0:00:02 > 0:00:07'All over Britain, hundreds of precious historic buildings
0:00:07 > 0:00:10'are in danger of being lost forever.'
0:00:13 > 0:00:16The tragedy is that these buildings are far more
0:00:16 > 0:00:20than just simply bricks and mortar. They are the keepers of our past.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30I love the idea that people have stood here discussing the Battle of Waterloo, the Battle of Bosworth,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33the Battle of Britain.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37'I'm following the fortunes of six properties.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Each of these six fragile buildings has found a would-be saviour,
0:00:44 > 0:00:49new owners desperate to breathe life into these crumbling ruins
0:00:49 > 0:00:53by creating their own 21st century dream home.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02- Well, she found it.- I just think it's an adorable building.
0:01:02 > 0:01:08I know there's a lot of work, but I think it's a building that needs to be cared for and will be cared for.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10'As our owners get down to work,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13'architectural expert Kieran Long
0:01:13 > 0:01:15'and historian Dr Kate Williams
0:01:15 > 0:01:21'will help me unearth the fascinating secrets hidden deep in each building's past.'
0:01:22 > 0:01:28If it wasn't for you, we'd have forgotten, this whole story would be buried in the archives.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I love old buildings and I always have
0:01:31 > 0:01:35and I've spent many years restoring various different properties
0:01:35 > 0:01:38in an attempt to create the perfect family home.
0:01:38 > 0:01:44So I know from personal experience the hard path that our families have chosen to follow.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52You're sanding it and scraping it and putting the poultice on it and you're like, "Ohh!"
0:01:52 > 0:01:57I don't think we'd ever buy another listed building. Ever.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01'Six precious buildings.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05'Six owners with a mission.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11'Six intriguing journeys into Britain's past.'
0:02:11 > 0:02:13It's Restoration Home.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30This is the most important church in the land. Canterbury Cathedral.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37'This has been a holy site for more than 1,400 years.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42'And in that time, Canterbury Cathedral has had a pretty rich history.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Just after Christmas in the year 1170,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54the Archbishop of Canterbury had a terrible falling out with the king.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Christmas is always a tricky time, isn't it?
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Unfortunately, things got rather out of hand
0:03:00 > 0:03:04and the Archbishop was brutally murdered here on this most sacred of sites
0:03:04 > 0:03:07by four of King Henry II's supporters.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17The murdered man was called Thomas Becket.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'Later known as Thomas a Becket,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'he became one of England's most celebrated martyrs.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29'Barely three years later he was made a saint,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33'and for centuries to come, churches were named in his honour.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37'But in the southwest of England,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41'one of them is in serious danger of being lost.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44'And this is our Restoration Home.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49'St Thomas a Becket Church in Pensford, Somerset.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53'Abandoned and empty for years,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56'it's on the heritage critical list,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59'and without a new owner, its future is bleak.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03'Sitting on an island at the heart of the village,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06'St Thomas a Becket has always been at risk from floods.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12'And 43 years ago, the most catastrophic in living memory
0:04:12 > 0:04:16'led to its eventual deconsecration.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22'It has a Victorian nave and a medieval tower
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'which means the whole church attracts a Grade Two Star listing,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30'the second highest grading for an historic building.
0:04:30 > 0:04:37'But first and foremost, St Thomas a Beckett Church needs to be saved from complete dereliction.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42'Step forward newly-weds Paul and Laura Baxter,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'both in their late 20s.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47'Former childhood sweethearts,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51'they've never tackled a full-scale restoration before.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56'They were working their way up the property ladder when Paul spotted the church in 2007.'
0:04:57 > 0:05:01I was looking for a flat in Bristol, nothing came up that I liked
0:05:01 > 0:05:03and this was up for sale by auction.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07We went and had a look and thought it was ridiculously large,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10- couldn't afford it. - And it's leaking, it's rotten.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13But, man, this would be wicked if we could sort it out!
0:05:13 > 0:05:16So then we started thinking that it was a great idea.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22'They applied for listed building consent to create a three-bedroom home
0:05:22 > 0:05:25'on three floors inside the church's nave.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'The conservation authorities approved their plan,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34'and the first stage of work, to make their new home weatherproof, is already under way.'
0:05:34 > 0:05:39We would like to start a family here. I'm not sure how practical it is
0:05:39 > 0:05:42being that there's a stream all the way around the outside,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46- there'll be balconies, glass.- It'll be like a learning curve for them.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52'They paid £120,000 to buy the nave,
0:05:52 > 0:05:58'but they didn't buy the tower, which remains the property of the Churches Conservation Trust.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03'And outside their front door, St Thomas a Becket's centuries-old graveyard
0:06:03 > 0:06:07'will need to remain open to the visiting public.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13'They have a restoration budget of £140,000
0:06:13 > 0:06:18'and they're renting a flat in nearby Bristol until the church is ready.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25'To keep costs down, Paul will do all the work himself.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29'And Laura, who's an accountant, will bankroll the project.'
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I don't have a problem with being the breadwinner. It's fine.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Right from the start of our relationship, Paul said he wanted to renovate property,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43he didn't want to get a job. He's never had what I would call a proper job.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49It's not as expensive as you would expect, though. The average build is 75 percent labour costs.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51So if you think, "That's going to cost 200 grand,"
0:06:51 > 0:06:54if you do it all yourself, it'll cost 50.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00'Paul's got plenty of DIY experience,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04'but converting a church nave into a four-bedroom home is a whole new ball-game.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:12'He's had to train himself in a completely new range of new skills,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14'including becoming a roofer.'
0:07:14 > 0:07:17I've done an 11-month crash course in roofing
0:07:17 > 0:07:20because on the first phase, I got a load of roofers in to help me
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and I made sure I was doing it with them.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26'Confident enough to carry on on his own,
0:07:26 > 0:07:31'Paul has spent a solid year fitting 7,000 slates.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36'As well as making the church watertight from above,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39'he has months of work ahead inside the nave
0:07:39 > 0:07:43'creating the framework for the couple's new living space.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48'Right now, he's loving every part of his full-time restoration job.'
0:07:48 > 0:07:53It's got a combination of everything. You get to design it, so that's a bit artistic.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58You get to go through the planning process, which is a bit of an effort, but it's more paperwork.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00And then you also get the physical side of it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03So it's like the job that has everything.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Yeah. No, I think it's marvellous. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do, or I'd be doing it.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16'Both of them are eager to learn more about the church they've decided to make their home.'
0:08:17 > 0:08:21We'd definitely like to find out more about the history of the building.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26If you're living in a place and you know what's happened, you get more of an attachment to it.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31But also, so many people visit Pensford and come round and say, "My ancestor's buried here,
0:08:31 > 0:08:36"do you know where he's buried?" and it'd be really nice to be able to provide some information.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40- Some of them come from Australia. - Yeah.- And we can't really tell them anything.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47'While I keep tabs on Paul and Laura's restoration journey,
0:08:47 > 0:08:53'our investigators are going to help me uncover the hidden story of St Thomas a Becket Church.
0:08:54 > 0:09:01'Architectural expert Kieran Long will search for clues in the DNA of the building itself.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04'And historian Dr Kate Williams
0:09:04 > 0:09:10'will trace the events and characters crucial to the church through the centuries.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:17Well over 1,000 churches have closed their doors during the last 40 years.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Declining attendance and the amalgamation of parishes
0:09:20 > 0:09:25means that a huge swathe of our architectural heritage is in peril.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32Finding new uses for these churches is vital for their survival.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37So if Paul and Laura don't succeed,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42we may lose another of our precious buildings forever.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47'Kieran starts his investigation in Pensford.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54'He wants to find out what St Thomas a Becket Church can tell him about its past.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00'At first glance, it's not a simple story.'
0:10:00 > 0:10:04We can already see that there are two different ages of stonework
0:10:04 > 0:10:08here in the building. The tower looks older than the body of the church.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12'The style of the windows and gruesome gargoyles of the tower
0:10:12 > 0:10:17'are instantly recognisable to Kieran as medieval Gothic.'
0:10:18 > 0:10:25It looks a bit like a castle keep, doesn't it? There's something much older about it, much more ancient.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32We can tell from the condition of the stonework that it's clearly centuries older than the rest of the church.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35It could be 15th century.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38'Paul and Laura don't own the tower,
0:10:38 > 0:10:43'but it's this ancient part of the church that gives the building its Grade Two Star listing,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48'a designation which means it's of more than special historic interest.'
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Coming in here is like coming into a tomb that's been closed.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54It's really, really special.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59The roof vaults that we see above us, absolutely characteristic of the Gothic style.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04They're about this verticality. This idea that your eye should constantly be drawn upwards
0:11:04 > 0:11:06and therefore towards God, the light of God.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12'Kieran moves to the nave, the part of the church that Paul and Laura do own.
0:11:12 > 0:11:18'It's also Gothic in style, but built much later than the tower.'
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Ah, fabulous. Here we are, finally, in the nave.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Really classic Victorian Gothic.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32'There's evidence this is a bigger nave than the one the medieval church had.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36'A join in the stonework shows the roof used to be lower.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40'At some point, this nave has been supersized.'
0:11:40 > 0:11:45This steeply-pitched roof that you can just see the outline of, there was clearly a much smaller nave
0:11:45 > 0:11:48attached to that tower before.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53And I think it would've been a much more proportionally pleasing relationship
0:11:53 > 0:11:55between tower and nave then.
0:11:56 > 0:12:02'As a potential new home, the nave comes with some stunning original features.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04'The stained glass windows.'
0:12:05 > 0:12:09We'll have to do some more work to understand the significance of the windows
0:12:09 > 0:12:13but they're certainly of a fineness that belies a small rural church.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19'Armed with Kieran's findings, our private eye of the past,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'Dr Kate Williams, gets her investigation underway.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27'It brings her to the local archive,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31'where she's worried the parish records might have been destroyed by floods.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36'But she manages to discover one vital piece of evidence,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41'an early 19th century drawing that shows Kieran was right.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45'The church used to have a much smaller nave.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52'And when Kate digs deeper into the archives, she makes another exciting discovery.'
0:12:53 > 0:12:58What I have here is a memorial book for all the churches in the area.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03You hardly ever see something like it. It's so rare. All these pictures and records and written memoirs.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07This could tell us so much about Pensford Church.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14'Kieran thought the original medieval church might date back to the 1400s.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'But Kate finds a list of every vicar in the reign of every monarch
0:13:18 > 0:13:22'that goes all the way back to the 1300s.'
0:13:25 > 0:13:28The church is so much older than we really thought.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34The first incumbent is here, 1341 under the reign of Edward III.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39What the church must have been like in those times. It must have been the focus of the community.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44'The book also shows that over seven centuries of history,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49'Thomas a Beckett Church has paid a heavy price because of its location.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52'On an island in the middle of the River Chew.'
0:13:52 > 0:13:55There has been a terrible history of flooding.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Over and over again, the church has suffered.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Here, 1807. 1809.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Two years later, another flood.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Then throughout the 18th century and the earlier period.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14'And there was another reason villagers must have thought their church was cursed.'
0:14:14 > 0:14:18In the 16th century, as we learn here, the church was a plague church.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23This is terrible. The victims of this horrific disease
0:14:23 > 0:14:27were taken to the church and the parishioners would've avoided the church,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29terrified of catching the disease again.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31So it's somewhere that's been shunned.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36'Traditionally, churches were the very glue that held a community together.
0:14:36 > 0:14:42'So what finally made the people of Pensford abandon their ill-fated church for good?
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'Time for me to reprise my role as amateur TV detective
0:14:51 > 0:14:54'and do some of my own snooping round the village.'
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Hello? Hello?
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Hi. I'm trying to find out about your church.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04It was just nothing but a cold, empty shell.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06That was the last time I looked inside it.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10It was awful. The centre of the village looked derelict, horrible.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17'In 1968, Pensford experienced floods so severe
0:15:17 > 0:15:21'that they made the national news. The Duke of Edinburgh came to inspect the damage,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'and meet the vicar at the time, Reverend Clatworthy.'
0:15:25 > 0:15:29"The Duke summed up the situation as absolute chaos. But the townsfolk..."
0:15:29 > 0:15:36'The 1960s catastrophe proved to be the last straw for poor old Thomas a Becket church.'
0:15:37 > 0:15:41- Do you remember the flood? - Yes, very much so.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45It came down through the valley here like a raging torrent.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51Anything loose was gone. Cars, garden sheds, you name it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56The church wasn't used for years after that. Years.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01- So, really, the flood was the absolute end of the church. - Basically, the end of it.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06'The church's fate was sealed because villagers could easily use another one at Publow,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10'just half a mile away, run by the same vicar.'
0:16:10 > 0:16:12So is it a prettier church?
0:16:12 > 0:16:17Er, yes, I would say so.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Most people get buried at Publow Churchyard, all the weddings.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26So Christenings, weddings and burials, everybody really wanted to go to Publow.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30'But some villagers do miss having their own church.'
0:16:30 > 0:16:36When the decision was made to close this church down, how did you feel?
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Well, upset. It's part of the community.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45- All that's gone. - It does seem that everyone's turned their back on this church.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48- It seems to, yes.- You're the first person I've spoken to
0:16:48 > 0:16:53that really seems to feel that the church has been let down, in a way.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58- I feel it has. Definitely. - It's a shame.- A great shame.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02- And how do you feel about it being a house now?- Not a lot.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06- Not happy?- No. It should still be a church.- Right.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09'Our architectural expert Kieran
0:17:09 > 0:17:12'wants to find out more about Paul and Laura's plans
0:17:12 > 0:17:15'to turn the church into their home.'
0:17:15 > 0:17:20One of the things I'm really interested in is how you're going to live with this heritage.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24- You're going to have a living room next to an altar. How do you feel about that?- It's great!
0:17:24 > 0:17:29The new work that's proposed is quite bland, colour-wise. It's white, basically.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34So hopefully this will be the equivalent of that red cushion that they throw on a white chair
0:17:34 > 0:17:39in a white room, it's the signature colour. We've got a signature altar piece instead.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43So your idea has been to be quite neutral with the building and let it speak for itself.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Yes. We weren't expecting it to say anything, but now it has,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49you've just got to... I quite like it.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55Has anything you've found transformed or changed your ideas about what you want to do in this space?
0:17:55 > 0:18:00No. The thing is, when we designed the conversion,
0:18:00 > 0:18:06we designed it to be very Gothic and very in touch with the structure of the church anyway.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11I think the spatial programme that he's putting together for the building
0:18:11 > 0:18:14is somewhat difficult for me to imagine right now.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18It looks to me like he's filling it up with rooms and mezzanines and so on.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21This building has so much more about it than just his new home.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25It's a part of British architectural history and it'll be interesting to see
0:18:25 > 0:18:30if he can bring some of that into his thinking about making a great house for him and his wife.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34We'll see. But I have concerns that some of the quality of that space will be lost.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41'There's some way to go before the rooms in the church start taking shape.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45'Paul's still busy with basic preparation of the nave,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49'trying to strip away layers of paint on some of the stonework.'
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Every time you try and do something with the old bit of the building, it just...
0:18:54 > 0:18:58It just hits you. You think, "I'll just take the paint off these stones"
0:18:58 > 0:19:00but there's no "just" about it.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06You scrape off the white top layer and then underneath there's this blue stuff that will not come away.
0:19:08 > 0:19:14You're sanding it and scraping it and putting the poultice on it and you're like, "Ohh!"
0:19:14 > 0:19:18- Then Laura comes at the weekend and says, "It's a bit blue". - HE LAUGHS
0:19:18 > 0:19:22So it is! Ha-ha-ha!
0:19:22 > 0:19:24HE LAUGHS
0:19:24 > 0:19:30'Paul and Laura's plans involve creating an extra level of living space inside the nave,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34'installing a mezzanine floor half way up.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36'Before the new floor goes in,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41'they've decided to double glaze the draughty leaded windows.
0:19:41 > 0:19:47'Jack-of-all-trades Paul thinks he's up to the job. But Laura's not so sure.'
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Paul seems to think that he can do anything,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52that he could literally do anything.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57And a lot of the time, he is really good with his hands and he's very good at picking things up.
0:19:57 > 0:20:04I do have to rein him in a bit and say, "Actually, you're not allowed to do this, I want it done properly
0:20:04 > 0:20:08"so you're not going to do this" and put my foot down a bit.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15I said, "I'll have a crack at that" and Laura kind of went, "What makes you think you're able to do that?
0:20:15 > 0:20:18"We'll definitely get someone in for that."
0:20:18 > 0:20:22So we got a load of quotes in and Laura looked over the quotes
0:20:22 > 0:20:26and after a few moments reflection, she turned to me and said,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- "So, is there any reason why you can't do this yourself?" - HE LAUGHS
0:20:29 > 0:20:34And that was pretty much it. So what it is is this one here is the test case.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38So I'm going to make this one frame and then Laura's going to come with the white gloves
0:20:38 > 0:20:41and peruse it, check it over with the microscope
0:20:41 > 0:20:45and decide whether or not I'm going to be released on the other windows.
0:20:47 > 0:20:53'Before he can fit the glass, Paul has to make the frame for his DIY double glazing.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58'The trickiest bit is bending the wood to make the arch,
0:20:58 > 0:21:03'but with Paul's homemade steam-box, it should be a piece of cake.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08'Once the wood is nice and hot, it goes into his former to shape it.'
0:21:08 > 0:21:11And then the two of them go together like that.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13And there's your arch.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18So hopefully in the end, as long as I put it together right, it will be acceptable to the gruppenfuhrer.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23'But while making the frame has been pretty straightforward,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26'fitting the glass is a different matter.'
0:21:27 > 0:21:30I'm not really one for paperwork, by and large.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34If you asked me what the angles were on the frames, I wouldn't be able to tell you.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39We're only going to do one, cos it's just another thing to get broken. We'll put the rest in at the end.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42But Laura has to cast her critical eye over it.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47'The adhesive strip should hold the glass in place
0:21:47 > 0:21:49'if it fits the frame.
0:21:50 > 0:21:57'The most important thing is to make sure the inside of the glass is completely clean before it's fixed.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:06Just one thumb print could do it in. It'll be like the whole space telescope all over again.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12I'd have to take it all down and redo it at huge cost.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17'With Paul confident the inside of the glass is spotless,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20'it's time for the moment of truth.'
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Fit. Please fit.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35- A-ha-ha! - HE LAUGHS
0:22:35 > 0:22:38- Yes! - HE LAUGHS
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Whoo-hoo! Ohh!
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Who'd have thought that secondary glazing could bring so much happiness?
