
0:53:41 > 0:53:42of the defensive castle.
0:53:43 > 0:53:49And between 1804 and 1812, 103 of them were built,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52ranging from East Anglia to the south coast.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02This is Tower 24 in Dymchurch in Kent.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05It's the last remaining Martello Tower where you can still see
0:54:05 > 0:54:06the original layout.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Now, these stairs are not original.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12There would have been a ladder which you could pull up
0:54:12 > 0:54:15in an emergency, a little bit like a drawbridge.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27At the top of this tower is a bit of a historical treasure.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Remarkably, this is the original cannon,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34and it lay on the ground outside this tower for more than a century
0:54:34 > 0:54:37before this place got turned into a museum.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40Now, to give you a sense of the changing technology,
0:54:40 > 0:54:45this bad boy could fire out to sea more than a mile, and using ropes
0:54:45 > 0:54:48and tackles attached to these strong points
0:54:48 > 0:54:50all around the top of this tower,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54it could be dragged around to fire in any of 360 degrees.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56They could fire anywhere they wanted.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09But with Napoleon's defeat, the Martello Towers
0:55:09 > 0:55:11never fired a shot in anger,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14just like many of Henry VIII's coastal forts.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19However, their show of force in defence of the realm,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23again, redefined us as an island fortress.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26And so intrinsic to the landscape were they
0:55:26 > 0:55:30that Joseph Turner felt compelled to record their presence.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35But as well as these new fortifications,
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Turner, like so many of us, continued to return to the castles
0:55:40 > 0:55:43of the past, and to Norham in particular.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51At the age of 70, and 50 years after he'd first painted the castle,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Turner came to capture it for the last time
0:55:54 > 0:55:56and for all time.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Turner's final and magnificent painting of Norham is of a castle
0:56:02 > 0:56:07and particularly a great tower prevailing in an ethereal mist.
0:56:07 > 0:56:08And what I think he's showing us
0:56:08 > 0:56:12is how our history of conflict and violence never completely
0:56:12 > 0:56:15vanishes from our pastoral idyll.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Those ancient battlefields are still just here all around us,
0:56:19 > 0:56:21under the ploughed fields.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34The castle continues to be the most potent symbol
0:56:34 > 0:56:36of these islands' past.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41It stands as a reminder to 1,000 years of history...
0:56:43 > 0:56:46..from being the instruments of foreign invasion
0:56:46 > 0:56:48and nationalist expansion
0:56:48 > 0:56:51to the strategic strongholds of civil wars
0:56:51 > 0:56:53and the Romantic ruins
0:56:53 > 0:56:57that inspired a generation of writers and painters.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06At the end of the 17th century,
0:57:06 > 0:57:10the Marquess Of Halifax wrote a pamphlet that begins with a question
0:57:10 > 0:57:12for all Britons,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15"What shall we do to be saved in this world?" he asks.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18And his answer, "You must look to your moat,"
0:57:18 > 0:57:22specifically meaning the English Channel.
0:57:22 > 0:57:27Because if you think about it, our entire nation is a castle.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30The white cliffs of Dover are our castle walls,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33and the English Channel is our moat.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43Of course, in a globalised world, the Channel offers about as much
0:57:43 > 0:57:45defence as our ancient castles themselves...
0:57:47 > 0:57:50..but that, in the end, is the point.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55Castles have long since passed from the realm of history
0:57:55 > 0:57:57into that of myth,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and that's perhaps why they continue to hold
0:58:00 > 0:58:02such an enduring fascination for us.