0:00:02 > 0:00:06Britain was once a difficult country to cross.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Roads were few and paths obscure.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And yet our ancestors travelled.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16For work and for pleasure.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19For faith and for fortune.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24But the routes that they followed are lost.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I'm going to rediscover them and the people who took them.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33What they saw and why they travelled.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Who they met and where they went.
0:00:35 > 0:00:42I'm following the forgotten routes that made this country great.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53And today, I'm going to follow in the tracks of Queen Elizabeth I
0:00:53 > 0:00:58on a great Royal progress that began here at Windsor.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01So I'm off to the West Country,
0:01:01 > 0:01:07retracing one of Good Queen Bess's huge annual processions.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10She came here, made absolute mayhem.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14I'll be visiting the palaces and towns of the Cotswolds.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16You feel as if you've got vertigo.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20I'll be finding out what remains of her world.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23You can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I'll be looking at the fun she had and havoc she wreaked as she went on her way.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Whoa!
0:01:29 > 0:01:31That's it! Good.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32Gah!
0:01:37 > 0:01:41If you'd been privileged enough to be here in Windsor Castle
0:01:41 > 0:01:45at the end of the second week in July 1574,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49you'd have witnessed a sort of subdued chaos going on
0:01:49 > 0:01:53as the entire court packed up to join Elizabeth I
0:01:53 > 0:01:56on her grand Royal progress.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59It was...it was part summer holiday,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02part huge procession
0:02:02 > 0:02:06and part rock-and-roll tour to rival the Rolling Stones.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11This 1574 progress was the furthest west she was ever to go.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14It was a big disruption.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Not everybody was overjoyed to be going.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21There was a letter from the Earl of Arundel to Robert Dudley,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24saying that everybody from the highest to the lowest
0:02:24 > 0:02:26was to swear they were having a soft time,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29even if they were staying in very hard lodgings.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33In other words, nobody was allowed to complain.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Although nearly everybody did.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38In truth, her closest advisors often did everything they could
0:02:38 > 0:02:40to dissuade her from setting off again,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44but Elizabeth was determined to make these arduous trips
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and would not be stopped. Of course, if I'd been back here then,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52one of the more bizarre reasons why she wanted to go fairly urgently
0:02:52 > 0:02:54would have become obvious to me.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58I'd have smelt it, because the moats were effectively open cesspits.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01All the toilets emptied into them.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03And by mid-July, there was a bit of a hum,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08and they associated that smell with the plague.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11The Black Death was the excuse to get going and, importantly,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16the Queen intended to sign a treaty with the Spanish in Bristol.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19But that doesn't explain why she loved the whole circus.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Can we find out?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24I've arranged a rather glamorous way of doing so.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26There's a crowd gathered here,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30but it's not for me, it's actually for my car,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34which is exactly the effect Elizabeth I would have liked.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36- Stuart, morning. - Good morning, Griff.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38- How are you today? - I'm very good, thanks.
0:03:38 > 0:03:39- May I take your bag?- Thank you.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43All the better for seeing this magnificent vehicle. What is it?
0:03:43 > 0:03:48This is a 1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom V.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And the Rolls can stand in as my own royal carriage.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56It's still the vehicle of choice for our current Royal Family.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58You do notice that people pay attention to you
0:03:58 > 0:04:01if you arrive in this thing.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's a head-turner, without a doubt.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Elizabeth I was an early adopter of coaches in England.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Hers were possibly the first ever seen in the country.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14They were vehicles for display and possibly for escape.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18She could literally stay
0:04:18 > 0:04:22one step ahead of everybody who wanted to influence her.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25All the ambassadors and the clerics
0:04:25 > 0:04:27and the bishops and the factions
0:04:27 > 0:04:30who wanted her to do things
0:04:30 > 0:04:34had to try and find her when she was on tour,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37until she decided to make it obvious where she was.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40But if some of her political luggage was abandoned,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43she certainly took everything else she might require
0:04:43 > 0:04:45in one giant baggage train.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Apparently, it was a phenomenon.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50How big? I'd quite like to find out.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to help us here.
0:04:55 > 0:05:01We're trying to reproduce Queen Elizabeth I's baggage train.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03I'm going to nominate, very unfairly,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06four people to be the court officers...
0:05:06 > 0:05:09'In order to stay true to court protocol,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'I'm handing out different-coloured caps to represent
0:05:12 > 0:05:15'the various ranks of people in Elizabeth's court.'
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Now I need to find six ladies-in-waiting...
0:05:19 > 0:05:22'Most important are the black and dark blue.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26'They're the gentlemen of the privy chamber and privy councillors.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30'They'll be walking close behind me at the head of the procession.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:32We haven't got to the dregs yet. You're just...
0:05:32 > 0:05:36'Then all the other ranks are spread out right down the line.'
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Servants!
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Nobody is volunteering to be a servant.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44- I'm a servant!- I'm a servant! - I'm a maid!- Here we ago.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Let's repair to our cars.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Can I have the privy councillors up the front here, please?
0:05:49 > 0:05:52You, as members of the court,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56are under strict instructions never to complain.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00- LAUGHTER - And it's time to go!
0:06:06 > 0:06:10It's said that around 350 people from the court joined Elizabeth,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13with hundreds of carts, wagons and horses in tow.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20They brought everything the Queen needed. Her entire kitchen,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23all the court documents and library,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27often wrapped up in waterproof bearskins.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29This is well done, my people.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Well done, my subjects!
0:06:33 > 0:06:37At over a mile long, it must have been an astonishing sight,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39snaking through Elizabethan countryside
0:06:39 > 0:06:43at any average speed of three miles an hour.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48It's astonishing.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Until we did this, I didn't realise what an extraordinary impact
0:06:51 > 0:06:55the Queen's progress must have had on the countryside.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58It must have been one of the reasons she wanted to go,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01so people knew she was coming
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and they knew that she was the Queen.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Thank you very, very much, everyone, for helping.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Well, I think we're going to leave the baggage train,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29all one-and-a-half miles of it, behind us now, and go on.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33There's nothing unusual about that. That's exactly what the Queen did.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36She'd ride on ahead and let everybody else catch up with her.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38And ahead of her went people called the harbingers.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41They would ride on to prepare the way
0:07:41 > 0:07:46for this gigantic crowd of people to arrive.
0:07:49 > 0:07:5320 miles south of Oxford on what is now the A369,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55I'm heading for a roadside bikers' cafe
0:07:55 > 0:07:58which I'm told is right on the Queen's route.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01And the man who's worked this out for us
0:08:01 > 0:08:04is historical geographer Mark Brasher.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Nice to see you. Here we are, we're going off on this tour.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13What can we use to find out what route she took?
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Well, you can start by looking at the court calendar,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19which will give you the itinerary of places
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and the dates that she was at those places.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25So this is our very year, our very time.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27That's pretty impressive.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Because you've got the actual date, like July 11th to 13th,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35July 15th to September 25th, progress in Berkshire.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37But the question remains,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40what route did they take between these places?
0:08:40 > 0:08:44It's interesting to note that in the 1570s,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48a Yorkshire surveyor, Christopher Saxton, had got the commission
0:08:48 > 0:08:52- to produce a series of county maps of the whole realm.- Right.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55'And there we have it. The Saxton maps don't have any roads,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58'but they do show bridging points of the various rivers en route.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01'This has allowed Mark to join the dots, so to speak,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04'and he's drawn the route on a series of modern maps
0:09:04 > 0:09:08'which are going to take me from the starting point at Windsor Castle
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'all the way to my journey's end in Bristol.'
0:09:12 > 0:09:15- Thank you.- Thank you. - OK. We're on the road!
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Using Mark's map, my journey from Windsor into Oxfordshire
0:09:21 > 0:09:27leaves our major roads and winds through small villages and towns.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32It's already giving me a sense of the England that Elizabeth would have experienced.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36For Elizabeth, crossing the country
0:09:36 > 0:09:39was like threading your way through a maze.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Paul Hindle is an expert on the ancient ways of Britain.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49We've met up on one of the early sections of the route near Oxford.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53He's going to guide me through this part of the journey.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54They would set off to go somewhere,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58but there would be no signposts, there were very few main roads.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01They would have local people who knew, but there were no maps.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04The first maps, county maps of Saxton,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07don't come till the 1570s and they didn't have roads on.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11The first road maps don't come till the 1690s.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13And so it's every difficult to get around.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15We just take maps for granted.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19And in the Elizabethan period, 1,000 years after they were made,
0:10:19 > 0:10:24Roman roads were still the best paved roads that they had?
0:10:24 > 0:10:27They were the only paved roads running through the countryside.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28Between the Romans
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and the coming of the turnpikes in the 18th century
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and then the paving of roads in the 19th,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38there was no road-building whatsoever for 1,500 years.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Now, let's see. For us, the sort of choice
0:10:43 > 0:10:45that I would've thought the Royal progress
0:10:45 > 0:10:48would have come to pretty often on its way. Which way do they go?
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Let's have a look at Mark's map.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53So, here we are, we're now at the junction
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and we need to turn off the tarmac track
0:10:56 > 0:11:01and keep going in a straight line on the old London Road, this way.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04OK. The old London Road has now completely disappeared as a road
0:11:04 > 0:11:07and become what I think we might find is closer to a field.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Yes. I think this is more like an Elizabethan road,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14except there would have been no hedges on either side,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16no walls buried in these hedges, either.
0:11:16 > 0:11:17It would have been wide open
0:11:17 > 0:11:21and people would simply have gone across the open countryside.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24We have passed through the loveliest countryside.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27I'm now heading for Woodstock.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29This was a sort of Royal staging post
0:11:29 > 0:11:32where they gathered strength for the tour proper -
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Queen Elizabeth's Royal progress of 1574.
0:11:38 > 0:11:39It's a few miles north of Oxford
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and around 50 miles into her journey from Windsor.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Thank you very much, Stuart. That's very kind.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I'll be back in just a little...
0:11:51 > 0:11:53'The court calendar tells me they stayed here,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'in Woodstock Manor for just over a week.'
0:11:56 > 0:12:02Well, I'm afraid this is all that remains of Woodstock.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04It's a little bit disappointing, isn't it?
0:12:04 > 0:12:08But apparently, it was all cleared away, knocked down
0:12:08 > 0:12:13and completely destroyed because they built a new palace.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Blenheim was built for the 1st Duke of Marlborough
0:12:17 > 0:12:19in the early 1700s.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Elizabeth's Woodstock Manor was still standing
0:12:22 > 0:12:23when Blenheim was completed,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27but when the new duchess looked out of her window,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30she though the old medieval house was a bit of an eyesore,
0:12:30 > 0:12:31so she had it knocked down.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40This is the best record of what it looked like.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Actually quite small by the standard of Elizabethan rambling piles.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Quite apart from the notorious damp,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52I'm not sure Queen Elizabeth would have relished staying at Woodstock
0:12:52 > 0:12:54because 20 years earlier,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57she'd been held prisoner here by Queen Mary.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Mary had seen Elizabeth as a dangerous rival
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and tried to hide her from public view as much as possible.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05But several times during tense moments,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Elizabeth had outfaced her half-sister
0:13:08 > 0:13:10by directly courting the support of the people.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Though Woodstock was one of the Queen's own palaces,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19there was no guarantee of room for the entire court to stay there.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22So courtiers known as harbingers were tasked
0:13:22 > 0:13:28with finding accommodation for people like me and my groom in nearby towns.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Oh! There's a rival, there's a Bentley over there.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38They haven't got anything for us. We'll have to move on.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The majority of the entourage bedded down in inns or even tents.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44They found whatever lodgings they could.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Everybody from the Queen's court looking for somewhere to stay.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I think there's a place up here on the left.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03No. No room.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Many of the junior functionaries
0:14:06 > 0:14:09would have resorted to the most basic accommodation -
0:14:09 > 0:14:12sleeping with the job, as it were.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Well, as a lowly servant of the court,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17I would have obviously
0:14:17 > 0:14:21had to have made by bed where I could.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26And when I say make my bed, I mean literally make my bed.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31This is what people did every night.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35They made themselves... a straw pallet.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Effectively...
0:14:38 > 0:14:43..this is what everybody slept on, unless you were the Queen herself.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47HE CHUCKLES
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Ah! Good!
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Not bad at all.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Stuart?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- Sir.- I'm sorry to have to tell you, but in Elizabethan times,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58it was nearly always two to a bed,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02as long as a gentleman slept with a gentleman,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and a yeoman slept with a yeoman.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09And I think we're two yeomen, so...
0:15:09 > 0:15:11this will do for us, don't you think?
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Well, I'm not going to spend the night in there.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17There's only one thing for it.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Another big demand on any town when the Elizabethan court arrived
0:15:26 > 0:15:27was refreshment.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32For the Elizabethans, that meant beer. In huge quantities.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Keith Thomas is an historic ale expect,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41and he's brought an imitation Elizabethan beer for us to taste.
0:15:41 > 0:15:47So, Keith, people drank beer, or ale, in huge quantities, didn't they?
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Yes. Yes. They had quarts, didn't they?
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- So it would be, really, your liquid of the day.- Right.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56So, the idea was that you didn't drink the water,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59because the water would infect you,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04but beer had effectively, sort of, pasteurised your water.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Normal bacteria would have died,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09- so it would have been quite clean and wholesome.- Yep.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11And people would have drunk it is a refreshment.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15'They didn't know the science, they thought it aided digestion.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18'But herbs were prominent in Elizabethan ale.'
0:16:18 > 0:16:23- Tell me what you think, Charlie. - It's a very distinctive flavour, isn't it? I mean, is this caraway?
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Yes, it is. So, you've got a fresh herb,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29you've got a spicy aroma on the noses,
0:16:29 > 0:16:30but you haven't got the hoppiness.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34This is very suitable for women.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39Now, Queen Elizabeth I, she certainly liked what was known as a light ale,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and it was because she liked it, the whole court
0:16:42 > 0:16:45drunk nothing but light ale, which was quite a rarity, apparently,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and when they arrived in a town like Woodstock,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and there wasn't enough light ale to go around,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53they would issue specific licences.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57The purveyors would go around the town and say to various households,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01"You can make beer just for the period that the court is here,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05"and you can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that."
0:17:05 > 0:17:08More connections to our own era.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Clearly, controlling the making of alcohol goes back a long way,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15at least since the time of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry VII,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17with these special provisions popping up
0:17:17 > 0:17:20as a result of the progress.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Our convoluted route
0:17:24 > 0:17:27now seems to be taking us deeper into the Oxfordshire countryside,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31heading for the Cotswolds and the town of Burford.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34It is lovely in the back here, Stuart, really gorgeous.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Driving Miss Griff.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42As we roll back the miles in our Phantom, I wonder what other forms of transport
0:17:42 > 0:17:46would have been on offer to members of the Elizabethan court,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48so we've come to Sturt Farm Stables,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51just a few miles outside Burford.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54We know the Queen was a great lover of horses,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and an accomplished rider, just like our own Royal Family...
0:17:58 > 0:18:01and unlike me. To me, a horse is a challenge with four legs.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05But I wonder if, in order to get closer to the Royal progress experience,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07I need to take one for a spin.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Left foot in the stirrup. Put your weight into your right hand
0:18:11 > 0:18:14as you put your right leg over the back and sit on the horse.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17- Gah!- Whoa, whoa, whoa. - GRIFF LAUGHS
0:18:17 > 0:18:21- "And don't shout, Griff. For heaven's sake."- Try not to shout.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25I actually... I feel a little safer in the Roller.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31I think it's been calculated that the actual number of horses
0:18:31 > 0:18:34that Queen Elizabeth had runs into the thousands.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36The baggage train itself,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40it was reckoned that there must have been about 1,200 horses
0:18:40 > 0:18:41pulling all those carts.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45But the infernal posh like to travel in a sort of box,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47often strung between two horses, called a litter.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52This was the form of carriage preferred by most people,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54for rather obvious reasons -
0:18:54 > 0:18:58because you didn't have to walk,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03and you could effectively get through even the narrowest
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and most muddy of carriageways,
0:19:06 > 0:19:07whereas if you took your coach,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12then you didn't have a chance of getting along most of the roads, cos they were too narrow.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Not all litters were pulled, as it were, or hung between horses.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Some were... Some were carried by people.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23And I've got four energetic gentleman grooms.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25And now I'm going to ride on...
0:19:26 > 0:19:29..in what I assume
0:19:29 > 0:19:33was the only proper way to travel in the baggage train.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Contemporary records don't tell us
0:19:36 > 0:19:39how much of her trip Queen Elizabeth spent in a litter.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It would appear, though, that between the major stops,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44she'd have been on horseback,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47very often riding separate from the main baggage train.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50And then she'd have entered the various towns on the route,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53like Burford, for instance, carried along in state.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57There's a tantalising glimpse of Queen Elizabeth's personal taste
0:19:57 > 0:20:00in one bill that she paid, where she spent more money
0:20:00 > 0:20:03on her old-style litter than she did on her newfangled coach.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07She had it decorated with black leather,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10silver studs and a lot of red satin cushions.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Good. OK, good.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Thank you very much. Well lifted. Good.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20I'll tell you one thing, though. She was right about the cushions.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22The town of Burford sits
0:20:22 > 0:20:26on the border between Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30It's often referred to as the "gateway to the Cotswolds".
0:20:31 > 0:20:35The fortunes of this handsome town in the Elizabethan era
0:20:35 > 0:20:38were founded almost entirely on sheep.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41The wool trade was hugely important throughout the Cotswolds.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44It was the basis of England's wealth.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48A popular medieval saying was that in Europe, the best wool is English,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and in England, the best wool is Cotswold.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57I think this must be the bridge across the Windrush,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00where the entire corporation of Burford came out
0:21:00 > 0:21:02in order to welcome Elizabeth I.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05They were led by somebody called Simon Wisdom,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08and she...she liked to visit towns.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11And they liked to see her.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Burford was an ancient free town.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16No local bigwig ruled here.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Towns like this looked to the Queen to protect them,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and in return, she got their support and their money.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28On the Royal progress, the entourage often got hopelessly lost,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31and as Stuart and I pick our way through the Cotswolds
0:21:31 > 0:21:33and try to stay true to Mark's route,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36we, too, are facing the odd challenge.
0:21:37 > 0:21:38Is it right?
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Or is it left?
0:21:44 > 0:21:47But there are benefits to getting lost every now and again.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49I think we should go up that way.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54We're seeing more and more of this superb landscape.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Is this the same England, though,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00that a contemporary German tourist in the 1500s wrote about
0:22:00 > 0:22:03with an appreciative eye,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05praising the short, tender grass of the uplands
0:22:05 > 0:22:09and the huge numbers of sheep, and calling it the "true golden fleece"?
0:22:09 > 0:22:13To give me an idea, I'm meeting landscape historian,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Dr Amanda Richardson.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Now, it's quite probable, isn't it, Mandy, that Elizabeth
0:22:20 > 0:22:22and her retinue, is it were,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27would have travelled along the top of hills as they went on their tour?
0:22:27 > 0:22:30Oh, yes, definitely, because once you come off the tops of the hills
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and you go down into the valleys,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36then you're more likely to encounter impassable roads, flooding.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40So they would continuously get, one assumes, on their journey,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43these incredible vistas of the Kingdom of England?
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Certainly by the Elizabethan period, you would get something
0:22:45 > 0:22:49approximating to the landscape that we're looking out on here.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54But we've got to remember that the landscape has been constantly changing through history.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58And also, today, there's quite a lot of woodland out there.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00But actually, it's probably quite recent, quite a lot of that.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Yeah, at the turn of the 16th and 17th century,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06it's estimated that only about 6 or 7% of England was wooded.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08So this whole idea we've got about all of England,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12a squirrel going from one end of England to the other in trees
0:23:12 > 0:23:14is just a false one.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17But the biggest impact on the landscape from the Elizabethan time
0:23:17 > 0:23:19was caused by sheep farming.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Now, we can see some tops out there
0:23:21 > 0:23:24which have been used probably for summer pasture and all that,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27but when they came down into the valley,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31what makes this different is that they needed to make fields,
0:23:31 > 0:23:32and they did that with hedges.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34So they did.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And you've got a pattern here of quite irregular fields,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39so these fields are probably quite early,
0:23:39 > 0:23:41possibly dating from the Elizabethan period.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45So that's another thing that we associate with the English landscape.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51Visitors to the country felt that the English landscape was one of the finest they'd ever seen.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56A Venetian visitor in 1596 declared that the country
0:23:56 > 0:24:00was the most lovely you can imagine in all the world.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02It's still pretty magnificent.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Moving on from the Burford area, our progress is taking us
0:24:08 > 0:24:12even further west on the modern A40,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15shifting from Oxfordshire into Gloucestershire.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18We then follow the route to the town of Winchcombe.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Now, although having the Queen of England,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24several hundred members of her court
0:24:24 > 0:24:28and an enormous baggage train turning up at your front door
0:24:28 > 0:24:30may have seemed rather daunting,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32most of the important lords and ladies of the realm
0:24:32 > 0:24:35really wanted the Queen to pay them a visit.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41This was an ideal place for the Royal progress to halt.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46It's Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, in the heart of the Cotswolds.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Elizabeth had partly gone on her progress
0:24:51 > 0:24:54to keep an eye on her nobles.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58England was still a country divided on religious grounds,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and many of the old aristocracy had Catholic leanings,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05potentially rebels.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07So she went where she was welcome,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10to acknowledge friends whom she could support
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and to enhance their status in the locality.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24And her host at Sudeley was Lady Chandos. She would have to entertain lavishly.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Sometimes whole houses were built and special lakes were constructed.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33Most of all, they ate massive feasts.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Joining me on my visit is Alison Sim,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41who's going to teach me and some interested locals
0:25:41 > 0:25:43about Tudor table manners.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48Ladies and gentlemen, could you stand up? The Queen hasn't arrived.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Goodness me, no manners at all.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Er, madam. Madam. I so apologise that you have been placed here.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58I am sorry, I am sorry. Now, I know you're only a merchant,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00I don't know what you told the steward,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02but could you move down, please? Really.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Yes, I think that's more fitting.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07The nearer you are to the Queen, the more important you are.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09The further away, the less important you are.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Having establish my own position
0:26:12 > 0:26:15well down the table,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19I can address myself to the huge number of different dishes that might be on offer.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Alison, a lot of my idea of how they ate comes from watching movies
0:26:25 > 0:26:29of one kind or another, and Charles Laughton in The Private Life Of Henry VIII,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31he would sort of chew on his chicken bone,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34- slinging them over his... Was that right?- Absolutely not.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39When you think of the amount of money you've paid for your clothes, you're actually very, very delicate.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41But we actually ate with our hands?
0:26:41 > 0:26:45That's right. So the meat actually comes to your plate cut up,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47and then you can just pick it up.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And you might have little bowls on the table, called saucers,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53and you just dip your meat in.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57And don't want to see any sauce above that knuckle there.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59And then you just pop that in your mouth
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and wipe your hand on your napkin, which is over your shoulder here.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04- Saucers?- Saucers, yes.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08- So a saucer is for having a sauce in?- Absolutely.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10OK. Of course.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13What other manners should I be applying here when I'm eating?
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Well, most of the rules are pretty much the way they are today,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19in that you mustn't talk with your mouth full.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21But there are a few that are different.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23You're not allowed to scratch at the table,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25and that must have been pretty tempting.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29- I was just about to scratch as well! - The days when you had fleas, it must've been difficult.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Could you scratch yourself or other people?
0:27:31 > 0:27:35It doesn't say about other people, but you certainly shouldn't scratch yourself!
0:27:35 > 0:27:40For Elizabeth, a host would commonly have to provide lavish gifts.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Jewelled dresses were a popular choice.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46She might even take a fancy to some ornament in the house
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and expect to be given it.
0:27:48 > 0:27:49And alongside musicians,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52dancing and elaborately staged entertainments,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55there would have to be opportunities for her to indulge
0:27:55 > 0:27:59in her favourite sports, one of which was hawking.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Today, we'd refer to it as falconry.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05In Elizabethan times, birds of prey
0:28:05 > 0:28:08were used exclusively for hunting.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Here to introduce me to his birds
0:28:10 > 0:28:14at the castle is falconer Tony Bryant.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15BELL RINGS
0:28:20 > 0:28:22The hood just pops her in the dark.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25The action of putting the hood on hoodwinks her
0:28:25 > 0:28:28- into thinking it's night-time. - Hoodwinks her?- Hoodwink.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30- That's where we get the phrase hoodwink from?- Yeah.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33A phrase from falconry. To hoodwink.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36- Would you like to hold her? - Yes, I would.
0:28:36 > 0:28:37She doesn't mind me holding her?
0:28:37 > 0:28:40- No problem at all, especially with the hood on.- All right.- A glove.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43- Yes. Which arm do I put it on? - Left hand.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47- OK. Well, that's obvious because it's a left-hand glove!- Absolutely. - GRIFF LAUGHS
0:28:47 > 0:28:50If you were a left-handed falconer, you would have a right-hand glove.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55You need your free hand, the good hand, for doing the fiddly bits.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57The jesses, the leather straps, go under your thumb,
0:28:57 > 0:29:02- so you've got control of the bird. Having somebody under your thumb. - Ah.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Once Tony had dealt with some of the preliminaries,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08he brought out another bird.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10This is a Harris hawk,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14and it's my turn to try to bond with a bird of prey.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Oh...
0:29:19 > 0:29:22- Turn to face me, Griff.- How incred... I will in just a second,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I'm just getting over the fact that a bird has landed on my...
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Too late.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31- It's coming, quick. Quick.- Whoa!
0:29:31 > 0:29:34- All right. Here he comes.- Whoa.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39He took me by surprise. Now go on, back you go.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45See, that's two things I have to get now.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48A Harris hawk and the Phantom V.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Spectacular.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06In 1574, Queen Elizabeth was 40 years old.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09She'd been on the throne for 15 years,
0:30:09 > 0:30:12and had managed to deftly sidestep
0:30:12 > 0:30:15the tricky question of whom she would marry.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18But it was the way that she'd handled the religious divisions in the country
0:30:18 > 0:30:21where she really excelled.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24She'd successfully steered a middle ground between Protestant zealots
0:30:24 > 0:30:26and rebellious Catholics.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31She had asserted the right of the monarch as head of the Church in England.
0:30:31 > 0:30:37Her progresses of the 1570s were generally considered a huge success.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39And here at Sudeley Castle, in the private apartments,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42there's a striking memorial to her visits.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48This is a stained-glass window of the time,
0:30:48 > 0:30:54and it shows her in all her glory, in one of those great stately galleons of a dress
0:30:54 > 0:30:58with the orb and the sceptre.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01And it represents peace propaganda, because it shows her
0:31:01 > 0:31:07as a virgin queen, and she was at great pains to emphasise
0:31:07 > 0:31:14that her chastity brought peace and prosperity to the realm as a result.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19This was the sort of image that these progresses
0:31:19 > 0:31:20were about promoting.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Sudeley Castle entertained Elizabeth royally.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31But not everyone could afford to do the same.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Some people did write to special advisers to the Queen asking,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37begging to be left off the list, because they knew that
0:31:37 > 0:31:39the arrival of the court would completely ruin them.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44It was actually more expensive for an individual to play host to Elizabeth than it was for a town.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49In towns, the court paid some of their expenses themselves.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53But even for the citizens of Gloucester, where we're going next,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56hot on her trail, the Queen was an expensive guest.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02She arrived here on August 10 1574, and in the local archives,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05there's a revealing record of her visit.
0:32:05 > 0:32:11And it begins with the gift given to the Queen's Majesty,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14and that came to £67.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18That would have been somewhere in the region of £100,000,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21just as a sort of welcoming gift.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26The rest of it here is a list of the other expenditure that they made.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31They paid to the musicians who... for playing about the city
0:32:31 > 0:32:34every morning, as long as the Queen's Grace was here.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37You get some idea of the incredible amount of money
0:32:37 > 0:32:40they had to just give to the court to keep them happy.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42But the rest of this document
0:32:42 > 0:32:44is about the preparations that they also made to the town.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48They spruced up the place. They put gravel out on all the roads.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50They got sand to clear things up,
0:32:50 > 0:32:55and they painted quite a lot of houses to make it look smart.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57And that's not particularly different
0:32:57 > 0:33:02from what any town would do if the Queen were due to visit.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05'During her time in places such as Gloucester,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09'Elizabeth was always stopping to say hello to the local people,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11'and she encouraged passers-by to speak to her.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14'She effectively invented the Royal walkabout.
0:33:16 > 0:33:22'The Spanish ambassador commented that she always went where the crowd was thickest.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25'I've been told to seek out a pub called the Dick Whittington,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28'where Elizabeth is rumoured to have stayed.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31'It's known locally as St Nicholas House.'
0:33:32 > 0:33:35You go down there, and it's supposed to have a ghost.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Right down the bottom. How far down is it?
0:33:39 > 0:33:41- Just down the road.- Is it?
0:33:41 > 0:33:46I'm stopping to think now whether it's beyond the church. No, it wouldn't be.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48St Nicolas House is down on the left there.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50It's before you get to that, on the right.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54- Which way am I going to get to the Whittington?- Cheers!- Down here?
0:33:54 > 0:33:55Whittington pub? Down here?
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Well, despite the apparent confusion,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05I did eventually track down St Nicholas House.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07To be honest, it's not very likely that she stayed here,
0:34:07 > 0:34:13and not just because this is a pub, but because this just happens
0:34:13 > 0:34:16to be one of the oldest houses in Gloucester,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19and associated with the Dick Whittington family,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21so people have put two and two together.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24It's much, much more likely that she stayed near the cathedral
0:34:24 > 0:34:27in the dean's house, because she needed a lot of space.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31But it is a measure of how important to her it was
0:34:31 > 0:34:33that she stayed in Gloucester.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37She was here for three days. No hunting, just duties.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41As well as that Dick Whittington pub,
0:34:41 > 0:34:46there's actually a fair amount of Elizabeth and mediaeval Gloucester
0:34:46 > 0:34:49that still survives, and that Elizabeth would have seen.
0:34:49 > 0:34:56But perhaps the most astonishing relic of her time is also one of the town's best-kept secrets.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59I have been given a set of keys to allow us to have a look
0:34:59 > 0:35:06at something that apparently most of the residents of Gloucester never get to see.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17How incredible.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24It makes you feel as if you've got vertigo. It's huge!
0:35:27 > 0:35:33It's reckoned to be the largest timber-framed building in Britain.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38And it was built in 1560.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43So it would have been brand-new when she arrived.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48It's spectacular.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Originally a magnificent merchant's house,
0:35:50 > 0:35:55modern Gloucester has grown up and closed it in,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59to leave it forgotten and unnoticed by the crowds in the high street.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08One of the great joys for Good Queen Bess on her Royal progress
0:36:08 > 0:36:11seems to have been the freedom to be capricious.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Although detailed plans were drawn up in advance,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17it wasn't uncommon for her to change her mind en route.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Wherever she went was subject to her whim.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26She could be a Queen and decide whatever she wanted to do,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28and I think, when she was at London,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30she was a lot more under other people's control.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33And a month into her trip,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36she made one of these unscheduled stops in the town of Berkeley,
0:36:36 > 0:36:4117 miles southwest of Gloucester on the banks of the River Severn.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46She came to the magnificent Berkeley Castle, owned by Lord Henry Berkeley.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49And there are significant undercurrents to this visit.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53This is another side to the protocol of house-calling -
0:36:53 > 0:36:58because this powerful aristocrat and local landowner was not there.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04What's extraordinary about this castle is that it is still owned by the very same family
0:37:04 > 0:37:07that occupied it when Queen Elizabeth came here.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09- This is Berkeley Castle. - This is, yes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12You've got the keep here, the oldest, impressive...
0:37:12 > 0:37:13These early walls, 12th century.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Curtain wall. The great hall in the middle here.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21And this wonderful 1920s addition, the porch entrance.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25And then you've got my parents' section along here.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27- Shall I show you around? - Yes, please do, please do.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Greeting me is one of the current Berkeleys, Charles.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Continuously occupied by the same family since the 12th century,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37it's the oldest building in the country
0:37:37 > 0:37:39still inhabited by the family who built it.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44In 1574, when Elizabeth arrived, despite the absence,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47or perhaps because of the absence of the then owner,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50a figure not wholly in favour,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53the Queen and her entourage made themselves completely at home.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59Once the Queen had settled in, had her dinner, she was off to bed.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05But the bedroom was something that each host had to provide,
0:38:05 > 0:38:11and was a huge problem, because she demanded a presence room which was 40 foot long,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16a little privy chamber, a wardrobe and also a private bedroom.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21- Hello, Charles.- Hello.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25Charles Kightly is an expert on Elizabethan interiors, and he's here
0:38:25 > 0:38:28to show me what needed to be done to prepare for the Queen's bedtime.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33- She brings with her the actual bed? - Oh, yes, sometimes.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Certainly the hangings.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Everything she needs, because she likes to have her things round her.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41There would be a bit of urgency here, wouldn't there?
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Well, they would be, because we've got to have everything ready.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49'Soft upholstery was a relatively new addition to 16th-century interiors,
0:38:49 > 0:38:55'and it's no surprise that the Queen would have had the ultimate comfort available at the time.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00'For her mattress, the down was pushed through a very narrow sieve
0:39:00 > 0:39:03'until it was as fine as the driven snow.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07'Her hangings, meanwhile, though lavish, had a practical purpose.'
0:39:07 > 0:39:09So if you pull him through there...
0:39:09 > 0:39:16Was the function of that merely insulatory, or was it also private?
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Well, the idea of having a room all to yourself, which we think is just great,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23in those days I think would have been the very opposite.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26"We don't want privacy. What happens if I need something in the night?
0:39:26 > 0:39:28"I need a servant there."
0:39:29 > 0:39:32If I get up...
0:39:32 > 0:39:35You need someone to hold the other end, I think.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37- Whoa!- It's all right.
0:39:37 > 0:39:38- We've got it.- OK.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42You need to take up the slack. That's it, good. There's one.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44- You're very good at this.- OK.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52There we are. Now, that seems like a bed fit for a queen.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55- And the Queen wouldn't have just had one mattress.- No?
0:39:55 > 0:39:57- She'd have had about four.- Right.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02So, like the princess, literally the princess and the pea,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06she was sort of lying on quite a supply?
0:40:06 > 0:40:08What were the mattresses made of?
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Will, the bottom mattress for the Queen would probably be either full of wool or flocks,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15which is a kind of wool which is combed and then washed.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20And then on top of that, feathers, feathers with their quills on. On top of that, down.
0:40:20 > 0:40:26She'd get into her bed, and she'd be privy, meaning "private",
0:40:26 > 0:40:29and toasty, meaning "warm".
0:40:29 > 0:40:34She had an eventful morning ahead, and I'm meeting with David Smith,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38the keeper of the family records, to find out about it.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41And David, these are the Berkeley Castle archives, are they?
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Yes, they are.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46But we tend to call them the Berkeley Castle muniments,
0:40:46 > 0:40:50which is really just something you keep in a very strong place.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56The archives record Queen Elizabeth's unscheduled visit
0:40:56 > 0:41:00to Berkeley in August 1574, and the deeply political motives behind it.
0:41:02 > 0:41:10- So, this is the story of Queen Elizabeth coming here?- Yes.- In 1574.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12"What time this Lord Henry
0:41:12 > 0:41:17"had a stately game of red deer in the park adjoining,
0:41:17 > 0:41:24"during which time of her being there, much slaughter was made.
0:41:24 > 0:41:32"As seven and twenty stags were slain in the toils in one day."
0:41:34 > 0:41:37- So what was going on here?- A-ha!
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Well, what happened was that the Queen was, as we know,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43on her southern progress,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45and she was originally intended to come to Berkeley,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50but the Earl of Leicester persuaded her to change her itinerary.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54The Earl of Leicester was her favourite, and some people said her boyfriend,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56and he was generally an influence at court.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00And he had had his eye on the Berkeley estates for several years,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03so he deliberately persuaded the Queen to come,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06knowing that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was away.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08He was at his other castle, near Coventry.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12So she came here, and of course made absolute mayhem.
0:42:12 > 0:42:1627 red deer were killed in one go,
0:42:16 > 0:42:20and many, many other deer also slaughtered.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23And Henry was absolutely livid.
0:42:23 > 0:42:29Leicester, I think, had engineered the whole business to make sure that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was upset.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35Henry dismantles the deer park, and this gets back to the Queen,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38who will not accept any form of insult.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41From Henry's point of view, it's a seriously dangerous thing to do,
0:42:41 > 0:42:47and friends at court tell him that he is in serious trouble about this,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and he wants to watch out, because his brother-in-law's already been executed,
0:42:51 > 0:42:52and he might be on the list.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57So this story is sort of also showing that
0:42:57 > 0:42:59the business of being a good host
0:42:59 > 0:43:07and allowing the Queen to come to stay was an important...could be an important part of your future?
0:43:07 > 0:43:12Yes. Because either she would go as a sign of favour, or she might,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15on occasion, go to someone she didn't really like that much
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and attempt to bankrupt him by saying,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22"I'll only stay a couple of weeks," and then saying, "Oh, I like it here.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25"I will stay another couple of weeks," and of course the poor chap
0:43:25 > 0:43:28was already borrowing money to pay for all the entertainment,
0:43:28 > 0:43:33so that would put him in serious financial difficulty for years to come.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Deer hunting was high on the agenda for this progress.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Most of the private palaces she visited had deer parks.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44In fact, later she went to places that had parks but no houses,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48which would seem to indicate that Elizabeth wanted to hunt as much as she could.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51But how hard is it to hit a deer with a bow and arrow?
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Janet Hudson has been an archer in Gloucestershire for nearly 40 years.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59If anyone can teach me, she can.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03- Janet, hello.- Hello.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05Diana in the wood, the huntress.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07That's extraordinary.
0:44:07 > 0:44:08If you were Queen Elizabeth,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12that's exactly how I would have greeted you. She used to go hunting,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17and people would pop out dressed as wild men with green hair, and recite poems to her.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19I have never had that when I've been shooting, I must say.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22So, now, let me look at my bow.
0:44:24 > 0:44:25Here you are.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Now, we use these fingers, and traditionally the notion is that
0:44:29 > 0:44:33it was the two fingers at Agincourt - to the French
0:44:33 > 0:44:36they showed that they still had their two fingers.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38That is a tradition, yes. It is said that
0:44:38 > 0:44:42when archers were captured they did have their fingers removed,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44to prevent them operating in war
0:44:44 > 0:44:46and also as a punishment for poaching.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51We'll try aiming at an unfortunate small deer over there.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Yes, as far as you can, and just let it go when you're ready.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Well done, you nearly hit it.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59'For Elizabeth, though, it might not have been as difficult as all that,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02'because the stags were effectively herded together for her,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05'virtually guaranteeing a kill every time.'
0:45:05 > 0:45:07This time try and bring it closer to your chest.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10- Closer to my chest? - Yes, closer in to your chin.- There?
0:45:10 > 0:45:14Yes, as far back as you can, and point at the ground.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Yes!
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Good gracious me!
0:45:18 > 0:45:19That's absolutely astonishing.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Can I say, that's the best instruction I've ever had.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Not only did it quiver as it went in - djdjrrring! -
0:45:27 > 0:45:29and into the side of that plastic deer over there,
0:45:29 > 0:45:31- I- was quivering, and so was my quiver.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33That's extraordinary.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40Nice to see you've come back with your fingers intact after the hawks.
0:45:40 > 0:45:41Well, you know I hit it.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44From Berkeley, the next leg of the progress takes us
0:45:44 > 0:45:49back on the A38 to the tiny village of Iron Acton.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53And, again, we're entering a detective story.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Some of the places that Royalty grace get lost in time,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01and sometimes a chance encounter reveals their Royal connections.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Amazingly, this significant Tudor building
0:46:04 > 0:46:08was completely derelict by the 1970s and was being used as a cattle shed.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Had it not been for local historian Dorothy Brown,
0:46:11 > 0:46:13it might have been lost altogether.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18So, Dorothy, you were the person who discovered this building.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22In 1976, I found that there was this amazing building
0:46:22 > 0:46:25that I didn't know about, and I went to see
0:46:25 > 0:46:30if there was an owner or something, and there was none.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32There was nobody actually there,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and so I wandered in and took some photos.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38I was quite amazed, and I went
0:46:38 > 0:46:41and scratched one of the walls, which was that one up there,
0:46:41 > 0:46:48and underneath I found the most amazing quality decoration,
0:46:48 > 0:46:53and typical of 16th-century palace work.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56But you could see it was super quality, so I thought I'd better stop...
0:46:56 > 0:47:00- But it must have been the most exciting moment.- It was fantastic.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Dorothy had discovered an important Tudor building,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11and further research revealed that parts of it had been built
0:47:11 > 0:47:12for a special purpose.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16The Tudor owner, Sir Nicholas Poyntz,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19erected this wing in a staggering nine months.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24But though it was a rush job, it was done with care, for a reason.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30The building itself hold the clues.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32High up in the rafters,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35there's another little architectural surprise.
0:47:35 > 0:47:36Oh, look at that.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42We're looking at a roof which tells a story,
0:47:42 > 0:47:48because the trusses that hold up this roof are queen posts,
0:47:48 > 0:47:53and it's much more common to find this form of support
0:47:53 > 0:47:58in the east of England, rather than the west.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03And it happens to tell us this building
0:48:03 > 0:48:07is based on ideas which were imported.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12The latest architectural style had been brought over to the west from London.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15The grand wing was put up in a hurry
0:48:15 > 0:48:18because Sir Nicholas Poyntz - a courtier - wanted to impress
0:48:18 > 0:48:23Elizabeth's father, Henry VII, who was planning a visit in 1535.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28And here we are in a magnificent room,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32not a Gloucestershire room, at all, but a London, fashionable room,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35and this was the presence chamber.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38I just want to try something here.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42OK, let's see if this works.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45One, two,
0:48:45 > 0:48:46three, four,
0:48:46 > 0:48:47five, six,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49seven, eight,
0:48:49 > 0:48:50nine, ten,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53eleven, twelve, thirteen -
0:48:53 > 0:48:58near enough 13 yards there, or 39 feet.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03It's a 40-foot presence chamber, and we come through here,
0:49:03 > 0:49:08and what's here but, of course, the privy chamber -
0:49:08 > 0:49:11the chamber where the King had just his cronies
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and a few special people around here.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16And when he wanted to go away from them,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19he went through here and came through
0:49:19 > 0:49:22into what is known locally
0:49:22 > 0:49:25as King Henry VIII's bedroom.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32And what we have here is exactly what the ushers
0:49:32 > 0:49:36were ordered to find for Queen Elizabeth on her tour.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
0:49:40 > 0:49:43did use these rooms, but where Sir Nicholas succeeded,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46his son failed.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52Queen Elizabeth - on her own progress, nearly 40 years later - passed by,
0:49:52 > 0:49:54though the privy council met here.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59It was an elaborate dance with those who wanted power.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03She could snub as well as reward, accept or decline,
0:50:03 > 0:50:07even abuse hospitality, as a political act.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12Today, the presence chamber is being used by a group
0:50:12 > 0:50:15of young students who are learning La Volta.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Teaching them this popular Elizabethan dance is tutor Anne Day.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23What we're watching here is not really sort of display dancing
0:50:23 > 0:50:25to be watched like we watch the ballet,
0:50:25 > 0:50:27but something people were expected to join in.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Yes, very much social dancing, but also to be watched,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34because you would do this with the court around,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37and you're also dancing in the presence of the Queen.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41And the Queen herself liked to dance this particular dance.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46Yes, there's a famous painting that is reputed to be her
0:50:46 > 0:50:50dancing the La Volta with the Earl of Leicester.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54Right, and the dancing was quite a useful way
0:50:54 > 0:50:56of getting to know the opposite sex, was it?
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Oh, yes, the only proper way you could meet another young person.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Because courtly manners kept you separate from the girls otherwise,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and then somehow you would get intimate on the dancefloor,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09and the Elizabethan age was quite a sexy age, wasn't it?
0:51:09 > 0:51:12Yes, one of the dancing masters of the day has pointed out
0:51:12 > 0:51:16that once you are dancing with a young woman, you can work out
0:51:16 > 0:51:19whether she has foul breath or a deformity,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21what her conversation's like -
0:51:21 > 0:51:23in other words, her level of intelligence...
0:51:23 > 0:51:25- Her marriageability. - And her marriageability,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28whether she'd be a good wife, good manager of your household.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Elizabethans learned to dance at a very young age.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36The higher your rank, the earlier your tuition would start.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40And Royal status meant lessons from the age of six.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45I guess I've arrived in court at quite a late stage in my life,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49- but can you teach the a few steps? - Oh, certainly, yes.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54Hop, step and jump. Hop, step and jump.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Hop, step and pivot, that's it.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59So, if your knee makes contact,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02your left knee makes contact with her...her rear,
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and it pushes her on.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Whup! Binky-bonky-bing. Whup! Binky-bonky-bing.
0:52:10 > 0:52:11- OK.- One more. - Oh, and one more!
0:52:11 > 0:52:13Binky-bonky-bing, whoa!
0:52:22 > 0:52:25I tell you, actually, what I know, Leah, is I'm looking into your eyes
0:52:25 > 0:52:28and that's delightful, but I know that my legs
0:52:28 > 0:52:31are not going the same way as your legs at the moment.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33THEY LAUGH
0:52:33 > 0:52:36Strictly Come Volta doesn't seem to be beckoning,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38so, as they continue their preparations,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41it's time for me to leave Acton Court
0:52:41 > 0:52:43and get back on the road.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52I'm entering the final leg of my journey.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55I now have to cover the last 10 miles southwest
0:52:55 > 0:52:58and onto the culmination of the Royal progress.
0:53:01 > 0:53:08This seaport was one of the major defensive outposts of the Queen's realm.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11and it was the furthest west she would ever travel.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13We're on our way to Bristol,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16the most important stop of her summer holiday,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and there she had political business to attend to
0:53:20 > 0:53:23and let the Spanish ambassador catch up with her.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30Queen Elizabeth I finally arrived here on August 14 1574.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34It had taken her and her baggage train a month
0:53:34 > 0:53:36to travel the 156 miles from Windsor.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47So, Her Majesty the Queen, Gloriana, is making her way
0:53:47 > 0:53:49through the streets of Bristow, as it's known then.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51She's accompanied the mayor, bare-headed,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54carrying the sword of state, all the aldermen,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56and 300 local soldiers
0:53:56 > 0:54:01who, now and again, fire their guns into the air in celebration.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And everywhere she goes she's surprised by figures
0:54:05 > 0:54:08who pop out and deliver poetic orations.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12O, blessed be the hour, our Queen is coming to the town
0:54:12 > 0:54:14with princely train and power...
0:54:14 > 0:54:17These boys are from Bristol Grammar School,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21founded on this site by her father, and visited in turn by Elizabeth.
0:54:21 > 0:54:27All hail, O plant of grace and special sprout of fame...
0:54:27 > 0:54:29The flattering verses are the actual words
0:54:29 > 0:54:32written for her visit by Thomas Churchyard.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36..England's hope is come to place these things in breast,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40we dare not stay her longer here whose travel crave with rest...
0:54:40 > 0:54:43With these ceremonies, and others like them,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46the people of Bristol demonstrated to the Queen
0:54:46 > 0:54:50that they were disciplined and worthy of her attention.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53But her priority in this city was to carry out serious business
0:54:53 > 0:54:55with the Spanish ambassador.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58He had been brought here deliberately to witness
0:54:58 > 0:55:01a three-day mock sea battle.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04She wanted to show him the power of her Navy,
0:55:04 > 0:55:08and the strength of Bristol in particular,
0:55:08 > 0:55:09before signing that treaty
0:55:09 > 0:55:13that would - temporarily - halt years of bad feeling
0:55:13 > 0:55:16caused by English pirates raiding Spanish treasure ships.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21It brought stability to the nation for a further 14 years,
0:55:21 > 0:55:26until the famous defeat of the Spanish Armada.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Later, the celebrations continued.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36In the evening, they all came back here to the great house.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Well, not here, in fact, because the great house was over here,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42and this is the lodge, which is all that remained.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47It belonged to John Young, and they had music and feasting
0:55:47 > 0:55:50and dancing, and the Queen actually loved music.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54A visitor came and said she kept the cadence,
0:55:54 > 0:55:58not just with her hand and her foot, but her head, as well,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02and she rebuked any maids who danced badly.
0:56:05 > 0:56:11John Young gave her a big jewel, and she gave him a knighthood,
0:56:11 > 0:56:16something we probably recognise from our own day -
0:56:16 > 0:56:18cash for honours.
0:56:25 > 0:56:30Queen Elizabeth I was a monarch who won the hearts of her people.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32She did that by reaching out to them
0:56:32 > 0:56:37and travelling her kingdom to meet her subjects face to face.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42The Royal progress allowed her to enjoy herself,
0:56:42 > 0:56:46but at the heart of the trips was a strong political purpose.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50She was rallying support from her favoured courtiers
0:56:50 > 0:56:54and, crucially, keeping an eye on potential troublemakers.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Our current Queen Elizabeth II will often make a grand tour
0:56:57 > 0:57:01of her kingdom, especially in her Jubilee year,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05and in doing so, she reflects a tradition that her namesake
0:57:05 > 0:57:09popularised and refined 450 years ago.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15But for Elizabeth I, there was an awful lot more at stake.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18BAND PLAYS "Rule Britannia"
0:57:27 > 0:57:30In 1574, all the pageantry
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and the ceremony of a Royal progress
0:57:34 > 0:57:38were designed to impress upon the Elizabethan people
0:57:38 > 0:57:40that they had never had it so good,
0:57:40 > 0:57:45that the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, was their salvation.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51They even resurrected an ancient Roman goddess called Britannia
0:57:51 > 0:57:56and invented the idea of Great Britain to support their cause.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59For the first Queen Elizabeth,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02a Royal tour was a lot more than tradition, colour and noise.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08It was literally a matter of life and death.
0:58:41 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd