Doncaster Mansion House The Hairy Builder

Want to know about British history? You'd better get your hands dirty.

Don't bury your head in a guidebook,

ask a brickie,

a chippie,

or a roofer.

Ever since I were a boy I've had a passion for our past,

so I'm going to apprentice myself to the oldest masonry company

in the country, mastering their crafts

and scraping away the secrets of Blighty's poshest piles.

From castles to cathedrals,

music halls to mansions,

palaces to public schools,

these aren't just buildings -

they're keys to opening up our past and bringing it back to life.

Today I'm in Doncaster helping to restore one of its finest buildings,

the magnificent Mansion House.

Doncaster! Who needs Florence?

Correct!

I'll finding out how the other half partied...

30 gallons of beer,

ten gallons of red and white wine...

These sound like my sort of parties, really.

..I'll be trying to help the roofers...

-I've got a couple there.

-It's OK, it happens.

Yes, he said that through gritted teeth.

ROOFER CHUCKLES

..and seeing if I can get away with one of the biggest prizes

in horse racing.

If I could buy a horse, this could be mine.

All mine!

See you!

Doncaster, the jewel in the crown of North Yorkshire,

the birthplace of horse racing

and also the legendary locomotive,

the Flying Scotsman.

It boasts two Norman castles

and more Georgian buildings than you can shake a stick at,

but top of the list is the Mansion House.

Mansion houses were designed to provide accommodation for the mayor

along with rooms to hold civic functions.

Only five were ever built in the UK,

and Doncaster's was unique.

It was the only one planned with purely pleasure in mind.

A historical market town in South Yorkshire,

Doncaster's wealth and prestige grew in the 18th century,

and so did the council's ambitions.

They wanted their town to be the centre for fashionable society,

so decided to construct the most badass building in the North.

Opened in 1749,

it has an impressive array of entertaining spaces.

But its original roof needs to be replaced,

and the front facade has lost its sparkle.

Construction firm William Anelay are on site to do the works,

and I've come to meet site manager Steve Quinn.

But first, I need to climb up six storeys.

HE CRIES OUT

HE LAUGHS

-Hey, Steve.

-Dave, how are you, mate?

I'm all right, but...

-Good man.

-This is your world in the sky, isn't it?

This is beautiful, look at it.

On a day like today, October,

-we've got the sun out, nice sky over there.

-Yeah.

Look at that. Ready for rain, look, under our big roof here.

Doncaster! Who needs Florence?

Correct! Correct.

What have you got going on here, Steve?

Right, this is the part of our main sculpting works, right,

it's where we're replacing the main ballroom roof

with slate, Welsh slate.

Tell you what, I don't envy those lads' jobs.

They've got a head for heights.

I'm holding on to my rail here, and I don't have to!

What's the budget on a job like this, Steve?

The budget for this particular job is £300,000.

It doesn't sound a lot, really, considering what I can see.

Yeah. But the problem you get...

..they've got that much work to do in the building,

-they've only got that much money.

-Yes.

-And that is a shame.

So what we're trying to do, you might say it's only that much money,

but when you look at it when the scaffold goes down,

everything like that, you've got a nice front facade painted,

nice stone, a roof that's going to last 150 years.

We're protecting the building for the future.

The works are scheduled

to take 25 weeks.

Along with replacing

large sections of the roof...

..they are painting the front facade,

fixing statues,

and repairing sash windows.

The Mansion House holds a special place in the construction company's

history. It was their first-ever commission, back in 1747,

and they've been responsible for

all the works ever completed on the building.

Charles is the eighth generation of the family to work on site.

Charles, the history of your company,

-it's almost as old as the history of this building.

-It is, it is.

We were started in Doncaster,

and this Doncaster Mansion House was one of the first projects

they ever worked on.

This part here we're stood on at the moment was when they changed it

in 1800 because they decided it wasn't big enough and grand enough,

so they built a whole new extra top floor

to put on the building and this was a project we did at that time.

But is this one of your favourite buildings?

Well, it has to be, doesn't it? Cos it's just such a thing to think

that, you know, you're in the town

where the business that you're part of was started

over 250 years ago.

I mean, it's pretty amazing.

Here's to the next 200!

Thank you.

The building is in need of some TLC.

But before I get hands-on with the builders,

I want to find out more about this magnificent Mansion House.

-Hello, pleased to meet you.

-Hi.

Do you know, if this is what the staircase is like,

I can't wait to see the rest of it.

The house was one of acclaimed architect James Paine's

first commissions and originally built over three storeys

with an additional floor added in 1801.

In the basement were the servants' halls and on the ground floor,

rooms for the entertainment of gentlemen.

But it was on the principle, or first floor,

where they put the grandest rooms.

-Wow.

-Come in here.

This is magnificent, Ian.

This is the ballroom, or banqueting room.

And what would it have been used for back in the day?

Well, that. Just having a good time, basically.

Yeah, Doncaster was a key town.

The road outside is the original A1.

Right.

And coach traffic was tremendous.

Well, Mansion House, really, is more than just a civic building,

-isn't it?

-Oh, yes.

-It's more than a town hall.

-Oh, yes.

It's like the two together, basically.

It was built as an extravagant venue

for the mayor to entertain his guests.

And they raised the funds needed by borrowing money from the locals.

It was the people of Doncaster, that's how the money came.

It was literally walking round the town and drawing up money.

-Yes.

-We know that in the second year of the appeal, going out,

they did manage to raise £2,200,

which was half the cost of the construction.

Today, this Grade I listed building makes its money from

renting out its stunning function rooms.

-This really is magnificent, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-By 'eck, I bet they've had some beanos in here!

-Everybody.

Could you tell me about some of those big, big parties

that they used to have when it first opened?

One of the biggest was certainly the coronation of King George III.

-Right.

-In 1761.

The council actually went to the...

..cautionary measure of employing six constables on the evening

as a quite a good supply of liquid refreshment had been supplied.

Are there any records of how much was drunk?

30 gallons of beer...

..ten gallons of red and white wine,

and five gallons of port and brandy.

These sound like my sort of parties, really!

Oh, gosh, look at this room!

Everyone who is anyone has been wined and dined here and downstairs,

they keep the visitors' book.

You can see the calibre of some of the guests

-that came to Mansion House, can't you?

-Oh, yes.

The Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Diana.

Princess Diana, yes.

-Princess Margaret.

-Yes.

Lord Snowdon.

Gosh.

You know, I'm beginning to realise the gravity and importance

of Mansion House, you know, because the people that came here,

they were every bit as important as people

-who are going to Buckingham Palace.

-Oh, yes.

What's this little book?

That is a book that's dated back to about 1750, 1760.

It's like a housekeeper's almanac, isn't it?

It is, yes. It's a reference book.

"On Friday the 19th, visited this house and found all in good order.

"Ordered Dolly to make a fire in the scullery."

Isn't it wonderful?

IAN LAUGHS

Wonderful. I love these little bits of real life in this grand house.

You've got Dolly in the scullery there,

you've got Princess Diana here,

and you've got Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip there!

That's right, yes.

-Yeah.

-Doncaster in a nutshell, isn't it, really?

LAUGHTER

To ensure this grand building stands tall

for another couple of hundred years,

it's important the roof remains watertight.

The Welsh slates on the top have been weather-damaged

and I've come prepared to help the team replace them.

I've got my roofer's belt, cos the thing is, you want everything.

I've got my copper strips, my copper nails, my measure, everything,

your knife... The thing is, when you're on a roof of this calibre,

you don't want to keep going up and down your ladders,

not with my knees.

All the slates on the original roof are being replaced.

But above the extension, which was added 50 years later,

they are just removing those which have cracked.

This is Andy. Andy is a roofer extraordinaire

and he's going to show me how it's done.

Right, first of all, we need to remove the damaged slates.

Right, well, that's damaged.

-Do you just pull it?

-No, no, no.

-We use a ripper.

-A ripper?!

-Yeah.

So what...? Oo-er!

That removes the old damaged slates.

It does.

So what have we got under here, Andy?

Is it roofing felt?

Underneath here is the old 1F roofing felt.

-Do you want to have a go at getting the next one off?

-Aye, yeah.

You want to slide it up there, come to the side...

Slide it over. That's it.

And basically pull it out.

It's like boning a chicken.

-What do I do...?

-Try and angle it onto the nail.

Oh, the nail. Yeah.

-Then it'll come.

-That's it.

And of course, the nails are all copper on the roof.

Yeah. Slide up there.

-I've got a couple there.

-It's OK, it happens.

Yes, he said that through gritted teeth.

LAUGHTER

Do you love roofing?

I do, my legs don't.

THEY LAUGH

The knees aren't what they used to be.

Once the damaged slates have been removed,

new, reclaimed ones are slid into their place.

Don't strangle your hammer, my dad always used to say.

Of course, the big problem, and the thing that always confuses me,

is how do we get the last one in?

When the roof was laid, they started at the bottom and worked up,

nailing in the slates as they went along.

But when you're patching

it's impossible to get a nail into the final slate,

so a copper strip is used to hold it in place instead.

This might not go straight in.

-And it has.

-Which it has.

So now...

..you bend the copper strip over, bend that back

-so that clips in and can't pull down.

-Yeah.

-It will catch there before the slate can come out.

-Got you.

The roof above the ballroom and the older parts of the building

hasn't fared so well,

so an area equivalent to four terraced houses in a row

is being replaced.

So how many slates, Andy, do you reckon you've got to finish

-on this roof?

-I'd say another 15,000.

15,000 slates.

Now, that's got to be a labour of love.

The roof isn't the only part of the building

needing to be made watertight.

The sash windows at the top are in a poor state of repair.

We're down to refurbish the existing windows.

Now, this was a fixed sash window, so it doesn't open.

But the lower sash was particularly vulnerable.

The original seal's been removed.

It was completely rotten.

The windows are part of the extension built in 1801.

But all is not what it seems.

From records we've got,

we believe that the original facade ended somewhere around here.

But to make it a bit more prestigious,

they remodelled the facade.

We know that because this is a solid piece of wood.

There's no casings or weight in there

in order to take the original sash work in.

And obviously, we've also got a rather crude opening

formed in the brickwork

to suggest the original formation of the structure.

So there's no actual need for the window

other than for decoration purposes from the front.

Doncaster is home to one of only five Mansion Houses ever built.

So how did it end up so minted?

Its prominence was down to the Great North Road,

which passed through its centre.

Pretty much everyone travelling between London,

York and Edinburgh stopped off here.

Doncaster is in a very strategic position and,

as a result,

travellers would break their journeys

from London to Scotland and from other parts of the country,

from Birmingham and Sheffield,

and the town developed to serve that through travel.

So they provided horses,

overnight accommodation,

and it grew and grew and grew

as the economy of the country developed.

That increased the wealth and importance of Doncaster.

In the 18th century the town became the place for fashionable society,

with its theatre shows, hunting, racing, gambling,

and balls at the Mansion House.

In Regency times, Doncaster was a pleasure town.

I wouldn't put it as far as to say it was the Las Vegas of its time,

but it was certainly the Monaco of its time.

Over the next century, with the advent of the Industrial Age,

the town continued to flourish.

Its coal mines, central position and great transport links

all helped to increase its affluence and reputation.

There would have been a lot of trade coming in

with the new railway system

and there would be trade coming in through the boats.

So they needed something bigger

that befitted their ambitions in this new industrial age.

In 1847 they built a large market hall,

and 28 years later it was joined by the Corn Exchange.

They designed this building, which would have been extremely...

..eye-catching and opulent as people stepped in.

You know, something that was really going to evoke civic pride

for the people of Doncaster.

The Corn Exchange was built not only for market trading

but as an entertainment venue, too.

Elgar has conducted symphonies here,

and a young Churchill made stirring speeches.

Today, Doncaster's market

is the biggest traditional market in the north,

with over 400 shops, stores and stands,

providing employment for over 1,000 people.

It has a loyal band of customers and, in 2015,

was named the best food market in Britain by a national competition.

Thank you very much, cheers, thank you.

Back at the big house,

the ornamental decorations above the ballroom windows on the facade

are getting a face-lift.

As I promised you, you've got to do some work.

Oh, this is more like it! This is art!

What we're doing there is we're gilding.

So, Steve, why would you use gold leaf instead of gold paint?

Gold leaf makes the features stand out.

-Yeah.

-Right? And also, it doesn't discolour as quick as paint.

-Right.

-And so therefore, when you look down from the street,

-cos we are 20 metres up in the air...

-Yeah.

All right, all you're going to see is

that nice, gold, embossed figure of that head

and the good, nice gold around it.

Do you know, I've only done gold leafing once and it was...

I was judging a pie competition, so I thought I'd make the trophy.

So I made a pie out of that self-hardening clay

and I did it with gold leaf.

So it was called the Golden Pie, it was a Golden Pie Award.

And it hasn't faded.

But by crikey! What a mess there was in our house!

You know, the budgie was golden.

Because it flies! It is kind of like trying to juggle feathers, isn't it?

Luckily, up here, they're not using loose leaves,

but transfer sheets instead.

Gilding glue has already been put on the lady's face,

so it's time to cover her in gold.

Show us how it's done, Chris.

Basically, we've got a little stiff brush

-and there's an area left just on the side there.

-Yep, yeah.

And you just need to apply it.

I get it.

-The whole sheet?

-Yeah, well, if you just work down that edge.

And just keep moving the sheet so that you're always applying gold.

Oh, right, a bit's gone off. Yeah?

There's gold coming off.

Chris, when do you reckon was the last time that this was gilded?

Around 200 years ago.

It's been analysed and there's been no trace of it for a while.

-Good grief.

-So we're kind of restoring it

to how it was originally.

Do you feel odd, though, sometimes,

if you're working on something like this,

to think there was a bloke 200 years ago

-doing exactly what you're doing now?

-Yeah, it's very strange, really,

cos the technique's never really changed, it's just stayed the same.

Is the gold leaf very expensive?

Yeah, it's quite expensive.

This is it for the entire job.

Around £600 worth of gold.

Right, so that's 600 quid's worth?

Yeah.

-Crumbs, better not lose that!

-No!

What do you reckon? Still a bit lumpy, I think.

We use these to burnish off now, to take all the loose bits of gold off.

Oh, now it's coming to something, like.

Just like a make-up brush.

I know.

HE CHUCKLES

Many's the time.

Right.

Beautiful job.

The Mansion house has hosted many important functions over the years

but the hottest tickets in town were those to the banquets and balls

held each year to coincide with the classic horse races at Doncaster.

Doncaster Corporation is quite rightly as proud as punch

about its Mansion House,

but equally important to the DNA of Donnie is its racecourse

and I want to find out why.

And besides that, I do like a bit of a flutter.

Doncaster has one of the oldest established centres for horse racing

in the UK,

with records of regular meetings going back to the 16th century.

Today, it's home to two of the world's longest-running

and most prestigious races,

the Doncaster Cup and the St Leger Stakes.

BELL RINGS

And they're coming into the final furlong, it's Hairy Builder,

Hairy Builder. Coming up to the line, yes, it's Hairy Builder,

Hairy Builder wins the St Leger.

'That's the 700 grand prize money for me, then.'

-Hello, Roderick.

-Hi, Dave.

Pleased to meet you.

So you're the clerk of the course, Roderick.

I've often heard that term used.

You decide what the going is like,

whether the ground's hard or soft for the horses,

-but what have we got today?

-It's good to soft,

perhaps a bit easier.

We've had quite a lot of rain over the last few days.

The wonderful thing about Doncaster racecourse is the tradition,

but when was the racecourse opened?

The first race...

..at Doncaster was in 1766.

It was the Doncaster Cup.

But that was actually held two miles down the road at Cantley Common.

-Right.

-And they moved it here a few years later.

But we're most famous for the St Leger,

which was run ten years later, 1776.

That's one of the five classic races in Great Britain.

The thing I love about racing is there's something for everybody.

You can imagine back in the day,

the miners from Doncaster would come in here to

have a flutter and watch the racing, but the grand lords and ladies

from the Mansion House would be coming here...

The great and the good would have started the racecourse.

-They certainly put up the stake for that first race.

-Yes.

And racing's just increased in popularity,

and a broad spectrum of support.

We get fantastic crowds here.

I mean, St Legers,

we will have 30,000 people here for the day of the St Leger.

It's a great contribution to the whole town.

The course is just under two miles long and has 11 jumps.

Today, the traditional birch-tree fences

are being prepared for the upcoming jump season.

There is an art to building these fences, isn't there?

It takes a bit of practice, aye, to get it layered up right

and to take...

to give it enough strength.

Because that looks like a thatched roof.

Well, she's getting there.

There's still a bit of work to do on this one.

We just can't have them too firm

so they face the horses down,

but we don't want them too soft so horses go through them.

It's got to be firm enough so they've got to jump

but there again it can't be that firm that you hurt the horses.

Yeah, that's it. Just have a nice bit of give on it.

The fence is primarily made up of birch with conifer at the bottom.

You can imagine you're just running up here,

you launch here...

-..and there's a lot to clear.

-Oh, there is, a good bit to clear.

It's the little jockeys on the top,

they are a good five foot higher than the fences.

They might only be little but they've got some guts, haven't they?

Oh, yeah, they have, yeah.

Once all the old branches are removed, time for the new.

Bundles of birch are put into the belly of the jump

to give it structure and strength.

Are we right down here now, Steve?

-If you place that end...

-Yeah.

-..into there.

-Then it'll just give it a bit.

-Gotcha.

-It gives it a bit of structure.

-Yeah.

-There's quite a lot of spring to that, isn't there, now?

-Yeah.

Still wouldn't like to jump over it.

What an honour.

The next time I have a flutter, put a bet on at Doncaster,

I'll know this fence, I've had a go at it.

The racecourse is one of the first ever built in the UK,

and the St Leger Stakes is up there with Ascot and the Grand National

for racing fans.

And that's one of the biggest prizes in horse racing.

Absolutely, the trophy for the oldest of the five classic races,

-the St Leger.

-Wow, look at that.

A symphony in silver and gold,

but it's what it stands for that counts.

That's what you get when you win the St Leger.

It's beautiful, though.

Roderick, can you take my photo?

One day, Roderick, if I can buy a horse,

this could be mine, all mine.

But I'd better start saving up.

Beautiful.

Listen to the crowds. CANNED CROWDS CHEERING

Yes!

Ha-ha!

See ya!

Back at the Mansion House,

there are still a couple of months to go with the restoration works.

As well as vital weatherproofing,

they're returning the front of the building back to how

it would have looked in its heyday.

The actual detailing is going to be picked out in, like, a gold,

and there's a shield which is going to be red with white.

It's going to be a bit in-your-face

but that's kind of how it was originally,

and that's kind of what we're trying to get back to.

The team try to use as many of the old materials

and traditional methods as possible,

but in some cases they do have to go with the new and improved.

Holding the stones together at the top of the building

are metal cramps.

Over time, moisture has caused them to rust,

and they need to be removed.

The cramp's finally coming.

That's the cramp,

which has started to rust.

Probably not as bad as some of them.

But it is deteriorating.

If they're left in, the rust will cause the cramps to expand

and crack the stone.

The new cramps that are going in are stainless steel,

which probably weren't around in them days, as such,

and it's new technology...

..that's gone forward,

and obviously they're preferring to use these non-rusting materials

to protect the building...

and do a better job.

But these stones aren't the only ones in danger of crumbling

without essential maintenance work.

When they cleaned the building...

..jet washed it, it...

revealed a crack on the lion's paw, if you like, hand,

and we've got to stick it back on.

We'll have to pin it

so that it doesn't fall off.

The Doncaster lion has proudly stood here since 1831,

so the guys need to be very careful when they drill the holes

so as not to cause any further damage.

We need to line it up.

Right. Now we'll just have to stand with it

until the glue goes off, and it...

..hopefully stays where it's supposed to.

Site manager Steve and his team

are restoring some civic pride back to the building

so Donnie's residents can enjoy its splendour for years to come.

In its day, Doncaster was the place to be,

renowned for its high society,

its highway,

and its historic racecourse.

It's well worthy of its magnificent Mansion House.

Cue the music.

THEY PLAY PERIOD COURT MUSIC

I'll tell you what, Steve, I'm glad we fixed that roof.

Can you imagine if that ceiling got wrecked?

Yeah, I just hope you put them slates in the right position

cos if not, I will be repairing the ceiling tomorrow morning.

Aye. 'Ere, are you dancing?

Next time, I'll be at Wakefield Cathedral in West Yorkshire.

I'll get the chance to unravel a piece of the cathedral's past

when a time capsule is discovered.

This is an incredible feeling.

I will be discovering the link between this...

Baa!

..and the cathedral...

..as well as uncovering what really lies beneath its floor.

Whoa!

That's really quite spooky.