Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Restoring England's Heritage

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We have lots of wonderful buildings in this country. Some are easy to

spot, symbols of great power. Others are almost forgotten, hidden from

the world. Many aren't beautiful, but they all tell stories about how

we lived in the past. It's a sad fact that as time passes and

fashions change, buildings that we once loved and valued are neglected

and can fall into ruin. Ten years ago, the BBC made a series called

Restoration, which flew the flag for buildings in peril and celebrated

those who were fighting to save them. In this programme, I'll

revisit some of those buildings to see how the restoration campaigns

work out, and I'll also find other buildings which in my view, should

certainly be saved. I'll meet the volunteer who put the

wind back into the sales of Britain's tallest windmill. When you

feel the mill grinding, you can feel that vibration now all the way

through your body. You know, it's like a heartbeat pulsing through the

building. It's just superb. I'll discover why an ancient castle

needs a modern roof. It'll be an interesting little programme. Bit of

a jigsaw. They can blame me if it doesn't quite fit, yes. I'm looking

forward to that day. And I'll find out what's become of

this derelict Victorian treasure. You've got this fatal combination of

water, structure and rust. But my first port of call is

Grimsby. There's nothing standard about

modern restoration projects. They can come in the most unlikely

places. I'm in Grimsby docks, and this building is one that many

people would like to see restored. Hello, Vicky. Hello. How do you do?

Well, it's terrific. It's enormous. And it's very run down, isn't it?

Yes, it is. But why are you determined to save it? Well, it's a

very important building. It's grade`II* listed, and it's the only

ice factory with its machinery intact of this period still

existing. And it is, or was, the biggest ice factory in the world? So

they claim. They produced 1,200 tonnes of ice every day, and they

worked seven days a week. Right. And that, of course, was so important to

these docks, wasn't it? It was incredibly important. Grimsby was

the busiest fishing port in the world in the middle of the last

century, and it was down to the enterprise of the people who built

this ice factory, really. It's spectacular from the outside, but

what's behind the walls that make this building unique?

This is something, isn't it? Isn't it amazing? These