0:00:02 > 0:00:06Britain is home to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15Our religious heritage and architecture is more varied than virtually anywhere else on earth.
0:00:15 > 0:00:22My name is Ifor ap Glyn and I am on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites
0:00:22 > 0:00:26and to uncover the rich and diverse history of our spiritual landscape.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32I want to know how these places came to be,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36discover what they reveal about the people who worshipped at them,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and explore why they continue to fascinate us today.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42This place is incredible.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways...
0:00:46 > 0:00:51It was here that St Twrog took on the pagan forces of evil.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52..icy healing pools...
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I'm not sure what effect this is having on me,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58but it is certainly having an effect!
0:00:58 > 0:01:01...and the graves of long departed saints...
0:01:01 > 0:01:04There's something quite unsettling about this relic.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08I'll search out islands where the faithful seek refuge from the world.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I'll wander ruins steeped in history...
0:01:12 > 0:01:17His congregation were roused to come here and rip down the rich trappings of this cathedral.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23..and descend into caves which have been sacred for thousands of years.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26Wow!
0:01:26 > 0:01:31From the divine to the unexpected, join me on a journey
0:01:31 > 0:01:33to the unforgettable corners of our country,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36the landscapes that make the soul soar.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00I'm in Cambridgeshire on a glorious autumn morning.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08This is the start of a journey to explore some of the most
0:02:08 > 0:02:11atmospheric and best-loved holy sites in Britain -
0:02:11 > 0:02:12ruins.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18I want to understand why we are drawn to them and why we feel it's
0:02:18 > 0:02:22so important to preserve them, long after their religious use is over.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30There are few things more beautiful than the decaying grandeur
0:02:30 > 0:02:35of a ruin, and this place in the grounds of Wimpole Hall is perhaps the perfect example -
0:02:36 > 0:02:39set amid rolling countryside,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43these magnificent arches tell us immediately that this once was
0:02:43 > 0:02:48a monastic institution fortified against the world. You can almost imagine
0:02:48 > 0:02:53the cowled figure of a monk flitting away from our gaze at one of those empty windows.
0:02:53 > 0:02:54DEVOTIONAL MONASTIC MUSIC
0:03:00 > 0:03:06But there's just one small catch - the entire thing is actually a fake.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09This is not an abandoned monastery.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12It was never a house of worship or a place of pilgrimage.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16It is a folly, a fake ruin, a piece of theatrical landscape art,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22that was actually built by a wealthy landowner in 1769.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28This folly is by no means a one-off.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35There are about 50 such sham ruins on 18th century estates
0:03:35 > 0:03:38throughout Britain.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41They were inspired by the fading grandeur of ruined abbeys
0:03:41 > 0:03:42dotted around the country.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50But this passion for ruins is still with us today.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59We have a very British fascination with ruins.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Our current Romantic notions of the ivy-clad ruin date back to the 18th century.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08But our obsession with the glorious past goes back even further than that.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Is it just nostalgia, or is it something in fact much deeper that
0:04:12 > 0:04:16makes our ruins some of the best protected holy sites in Britain?
0:04:28 > 0:04:31I'm heading to Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast to visit
0:04:31 > 0:04:35one of the most famous ruins, not just in Britain but across the world.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Caught between the moors and the sea, this ruin, epic in scale,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52helped change the way we define beauty....
0:05:01 > 0:05:04..and in the process gave birth to a gothic nightmare.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14DEVOTIONAL CHORAL SINGING
0:05:22 > 0:05:27If there's one place that encapsulates the otherworldly qualities of ruins,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31it's here on the cliff tops at Whitby in North Yorkshire.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35This Saxon foundation was one of the most important Christian
0:05:35 > 0:05:37sites in the early mediaeval period,
0:05:37 > 0:05:42and it was run by one of the most important women in church history - St Hilda.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45During her time here in the 7th century this place saw
0:05:45 > 0:05:48the writing of the first hymns in English,
0:05:48 > 0:05:53the training of a number of bishops, and it hosted an important conference or synod
0:05:53 > 0:05:58that unified the different religious traditions in England.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03Founded by Anglo-Saxon King Oswy in 657, Whitby Abbey
0:06:03 > 0:06:08had a significant religious history before the 16th century reformation.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13But when Henry VIII broke with Rome, turning Britain from Catholicism
0:06:13 > 0:06:17to Protestantism, the abbey was dissolved and allowed to go to ruin.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Ironically, this building was to have a greater
0:06:23 > 0:06:27impact on the cultural life of our country after it became a ruin.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34To explain the history and significance of these ruins,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38I'm meeting John Coates, an English Literature academic.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42This place has been in a state of ruin for almost half its history, hasn't it?
