0:00:02 > 0:00:08As the turbulent and violent days of the Middle Ages ended in England,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12the design of buildings began to change dramatically.
0:00:12 > 0:00:19Defence was no longer the priority. Fortified houses and castles gave way to grand country houses
0:00:19 > 0:00:22which were much more comfortable.
0:00:24 > 0:00:31But the wealthy folk of Tudor England wouldn't have been able to take possession of such magnificent homes
0:00:31 > 0:00:36if it hadn't been for the skills of one particular type of craftsman.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40THIS was the age of the carpenter.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03The changes that turned an Englishman's castle into his home
0:01:03 > 0:01:08didn't happen overnight. The process began back in the Middle Ages.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Stokesay Castle, Shropshire, we see the first stages of these changes.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18It's England's oldest moated and fortified manor house,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23and it's hardly altered since it was built in the late 13th century.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28It was built by a wealthy wool merchant called Lawrence of Ludlow.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35What he desired was a comfortable mansion for his wife and children, and himself.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38It also had to have a degree of fortification
0:01:38 > 0:01:45The house he built took advantage of the newly-established peace on the Welsh border.
0:01:45 > 0:01:52Its fortifications were a status symbol and wouldn't have been able to resist a real attack.
0:01:52 > 0:02:00What they did was to provide the sort of security a wealthy family, like the Ludlows, would have needed
0:02:00 > 0:02:03against burglars, or unruly mobs.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Their money had come from the wool trade,
0:02:08 > 0:02:13and Lawrence of Ludlow became the wealthiest wool merchant in England.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Merchants like this were the new rich of the day.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23This was reflected in the sort of house he was able to have built.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Until this time, merchants had lived in houses in town.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33Only the landed gentry could have afforded something on this scale.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43This is the house proper. Built out of local stone, with mud/stone inserts,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47which have suffered a bit where it's all crumbling.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Over there, behind the flower beds, is the curtain wall,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57which, of course, years ago, would have been a great deal higher.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Giving this courtyard a greater sense of security and enclosure.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06The north tower is the oldest part of all the place.
0:03:08 > 0:03:14Of course, you can see in these rooms, they're really built more for defence than comfort -
0:03:14 > 0:03:20with the long, thin windows not found anywhere else in the whole manor.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24The other parts have got nice, big windows.
0:03:24 > 0:03:30They don't really do anything now, other than serve as a home for the swallows.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35It's all very different on the second floor.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40All the walls are timber framed and filled in with lath and plaster.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45It must have been a very important room for the family.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50Wonderful views of the countryside out through these lovely windows.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56But I rather think, when this bit was stuck on top of here, they were more peaceful times.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02These walls project out over the stone walls below.
0:04:02 > 0:04:09It's a building technique known as jettying, and was developed during the 14th and 15th centuries.
0:04:09 > 0:04:16This little drawing is to try and explain the principles of jettying out -
0:04:16 > 0:04:19like, hanging over, or making the bedroom bigger.
0:04:19 > 0:04:26This vertical, and this one, and that one, are the outside walls of the lower chamber.
0:04:26 > 0:04:33When they put the floor joists on, there could be as much as two to three feet overhang.
0:04:33 > 0:04:40Which in the case of both sides of a room, made the room six foot bigger. Which was quite a saving in a way.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45To compensate for this overhang, they made these rather nice brackets
0:04:45 > 0:04:49which, of course, helped support the floor above.
0:04:49 > 0:04:56Jettying would become very common in timber framed buildings of the later Middle Ages.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01But this north tower at Stokesay is a very early example of the technique,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06where they built the wooden structure on top of the existing stone tower.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17Up here, you can see what this jettying business is all about.
0:05:17 > 0:05:24The actual horizontal ones, like this one, and that one there, are the actual floor joists
0:05:24 > 0:05:32which are supported by these props and these bracing pieces that are pinned across with wooden pins.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36These props are resting on these stone corbels...
0:05:36 > 0:05:39which give it support,
0:05:39 > 0:05:46but they also support these pieces at 45 degrees - all sorts of angles, actually.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50In a way, it's a very clever way of pinching another room above
0:05:50 > 0:05:55that's maybe as much as eight to nine feet bigger than the room below
0:05:55 > 0:05:58where the stone walls are.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The timbers they used for this had to be pretty substantial.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07And I followed their example when I built this.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13I've always been interested in carpentry on a large scale.
0:06:13 > 0:06:20I once had a friend who started life off as a joiner, and ended up as a fiddle player in the orchestra.
0:06:20 > 0:06:27He was a bit like me - a frustrated steeplejack with a great interest in coal mining.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31We promised ourselves, when we had a pint or two,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34that we would build a wooden pithead gear.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37They're ornate to me. I like it.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42They had a bit of style - all these fancy ends on the woodwork.
0:06:42 > 0:06:49Poor Kenneth didn't live long enough to see it finished. But I just kept making a bit here and there,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and bolted all the bits together -
0:06:53 > 0:06:58very much the same way they would have done it back in the Middle Ages.
0:06:58 > 0:07:05It's not everybody in a residential area who's got a pithead gear in their back garden.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09To me it's rather a handsome piece of carpentry.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Stokesay is full of timber work on a grand scale,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17especially in the great hall.
0:07:17 > 0:07:24As you can imagine by its size, this room was the most important in the whole of the manor house.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30The feeling of space...brought on by the massive roof and the trusses
0:07:30 > 0:07:36which at the time, would have been leading-edged timber technology.
0:07:36 > 0:07:43Everybody was striving to span the greatest distances with arches made of wood.
0:07:43 > 0:07:50The cruck beam was the answer - and Stokesay has a very early example of a cruck roof.
0:07:50 > 0:07:58This little drawing I've done, shows the basic principles of the cruck beam roof construction.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Basically, it's two bent trees.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06Must have had a man going round all day looking for bent trees.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10That is roughly the shape of one of these beams.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17They just lean one on the other, and they had very few basic joints.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22Of course, plenty of oak pegs to hold it all together.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Then, of course, this collar...
0:08:25 > 0:08:28or horizontal beam across the top
0:08:28 > 0:08:33would give it even more stability and stop it collapsing inwardly,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38and that would be braced by rather small internal bracing pieces.
0:08:38 > 0:08:45And various bits shoved in anywhere that'd give it a bit of support.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48We can see how a roof like this is made,
0:08:48 > 0:08:56because all the woodwork in this 14th century barn at Pilton, near Glastonbury, was destroyed by fire.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And a new cruck beam roof is being made for it.
0:09:03 > 0:09:11It's all being done at a workshop where they specialise in historically accurate timber frame constructions.
0:09:11 > 0:09:17I came to find out how you construct a roof from the owner Peter McCurdy.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22Back in these times, would it all have been done on a floor like this?
0:09:22 > 0:09:28They certainly would have done it on a floor or in a framing yard.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32There are references to the term framing yard.
0:09:32 > 0:09:38It would've been done as we're doing it - as a prefabricated operation.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43But it's quite an operation getting timbers as big as this together.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49Although we've got the forklift, most of it is done with a big wooden mallet,
0:09:49 > 0:09:55just as they would have done back in, well...1280.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59The holes are for pegs that hold the joints together.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Each one has got to be cut from a log like this, and shaped by hand.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08For a roof this size, they have to make around 1,000 of them.
0:10:08 > 0:10:16- Would you like a go?- Now that I know you want an octagonal shape, and not round, I'll be all right.
0:10:21 > 0:10:27- This little bit...- That little metal bit...- ..it's getting a bit goosed.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31The timber has to be really clean for a lot of these hand/tool operations.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35The softer the wood, the easier the job.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Then they let them dry out and harden for about three or four weeks.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48These are the main collars, and these are the upper cruck -
0:10:48 > 0:10:52second tier of crucks.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57In between them, we've got these intermediate principals.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01We're now marking and jointing in the purlins.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07Just to lift something as big as this from the horizontal to the vertical must have been a rare feat,
0:11:07 > 0:11:13and must have had a lot of men, a lot of rope, and a lot of swearing.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18The technique was used throughout the later Middle Ages,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22and could be seen in houses large and small,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24like this cottage.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Jettying wasn't just for the rich.
0:11:29 > 0:11:36Here at Wakeup, the village is led by weaving. When the wide looms were introduced in the 15th century,
0:11:36 > 0:11:43many had houses built with jettyed out rooms to accommodate their new machines.
0:11:49 > 0:11:56It was the age of the carpenter - a time when the craft of working in wood reached its peak.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04Master carpenters began to develop specialised jointing techniques
0:12:04 > 0:12:10and make advances in the mechanics of how timber building was put together.
0:12:10 > 0:12:17By the time of the Tudors, they had found ways of spanning wide spaces with massive timber roof trusses.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Timber was the main construction material.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26Carpenters who built these places were the great engineers of the day.
0:12:33 > 0:12:40Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire, is one of the finest examples of timber framed architecture in England.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43It's typical of the early Tudor age.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49It wasn't designed to keep out the enemy - more to impress neighbours.
0:12:55 > 0:13:01Built over a period of 120 years, in the 15th and 16th centuries,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05by three generations of the Moreton family...
0:13:05 > 0:13:10who had been powerful, local landlords since the 13th century.
0:13:10 > 0:13:18The main building materials, about this time, were still timber, especially in the north of England.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21They set off with a plinth of stone or brick
0:13:21 > 0:13:26and made these frames that weren't big - they only did one storey,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30and stuck them up on the edge of the stonework,
0:13:30 > 0:13:35and interlaced them with bracing pieces, as you can see.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Considering the amount of acreage that the Moretons owned,
0:13:39 > 0:13:45they mustn't have been short of a few oak trees when they started building.
0:13:45 > 0:13:52The timber would arrive and would be split with iron wedges and cleaned up.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58Then the mortises and the tenons worked on the ends of each piece,
0:13:58 > 0:14:05and then, of course, the beginnings of the erection with the pegs and the holes.
0:14:06 > 0:14:13I've made this small model to try and portray how they went about building half-timber houses in Tudor times.
0:14:13 > 0:14:20One of the first pieces would be a corner post stuck in the mortise hole -
0:14:20 > 0:14:23it'd possibly hold itself up with pegs in.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27So we've got the corner post up, like so...
0:14:27 > 0:14:32then the cross members. It's all been marked so we know where it fits.
0:14:32 > 0:14:39When you look at half-timber buildings, the vertical ones are never very long - 10 or 12 feet.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44Two or three lads of reasonable fitness and strength
0:14:44 > 0:14:47could get one like this and manhandle it up,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51and shove it together like I've done.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And then, of course, more pegs in the holes to hold it all together,
0:14:56 > 0:15:02and then, finally, the top rail, which would be dragged up on ropes,
0:15:02 > 0:15:07tied to a couple of pieces of fir pole sticking up.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Then they'd get that tenon in,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14and this tenon in the next one...
0:15:14 > 0:15:18And, of course, more pegs...in the holes.
0:15:18 > 0:15:25To fill in the spaces in between the framing, the first ideas they came up with were lath and plaster -
0:15:25 > 0:15:32which is really just chopped sticks nailed in to a sort of rebate.
0:15:32 > 0:15:39And then, they plastered it with a mixture of cow dung, sand and lime. They refer to it as wattle and daub.
0:15:39 > 0:15:46They did it both sides, so it held an air cavity in between which made good insulation.
0:15:46 > 0:15:52But you see examples of a crack round the edge where everything shrunk.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56And I suppose the draught howls in, in the winter.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01The big weakness of our buildings is the ends of the vertical framing.
0:16:01 > 0:16:09Where they touched the stone work - there were no fancy damp courses, the rot set in at the bottom.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Some must have gone rotten quicker than others.
0:16:12 > 0:16:19That's why the thing goes downhill, and all the horizontals end up higgledy-piggledy, like this lot.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24It looks as though it could all come tumbling down at any time.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Here's rather a grand example...
0:16:27 > 0:16:31that shows why the buildings settled down.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36THIS vertical post once stood on the top of this knee-length stone,
0:16:36 > 0:16:43and now, of course, it's gone a bit haywire, and it's obviously suffering from pressure from above.
0:16:43 > 0:16:50Over the years, as it developed, it became sort of a hotchpotch of buildings all around this courtyard.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56The oldest parts are the great hall and the east wing over here,
0:16:56 > 0:17:02which have changed very little since modernisation in the 16th century,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06when these wonderful bay windows were added.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12The man who did the job, Rycharde Dale left his mark on this frame.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16It says, "Rycharde Dale carpenter made this window...
0:17:16 > 0:17:19"by the grace of God."
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Early advertising for window frame-making.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37One of the secrets of the carpenter's trade
0:17:37 > 0:17:42was the variety of joints he'd use in a building to hold it together.
0:17:42 > 0:17:49The mortise and tenon joints is the main joint in a half-timber building.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53All these cross-members have a tenon on each end.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57This is the tenon, that is the mortise hole.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Knock the wedges in and it opens up the tenon to get a really good grip,
0:18:01 > 0:18:06which will be used on the corners, as you might say.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11The other joint is like an open-ended mortise and tenon joint
0:18:11 > 0:18:13which you can do lots of things with.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18You can make octagonal structures. And it goes together in any way.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22No trouble getting it together.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26It was also handy for extending the length of a beam.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31But it wouldn't be good under compression - it'd just snap.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36And the simplest one of all is just a half-lap joint.
0:18:36 > 0:18:43It could be used like the other mortise and tenon joint on corners, like, up here.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46They were all clever lads with these fancy joints.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52One thing that makes Little Moreton stand out
0:18:52 > 0:18:59is the fact that there's all this lovely stuff in between the framing, which is all made of wood.
0:18:59 > 0:19:07The beautiful four-leafed clovers are called quatrefoils, and are sawn out of one solid, lump of wood...
0:19:07 > 0:19:10to that shape.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16The more fancy work you had on your house, the richer your worth.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20So the Moretons must have been quite well-to-do.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26We don't know how much time Rycharde Dale spent on this work, or how many men he had working for him,
0:19:26 > 0:19:32but it must have taken a lot of hours to do woodwork as elaborate as this.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37What we do know is that he became a good friend of William Moreton,
0:19:37 > 0:19:43and they spent a lot of time working together on plans for the house.
0:19:43 > 0:19:50It wasn't until the 1570s, when the Moretons had already been at it round the back for 100 years,
0:19:50 > 0:19:55that they decided to build this new and splendid frontage.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00About that time, long galleries became all the rage.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Any house that was worth anything had to have a long gallery.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08You'd got to show the one-upmanship thing.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13A long gallery is, basically, a long, thin room built on top of the house,
0:20:13 > 0:20:20purposely put there to engage your neighbours in entertainment and exercise -
0:20:20 > 0:20:24like a health studio on top of your whole house.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32It never had a lot of furniture - it was for recreation.
0:20:32 > 0:20:39When it was raining, the Elizabethan ladies would walk from one end to the other all afternoon chatting.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48So the Moreton family decided they'd have to have one.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53They had the idea after the building work on the south range had begun.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59They stuck this long gallery on top without putting proper support in.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The result was a bit of a disaster.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07There's nothing really wrong with a timber frame construction.
0:21:07 > 0:21:14They're very strong, almost earthquake proof if it's done right and not messed about with -
0:21:14 > 0:21:17people cutting holes in where there shouldn't be.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21THIS was never right from the beginning.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27What's underneath the floor is not very hot. It's all gone higgledy-piggledy.
0:21:27 > 0:21:34Through the excessive weight on the roof of these stone flag slates,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38the windows and the framing have started to go outwards.
0:21:38 > 0:21:46In the past, there's been an attempt to stop this by fixing up about eight by five blocks of oak,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51which are anchored to the wall plates in an attempt to stop it going out.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57And then, at a later date, iron rods have been inserted to help again.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02The National Trust have done important engineering
0:22:02 > 0:22:07to make sure the long gallery doesn't go any more out of shape.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Jeremy Milln's one of the team who's partially responsible
0:22:11 > 0:22:15for the construction of this great, iron frame,
0:22:15 > 0:22:20- and he's going to tell us all about it. Isn't that right?- Perfectly true.
0:22:20 > 0:22:26The Trust, about 10 years ago, was faced with an alarming report.
0:22:26 > 0:22:33We were not allowed to take more than 10 people up, or the thing might have collapsed into the moat.
0:22:33 > 0:22:40The prescription was to introduce a steel lattice system
0:22:40 > 0:22:44underneath this triangular-shaped element of roof,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48underneath the windows of the long gallery.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53They support the posts of the long gallery itself
0:22:53 > 0:22:58which have this tendency to buckle under the weight of the roof.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03I don't think anybody's tried to measure the weight of the roof,
0:23:03 > 0:23:08but the gritstone slabs equate to about 10 double-decker buses.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12People don't realise how heavy those slates are.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15They're very heavy.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20And the amazing thing is, the whole weight of the structure -
0:23:20 > 0:23:26the roof, the timber framing, and the floors, is all resting on the masonry at the bottom.
0:23:26 > 0:23:34The many repairs done over centuries to the timber at the bottom - not one iron dowel has been found.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It's just resting there like a dolls house. Bang.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44- What- I- like about it is the way that all that timber work is on show.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48But why don't we have more half-timber buildings like this?
0:23:48 > 0:23:55Well, they might be good to look at, but you talk to anyone who's tried to live in one through a British winter,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00and they'll tell you that they're cold and draughty.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05By the end of Elizabeth's reign, more houses were being built of brick.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10It was warmer, drier, more comfortable to live in.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15So if you'd got money, and you lived in a medieval timber framed house,
0:24:15 > 0:24:22you'd either build a new house, or modernise your existing one by encasing the timber frame in brick.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Harvington Hall is a good example of this.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31Inside it doesn't look a lot different than Little Moreton Hall -
0:24:31 > 0:24:34it's a great timber frame.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37But there's one difference -
0:24:37 > 0:24:42instead of wattle and daub in between the framing, there's bricks.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46You'd think the whole thing was a brick building.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50But it isn't. It's a non-load bearing skin on the outside.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The weight is still taken by the frames
0:24:54 > 0:24:59and all these wonderful iron plates to stop it all spreading out.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05So whether it was built with brick, or lath and plaster infill,
0:25:05 > 0:25:10the timber frame was still the main method of construction.
0:25:12 > 0:25:19The Elizabethan rebuilding of Harvington, that gives it its present appearance,
0:25:19 > 0:25:24was carried out in the 1580s by Humphrey Pakington.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31Pakington was a leading Catholic at a time when practising the Catholic faith was against the law.
0:25:33 > 0:25:40In the late 1500s and early 1600s, it was high treason for a Catholic priest to be in England.
0:25:40 > 0:25:46Keeping one undercover was punishable by death by public torture.
0:25:51 > 0:25:58Hideaways had to be cunningly hidden amongst the joinery, and the staircase, in this instance.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02You had to be able to get in pretty fast
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and get comfortable in this wonderful hideaway.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08I'll have a go at getting in quick.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11They're coming! HE LAUGHS
0:26:17 > 0:26:24Once in here, and the authorities were still halfway down the drive, this is like a double hideaway.
0:26:24 > 0:26:32There was actually another frame here with bricks in - and the hinges and the catch are still in place.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38The room behind me is quite large - it's a six foot cube, actually.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41An hour or two wouldn't have been so bad,
0:26:41 > 0:26:48but when the powers that be were playing real hide-and-seek, with a serious ending if they got you,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52with maybe a week searching round your house -
0:26:52 > 0:26:55it would get a bit claustrophobic.
0:26:55 > 0:27:02Harvington Hall contains the finest series of priest-holes to be found anywhere in the country,
0:27:02 > 0:27:10and four of them are situated round this very staircase, and show the trademarks of a Nicholas Owen.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Nicholas Owen trained as a carpenter and a mason,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19and he was one of the best builders of hiding places in all of history.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25His trademark was the layers you had to get through to find the hide.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Where's the hide in here?
0:27:27 > 0:27:33This platform used to be a book cupboard with panelling, but look...
0:27:37 > 0:27:42I don't think they had as much Guinness as I have, in them days.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Oh, eck!
0:27:48 > 0:27:51THIS is actually a triple-hideaway.
0:27:51 > 0:27:58Before you could come through that slot, you've got to move the doors off the cupboard, shift a few books,
0:27:58 > 0:28:05then shift the oak panelling, and, eventually, you'd come to this beam - swing that open and you were in.
0:28:05 > 0:28:13Very claustrophobic in here. I rather think that mead wasn't quite as fattening as Guinness.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18Owen was eventually captured. And he died under torture in the tower.
0:28:18 > 0:28:25But no priest was ever found hiding here. And that's why the priest-holes have remained intact -
0:28:25 > 0:28:29another tribute to the skills of the carpenter.