0:22:48 > 0:22:52- HE LAUGHS - Yeah. Well pleased with that.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I hope that writing's on this side.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01- Is this going to be good... Oh, you little- BLEEP!
0:23:01 > 0:23:05I can't take it off now. Hopefully the beading will cover most of that.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Yeah. That's all right.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14'Paul's happy he's saved the day.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18'But converting this church is Laura's dream, too,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21'and understandably, she wants it to be perfect.'
0:23:23 > 0:23:27- I can't really see it. - Hurray! Nothing to complain about.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32- Can I go on here? - Yes, of course you can. Why not?
0:23:34 > 0:23:37- What's this stuff?- That's a swipe.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41- Doesn't come off?- No.- No?- Sadly not.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- Are you serious?- That's the only... - On the inside?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47- Yeah.- That looks bad.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53The problem is, I cleaned the window twice but then when I put it in...
0:23:53 > 0:24:00- Is it glue?- No. They put a number on the wrong side of the glass.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07It looks awful. And I don't think this should be set back.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I like it like that. That's my preferred appearance.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14- And I don't.- Yeah. - SHE LAUGHS
0:24:14 > 0:24:16The verdict is, generally, it looks really nice,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18but it's not quite there yet.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21HE LAUGHS
0:24:21 > 0:24:28Ooh! Well, erm, I'm going to take that as meaning it can stay, just,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32- but the next one better be better. - That's exactly it.- OK!
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Phew! That'll do.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37'As their restoration journey continues,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42'our investigation into the building's history is still progressing.
0:24:43 > 0:24:50'We've established a timeline for Thomas a Becket Church that goes back to 1341.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55'But Paul and Laura's nave is Victorian
0:24:55 > 0:24:59'and it replaced a smaller medieval version.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05'So why, despite the church's vulnerable location and history of flooding,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09'did the nave get such a big makeover in the 19th century?
0:25:10 > 0:25:17'The answer lies in the revolutionary changes that swept Britain in the Victorian era.'
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Clifton Suspension Bridge,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26one of the great icons of Victorian design.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28It spans a seemingly ludicrous distance
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and inspires in me the same sense of awe
0:25:31 > 0:25:36that it must have inspired in those Victorians when it first opened in 1864.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40The building of this bridge was fuelled by the Industrial Revolution.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45It was a time when everything in Britain was fundamentally changed,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47including the Church.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52For the first time ever, churches were being built on an industrial scale.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57'In the 19th century, as towns and cities grew under industrialisation,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01'the government feared that religion was being lost.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07'So in 1818, an Act of Parliament created the Church Building Commission
0:26:07 > 0:26:13'which oversaw the building of 600 new churches in less than 50 years.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19'Kieran thinks the supersizing of Paul and Laura's nave
0:26:19 > 0:26:22'was part of this Victorian church-building frenzy
0:26:22 > 0:26:26'and he's scouring the country to find out who might have been behind it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31'He starts by trying to hunt down the architects
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'behind Thomas a Becket's 19th century transformation.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42'And deep in the local Somerset archive, he strikes gold.'
0:26:50 > 0:26:55It's very exciting to find some drawings of our building by the architects.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00Giles and Robinson Architects. This is the first time we've found out who these people were
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and it's very exciting to be able to name them.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07But also, a load of correspondence that deals with the building of our church.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11First and most importantly, it dates our building to 1868.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Mentions of consecration of 1869, so that's a great help.
0:27:17 > 0:27:24'On closer inspection, Giles and Robinson's letters reveal that in creating a newer, bigger nave,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27'they were keen on restoring some of the old.'
0:27:28 > 0:27:34There are parts of this Victorian building which are much older, which were kept from the previous church.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38And we know that from the architect's description here of how the building should be prepared,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41how the site should be prepared for building.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44"All free stone is to be taken great care of."
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Free stone is the carving, the small pieces of carving of the ancient church.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53And then it goes on, "The arcade is to be taken down in the most careful manner
0:27:53 > 0:27:58"on centres which will serve to rebuild the arches by properly constructed."
0:27:58 > 0:28:03So what we know from this is that the arcade that runs down the centre of the church
0:28:03 > 0:28:08is in fact from the old building and has been taken down very carefully and reconstructed.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'So in a rather pleasing symmetry,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'the Victorians, Giles and Robinson,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18'preserved key features of the medieval nave,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22'just as 140 years later, Paul is working hard
0:28:22 > 0:28:26'to conserve Giles and Robinson's 19th century designs.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30'But Kieran still has more detective work to do.'
0:28:31 > 0:28:36There's still so many mysteries. We don't know anything about these beautiful stained glass windows.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41We need to find more about the details of the Gothic and the influences of Giles and Robinson
0:28:41 > 0:28:43and that'll be our next step.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48'Hot on the trail of Britain's key Victorian Gothic influences,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52'Kieran makes a pilgrimage to Cheadle in Staffordshire
0:28:52 > 0:28:54'to see the Church of St Giles.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59'Considered to be the very embodiment of the Gothic revival,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03'he suspects this iconic building holds big clues
0:29:03 > 0:29:08'to Giles and Robinson's thinking when they revamped Paul's nave in Somerset.'
0:29:09 > 0:29:13It's incredibly exciting to be here because I'm convinced that Giles and Robinson
0:29:13 > 0:29:19would've visited this building. So we're here find out more about the DNA, the history of Paul's church.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25'St Giles was designed in the 1840s
0:29:25 > 0:29:31'by one of the most influential architects of the last two centuries, Augustus Pugin.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39'A Catholic convert of French descent, Pugin was obsessed with religion
0:29:39 > 0:29:44'and dedicated his life to promoting this style of architecture.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51'A workaholic and fanatical perfectionist,
0:29:51 > 0:29:58'Pugin was the 19th century god of Gothic, and St Giles in Cheadle was his masterpiece.'
0:30:00 > 0:30:05This church is the manifesto of the man who changed British architecture in the 19th century forever.
0:30:07 > 0:30:13The moment where Roman and Greek models were given up substantially in favour of the Gothic.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The other great architects were persuaded that Gothic was the great style of their time.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24People like Giles Gilbert Scott, the designer of St Pancras Station,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26hugely inspired by this building.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33Of course, we later see Pugin's work with Barry on the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben,
0:30:33 > 0:30:37perhaps the most important statement of our national identity.
0:30:38 > 0:30:44Didn't take long before it dominated the British landscape as the appropriate style for houses,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48villas all over the suburbs that were being built in the 19th century.
0:30:48 > 0:30:54Even today, a big supermarket might still have a little pointed arch,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58just trying to refer back to this great style that seems to us now so English.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01So when Giles and Robinson would've walked into this church,
0:31:01 > 0:31:05they would've seen things that were way out of their league and their budget,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09but they would've thought, "How can we reproduce that and get some of that style
0:31:09 > 0:31:13"into this small provincial church that we're making?"
0:31:19 > 0:31:22'As he tries to make good decades of neglect,
0:31:22 > 0:31:29'Paul is uncovering some of these Victorian Gothic designs which have been hidden for decades.'
0:31:29 > 0:31:31As I was scraping that bit there,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35these little red kind of teeth started to emerge.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39And I thought, "We might have something here".
0:31:39 > 0:31:44Then it struck me, there's probably something behind these panels. I tried a tester patch
0:31:44 > 0:31:48with some paint stripper, but it liquidised everything and took it back to the stone,
0:31:48 > 0:31:53but you could see that there was red paint in it. The only thing that seems to get the top layer off
0:31:53 > 0:31:56but the leave the bottom layer on is getting the scraper
0:31:56 > 0:31:58and going like this.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04It's what you hope for when you start scraping something back.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09But it's just a matter of taking the time to do it
0:32:09 > 0:32:13and not dying of boredom in the interim.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17'His painstaking scraping has revealed an important clue
0:32:17 > 0:32:21'to how the nave would have looked in its Victorian heyday.'
0:32:21 > 0:32:26The interesting thing about this era is that there was a kind of riot of decoration and colour
0:32:26 > 0:32:29that comes back into ecclesiastical architecture.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Walking into this building in the high Victorian era,
0:32:32 > 0:32:37you would've found a kind of richness in here. You would've found deep reds and golds
0:32:37 > 0:32:42and colours that spoke of a rather dark but rather rich interior.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46'Paul is still doing all the restoration work himself,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50'with breadwinner Laura helping out at weekends.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55'He's been working flat out, six days a week, for well over a year now
0:32:55 > 0:32:59'and things have certainly moved on.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03'I think it's about time I took a look.'
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- Hello!- Hi!- Hello!
0:33:06 > 0:33:09I'm very excited about coming inside.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12- Brilliant.- But slightly nervous as well, I have to be honest,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15because I have seen some truly ghastly church conversions in my time.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20- The sort of thing that makes you go, "Oh, what have they done that for?" - Try to control yourself.- Yeah.
0:33:20 > 0:33:25But I've heard good things and I'm quite looking forward to it. Can I go and have a look, then
0:33:25 > 0:33:28- Yeah.- We'd love to you. - Thank you very much. Come with me.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Oh, wow! You've actually got what look like rooms!
0:33:33 > 0:33:36- Yes.- How novel.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41Oh, that's fantastic! So it has changed drastically.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44So take me through where we are there. We're in the hall?
0:33:44 > 0:33:49- Yep, this is the hallway. - And what's this room? - A bedroom.- Lovely bedroom.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51- That's another bedroom.- Lovely.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56- Is this going to be your room? - No, no, we have the master suite upstairs.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01- Down here is the...- We're going underneath the stairs here.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04- Yep.- Through an archway, which will be here.- Right.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07- So you're going to keep the Gothic shape of the arches.- Yes.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12- The whole house is going to keep that flavour? - That's right.- Very good.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16'Paul and Laura's designs also include a dining room and kitchen
0:34:16 > 0:34:18'that use the full height of the church,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22'while their sitting room will be upstairs, opposite the master bedroom.'
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Am I right in thinking that you're not trained in any of this?
0:34:28 > 0:34:31- No, I'm not trained in anything. - THEY LAUGH
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Are you reading books, are you reading manuals, are you...?
0:34:34 > 0:34:42He tends to ring people up in a builder's accent and get it really cheaply and then say...
0:34:42 > 0:34:45OK. What's a builder's accent?
0:34:45 > 0:34:50Well, you'll ring the first one and go, "Excuse me, what do you call those scaffolding clips
0:34:50 > 0:34:53"where one goes through and the other..." "That's called a straight, mate."
0:34:53 > 0:34:56"And what do you call the ones..."
0:34:56 > 0:35:00And you get this whole list of jargon and go, "Thanks very much" and hang up.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04- Then you ring up as another builder? - You ring another scaffolding firm,
0:35:04 > 0:35:10"All right, mate, could I get, erm, probably 400 straights, 35 swivels, probably looking at about 6K.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- "Have you got that? Second-hand? Price?" - THEY LAUGH
0:35:14 > 0:35:17"I'll see what I can do." Wicked!
0:35:17 > 0:35:20You're not really a builder, you're an actor.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24I have built houses. My husband and I have done some of this.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29Not as much hands-on stuff. But it's been very, very stressful
0:35:29 > 0:35:36and there are times when, understandably, we'd get really fractious with each other
0:35:36 > 0:35:39and it's put a strain on our relationship. Have you found that at all?
0:35:39 > 0:35:42- No. - Actually, we've discussed this before
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and we think doing it yourself is less stressful
0:35:45 > 0:35:50- because you don't rely on other people.- And do you want it to be perfect for Laura?
0:35:50 > 0:35:52No, I want it to be perfect for me.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57The thing is, you don't often get a chance to do something like this
0:35:57 > 0:36:01and it would seem to be a shame to make a fudge of it.
0:36:01 > 0:36:06You want to go, "Right, this is my chance and I really did something which I really like."
0:36:06 > 0:36:10You don't want to be thinking, "Mm, it's OK," especially after all that work.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14'Paul and Laura seem pretty chuffed with how things are going,
0:36:14 > 0:36:19'but I've seen the facts Kate discovered about just how often the church has flooded.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23'And I wonder how much these restoration rookies have taken
0:36:23 > 0:36:27'the watery history of their new home into account.'
0:36:27 > 0:36:29- This has flooded before.- Yeah.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33- Did you know that?- We did know that. I doubt we'll ever see it flood.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38It's flooded 11 times in the last 200 years.
0:36:38 > 0:36:44I think, at the end of the day, we've raised the floors above a 200-year flood event.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48You could expect the inside of the church to get wet once every 200 years,
0:36:48 > 0:36:50which to my mind is acceptable.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54The level of the River Chew is very much lower than it was,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58the reason being that there's a dam, there's a Chew Valley Lake now
0:36:58 > 0:37:03further up the river and a lot of the water gets taken out for Bristol Water.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08They dredge the bottom out of the river, they've got flood defences, so I'm not that bothered. Oh, God!
0:37:08 > 0:37:11- THEY LAUGH - It is fine.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15'Paul isn't the first incumbent of Thomas a Becket Church
0:37:15 > 0:37:20'to be confident about the future, despite the building's ill-fated past.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25'The church had another optimist at the helm a century and a half ago.
0:37:26 > 0:37:34'We've discovered architects Giles and Robinson were called in to redesign the building in 1868.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37'But we can also reveal the man who called them in.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41'The Victorian saviour of Thomas a Becket Church.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47'Kate has discovered his identity in the memorial book.'
0:37:47 > 0:37:50The church has had a hard and chequered history,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53floods, pestilence, plague,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56and then finally, in the late 19th century,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58there's someone who really loved the church
0:37:58 > 0:38:01and that was the Reverend Perfect.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07'The reverend arrived in the parish with his wife, Mrs Perfect.
0:38:07 > 0:38:13'He was shocked at the semi-derelict state of the church's 500-year-old nave.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16'It became his mission to have it rebuilt.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21'The services of Giles and Robinson were engaged
0:38:21 > 0:38:26'and in 1869, Pensford had a bigger, 'perfect' church.'
0:38:28 > 0:38:31There's this wonderful article here from 1869
0:38:31 > 0:38:36when Reverend Perfect, after only a year of rebuilding the church,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40has made it somewhere for the village. It's so marvellous.
0:38:40 > 0:38:47It says how much money was raised, how well he did, and the whole village was so delighted by it.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52'The article brings Pensford's joyous event to life.'
0:38:55 > 0:39:01'The village in the vicinity of the church was gaily decorated with flags and evergreens.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05'The church itself was decorated with exquisite taste and skill by Mrs Perfect.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10'With the rejoicing accord forth by the event,
0:39:10 > 0:39:16'the villagers were celebrating and the musical portions of the service were given the admirable effect.'
0:39:19 > 0:39:22How could it be more beautiful? The people were so delighted.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24There was dancing, there was singing
0:39:24 > 0:39:28and no less than four services in one day.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32There couldn't be more praise for Reverend Perfect, a gentleman who was driven,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36devoted, determined to make the church beautiful again
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and made it once more, in the late 19th century,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41loved and part of the community again.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51'150 years later,
0:39:51 > 0:39:55'Reverend Perfect's 21st century successor as church incumbent
0:39:55 > 0:39:58'is making his home in the nave.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02'Taking inspiration from the Gothic arcade
0:40:02 > 0:40:06'that Victorian architects Giles and Robinson so carefully preserved,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09'Paul's making three arched door frames.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15'Whilst Paul and Laura have mostly presented a united front in their design ideas,
0:40:15 > 0:40:19'there's been a falling out over the precise shape of the new arches.'
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Elements of it have not progress as expected.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26HE LAUGHS
0:40:26 > 0:40:32Ohh. Yes, unfortunately, there's been some problem with some of the detailing.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35I had a lot of fun making that, and when it was finished,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40I thought, "That's a fantastic thing of great beauty," and I was very pleased with it
0:40:40 > 0:40:43and I was very much looking forward to showing it to Laura.
0:40:43 > 0:40:49But when she saw it, I don't think she quite shared my, erm, opinion.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52It's not that I don't like the arches
0:40:52 > 0:40:54but I felt they were a bit masculine.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58I feel that the church is very organic and everything's quite curvy
0:40:58 > 0:41:02and the arches were a bit too straight.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07To my mind, it's a little late. It is a little late for it. We were in planning for over a year
0:41:07 > 0:41:11and we spent at least six months of that coming up with the design we were going to use
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and we made the model and all the rest of it.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18And, obviously, I feel for her. If she really can't get an impression
0:41:18 > 0:41:23of what something's going to look like from a scale model then that's a shame.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27At the end of the day, although we did the design together,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30quite a lot of it is really Paul's ideas.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33So I think he is quite protective.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38But I have to just remind him every now and again that, actually, we both own the church, not just Paul,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41and I do get a say whether he likes it or not.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44I think, if we do come up with some other design,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48Laura's punishment for wanting it changed is that she can take it out.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51The whole thing is glued and screwed together
0:41:51 > 0:41:55and there's no way I'm going to be the one with the chainsaw chopping it away.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59I don't know. I don't know whether that's going to sound bad, me saying that.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02I mean, shouldn't I be annoyed?
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Nobody likes doing something twice.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Hopefully, some kind of solution will present itself.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15'I know from my own experience that tensions like these
0:42:15 > 0:42:21'only surface because both of them are passionate about doing justice to the building,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24'and at the same time trying to make it their perfect home.'
0:42:25 > 0:42:31You know, I'll be straight with you, I want this to be more like a work of art than a building.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36What I would hope that we can do is perhaps leave the building
0:42:36 > 0:42:42as aesthetically pleasing done as it was before we started.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46To my mind, if you're going to take on a building like this, that should be your goal.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58'The church's stunning stained glass windows adorn the end of the nave
0:42:58 > 0:43:01'that will be their dining and kitchen area.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05'But it turns out some tricky restoration is required.'
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Some local kids have thrown some stones through my window
0:43:08 > 0:43:11and those two holes have got to be replaced or repaired.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16'Paul will very carefully remove the broken pieces himself.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21'But he knows restoring the window properly is beyond even his DIY skills.'
0:43:21 > 0:43:27I would be amazed if this is just a standard piece of stained glass from a standard stained glass factory.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32It's got to be something of note. It's a stonking piece of work. Absolutely marvellous.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38'Specialist stained glass repairs can cost thousands of pounds.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42'Paul's sent the broken pieces to Graham Dowding,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46'a professional stained glass restorer and artist.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49'Keen to know exactly what he's dealing with,
0:43:49 > 0:43:55'Graham's done some detective work of his own by trawling through Victorian architectural journals.'
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Well, I have come across an article in The Builder
0:44:00 > 0:44:06dated 1880 and it refers to the window that we're dealing with.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11It's an east window by TW Camm of Smethwick.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Interestingly, a lot of the archives still exist.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18So it may be that there are some actual drawings
0:44:18 > 0:44:21for our window, which will be great.
0:44:26 > 0:44:33'Excited by Graham's discovery, our architectural expert Kieran travels to the Midlands,
0:44:33 > 0:44:39'to see if he can find the original Victorian drawing for Paul's stained glass.'
0:44:39 > 0:44:42I sometimes think, as a nation, we're best at keeping stuff safe.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Cos just when you need one, like we do now,
0:44:44 > 0:44:50we should be able to find some evidence that links the work of Camm with our church.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55'A key part of Gothic design in the Middle Ages,
0:44:55 > 0:45:00'stained glass fell out of favour after Henry VIII Reformation.
0:45:01 > 0:45:07'A great number of English churches had plain glass windows for four centuries
0:45:07 > 0:45:10'before Pugin and his followers revived the idea
0:45:10 > 0:45:15'of filtering light through colour to create a suitably reverent atmosphere in church.
0:45:16 > 0:45:22'The Victorian Gothic revival resurrected the nation's stained glass industry.'
0:45:23 > 0:45:27We know that Smethwick and other places around and in Birmingham
0:45:27 > 0:45:32were in a way the heartland of stained glass production in the middle of the 19th century
0:45:32 > 0:45:36and there was this flowering of demand. So it was like an industrial scale operation.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41And in total during that period, there were 80,000 windows produced around the country.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43'The archivists have told Kieran
0:45:43 > 0:45:49'that tube 4409 might be the one he's looking for.'
0:45:51 > 0:45:56There's a drawing in here. These are all rolls of drawing, hundreds of them.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00'Kieran hopes the drawing in the tube will prove conclusively
0:46:00 > 0:46:05'that Paul and Laura's stained glass windows were the work of Thomas Camm,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08'a highly skilled craftsman of international renown.'
0:46:19 > 0:46:24It's really, really exciting for me to find this because it's exactly the same scene
0:46:24 > 0:46:28that's represented above the altar of St Thomas a Becket Church.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30There's so many similarities.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34It's even richer with all of the light shining through it
0:46:34 > 0:46:39and where you really see that is in the figure of Jesus surrounded by this flaming light.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42And that's so exciting to see that link.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46It places you right back in the moment when they were making decisions about
0:46:46 > 0:46:51what kind of window to specify, how the church was going to look, what it was meant to evoke.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58'Working hard to preserve this legacy of British craftsmanship,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01'Graham and his team have spent painstaking hours
0:47:01 > 0:47:05'making a new angel's head for Paul and Laura's elaborate window
0:47:05 > 0:47:07'and fixing the disciple's knee.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13'Now the pieces are finished, they're ready to go back into the delicate leaded window.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18'But this is the most difficult part of the whole process.'
0:47:18 > 0:47:22To put the piece of glass back into its leadwork is always critical
0:47:22 > 0:47:25because that's the point at which you can break it.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28So, yeah, we're in the lap of the gods today, really.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Ooh! Here comes the glass.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34And that's your new lady.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39Fantastic! Look at that! Right! I should've given you a picture of the missus.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Ah, that's the original.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46It's very nice. Very nice.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49'The disciple's knee will be replaced first.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53'And it's Graham's colleague Tim who has the heart-stopping job
0:47:53 > 0:47:57'of fitting the new piece and making sure there are no mishaps.'
0:47:57 > 0:48:02Tim is very patient. He's known as the Zen Master.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09'The restored disciple's knee is handled with huge care at every stage of the process.
0:48:11 > 0:48:16'And putting the new glass in is a lot trickier than taking the old glass out.
0:48:17 > 0:48:23'The new piece isn't an exact fit, so Tim will need to trim it ever so gingerly,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26'a millimetre at a time.'
0:48:27 > 0:48:32We use what are called grozing pliers, these tools here,
0:48:32 > 0:48:36and we can actually very carefully nibble the edge of the glass.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41We don't often break many.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47You dread it happening, but it is a very fragile material.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51It's a bit like a wild animal. It can sense that you're nervous of it
0:48:51 > 0:48:55and if you show it too much respect, it will crack on you.
0:48:55 > 0:49:01You just have to breathe deeply and slowly
0:49:01 > 0:49:03and pray.
0:49:04 > 0:49:10So you're actually just paring away the glass very gently.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Fantastic.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15'As Tim carries on with his delicate trimming,
0:49:15 > 0:49:21'Paul has found a way of restoring peace and harmony in another part of the nave.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26'He's reached a compromise with Laura over the design of the controversial new Gothic arches.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30'It's meant changing one design detail.'
0:49:30 > 0:49:34The first arch was like this and absolutely awful.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Whereas the second arch far more acceptably looks like this.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Which I'm not admitting is better.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45But it's a change I'm perfectly happy to make
0:49:45 > 0:49:47in exchange for conjugal rights.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51Yeah, well, anyway, that little drama is over.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56'Back at the window, after an hour and a half of careful nibbling,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01'it looks like Tim finally might have tamed the fragile disciple's knee.'
0:50:07 > 0:50:09She's in.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Yeah, back in. I think that's brilliant.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21'But restoration is a never-ending task
0:50:21 > 0:50:26'and now he has to start all over again on the angel¹s face.'
0:50:29 > 0:50:31They've done a brilliant job.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Yes, I'm very, very pleased that I can see it from my living room.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41She's in. She's in.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44HE LAUGHS A lot easier than the other piece.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50'And with that, Thomas Camm¹s window is complete once again.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56'Before we discover how the intricate restoration of Thomas a Becket Church has gone,
0:50:56 > 0:51:02'Paul and Laura have joined Kate and Kieran to find out all they have learnt about their building.'
0:51:02 > 0:51:05What I found was this really beautiful list of all the vicars
0:51:05 > 0:51:07going right back to the 14th century.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11With so many churches, we lose quite a lot of their records
0:51:11 > 0:51:16after the Reformation, so it's fabulous that we've got them going right back here.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20The unlucky ones that were here under Henry VIII had a bit of a challenge.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23I was immediately charmed by this amazing sight.
0:51:23 > 0:51:30A very ancient Norman tower with a slightly ill-fitting nave.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33- How dare you! - Not being rude, you know...
0:51:35 > 0:51:40It's been a history for the church of a lot of misery and plague and floods
0:51:40 > 0:51:43and then, in the late Victorian period, everything changes.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Reverend Perfect was such a devoted man
0:51:47 > 0:51:52and here we have the face of the man, the man himself who built the church as it is today.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57These are the drawings by Giles and Robinson Architects of Furnival's Inn in Clerkenwell in London
0:51:57 > 0:52:00for the great rebuilding of the church in 1869.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04Its sophistication, its moment in British history
0:52:04 > 0:52:07where people are trying to understand what their culture means.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12What does all of this power and wealth mean? How do we situate ourselves historically?
0:52:12 > 0:52:15And they come up with this wonderful style. In a way, for me,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19one of the last moments where Britain has something to offer in terms of architectural style.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24For me, it's just such a fabulous story of how one individual can rescue somewhere
0:52:24 > 0:52:28and it's so Victorian. The Victorians had such a belief in the individual
0:52:28 > 0:52:33- and there was nothing the individual couldn't do. - That's what Paul's like.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Paul spent a whole year working on the roof of this church.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48He took off every single one of the 7,000 tiles.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Now, that takes some determination.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Transforming a derelict and neglected church is quite a tall order
0:52:54 > 0:52:58and I'm desperate to find out how they're getting on.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Hello! Hello! How's it been? All right?
0:53:01 > 0:53:05- It's been great.- We've had a crazy week trying to make it look pretty.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08- Let's have a look. I can't wait to see what you've done!- This way.
0:53:09 > 0:53:15'This was how Paul and Laura¹s church looked when their restoration began.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19'A huge space but almost unimaginable as a home.'
0:53:22 > 0:53:25- This is it. - CAROLINE GASPS
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Well, it's beautiful.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30It's beautiful.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32It's stunning.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38'The neo-Gothic nave has been transformed into a modern 21st century home,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42'with open living spaces and three bedrooms.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46'Upstairs they have created stunning views from multiple mezzanines.'
0:53:47 > 0:53:49I love the fact that you can see
0:53:49 > 0:53:54right up to the roof. It's kind of the first thing that greets you as you walk in.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57So you haven't pretended you're not in a church.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00- Oh, no.- No.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Oh! This is absolutely beautiful.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10It's... You're so clever! You're so clever!
0:54:14 > 0:54:17I really didn't think this was going to work.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23- It's awful to say it. But it's fabulous!- Thank you.- Are you happy with it?- Yes, really happy!
0:54:23 > 0:54:27And then you've taken it up here to your kitchen, which is superb!
0:54:27 > 0:54:30And you've got an Aga? I thought you were on a budget!
0:54:30 > 0:54:33- Yeah, a reconditioned one. - Reconditioned.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35And it's electric, so you don't have to put a flue in.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38And that's a lovely view through here.
0:54:38 > 0:54:44This is my favourite bit, where that stair intersects with that column. I'm proud of that.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Tell me why you're so proud of that, because it was hard?
0:54:47 > 0:54:54Yeah! You've got two shapes that are both quite complex intersecting and it's just gone like that...
0:54:55 > 0:54:58'Thanks to Paul¹s unique skills
0:54:58 > 0:55:01'and Laura keeping a close watch on the money,
0:55:01 > 0:55:05'they have managed to buy and then create a home out of this church
0:55:05 > 0:55:09'on their budget of £300,000.'
0:55:09 > 0:55:13I think you've done this incredibly quickly and very thoroughly
0:55:13 > 0:55:17and it's so precise. I mean, I know your foreman's a stickler, isn't she?
0:55:17 > 0:55:20Yeah, she's a real pain in the bum.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23Your foreman is a pain in the... I'm not going to say that.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27- But you're a very good team.- Yeah, I think we complement each other.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34'Making a home by converting a church is notoriously difficult
0:55:34 > 0:55:38'and one person who had his doubts whether Paul could pull this off
0:55:38 > 0:55:43'was our architectural expert and ardent fan of the Gothic style, Kieran Long.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46'So what does he make of it?'
0:55:46 > 0:55:51You've understood the character of the architecture, which is something really rare and really exciting,
0:55:51 > 0:55:57down to the tiny Gothic details you've added, which I was worried about but I think you've pulled off.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00A building like this is about more than just a private home.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02It somehow has more status than that.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06You can't just chop it up into private seeming rooms.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10I'm really glad you like it, because we haven't really sought
0:56:10 > 0:56:15- that much advice and the advice we have had is don't do it. - I think it's a really skilful job.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17I didn't expect it to be, but it is a really good room.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21- I can imagine having dinner there. Hope you invite me.- Yes!
0:56:22 > 0:56:24'Thanks to Paul and Laura¹s vision,
0:56:24 > 0:56:28'Reverend Perfect¹s Victorian church has been saved
0:56:28 > 0:56:32'and the village has retained one of its most significant buildings.'
0:56:32 > 0:56:38You have created a beautiful entertaining space with en suite altar.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42- Yep. - With three bedrooms, four bathrooms.
0:56:42 > 0:56:47We're really pleased, but when you say three bedrooms, four bathrooms, we haven't got any bathrooms in
0:56:47 > 0:56:50and you couldn't stay in any of the bedrooms.
0:56:50 > 0:56:56A little bit of work to go, but I think we'll get there on budget.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02- Do people still turn up at the church and knock on the door?- Yeah.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07- I get three or four visitors a day. - Do you?- Just to have a look around.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12They come back with their families. It's like a treasure house. I don't think we appreciated that.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Just two years ago, Thomas a Becket Church was on the critical list,
0:57:24 > 0:57:27in danger of becoming just another statistic,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30another piece of architectural heritage lost forever.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35Then there was a ray of hope, probably its last one.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39Since then, Paul has been slaving away six days a week
0:57:39 > 0:57:44and Laura has been working hard to earn the money for the build.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50150 years after it was rebuilt,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54they have become the new Mr and Mrs Perfect.
0:57:54 > 0:58:00Only this time, the transformation has turned it into a home.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10'Next time, a very different Restoration Home.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16'And another intriguing journey into Britain's past.'
0:58:17 > 0:58:22I wonder if you'd like to see the people who physically built this.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26Ohh! How did you get that?
0:58:28 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:32 > 0:58:36E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:58:36 > 0:58:36.