Episode 1 Britain's Heritage Heroes

We're travelling across the UK on a mission.

All over the country, our heritage is at risk.

Ancient buildings and monuments are under threat of demolition.

Valuable arts and crafts are on the brink of extinction,

and our rich industrial heritage is disappearing fast.

We're scouring town and country in search of the nation's unsung heroes

determined not to let our heritage become a thing of the past.

Today we meet the dedicated craftsmen putting vintage railway carriages back on the tracks.

It's incurable, I'm afraid, once you get into this!

And we help spread the seeds that are reviving Northumberland's rich habitat.

On this journey, we're uncovering the hidden treasures of our country.

Treasures that are certainly worth fighting for.

And meeting heritage heroes, saving Britain at risk.

Right then, here we go John. At long last!

I've got the map and we've got the whole of the North Pennines in front of us.

Our journey starts just south of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.

We then zigzag across the Pennines through the Lake District

and the Yorkshire Dales.

And our trail ends at the range's southernmost tip in Derbyshire.

We've got Scotland way up there beyond Northumberland.

And down there we've got the spine of the Pennines,

which divides Yorkshire and Lancashire further south.

Indeed we have.

I'm a Yorkshireman so I know which side of the Pennines I like best!

The Pennines are an impressive mountain range,

covered by moorland and meadows.

This rich and rugged landscape has been carved by ice,

mined by industry, and inhabited by endangered wildlife.

We're on the road meeting people working hard to preserve its history.

In times of belt tightening, their task is getting even harder,

as heritage funding is squeezed.

We're kicking off with the industry that's had the biggest impact - above and below ground - mining.

-What a wide desolate landscape this is, isn't it?

-Isn't it just.

Only a couple of hundred years ago,

this would have been a hive of activity.

There would have been thousands of men, women and children

living here and working down the lead mines.

This was once a place where industry was king.

In the mid-18th century, Britain was the world's biggest producer of lead,

largely thanks to the North Pennines.

Beneath the rolling hills, along with lead, they found coal, silver and zinc.

You know, I have a peculiar fascination with industrial archaeology.

-Peculiar?

-Well, it's not everybody's cup of tea, is it?

But for me it just captures this fantastic spirit,

this electric moment, when innovation and scientific ambition

knew no bounds, and the relics of it are all around us.

We're heading to the visitor centre at Nenthead mines.

It aims to keep alive stories from a site once at the heart of mining production in the area.

But today, with little passing tourist trade, it's struggling to survive.

-Welcome to Nenthead.

-Well, that's what it says. Nice. Look at this!

Self-guided trails it says as well, look.

'The charity that runs the site has come up with a smart idea to make their money go further -

'tours are self-guided, which cuts the cost of manpower.'

I'm getting one of these. Two quid, a donation. Let's do it right, shall we?

-A fiver? There we go.

-I'll give you my share later, OK?

Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's what he always says!

This walkway leads you around the whole mine site,

with information boards telling the story of the mine's history.

There are interactive elements, too, which really help to bring the place alive.

-Ready?

-Yes.

You can kickstart the waterwheel

and get a real understanding of how it powered the mine's machinery.

Ah ha ha, brilliant!

-This is an eye on the map, which means it was a smelt mill.

-Ah!

-This was the business end of it.

-The heart of the process, wasn't it?

According to this, the smelt mill was in production for almost 160 years.

By the time it closed in 1896, it had grown to six ore hearths,

one slag hearth, two reverberatory furnaces, two refining furnaces,

and one desilvering house.

Well, that would really interest an industrial archaeologist like you, wouldn't it?

-It does, look at the shapes!

-To me it's a fantastic ruin really,

and you can just imagine what it must have been like working in here.

Life down the mines was tough.

Workers were lucky to live to 50, often starting work as young as 10.

Nenthead was one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain

with a population of 2,000 people.

Run by Quakers, miners were given plenty of time off

to educate their children and go to church.

To get a sense of what life was like, we're going down the pit.

-Hello!

-Hello.

-You look like the man we need to talk to.

-Yes, I'll be your guide underground, so the first thing to do is put a helmet on, please.

-Fine!

Paul is the education officer for the mine.

Without him, this underground experience would be off-limits

so we've booked ahead.

Right, watch your heads as you come in.

Did the old-time miners have any protective headgear then?

-No, they just wore cloth caps!

-Really?!

And are there any minerals still here, Paul? Lead or silver?

Yes, you still find them in quite a few places in the mines here.

We're going to go down this way.

-It just goes off in every direction, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-Is that a candle holder?

-Yes, so this would have been lit with candles.

Amazing, isn't it? Wow, look at this, John.

Yes, this is a much bigger cave almost, isn't it now?

It's quite a small chamber. Further up the valley,

there's some really large flat workings or chambers like this.

One is known as the ballroom because, over 100 years ago,

they had a dinner party with an orchestra down there!

I can think of better places to have a dinner party!

But this is an extraordinary operation.

It must cost a fair bit to run.

Yes, I mean, I've got to be honest and say that our visitor income

doesn't pay the cost just to staff the site to make it open to the visitors,

so we lose money every day we're open.

But presumably you'd like to have it manned 365 days a year?

Yes, because I can tell you the stories. If you meet someone,

you get to know the information far better than just reading about it.

It does seem sad that such an important relic from our past

is in danger.

It is. It's the largest lead mining and smelting complex in the country

so it's a very important and significant place.

Yes, we have a responsibility to maintain it, but we really struggle.

Maybe you should go see the dragons in the den!

-Perhaps I should, yes.

-A good idea. Or keep looking for silver down here!

-Come on, Paul! Lead on.

-OK!

We'll see if we can find something shiny in the gloom.

-Blinking in the bright daylight.

-I know!

It's a bit severe, isn't it, in this lovely sunshine?

-It's nice to be out, I have to say.

-What do you make of Nenthead then?

Well, if I'm honest, that's what makes it.

For any visitor, if you're going to visit a piece of industrial heritage,

you want to get some sense,

a real reflection, of what it did but also what it was like to be there.

Of course a mine wouldn't be complete without an open tunnel system.

How many people have had a chance of going down a mine like that?

I can remember when I was a young boy, my uncle, my great uncle,

worked in a mine and looked after the horses, and he took me down.

It's an experience I'll never forget.

And how tragic it would be if the risk became too great and it closed.

An experience like this makes you realise that our past

can be every bit as important as our future.

Where next?

We're back on the road in search of the historic roots of the North Pennines that need preserving.

You think of a bleak and desolate place,

but in fact there are a lot of trees.

Do you remember years ago... You'll have reported on this -

I bet I've probably watched you on Newsround telling this story!

All those years ago!

..the woodland in the country was declining at such a rate

that there was the possibility there would be none at all.

Demand for timber and chopping them down for development are the reasons we've lost so many trees.

Remaining forests are now carefully managed

to keep up with commercial pressure while preserving their habitat.

Coppicing is one method of keeping woods healthy.

It's a process of thinning the wood to allow natural regrowth.

It was commonplace in the 13th century and is making a comeback.

In this woodland near Slaley, two young craftsmen, Saul and Oram, are championing this ancient skill.

This is the woodland we're working at the moment, and it's in the process of being coppiced.

That entails cutting out a large majority of the trees

to let them naturally regenerate.

They need the sunlight on the forest floor for that to happen.

Once you've got the light in, the canopy is being reduced,

you start getting a lot of new trees which are self-seeded,

which creates a whole thicker crop and there's no need to plant.

Across the country, landowners are taking notice,

and are increasingly using horses to extract wood.

The wood pulled out gives Saul and Oram their income.

So, this is a few examples of the sort of products we make.

There's a beason broom, which this woodland will be good for

because there's a lot of birch in here.

Chairs, when we've got the time.

Just something different. The more products we can make, the better.

This works as a way of life for us really.

It's mainly done in the winter and it means that you get out

and enjoy the best of all seasons.

If we get an apprentice, yes, it would be good to train somebody up,

keep it going, because the knowledge will just die out.

We only know a very small amount of what was known,

we're always learning, so it's good to pass on what we know.

I love seeing such passion for an ancient technique.

Through Saul and Oram, coppicing certainly has a future in Northumberland.

We're on a journey across the North Pennines,

travelling now towards Beamish in County Durham.

There's something very refreshing, John,

-about getting away from the satnav, isn't there?

-Isn't there?

That rather forbidding voice of the lady who tells you to, er...

"Recalculating!" she says when you get it wrong.

-Could you be a bit more stern, John, in your directions?

-Yes, OK, OK.

Veer to the right, I think, shortly.

In about three miles, I reckon.

Three miles.

Our next stop is to explore the rich engineering past of the north-east.

This part of the world, the north-east of England,

-was the birthplace of the railways, wasn't it?

-Indeed it was.

The early engine factories were around Stockton on Tees,

and Stevenson and his Rocket.

What a time of invention.

What an exciting time, brutal time, dangerous time, as we've seen,

but what an exciting time.

Steam travel opened up the North Pennines to the world.

The lead and silver that were mined travelled to global markets,

and coal was transported to fuel the Industrial Revolution.

To immerse ourselves in this industrial past,

we're taking a bit of a detour.

Beamish is a living history museum

that recognises the value of keeping our engineering heritage alive

and in full working order.

Step back in time, eh? How about this!

We needn't be walking, we could get the tram. That's brilliant!

-Look at all the people as well.

-Yes.

This place gives you an instant history fix.

It's vibrant, authentic, and fun.

Right, I'm going to toot the whistle.

I've always wanted to do that!

It tells a story of how people lived, where they shopped,

and how they enjoyed their time off.

Come on, get a move on!

Here, you'll see some of the finest engineering this country has produced.

How about this, a good old steam roller, made by John Fowler in Leeds.

He was the first man to make steam ploughs,

which totally revolutionised agriculture in the 1830s.

Every one of these incredible machines needs constant restoration and maintenance,

but here's the problem - skills are dying out,

so places like this are also under threat if nothing is done to revive them.

I can't help but be struck by the amount of technological effort

that's required in bringing a place like this back to life.

Of course that doesn't come easily, and it certainly doesn't come cheap.

With help from the Lottery Fund,

the North of England Civic Trust stepped in.

Andi Harris is part of the team who spotted the engineering skills at risk.

The heritage skills that we came across are still out there,

but unfortunately we're facing this retirement timebomb.

People are retiring, not continuing with skills,

and modern training doesn't give the skills to maintain this environment.

This is sort of classical fine engineering, if you like.

The sort of skills we're talking about were really at the heart

of the expansion of the Empire, the Industrial Revolution and so on.

-I mean, this is old stuff.

-It is, it's absolutely fantastic.

I was worried, when we first set this up, about getting the right people in to do this.

We were inundated with people wanting to do this. This opportunity doesn't exist anywhere else.

Well, if their passion is anything like yours, Andi,

-we're in good hands, aren't we?

-Thank you.

Just a 30 minute drive from Beamish is a restoration yard in Haltwhistle.

They're playing a key role in keeping the heritage alive.

As well as making a living, skills are being passed on.

I reckon then that Haltwhistle has that railway connection.

-Halt and whistle.

-Must do.

-Halt and whistle, yes.

So, in one of these sheds lies a railway carriage.

-There we are, look. Stanegate restoration yard.

-That's our place.

-Let's hope the kettle's working in there.

-Yes! See what's going on.

-It's run by a guy called Ian.

-Ian. Let's try and find Ian then.

Is Ian here?

-Ian is here.

-Ian!

-Welcome, John.

-Thank you very much.

Nice to see you sir. How are you?

This is the kind of shed you'd like, Jules.

I love a good workshop, and the smell of wood in here is fantastic.

John said we should see you, but what are you doing here?

We restore things, virtually anything.

We've done horse-drawn vehicles, we've done railway vehicles,

we've done boats. You name it, we do it.

While you're here, you can earn your living. Come on!

-I thought we were just coming for a look around!

-I'm Jonathan.

-Jonathan, nice to see you.

-Nice to see you.

-What do you do?

-I'm official scapegoat!

Can you also work the kettle? That's the most important thing, isn't it?

'Jonathan is actually Ian's trainee.

'He's currently being taught skills

'needed to restore two vintage railway carriages.

'The work's been commissioned by Beamish Museum.'

All sorts in here, boats as well, look.

What about this one, Ian?

Well, this has got an amazing history, John.

-It was Stockton Darlington Railway...

-The first railway?

That's what they claim, yes. If you'd like to give us a hand,

this is the one I'd like you to help on.

Oh, yeah. What can we do?

Well, what we have to do is we have to replace all this buffer beam

which is a little bit past its best-by date, I'm afraid.

-Understatement!

-It's not good quality oak any more.

So that has to come off. In order to get that off

we have to take all the ironwork off.

Spanners and sockets behind you,

-lots of muscle and grunt'll be needed.

-All right.

Jules, this is your department.

This is absolutely my kind of thing. Proper workshop stuff, this.

I think you're well and truly across this, aren't you, Jules?

-I'll leave you to it.

-Oh, cheers, mate(!)

Jonathan, tell me about this carriage round here.

Aw, chicken.

So, what's the story about this one?

Well, this was a very luxurious carriage of its time.

As Ian sometimes says,

it's pretty much the Concorde of its day, really.

And how much do you know about its history?

Well, funnily enough, as we were taking the roof down,

we actually found this, one of the old boards.

And what it says here is,

"This carriage was built as the France and Prussian war was raging."

-Wow.

-As you can see, that was 1870.

Goodness me, that's a real bit of written history, isn't it?

Real bit of written history, there.

Do you get a sense of satisfaction

-when working on something like this?

-Certainly, aye.

When you can take something like this and see it go out the door

pretty much as it was originally...

You're not a volunteer, you actually get paid for doing this work.

Yeah, I get paid. I'm a trainee. I have a placement through the HSI

which is the Heritage Skills Initiative.

How did you get involved in this?

I've been in the construction industry for a long time

and I decided to try and get myself into something

that I would feel a bit more appreciative of.

-A bit more challenging?

-A bit more challenging, yeah.

So this kind of work will be in safe hands in the future?

-Yeah, I would have thought so.

-Great.

-I hope so.

No, that's... The thread's still spinning.

It's not the one I thought it was. I can't see under here.

Uh...about 12 'o clock.

-Right, I think we're there.

-Just having a nap.

-Nearly there, yep.

Lovely.

Look at that. After 150 years, it's finally off. Amazing!

-Where's the bolt?

-There it is.

-Look at that. Beautiful.

-That would have been a hand-wrought bolt, wouldn't it?

-Real Whitworth.

What will happen to this carriage once you've finished restoring it?

Well, that's the nice thing about this job.

It's going to run again. It's going to Beamish open-air museum.

So, for you and Jonathan, you know,

a young guy coming into this profession,

it's a terrific sense of achievement

to see your efforts come to fruition so quickly and to be used again.

It's a perfect introduction for him. I've had lots of experience doing this.

It's nice to pass that on.

-A real passion.

-Yeah, and Jonathan, I think, he's getting that same bug.

It's incurable, I'm afraid. Once you get into this.

This shed may be tucked away, but the knowledge being passed on inside

will enable us to keep on enjoying the rich heritage of the northeast.

The trouble with this map is that

where we want to be is exactly along the fold.

-John, you know that's always going to be the case.

-Always the case!

Luckily for me, this place is well-signposted.

Just driving across the Pennines gives you a real sense of the place.

Spires and steeples are landmarks of remote communities

that once thrived.

As people moved on, many have been abandoned

and are at risk of demolition.

The Churches Conservation Trust is coming up with some creative ways

to breathe new life into remote churches.

Rosie Lister is organising its efforts in the north of England.

Can we imagine a landscape without steeples? Without towers?

They are so intrinsically a part of the British landscape.

They punctuate it, they're very sculptural,

but we can't just see them as follies.

They're not follies, we have to use them.

So, this is St Andrews', Shotley, one of our most remote churches.

As you can see, we're walking through a rape field

which the farmer very kindly leaves us a path through,

but you can see how getting people here...

We haven't got a lot of passing trade,

so we really have to bring people up here for a really good reason.

One idea is to put on arts events and concerts for the local community.

Musicians Rowena and Maurice are here

to check out the church's potential as a performance space.

It's not just that it's a great acoustic,

it's in a special... It is in a sacred space

and I think you do sense that in these buildings.

In here, the band could be...

set, in there, and their audience...

Well, they are natural stages, aren't they?

I feel that it's an ideal place for a trio, a jazz band,

sometime a quartet, a quintet.

# In the dark

# We may dream as strangers

# In the dark... #

I think there's all sorts of things, both spiritually and historically,

to be gained from interaction with these kinds of places,

rather than just somewhere to drive past and say, "Look. Nice ruin."

# ..I need. #

We want to bring these buildings back to life,

so we want to re-vision these buildings and help people understand

that they can use them, they can hold events there,

they can really claim these buildings back as their own.

Our next stop takes us to the heart of Northumberland

and the upland meadows of the Allendale valley.

It's an area of outstanding natural beauty.

40% of upland meadows that remain are here in the North Pennines.

They're an entirely man-made habitat

with a heritage stemming back centuries.

96% of the original hay meadows in the country have now vanished.

That's astonishing.

Cos farmers tend to use silage now, don't they,

it's cheaper and really more convenient.

But the heyday is almost over,

so they're trying to bring it back again.

Silage is an animal feed

that's grown with the help of artificial fertiliser.

It's cut and baled as soon as it wilts,

so the seeds never reach the soil.

The downside is no wildflowers, which means very little wildlife.

We're visiting one of 50 farms who've signed up to the Hay Time Project.

It was set up five years ago

to encourage farmers to go back to basics.

Right.

Where are you, hay meadows?

-Oh, right here, John.

-Oh, oh, oh.

MIMICS SCREECHING TYRES

-There we go.

-Hay meadows. Came upon us suddenly.

You join us in the 4X4 stage of the RAC rally.

THEY LAUGH Craven at the wheel.

Farmers Nils and Tom have all the gear needed

to help restore the meadows and their natural wildlife.

Well, guys, I have to say,

I've never seen a piece of equipment like that before. Pretty rare.

It is pretty rare, we believe that there's only three in the country.

-Three?

-That's specifically designed to do the job that we want it to do,

which is to lift the seeds without damaging the rest of the crops.

This machine has fingers on the bottom

and they basically spin at high speed

and it flicks the seed off the top of the grass

and puts it into this dumping bag here

ready for putting into the other machine

which spreads them on the receptor site.

So, coming down to the real nuts and bolts of what Hay Time is about,

it's this sense of redistribution of these precious seeds, isn't it?

We're helping nature, in a sense.

I mean, you know, it would happen eventually

via nature blowing in the wind, seeds blowing in the wind,

we just speed the process up.

Well, let's see how it all does work, guys.

Let's get this into the field and see it in action.

But before Jules gets too gung-ho with the quad bike,

Rebecca Barrett from the Hay Time team

is keen to show me why these precious seeds are so important.

We've been really pleased at the response we've had from farmers

because a lot of them are interested

in getting the wildflowers back into their meadows,

and I think the most interesting thing is that

they're prepared to see a reduction in their hay crop

as the process of getting the wildflowers comes in place.

Well, this is one of Nils's hay meadows, how do you rate this one?

Well, this is what we refer to as an early stage restoration meadow.

There's a few nice species in here.

We've got red clover here, for example.

And how long does it take to transform a meadow like this one

into the perfect upland meadow?

That can probably take 10 years or even 20 years

to actually, really, genuinely get those wild plants back,

because it's all about what's happening in the soil.

It's good to see hay meadows coming back to some extent,

because they're very much part of our heritage, aren't they?

I think many people have warm recollections

of making hay in the past, the sounds, the smells of hay-making.

It's not just about wildlife, it's about a British thing

of being out in the landscape during the summer.

OK, I want you to try and have as straight a line as possible, please.

-First gear?

-First gear and up you go.

Right, then. Here we go. Watch your feet.

There we go. Look at that.

We're making Hay Time!

In the Pennines.

This may look like a fairly small-scale operation,

but the impact of these schemes on environments like this

is really gaining pace.

It's a lovely opportunity to play a small role in it, really.

And what a view!

Well, it's not the straightest line in the world, but, um...

we're harvesting nonetheless.

Here he comes, our hay-maker for a day.

-Hi, John!

-How's it going?

-Come to join the fun?

The harvested seeds are then transferred to a spreader.

This scatters them on to a fresh field, where they'll take root.

Here they come.

Come on, girls.

Well, this is the final part of the process.

Having collected our seed and then redistributed it,

it now needs to be worked into the soil,

and that's going to happen courtesy of this flock of sheep.

Their feet working it through the grass will hopefully embed it

so it can come up for another year.

-Come on, then.

-Get to work, girls, now. Spread the seeds.

HE LAUGHS Lovely.

The nice thing, John, of course, it's all organic, isn't it?

It is, actually, it's all as nature intended.

'And it really is great to see such a simple technique

'being used to help restore upland meadows to the way they used to be.'

What a day.

We've had a fantastic journey across the North Pennines.

I've loved seeing valuable engineering skills

being passed on to the next generation.

And for me, Nenthead mine was a great reminder

of our vast industrial heritage that really does need our support.

Next time, we don our hard hats to help restore a country estate,

open to the public for the first time in 70 years.

And we meet a group of locals who saved a viaduct from demolition.

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