0:00:02 > 0:00:09I've been up a few chimneys in my time, but I've never been up one with as nice a surroundings as this one.
0:00:09 > 0:00:16This week's look at the construction skills that went into the Building of Britain brings me north of the border
0:00:16 > 0:00:20to see a style that is distinctively Scottish,
0:00:20 > 0:00:26and to look at one of the most important works of the Scottish architect who changed all that.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32In fact, Robert Adam's style of building was so distinctive, it was named after him.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50BAGPIPES ARE PLAYED
0:00:50 > 0:00:56This is Glamis Castle, the childhood home of the Queen Mother,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59the birthplace of the late Princess Margaret,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02and the setting for Macbeth.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06It's also been a Royal residence since the 14th century
0:01:06 > 0:01:11and is one of the best examples of the Scottish baronial style in existence.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16It's a style that was developed in the 16th and 17th centuries,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19as much for visual effect as for any practical need.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24What it involved was adding a whole lot of magnificent decorative features
0:01:24 > 0:01:27to existing clan castles.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32The castle is a grand collection of mediaeval architectural bits -
0:01:32 > 0:01:39the beautiful, crenellated parapet walls and the turrets and pinnacles and finials and round chimney stacks.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42It's all quite wonderful and fairytale-like.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47600 years ago, Glamis started out as a simple tower house
0:01:47 > 0:01:51and it didn't change very much for another 200 years.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Because the great sandstone tower was too massive to demolish,
0:01:55 > 0:02:00they had to build all round it when they wanted to extend the castle.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05The first of the extensions and improvements that transformed Glamis
0:02:05 > 0:02:12from the mediaeval castle into a great house in the Scottish baronial style were done in 1603,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18when the ninth Lord Glamis was made an Earl by King James VI.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21To match his new status,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25he wanted an HQ that looked a bit more impressive than the old tower.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31He added two floors and an attic and, of course, tucked in the corner
0:02:31 > 0:02:36of the L-shape of the original tower is the new staircase.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40The Earl was his own architect and, although there are no records,
0:02:40 > 0:02:47he probably employed masons of the Aberdeen School, led by John Bell, and what a magnificent job they did.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54The new staircase was added by the first Earl on the grand scale.
0:02:54 > 0:03:02It's sort of 16 feet diameter and magnificently illuminated by the amount of windows that are in it.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04And, of course, building it,
0:03:04 > 0:03:10they would have started off with a circle, 16 feet diameter, stuck on the foundation blocks
0:03:10 > 0:03:14and then inserted the first tread, you know.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21It's nice, how they're all radiused on the inside so you don't get the effect of great thick slabs of stone.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24As they were inserting these treads,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28they'd build the wall up WITH them as they were coming up the steps,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31but they've come to a part where they couldn't reach,
0:03:31 > 0:03:36so they'd have put logs coming across from these holes here, like this,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40onto the centre - there's one there, another one up there -
0:03:40 > 0:03:44what they could stand on, while they got the outer wall higher up
0:03:44 > 0:03:48to get the next set of treads on, as you might say.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Aye, it's quite a... an interesting staircase.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56I'm up here on the roof of the castle amongst all the pinnacles and finials
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and beautiful iron railings and flagpoles and what have you.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Now, the bit that interests me most is the slated steeples.
0:04:04 > 0:04:11Underneath the slates, there's a lot of complex woodwork that's beautifully tapered and rounded off.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16If you had it re-slated today, it'd be a fairly expensive job -
0:04:16 > 0:04:19it's a job for a good steeplejack.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25This is a little drawing I've done of one of the turrets on Glamis Castle -
0:04:25 > 0:04:29the basic construction of the woodwork.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33They must have used steeple-jacking technology and great balks of timber
0:04:33 > 0:04:37pinned to the side of the circular part of the turret
0:04:37 > 0:04:40and planks that they could stand on.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46Once they'd got this circular wall plate rested on top of the stonework,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49which would be in maybe four or five pieces,
0:04:49 > 0:04:54they'd lift up these rafters at the end of a rope - they're not heavy.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00You could actually hold one in position while you nailed it to the wall plate.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06The slate laps, to get them to curve around the fairly tight curve as you're getting towards the top,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10they would saw saw-cuts in the back of it.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16It's what you get around maybe a foot diameter, or thereabouts, you know, fairly simple,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and then the slates would be nailed on in the usual manner.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25At the bottom, where they're seven or eight inches wide, they'd have two nails,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and as you went up progressively, as the things get smaller,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32they had maybe at the top only one nail
0:05:32 > 0:05:36and then the whole lot capped with its lead finial or pinnacle.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42The vision or the look at it from down below is very pleasing, you know, it looks very nice.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48Back in the days of the first Earl when all this building work started,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52this is what the inside of the castle would have looked like.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56This is the lower hall of the original 15th-century tower house.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03It's one of the places that's changed the least in all the castle - it's not been messed about with.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05It's a wonderful bit of building.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09It almost reminds you of a railway tunnel, doesn't it? It's magic.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13It's all quite a mystery in this barrel-vaulted chamber.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16There's two distinct lines along the ceiling
0:06:16 > 0:06:20where the material changes, the full length of the room.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26You know, it's the same material as the tapered arch window openings are built out of.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29I think these windows were put in.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33There's a pretty nasty joint down around the arch and down each side
0:06:33 > 0:06:39and odd bits of the different material, you know, to, like, block up the gaps and what have you.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41It's all very interesting.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46I could live in here myself - it's quite nice, you know, beautiful.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Up here on the second floor,
0:06:50 > 0:06:56this magnificent room was once the Great Hall of the central tower,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00and, of course, until its conversion in the 17th century,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04it would've looked similar to the room we've just come from downstairs.
0:07:04 > 0:07:10The first Earl proceeded to convert it into this magnificent drawing room.
0:07:10 > 0:07:17He had all the walls plastered and the fireplace done and the royal arms stuck in the middle.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19The second Earl continued the process
0:07:19 > 0:07:27when he employed travelling Italian craftsmen to create the fine arch ceiling and beautiful plaster work.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33But all this splendour that had been brought to Glamis didn't last very long
0:07:33 > 0:07:38because, in 1646, the second Earl died a ruined man,
0:07:38 > 0:07:46his estates plundered and with debts of £40,000, which, in them days, were a ginormous sum.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49When his son Patrick succeeded him,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53he managed to pay off all the debts, and, then, in 1670,
0:07:53 > 0:07:59he moved back into the castle and began an ambitious programme of extensions and improvements.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06I'm hidden away up here in the top of the clock tower
0:08:06 > 0:08:10where all the records for the castle are kept
0:08:10 > 0:08:12and I've found the third Earl's diary
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and he actually called it his "book of record"
0:08:16 > 0:08:22and, of course, in it he detailed all the expenses and the building operations that were going on.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27It starts off with what it were like when he first came to look at it, and it says here,
0:08:27 > 0:08:33"It be an old house and consequently was the more difficult to reduce the place to any uniformity."
0:08:33 > 0:08:36In other words, it were all higgeldy-piggeldy.
0:08:36 > 0:08:43"I did covert extremely to order my buildings so the front piece might have a resemblance on both sides."
0:08:43 > 0:08:50In other words, he made it symmetrical by placing one wing on either side of the central tower
0:08:50 > 0:08:55with both of them coming out at right angles from it.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Not only are there all these records,
0:08:57 > 0:09:02but also his dealings with the contractors and the actual contracts that they've got.
0:09:02 > 0:09:09This one's an interesting one dealing with one of his main contractors.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14It says... His Lordship's unhappy with the bill that he's just received.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18"..Sanders Nisbit, as to your pretended additional work..."
0:09:18 > 0:09:21In other words, he billed him for a bit extra.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25"I shall receive this answer without passion.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31"First, I must tell you that I admire with what impudence you charge me any additional work."
0:09:31 > 0:09:38And he goes on to say, if you read the contract properly, you know, you'd finish job off.
0:09:38 > 0:09:45And then he finishes, "But, Sanders, there are a great many things to be done which are as yet not done
0:09:45 > 0:09:47"and must be done."