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Yes, destroyed first by the Vikings in 867, I think,
0:06:46 > 0:06:53and not rebuilt till 1078, and then of course destroyed after 1539.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57There is a poem by Sir John Denham where he talks about
0:06:57 > 0:07:01that if someone looked at the ruins, they'd think some foreign invader had sacked the country.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05But I think for a lot of people the monasteries were just
0:07:05 > 0:07:08the places where you quarried stone.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10You took the nice square dressed stone
0:07:10 > 0:07:16and put it into your cottage and you left the, you know - the sort of tracery, and the...
0:07:16 > 0:07:19- ..the ribs.- And the ribs.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and that helps to explain the look of the monastic ruin, doesn't it?
0:07:23 > 0:07:27What happened in the 18th century to change people's sensibilities,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and their attitudes towards these ruins?
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Well, it's hugely complicated, but there are two key words, really.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36One is picturesque, and the other is sublime.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39And they're the two new aesthetic categories.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42What was the dominant aesthetic at that time, then?
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Well, it had been order and regularity.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Gardens with straight lines, demonstrating man's dominance over nature,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and I suppose the big model is the gardens at Versailles.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53But there is a reaction against that.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57The picturesque becomes the dominant concept. There's a man called
0:07:57 > 0:08:01the Reverend William Gilpin. He wrote three essays on picturesque beauty
0:08:01 > 0:08:07and he talks about the value of ruins as a means of contemplation,
0:08:07 > 0:08:11a means of spiritual development, and so on - so that's the picturesque.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16And the sublime which is connected with fear.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19You know, there's a sense that in some minor way we're being physically threatened.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23You know, great mountains, torrents, dark places,
0:08:23 > 0:08:28ruins - anything that's got some element of awe and strangeness about it, and he
0:08:28 > 0:08:33definitely suggests that the sublime is more powerful than the beautiful.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39That feeds very much I think into the growing gothic, the gothic novel.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Very often set in ruined or half ruined mansions,
0:08:43 > 0:08:48secret passages, dark chambers - above all, secrets from the past.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55The idea of Gothic was starting to take root during the 19th century
0:08:55 > 0:08:58but it was a visit to Whitby by author and actors' agent
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Bram Stoker that was to forever link the movement to these ruins.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Whitby became the inspiration
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and setting for much of Gothic's most famous novel - Dracula.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18When exactly was Bram Stoker around Whitby?
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Well, in the 1890s. I mean,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23he gathered some of the material for Dracula from the old
0:09:23 > 0:09:27library in Whitby, including the name Dracula itself, and the wrecking of
0:09:27 > 0:09:30the ship. There was a ship, a Russian ship called the Dimitri -
0:09:30 > 0:09:32in Dracula, it's the Demeter.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35To what extent can we see the ruins here in Whitby as inspiration
0:09:35 > 0:09:37for Bram Stoker's Dracula?
