Royal Progress Britain's Lost Routes with Griff Rhys Jones


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Britain was once a difficult country to cross.

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Roads were few and paths obscure.

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And yet our ancestors travelled.

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For work and for pleasure.

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For faith and for fortune.

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But the routes that they followed are lost.

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I'm going to rediscover them and the people who took them.

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What they saw and why they travelled.

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Who they met and where they went.

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I'm following the forgotten routes that made this country great.

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And today, I'm going to follow in the tracks of Queen Elizabeth I

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on a great Royal progress that began here at Windsor.

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So I'm off to the West Country,

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retracing one of Good Queen Bess's huge annual processions.

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She came here, made absolute mayhem.

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I'll be visiting the palaces and towns of the Cotswolds.

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You feel as if you've got vertigo.

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I'll be finding out what remains of her world.

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You can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that.

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I'll be looking at the fun she had and havoc she wreaked as she went on her way.

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Whoa!

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That's it! Good.

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Gah!

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If you'd been privileged enough to be here in Windsor Castle

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at the end of the second week in July 1574,

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you'd have witnessed a sort of subdued chaos going on

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as the entire court packed up to join Elizabeth I

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on her grand Royal progress.

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It was...it was part summer holiday,

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part huge procession

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and part rock-and-roll tour to rival the Rolling Stones.

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This 1574 progress was the furthest west she was ever to go.

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It was a big disruption.

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Not everybody was overjoyed to be going.

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There was a letter from the Earl of Arundel to Robert Dudley,

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saying that everybody from the highest to the lowest

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was to swear they were having a soft time,

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even if they were staying in very hard lodgings.

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In other words, nobody was allowed to complain.

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Although nearly everybody did.

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In truth, her closest advisors often did everything they could

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to dissuade her from setting off again,

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but Elizabeth was determined to make these arduous trips

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and would not be stopped. Of course, if I'd been back here then,

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one of the more bizarre reasons why she wanted to go fairly urgently

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would have become obvious to me.

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I'd have smelt it, because the moats were effectively open cesspits.

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All the toilets emptied into them.

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And by mid-July, there was a bit of a hum,

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and they associated that smell with the plague.

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The Black Death was the excuse to get going and, importantly,

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the Queen intended to sign a treaty with the Spanish in Bristol.

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But that doesn't explain why she loved the whole circus.

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Can we find out?

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I've arranged a rather glamorous way of doing so.

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There's a crowd gathered here,

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but it's not for me, it's actually for my car,

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which is exactly the effect Elizabeth I would have liked.

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-Stuart, morning.

-Good morning, Griff.

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-How are you today?

-I'm very good, thanks.

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-May I take your bag?

-Thank you.

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All the better for seeing this magnificent vehicle. What is it?

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This is a 1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom V.

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And the Rolls can stand in as my own royal carriage.

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It's still the vehicle of choice for our current Royal Family.

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You do notice that people pay attention to you

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if you arrive in this thing.

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It's a head-turner, without a doubt.

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Elizabeth I was an early adopter of coaches in England.

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Hers were possibly the first ever seen in the country.

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They were vehicles for display and possibly for escape.

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She could literally stay

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one step ahead of everybody who wanted to influence her.

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All the ambassadors and the clerics

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and the bishops and the factions

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who wanted her to do things

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had to try and find her when she was on tour,

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until she decided to make it obvious where she was.

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But if some of her political luggage was abandoned,

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she certainly took everything else she might require

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in one giant baggage train.

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Apparently, it was a phenomenon.

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How big? I'd quite like to find out.

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Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to help us here.

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We're trying to reproduce Queen Elizabeth I's baggage train.

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I'm going to nominate, very unfairly,

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four people to be the court officers...

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'In order to stay true to court protocol,

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'I'm handing out different-coloured caps to represent

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'the various ranks of people in Elizabeth's court.'

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Now I need to find six ladies-in-waiting...

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'Most important are the black and dark blue.

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'They're the gentlemen of the privy chamber and privy councillors.

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'They'll be walking close behind me at the head of the procession.'

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We haven't got to the dregs yet. You're just...

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'Then all the other ranks are spread out right down the line.'

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Servants!

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Nobody is volunteering to be a servant.

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-I'm a servant!

-I'm a servant!

-I'm a maid!

-Here we ago.

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Let's repair to our cars.

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Can I have the privy councillors up the front here, please?

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You, as members of the court,

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are under strict instructions never to complain.

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-LAUGHTER

-And it's time to go!

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It's said that around 350 people from the court joined Elizabeth,

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with hundreds of carts, wagons and horses in tow.

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They brought everything the Queen needed. Her entire kitchen,

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all the court documents and library,

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often wrapped up in waterproof bearskins.

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This is well done, my people.

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Well done, my subjects!

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At over a mile long, it must have been an astonishing sight,

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snaking through Elizabethan countryside

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at any average speed of three miles an hour.

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It's astonishing.

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Until we did this, I didn't realise what an extraordinary impact

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the Queen's progress must have had on the countryside.

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It must have been one of the reasons she wanted to go,

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so people knew she was coming

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and they knew that she was the Queen.

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Thank you very, very much, everyone, for helping.

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Well, I think we're going to leave the baggage train,

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all one-and-a-half miles of it, behind us now, and go on.

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There's nothing unusual about that. That's exactly what the Queen did.

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She'd ride on ahead and let everybody else catch up with her.

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And ahead of her went people called the harbingers.

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They would ride on to prepare the way

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for this gigantic crowd of people to arrive.

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20 miles south of Oxford on what is now the A369,

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I'm heading for a roadside bikers' cafe

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which I'm told is right on the Queen's route.

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And the man who's worked this out for us

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is historical geographer Mark Brasher.

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Nice to see you. Here we are, we're going off on this tour.

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What can we use to find out what route she took?

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Well, you can start by looking at the court calendar,

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which will give you the itinerary of places

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and the dates that she was at those places.

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So this is our very year, our very time.

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That's pretty impressive.

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Because you've got the actual date, like July 11th to 13th,

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July 15th to September 25th, progress in Berkshire.

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But the question remains,

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what route did they take between these places?

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It's interesting to note that in the 1570s,

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a Yorkshire surveyor, Christopher Saxton, had got the commission

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-to produce a series of county maps of the whole realm.

-Right.

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'And there we have it. The Saxton maps don't have any roads,

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'but they do show bridging points of the various rivers en route.

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'This has allowed Mark to join the dots, so to speak,

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'and he's drawn the route on a series of modern maps

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'which are going to take me from the starting point at Windsor Castle

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'all the way to my journey's end in Bristol.'

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-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-OK. We're on the road!

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Using Mark's map, my journey from Windsor into Oxfordshire

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leaves our major roads and winds through small villages and towns.

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It's already giving me a sense of the England that Elizabeth would have experienced.

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For Elizabeth, crossing the country

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was like threading your way through a maze.

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Paul Hindle is an expert on the ancient ways of Britain.

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We've met up on one of the early sections of the route near Oxford.

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He's going to guide me through this part of the journey.

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They would set off to go somewhere,

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but there would be no signposts, there were very few main roads.

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They would have local people who knew, but there were no maps.

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The first maps, county maps of Saxton,

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don't come till the 1570s and they didn't have roads on.

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The first road maps don't come till the 1690s.

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And so it's every difficult to get around.

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We just take maps for granted.

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And in the Elizabethan period, 1,000 years after they were made,

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Roman roads were still the best paved roads that they had?

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They were the only paved roads running through the countryside.

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Between the Romans

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and the coming of the turnpikes in the 18th century

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and then the paving of roads in the 19th,

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there was no road-building whatsoever for 1,500 years.

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Now, let's see. For us, the sort of choice

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that I would've thought the Royal progress

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would have come to pretty often on its way. Which way do they go?

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Let's have a look at Mark's map.

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So, here we are, we're now at the junction

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and we need to turn off the tarmac track

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and keep going in a straight line on the old London Road, this way.

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OK. The old London Road has now completely disappeared as a road

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and become what I think we might find is closer to a field.

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Yes. I think this is more like an Elizabethan road,

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except there would have been no hedges on either side,

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no walls buried in these hedges, either.

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It would have been wide open

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and people would simply have gone across the open countryside.

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We have passed through the loveliest countryside.

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I'm now heading for Woodstock.

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This was a sort of Royal staging post

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where they gathered strength for the tour proper -

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Queen Elizabeth's Royal progress of 1574.

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It's a few miles north of Oxford

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and around 50 miles into her journey from Windsor.

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Thank you very much, Stuart. That's very kind.

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I'll be back in just a little...

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'The court calendar tells me they stayed here,

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'in Woodstock Manor for just over a week.'

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Well, I'm afraid this is all that remains of Woodstock.

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It's a little bit disappointing, isn't it?

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But apparently, it was all cleared away, knocked down

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and completely destroyed because they built a new palace.

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Blenheim was built for the 1st Duke of Marlborough

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in the early 1700s.

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Elizabeth's Woodstock Manor was still standing

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when Blenheim was completed,

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but when the new duchess looked out of her window,

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she though the old medieval house was a bit of an eyesore,

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so she had it knocked down.

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This is the best record of what it looked like.

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Actually quite small by the standard of Elizabethan rambling piles.

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Quite apart from the notorious damp,

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I'm not sure Queen Elizabeth would have relished staying at Woodstock

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because 20 years earlier,

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she'd been held prisoner here by Queen Mary.

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Mary had seen Elizabeth as a dangerous rival

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and tried to hide her from public view as much as possible.

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But several times during tense moments,

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Elizabeth had outfaced her half-sister

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by directly courting the support of the people.

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Though Woodstock was one of the Queen's own palaces,

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there was no guarantee of room for the entire court to stay there.

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So courtiers known as harbingers were tasked

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with finding accommodation for people like me and my groom in nearby towns.

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Oh! There's a rival, there's a Bentley over there.

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They haven't got anything for us. We'll have to move on.

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The majority of the entourage bedded down in inns or even tents.

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They found whatever lodgings they could.

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Everybody from the Queen's court looking for somewhere to stay.

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I think there's a place up here on the left.

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No. No room.

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Many of the junior functionaries

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would have resorted to the most basic accommodation -

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sleeping with the job, as it were.

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Well, as a lowly servant of the court,

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I would have obviously

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had to have made by bed where I could.

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And when I say make my bed, I mean literally make my bed.

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This is what people did every night.

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They made themselves... a straw pallet.

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Effectively...

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..this is what everybody slept on, unless you were the Queen herself.

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HE CHUCKLES

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Ah! Good!

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Not bad at all.

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Stuart?

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-Sir.

-I'm sorry to have to tell you, but in Elizabethan times,

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it was nearly always two to a bed,

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as long as a gentleman slept with a gentleman,

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and a yeoman slept with a yeoman.

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And I think we're two yeomen, so...

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this will do for us, don't you think?

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Well, I'm not going to spend the night in there.

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There's only one thing for it.

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Another big demand on any town when the Elizabethan court arrived

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was refreshment.

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For the Elizabethans, that meant beer. In huge quantities.

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Keith Thomas is an historic ale expect,

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and he's brought an imitation Elizabethan beer for us to taste.

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So, Keith, people drank beer, or ale, in huge quantities, didn't they?

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Yes. Yes. They had quarts, didn't they?

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-So it would be, really, your liquid of the day.

-Right.

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So, the idea was that you didn't drink the water,

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because the water would infect you,

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but beer had effectively, sort of, pasteurised your water.

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Normal bacteria would have died,

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-so it would have been quite clean and wholesome.

-Yep.

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And people would have drunk it is a refreshment.

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'They didn't know the science, they thought it aided digestion.

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'But herbs were prominent in Elizabethan ale.'

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-Tell me what you think, Charlie.

-It's a very distinctive flavour, isn't it? I mean, is this caraway?

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Yes, it is. So, you've got a fresh herb,

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you've got a spicy aroma on the noses,

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but you haven't got the hoppiness.

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This is very suitable for women.

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Now, Queen Elizabeth I, she certainly liked what was known as a light ale,

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and it was because she liked it, the whole court

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drunk nothing but light ale, which was quite a rarity, apparently,

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and when they arrived in a town like Woodstock,

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and there wasn't enough light ale to go around,

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they would issue specific licences.

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The purveyors would go around the town and say to various households,

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"You can make beer just for the period that the court is here,

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"and you can make light ale, and we will give you a licence to do that."

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More connections to our own era.

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Clearly, controlling the making of alcohol goes back a long way,

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at least since the time of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry VII,

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with these special provisions popping up

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as a result of the progress.

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Our convoluted route

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now seems to be taking us deeper into the Oxfordshire countryside,

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heading for the Cotswolds and the town of Burford.

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It is lovely in the back here, Stuart, really gorgeous.

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Driving Miss Griff.

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As we roll back the miles in our Phantom, I wonder what other forms of transport

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would have been on offer to members of the Elizabethan court,

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so we've come to Sturt Farm Stables,

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just a few miles outside Burford.

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We know the Queen was a great lover of horses,

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and an accomplished rider, just like our own Royal Family...

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and unlike me. To me, a horse is a challenge with four legs.

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But I wonder if, in order to get closer to the Royal progress experience,

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I need to take one for a spin.

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Left foot in the stirrup. Put your weight into your right hand

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as you put your right leg over the back and sit on the horse.

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-Gah!

-Whoa, whoa, whoa.

-GRIFF LAUGHS

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-"And don't shout, Griff. For heaven's sake."

-Try not to shout.

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I actually... I feel a little safer in the Roller.

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I think it's been calculated that the actual number of horses

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that Queen Elizabeth had runs into the thousands.

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The baggage train itself,

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it was reckoned that there must have been about 1,200 horses

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pulling all those carts.

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But the infernal posh like to travel in a sort of box,

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often strung between two horses, called a litter.

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This was the form of carriage preferred by most people,

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for rather obvious reasons -

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because you didn't have to walk,

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and you could effectively get through even the narrowest

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and most muddy of carriageways,

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whereas if you took your coach,

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then you didn't have a chance of getting along most of the roads, cos they were too narrow.

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Not all litters were pulled, as it were, or hung between horses.

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Some were... Some were carried by people.

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And I've got four energetic gentleman grooms.

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And now I'm going to ride on...

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..in what I assume

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was the only proper way to travel in the baggage train.

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Contemporary records don't tell us

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how much of her trip Queen Elizabeth spent in a litter.

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It would appear, though, that between the major stops,

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she'd have been on horseback,

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very often riding separate from the main baggage train.

0:19:440:19:47

And then she'd have entered the various towns on the route,

0:19:470:19:50

like Burford, for instance, carried along in state.

0:19:500:19:53

There's a tantalising glimpse of Queen Elizabeth's personal taste

0:19:530:19:57

in one bill that she paid, where she spent more money

0:19:570:20:00

on her old-style litter than she did on her newfangled coach.

0:20:000:20:03

She had it decorated with black leather,

0:20:030:20:07

silver studs and a lot of red satin cushions.

0:20:070:20:10

Good. OK, good.

0:20:100:20:12

Thank you very much. Well lifted. Good.

0:20:120:20:15

I'll tell you one thing, though. She was right about the cushions.

0:20:150:20:20

The town of Burford sits

0:20:200:20:22

on the border between Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

0:20:220:20:26

It's often referred to as the "gateway to the Cotswolds".

0:20:260:20:30

The fortunes of this handsome town in the Elizabethan era

0:20:310:20:35

were founded almost entirely on sheep.

0:20:350:20:38

The wool trade was hugely important throughout the Cotswolds.

0:20:380:20:41

It was the basis of England's wealth.

0:20:410:20:44

A popular medieval saying was that in Europe, the best wool is English,

0:20:440:20:48

and in England, the best wool is Cotswold.

0:20:480:20:51

I think this must be the bridge across the Windrush,

0:20:540:20:57

where the entire corporation of Burford came out

0:20:570:21:00

in order to welcome Elizabeth I.

0:21:000:21:02

They were led by somebody called Simon Wisdom,

0:21:020:21:05

and she...she liked to visit towns.

0:21:050:21:08

And they liked to see her.

0:21:080:21:11

Burford was an ancient free town.

0:21:110:21:14

No local bigwig ruled here.

0:21:140:21:16

Towns like this looked to the Queen to protect them,

0:21:160:21:18

and in return, she got their support and their money.

0:21:180:21:22

On the Royal progress, the entourage often got hopelessly lost,

0:21:230:21:28

and as Stuart and I pick our way through the Cotswolds

0:21:280:21:31

and try to stay true to Mark's route,

0:21:310:21:33

we, too, are facing the odd challenge.

0:21:330:21:36

Is it right?

0:21:370:21:38

Or is it left?

0:21:410:21:43

But there are benefits to getting lost every now and again.

0:21:440:21:47

I think we should go up that way.

0:21:470:21:49

We're seeing more and more of this superb landscape.

0:21:490:21:54

Is this the same England, though,

0:21:540:21:57

that a contemporary German tourist in the 1500s wrote about

0:21:570:22:00

with an appreciative eye,

0:22:000:22:03

praising the short, tender grass of the uplands

0:22:030:22:05

and the huge numbers of sheep, and calling it the "true golden fleece"?

0:22:050:22:09

To give me an idea, I'm meeting landscape historian,

0:22:090:22:13

Dr Amanda Richardson.

0:22:130:22:15

Now, it's quite probable, isn't it, Mandy, that Elizabeth

0:22:150:22:20

and her retinue, is it were,

0:22:200:22:22

would have travelled along the top of hills as they went on their tour?

0:22:220:22:27

Oh, yes, definitely, because once you come off the tops of the hills

0:22:270:22:30

and you go down into the valleys,

0:22:300:22:32

then you're more likely to encounter impassable roads, flooding.

0:22:320:22:36

So they would continuously get, one assumes, on their journey,

0:22:360:22:40

these incredible vistas of the Kingdom of England?

0:22:400:22:43

Certainly by the Elizabethan period, you would get something

0:22:430:22:45

approximating to the landscape that we're looking out on here.

0:22:450:22:49

But we've got to remember that the landscape has been constantly changing through history.

0:22:490:22:54

And also, today, there's quite a lot of woodland out there.

0:22:540:22:58

But actually, it's probably quite recent, quite a lot of that.

0:22:580:23:00

Yeah, at the turn of the 16th and 17th century,

0:23:000:23:03

it's estimated that only about 6 or 7% of England was wooded.

0:23:030:23:06

So this whole idea we've got about all of England,

0:23:060:23:08

a squirrel going from one end of England to the other in trees

0:23:080:23:12

is just a false one.

0:23:120:23:14

But the biggest impact on the landscape from the Elizabethan time

0:23:140:23:17

was caused by sheep farming.

0:23:170:23:19

Now, we can see some tops out there

0:23:190:23:21

which have been used probably for summer pasture and all that,

0:23:210:23:24

but when they came down into the valley,

0:23:240:23:27

what makes this different is that they needed to make fields,

0:23:270:23:31

and they did that with hedges.

0:23:310:23:32

So they did.

0:23:320:23:34

And you've got a pattern here of quite irregular fields,

0:23:340:23:36

so these fields are probably quite early,

0:23:360:23:39

possibly dating from the Elizabethan period.

0:23:390:23:41

So that's another thing that we associate with the English landscape.

0:23:410:23:45

Visitors to the country felt that the English landscape was one of the finest they'd ever seen.

0:23:450:23:51

A Venetian visitor in 1596 declared that the country

0:23:510:23:56

was the most lovely you can imagine in all the world.

0:23:560:24:00

It's still pretty magnificent.

0:24:000:24:02

Moving on from the Burford area, our progress is taking us

0:24:040:24:08

even further west on the modern A40,

0:24:080:24:12

shifting from Oxfordshire into Gloucestershire.

0:24:120:24:15

We then follow the route to the town of Winchcombe.

0:24:150:24:18

Now, although having the Queen of England,

0:24:200:24:22

several hundred members of her court

0:24:220:24:24

and an enormous baggage train turning up at your front door

0:24:240:24:28

may have seemed rather daunting,

0:24:280:24:30

most of the important lords and ladies of the realm

0:24:300:24:32

really wanted the Queen to pay them a visit.

0:24:320:24:35

This was an ideal place for the Royal progress to halt.

0:24:370:24:41

It's Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, in the heart of the Cotswolds.

0:24:410:24:46

Elizabeth had partly gone on her progress

0:24:480:24:51

to keep an eye on her nobles.

0:24:510:24:54

England was still a country divided on religious grounds,

0:24:540:24:58

and many of the old aristocracy had Catholic leanings,

0:24:580:25:01

potentially rebels.

0:25:010:25:05

So she went where she was welcome,

0:25:050:25:07

to acknowledge friends whom she could support

0:25:070:25:10

and to enhance their status in the locality.

0:25:100:25:13

And her host at Sudeley was Lady Chandos. She would have to entertain lavishly.

0:25:190:25:24

Sometimes whole houses were built and special lakes were constructed.

0:25:240:25:28

Most of all, they ate massive feasts.

0:25:280:25:33

Joining me on my visit is Alison Sim,

0:25:370:25:39

who's going to teach me and some interested locals

0:25:390:25:41

about Tudor table manners.

0:25:410:25:43

Ladies and gentlemen, could you stand up? The Queen hasn't arrived.

0:25:430:25:48

Goodness me, no manners at all.

0:25:480:25:50

Er, madam. Madam. I so apologise that you have been placed here.

0:25:500:25:55

I am sorry, I am sorry. Now, I know you're only a merchant,

0:25:550:25:58

I don't know what you told the steward,

0:25:580:26:00

but could you move down, please? Really.

0:26:000:26:02

Yes, I think that's more fitting.

0:26:020:26:04

The nearer you are to the Queen, the more important you are.

0:26:040:26:07

The further away, the less important you are.

0:26:070:26:09

Having establish my own position

0:26:090:26:12

well down the table,

0:26:120:26:15

I can address myself to the huge number of different dishes that might be on offer.

0:26:150:26:19

Alison, a lot of my idea of how they ate comes from watching movies

0:26:210:26:25

of one kind or another, and Charles Laughton in The Private Life Of Henry VIII,

0:26:250:26:29

he would sort of chew on his chicken bone,

0:26:290:26:31

-slinging them over his... Was that right?

-Absolutely not.

0:26:310:26:34

When you think of the amount of money you've paid for your clothes, you're actually very, very delicate.

0:26:340:26:39

But we actually ate with our hands?

0:26:390:26:41

That's right. So the meat actually comes to your plate cut up,

0:26:410:26:45

and then you can just pick it up.

0:26:450:26:47

And you might have little bowls on the table, called saucers,

0:26:470:26:51

and you just dip your meat in.

0:26:510:26:53

And don't want to see any sauce above that knuckle there.

0:26:530:26:57

And then you just pop that in your mouth

0:26:570:26:59

and wipe your hand on your napkin, which is over your shoulder here.

0:26:590:27:02

-Saucers?

-Saucers, yes.

0:27:020:27:04

-So a saucer is for having a sauce in?

-Absolutely.

0:27:040:27:08

OK. Of course.

0:27:080:27:10

What other manners should I be applying here when I'm eating?

0:27:100:27:13

Well, most of the rules are pretty much the way they are today,

0:27:130:27:17

in that you mustn't talk with your mouth full.

0:27:170:27:19

But there are a few that are different.

0:27:190:27:21

You're not allowed to scratch at the table,

0:27:210:27:23

and that must have been pretty tempting.

0:27:230:27:25

-I was just about to scratch as well!

-The days when you had fleas, it must've been difficult.

0:27:250:27:29

Could you scratch yourself or other people?

0:27:290:27:31

It doesn't say about other people, but you certainly shouldn't scratch yourself!

0:27:310:27:35

For Elizabeth, a host would commonly have to provide lavish gifts.

0:27:350:27:40

Jewelled dresses were a popular choice.

0:27:400:27:43

She might even take a fancy to some ornament in the house

0:27:430:27:46

and expect to be given it.

0:27:460:27:48

And alongside musicians,

0:27:480:27:49

dancing and elaborately staged entertainments,

0:27:490:27:52

there would have to be opportunities for her to indulge

0:27:520:27:55

in her favourite sports, one of which was hawking.

0:27:550:27:59

Today, we'd refer to it as falconry.

0:28:000:28:03

In Elizabethan times, birds of prey

0:28:030:28:05

were used exclusively for hunting.

0:28:050:28:08

Here to introduce me to his birds

0:28:080:28:10

at the castle is falconer Tony Bryant.

0:28:100:28:14

BELL RINGS

0:28:140:28:15

The hood just pops her in the dark.

0:28:200:28:22

The action of putting the hood on hoodwinks her

0:28:220:28:25

-into thinking it's night-time.

-Hoodwinks her?

-Hoodwink.

0:28:250:28:28

-That's where we get the phrase hoodwink from?

-Yeah.

0:28:280:28:30

A phrase from falconry. To hoodwink.

0:28:300:28:33

-Would you like to hold her?

-Yes, I would.

0:28:330:28:36

She doesn't mind me holding her?

0:28:360:28:37

-No problem at all, especially with the hood on.

-All right.

-A glove.

0:28:370:28:40

-Yes. Which arm do I put it on?

-Left hand.

0:28:400:28:43

-OK. Well, that's obvious because it's a left-hand glove!

-Absolutely.

-GRIFF LAUGHS

0:28:430:28:47

If you were a left-handed falconer, you would have a right-hand glove.

0:28:470:28:50

You need your free hand, the good hand, for doing the fiddly bits.

0:28:500:28:55

The jesses, the leather straps, go under your thumb,

0:28:550:28:57

-so you've got control of the bird. Having somebody under your thumb.

-Ah.

0:28:570:29:02

Once Tony had dealt with some of the preliminaries,

0:29:030:29:06

he brought out another bird.

0:29:060:29:08

This is a Harris hawk,

0:29:080:29:10

and it's my turn to try to bond with a bird of prey.

0:29:100:29:14

Oh...

0:29:160:29:18

-Turn to face me, Griff.

-How incred... I will in just a second,

0:29:190:29:22

I'm just getting over the fact that a bird has landed on my...

0:29:220:29:25

Too late.

0:29:250:29:27

-It's coming, quick. Quick.

-Whoa!

0:29:280:29:31

-All right. Here he comes.

-Whoa.

0:29:310:29:34

He took me by surprise. Now go on, back you go.

0:29:350:29:39

See, that's two things I have to get now.

0:29:410:29:45

A Harris hawk and the Phantom V.

0:29:450:29:48

Spectacular.

0:29:540:29:56

In 1574, Queen Elizabeth was 40 years old.

0:30:010:30:06

She'd been on the throne for 15 years,

0:30:060:30:09

and had managed to deftly sidestep

0:30:090:30:12

the tricky question of whom she would marry.

0:30:120:30:15

But it was the way that she'd handled the religious divisions in the country

0:30:150:30:18

where she really excelled.

0:30:180:30:21

She'd successfully steered a middle ground between Protestant zealots

0:30:210:30:24

and rebellious Catholics.

0:30:240:30:26

She had asserted the right of the monarch as head of the Church in England.

0:30:260:30:31

Her progresses of the 1570s were generally considered a huge success.

0:30:310:30:37

And here at Sudeley Castle, in the private apartments,

0:30:370:30:39

there's a striking memorial to her visits.

0:30:390:30:42

This is a stained-glass window of the time,

0:30:440:30:48

and it shows her in all her glory, in one of those great stately galleons of a dress

0:30:480:30:54

with the orb and the sceptre.

0:30:540:30:58

And it represents peace propaganda, because it shows her

0:30:580:31:01

as a virgin queen, and she was at great pains to emphasise

0:31:010:31:07

that her chastity brought peace and prosperity to the realm as a result.

0:31:070:31:14

This was the sort of image that these progresses

0:31:140:31:19

were about promoting.

0:31:190:31:20

Sudeley Castle entertained Elizabeth royally.

0:31:230:31:27

But not everyone could afford to do the same.

0:31:270:31:31

Some people did write to special advisers to the Queen asking,

0:31:310:31:34

begging to be left off the list, because they knew that

0:31:340:31:37

the arrival of the court would completely ruin them.

0:31:370:31:39

It was actually more expensive for an individual to play host to Elizabeth than it was for a town.

0:31:390:31:44

In towns, the court paid some of their expenses themselves.

0:31:440:31:49

But even for the citizens of Gloucester, where we're going next,

0:31:490:31:53

hot on her trail, the Queen was an expensive guest.

0:31:530:31:56

She arrived here on August 10 1574, and in the local archives,

0:31:570:32:02

there's a revealing record of her visit.

0:32:020:32:05

And it begins with the gift given to the Queen's Majesty,

0:32:050:32:11

and that came to £67.

0:32:110:32:14

That would have been somewhere in the region of £100,000,

0:32:140:32:18

just as a sort of welcoming gift.

0:32:180:32:21

The rest of it here is a list of the other expenditure that they made.

0:32:210:32:26

They paid to the musicians who... for playing about the city

0:32:260:32:31

every morning, as long as the Queen's Grace was here.

0:32:310:32:34

You get some idea of the incredible amount of money

0:32:340:32:37

they had to just give to the court to keep them happy.

0:32:370:32:40

But the rest of this document

0:32:400:32:42

is about the preparations that they also made to the town.

0:32:420:32:44

They spruced up the place. They put gravel out on all the roads.

0:32:440:32:48

They got sand to clear things up,

0:32:480:32:50

and they painted quite a lot of houses to make it look smart.

0:32:500:32:55

And that's not particularly different

0:32:550:32:57

from what any town would do if the Queen were due to visit.

0:32:570:33:02

'During her time in places such as Gloucester,

0:33:020:33:05

'Elizabeth was always stopping to say hello to the local people,

0:33:050:33:09

'and she encouraged passers-by to speak to her.

0:33:090:33:11

'She effectively invented the Royal walkabout.

0:33:110:33:14

'The Spanish ambassador commented that she always went where the crowd was thickest.

0:33:160:33:22

'I've been told to seek out a pub called the Dick Whittington,

0:33:220:33:25

'where Elizabeth is rumoured to have stayed.

0:33:250:33:28

'It's known locally as St Nicholas House.'

0:33:280:33:31

You go down there, and it's supposed to have a ghost.

0:33:320:33:35

Right down the bottom. How far down is it?

0:33:350:33:39

-Just down the road.

-Is it?

0:33:390:33:41

I'm stopping to think now whether it's beyond the church. No, it wouldn't be.

0:33:410:33:46

St Nicolas House is down on the left there.

0:33:460:33:48

It's before you get to that, on the right.

0:33:480:33:50

-Which way am I going to get to the Whittington?

-Cheers!

-Down here?

0:33:500:33:54

Whittington pub? Down here?

0:33:540:33:55

Well, despite the apparent confusion,

0:33:590:34:01

I did eventually track down St Nicholas House.

0:34:010:34:05

To be honest, it's not very likely that she stayed here,

0:34:050:34:07

and not just because this is a pub, but because this just happens

0:34:070:34:13

to be one of the oldest houses in Gloucester,

0:34:130:34:16

and associated with the Dick Whittington family,

0:34:160:34:19

so people have put two and two together.

0:34:190:34:21

It's much, much more likely that she stayed near the cathedral

0:34:210:34:24

in the dean's house, because she needed a lot of space.

0:34:240:34:27

But it is a measure of how important to her it was

0:34:270:34:31

that she stayed in Gloucester.

0:34:310:34:33

She was here for three days. No hunting, just duties.

0:34:330:34:37

As well as that Dick Whittington pub,

0:34:380:34:41

there's actually a fair amount of Elizabeth and mediaeval Gloucester

0:34:410:34:46

that still survives, and that Elizabeth would have seen.

0:34:460:34:49

But perhaps the most astonishing relic of her time is also one of the town's best-kept secrets.

0:34:490:34:56

I have been given a set of keys to allow us to have a look

0:34:560:34:59

at something that apparently most of the residents of Gloucester never get to see.

0:34:590:35:06

How incredible.

0:35:150:35:17

It makes you feel as if you've got vertigo. It's huge!

0:35:190:35:24

It's reckoned to be the largest timber-framed building in Britain.

0:35:270:35:33

And it was built in 1560.

0:35:350:35:38

So it would have been brand-new when she arrived.

0:35:380:35:43

It's spectacular.

0:35:460:35:48

Originally a magnificent merchant's house,

0:35:480:35:50

modern Gloucester has grown up and closed it in,

0:35:500:35:55

to leave it forgotten and unnoticed by the crowds in the high street.

0:35:550:35:59

One of the great joys for Good Queen Bess on her Royal progress

0:36:040:36:08

seems to have been the freedom to be capricious.

0:36:080:36:11

Although detailed plans were drawn up in advance,

0:36:110:36:14

it wasn't uncommon for her to change her mind en route.

0:36:140:36:17

Wherever she went was subject to her whim.

0:36:170:36:20

She could be a Queen and decide whatever she wanted to do,

0:36:200:36:26

and I think, when she was at London,

0:36:260:36:28

she was a lot more under other people's control.

0:36:280:36:30

And a month into her trip,

0:36:300:36:33

she made one of these unscheduled stops in the town of Berkeley,

0:36:330:36:36

17 miles southwest of Gloucester on the banks of the River Severn.

0:36:360:36:41

She came to the magnificent Berkeley Castle, owned by Lord Henry Berkeley.

0:36:410:36:46

And there are significant undercurrents to this visit.

0:36:460:36:49

This is another side to the protocol of house-calling -

0:36:490:36:53

because this powerful aristocrat and local landowner was not there.

0:36:530:36:58

What's extraordinary about this castle is that it is still owned by the very same family

0:36:590:37:04

that occupied it when Queen Elizabeth came here.

0:37:040:37:07

-This is Berkeley Castle.

-This is, yes.

0:37:070:37:09

You've got the keep here, the oldest, impressive...

0:37:090:37:12

These early walls, 12th century.

0:37:120:37:13

Curtain wall. The great hall in the middle here.

0:37:130:37:17

And this wonderful 1920s addition, the porch entrance.

0:37:170:37:21

And then you've got my parents' section along here.

0:37:210:37:25

-Shall I show you around?

-Yes, please do, please do.

0:37:250:37:27

Greeting me is one of the current Berkeleys, Charles.

0:37:270:37:30

Continuously occupied by the same family since the 12th century,

0:37:300:37:34

it's the oldest building in the country

0:37:340:37:37

still inhabited by the family who built it.

0:37:370:37:39

In 1574, when Elizabeth arrived, despite the absence,

0:37:390:37:44

or perhaps because of the absence of the then owner,

0:37:440:37:47

a figure not wholly in favour,

0:37:470:37:50

the Queen and her entourage made themselves completely at home.

0:37:500:37:53

Once the Queen had settled in, had her dinner, she was off to bed.

0:37:540:37:59

But the bedroom was something that each host had to provide,

0:38:000:38:05

and was a huge problem, because she demanded a presence room which was 40 foot long,

0:38:050:38:11

a little privy chamber, a wardrobe and also a private bedroom.

0:38:110:38:16

-Hello, Charles.

-Hello.

0:38:190:38:21

Charles Kightly is an expert on Elizabethan interiors, and he's here

0:38:210:38:25

to show me what needed to be done to prepare for the Queen's bedtime.

0:38:250:38:28

-She brings with her the actual bed?

-Oh, yes, sometimes.

0:38:280:38:33

Certainly the hangings.

0:38:330:38:35

Everything she needs, because she likes to have her things round her.

0:38:350:38:38

There would be a bit of urgency here, wouldn't there?

0:38:380:38:41

Well, they would be, because we've got to have everything ready.

0:38:410:38:45

'Soft upholstery was a relatively new addition to 16th-century interiors,

0:38:450:38:49

'and it's no surprise that the Queen would have had the ultimate comfort available at the time.

0:38:490:38:55

'For her mattress, the down was pushed through a very narrow sieve

0:38:550:39:00

'until it was as fine as the driven snow.

0:39:000:39:03

'Her hangings, meanwhile, though lavish, had a practical purpose.'

0:39:030:39:07

So if you pull him through there...

0:39:070:39:09

Was the function of that merely insulatory, or was it also private?

0:39:090:39:16

Well, the idea of having a room all to yourself, which we think is just great,

0:39:160:39:20

in those days I think would have been the very opposite.

0:39:200:39:23

"We don't want privacy. What happens if I need something in the night?

0:39:230:39:26

"I need a servant there."

0:39:260:39:28

If I get up...

0:39:290:39:32

You need someone to hold the other end, I think.

0:39:320:39:35

-Whoa!

-It's all right.

0:39:350:39:37

-We've got it.

-OK.

0:39:370:39:38

You need to take up the slack. That's it, good. There's one.

0:39:380:39:42

-You're very good at this.

-OK.

0:39:420:39:44

There we are. Now, that seems like a bed fit for a queen.

0:39:480:39:52

-And the Queen wouldn't have just had one mattress.

-No?

0:39:520:39:55

-She'd have had about four.

-Right.

0:39:550:39:57

So, like the princess, literally the princess and the pea,

0:39:570:40:02

she was sort of lying on quite a supply?

0:40:020:40:06

What were the mattresses made of?

0:40:060:40:08

Will, the bottom mattress for the Queen would probably be either full of wool or flocks,

0:40:080:40:12

which is a kind of wool which is combed and then washed.

0:40:120:40:15

And then on top of that, feathers, feathers with their quills on. On top of that, down.

0:40:150:40:20

She'd get into her bed, and she'd be privy, meaning "private",

0:40:200:40:26

and toasty, meaning "warm".

0:40:260:40:29

She had an eventful morning ahead, and I'm meeting with David Smith,

0:40:290:40:34

the keeper of the family records, to find out about it.

0:40:340:40:38

And David, these are the Berkeley Castle archives, are they?

0:40:380:40:41

Yes, they are.

0:40:410:40:43

But we tend to call them the Berkeley Castle muniments,

0:40:430:40:46

which is really just something you keep in a very strong place.

0:40:460:40:50

The archives record Queen Elizabeth's unscheduled visit

0:40:510:40:56

to Berkeley in August 1574, and the deeply political motives behind it.

0:40:560:41:00

-So, this is the story of Queen Elizabeth coming here?

-Yes.

-In 1574.

0:41:020:41:10

"What time this Lord Henry

0:41:100:41:12

"had a stately game of red deer in the park adjoining,

0:41:120:41:17

"during which time of her being there, much slaughter was made.

0:41:170:41:24

"As seven and twenty stags were slain in the toils in one day."

0:41:240:41:32

-So what was going on here?

-A-ha!

0:41:340:41:37

Well, what happened was that the Queen was, as we know,

0:41:370:41:41

on her southern progress,

0:41:410:41:43

and she was originally intended to come to Berkeley,

0:41:430:41:45

but the Earl of Leicester persuaded her to change her itinerary.

0:41:450:41:50

The Earl of Leicester was her favourite, and some people said her boyfriend,

0:41:500:41:54

and he was generally an influence at court.

0:41:540:41:56

And he had had his eye on the Berkeley estates for several years,

0:41:560:42:00

so he deliberately persuaded the Queen to come,

0:42:000:42:03

knowing that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was away.

0:42:030:42:06

He was at his other castle, near Coventry.

0:42:060:42:08

So she came here, and of course made absolute mayhem.

0:42:080:42:12

27 red deer were killed in one go,

0:42:120:42:16

and many, many other deer also slaughtered.

0:42:160:42:20

And Henry was absolutely livid.

0:42:200:42:23

Leicester, I think, had engineered the whole business to make sure that Henry, Lord Berkeley, was upset.

0:42:230:42:29

Henry dismantles the deer park, and this gets back to the Queen,

0:42:290:42:35

who will not accept any form of insult.

0:42:350:42:38

From Henry's point of view, it's a seriously dangerous thing to do,

0:42:380:42:41

and friends at court tell him that he is in serious trouble about this,

0:42:410:42:47

and he wants to watch out, because his brother-in-law's already been executed,

0:42:470:42:51

and he might be on the list.

0:42:510:42:52

So this story is sort of also showing that

0:42:520:42:57

the business of being a good host

0:42:570:42:59

and allowing the Queen to come to stay was an important...could be an important part of your future?

0:42:590:43:07

Yes. Because either she would go as a sign of favour, or she might,

0:43:070:43:12

on occasion, go to someone she didn't really like that much

0:43:120:43:15

and attempt to bankrupt him by saying,

0:43:150:43:18

"I'll only stay a couple of weeks," and then saying, "Oh, I like it here.

0:43:180:43:22

"I will stay another couple of weeks," and of course the poor chap

0:43:220:43:25

was already borrowing money to pay for all the entertainment,

0:43:250:43:28

so that would put him in serious financial difficulty for years to come.

0:43:280:43:33

Deer hunting was high on the agenda for this progress.

0:43:330:43:36

Most of the private palaces she visited had deer parks.

0:43:360:43:40

In fact, later she went to places that had parks but no houses,

0:43:400:43:44

which would seem to indicate that Elizabeth wanted to hunt as much as she could.

0:43:440:43:48

But how hard is it to hit a deer with a bow and arrow?

0:43:480:43:51

Janet Hudson has been an archer in Gloucestershire for nearly 40 years.

0:43:520:43:56

If anyone can teach me, she can.

0:43:560:43:59

-Janet, hello.

-Hello.

0:43:590:44:03

Diana in the wood, the huntress.

0:44:030:44:05

That's extraordinary.

0:44:050:44:07

If you were Queen Elizabeth,

0:44:070:44:08

that's exactly how I would have greeted you. She used to go hunting,

0:44:080:44:12

and people would pop out dressed as wild men with green hair, and recite poems to her.

0:44:120:44:17

I have never had that when I've been shooting, I must say.

0:44:170:44:19

So, now, let me look at my bow.

0:44:190:44:22

Here you are.

0:44:240:44:25

Now, we use these fingers, and traditionally the notion is that

0:44:250:44:29

it was the two fingers at Agincourt - to the French

0:44:290:44:33

they showed that they still had their two fingers.

0:44:330:44:36

That is a tradition, yes. It is said that

0:44:360:44:38

when archers were captured they did have their fingers removed,

0:44:380:44:42

to prevent them operating in war

0:44:420:44:44

and also as a punishment for poaching.

0:44:440:44:46

We'll try aiming at an unfortunate small deer over there.

0:44:460:44:51

Yes, as far as you can, and just let it go when you're ready.

0:44:510:44:54

Well done, you nearly hit it.

0:44:540:44:56

'For Elizabeth, though, it might not have been as difficult as all that,

0:44:560:44:59

'because the stags were effectively herded together for her,

0:44:590:45:02

'virtually guaranteeing a kill every time.'

0:45:020:45:05

This time try and bring it closer to your chest.

0:45:050:45:07

-Closer to my chest?

-Yes, closer in to your chin.

-There?

0:45:070:45:10

Yes, as far back as you can, and point at the ground.

0:45:100:45:14

Yes!

0:45:140:45:16

Good gracious me!

0:45:160:45:18

That's absolutely astonishing.

0:45:180:45:19

Can I say, that's the best instruction I've ever had.

0:45:190:45:23

Not only did it quiver as it went in - djdjrrring! -

0:45:230:45:27

and into the side of that plastic deer over there,

0:45:270:45:29

-I

-was quivering, and so was my quiver.

0:45:290:45:31

That's extraordinary.

0:45:310:45:33

Nice to see you've come back with your fingers intact after the hawks.

0:45:350:45:40

Well, you know I hit it.

0:45:400:45:41

From Berkeley, the next leg of the progress takes us

0:45:410:45:44

back on the A38 to the tiny village of Iron Acton.

0:45:440:45:49

And, again, we're entering a detective story.

0:45:490:45:53

Some of the places that Royalty grace get lost in time,

0:45:530:45:57

and sometimes a chance encounter reveals their Royal connections.

0:45:570:46:01

Amazingly, this significant Tudor building

0:46:010:46:04

was completely derelict by the 1970s and was being used as a cattle shed.

0:46:040:46:08

Had it not been for local historian Dorothy Brown,

0:46:080:46:11

it might have been lost altogether.

0:46:110:46:13

So, Dorothy, you were the person who discovered this building.

0:46:150:46:18

In 1976, I found that there was this amazing building

0:46:180:46:22

that I didn't know about, and I went to see

0:46:220:46:25

if there was an owner or something, and there was none.

0:46:250:46:30

There was nobody actually there,

0:46:300:46:32

and so I wandered in and took some photos.

0:46:320:46:35

I was quite amazed, and I went

0:46:350:46:38

and scratched one of the walls, which was that one up there,

0:46:380:46:41

and underneath I found the most amazing quality decoration,

0:46:410:46:48

and typical of 16th-century palace work.

0:46:480:46:53

But you could see it was super quality, so I thought I'd better stop...

0:46:530:46:56

-But it must have been the most exciting moment.

-It was fantastic.

0:46:560:47:00

Dorothy had discovered an important Tudor building,

0:47:030:47:07

and further research revealed that parts of it had been built

0:47:070:47:11

for a special purpose.

0:47:110:47:12

The Tudor owner, Sir Nicholas Poyntz,

0:47:140:47:16

erected this wing in a staggering nine months.

0:47:160:47:19

But though it was a rush job, it was done with care, for a reason.

0:47:190:47:24

The building itself hold the clues.

0:47:280:47:30

High up in the rafters,

0:47:300:47:32

there's another little architectural surprise.

0:47:320:47:35

Oh, look at that.

0:47:350:47:36

We're looking at a roof which tells a story,

0:47:380:47:42

because the trusses that hold up this roof are queen posts,

0:47:420:47:48

and it's much more common to find this form of support

0:47:480:47:53

in the east of England, rather than the west.

0:47:530:47:58

And it happens to tell us this building

0:47:580:48:03

is based on ideas which were imported.

0:48:030:48:07

The latest architectural style had been brought over to the west from London.

0:48:080:48:12

The grand wing was put up in a hurry

0:48:120:48:15

because Sir Nicholas Poyntz - a courtier - wanted to impress

0:48:150:48:18

Elizabeth's father, Henry VII, who was planning a visit in 1535.

0:48:180:48:23

And here we are in a magnificent room,

0:48:240:48:28

not a Gloucestershire room, at all, but a London, fashionable room,

0:48:280:48:32

and this was the presence chamber.

0:48:320:48:35

I just want to try something here.

0:48:350:48:38

OK, let's see if this works.

0:48:400:48:42

One, two,

0:48:430:48:45

three, four,

0:48:450:48:46

five, six,

0:48:460:48:47

seven, eight,

0:48:470:48:49

nine, ten,

0:48:490:48:50

eleven, twelve, thirteen -

0:48:500:48:53

near enough 13 yards there, or 39 feet.

0:48:530:48:58

It's a 40-foot presence chamber, and we come through here,

0:48:580:49:03

and what's here but, of course, the privy chamber -

0:49:030:49:08

the chamber where the King had just his cronies

0:49:080:49:11

and a few special people around here.

0:49:110:49:13

And when he wanted to go away from them,

0:49:130:49:16

he went through here and came through

0:49:160:49:19

into what is known locally

0:49:190:49:22

as King Henry VIII's bedroom.

0:49:220:49:25

And what we have here is exactly what the ushers

0:49:280:49:32

were ordered to find for Queen Elizabeth on her tour.

0:49:320:49:36

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

0:49:380:49:40

did use these rooms, but where Sir Nicholas succeeded,

0:49:400:49:43

his son failed.

0:49:430:49:46

Queen Elizabeth - on her own progress, nearly 40 years later - passed by,

0:49:460:49:52

though the privy council met here.

0:49:520:49:54

It was an elaborate dance with those who wanted power.

0:49:550:49:59

She could snub as well as reward, accept or decline,

0:49:590:50:03

even abuse hospitality, as a political act.

0:50:030:50:07

Today, the presence chamber is being used by a group

0:50:080:50:12

of young students who are learning La Volta.

0:50:120:50:15

Teaching them this popular Elizabethan dance is tutor Anne Day.

0:50:150:50:19

What we're watching here is not really sort of display dancing

0:50:190:50:23

to be watched like we watch the ballet,

0:50:230:50:25

but something people were expected to join in.

0:50:250:50:27

Yes, very much social dancing, but also to be watched,

0:50:270:50:31

because you would do this with the court around,

0:50:310:50:34

and you're also dancing in the presence of the Queen.

0:50:340:50:37

And the Queen herself liked to dance this particular dance.

0:50:370:50:41

Yes, there's a famous painting that is reputed to be her

0:50:410:50:46

dancing the La Volta with the Earl of Leicester.

0:50:460:50:50

Right, and the dancing was quite a useful way

0:50:500:50:54

of getting to know the opposite sex, was it?

0:50:540:50:56

Oh, yes, the only proper way you could meet another young person.

0:50:560:50:59

Because courtly manners kept you separate from the girls otherwise,

0:50:590:51:03

and then somehow you would get intimate on the dancefloor,

0:51:030:51:06

and the Elizabethan age was quite a sexy age, wasn't it?

0:51:060:51:09

Yes, one of the dancing masters of the day has pointed out

0:51:090:51:12

that once you are dancing with a young woman, you can work out

0:51:120:51:16

whether she has foul breath or a deformity,

0:51:160:51:19

what her conversation's like -

0:51:190:51:21

in other words, her level of intelligence...

0:51:210:51:23

-Her marriageability.

-And her marriageability,

0:51:230:51:25

whether she'd be a good wife, good manager of your household.

0:51:250:51:28

Elizabethans learned to dance at a very young age.

0:51:290:51:32

The higher your rank, the earlier your tuition would start.

0:51:320:51:36

And Royal status meant lessons from the age of six.

0:51:360:51:40

I guess I've arrived in court at quite a late stage in my life,

0:51:410:51:45

-but can you teach the a few steps?

-Oh, certainly, yes.

0:51:450:51:49

Hop, step and jump. Hop, step and jump.

0:51:490:51:54

Hop, step and pivot, that's it.

0:51:540:51:56

So, if your knee makes contact,

0:51:560:51:59

your left knee makes contact with her...her rear,

0:51:590:52:02

and it pushes her on.

0:52:020:52:04

Whup! Binky-bonky-bing. Whup! Binky-bonky-bing.

0:52:040:52:08

-OK.

-One more.

-Oh, and one more!

0:52:100:52:11

Binky-bonky-bing, whoa!

0:52:110:52:13

I tell you, actually, what I know, Leah, is I'm looking into your eyes

0:52:220:52:25

and that's delightful, but I know that my legs

0:52:250:52:28

are not going the same way as your legs at the moment.

0:52:280:52:31

THEY LAUGH

0:52:310:52:33

Strictly Come Volta doesn't seem to be beckoning,

0:52:330:52:36

so, as they continue their preparations,

0:52:360:52:38

it's time for me to leave Acton Court

0:52:380:52:41

and get back on the road.

0:52:410:52:43

I'm entering the final leg of my journey.

0:52:490:52:52

I now have to cover the last 10 miles southwest

0:52:520:52:55

and onto the culmination of the Royal progress.

0:52:550:52:58

This seaport was one of the major defensive outposts of the Queen's realm.

0:53:010:53:08

and it was the furthest west she would ever travel.

0:53:080:53:11

We're on our way to Bristol,

0:53:110:53:13

the most important stop of her summer holiday,

0:53:130:53:16

and there she had political business to attend to

0:53:160:53:20

and let the Spanish ambassador catch up with her.

0:53:200:53:23

Queen Elizabeth I finally arrived here on August 14 1574.

0:53:250:53:30

It had taken her and her baggage train a month

0:53:300:53:34

to travel the 156 miles from Windsor.

0:53:340:53:36

So, Her Majesty the Queen, Gloriana, is making her way

0:53:420:53:47

through the streets of Bristow, as it's known then.

0:53:470:53:49

She's accompanied the mayor, bare-headed,

0:53:490:53:51

carrying the sword of state, all the aldermen,

0:53:510:53:54

and 300 local soldiers

0:53:540:53:56

who, now and again, fire their guns into the air in celebration.

0:53:560:54:01

And everywhere she goes she's surprised by figures

0:54:010:54:05

who pop out and deliver poetic orations.

0:54:050:54:08

O, blessed be the hour, our Queen is coming to the town

0:54:080:54:12

with princely train and power...

0:54:120:54:14

These boys are from Bristol Grammar School,

0:54:140:54:17

founded on this site by her father, and visited in turn by Elizabeth.

0:54:170:54:21

All hail, O plant of grace and special sprout of fame...

0:54:210:54:27

The flattering verses are the actual words

0:54:270:54:29

written for her visit by Thomas Churchyard.

0:54:290:54:32

..England's hope is come to place these things in breast,

0:54:320:54:36

we dare not stay her longer here whose travel crave with rest...

0:54:360:54:40

With these ceremonies, and others like them,

0:54:400:54:43

the people of Bristol demonstrated to the Queen

0:54:430:54:46

that they were disciplined and worthy of her attention.

0:54:460:54:50

But her priority in this city was to carry out serious business

0:54:500:54:53

with the Spanish ambassador.

0:54:530:54:55

He had been brought here deliberately to witness

0:54:550:54:58

a three-day mock sea battle.

0:54:580:55:01

She wanted to show him the power of her Navy,

0:55:010:55:04

and the strength of Bristol in particular,

0:55:040:55:08

before signing that treaty

0:55:080:55:09

that would - temporarily - halt years of bad feeling

0:55:090:55:13

caused by English pirates raiding Spanish treasure ships.

0:55:130:55:16

It brought stability to the nation for a further 14 years,

0:55:180:55:21

until the famous defeat of the Spanish Armada.

0:55:210:55:26

Later, the celebrations continued.

0:55:260:55:29

In the evening, they all came back here to the great house.

0:55:320:55:36

Well, not here, in fact, because the great house was over here,

0:55:360:55:40

and this is the lodge, which is all that remained.

0:55:400:55:42

It belonged to John Young, and they had music and feasting

0:55:420:55:47

and dancing, and the Queen actually loved music.

0:55:470:55:50

A visitor came and said she kept the cadence,

0:55:500:55:54

not just with her hand and her foot, but her head, as well,

0:55:540:55:58

and she rebuked any maids who danced badly.

0:55:580:56:02

John Young gave her a big jewel, and she gave him a knighthood,

0:56:050:56:11

something we probably recognise from our own day -

0:56:110:56:16

cash for honours.

0:56:160:56:18

Queen Elizabeth I was a monarch who won the hearts of her people.

0:56:250:56:30

She did that by reaching out to them

0:56:300:56:32

and travelling her kingdom to meet her subjects face to face.

0:56:320:56:37

The Royal progress allowed her to enjoy herself,

0:56:390:56:42

but at the heart of the trips was a strong political purpose.

0:56:420:56:46

She was rallying support from her favoured courtiers

0:56:460:56:50

and, crucially, keeping an eye on potential troublemakers.

0:56:500:56:54

Our current Queen Elizabeth II will often make a grand tour

0:56:540:56:57

of her kingdom, especially in her Jubilee year,

0:56:570:57:01

and in doing so, she reflects a tradition that her namesake

0:57:010:57:05

popularised and refined 450 years ago.

0:57:050:57:09

But for Elizabeth I, there was an awful lot more at stake.

0:57:110:57:15

BAND PLAYS "Rule Britannia"

0:57:150:57:18

In 1574, all the pageantry

0:57:270:57:30

and the ceremony of a Royal progress

0:57:300:57:34

were designed to impress upon the Elizabethan people

0:57:340:57:38

that they had never had it so good,

0:57:380:57:40

that the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, was their salvation.

0:57:400:57:45

They even resurrected an ancient Roman goddess called Britannia

0:57:450:57:51

and invented the idea of Great Britain to support their cause.

0:57:510:57:56

For the first Queen Elizabeth,

0:57:570:57:59

a Royal tour was a lot more than tradition, colour and noise.

0:57:590:58:02

It was literally a matter of life and death.

0:58:040:58:08

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