South East Restoring England's Heritage

I've just spent a lovely night staying in a folly that is taller

than Nelson 's column. Hadlow Tower is that exciting and encouraging

thing, a restoration success story. I will be finding out how it was

saved and discovering the remarkable story that lies behind its

construction. The South East is littered with remarkable buildings

that have fallen into decay. We will visit the old naval dockyard in

Sheerness and lift the tarpaulin on the mysterious structure in this

back garden in Mayfield east Sussex. All of the buildings on the site

continue to be in danger. We are going to find out how restorations

gets done and asked, once it has been completed, what then? I will

also be catching up on two buildings featured on the original BBC Two

Restoration series. This is the room I have been staying

in, it is pretty special. You have this lovely bed, curtains closing it

in, but what this room has that most don't is a mysterious spiral

staircase leading up Rapunzel style who knows where? The original BBC

Two Restoration series but some of Britain's most important and

threatened buildings under the spotlight. Today, the pressure on at

risk buildings is if anything even greater. Saving this site takes

diplomacy, passion and a large amount of money. Above all, what it

needs is vision. A vision of the kind that was shown by the wealthy

industrialist back on the 19th century when he built this frankly

lunatic tower. Hadlow Tower was a late addition to the much larger

Hadlow Cassel built for a Kent family. Over the next hundred and 50

years, the castle and tower passed from owner to owner and its

condition deteriorated. When the castle was finally demolished in

1951, Hadlow born portrait painter Bernard stepped in to save the tower

and courtier. His son. `` Donovan still lives in the shadow of the

tower. Yes, I do live in a castle. It is called a castle, really it is

a folly, one of the top ten in England. Describe it as a factory

chimney the same as now `` as Nelson's column. It is something

that has been cleverly disguised as a Victorian Gothic welding. That is

my father. A romantic owner of a Gothic folly. A factory chimney

looking like a Gothic folly. That was his form of humour. We are in

your house which was your father's house. He bought it with the entire

courtyard. He was not a practical in that sense. He thought it would be

lovely to have this power. So he bought six acres and the tower for

?6,000. Quite a bargain. Quite a bargain when you don't have any

money! Mac I can imagine going to the bank manager! I was 17 or 18

when we moved in here. We used to have a competition to see how

quickly we could race to the top and those days it was very dangerous. A

health and safety nightmare. Health and safety did not come into it. It

was very fun. We have some wonderful fancy dress parties here. A lot of

people came from London and then you realise that my father taught at an

art school so there were very many... Did the tower formed the

backdrop? Yes, on a summer's evening it was very romantic. Everybody was

amazed that you could be in an environment like this. The helium

existence that he renders from his childhood was very different to the

lifestyle of the industrialist who built the tower back in 1830s. It

has been suggested that the reason the tower was added to the castle

built by his father was because he so `` suspected his wife of having

an affair with a local farmer and he wanted to keep an eye on her. As for

the architect, he was a man much in demand. George Taylor did not

content `` content himself just with the tower. North east of here, there

are other examples of his work. These two are in the process of

being restored. At the mouth of the Medway is the

major container port of Sheerness and right in the heart of the docks

like used to be residential quarters of the naval officers. The

construction of was super`sized. There's no question that this is a

stunning assemblage of Georgian buildings. I think if it were in

Bath or Spitalfields it would be a tourist attraction, but as you can

see, this is not a ghostly place, you might want to imagine the

spectres of Nelson era naval officers wandering around, but what

you get our trucks and lorries rumbling past with huge piles of

container crates. In one sense, it is the opposite of atmospheric. It

makes you wonder what kind of restoration can there be in the

heart of a working dock? Is it worth the effort? Leading the restoration

is the Spitalfields Trust. Will Pailin has been at the heart of the

project. We're talking about a site that is four acres with 11 listed

buildings, six of which were on the English Heritage buildings at risk

list. They were highly listed. But they were clearly in danger. When we

came here, we realised that this was a very, very important, but horribly

neglected group of buildings. When the rescue cat `` when the rescue

plan came together, it was probably the biggest Heritage rescue of its

kind for some time in the South East of England. We have done a

spectacular amount over the last two years. This is a group of individual

owners working together, which is unusual and quite a special way of

working. What about the fact that you are surrounded by vast ports and

lorries? When you come here, you have to keep the faith as it is

quite industrial. But once you are here, it has a sort of magic and

part of that magic is that there is this working port, it is a real

place and things are happening. People fall in love with it because

it is so unusual. When you are here, it is tranquil and a sort of

oasis. It is a gritty but magnificent survival from the early

19th century. Sheerness had been a Royal Navy dockyard since the

beginning of the 16th century. The original yard was totally demolished

after the defeat of Napoleon. When the new base was opened, Sheerness

ranked as the most technically advanced dockyard in the world. The

Georgian buildings that remain today are just a fragment of that

ground`breaking construction projects. It is a remarkably

complete example. You can still very much get the sense of a dockyard

which was being reconstructed and the Royal Navy was at the height of

its powers. It is carefully thought out with a sequence of buildings and

naval installations which were designed to be efficient. This was

not so much a shipbuilding yard, but you could get in quickly for

maintenance and repairs. The end of Sheerness after 400 years came with

the release of this announcement from the Admiralty. Her Majesty's

Government have decided with great regret that Sheerness and Portland

dockyards should be closed. Sheerness dockyard will be will run

down by 1860, it is hoped to dispose of the yard before closer to

industrial or commercial interests. Sure enough, by 1916, the naval

dockyard here were closed down, some two day track 2500 people lost their

jobs. How does the closure affect you? Hopefully we can get

transferred. You'll have to move then. Absolutely. Since the

departure of the Royal Navy, many of the dockyards' Georgian buildings

have been demolished. The residential area has become

seriously overgrown. Yet clear the overgrowth. The architecture then

revealed itself. It is an exciting thing. The plan is that this

will... Project currently unfolding depends on private individuals

funding it. But that approach won't help the church gutted by fire.

Something else will be needed for that. The church is a separate

project. That project will be a project that will rely on public

funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are hoping it will be a

mixed use building with a community space. We want there to be a display

area for the model of the dockyard. I guess this gives a sense of the

challenge that you face, that the dockside directly facing the church.

The church scene from here looks more rundown than I was

anticipating. Have you ever asked yourself if it is worth restoring

it? I never gave up on this building. I take that question

back. This is quite a splendid site. You can feel the impressive volume

of this space. This is something that if it was brought back to life

would be incredibly special. But everything said, there is not much

here and it will be a bit of a cheat. It gives us an opportunity to

do something different inside. We can maybe do something more modern.

We don't have to slavishly follow the original architecture. So it'll

be something and a restoration. Yes. It is exciting. The creation of

something original to fill this shell. The Society for the

protection of ancient shell. The Society for the

prote I prote%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% shell. The Society for the

protection of ancient buildings has a view on this. Repair versus

restoration has been a really important issue. Essentially, our

position is that restoration, in its strictest sense, is a kind of

fakery, it is trying to take buildings back to some kind of

hypothetical position in the past. We think that this is not the right

way to go, that it is perfectly possible to add something new,

contemporary for 21st`century that adds positively to the interest of

the building. Any good designer or good craftsman should be able to add

something that is special of our own time and we think that you should be

honest about that and that it is no bad thing. The fact that the plans

for the interior of the church represent a quite radical break from

the original function of this building reflect and focus on what

is always a challenge in restoration project, what you actually do with

the building what you have saved `` once you have saved it. At Hadlow

Tower, a trust took over in 2001. The trust's radical approach to

saving buildings and making themselves supporting means the

interiors are converted into luxury holiday accommodation.

It is a rare and I suspect unique pleasure to be taking a lift in a

Victorian tower. There is something almost of James Bond about it. You

look like a James Bond villain there. There must be some who would

say that the clash is a little bit... It affords us the ability to

get furniture into the building. We couldn't have done it otherwise.

Because the staircases are really narrow and they are turnpike stares,

we could not have got furniture in. The second one is the get more

people in this way. People who have any mobility problems can get to

each and every floor, that has to be a positive. The buildings have two

function, they have two provide good accommodation for people who come

and stay. They have to earn their keep. The public only get access one

day a week June the summer months, so I wondered whether this Heritage

lottery funded project has given value for money. ?4 million of

public money, is there a tension that between taking up money and

using this for private purposes. I would say no. Private purposes would

mean that one person only would live in it and stay in it and it would be

theirs for ever. We have someone coming in here every three days and

treating the building like their own. The tower was originally

covered in Roman cement and a decision was taken to use the same

material for the restoration, even though it had not been used on this

scale. Grant Howard learned new techniques for the restoration and

lead a team on site. It took some learning, because of the speed it

goes. It can go off quite quickly in the summer. We have had it before

way you can turn around and sit in your pockets like Excalibur. Roman

cement is a natural cement that they get in from France and it is the

fact has no additives, straight out of the ground and ground down to a

powder. Then we put it with the sand. It is the first ever building

I have done with this cement. It is good to be a part of it. It is

standing here looking up that you get a sense of how telling it is.

