0:33:50 > 0:33:57.
0:34:31 > 0:34:36This has all the hallmarks of a 200-year-old new town.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41Look at this, rows of little cottages all built at the same time.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45These streets are the work
0:34:45 > 0:34:48of town planners from the Georgian era.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55And at the business-end of town, a rather splendid harbour.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01Starting in 1805, the town and harbour were built to land herring,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04part of improving life for the Highlanders.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08But it's not all quite as it appears.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12From another point of view, this unique little new town
0:35:12 > 0:35:17was an unfortunate piece of Georgian vandalism.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24From up here you can see the grid plan of the town.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28At the end of the houses there's a grassy area with massive earthworks,
0:35:28 > 0:35:34remains of something much older, built by the Picts.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40The Picts were a mysterious tribe
0:35:40 > 0:35:44living in this part of Scotland some 2,000 years ago.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48This is one of their most important sites,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52but it's largely been flattened by the fishing port.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56To get an idea of the scale of the Pictish fort that was here,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59I've joined archaeologist Fraser Hunter.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04So where exactly are we in this fort?
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Well, this is a mid-18th century map of the site, here's the..
0:36:08 > 0:36:10There's two halves to the site, an upper and lower half,
0:36:10 > 0:36:12and we're standing there.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14On this ridge up the middle.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16This is one of the huge stone-built ramparts
0:36:16 > 0:36:19that defined the upper part of the site.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23These massive banks of earth
0:36:23 > 0:36:27are all that remain of the Picts' 1,500-year-old fort.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34And then looking across, where are all these?
0:36:34 > 0:36:37Well, underneath those houses, sadly.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41- So it's all gone.- That whole part is now covered over by the village.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47No wonder the Picts remain such a mystery.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51They ruled large parts of Scotland for centuries,
0:36:51 > 0:36:56but this seat of Pictish power was destroyed to build a fishing port.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03The new town wiped out precious clues to the culture of the Picts,
0:37:03 > 0:37:09but there are some tantalising glimpses of what was lost.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14- See up here, the two pentangles? - Oh, yes, look there and there!
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Those are things you get, again,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18on a number of pieces of Pictish sculpture.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22If we go on in, gosh, it's enormous!
0:37:22 > 0:37:25- It's fantastic, isn't it? - Absolutely massive.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30'Deeper into the cave, a more grisly discovery in the 1920s -
0:37:30 > 0:37:32'piles of human bones.'
0:37:33 > 0:37:37The evidence we have indicates a whole range of odd things going on,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39back into deep pre-history,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42back into the late Bronze Age and Iron Age. so 3,000/2,000 years ago
0:37:42 > 0:37:44this cave is being used for special purposes.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Do you want to come back outside and I'll show you some stuff?
0:37:48 > 0:37:54'Back in daylight, Fraser reveals the bones that were buried for so long.'
0:37:54 > 0:37:56We have some of the bones from the excavations.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59This is human neck vertebrae.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03Look! It's been chopped.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06- And you think that one's been chopped.- Ooh!
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Whoever owned that met a very nasty fate.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13It's a beheading, somebody's been decapitated,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16and most of the vertebrae surviving from the site show that,
0:38:16 > 0:38:18and also a range of people.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Those two are both adult, but this one is a juvenile.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Juvenile. It's a grisly place.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Yeah, a powerful place, a significant place.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Perhaps this cave is where the Burghead Picts
0:38:31 > 0:38:35butchered their enemies, and even their enemies' children.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41The culture of the Picts remains an enigma.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Their fort at Burghead was flattened,
0:38:44 > 0:38:49but the few precious artefacts that survive have a real power.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54Wow!
0:38:54 > 0:38:59- Oh, fantastic. - Oh, isn't that amazing?!
0:39:00 > 0:39:04- Absolutely fantastic. - One of the Burghead bulls.
0:39:04 > 0:39:05Most of them are found long after
0:39:05 > 0:39:08they've been knocked out of their original settings,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10and many of them, as you can see here,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14have also been damaged and re-used as building stones.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16'It's thought that up to 30 of these bull stones
0:39:16 > 0:39:21'were set into the walls of the fort, but only six have survived.'
0:39:21 > 0:39:25It's almost a totem or a symbol of this site and its inhabitants.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31The bull stones are a precious connection
0:39:31 > 0:39:34with the once powerful Picts,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38but who knows how many more of their treasures are buried
0:39:38 > 0:39:40among the houses of Burghead?
0:39:50 > 0:39:53We're working out way down Scotland's eastern shoreline.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Endless beaches stretch down the shore,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02waiting to be explored.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07A long, straight run of sand
0:40:07 > 0:40:11is interrupted by the oil city of Aberdeen.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16But we're headed a few miles beyond,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19to the little fishing port of Stonehaven.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28On the eve of every New Year,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31the villagers spend the day preparing for the big night ahead.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Susan Leiper's one of them.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Well, tonight in Stonehaven it's Hogmanay,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42it's the night where we swing our fire balls in the high street.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45This will be my tenth year of being a fire-ball swinger,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47and I absolutely love it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51So this is what a fireball looks like when it's been made up
0:40:51 > 0:40:53and before it gets lit.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56In this there's old pairs of jeans, cardboard.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00There's bits of newspaper and briquettes.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04This one's about ten pounds in weight, which is heavy enough.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09So at 12 o'clock, the piper starts to march down the road,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11and the first fire-ball swinger is off.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15That's the point of no return, really.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25This is where it all starts to kick in.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29I'm really, really nervous. Every year I'm like this at this point.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34- ALL:- Five, four, three, two, one...