0:09:37 > 0:09:42I think you could probably see it in terms of the weight and the power of the past.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45You get that feeling in the 18th century that the past has a kind of terror
0:09:45 > 0:09:49simply because it's so strange. It's so alien.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53And I think that feeds into Dracula, the figure of Dracula himself.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00It's hard to overstate the impact of Bram Stoker's creation.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06Over 170 Dracula films have been made, along with countless
0:10:06 > 0:10:09other re-imaginings of the basic vampire idea.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Even today, one of the most successful film franchises - Twilight -
0:10:17 > 0:10:20is merely a re-working of 19th century gothic.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Halloween has become a major secular festival,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32with the legend of Dracula as one of its cornerstones.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The feelings which these ruins evoked in Bram Stoker have proved
0:10:36 > 0:10:39enduringly unsettling and intriguing.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46The blend of death, sex and beautiful doomed youth
0:10:46 > 0:10:48are now one of the mainstays of popular culture.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56It's ironic that the Protestant Reformation, the revolution
0:10:56 > 0:11:00that was intended to effect a complete break with the mediaeval past and end our
0:11:00 > 0:11:06reverence for relics, in fact created hundreds of new architectural relics.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Holy places like this may have acquired a different resonance,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13but they've lost none of their power to awe and inspire us.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Yet our celebrated taste for the gothic is just one
0:11:17 > 0:11:20aspect of a much older history of ruins.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Whilst Gothic and the romantic idealising of ruins
0:11:28 > 0:11:31in the 19th century may have felt like a radical idea,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34nothing is ever really new.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40History forever repeats itself, and the nostalgic pull of the ruin
0:11:40 > 0:11:44has been around for much longer than you might think.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53I am heading to south Wales and the crumbing remains of a far
0:11:53 > 0:11:54earlier empire.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02This is Caerwent, one of the major towns of Roman Britain.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Its name, Caerwent, means fortress of Gwent.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08This was a regional capital for the area,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11and although these walls are over 1,700 years old they're still
0:12:11 > 0:12:15very impressive - they still convey a strong sense of imperial might.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Caerwent was founded by the Romans in AD 75,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and is one of the best preserved Roman sites in Northern Europe.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37This allows us to understand what would have taken place here during its Roman heyday.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47You can still clearly make out the remains of the temple on the old
0:12:47 > 0:12:52main street, although to whom it was dedicated is no longer known.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Behind me is the inner sanctum of the temple at Caerwent.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01When we think about Roman spiritual life, we tend to think of them
0:13:01 > 0:13:05worshipping a pantheon of gods such as Mars, Jupiter, Apollo and so on.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09We sometimes forget that in its latter years the Roman empire was a Christian empire.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12And as a result, temples such as this were either
0:13:12 > 0:13:17converted for use as churches, or more often than not, simply abandoned.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21When the Roman empire went into decline, the indigenous population
0:13:21 > 0:13:27of Britain didn't have the skills to maintain buildings on this scale.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32Before long, they were tumbling into disrepair
0:13:32 > 0:13:38and not long after, the allure of the ruin was starting to weave its magic.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43In the middle ages, an Anglo-Saxon monk wrote a poem entitled 'The Ruin'.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47It's an eerie precursor to the way the romantics would
0:13:47 > 0:13:52fall for the strange beauty of decay many hundreds of years later.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57"Wondrously ornate is the stone of this wall, shattered by fate.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01"Those who should repair it, the multitudes,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04"Were fallen to the ground.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06"The site is fallen into ruin, reduced to heaps."
0:14:13 > 0:14:17It's clear the Anglo-Saxons felt the same way
0:14:17 > 0:14:20about the ruins of the Roman Empire as we now feel about the ruins at
0:14:20 > 0:14:27Whitby - strange, slightly unnerving, but also full of nostalgic promise.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33This passion for the fading glory of old Roman architecture led to
0:14:33 > 0:14:37ruins gaining a whole new lease of life.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43The oldest parts of the church of St Stephen
0:14:43 > 0:14:47and St Tathan at Caerwent date back to 560 AD.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55As new settlements sprang up in the old Roman towns, building
0:14:55 > 0:14:58materials from the ruins were often incorporated in the fabric
0:14:58 > 0:15:01of the new buildings, such as this church here at Caerwent.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05A cynic might say they were just being architectural jackdaws
0:15:05 > 0:15:08taking advantage of the decorative stonework, but it was more
0:15:08 > 0:15:14than that - by incorporating stones from the Roman buildings within buildings such as this,
0:15:14 > 0:15:20they were also appropriating some of the spiritual prestige of the Christian Roman Empire -
0:15:20 > 0:15:24they were seeking a continuity with the past.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Ruins of great buildings don't generally happen by accident.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35They mark seismic shifts in our country's history.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41The fall of the Roman empire was one such shift,
0:15:41 > 0:15:46but 1,000 years later the shift from Catholicism to Protestantism
0:15:46 > 0:15:49was to leave a far deeper scar on the British landscape.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58This is the ruin of St Andrew's cathedral.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01It was founded to house the relics of St Andrew, one of Jesus's
0:16:01 > 0:16:06disciples and Patron Saint of Scotland.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09All over Britain, the 16th century reformation saw
0:16:09 > 0:16:13the replacing of a Catholic theology with a Protestant one -
0:16:13 > 0:16:16monks had no place in this new order and abbeys were dissolved.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But here in Scotland, they took things a step further and got
0:16:20 > 0:16:24rid of the bishops too, making cathedrals like this redundant.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32According to the Gospels,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36when Jesus approached the fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39it was Andrew who first agreed to become a disciple.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44So St Andrew can be considered the first-ever follower of Christ,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and this cathedral is said to be his final resting place.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53But when the reformation took hold, even this impressive pedigree
0:16:53 > 0:16:56was no shield against the mob.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01In 1559, Protestant reformer John Knox preached such a fiery sermon
0:17:01 > 0:17:05in a nearby church that his congregation were roused to come here
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and rip down the rich trappings of the cathedral -
0:17:08 > 0:17:12the symbols of popish worship - and they didn't stop there.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16This place hasn't peacefully crumbled to its present state -
0:17:16 > 0:17:20it would have looked pretty much like this as early as 1600 -
0:17:20 > 0:17:24a stark testimony to the destructive zeal of the Protestant reformers.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33In much of Britain, the passions of the reformation have gradually faded.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36But that is not entirely the case here.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41For people on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic divide,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45the Reformation was about far more than buildings.
0:17:45 > 0:17:51It was about cultural identity, bound up with the most deeply held convictions.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56And on the streets of Scotland's major cities you can still see
0:17:56 > 0:18:02one side or the other acting out long-established rituals.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07This march is the Protestant Apprentice Boys parading through the centre of Glasgow.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10But the city also plays host to very
0:18:10 > 0:18:14similar marches by those from the Catholic tradition.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18During the five-month summer marching season, there are up
0:18:18 > 0:18:23to 1,000 such marches throughout Scotland.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28For a church dedicated to a saint as important as Saint Andrew -
0:18:28 > 0:18:29Christ's first apostle,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32and the patron saint of Scotland - it's surprising to find that the
0:18:32 > 0:18:37Scots don't make more of these ruins - but then, maybe that's more honest.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41These ruins certainly enshrine a religious difference.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44It would be a shame if they also enshrined religious division.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51In many ways, the Reformation
0:18:51 > 0:18:54and the bitterness and division it represents
0:18:54 > 0:18:58reminds us of the worst aspects of our religious instincts.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08But with my next location I am off to see a ruin which shows us at our best.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18This is Coventry Cathedral.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25The oldest part of the cathedral was built in the 14th century.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31It's not a ruin of the Reformation and didn't inspire a literary movement,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35but because of the destruction rained upon it during World War Two,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38it holds a special place in our affections.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45The ruins here at Coventry Cathedral are amongst Britain's most recent,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47and because of that, most poignant.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50The bombing that destroyed this building occurred within
0:19:50 > 0:19:54living memory and Coventry's oldest residents can recall only too
0:19:54 > 0:19:58well the human cost associated with that night in November 1940.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01AIR RAID SIREN
0:20:01 > 0:20:07515 planes attacked Coventry on the 14th of November that year.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14And tragically for the people of the city, things could not have
0:20:14 > 0:20:16gone better for the German raiders.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23By the end of the night, 4,000 homes were destroyed.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29The city centre was obliterated, and the Cathedral a burned-out shell.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Roughly 568 people were killed,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37although an exact death toll was never established.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43The Nazis were delighted with their night's work and even coined
0:20:43 > 0:20:47a new word to describe the wholesale destruction of an enemy town.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Henceforth they referred to anywhere that suffered this
0:20:51 > 0:20:53fate as having been "Coventried".
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It would be understandable after suffering such a terrible act
0:21:02 > 0:21:06of violence if this city had adopted its shattered cathedral as a symbol
0:21:06 > 0:21:11of defiance or even triumphalism once the war was finally won.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16But the bombing set Coventry and its Cathedral on a very different path,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20a path that began almost immediately after their night of destruction.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29After the bombing, the cathedral's stonemason noticed that
0:21:29 > 0:21:34two charred mediaeval roof timbers had fallen in the shape of a cross,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38so he set them up against this wall here originally,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42on a pile of rubble, and that cross is still on display.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47A local priest found three mediaeval nails and he fashioned them into a cross
0:21:47 > 0:21:52which still stands to this day on the altar in the new cathedral.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58After the war, similar crosses were sent as a gesture of reconciliation to Berlin, Kiel,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02and Dresden - cities that had also suffered during the war.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15From the very start, there was a strong emphasis on reconciliation
0:22:15 > 0:22:19and forgiveness, as well as remembrance.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24It lends this ruin a real sense of purpose,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28and this was enhanced yet further by some clever architecture.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35When planning the restoration of the site, it was decided to attach
0:22:35 > 0:22:37the new cathedral to the shattered remains of the old,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40and the decision has been a triumph.
0:22:42 > 0:22:49The interplay between the old and the new is what gives this place its unique atmosphere -
0:22:49 > 0:22:53one without the other would not have the same power.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05This is not just a war memorial -
0:23:05 > 0:23:07this is still an integral part of the cathedral.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12This is still hallowed ground. The two parts - the old and the new -
0:23:12 > 0:23:14constitute one whole.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18The decision to keep the ruins and to continue to worship here ensures
0:23:18 > 0:23:23that not only do we never forget, but also that we continue to forgive.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27It's in a place like this that our experience of ruins becomes personal.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40And for me the final destination is most definitely personal.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42This is an area my family originate from
0:23:42 > 0:23:47and this is a ruin that holds a very special place in my heart.
0:23:47 > 0:23:53I'm on my way to the abbey at Strata Florida near Aberystwyth in Ceredigion.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04The abbey here was founded in 1154,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and it was a major centre of learning.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Its remote location did not spare it from the Reformation.
0:24:13 > 0:24:19Following its dissolution, the abbey's walls were mined for stone to build a local manor house.
0:24:22 > 0:24:28Over the next 300 years the site was gradually reclaimed by nature and all but lost.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37In the 1860s, whilst building a railway line in the area,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42an engineer named Steven Williams became fascinated with the site
0:24:42 > 0:24:47and started a large-scale excavation, uncovering the ruins we see today.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51He hoped it might become a major tourist destination for wealthy Victorians.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57Sadly this was not to be.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The late 19th century was a time of economic hardship and much of the
0:25:03 > 0:25:09local population sought to escape the grinding poverty on the new railway lines,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12some going as far afield as Australia and Patagonia.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24Ceredigion has been described as the Ireland of Wales because of the massive outflow of population
0:25:24 > 0:25:27during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32Some went to the south Wales coalfields, some went to the United States.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35In the case of my own family, most went to London.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38But the connection with this place remained strong
0:25:38 > 0:25:41both in life and in death.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46A cursory inspection of the gravestones around us
0:25:46 > 0:25:50reveal - even if you don't speak Welsh - just how many people were brought
0:25:50 > 0:25:55back here for burial from 'Llundain', which is Welsh for London.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Funeral services would be held on the platforms at Paddington.
0:25:58 > 0:26:05Welsh hymns would resound beneath the station roof, and then the coffin would be placed in the train
0:26:05 > 0:26:08to be brought back here for burial.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And that is how many of the dead around us here
0:26:17 > 0:26:20would have been brought to their final resting place.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23DEVOTIONAL CHORAL SINGING
0:26:26 > 0:26:30And amongst those Welshmen who came back from London to be buried
0:26:30 > 0:26:36here are many members of my own family - aunts, uncles, cousins.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45My journey across Britain to our holiest ruins has made me
0:26:45 > 0:26:50realise that what we are drawn to with ruins is the things that
0:26:50 > 0:26:54are lost, be that some part of our history
0:26:54 > 0:26:57or those that we have loved.
0:27:02 > 0:27:08Implicit in every ruin is a scattering, a breaking apart,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12and maybe that's why this place appeals to me so much,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14as a child of the Welsh diaspora,
0:27:14 > 0:27:21because just as time has gradually opened up this old abbey church to the elements,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26in the same way, my own family have been blown in all directions away
0:27:26 > 0:27:32from this place - but something still remains, something still draws us back.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Perhaps the secret of ruins is this -
0:27:35 > 0:27:39just as individual family members may come and go, the "idea"
0:27:39 > 0:27:44of "family" remains, and in the same way, although the Christian
0:27:44 > 0:27:51institution that once stood here is now in ruins, the "idea" of it still remains.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Ideas can never die.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd