Episode 4 Britain's Heritage Heroes

We're travelling across the UK.

'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 a group of craftsmen and artists

'striving to save their historic workspace.'

'And a community campaigning to keep open their picture house.

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

Treasures that are certainly worth fighting for.

And meeting heritage heroes saving Britain at risk.

On our journey through the north of England,

we have been zigzagging down the Pennines.

We've had a fantastic trip so far,

but today, we have got three counties to touch upon.

Lancashire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

We're kicking off in the middle of the glorious Peak District.

-Fantastic view. Let's get going.

-Yeah.

'On this journey, we started at the top of the Pennine Way,

'then headed to the northern Lake District

'and now we're in the industrial heartland of the North of England.

'Our journey ends in Derbyshire,

'beyond the southernmost tip of the Pennines.'

The nice thing about this road trip of ours

are the contrasts between the big, green open spaces

and our national parks and that really gritty history

that goes with some of our more urban areas,

our great industrial cities.

Without those green spaces,

the big industrial places wouldn't really have been here.

They needed the wool, the sheep, the minerals.

There are a couple of guys just down the road

who have spent 12 years or so

resurrecting an old steam engine that used to be in a mill.

-It's still in the mill.

-That will interest you.

-I can't wait to see it.

Apparently, they've done a fantastic job

of revealing it from this desolate state in which they found it.

'Grane Mill was a 3.5 acre cotton-weaving site

'in the industrial town of Haslingden.

'300 people worked there when it started production in 1907.

'More than 1,000 weaving looms

'were powered by what was then a state-of-the-art steam engine.

'In its prime, the mill produced 350 miles of cotton every week,

'most of which was transported overseas for the garment trade.'

'Today, only a quarter of the site remains.

'And in recognition of its industrial significance,

'it's been awarded Scheduled Ancient Monument status.

'Anthony Piling is one member of a group of enthusiastic volunteers.

'They've worked hard to save Grane Mill for the last few years

'in the hope of eventually opening it as a working visitor attraction.'

Anthony. Hello. Nice to see you. I'm Jules.

Hard at work, I can see. Having a bit of a tidy-up?

Yes, you could say that. It's been a bit of a mess.

What about the tower? That's the most iconic feature that you see.

-The chimney.

-Yes.

-We've had the steeplejack up it.

We've got a report. We've got £20,000 to find.

THEY LAUGH

OK. The figures keep rolling on.

This is our water tank. This is the chimney.

-It's an absolute beauty!

-Yes, absolutely, it is.

It's one of the most industrial Scheduled Monuments I've visited.

What sets this one apart? Why is it so important?

Scheduled Monuments, for a start, are above the listings.

You have Grade II, Grade II*, Grade I,

then Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

So it's of national importance.

It's because of the completeness of the plant

and the uniqueness of it all being built at the same time

with the north-light roof over just about every department of the mill.

But the list of things you've got to overcome

to get this up and running as a viable concern is enormous.

It is, but all of the jobs can be achieved.

There are still steeplejacks that can do work to the chimney,

there are engineers who can do the work in the water tank.

We've got volunteers who are actually training up

to understand how to use the steam engine.

Let's get to the main event, this engine. I'm dying to see it.

-Lead on, show me around.

-It's this way.

'Steam engineer David has dedicated almost all his spare time

'to lovingly restoring Alice the engine,

'which once powered this entire site.'

Wow! Look at this!

Seeing all the debris outside, you'd never know this was here.

-And this must be Dave.

-Absolutely.

-Hello, Dave. How are you?

-Pleased to meet you.

-I gather you've been at this for an awfully long time.

-12 years.

-12 years - so these are your pride and joy?

-Oh, yeah.

What gave you the presence of mind to say,

"I'm going to dedicate 12 years of my life to putting these things back together"?

It's been a hobby of mine since I was 11 years old,

so I found this one in a bad state of repair,

so I decided to do something about it.

So what was it like when you first walked in here and discovered it?

It was absolutely corroded and red rusty,

full of pigeons, about 40 pigeons in here.

And this wheel, is this original?

It's the original wheel, yes, everything is original.

Even the timber work?

Yeah, it just wanted sanding down and varnishing.

-There's clearly a lot of hours in there.

-Three weeks a side.

-Three weeks a side?

-Yeah, both sides are the same.

It was all seized up when we first came in,

but now I've got it turning over on an electric motor.

It goes very slow, but at least it turns over, keeps it free.

Come on then, turn it on, let's have a look.

-There she goes.

-That's a beauty, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It must have been quite exciting when you first rigged this up and saw it moving.

To see it turn was brilliant.

When it's powered by steam how much faster will it go?

When it was running it did 65 revs a minute,

which is a turn a second, virtually.

Dave, thank you very much,

it's a real treat to see that working,

and it's a real legacy, not just to your passion and commitment to it

but also the industry it supported, but you have somebody

working with you who's taking up the mantle, carrying the baton forward.

Yeah, I've got Paul, who's helping to carry on with the job after me.

'Getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of a place like this is no easy task,

'but 24-year-old trainee Paul

'is also passionate about steam engines.'

This is a lovely place to come and learn your craft, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

One of the first types of engine I've ever spent any time with,

one of the greatest gifts you could ever have, really.

Where does your passion come from?

I was helping Dave out,

just doing a few jobs around his house, decorating and everything,

and all of a sudden, "You fancy coming to the mill?"

Walked through the doors wow!

It just blew my mind straightaway.

And I guess you've just scratched the surface in terms of your skills.

Oh, yeah, I've got a hell of a lot to learn.

He keeps getting me to read up on the old engines and everything.

Little bit by little bit I'm getting there.

'There is no doubt that Grane Mill is at risk,

'but it's inspiring to see such a dedicated team restoring

'this important industrial site for future generations.'

Where are all the sweeties, John?

Well, I have some original pastilles

that we got the other day from an old-fashioned shop.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

THEY COUGH

-Can't talk now.

-They're strong, aren't they?

-Yeah!

Top tip don't try and broadcast with a pastille in your mouth.

I expected these to be soft sweets.

They're hard gums, aren't they? Hard on your gums.

'We're making our way south towards Rochdale,

'to an area which was once part of a canal network

'that stretched for more than 2,000 miles.'

The Rochdale Canal climbs 33 miles along the Pennines.

These waterways, once vital in carrying goods and raw materials

during the Industrial Revolution,

now serve as a valuable leisure resource and a haven

for animal and plant life.

But one species here is at risk.

Floating water plantain is one of Europe's rarest water plants.

It's found in less than 20 locations in England,

and the Rochdale Canal is one of them.

Ecologist Chris John is heading up the campaign to save it.

So, this is floating water plantain.

I'll just get a bit out here.

It sits on the bottom of the canal,

it doesn't look very much at the moment,

but it has a few different growth forms.

It sends up small, oval, floating leaves,

really delicate, white three-petalled flowers,

which are really nice but quite short-lived,

so we collect these chains, plant them up into temporary ponds

and then, once this reserve's been restored

and we've taken out all the aggressive weeds,

we'll plant these plants in there and hopefully

help spread the distribution and secure its future.

The waterways, it's a big part of our heritage, isn't it?

We've got to keep it nice, haven't we?

Unfortunately, it does a lot fall onto volunteers, doesn't it?

I just love doing it, and when I see it I think

it's in really good condition and feel really proud of it, actually.

Striving to save our native plant species helps maintain

the delicate balance in our ecosystem.

How rewarding it is to see local people passionate enough

to get stuck in, to make the most of their surroundings.

Just over an hour south is Sheffield and that's where we're headed next.

Imagine what life must have been like a century ago,

working in the steelworks of Sheffield.

Well, a pretty filthy, messy, hot, dangerous, thankless task, really.

Sheffield steel.

Synonymous, wasn't it, with the industrial heartland of Britain?

I don't think we could leave here without a look

at a place called the Portland Works,

where they first invented stainless steel cutlery - and they're still having a go at it.

Sheffield had been renowned for making cutlery

since the 16th century, but it was the brainwave of one man

that put the city on the map forever.

In the early 1900s,

Harry Brearly invented what soon became known as stainless steel.

It outshone any other material and was soon in demand the world over.

Built in 1879, Portland Works was the first to produce it.

One of the last remaining purpose-built works of its kind in Sheffield,

it's still home to many skilled craftsmen.

However, the building is dilapidated,

and whilst there are plans to redevelop it, without them,

its future is uncertain.

Today, we've come to meet Stuart Mitchell,

the man leading the campaign to keep Portland Works open.

-Hello, Stuart, I'm Jules.

-Nice to meet you, Jules. How are you?

-Well, thank you.

-Very nice to meet you.

-And you too.

There's a real sense of history about it.

That's right, it's been here since the late 1870s.

But I gather the whole thing is under some sort of threat?

It is, and has been for a while now. About three years ago,

our current landlord forwarded an application

to convert us to apartments.

Just recently, in the last three or four months,

the planning office has suggested to the planning board that they

reject the application, so immediately the landlord withdrew it.

-Ah, OK.

-But what we realised then is, good news indeed,

-but we need another future for the place.

-Make it sustainable.

So what we need to do now is raise the funds to actually purchase

-the building from the landlord.

-What do you need to really kick-start this process?

We need half a million pounds, by means of a community share issue.

We are currently in the process of selling shares in Portland Works.

-Anybody with £100 to spare.

-Are people buying them?

-We've...

This has been going now for about six or seven weeks since the launch,

and we're at the £100,000 mark.

-Oh, well done!

-So we're getting there.

John was going to bring another £100,000, weren't you, John?

-Yes, I will.

-We will take an IOU!

As well as campaigning,

Stuart is carrying on the tradition of knife making here.

-Look at that. Can I pick that up?

-Of course, anything.

What kind of knives do you make?

I tend to try and specialise, these days, in what you might call custom knives,

working with the end user to produce their ideal knife,

-a knife for a specific job.

-What about handles?

You've got there a piece of desert ironwood,

which is a wood we import from... Arizona.

Some of these materials you'll see there -

what that is is an example of mammoth ivory.

-10,000 years old, excavated from the ice in Siberia.

-Seriously?!

-Goodness me.

-Mammoth ivory? Have you ever held a bit of that, John?

-No!

-Extraordinary.

-How do you actually sharpen the knife?

I think what he's saying is he really wants to have a go.

Look, his eyes lit up when he saw this lot!

How do you turn something like that into a sharp knife?

Starts off as a 5mm thickness piece of steel.

The grinding process I'm working on reduces that blade edge

to about 1mm by means of a hollow grind.

-Would it be safe for me to do it?

-Are you good at handling knives?!

It can get a bit noisy, but we'll have a look if you wish.

-OK, smashing.

-Off we go, have a look.

My turn now?

So, you tell me if I'm getting it wrong.

I don't want to ruin one of your knives.

Wow, look at the sparks flying.

Looking pretty good.

What you can see there is the beginnings of a blade edge.

Look at this, Jules! The start of a master cutler's career.

That's fabulous.

-Good to see you've had your nose to the grindstone, John.

-For a change!

For a change! Now, I think you should do one of those next.

LAUGHTER

Portland Works has a fantastic community feel about it -

trades and creative types work alongside one another.

Andy Cole has been here since he was 14 years old,

and is still passionate about what he does.

Well, what are you doing with this lot, Andy?

Well, this is actually high-speed turning tools.

We forge a tang on it - a little end for it to go into the wooden handle.

And you make machine tools and what have you?

Turning tools, wood chisels...

I know that plans are afoot to keep this complex together.

For you, if it closed, it would be a disaster.

Yes, I've never done anything - this is all I've done all my life.

I've always took pride in my work, and I take pride in this building.

-Yes.

-I love it.

I come down here seven days a week, I love it that much!

A man who's passionate about his work! Show me what it's all about.

I'll pop a few in the fire.

Yes.

That's fantastically hot, isn't it? Wonderful.

'Andy is showing me how to make a chisel,

'by first taking this carbon steel, and then heating it in his furnace,

'and then skilfully feeding it into the 19th-century spring hammer

'to bash it into shape.'

That's extraordinary.

These machines are very simple, aren't they?

A simple innovation that really made the Industrial Revolution take off

so that mass production could really happen.

That's it, yes. Whereas before it would have been a man with a hammer.

-Can I have a go?

-Yes.

Lovely, thank you.

I just want to use this chair!

All right, here we go.

-Any one?

-Yes.

-Is that it?

-Yes. Just like that.

In there.

Half its width?

Yes.

OK. Well...

Interesting bit on the end!

I don't think my handle is going to stick on that little bit, is it?

No!

That's why he's a craftsman, and I'm not.

Yes!

For many years, bands, especially rock groups,

have used the works to practise in.

In fact, the famous heavy metal band of the '70s Def Leppard

started right here.

And I can hear some music now.

Hello!

Hi, how are you? You are?

-Nicholas.

-Nicholas.

-I'm Josh.

-Josh.

Sean. Nice to meet you.

-What are you known as?

-We are The Gentleman.

-Are you really?

-Yes.

We're missing one of our members today.

What about the people who work here alongside you?

Really very supportive. They don't mind about us making too much noise.

It's a good acid test of a good song -

when we're writing, we'll know if it's good

because they'll end up singing it back across the yard.

That's when we know it's a good one.

I suppose it's an unusual thing, isn't it,

that musicians and people like blacksmiths and metalworkers,

you know, all in the same place together?

Yes, absolutely. It's really diverse here.

I think that's just so great on a day-to-day basis,

to be around people who do totally different things.

We were just about to have a little run-through of one of our songs,

but our drummer isn't here. I wonder if you'd mind stepping in?

I have never, ever in my life played the drums.

There's a first time for everything! We've got bongos here.

Bongos, yes. I know about bongos.

You're all too young to remember Newsround.

No, we remember Newsround.

We used to have bongos in the opening titles.

Can you remember the part?

I can't remember.

De-de-de da, de-de-de da!

Something like that.

Well, if we simplify that part!

I tell you what, I'll be a gentleman,

and let you continue as Gentleman, and I'll sit back and listen.

One, two, three, four...

# Peace can

# Can stop the troubles on your heart

# Reach out

# Open your eyes cos it's not dark

# It's light tonight... #

What have you been up to, Jules?

Well, I've been in the forge, John.

They've got a fantastic collection of some of the original machinery

that was here back in 1870, including a spring hammer.

This is what I've been trying to make.

That's the basis of a chisel, as you can see, with its bit for a handle.

This is my version of it.

A work in progress.

They got it right from the start, didn't they,

back in 1870 or whatever, setting this place up

for craftsmen to work together, and they're still doing it now.

Let's hope they manage to save it.

-Did you join the band then?

-I did.

From Sheffield we're heading west,

back into the stunning Peak District.

The other nice thing about Edale, John,

is that there's one guy in particular

who's resurrected the art of the pole lathe.

The what?

Pole lathe.

Never heard of it.

Think about a spindle of wood,

a nicely turned round rod of wood, if you like.

Something we all take for granted.

Like a leg of a chair?

A leg of a chair, a broom handle, you name it.

Well, back in the day before mechanised woodwork

and so forth, the only way to do that was by using a pole lathe.

There's a guy down here that has resurrected the art,

but he's really brought it to life.

-Worth taking a look at then?

-Absolutely.

Turning wooden bowls by hand is a craft going back to Tudor times.

The skills required were all but lost when George Layley,

widely regarded as the last bowl turner, died in 1958.

Robin Wood took it upon himself

to learn how this ancient craft was done.

After years of study and endless hours on the lathe,

he can proudly call himself a pole lathe turner.

From his workshop in the Derbyshire moors, Robin works his manual lathe

in the traditional style,

producing simple but beautiful bowls.

This is a bowl I made yesterday out of a blank of beech wood.

I make my bowls as nests, so out of one block of wood,

I hollow out - I turn the outside, and then I hollow out inside here,

and snap the central core out.

Then this piece will go to make a smaller bowl, and so on,

until I've got four bowls out of one piece of wood.

In order to do that, I have to forge all my own tools.

All these tools here are hand forged.

Lots of different curvatures to go down and around the back there.

I set about rediscovering the lost craft

as a hobby at the time, and it took me about five years.

I've been making bowls this way now full-time for 17 years,

and I've taught a lot of other people.

There are so many little nuances that a craftsman does

that he doesn't realise that he does,

and those are the little subtleties that we lose when a craft dies out.

So, these bowls are made by George Layley,

who was the last person turning bowls this way.

They were given to me, this little collection,

by a lady who lived not far from Bucklebury Common in Berkshire

where George Layley used to live.

This one here is another nice bowl which was given to me

by a lady who's not with us any more, but this was her wedding present.

It used to be a traditional wedding present around the Bucklebury area,

to buy one of George Layley's bowls.

This was used, again, for more than 50 years as a kitchen bowl

for chopping and mixing, but 50 years on, it's still good today.

It means an awful lot to me

to have that very much part of the heritage of my craft.

When you see it, the marks from the turning are just the same -

and the design is just the same

as the sort of bowls that I'm turning today.

If this bowl is still around in 50 years' time, I'll be happy.

Leaving Edale's Hope Valley, we're heading to West Yorkshire,

to the town of Hebden Bridge.

One of our stops today is Hebden Bridge. Have you ever been there?

I haven't, I have to say, but it's got a fairly colourful history.

It certainly has. It was a textile town,

and a very diverse cultural community has grown up around it.

A mecca for hippies and artisans... Very creative.

-Famous poets.

-Yes.

They all live there.

Hebden Bridge, nestled in the upper Calder Valley,

developed over the 19th and 20th centuries as a booming mill town.

At one stage, it was so well known for its clothing,

it gained the nickname "Trouser Town".

But, by the 1960s, manufacturing, as in so many places,

had moved overseas.

The vast majority of Hebden Bridge mills closed,

and the town fell into a state of decline.

Many people just left.

Residents that remained, anxious not to let the town

slip further downwards, took action.

Involved with the campaign was resident David Fletcher.

First of all we started trying to renovate the place.

We set up a local campaign, local people,

saying we need to pull this place up by its bootstraps.

Out every weekend, all weathers, clearing rubbish,

planting trees, persuading people to clean buildings.

You wouldn't believe it - look round this square now

at these wonderfully golden stone buildings,

and they were all black.

Everything was black.

It coincided with the hippy movement,

saying, "We've got to hit the countryside, man", kind of thing,

"Get out of the smoke",

and so hippies began to move into some of the hillside cottages.

Young professionals from the cities began to move into the town,

and it slowly started to come back to life again.

The big problem that remained was to save the larger buildings in town

that were not really suitable

for turning into flats and houses, and so on.

One of these is the stunning 1920s independent picture house.

Saved from developers back in the '70s thanks to local support,

it now faces a 21st-century problem.

The projection equipment was last updated in the 1950s,

but now, like the rest of us, it needs to go digital,

and that means some serious cash has to be raised.

We've been coming to this cinema for about ten years.

We never go to any other cinema. We love this cinema.

It's just part of Hebden Bridge. It's the heart of Hebden Bridge.

-Should it ever have to close?

-No. I think it would be a travesty.

It's got character, it's part of Hebden, it has to be kept.

Nigel's worked here for three years, and is one of the few technicians

still able to operate these classic film projectors.

This is the film you're showing at the moment being rewound, isn't it?

-How old is this equipment?

-We're talking about 60 years old.

The projectors are a pre-war design. They were built to last in them days.

They're one of the last British projectors ever made.

It's all going to digital now, is it?

Digitalisation is the future.

It will also be saving places like the picture house.

What has happened over the last few years is people are coming back

into these small, rural community-run theatres,

and now we can give them top-class products.

Say, if they went into a multiplex, it's exactly the same quality,

the same standard.

'Time for me to get a lesson in lacing up this projector.

'It could be my last chance.'

So that down there..?

-Yes, above that top sprocket.

-And that will go over there?

That's right.

-Just opens up at the front.

-That's it.

All very well, you saying that you're looking forward to digital,

but can you afford it here?

How much is it going to cost to transfer to digital?

I believe we're talking somewhere between 90,000 and 100,000.

Is that realistic? Can you raise that sort of money?

Well, hopefully the community will take control of the picture house,

and they've got many ways of helping to raise money

to get digitalisation into this cinema.

It's such a cornerstone of the community,

they won't let this building die.

They'll be outside with placards if we have to close,

so they'll get the money one way or another.

Plans are under way

to hand over the ownership and day-to-day running to the community,

which hopefully will safeguard its future.

Another busy day and I've loved it.

The guys at Grane Mill brought home

just how passionate we are in this country for our industrial heritage.

For me, spending time at Portland Works was a real treat,

meeting such skilled and talented people.

Next time, we reach the end of our Pennine journey, and I join a group

rising to the challenge of keeping traditional baking skills alive.

And I've got an appointment with a man on a mission

to restore this impressive building in the heart of Buxton.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd