0:00:00 > 0:00:02Welcome to 11th century Britain.
0:00:02 > 0:00:07I'm hanging 140 feet up the side of Durham Cathedral,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12where - almost 1,000 years ago - medieval masons crafted a marvel in stone.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15And let me tell you, the view is terrifying.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21This is Climbing Great Buildings, and throughout this series,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25I'll be scaling iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27Wahey!
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I'll be revealing the building secrets
0:00:29 > 0:00:35and telling the story of how British architecture and construction developed over 1,000 years.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50My journey begins here in the North East at Durham Cathedral,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55built from 1093 in the Norman, or known in the trade as the the Romanesque style.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58If you want to know about the rise of British architecture,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00there's no better place to start.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09In order to see all this, I need to get close up to places
0:01:09 > 0:01:13most of us never see when we visit these buildings.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16- Well done!- Gosh, it's beautiful, though, look at it!
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Fortunately, I have a crack team to help.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23Lucy Creamer is one of Britain's top climbers.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Oh, Jonathan, this is fantastic.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Along with her team of riggers and all-action cameraman, Ian Burton,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34she will be helping me on my vertical adventures.
0:01:37 > 0:01:43Today, I'll scale the 70-foot north wall to have a close look at its 900-year-old stonework.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Stone's in dreadful condition, some of these pieces.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I'll get a unique view of its beautiful, vaulted ceiling.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Oh, my lord, that is so high.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57And I'll conquer my fears to climb over 140 feet, to the top of the western tower.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05In 1093, when Durham Cathedral began to be built,
0:02:05 > 0:02:10England was experiencing the biggest building boom since the Romans had left.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14After the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror asserted his power
0:02:14 > 0:02:17with a mixture of military might and great cathedrals,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19to show that God was on his side.
0:02:19 > 0:02:26Durham Castle was started by 1072, but it would be the cathedral that was the main event on this site.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49And the result was this, one of the great spaces of Europe.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55900 years on, this thing still has the power to take your breath away every time you walk in.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58It's technically brilliant, the space is thrilling.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Imagine what the Anglo-Saxons thought.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03It would have knocked their sandals off!
0:03:09 > 0:03:11So, how did the Normans do it?
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Well, with some brilliant innovations which transformed architecture in Britain.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20And, as with any building, it all starts with the foundations.
0:03:22 > 0:03:28It's rather funny that the story of Durham starts in a little hole just off the north aisle.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Thousands of people walk over it every year,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33but no-one gets inside.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35I am the exception.
0:03:35 > 0:03:42I'm descending 14 feet below the cathedral floor, to see what this vast structure rests upon.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Look at this. It's like the Famous Five.
0:03:44 > 0:03:51These deep foundations enabled the cathedral to be built on a huge scale, to stand the test of time.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56The Normans conceived their buildings on massive foundations.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59They were prepared to dig right down to the bedrock.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02As they changed the whole scale of British buildings,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the depth of their foundations had to follow suit.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09With foundations like these, it's no wonder
0:04:09 > 0:04:12they were able to construct immense stone walls,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14which form my next challenge.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21En-route to my first climb, I want to show you this, the north door.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27It dates to about 1140, and it features a perfect replica of the bronze Sanctuary knocker.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33So called because fugitives from the law could grab hold of it and claim immunity, at least for a time.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38They had 37 days to consider whether they wanted to stand trial or be deported.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40If they chose the latter, they would be taken to a port
0:04:40 > 0:04:44and stuck on a ship, no matter what it was going.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48It's time for my first climb.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Now, I've never done anything like this before and I'm certainly not a climber,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58but the opportunity to see this cathedral from this perspective is the chance of a lifetime.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01- It's climb number one.- Here we are.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03I'm all rigged up and excited.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Excited? - Any last minute tips?- Any nerves?
0:05:05 > 0:05:09A few, I've got to say, but it doesn't look that high from here.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13That's probably because I'm sitting down. That's what I'm used to.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20I'm climbing the north wall of the nave, which is the main body of the cathedral.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24- Right, let's go.- OK.- After you.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Whoops! I think I might be flying into the wall fairly regularly.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33The walls are massive by any standards.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36At over 70 feet high, they're certainly imposing.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40How's it looking up there?
0:05:40 > 0:05:42It's very fragile, this building.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46So, what sort of age are we climbing on at the moment?
0:05:46 > 0:05:47How long's this been here?
0:05:47 > 0:05:51It was begun in 1093, but most of them have been rebuilt...
0:05:51 > 0:05:53throughout the Middle Ages.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58And Durham is the best survivor of the Norman cathedrals.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02So, by Norman, we're talking about the round arched tradition
0:06:02 > 0:06:05that goes up to the beginning of the 13th century, more or less.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08- Right.- More or less.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10On the old side of old, then.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16A large team of native masons constructed these walls.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20They were led by a master mason, an individual who combined
0:06:20 > 0:06:25architectural vision with engineering expertise, and who produced the plans.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31It's probable that the Norman-French bishop imported a Norman-French master mason.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37But soon, Norman scale and techniques would be fully adopted by English builders.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43The stone used to build Durham Cathedral is local Coal Measures sandstone,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46which would have been brought, in blocks, along the River Wear
0:06:46 > 0:06:49to pretty much the foot of the cathedral.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53It's a pretty tortuous climb to get it up to this spot, it must they said.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58But then it was laid into walls two medieval yards thick - that's about 6'6".
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Now there are no building accounts left to tell us exactly how this was done,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07but one person did have the foresight to write something down.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12A diary written by a monk called Simeon in 1093
0:07:12 > 0:07:16is the only remaining record of the construction of Durham Cathedral.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Simeon of Durham was a historian of Durham,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24a member of Durham Cathedral Priory at the beginning of the 12th Century.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29He was an eyewitness to the digging of the foundations and his account here -
0:07:29 > 0:07:31written at the beginning of the 12th Century -
0:07:31 > 0:07:35is the earliest and most authoritative account we have of those events.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39He gives us the date - 1093.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43And he explains that the bishop himself,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46along with the rest of the brothers,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49placed the first stones of the foundation.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53This is a remarkable contemporary account of the events in question.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58And remarkable, too, because we know that the person writing it
0:07:58 > 0:08:01was there from the beginning of the process that he's describing here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08At this stage of my first climb, we're now halfway up the north wall
0:08:08 > 0:08:14and the challenge that must have faced the medieval masons is becoming increasingly obvious.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20So, we've managed to ascend our way up here relatively easily,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22but what I don't understand
0:08:22 > 0:08:26is how did they get the stone blocks up here and into position?
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Yeah, now, that's clever.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31We know that medieval masons cut blocks at the quarry,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35because there's no point in carting waste material.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38So these blocks arrived at a jetty on the river,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42would be brought up to the site, presumably by cart.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46And then, there would be a timber scaffold up here.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52And very often you find replacement stones which have gone in where the timber scaffolding was taken out.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54They're called putlog holes.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Now, to get them up on the scaffold,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59you're talking about a wheel - a pulley system -
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and some medieval cathedral towers still have giant hamster wheels,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06where men walked round and pulled them up. So, it's pretty clever.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08I've noticed something here, Jonathan.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13I don't know if you can see, but it looks kind of like mother-of-pearl, or something.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16That's exactly what it is. Oyster shells.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18It's like medieval crisp packets!
0:09:18 > 0:09:21They ate so many oysters, they just chucked the shells away.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23But they were useful to masons because -
0:09:23 > 0:09:26when you're laying one block of stone on another -
0:09:26 > 0:09:30with wet mortar between them, you're going to squeeze that mortar out,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34so you put oyster shells in, which is calcium carbonate -
0:09:34 > 0:09:36the same material as the lime - the lime sets around it
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and those domes actually support blocks of stone.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Really useful to a mason.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Wow!
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Today, modern quarrying techniques and cement mixers
0:09:51 > 0:09:56mean we are easily able to churn out vast quantities of cement each day,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00but in medieval Britain, making mortar was hot, sweaty and dangerous.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07First, they would have fired limestone to around 800 degrees in a kiln,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09before it was mixed with sand and water.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12That's hissing and fizzing.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15- You see, this is proper alchemy. - Is that steam coming off it?
0:10:15 > 0:10:19It's getting the heat now, that's why it's a hot lime mix.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22- That's a strong chemical reaction, isn't it?- Oh, God, yes.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27So, people in the Middle Ages using this stuff without goggles and...
0:10:27 > 0:10:30It's quite easy to do a lot of damage to your eyes.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34What about getting it on your skin?
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Yeah, it takes your fingerprints off.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39I haven't got any fingerprints on my hands any more.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42- Have you not, really?- No.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45You can just see this has turned into a lovely mortar now.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Feel the heat coming off that.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50It's very warm. It's like something a cow's just produced.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55As well, with the heat, it sticks very well to the stone
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and forms an excellent bond with the pores in the stone.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Gosh! The stone's in dreadful condition in some of these places.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23The thing about this local sandstone is, it's very soft and crumbly.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27You can see it flaking away there at the top. I don't want to touch it.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29I'll just press my fingers against it,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and you can see grains of sand just sticking to them.
0:11:32 > 0:11:39So, centuries of rain and wind are going to wreak havoc here.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41The constant weathering of the stone
0:11:41 > 0:11:44means there's virtually no original stonework left.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48A restoration and replacement programme begun in the 18th century
0:11:48 > 0:11:50has continued through to the present day.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52What kind of work do you do?
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Well, if there's a stone - say like one of these here -
0:11:55 > 0:12:01which is particularly badly weathered so it's structurally unsound,
0:12:01 > 0:12:07you cut it out and make another stone and refit it into the building.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11That looks like modern, abstract sculpture, doesn't it? Masons doodling or something.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14It's been eaten out by the elements.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17It's natural erosion. If you look at the building and say,
0:12:17 > 0:12:23"Well, it's not a stone building, it's a stone cliff face," you'd expect it to be eroded.
0:12:23 > 0:12:29So they built beautifully, but the material they had is known for weathering badly, isn't it?
0:12:29 > 0:12:33It's very porous - it will absorb water in the winter when it's raining -
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and then it gets cold, freezes, expands,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40and takes the face of the stone off.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43What does it feel like, then, to work on Durham Cathedral?
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Tiring!
0:12:56 > 0:13:01The sheer scale of Durham Cathedral is daunting, but I've only a few feet left to go.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03We're nearly at the top. Your first climb?
0:13:03 > 0:13:05I'm feeling good about it.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Brilliant, Jonathan.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13- HE LAUGHS - Beautiful!
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Yeah, that was nearly...
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Beautiful.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Well done.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22- We got to the top, didn't we? - First climb.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24- Yeah.- Brilliant.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32I'm chuffed with that.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36I'm chuffed with that. First climb, and with it being such a big building...
0:13:36 > 0:13:40When you walk in the cathedral close, you see the entire length of the thing,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and it's a Goliath amongst medieval buildings
0:13:43 > 0:13:46and you think, "That's what it's intended for," I guess.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It makes you feel humble, makes you feel small.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51But...
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I feel a bit bigger than I did...
0:13:53 > 0:13:55a few minutes ago.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03The stone rib vault is one of Durham's most impressive features.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08More pioneering and magnificent than anything that had gone before in England.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10But its stone shell is incredibly heavy
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and the Normans had to ensure that the ribs which bore its weight
0:14:14 > 0:14:17didn't push the walls out and cause them to collapse.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21In order to solve this problem, they created flying buttresses
0:14:21 > 0:14:23which pushed back and braced the nave walls.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27And here they are - the first flying buttresses, at least in embryo.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30In fact, the Norman flying buttresses
0:14:30 > 0:14:33are much more slender than what you see today.
0:14:33 > 0:14:39It's just the uppermost of those three concentric arches which was laid by those Norman builders.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Underneath are two more layers added in 1915.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It's interesting that - even into the 20th century -
0:14:46 > 0:14:48the solution to the spreading vaults
0:14:48 > 0:14:53was to simply add to what the Normans had established 800 years earlier.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58The flying buttress may have been a cutting-edge innovation at Durham,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01but what truly defines a Romanesque cathedral
0:15:01 > 0:15:05is the use of what's known as a Norman arch.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07What are they all about, then?
0:15:07 > 0:15:10That's where that curious word, "Romanesque", comes in.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Because if you took the elevation of the nave of Durham Cathedral
0:15:14 > 0:15:16and compared that with a Roman aqueduct,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18they wouldn't be so very different.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23It's really tier-upon-tier of semi-circular arches.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25And the structures were built more or less the same way.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28What you need is centring.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30You can imagine carpenters by the hundred here,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33assembling what looked like giant wagon wheels
0:15:33 > 0:15:35so that you can build an arch on top of them.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40These brown bits then stand for the piers or columns from which the arches spring.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The centring is in place.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43So, the scaffolding can go up
0:15:43 > 0:15:46and we can get on with building our Norman arch.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48So, here they are - voussoirs.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52A nice Anglo-Norman word for a section of arch like this.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54In this case, five up.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Now, once they're built on to their centring,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01and the keystone goes in place in the middle,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03we can remove the centring
0:16:03 > 0:16:07and it should stand more or less where we left it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Take the wedges out, and the centring goes.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13You can imagine everyone crossing their fingers -
0:16:13 > 0:16:15if they did such things in those times -
0:16:15 > 0:16:17when they took the centring down.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Every arch gives a bit,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23but there we are - hey, presto! - and it stands.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27And once you've spotted one Norman arch, you see them everywhere.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31They're in the vaults, over the doorways and above the windows.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37The construction of the nave went from east to west over a period of 30 years
0:16:37 > 0:16:43and, as time passed, it's possible to see more exotic influences in the detail.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Durham Cathedral's first building campaign, which ended in 1104,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50included the east end and preparations for the Norman tower.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53You can see the character of the architecture
0:16:53 > 0:16:55by the first two arches in the arcade of the nave,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and the easternmost arch above it.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59They're plain, quite simple.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04But that moment coincided with a change in direction in English Romanesque architecture.
0:17:04 > 0:17:10Because it's thought by historians that the experience of the first crusade after 1096
0:17:10 > 0:17:13equipped people with knowledge of Islamic architecture,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16which is noted for its zig-zag decoration.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20So, when the second campaign started, look at it - it's a riot.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25It's as if all of this stone has been cut out with pinking shears - zig-zag everywhere.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29It's a curious thought that this masterpiece of Christian architecture
0:17:29 > 0:17:32might have been influenced by Islam.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44Whilst the Norman arch might be that most defining feature of this cathedral, it had its limitations.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48If the masons here stuck to it, it would have been much more difficult
0:17:48 > 0:17:50to build this magnificent vault.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56For my next climb, I'm going to go across what's called a postman's walk to reveal how they achieved it.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Here, we're about 60 feet...
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Way more than that.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05- Are we?- Yeah. Sorry, but yeah. - Yeah? That's fine...
0:18:05 > 0:18:08- I'd say...- I'm quite good at judging height looking UP!
0:18:08 > 0:18:11I would say it's definitely way more than 60.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16It's one thing to climb up a building with something solid to grab hold of,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18but it's altogether different
0:18:18 > 0:18:21to step on to something like a piece of string.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Wow, Jonathan,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25- you are going to love this. I hope. - Yeah.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27I mean, architecturally, I'm...
0:18:27 > 0:18:33- Oh, my lord! Yeah, you know, you see the whole seating plan in one go.- Woo-hoo!
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Sorry. THEY LAUGH
0:18:36 > 0:18:39This is amazing.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43I think you made a valuable contribution to the choir - that double whoop!
0:18:43 > 0:18:46- I forgot we're in a cathedral. - It echoed well.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Right, here we go.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Lucy makes it look so easy, but this is only my second climb,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and frankly, I find it a bit scary.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Ye Gods! That is disconcerting.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06- You can hold the line where the pulley is.- That's better.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Just be careful that the pulley doesn't go into your fingers.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11That's a funny feeling.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Because it's quite springy up here.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21And it's like being on some kind of giant trampoline.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Oh, my, that is so high.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26The reason I'm dealing with all this fear
0:19:26 > 0:19:29is to get a good look at the stone ceiling, or vault, as it's known.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35It's made up of a series of criss-crossing stone arches, called ribs.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38These are the their earliest surviving rib vaults anywhere -
0:19:38 > 0:19:41not just in Durham, but the whole of Europe.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46And they do two important things. Firstly, they get out of the idea
0:19:46 > 0:19:52that a vault has to be a stone shell of a consistent thickness, just like half a cylinder.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57And instead, the vaults are conceived as a series of ribs - it's rather skeletal.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01It feels like you're in a whale's chest or something. It's beautiful.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06To make this beautiful vault level, the masons had to build the transverse arches higher
0:20:06 > 0:20:11so they invented a brilliant new idea, the pointed arch.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Ironically, when you walk into this most Norman of all cathedrals,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18you have this forest of pointed arches ahead of you.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21What it points toward is the Gothic age.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26It's hard to believe that changing the shape of an arch
0:20:26 > 0:20:29could have such a dramatic impact on architecture,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31but it's true to say that without it,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33such beautiful, vast and inspiring spaces
0:20:33 > 0:20:35would have been impossible to build.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Once you get over the bendy, squashy ropes,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44and the fact they seem to be going somewhere when you first step on them,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47once you sit here and it takes the tension,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49it's actually incredibly peaceful.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Before I climb the last stretch up one of these enormous towers,
0:20:58 > 0:21:05you may well ask, "How did the medieval masons get such hefty bits of stone to such heights?"
0:21:05 > 0:21:08One answer lies in this room in the south-west tower.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Have a look at this, Luce.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12It's a windlass.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15- Cool.- Grab the windlass, lass.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Now, the thing is, these were used in the Middle Ages.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24This one happens to be 18th century in date, but it's exactly the same kind of technology.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28A winding system redistributes the weight in such a way
0:21:28 > 0:21:32that two people could easily lift a ton-block of stone.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36They could also easily lift a man, but unfortunately for me
0:21:36 > 0:21:39they don't have a windlass at the top of these towers.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42For my final climb, I'm going to have to put some serious effort in.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48These towers rise a massive 144 feet over the western front of the building.
0:21:48 > 0:21:54I hope I have more luck than an early adventurer who apparently climbed them a long time ago.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57You know, there's a story,
0:21:57 > 0:22:02and it's...a tightrope walker in 1237.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04He stretches a rope across those towers
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and walks for the entertainment of the monks,
0:22:07 > 0:22:08and plunges to his death.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12- What?!- I don't know if it's the historian in me that doubts that,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15or whether it's just blind fear that says that can't happen.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17It's not going to happen.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23We have to get outside the tower to start our climb.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28I'm beginning to understand that Lucy is never going to take the easy option.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Woo!
0:22:30 > 0:22:36I'm staying calm, but I'm prepared to be petrified!
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Awesome. I'm back again.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42She's back.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44It's a long way down there.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Your turn, guys.
0:22:47 > 0:22:48That was cool.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Bit scary, thank you.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53All right, ready?
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Oh, well, got to commit. We're off.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Well done! Brilliant.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Oh, dear.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Well done.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10That was a very exposed leap, it has to be said.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Gosh! It's beautiful, though. Look at it.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16- You just don't see many sights like that.- No.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19I tell you what, though...
0:23:19 > 0:23:23you just think...
0:23:23 > 0:23:27that the people who built these things are giants.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30We too easily patronise the past.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31We call things medieval...
0:23:31 > 0:23:34- Yeah. - ..and talk about being primitive.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37But actually...
0:23:37 > 0:23:41- it's such a sophisticated thing to have done this.- Absolutely.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Definitely blows my mind.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49These towers were completed almost 80 years after the main building
0:23:49 > 0:23:55and you can see examples of both Norman and Gothic architecture on top of each other.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58I noticed something slightly odd about this tower.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01I've climbed past these pointed arches -
0:24:01 > 0:24:05the type of gothic arch which Durham seems to have pioneered in the nave
0:24:05 > 0:24:08when they built those beautiful rib vaults.
0:24:08 > 0:24:14- I've come up to a row of round arches again, aren't they?- Yeah.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16There are two possibilities.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20One is that Durham's builders had stockpiled a whole series
0:24:20 > 0:24:25of round arches which they wanted to use, but that seems unlikely.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30These fine mouldings and these capitals are very much like the ones below.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32The other, I think, more intriguing idea
0:24:32 > 0:24:36is that the builders of Durham
0:24:36 > 0:24:42were so enamoured of their round-arched, so-called Romanesque structure,
0:24:42 > 0:24:49they had to bind the whole thing together and continue the style that they had begun so beautifully.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I quite like that idea, really.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Progress can be overrated.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03I've studied architecture for as long as you've been climbing - 20 years.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07I remember coming to Durham and seeing it from the valley over the way
0:25:07 > 0:25:10and thinking, "What a work of wonder that is."
0:25:10 > 0:25:12I'm looking back at it the other way now
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and it's that that takes my mind off the fact
0:25:16 > 0:25:18that I'm simply not used to...
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Dangling off two shoe strings.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Don't put it like that. Let's go.
0:25:24 > 0:25:25Two very strong shoe strings.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27You're reassuring, Luce.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Jonathan, with these big archways,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36would it have been some fantastic window, a giant pane of glass?
0:25:36 > 0:25:38What's the point of them?
0:25:38 > 0:25:42They're always set against the wall like this.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45These are called blind arches.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47The idea really is to add decoration.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48They're purely decorative.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52It's an investment in these mouldings and this richness on the surface.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57It catches the sunlight. It makes the building look more solid.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59It gives depth into the facade.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01They're there for the pure joy of it.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05On this west facade imagine when the sun goes down.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07A gorgeous display of light and shade.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21- Out of interest, what's the blackness?- Pollution.- Is it?
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Yeah, it's the relics of coal fires.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Yes, because it seems much worse on this level.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29Yeah, doesn't it?
0:26:35 > 0:26:41It is an amazing thing for people who built this place almost 1,000 years ago
0:26:41 > 0:26:45to have had no side rails, no health and safety, nothing.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50They got on with it for as long as they could get away with it in any one building season.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I've got to say I'm clinging on to this building.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55You have to have faith in this stuff,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59but nonetheless, you still have your instinct to overcome.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03I've seen buildings like most other people from the ground upwards,
0:27:03 > 0:27:08but when you see it from the perspective of those who built it in the first place,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12you realise what giants they were.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- Nice work, my man.- Thank you, fella.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22That really is very impressive for a beginner, what you've just done.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- Really?- Yep, yep.
0:27:25 > 0:27:26I've nothing to compare it to.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31- There are probably quite a lot of climbers who wouldn't want to do that.- Really?
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Yeah and I'm not just saying that. That's genuine. Yep!
0:27:43 > 0:27:45That is a beautiful prospect.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50About 1,000 years ago, people who lived in timber huts in this area
0:27:50 > 0:27:56must have watched as this Goliath of a Norman cathedral was built in their midst.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59They must have been awestruck, and the thing is,
0:27:59 > 0:28:04all these centuries later, that impression hasn't changed.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11Next time...
0:28:11 > 0:28:15I climb Lincoln Cathedral, an architectural laboratory
0:28:15 > 0:28:19where English Gothic style was brought to perfection.
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