0:09:47 > 0:09:54But, in spite of the odd disagreement, Nisbit was the main contractor for all the work.
0:09:54 > 0:10:00According to another of the contracts, Nisbit had to provide five masons to work with him on site,
0:10:00 > 0:10:07while the Earl was to provide all materials and services of four workmen for the unskilled labour.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11There have been all sorts of extensions and improvements done
0:10:11 > 0:10:16since the time of the third Earl especially in Victorian times.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22But what we see today, as we look down the mile-long avenue at the 100 foot high towers,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27is basically what he created when he turned a mediaeval castle into a great house.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Extending and beautifying an existing tower
0:10:33 > 0:10:37wasn't the only way a distinctive Scottish style was developed.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45By the 18th century, the leading Scottish architect, William Adam,
0:10:45 > 0:10:51began to design country houses that broke away radically from the baronial style.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56The House of Dun near Montrose is one of his finest country houses.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03Like Glamis, they started off with a great tower here, but rather than building the house round it,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07they actually knocked it down and started again on a greenfield site.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11It was built by David Erskine, the Laird of Dun,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14who was a prosperous lawyer.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19Work began in 1730 and it took over 10 years, a bit like one of my jobs!
0:11:19 > 0:11:21But you can see why, you know,
0:11:21 > 0:11:28if you compare it with Glamis Castle, with the rough stone and the big wide joints, you know.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32These joints in these stones, you cannot even get your fingernail in.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36To get 'em such a good fit, and all these beautiful reeded columns,
0:11:36 > 0:11:42every stone's done individually and, of course, everything had to fit to a degree of perfection.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48If you put your eye to the corner, they're dead straight - you cannot fault it -
0:11:48 > 0:11:51straighter than what they get it these days.
0:11:55 > 0:12:02The great glory of the interior of the House of Dun is this magnificent saloon with its wonderful plastering,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05which were done by a man called Joseph Enzer,
0:12:05 > 0:12:11and believe it or not, for all this magnificent ornamentation he only got £216, you know.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14It sounds unbelievable, dunnit?!
0:12:14 > 0:12:18That weren't just one single room - it were for doing the whole house.
0:12:18 > 0:12:26Most people coming into this room wouldn't have a great deal of idea how this magnificent work were done,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31but when I was at art school, they'd an ornamental plastering department
0:12:31 > 0:12:37and even though I never did any myself, I always took great interest in what were going on in there.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41And, of course, they made nearly everything on flat benches
0:12:41 > 0:12:45and then glued and screwed 'em to the walls in strange ways.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50If there were any funny shapes to have nice things fixed to -
0:12:50 > 0:12:56like here they've got this wonderful radius from the cornice moulding up to the flat ceiling proper -
0:12:56 > 0:13:00they made a curved board of exactly the same radius
0:13:00 > 0:13:05and made all these canons and ladies and fancy bits to that radius.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10So all the fancy pieces would fit to the same curve, as you might say.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14And there's lots of other things of interest in here
0:13:14 > 0:13:21because up there, there's reputed to be a real violin that's been dipped in a watery solution of plaster.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Other interesting things - the shells up there have got to be real shells.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30To find out some of the tricks of the trade, I went to see the experts.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Hayles and Howe are specialists in ornamental plaster work.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38'I asked managing director, David Harrison, about those violins.'
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The trouble with that theory is,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46if you dip a violin in a bucket of plaster and pull it out,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50you have a violin covered in plaster and that's not what these look like.
0:13:50 > 0:13:57They'd have sculpted it. They'd have used a timber frame and modelled up the plaster surface on that.
0:13:57 > 0:14:03- Things like the strings would be copper wire...- They're real copper wire.- ..that wouldn't go rusty.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08Any trick they could use to save having to model something, they...
0:14:08 > 0:14:12For example, there's a spear, which is very delicate.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15That wouldn't stay together in plaster,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20so that's probably a piece of timber dowel with a point on the end.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26Summat like that over the fireplace, that'd be made on a bench, flat, and then raised up, would it not?
0:14:26 > 0:14:30The way they would have done that would be simply
0:14:30 > 0:14:34model the thing up on a timber frame with an armature on the back,
0:14:34 > 0:14:39hold it up, put some wood through to the joists and nail it on.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43All of these heavy items, they would have made absolutely certain,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47whether modelling from the ceiling outwards or applying something,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51that the big bits have armatures in, like statues.
0:14:51 > 0:14:58Anything that could fall off, they have to make sure that it's not gonna fall on their client's head.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And now into the workshop to meet the technical director Bob Lewis.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This is the plaster we're using - plaster of Paris.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- It's a fine casting plaster.- Yeah.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14We sprinkle this into the water, never water onto the plaster.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17'Give it a good mix.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19'Then pour it into the mould.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24'Make sure the plaster is evenly spread into all the corners.'
0:15:24 > 0:15:31- Before all this wonderful Latex stuff, what would they have used in the bad old days?- Well...
0:15:31 > 0:15:36- there were very few moulds as such. They carved in the ceiling. - Bloomin' heck!
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Yeah.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42'Then you give it a key to fix the backing to.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:44- FRED LAUGHS - That's it.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50- Cut that bit.- Come on, it's setting.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54- Normally from a Baltic fir, it can be...- Yeah.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58- I can see what happens next. It's sort of folded over, innit?- Yes.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00That's the tricky bit, innit?
0:16:01 > 0:16:06The last thing is re-enforcement, all rubbed down below the surface.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08I could get used to it eventually.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13These pieces that we're doing will be for some Jacobean strap work.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18- I can see you've used plaster before!- Oh, concrete!
0:16:18 > 0:16:23'For long sections of cornice moulding, the technique is a bit different.'
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Pour the plaster down to start with, just up to the edge.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34'Make sure the mould is well filled.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36'Then comes the critical bit -
0:16:36 > 0:16:42'drawing the template along the whole length of the mould to give the cornice its shape.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49'Now that it's dry, we'll walk back to that strap work.'
0:16:49 > 0:16:54We make sure it's all utterly released around the outside. It's quite strong.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58This is it. This is where it all falls apart.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03That's heavier than you'd think, that, innit?
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Well, there we go.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09- A couple of bubbles, but we can sort that out.- Yeah. Mmm.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14'But is the cornice going to turn out just as good?'
0:17:14 > 0:17:20- That would go on the ceiling and the wall. - Yeah, yeah, it's all right.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Right, three ha'pence a foot!
0:17:25 > 0:17:31William Adam had set a new trend for house design and decoration in Scotland,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35but it was Adam's more famous son, Robert,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38who took some elements of this style
0:17:38 > 0:17:44and added a lot of ideas of his own to create a style of architecture that is named after him.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Robert Adam had spent three years travelling around Europe
0:17:49 > 0:17:53drawing and studying the great buildings from the past.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59He was particularly impressed by the remains of the ancient Roman buildings he saw
0:17:59 > 0:18:03and it was THIS that influenced the Adam style more than anything else.
0:18:03 > 0:18:11Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast is one of his most important and distinctive works.
0:18:11 > 0:18:18Adam was commissioned to rebuild an existing castle seen here in one of his own sketches.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24His idea was to transform THIS into a romantic-looking castle
0:18:24 > 0:18:28designed to heighten the dramatic cliff-top setting.
0:18:28 > 0:18:36Adam worked on Culzean over a period of 15 years from 1777 to 1792.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40His pupil, Hugh Cairncross, was the foreman for the whole project
0:18:40 > 0:18:44and Hugh's brother, William, was the carpenter.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46The work was done in several stages.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52First of all, he incorporated the original building into the south side of the mansion.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57He squared up the central tower and re-faced it
0:18:57 > 0:19:02and then built a three-story wing on each side.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04The sandstone was quarried locally,
0:19:04 > 0:19:11some actually coming from beneath the castle itself when it was removed to make the foundations and the cellar.
0:19:11 > 0:19:19The next stage of his building work was the north wing with its massive drum tower on the seaward side.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23He built this wonderful round tower
0:19:23 > 0:19:26to sit right on the edge of the cliff.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30It's a sheer drop for about 100 feet down to the shoreline.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Immediately below us there's a great cave.
0:19:34 > 0:19:40He must've been unsure of himself because he's built a stone pillar in the middle of the cave just in case.
0:19:40 > 0:19:46I mean, he obviously built it for the beautiful panoramic views of the countryside, the sea and everything.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It's quite a magnificent thing, really,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51perched here right on the edge.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56It's stood the test of time - it's all still here, it's slightly eroded,
0:19:56 > 0:20:02it's facing the western elements and the Atlantic, so it's took a beating over the years it's been here.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07Adam's brief extended to the whole of the Culzean estate.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Not only did he build the house, you know,
0:20:10 > 0:20:15he built that wonderful viaduct that's part of the grand entrance.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Even the clock tower, which of course were already there,
0:20:19 > 0:20:25he's smartened up with the turrets and the crenellated top and of course a new skin down the front.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31And the castle's farm that was built to his design is a work of art in itself.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35You won't find many farms that look as good as this.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38There's an awful lot of stone about this castle,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43and the trouble is, most of it came from the Earl's personal quarry
0:20:43 > 0:20:48and it's sandstone which is not the best stuff for weathering the storm, as you might say.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Here's the most magnificent example of erosion.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57The whole thing's just worn away with the wind
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and the sea air, I suppose.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05For years now they've been replacing the outer skin on the front of the building.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11There's only about a couple of dozen of the original Adam blocks still in position, you know -
0:21:11 > 0:21:13they're the dirty ones.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20This is Andy Bradley, who's been here for ten years.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24He's never been home and he's the resident stonemason.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30He does all the maintenance of the stone, and all the repairs, and all the nice bits.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31- Isn't that right?- It is. Well, yeah.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Yeah. Right, this is how you get it, is it, now, like?
0:21:35 > 0:21:38- This is how we get it in. - Big, big slabs.
0:21:38 > 0:21:45- We've no set sizes. Everything's various sizes, different lengths, different bed heights.- Yeah.
0:21:45 > 0:21:52- I suppose when Robert Adam were here it'd just come in pretty rough lumps, wouldn't it?- Sure.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57They'd have had great difficulty transporting a block this size.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02They'd split it at the quarry and dress it into roughly-squared blocks.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07At that point, those stones would be designated for a particular task.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13- There'd be some that were long enough to be window heads, some for jams.- Yeah.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- They wouldn't have a great amount to remove.- You try and work the minimum.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21But what that's done over the years, it's given a variety.
0:22:21 > 0:22:27- When you come to a building of a certain age... - Oh, yeah, big 'uns, little 'uns.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29..everything's slightly different.
0:22:29 > 0:22:35It's easier to get the stone in random lengths and cut it to suit, as they would've done originally.
0:22:35 > 0:22:41- Do you want to look at the scaffold? - See what you're doing with the retaining wall.- Let's have a look.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48- This place is rather inaccessible, innit, on top of a cliff?- Mm-hm.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54Like most places in those days, they tried to get the stone as local as possible.
0:22:54 > 0:23:02There's three basic stones at Culzean, all within a few miles of the castle itself.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05- This is actually a retaining wall. - Mm-hm.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10- On top of it is the road to the castle...- Yeah.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15- ..a tarmac road, so that might have an effect with the drainage.- Yeah.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19- Up on the top here is the main drag up to the castle.- Yeah.
0:23:19 > 0:23:25When you look at it, you know, it looks out over the gas house.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28- It's not seen from the castle.- No.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33- Even in a place like this, they've gone to a bit of effort.- They have.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37They've got this moulding here... and then these canons.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42- This one alone is purely ornamental. - Ah, there's no hole.- Just ornament.
0:23:42 > 0:23:49It must be difficult deciding which stones to pull out and which to leave in - how do you do it?
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I'd be having sleepless nights if it were me!
0:23:52 > 0:23:57We want to keep the character of the wall pretty well intact.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03We'll take out as little as possible whilst maintaining the structural integrity of the wall.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Just because it's badly weathered is no excuse for taking it out.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10We want a nice rough surface on there.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14'Every single stone has to be prepared by hand
0:24:14 > 0:24:19'and this includes getting a nice rough surface on it, so the mortar will key.'
0:24:24 > 0:24:29- It's building up the rhythm. - Yeah. It is, isn't it, really?
0:24:29 > 0:24:33'Every line is a blow from a man's arm on an 'ammer and chisel.'
0:24:36 > 0:24:39When this place were being built,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43there'd be dozens, literally dozens, of stonemasons.
0:24:43 > 0:24:49The thing is, this is a wonderful wall to sort of depict different styles of workmanship
0:24:49 > 0:24:52producing the squared-off blocks of stone.
0:24:52 > 0:24:59I mean, it's obvious that the same man made these door jams - each side it's the same style of chiselling.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Here's a wonderfully detailed one.
0:25:01 > 0:25:08Obviously the guy who made that would only do one, and the bloke who made this would more than likely do three.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11It's pretty rough, sort of thing,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15or he were in an 'urry to go home for his tea, or summat.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21They dropped a clanger here. There were gonna be another nitch, but they changed their mind and bunged it up.
0:25:21 > 0:25:27But it is certainly a good example of showing masons' different styles of,
0:25:27 > 0:25:33you know, using the punch and the mallet and the various fancy chisels that they had.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38'But Adam's work isn't just about stonework and exteriors.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43'He spent as much time worrying about the inside as the out.'
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Especially important was his conviction that the interior of a building,
0:25:50 > 0:25:56right down to the decoration and the furnishings, should be the concern of the architect.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59This room, with its magnificent ceiling -
0:25:59 > 0:26:02it's not too much overdone, is it?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04It's light and elegant.
0:26:04 > 0:26:10It's typical of his style, you know - he sort of kept everything lovely and sort of light looking.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14And, really, he's chiefly remembered for his interiors
0:26:14 > 0:26:20with his beautiful fireplaces and his door heads and this rather wedding-cake type plastering,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23or not too heavy about any of it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32This is Robert Adam's crowning glory, a masterpiece.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36When he'd finished off the north and south side of the house,
0:26:36 > 0:26:43he were left with this rather sunless and dark, rectangular-shaped courtyard in between
0:26:43 > 0:26:45that separated the two,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48and ten years later after he'd started work,
0:26:48 > 0:26:54he came up with this wonderful idea that gives a feeling of light and space.
0:26:54 > 0:27:01There wasn't enough room for a conventional circular spiral staircase, so Adam made it oval.
0:27:01 > 0:27:08I rather think when he first got his ruler out and measured this rectangular-shaped courtyard,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13he did a bit of head scratching before he come up with this magnificent thing.
0:27:13 > 0:27:20He must've marked out the elliptical row of pillars in the bottom which are joined together with arches.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24At the landing, where the cast iron handrail is,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29there are 12 Corinthian columns which support a gallery up above,
0:27:29 > 0:27:36with another 12, smaller in diameter, Ionic columns, which support a magnificent elliptical dome,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41with a beautiful fan light in the top of it that lets all the light stream in.
0:27:41 > 0:27:48I've never been in a building where, wherever you stand, if you stand square across the thing and look up,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51everything's in perfect alignment.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53It's quite magnificent.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57If it were round, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's elliptical as well.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The amount of accuracy is incredible.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05The whole effect is very dramatic and very typical of Robert Adam -
0:28:05 > 0:28:08the only man in the story of the Building of Britain
0:28:08 > 0:28:11to have a style named after him all of his own.
0:28:15 > 0:28:22The whole place is a magnificent monument, not just to the imagination and ingenuity of Robert Adam,
0:28:22 > 0:28:27but also to the workmanship and hard graft of the men who built it.
0:28:32 > 0:28:39And next week I'll be much closer to home when I look at the work of the very first civil engineers -
0:28:39 > 0:28:42the men who changed our landscape forever
0:28:42 > 0:28:45with the building of the canals.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51If you'd like find out more about the Building of Britain,
0:28:51 > 0:28:57visit the website at bbc.co.uk/history