:00:14. > :00:18.Here in the north, we have a remarkable history. From Anglo-
:00:18. > :00:23.Saxon times to today, we've shaped our landscape and it has shaped us.
:00:23. > :00:27.It's what gives us a proud sense of identity. For a fascinating glimpse
:00:27. > :00:30.into our past, I am going to be travelling from the dales to the
:00:30. > :00:33.sea, to reveal our part in the Great British story. My journey
:00:33. > :00:36.will take me all along the River Wear. I'll be looking for clues
:00:36. > :00:46.about our history, and revealing how you too can unearth stories
:00:46. > :01:00.
:01:00. > :01:05.about where you live. It's a tale of battles and rebellion, power and
:01:05. > :01:13.resistance. It's not just about kings and queens, but ordinary
:01:13. > :01:17.souls who forged a proud northern identity. In rural County Durham
:01:17. > :01:26.you will find one of England's oldest buildings. It's not only
:01:26. > :01:29.still standing, but is still being used for its original purpose.
:01:29. > :01:35.Imagine how impressive a sight this must have been to the first
:01:35. > :01:40.Christians well over 1,000 years ago. Escomb is only one of three
:01:40. > :01:43.complete Anglo-Saxon churches in England. If you know how to read
:01:43. > :01:48.the signs, these old buildings can provide pretty interesting clues to
:01:48. > :01:52.our past. Early Christians chose sacred pagan sites to convert the
:01:52. > :01:58.locals. They'd start by placing a simple wooden cross out in the open,
:01:58. > :02:04.but in Escomb there was no shortage of building materials. The church
:02:04. > :02:07.was built round about 670. But how have you got a church that old made
:02:07. > :02:10.of stone? Simply because the fort at Binchester, the Roman fort was
:02:10. > :02:15.disused, and like a lot of farmers around about here at the time did,
:02:16. > :02:22.they took the stone. So they pinched the stone from the Romans?
:02:22. > :02:26.No, they recycled it. And you can see that in parts of it, can't you?
:02:26. > :02:30.That stone down there. You can see the Sixth Legion stone. There's a
:02:30. > :02:34.ledge out over the top of it to protect it. That's upside down.
:02:34. > :02:37.There's a mounting stool, which you can see the steps, which are in
:02:37. > :02:40.there, which would have been used for mounting horses in the fort,
:02:40. > :02:46.and there is the stone up there, which has got the grooves cut in
:02:46. > :02:49.with the chariot wheels. It would have been part of the entrance.
:02:49. > :02:56.the Anglo-Saxons didn't just take leftovers from earlier inhabitants.
:02:56. > :02:59.They also made their own mark on the building. Time in those days
:02:59. > :03:08.wasn't of the utmost importance, like it is today. Life was much
:03:08. > :03:11.slower. There we have the old Saxon sundial. There are three grooves
:03:11. > :03:15.which are cut into the sundial, so when the shadow of the sun fell
:03:15. > :03:21.across those grooves, they were the three times in the day when the
:03:21. > :03:24.order would have been called to prayer. That's what their lives,
:03:24. > :03:27.their daily lives were built around. So it's not very accurate, but I
:03:27. > :03:33.guess it doesn't really matter, as long as they were there those three
:03:33. > :03:38.times to pray. It's remarkable what a humble church building in a
:03:38. > :03:40.village can reveal about our past. So imagine what we will find in a
:03:40. > :03:50.city like Durham, with its magnificent Cathedral, perched high
:03:50. > :03:52.
:03:52. > :03:56.on the outcrop of rock, almost surrounded by the River Wear.
:03:56. > :03:58.Durham is steeped in history, but one part of the city that has lain
:03:58. > :04:03.undisturbed for centuries is just revealing its hidden treasures, and
:04:03. > :04:08.somewhere round here I'm supposed to be meeting an archaeologist. And
:04:08. > :04:11.there he is! Hello Helen. Hello Gary. You nearly finished? Give us
:04:11. > :04:14.15 minutes and I'll see you the other side of bridge. Gary's
:04:14. > :04:17.archaeological dig is under water. Amongst the silt, his trained eye
:04:17. > :04:21.can spot something of interest. This is a silver coin, perhaps lost
:04:21. > :04:24.over the side of the bridge, or dropped into the water for good
:04:24. > :04:27.luck. It's amazing what gets discarded on the bank of the river,
:04:27. > :04:36.and Gary has found hundreds of objects that tell the story of
:04:36. > :04:39.Durham's citizens down the ages. This is what you saw me find on the
:04:39. > :04:44.river bed. This is a hammered silver penny from the reign of
:04:44. > :04:48.Edward IV. We can date this to 1471. Just next to the king's head there,
:04:48. > :04:51.there's three little pellets. That's a trefoil, and on the
:04:51. > :04:56.reverse, in between the cross you will see a capital D. That means it
:04:56. > :05:00.comes from the Durham mint here in the city. It was minted 100 metres
:05:00. > :05:04.away from where we are now. I can't believe it has survived down there
:05:04. > :05:08.for all that time. That's special. That's really nice. But have you
:05:09. > :05:13.got any idea what these are? They look like coins. They're cloth
:05:13. > :05:15.seals. They were attached to cloth and it was a sign of the quality or
:05:15. > :05:19.evidence of where it was manufactured. So a bit like a
:05:19. > :05:22.hallmark on jewellery. Exactly. This particular one here, that
:05:22. > :05:28.large letter A, that is from Augsburg, in Germany. So that has
:05:28. > :05:32.come hundreds of miles. This is proof, isn't it, of how important
:05:32. > :05:35.Durham was. It is. Durham was a very affluent city, lot of
:05:35. > :05:38.manufacture, local manufacture taking place, and lots of money.
:05:38. > :05:42.But why have they all ended up at the bottom of river? Because there
:05:42. > :05:45.was so many of these cloth seals attached to a section of cloth,
:05:45. > :05:50.they were a bit of a nuisance. You can imagine young boys picking them
:05:50. > :05:53.up and throwing them in the river for a bit of fun. Nobody had found
:05:53. > :05:56.cloth seals in Durham until Gary excavated the river bed to reveal
:05:56. > :05:58.the full extent of the city's bustling textile trade. His
:05:58. > :06:01.collection of 230 seals, spanning 400 years, is the largest
:06:01. > :06:09.collection outside of London, and is of national importance.
:06:09. > :06:12.Underwater archaeology takes skill. You need permission, and it's not
:06:12. > :06:15.without danger. But each discovery has spurred the full-time fireman
:06:15. > :06:19.to take his love of history further, and he's now studying for an
:06:19. > :06:29.archaeology degree at Durham. Of the hundreds of items given up by
:06:29. > :06:29.
:06:29. > :06:34.the river, he has one special favourite. It's a very simple
:06:34. > :06:38.little lead alloy cross. There's a little bit of a mystery attached to
:06:38. > :06:41.it, and if you want go and find out what this actually is, I suggest
:06:41. > :06:43.you go up to the Cathedral, and speak to an expert on medieval
:06:43. > :06:53.English pilgrimage. For centuries, pilgrims have flocked to Durham
:06:53. > :06:55.
:06:55. > :07:00.Cathedral, to visit the shrine of one of the holiest men in Britain.
:07:00. > :07:05.St Cuthbert. And it's these traditions that give us a ready-
:07:05. > :07:08.made connection to our past. What is it? We think it's a pilgrim
:07:08. > :07:11.badge. Pilgrims would come in the medieval period to a Cathedral.
:07:11. > :07:14.They would have brought them home with them as a souvenir to say, "I
:07:14. > :07:19.have been to Durham Cathedral, and seen the shrine of St Cuthbert."
:07:19. > :07:21.Then they would display them in their hat or cloak. But why was he
:07:21. > :07:25.so popular? He was popular because of his association with performing
:07:25. > :07:30.miracles. They didn't have modern day hospitals to make them better,
:07:30. > :07:33.so they would come and worship as a saint's shrine instead. Before
:07:33. > :07:38.Thomas Becket at Canterbury, he was probably the main saint within
:07:38. > :07:40.England so people would travel a long way. How many people are we
:07:40. > :07:44.talking about? Hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands?
:07:44. > :07:48.Yes This is a huge and stunning Cathedral but that is still a lot
:07:48. > :07:51.of people to fit into this space. It is, absolutely. This area in
:07:51. > :07:55.front of us is the Chapel of Nine Altars, which was built to hold the
:07:55. > :07:58.amount of pilgrims who were flocking to Durham. So this is an
:07:58. > :08:01.basically an extension. Exactly. who would have come, men, women,
:08:01. > :08:04.children? Men. However, women probably not so much to Durham,
:08:04. > :08:10.because we think the women weren't allowed, and in fact, two women
:08:10. > :08:13.were tried for dressing up as men visiting the shrine. Gary said that
:08:13. > :08:17.there was a bit of a mystery attached to this. What does he mean
:08:17. > :08:21.by that? The mystery is that this looks like St Cuthbert's cross.
:08:21. > :08:23.This is the cross, so you can see how similar the two are. The
:08:24. > :08:28.mystery is that this was only discovered in 1899, in St
:08:28. > :08:31.Cuthbert's coffin, when it was opened. However, this is a medieval
:08:31. > :08:36.badge, so how did they know what the cross looked like? Supposedly
:08:36. > :08:39.it was buried with St Cuthbert. It's possible knowledge of the
:08:39. > :08:44.distinctive cross was passed down the centuries, and may have been
:08:44. > :08:54.reproduced on banners or stained glass. But none survived, so we
:08:54. > :08:57.
:08:57. > :09:02.just can't be sure. Throughout County Durham the church has an
:09:02. > :09:05.extraordinary amount of power and influence. English kings were
:09:05. > :09:09.content to leave large parts of the troublesome north in the hands of
:09:09. > :09:12.the bishops. They became known as Prince Bishops, and lived the high
:09:12. > :09:19.life, building Auckland Castle as a hunting lodge to indulge their
:09:19. > :09:26.passion for tracking down deer. But to rule like a king, you need to
:09:26. > :09:30.tax your subjects, and put it all in writing. In this part of the
:09:30. > :09:33.country there wasn't a Domesday book. There was no general survey
:09:33. > :09:42.of lands in the area north of the Tees, until this come compiled in
:09:42. > :09:47.the year 1183. This is a very personal record of what was due to
:09:47. > :09:52.the Bishop of Durham. The bishop will give you land, if you do
:09:53. > :09:55.something for the bishop in exchange. We've been to Escomb, is
:09:56. > :10:00.there much about Escomb in here? Yes, Escomb certainly was one of
:10:00. > :10:05.the bishop's estates, and there are some of the names in here. Elabird.
:10:05. > :10:08.I am Elabird of Escomb. I have an area of land that would take an ox
:10:08. > :10:13.half a day to plough. For that I pay eight pence rent and nine pence
:10:13. > :10:17.for my cattle. I am Alan Pitt, undertaker of Escomb. I pay 24 hens
:10:17. > :10:20.and 300 eggs to the bishop and do three days labour. So this isn't
:10:20. > :10:23.just about rent and money, they've written out jobs or obligations to
:10:23. > :10:29.the bishop. Some things are paid for in money, but others are paid
:10:29. > :10:33.for in services, like a sort of barter economy. All documents like
:10:33. > :10:36.this give a fascinating glimpse into medieval village life.
:10:36. > :10:41.Escomb's entry includes the duties of a carbonarius. It's one of the
:10:41. > :10:44.earliest written references to a coal miner. Somebody's digging
:10:44. > :10:47.coals somewhere, there's a coal pit, there's a blacksmith there and he's
:10:47. > :10:53.hammering away on his anvil, making ploughshares, but he needs the fuel
:10:53. > :10:57.for his smithy, and that comes from this chap. Other villagers had to
:10:57. > :11:01.drop everything to indulge the bishop's favourite hobby.
:11:01. > :11:04.bishops at that time liked hunting, and they had lots of parks up in
:11:04. > :11:09.Weardale, so this particular tenant has to go and help with the bishop
:11:09. > :11:13.on the hunt. When the bishop goes deer hunting in the forest, we,
:11:13. > :11:23.along with the other vileins of the area build this hall some 60 feet
:11:23. > :11:25.
