0:00:03 > 0:00:06Britain is home to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Our religious heritage
0:00:10 > 0:00:14and architecture is more varied than virtually anywhere else on earth.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17My name is Ifor ap Glyn
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and I am on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites
0:00:21 > 0:00:25and 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 > 0:00:45My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways...
0:00:45 > 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 > 0:01:09I'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 > 0:01:15His congregation were roused to come here
0:01:15 > 0:01:19and 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 > 0:01:27Wow!
0:01:27 > 0:01:30From the divine to the unexpected, join me on a journey
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to the unforgettable corners of our country,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36the landscapes that make the soul soar.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59It is not hard to see why places of staggering natural beauty
0:01:59 > 0:02:04make people feel closer to God - a towering mountain view,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08the delicate beauty of a flower, a tranquil woodland pool.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19It is harder to understand why people might feel
0:02:19 > 0:02:22closer to the divine by going underground.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34I'm setting out to discover why subterranean sites have
0:02:34 > 0:02:38some of the richest religious histories in Britain
0:02:38 > 0:02:41and how these sites came to be considered holy.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48My first destination is tucked away in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire.
0:02:52 > 0:02:58This is Lud's Church, a natural canyon that has an atmosphere
0:02:58 > 0:03:01all of its own - indeed it has an ecology all of its own -
0:03:01 > 0:03:05many of these plants and ferns around me are extremely rare.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09It's a place that's on the margins in more ways than one.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14As you descend into its depths, the temperature drops by a few
0:03:14 > 0:03:18degrees and you feel these mossy green walls closing around you,
0:03:18 > 0:03:24giving it an otherworldly energy that repels some people but has attracted others.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Is it haunted? Or is it holy?
0:03:31 > 0:03:36No-one knows when it was first used but Pagans are thought to
0:03:36 > 0:03:39have worshipped here and one theory is that its name comes
0:03:39 > 0:03:44from the Celtic deity Lud, who also gave his name to Ludgate in London.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51It crops up in Arthurian legend where it is described as
0:03:51 > 0:03:54"the place for the Devil to recite matins".
0:04:00 > 0:04:03During the 15th century, it was refuge for religious
0:04:03 > 0:04:10dissenters called Lollards, led by a man named Walter de Lud-Auk.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13They were discovered,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18and Lud-Auk's granddaughter was killed by soldiers sent to break up their meeting.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27All this history weighs heavily.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33I sense someone forever just over my shoulder.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39The rocks and ferns offer fleeting glimpses of faces gazing down as I pass through.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Indeed, as I set off for Lud's Church, locals warned me
0:04:45 > 0:04:47not to linger after dark.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Lud Church's labyrinth of corridors
0:04:52 > 0:04:56make it feel like a building designed by nature. It's a natural
0:04:56 > 0:05:02wonder, and it has been a subterranean refuge and a meeting point for clandestine worship.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08It's the perfect place to start my journey to discover what happens when holy places go underground.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14When considering the religious history of caves,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18the timescale opens right up.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Since the earliest evidence of our ancestors is to be found in caves,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24it's no surprise that they were also the site
0:05:24 > 0:05:28of our earliest ritual activity.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32There's one such site in north Wales, a cave high up
0:05:32 > 0:05:36on the side of the Great Orme, overlooking the town of Llandudno.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44This site contains signs of ritual use dating as far back
0:05:44 > 0:05:49as 14,000 years ago, making this one of the oldest-known sites
0:05:49 > 0:05:53of religious practice in Britain.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The view today is just as stunning as it would have been
0:05:56 > 0:06:0114,000 years ago when the first settlers came here, although as that was during the Ice Age,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03the sea would have been much further away.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08But it would have been a perfect vantage point for a people who lived as hunter gatherers
0:06:08 > 0:06:13to study the game on the plains beneath.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17The cave itself was rediscovered just over a hundred years ago,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21by a man named Thomas Kendrick, and the first thing that strikes
0:06:21 > 0:06:25us as we come up to it is - it doesn't look anything like a cave.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Thomas Kendrick was hoping to attract visitors here,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31so he built this Victorian facade over the mouth of the cave
0:06:31 > 0:06:36so that his visitors could take tea whilst they, too, enjoyed the view.