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Yay! Whoo-hoo!
0:41:55 > 0:42:00I'm shattered! I've got no energy left!
0:42:05 > 0:42:08And you can feel the atmosphere's absolutely electric,
0:42:08 > 0:42:10and I just love it, I absolutely love it.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:42:23 > 0:42:28Stonehaven may sparkle with fire briefly at the start of each year,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33but this coast is capable of spectacular displays at any time.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36The grey North Sea is famous for its black moods,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39when ferocious storms batter this shore.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45And sometimes they feel the fury in the tiny village of Catterline.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50A little line of houses perches high on the hillside
0:42:50 > 0:42:52out of the sea's reach,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54but Catterline's most celebrated resident
0:42:54 > 0:42:56didn't shelter from the storms.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58She embraced the raging water.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Alice is following in the footsteps of a famous artist.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11I've got a photo here of a lone painter
0:43:11 > 0:43:13working intensely on the shore.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18You can see her facing the sea, which is boiling around the rocks,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21and she's wearing her oilskins with paint pots around her feet
0:43:21 > 0:43:23and some brushes over here.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27And this is a very big canvas, which she must be having to stabilise
0:43:27 > 0:43:30against the wind, and there's her motorbike propped up.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Now, the artist is Joan Eardley,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37and the photograph was taken of her just here at Catterline.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Joan Eardley was one of Britain's most important modern artists,
0:43:43 > 0:43:48and she had a long love affair with the shore at Catterline.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56This little cottage was her studio in the 1950s and '60s.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Locals call it the Watchie.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The Watchie was Joan's vantage point on the sea
0:44:02 > 0:44:04that so captured her heart.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08To explore the attraction, I'm off to meet a young artist
0:44:08 > 0:44:12who's also fallen under Catterline's subtle spell.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Anna King continues the tradition Joan Eardley started -
0:44:16 > 0:44:19women artists coming here to paint.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22- Hello, Anna.- Hi.- How's it going?
0:44:22 > 0:44:25- Good, thanks. - Are you feeling inspired?
0:44:25 > 0:44:27- That's lovely, actually.- Yeah.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30I've got this lovely photo here of Joan facing out to sea
0:44:30 > 0:44:32and painting this really stormy sea.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35I think she painted everything around Catterline.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38I think she kind of got to know every inch of the village
0:44:38 > 0:44:40and the sea and everything.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43In fact, if you want to have a look at some paintings,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46you can see that's the south row of cottages there.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49That's lovely. That's the row up on the top of the hill, isn't it?
0:44:49 > 0:44:52A bit of a different day from today, with snow on the ground!
0:44:56 > 0:44:57It seems like quite a wild place,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59it seems that Jane really liked that.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02These paintings, that one of the sea there...
0:45:02 > 0:45:03It's the wildness of it.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06The sea there is actually coming over this jetty, isn't it?
0:45:06 > 0:45:09So really crashing through.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16So was it Joan herself that first drew you to Catterline?
0:45:16 > 0:45:18I like her paintings and I'd heard of her,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22but it was more the opportunity of getting to stay in the Watchie,
0:45:22 > 0:45:24the wee cottage up there.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27There's nothing to do except paint and make art,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30so it's pretty good for getting work done.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35The Watchie works for many artists.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37The potential of this special place
0:45:37 > 0:45:41was first spotted by Joan Eardley in the 1950s.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44There's something about this space
0:45:44 > 0:45:48that inspires canvas after canvas,
0:45:48 > 0:45:51and it's not hard to see why.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55This is a view that Joan Eardley would have been very familiar with,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and I've got a recording of her voice here
0:45:58 > 0:46:00that I'm going to listen to.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09'When I'm painting in...in the north-east,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12'I hardly ever move out of the village.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15'I hardly ever move from one spot.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17'I do feel that the more you know something,
0:46:17 > 0:46:21'the more you can get out of it. That is the north-east.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28'There's just vast waste and vast seas, vast areas of cliff.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34'Well, you've just got to paint it.'
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Joan Eardley painted the violent seascapes of Catterline
0:46:43 > 0:46:47time and again - a love affair that became an obsession.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52She asked her friends in this little coastal village
0:46:52 > 0:46:56to watch for approaching storms, so they could call her in Glasgow,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and she could jump on her motorbike, dashing to the coast,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01ready to paint straightaway.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06But she was racing against time.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11In 1963, Joan put on an exhibition of her work in London,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13and it was critically acclaimed,
0:47:13 > 0:47:18but tragically, just as her fame was blossoming, she herself was dying.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that year,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25and by August she was dead.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27She was only 42 years old.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Joan Eardley was cremated
0:47:33 > 0:47:36and her ashes were scattered here at Catterline,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38but she left us a precious gift.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41Not only do her pictures survive,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43the Watchie, the studio Joan loved,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46is here for artists to discover for themselves
0:47:46 > 0:47:52what it was about Catterline that so captivated Joan.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57For me, it's the extraordinary emptiness that's so striking.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Maybe that's the inspiration Joan Eardley found here -
0:48:01 > 0:48:05the space to be alone with the elements.