:11:25. > :11:28.by 16 feet. We build a chapel, and even a privy. It would have been
:11:28. > :11:31.quite a trek to the old hunting grounds in Weardale, but the
:11:31. > :11:39.bishops' rule was finally called into question by the locals in 1818.
:11:39. > :11:43.And it all played out in the market place, in Stanhope. I am the Prince
:11:43. > :11:49.Bishop of Durham. I own the land and the miners have been poaching
:11:49. > :11:52.the birds. I am Diane Meredith. We've fallen on hard times and have
:11:52. > :11:56.no food. Our men folk take the grouse for the bishop's land to
:11:56. > :12:00.feed our family. I am William, and I have long had the right to take
:12:00. > :12:05.the grouse. I led the men in the be rebellion. I'm Keeper Beadle, and I
:12:05. > :12:08.got shot at by a blooming poacher! The local community has been
:12:08. > :12:11.reliving its history by putting on a play. This famous victory by the
:12:11. > :12:14.folk of Weardale over their lord and master had almost been
:12:14. > :12:23.forgotten, but take a farmyard barn, turn it into a theatre, invite
:12:23. > :12:33.young and old into the cast, and it's unforgettable. Got the little
:12:33. > :12:45.
:12:45. > :12:52.The particular story we are focused on, we knew nothing about until we
:12:52. > :13:02.started to get into it. It has been fantastic, how many eyes are opened
:13:02. > :13:03.
:13:03. > :13:08.up to this history. I feel a real connection. I am from Dale stock.
:13:08. > :13:14.And my family lived in that town, where all the young men went out
:13:14. > :13:19.and took a stand, there were bound to be young men among them.
:13:19. > :13:26.people, children and adults get involved with their own history is
:13:26. > :13:33.fantastic. People wanted to know about it can be a part of it.
:13:33. > :13:43.the staffing miners took the bishop, he dispatched troops to sort them
:13:43. > :13:57.
:13:57. > :14:02.But the locals said the bishop's men packing. The title is the local
:14:02. > :14:07.nickname for the humble Grouse, and there are subtle reminders of the
:14:07. > :14:13.battle fought over the little bird. Often, at your local pub name will
:14:13. > :14:18.hint at your past. The name of Yorktown may reveal who the first
:14:18. > :14:23.settlers were. There has been quite a lot of rain recently, so you need
:14:23. > :14:28.to concentrate on crossing the stepping stones. This water has
:14:29. > :14:38.come down from villages. Place names are a very good guide to
:14:39. > :14:50.
:14:51. > :14:53.finding a who once lived way you If we're proud of our reputation
:14:53. > :14:59.for being northern upstarts, then perhaps it's best found in an
:14:59. > :15:05.unassuming farmhouse near Westgate. For three centuries, it held a
:15:05. > :15:09.closely-guarded secret. It was home to a treasure chest that was set
:15:09. > :15:11.fast into the walls of the cottage. Only in the 1950s did the farming
:15:11. > :15:18.community hand over their incredible piece of history to
:15:18. > :15:22.Durham University scholars. And this is it. It's made of oak, it's
:15:22. > :15:25.one-and-a-half inches thick, so imagine how heavy that must be. And
:15:25. > :15:29.if you were to measure it, it would only just squeeze between the
:15:29. > :15:32.farmhouse walls. There were two locks, and different farmers in the
:15:32. > :15:41.dale would have held keys to the locks so that nobody could open the
:15:41. > :15:44.chest on their own. But what was so precious? Inside, mere paper. But
:15:44. > :15:51.don't be fooled. These 100 documents symbolise a remarkable
:15:51. > :15:53.rebellion against a brutal outsider. During the Civil War, Sir Arthur
:15:53. > :15:59.Hesilrige, one of Cromwell's henchman, bought land in Weirdale
:15:59. > :16:02.and tried to force the tenants to pay rent. Even though some of the
:16:02. > :16:07.local farmers were illiterate, they claimed these papers proved they'd
:16:07. > :16:12.been granted freehold rights. It was a legal wrangle between rich
:16:12. > :16:15.and poor that would last 10 years. Sir Arthur Hesilrige was a pretty
:16:16. > :16:20.nasty piece of work. He was happy to use threats and play dirty
:16:20. > :16:24.tricks to get his own way. And that's why this document is so
:16:24. > :16:29.remarkable. It's an agreement between the Weirdale farmers to
:16:29. > :16:37.stand together and fight for their rights. Here you can see everybody
:16:37. > :16:41.that was involved. There are seals, names and some people just marked
:16:41. > :16:44.with an X. By putting their name to this, the men and women of Weirdale
:16:44. > :16:47.were agreeing to take on one of the most powerful men in the country.
:16:47. > :16:54.And they won. No wonder they wanted to keep their evidence safely,
:16:54. > :16:57.under lock and key! The impact of the Civil War can also be felt much
:16:57. > :17:00.further down the River Wear. Today, the rivalry between Sunderland and
:17:00. > :17:03.Newcastle is fought on the football pitch, but back then, the two towns
:17:03. > :17:10.were in a turf war, with each army of supporters either fighting for
:17:10. > :17:13.the Roundheads or the Cavaliers. Royalist Newcastle had something
:17:13. > :17:20.Cromwell wanted to get his hands on, and the Sunderland was ready to
:17:20. > :17:23.help. It was all about coal. In the Civil War, Newcastle was a Royalist
:17:23. > :17:27.city with a virtual monopoly on supplying coal. Sunderland, by
:17:27. > :17:31.comparison, was a fairly modest port that was developing. And its
:17:31. > :17:33.merchants sympathised with Cromwell and the parliamentarians. Now, an
:17:33. > :17:37.army of about 20,000 Scots supporting Cromwell came south, and
:17:37. > :17:40.they marched into Sunderland. And Sunderland let them in, basically.
:17:40. > :17:42.And their intention was to capture the Royalist stronghold of
:17:42. > :17:45.Newcastle, and Newcastle was under siege by the Scottish army,
:17:45. > :17:49.supported by Sunderland, who had let them, you know, encamp here on
:17:49. > :17:54.the banks of the River Wear, near where the Wear Mouth Bridge is
:17:54. > :18:00.today. Broke the monopoly of Newcastle, and it probably set in
:18:00. > :18:02.motion the rivalry of the two towns. Does that rivalry still live on
:18:02. > :18:05.today, outside of football? Well, there's one interesting poem, a
:18:05. > :18:09.ballad. And it was apparently composed by the people of Newcastle
:18:09. > :18:13.during the siege. And it goes something like: STRONG GEORDIE
:18:13. > :18:17.ACCENT: Ride through Sandgate, up and down, there you'll see the
:18:17. > :18:21.gallants fighting for the crown. And all those cull cuckolds in
:18:21. > :18:24.Sunderland town, with all the bonny blue caps, will never pull us down.
:18:24. > :18:28.The blue caps being the Scottish army. Ultimately, it was a victory
:18:28. > :18:30.for Cromwell and Sunderland, but how important was that victory?
:18:30. > :18:39.Well, it was very important because it enabled Sunderland to develop
:18:39. > :18:41.and blossom as a coal port and the Sunderland's growth in self-
:18:41. > :18:51.confidence and pride is symbolised in one of its most prominent
:18:51. > :18:53.
:18:53. > :18:55.landmarks. The Bridge! Mouth Wear Bridge. The Bridge! The Bridge.
:18:55. > :19:00.this is nothing compared to Sunderland's first-ever bridge that
:19:00. > :19:03.straddled the River Wear on the self same spot. The 1796 bridge was
:19:03. > :19:09.cutting-edge technology which was the use of wrought iron, described
:19:09. > :19:14.at the time as a "stupendous iron bridge in Sunderland". It was
:19:14. > :19:19.something to marvel at. People came from all over Europe to... All over
:19:19. > :19:21.Europe?! All over Europe to have a look at the bridge cos it was
:19:21. > :19:24.something outstanding. If you think about the opening, in 1796, there
:19:24. > :19:28.was 80,000 people came to see it. The population of Sunderland was
:19:28. > :19:34.probably about 20,000 at the time, so you can see it was a big, big
:19:34. > :19:38.draw. So proud was the town of its new iron bridge that it became a
:19:38. > :19:40.trademark image of Sunderland's other big industry: Pottery. Mass-
:19:40. > :19:47.produced memorabilia give a valuable insight into the bridge's
:19:47. > :19:50.popularity. Everyday items then, and now, valuable antiques. It took
:19:50. > :19:55.three years to build, which, in itself, was an amazing feat of
:19:55. > :20:00.engineering. I have a print which shows the actual process because
:20:00. > :20:03.they had to keep the river open. my word! You can't really
:20:03. > :20:06.underestimate the significance of the bridge for Sunderland. It
:20:06. > :20:10.brought the two sides of the river together, it created Sunderland as
:20:10. > :20:14.we know it today, really, and it put Sunderland on the map. In fact,
:20:14. > :20:16.maps are a really good tool for studying the development of a town.
:20:16. > :20:23.Before the bridge, Sunderland was really quite small and confined to
:20:23. > :20:27.one bank of the river. On the south side of the river, there's very
:20:27. > :20:30.little there. It's almost just a village. The north side, we've got
:20:30. > :20:34.a few houses, St Peter's Church and very, very little. To the west,
:20:34. > :20:36.we've got the Wear Mouth, but in the centre, a huge swathe of green
:20:36. > :20:39.land. There's nothing happening here at this time. Fast-forward a
:20:39. > :20:41.few years, and we're presented with a very different picture of
:20:41. > :20:46.Sunderland. This is 1790 now, an absolutely wonderful piece of
:20:46. > :20:49.artwork. It's a map and not as we know it. What we've got happening
:20:49. > :20:52.here is the industry along the river. If you look at the shipyards
:20:52. > :20:55.to the north there, five ships being built. You can actually see
:20:55. > :20:58.socially what was going on. There's some little ladies walking down
:20:58. > :21:01.there. That's right, that's right. It's very different, isn't it?
:21:01. > :21:04.main thing about this map are the people. Rich people, poor people,
:21:04. > :21:08.people working, people at play. We've even got the soldiers at the
:21:08. > :21:11.barracks here, looking after the town. You have to read a lot of
:21:11. > :21:17.books to get the same information you can get with a glance at this.
:21:17. > :21:21.Absolutely. Fast-forward a few more years, and this is Sunderland. But
:21:21. > :21:25.it looks even bigger. This is 1850. Sunderland has really taken off by
:21:25. > :21:28.this time. Everything's in place for the industry. We've got the
:21:28. > :21:38.bridge, we've got the quarry in place, we've got the docks. But
:21:38. > :21:39.
:21:39. > :21:42.most important of all, we've got Today, the Weardale Railway is a
:21:42. > :21:50.picturesque day out, but the line was never really aimed at
:21:50. > :21:54.transporting people. This railway was built in 1847. It was an
:21:54. > :21:57.extension of the Stockton- Darlington Railway. The idea was to
:21:57. > :22:02.transport the minerals that were extracted from the quarries down to
:22:02. > :22:06.the iron-making plants on Teesside. How were they getting the minerals
:22:06. > :22:10.out of the area before the railway? They were taken out by packhorse, a
:22:10. > :22:12.very long, laborious transport mechanism. The railway gave a
:22:13. > :22:17.quicker and easier means of transporting the minerals from the
:22:17. > :22:22.Dale. Within the first five years, there was something like 70,000
:22:22. > :22:26.tonnes. But 15 years later, there was something like half a million
:22:26. > :22:28.tonnes. So, it was an incredible change. The impact it had was a
:22:28. > :22:38.population explosion, almost doubling the amount of people that
:22:38. > :22:39.
:22:39. > :22:43.The railway never made it to the very top of Weardale, where the
:22:43. > :22:47.landscape is remote and seemingly barren. But there had been plans
:22:47. > :22:54.because it was once a hive of activity, with men hoping to make
:22:54. > :22:57.their fortune in the lead mines. It's a way of life almost forgotten.
:22:57. > :23:07.But at Killhope, local children are about to get a real taste for what
:23:07. > :23:16.
:23:16. > :23:22.You would be down here for seven or eight hours a taste dredge.
:23:22. > :23:27.Sometimes, the air down here was so poor with little oxygen, that you
:23:27. > :23:33.found it very difficult to breed. In fact, it could be so bad that
:23:33. > :23:39.you could not even keep a candle alight. Much of the work done here
:23:39. > :23:46.was hours and hours of hand drilling. So, Matthew, you want to
:23:47. > :23:54.go? You hold this against the rock face, and to turn it, gradually,
:23:54. > :24:00.and in between each quarter of term, your partner hits it with this very
:24:00. > :24:04.heavy hammer. You must try in experience something, and that is
:24:04. > :24:11.total pitch-black conditions. If you turn out your lights, and
:24:11. > :24:21.Georgina, you can have a go as well. 1, 2, 3! How many fingers and my
:24:21. > :24:21.
:24:21. > :24:30.holding up? I cannot see anything! I think it will be called...
:24:30. > :24:36.Judit? No! You would never catch me working in a mind! What if this was
:24:36. > :24:40.the only way to make money, though? I would make my mum and dad do it!
:24:40. > :24:42.Life underground was miserable but still not as bad as what faced the
:24:43. > :24:52.miners when they emerged after their shifts. They often lodged at
:24:53. > :24:53.
:24:53. > :24:59.the mine rather than trek miles home each day. If that weather
:24:59. > :25:05.changed dramatically, 30 plus, all crammed in here, we have got three
:25:05. > :25:10.grown miners and a young washer boy with their stinking feet stretched
:25:10. > :25:17.out. And then, there is meet -- room for more if you put planks
:25:17. > :25:27.across the beams. You can get about 40 odd in here. Hot, stuffy, smoke
:25:27. > :25:28.
:25:28. > :25:38.from the fire, and stench third! What a stink! There was a doctor
:25:38. > :25:41.
:25:41. > :25:47.who offered evidence, or who said, that he would find it not hard to
:25:47. > :25:53.be underground, but quarter-of-an- hour here would be terrifying.
:25:53. > :25:59.fat -- it sounds like a tough way to live. They have got to find
:25:59. > :26:08.their own candles, their own tools. He had to pay to stay in here. This
:26:08. > :26:15.was not free! So, you could spend a year? Definitely, owing money to
:26:15. > :26:19.the company. The precious lead had to be sifted from all the rock that
:26:19. > :26:26.had been dug out That task was left to children and it's a bit of an
:26:26. > :26:36.eye-opener to today's youngsters. None of you goals would have been
:26:36. > :26:36.
:26:37. > :26:42.here, by the way. This was boys work! How is it going, team? What
:26:43. > :26:49.you think, Georgina? Would you like to do this kind of work? No, not
:26:49. > :26:52.really. Why not? It looks like you are having fun? You can really get
:26:52. > :26:56.your hands dirty learning about your own history. Whether you're on
:26:56. > :27:00.a day out with the kids or just strolling around your own town, the
:27:00. > :27:10.clues are there if you keep your eyes peeled. But history isn't just
:27:10. > :27:15.about the past everywhere you look it has way of repeating itself.
:27:15. > :27:20.Durham is well-known for its presence. In the river, I found a
:27:20. > :27:23.ball and chain. And an electronic tag. Sunderland is preparing to
:27:23. > :27:26.build a brand new bridge over the Wear and it promises to be an
:27:26. > :27:31.iconicnew symbol for the city. At Escomb, worship has continued
:27:31. > :27:39.virtually unbroken for 1300 years. At Durham Cathedral, St Cuthbert is
:27:39. > :27:43.still revered and draws modern pilgrims to the city. It is history
:27:43. > :27:48.brought into the present making your life and relevant to today.
:27:48. > :27:50.This is first and foremost a place of pilgrimage and prayerful stock
:27:51. > :27:57.From Bishop Auckland to Stanhope, passengers are once more enjoying
:27:57. > :28:03.the delights of a picturesque trip along the Dale. The railway closed
:28:03. > :28:07.in 1953, but we brought it back as a heritage railway. The river where
:28:07. > :28:12.it used to produce more ships than anywhere else in the world. Those
:28:13. > :28:18.days are now gone, beware side is leading a new transport revolution.