Absolutely. The a lot of money to spend. It is but we make decisions

on what they want our grandchildren's grandchildren to

see. It is utterly unique. The wonderful craftsmanship won and

English Heritage award. When did this begin? In 2001. At one

there was talk of managed decline if the money could not be raised. You

must feel very proud. It ends up with English Heritage involved. It

was 12 or 15 people who got involved and got the motivation to distort

this building. It must have been some feeling when you thought we are

going to do it. I am not sure we believed it was happening. People

wear walking about the square after it was rebuilt saying it was

amazing. We kept the profile high for 12 years until we got it

restored and now rethink that is great. It is clearly a much loved

building but Towers and castles do not, it seems, have pride of place

in our heart. People voted for the favourite tower and windmills where

they're most favourite. That was recognised in the 1930s and the Mill

section was set up. That continues to campaign for protection and

continued use of historic windmills. Our next building is one of the

nation's favourites. Under that tarpaulin it is unbelievable there

is actually a windmill. Now there are only about 40 left in the entire

country. This one here is architecturally distinct and

precious. In a moment, only having a heap at it when we venture under the

tarpaulin. There has been a mill on this site since 18 27. Gradually

deteriorating, it remained out local landmark until the 1950s when its

new owner took a step she imagined would secure its future for good.

She gave it to the District Council for a shilling. The terms of the

gift ware that it was to be kept reserved and in good cheer. It went

up in 2005. The two the arms down and put up scaffolding. How long did

you think it would be up there for? A couple of years. Sadly, the

windmill has decayed to such a degree that it now needs this

scaffolding just to hold it up. This man who was involved in saving a

nearby windmill agreed to show me what was special about this

windmill. This is called a post mail. Would I be

this is the post? Originally mills where just straight boxes then

somebody had the idea it you need to face the wind. When you do it you

believe the whole body can move through the hundred and 60 degrees,

that is because the call mill is balanced on top of the post. It is

an enormous structure to imagine it going around like a merry`go`round.

This probably weighs 25 tonnes. Mills originally are moved by hand,

some by force. This one moves because it has got a fine deal. In

2011 the District Council leased this windmill to the windmill thrust

and a fundraising campaign was launched. `` trust. There are some

who would go as far as to blame the current state of the mill on the

neglect of the council. At one time, when we first moved here, you could

see the windmill as a landmark. They stand there rather like people

waving their arms about. The planes used to locate themselves with the

mill because it has unusually got a red top rather than a blacktop. I

think the council are pretty disgraceful. I know that many would

say do not complain because they are being good to us now. I think they

are but some of us got the impression that the council are

deliberately letting it go because the problem would go away. The mill

disintegrated and it became a much worse problem than it needed to do.

It need not have been. I put the accusations of neglect to the local

councillor. They should be able to look after this particular thing.

There has been a lot of damage. We could see that to go forward we

simply would not have the resources because of the situation to do

ourselves. At that point, the councils took a back`seat but have

also financially help them as best we can. When you ask a community if

that is what they want their money spent on, some say yes. We have to

go down the middle. You personally would like to see it? It will be

wonderful. One. It is like being inside a huge clock. This is all

original? Yes. It is complete and preserve from 1830. What needs to be

done here to continue for 100 years. There are timber is on the outside

that need to be replaced. You are right, it is perfect. Maybe the

windmill can still have a useful and productive future. People are

returning to traditional milling. They and our special flowers for

that purpose. There is also emphasis on green energy. At the beginning of

the programme I promised to update you on some of the buildings

featured in the first CDs. This is what our reporter found in Kent. ``

the first CDs. `` series. They have been rammed by cars. At the last

count 92 abandoned cars had been found in the vicinity. The mausoleum

has become an attraction. I am delighted to say that the picture

today is very different. After a three`year long restoration project,

work finally finished. There is a rescue story with a happy ending.

The partnership locally is able to raise funds to repair and restore

it. It will be open to the public in 2014. It has been described as

deliciously melancholic if one can get a flavour of that. This

mausoleum was built for a very wealthy family but was never used

mysteriously because the Bishop of Rochester felt it was the structure

for privacy in the garden and never used it for the burial of bodies. It

has transformed the surrounding would land as well. Since the

transformation it has improved the whole easier because people have

been more comfortable coming back to the site, walking dogs and it is a

much more pleasant place to be. The last thing I can see is the green

space, it is such a busy place. The Archbishop's Palace was a difficult

place. `` different place. There has been little progress since 2004.

Money was searched for to help draw up feasibility bids. There has not

been enough cash to undertake the costly restoration of the whole

complex. Today, the future of this once grand Palace remains uncertain.

As the sun sets behind the tower, what will be view the in 100 year's

time? Will the buildings be restored to George and grander? Will the

windmill arms be turning once again in the breeze. `` George and

grander. Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your

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