0:06:36 > 0:06:42Its days as a tourist attraction have obviously long since gone,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45but the spiritual significance of the cave within remains undiminished.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The caves are no longer open to the public but we've gained permission
0:06:56 > 0:07:00from the current owners to venture into the depths.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09As Kendrick delved into the system of caves, he came across more
0:07:09 > 0:07:13than he'd bargained for. He found lots of bones and initially
0:07:13 > 0:07:17threw them out before thinking that they might be worth something.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Archaeological examinations, and later, carbon dating,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27revealed that these were the remains of three adults
0:07:27 > 0:07:32and a young person who lived 14,000 years ago.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41This isn't the earliest cave in Britain with evidence of human burial.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45That honour belongs to a cave on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales
0:07:45 > 0:07:47which dates back over 30,000 years.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51But what makes this place special is the fact that with the human remains they found here,
0:07:51 > 0:07:56they also found objects, jewellery, and one particular artefact
0:07:56 > 0:07:59that's now kept in the British Museum in London.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03It's one of the earliest example of artwork in the whole of Britain.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06And there's a copy of it in the local museum here in Llandudno.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22And this is it.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26It's the carved jawbone of a horse.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Ice Age horses were obviously much smaller than their modern counterparts,
0:08:30 > 0:08:37and as we can see, the surface has been carefully etched with this herringbone pattern
0:08:37 > 0:08:42which would have had red ochre rubbed into it to make the markings stand out.
0:08:42 > 0:08:49Now, we don't know whether it was worn as some kind of a pendant -
0:08:49 > 0:08:53or was it used as some kind of religious talisman?
0:08:53 > 0:08:57We don't know whether it was made here in Wales or carried here
0:08:57 > 0:09:02with people who migrated into the country at the time of the last ice age.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06What we do know is that somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and the fact that it was found
0:09:09 > 0:09:15with evidence of human burial in Kendrick's cave
0:09:15 > 0:09:19seems to indicate it was part of a burial ritual.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24And even though this is a copy, it's quite an experience to
0:09:24 > 0:09:27hold something like this, that even indirectly
0:09:27 > 0:09:32connects us to our long forgotten forefathers
0:09:32 > 0:09:35who buried their dead in the caves above Llandudno.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Events that took place 14,000 years ago are almost impossible
0:09:45 > 0:09:49to piece together in any significant detail.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52But my next stop, in Northumberland, allows me
0:09:52 > 0:09:55to jump forward 13,000 years to the resting place
0:09:55 > 0:09:59of one of the most renowned early British Christians.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03His life - and death - were recorded in exhaustive detail.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16When we think of caves we tend to think of a refuge, a sanctuary,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18a hiding place.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24And once we move on from pre-history to the Christian era,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28that is exactly how caves were being used.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55This isn't an easy place to find - but then that's the whole point.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58In the 870s, following a series of Viking raids on the island
0:10:58 > 0:11:03of Lindisfarne, the monks fled six miles inland to here.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05They took with them their most treasured possessions,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09including the body of their most famous abbot, St Cuthbert.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13So, this cave became a place of refuge for somebody
0:11:13 > 0:11:16who'd already been dead for the best part of 200 years.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21Now as we can still see today, it's a pretty bleak spot - not that that would have bothered St Cuthbert,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24but the monks apparently didn't stay here for very long.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28They roamed for the best part of seven years around the north of England,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33looking for a safe spot for the body of their most famous abbot
0:11:33 > 0:11:36before they finally settled at Chester-le-Street,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39having left a string of holy places in their wake.
0:11:45 > 0:11:52This place is wonderful, but also bleak, harsh and inhospitable.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58You can understand why this would have seemed a good option
0:11:58 > 0:12:01when escaping from marauding Vikings,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05but also why you would soon crave more comfortable surroundings.
0:12:12 > 0:12:19At St Cuthbert's cave, the monks came to hide but then swiftly moved on.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The hermit at my next location spent most of his life in a cave
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and in his hour of need, the very rocks themselves
0:12:27 > 0:12:30are said to have come to the aid of their holy resident.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50From Northumberland I've come down to South Wales
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and a wonderful coastal setting.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02St Govan's chapel here in Pembrokeshire
0:13:02 > 0:13:07provides the location for perhaps the most dramatic holy cave story of them all,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09albeit one of the most far-fetched.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13It looks as if the cliffs themselves have split apart in order to
0:13:13 > 0:13:18accommodate this tiny chapel, wedged down here, almost out of sight.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23As a place to hide, it takes some beating.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Some time around the year 500, a mysterious hermit called St Govan
0:13:27 > 0:13:32came to live in this stunning ravine.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35St Govan himself would have lived in a cave amongst the rocks
0:13:35 > 0:13:38as this chapel wasn't built until the 13th century.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53I'm meeting Dr Patrick Thomas, Chancellor of St David's Cathedral,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58to find out more about St Govan's claim to fame.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Well, he came here to escape from the world
0:14:01 > 0:14:06and he was living in this place, halfway up the cliff,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09where it seemed to be quiet and out of the way of things,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13and he tried to help people who were shipwrecked,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16and in doing so, he upset the local people
0:14:16 > 0:14:21who depended on their living from stripping the people who had been
0:14:21 > 0:14:25shipwrecked and indeed causing some of the shipwrecks themselves.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31So they came to do him over, the local Mafia, as it were,
0:14:31 > 0:14:38and he hid in a corner of the cave in a little split in the rocks,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40a cleft in the rocks, and prayed,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45and according to the tradition, that rock closed around him,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49and there are marks on the cleft that is said to be the place
0:14:49 > 0:14:52where Govan hid, that are like ribs,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56and that's obviously strengthened the tradition.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59The story of St Govan's subterranean miracle would have struck
0:14:59 > 0:15:04a chord with many of our forefathers as the idea of caves as holy places
0:15:04 > 0:15:07already had a special resonance.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Particularly within the Christian tradition and within the eastern tradition
0:15:11 > 0:15:14which also affected strongly on the early Celtic saints,
0:15:14 > 0:15:19the idea was that Jesus himself was born in a cave,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24that was used as a stable, so it becomes connected with birth,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28then Jesus' tomb was seen as being a cave.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31So you've got a connection with life and with death,
0:15:31 > 0:15:36with the most basic things, and so it becomes a place of sanctuary,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40but also a place connected with the central themes of life and death.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44The other undeniable attraction of this place
0:15:44 > 0:15:45is its coastal location,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49something that would not have been lost on St Govan.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52For all the Celtic saints, water and the sound of water
0:15:52 > 0:15:56was particularly important, so you are by a river, you are by a well.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58You are here by the sea.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03And the rhythm of the sea, and the ebb and flow of the tides
0:16:03 > 0:16:07was something that again, would have become part of his prayer life.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15Living here would undoubtedly have been harsh, but also very beautiful.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25And the allure of retreating to a waterside cave is central
0:16:25 > 0:16:27to my next destination, too.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35All over the world, it seems that we are drawn to worshipping
0:16:35 > 0:16:39underground - there are instances of this practise in many religions.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43It was in a cave that the Prophet Mohammed received
0:16:43 > 0:16:47the revelations that are the basis of the Koran.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Buddha also lived for a time within a cave.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54In France there are vast ornate chapels built underground but
0:16:54 > 0:16:58in Britain this practice only seems to have caught on in Derbyshire,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02perhaps because the rocks here lend themselves to carving.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06So I am heading out to see the finest example of a cave church in Britain.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11And this is it - the Anchor Church at Ingleby.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19This rocky outcrop once formed the southern bank of the River Trent
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and the caves here were formed partly by the action of river water
0:17:22 > 0:17:26on the soft rock, and partly cut out by hand.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29As Christian worship became more mainstream,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33people no longer sought out caves as a place of refuge and a place of safety,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37but they still sometimes chose them as somewhere to get away from the noise
0:17:37 > 0:17:41of the secular world, a place for spiritual contemplation and prayer.
0:17:41 > 0:17:48The name Anchor Church derives from the Greek word "anachoreo", meaning "to withdraw".
0:17:52 > 0:17:55This cave at Ingleby was first used as a religious retreat
0:17:55 > 0:18:00in the 6th or 7th century, but it wasn't home to just one
0:18:00 > 0:18:05solitary hermit - there is evidence of multiple dwellings in the area.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09All along these cliffs are signs of candle holes
0:18:09 > 0:18:13carved into the rock, perhaps part of lean-to structures,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17and then spots like this where smaller caves have been carved out.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21The first recorded hermit at Ingleby was called St Hardulph,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26who his reputation for wisdom and holiness was such that he began to attract visitors.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30On one occasion he famously had to save two nuns who were drowning in the river as their boat capsized
0:18:30 > 0:18:32on their way to come and see him.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37It would appear from cells like these that other people came to stay,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42and so gradually it would appear that a community of hermits evolved in this area.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Now of course, the point of being a hermit is to get away from it all,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50so it would seem that that was defeating the object of the exercise.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53But as hermits came together, something else happened
0:18:53 > 0:18:58and it is in communities of hermits like these that we find the roots of monasticism.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03We're used to seeing the ruins of medieval monasteries that
0:19:03 > 0:19:06in their day must have been the most spectacular buildings in the land.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10So it's humbling to think that the monastic tradition actually grew
0:19:10 > 0:19:15out of places like these - groups of hermits withdrawing from mainstream
0:19:15 > 0:19:19society and then being drawn back together in isolated corners
0:19:19 > 0:19:24of the countryside to live out their lives in devotion and prayer.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Even today this place still feels remote.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33You still get a strong sense of the seclusion that would have
0:19:33 > 0:19:37attracted a Saxon hermit here for a life of contemplation and prayer.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39But there's something else about this place -
0:19:39 > 0:19:46when you go inside, you're drawn somehow deeper into the earth -
0:19:46 > 0:19:48it has that womb-like feeling
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and it's quite unlike any of the other places I've visited.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Perhaps this is the appeal of underground worship,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the sense that by detaching yourself from the everyday concerns
0:20:06 > 0:20:10of the world, you're almost returning to the womb,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13entombing yourself within your beliefs.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18If that is the case, then it can be no more graphically
0:20:18 > 0:20:22illustrated than at the home of my next extraordinary anchorite.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32This is the church of St Julian's in Norwich
0:20:32 > 0:20:37where in the mid 1370's a woman made the momentous decision
0:20:37 > 0:20:44to become an anchorite, but chose to do so in a manner that required an incredible level of commitment.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49At the age of just 30, she willingly allowed herself to be bricked up
0:20:49 > 0:20:53in a tiny cell within the walls of the church,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56for the rest of her natural life.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00She spent the next 40 years in meditation and in prayer
0:21:00 > 0:21:02and became, in the process,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07literally part of the fabric of the church that she loved.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Julian's cell itself was destroyed during the Reformation,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20but during restoration work
0:21:20 > 0:21:24following the bombing of the church during the last war,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28they found some medieval foundations
0:21:28 > 0:21:31indicating where the cell probably lay,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and they built this chapel on that very spot -
0:21:34 > 0:21:39although this is much, much bigger and much, much lighter than the original cell would have been.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43However, the original cell, like this chapel, would have been south facing,
0:21:43 > 0:21:50so Julian could at least have enjoyed some of the warmth of the sun that she would never see again,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53There were three windows in cells of this nature,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57one opening into the main body of the church,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01so that the anchorite could see the altar and receive communion.
0:22:01 > 0:22:07then a second window through which she would receive food and be able to pass her waste out,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11and then a third window opening out onto the street,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14so that she could dispense advice and consolation
0:22:14 > 0:22:17to people or pilgrims who came to see her -
0:22:17 > 0:22:25because to the medieval mind, this extreme way of life was just as fascinating to them as it is to us.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Lady Julian chose to embark upon her life as an anchorite after
0:22:31 > 0:22:35experiencing a series of visions or revelations.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38To hear more about this I am meeting Sister Pamela
0:22:38 > 0:22:40who lives in a nunnery attached to the church
0:22:40 > 0:22:46and helps visitors understand the rigours of Lady Julian's life.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49When she was 30-and-a-half years old but told that she was nearly
0:22:49 > 0:22:52dying, and drifting away, and yet, she didn't -
0:22:52 > 0:22:55she had these revelations, and being a sane sort of woman,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59which I'm sure she was, she doubted them, and she was given
0:22:59 > 0:23:03the sixteenth revelation to say, "They're not just for you.
0:23:03 > 0:23:10"They're for everybody." She had a vivid vision of the Crucifix.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12It was as though she was at the Passion,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16and if any people have seen the movie Passion Of Christ,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20you'll know how vivid that is, and I think she felt she was there.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Once she'd taken the momentous decision to become an anchorite,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26the machinery of the church would have sprung into action
0:23:26 > 0:23:30to organise the practicalities of her interment.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33She would have been led here from the Benedictine
0:23:33 > 0:23:37monastery at Carrow, which is just outside the city walls here,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40and the bishop would have conducted the service,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43which would actually have been a Requiem Mass.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47She was being buried - not in a cave or a hole in the ground,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51but actually in a small cell.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54And possibly the brickie would be there,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59to actually brick her up afterwards, after she'd been enclosed.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Being an anchorite, she'd spend her time praying
0:24:03 > 0:24:04and counselling people,
0:24:04 > 0:24:09but also meditating on these amazing revelations that she'd had,
0:24:09 > 0:24:14so she spent 15-20 years expounding, meditating, writing...rewriting them.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17She was a unique figure in English literature.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21She was the first woman we know of to write a book in English.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24- She was contemporary with Chaucer. - Yeah.- Yes.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26The ultimate thing, of course,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31is that she said at the end of her book, "15 years or more,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35"God showed me in my inward being what this was all about -
0:24:35 > 0:24:40"that love is his meaning. Who showed it to you? Love.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43"What did He show you? Love! Why did he show you? For love.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47"Hold onto this, and you need not know anything else,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49"because love is Our Lord's meaning."
0:24:49 > 0:24:53And so she sums it all up, in that word - love.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57It is impossible for most of us
0:24:57 > 0:25:01to imagine having ourselves bricked up for the rest of our lives.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Many of us would consider such an extreme decision as stifling,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11crazy, a waste of life, even.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14But coming here has left me with a strange admiration for
0:25:14 > 0:25:20Lady Julian. It's rare that you come across such a singular act of faith.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25However, after contemplating the claustrophobic confines
0:25:25 > 0:25:27of an anchorite cell, it's almost like being able to
0:25:27 > 0:25:31breathe again to come back into a space like this.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38This is my final stop - Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46To our modern eyes, this is the kind of church architecture that we
0:25:46 > 0:25:47find most inspiring.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53Soaring columns, stained-glass windows, plenty of light and space.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56For us, the idea of delving into the dark recesses of a crypt
0:25:56 > 0:26:00is not particularly appealing, but for the earliest pilgrims to this
0:26:00 > 0:26:02church, that would have been the main attraction.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11This 12th century cathedral is magnificent,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15but it was not the first church built on this site.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19The first church here dated back to 672,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21and was built by a man called St Wilfrid.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31The only remaining part of that earlier church is the crypt,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34but it was actually the crypt that made this place such
0:26:34 > 0:26:37a celebrated destination.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Pilgrims would have wended their way down that passage into this
0:26:42 > 0:26:45central chamber, lit then, as today,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49by lamps placed in these niches, before they then venerated
0:26:49 > 0:26:54the holy relic that would have been set in this larger niche here.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58In a sense, it's a piece of religious theatre,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02and the man who had it built, St Wilfrid, was certainly something
0:27:02 > 0:27:06of a showman and this place was certainly built to impress.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10There would have been nothing quite like it in Britain at the time.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13What St Wilfrid built and what countless pilgrims
0:27:13 > 0:27:17flocked to see was nothing less than a recreation of the most holy site
0:27:17 > 0:27:21in Christendom - Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27At a time before foreign travel was a realistic possibility,
0:27:27 > 0:27:32the crypt at Ripon was as close to the Holy Land as most
0:27:32 > 0:27:34people in Britain would ever get.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37This crypt consciously echoes Christ's tomb
0:27:37 > 0:27:41where his body was laid for three days before the resurrection.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47And in some of the other caves we've visited, they might be interpreted as womb-like structures,
0:27:47 > 0:27:53places of refuge, of safety, and of rebirth, even.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57This is surely why caves crop up again and again
0:27:57 > 0:27:59in all the world's religions.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02The reason they strike such a deep chord is because they echo
0:28:02 > 0:28:07so closely the places we've come from and the place we will all end up -
0:28:07 > 0:28:10the womb and the tomb.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13What could be more primal than that?
0:28:13 > 0:28:17It's a challenging concept, but in somewhere like this
0:28:17 > 0:28:21perhaps we can come a little bit closer to understanding that meaning.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd