Castle Drogo 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 chippy 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 Dartmoor in Devon

helping to restore this fascinating 20th-century building,

the spectacular Castle Drogo.

Fierce, isn't it?

This castle roof could take on Wembley Stadium.

If you was to flatten everything out,

it's roughly two football pitches in size.

'I travel back in rustic time.'

This is incredible.

Oh, and it doesn't smell too good.

It smells like the inside of David Bellamy's beard.

Dartmoor - 950 square kilometres of damp, Devonian wilderness.

Sherlock Holmes came here to investigate the mystery

of the Hound Of The Baskervilles.

I'm here to investigate the mystery of the last castle

ever to be built in England, Castle Drogo.

This man-made structure might look medieval but it's just 85 years old.

It was built to look like a Norman fortress,

with its dominant position on the moor,

its fully functioning portcullis

and castellated roof fit for a conquest.

So it wasn't just pretending to be a castle, it IS a castle.

It was built by one of Britain's leading architects of the 20th century,

Sir Edwin Lutyens.

In his lifetime, Lutyens completed hundreds of projects,

including iconic war memorials such as the Cenotaph.

As you can see today, Castle Drogo is in no fit state for battle.

Fortunately it's now in the hands of The National Trust

and it's currently undergoing huge renovation work

by construction firm William Anelay.

But before I meet the builders,

Tim Cambourne is going to give me an insight

into the castle's past and present.

You've got so much work on your hands.

I think this is possibly the biggest project

-that we're visiting on the series.

-Right.

So what is the budget for it?

-Just over 13 million.

-It's an odd building, isn't it?

Because you first look at it,

and it's hard to determine what age it is.

But it is not as old as it looks, is it?

No, it was built between 1911 and 1930.

It only took that long because the First World War interrupted that.

It was built for Julius Drewe,

-and he founded the Home And Colonial Stores.

-Right.

And he retired at the age of 33 a multimillionaire.

And then he had this built, actually, in his mid-50s.

So this was like his posh house.

He had traced his family history and made a connection with one of

the Norman knights, Drogo du Teigne.

And so the idea was that it was the kind of ancestral home,

if you like, that was being built,

but he really wanted to build a house for his family

and to leave it for generations to come.

Home And Colonial Stores was one of the UK's largest retail chains

of the 1900s.

And on selling this lucrative grocery business in 1919,

Julius Drewe was able to build a unique home.

After finding a perfect location in Dartmoor,

Drewe persuaded Lutyens to take on the project.

Lutyens specialised in creating new, old-style houses

for those who had just made money.

An aspiring aristocrat, Julius Drewe wanted a large,

imposing place that would create a lasting legacy.

On completion, Lutyens was successful in weaving

eight centuries' worth of period detail into Castle Drogo.

Inside, the windows are Tudor in style.

The dressing room looks Georgian.

Drewe went for luxurious Edwardian bathrooms.

This one even has a power shower.

And the kitchen was custom-built with a state-of-the-art phone system.

It's a brilliant trick intended to make guests think

this nouveau-riche grocer was heir to an aristocratic dynasty.

In the restoration of Drogo Castle,

what were the biggest problems you encountered?

There's three main elements - the roof, the walls and the windows.

So the structure that sticks out of the ground, basically,

-the water comes through.

-So it's water ingress.

-Water ingress.

-Yeah.

It's work on a Gothic scale.

It is a massive scale. It is.

I wonder why we're not building castles any more.

I think when you get a £13 million repair bill,

-that's probably part of the reason.

-Yes.

Gosh.

Castle Drogo was built with local granite,

with some walls being six feet thick.

But the flat roof was sealed with asphalt,

a new and untested building material that proved to be unsuitable.

Over time, cracks emerged in the roof, allowing the rain to get in.

It was like a sieve.

In fact, it started leaking before the building was even finished.

Site manager Gareth Townend is going to tell me more about the extensive

renovation work going into this grand construction.

Hiya, Gareth.

Hi, Dave. Nice to meet you.

-All right?

-Not bad, how are you?

-I'm all right.

By crikey, some view here.

It is, especially when the sun's shining. It's lovely.

It's not so good on a blowy day, is it?

No, no, it is one of the most exposed areas in Dartmoor.

How on earth do you keep a scaffolding of that size up?

We do fight a battle with the sheeting.

It's designed to tear off at up to 40mph.

I suppose if the sheeting doesn't give way,

it's going to be like a hang glider and tear the scaffold off.

The idea is that it will tear,

so that obviously lets air pass through the scaffolding

so the roof doesn't take off.

And was the roof one of the major problems?

The roof was the major area of problem.

Obviously the leak was starting at the roof

and penetrating through the walls

and then just finding whichever route it could into the building.

The National Trust's priority in its five-year project

is making the castle's leaky roof watertight

for the first time in its history.

It's all in various levels, this roof, but how big is it?

If you were to flatten everything out,

it's roughly two football pitches in size.

Good grief.

How do you go about actually restoring a roof that is leaking

-on something like this?

-Well,

initially the easiest thing to do is try and locate where the leaks are

-coming from.

-Aye.

-In this instance, on Castle Drogo,

that is most of the roof, so it is just a case

of trying to get back to a blank canvas.

To install the new watertight roofing material

they've had to remove and refit over 2,300 granite blocks,

some weighing up to 750kg.

That's the equivalent of two large pigs.

But it is important the castle looks just as it did

before the renovation.

Each individual stone gets an individual number, location,

roof number,

so we ensure everything goes back as it was built originally.

The most awe-inspiring jigsaw puzzle I've ever seen.

Over time, the cement sealing the bricks cracked,

so the builders are replacing all 64km

of the castle's original mortar with a lime-based mortar

to prevent it from disintegrating in the future.

You know somewhere, because it was Julius Drewe's personal passion project,

I bet he's up there looking down, thinking,

"Oh, thank goodness this is happening."

-Well, for the future it's looking good.

-It is.

'Builders are patchworking the roof

'with a bespoke material to prevent any further damp.'

It's a massive amount of work, isn't it?

Yes, very intricate.

-It's a challenge.

-Do you do domestic roofing as well,

or is it all big projects?

Everything, really. Industrial roofs, schools,

down to little private sheds.

It's going to be a bit dismal doing a shed after this one.

It'll be easy.

'Time I had a go.'

Just watch your fingers with the flame.

Obviously in the direction you are pointing at, is where it heats.

Yes.

FLAME HISSES

Whoa-ho!

'This tar-like material is melted, and when it cools down,

'it will form a watertight bond.'

It's fierce, isn't it?

So, Paul, how long do you reckon this roof is going to last, the new one?

Hundreds of years, hopefully.

-You don't want to come back to patch it.

-No, not if we can help it, no.

The scaffolding alone cost £1 million for this site.

Dartmoor granite is one of the hardest stones in England.

Over the past three years,

100 builders have worked on the renovation of the castle.

The leaking roof and crumbling brickwork made the castle's upkeep

almost impossible.

Bunny, great-great-granddaughter of Julius Drewe,

lived at Drogo for 19 years, from 1954 to 1973,

and she has vivid memories of life at the castle.

What was it like growing up here?

Presumably there was a lot of staff.

Yes, we had a certain amount of help.

Less as time went on after the war,

but we did have a certain amount of help.

But what was it like?

It was a lot of fun, a lot of parties.

A lot of people to stay, lots of rooms to be in.

Bunny's late father, Anthony Drewe,

did what he could to maintain the castle.

But in 1974 it became too big a job to handle,

so he gave the Drewe family home and its 600 acres of land

to The National Trust.

Does it seem odd to see your house occupied by other people?

We couldn't have afforded to stay here.

The Trust...you know, you can see what a job they're doing.

-Yes.

-So, really, you know, in much better hands, I think.

Do you know, Bunny, when I come to places like this, I love my cooking,

I love my entertaining, and I feel I was born to be somewhere like this.

You would have enjoyed it enormously.

I would do. But I think, really,

my place would have been the kitchens.

Oh, shall we go down there?

Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you.

Well, this obviously is the kitchen we used to cook in

-up to the end of the Second World War.

-Right.

This is a particularly good Lutyens table.

-You can see...

-It echoes the domed lantern, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. Very clever, very Lutyens.

Shall I show you the pantry where our food was prepared for us?

-We used this as a kitchen after the war.

-Right.

Because we put the dining room upstairs, it was more convenient.

So this would be the kitchen, obviously, that you know.

This is the kitchen I know. I used to come down in the afternoon.

I was allowed to cook the odd cake and things like that.

So very happy memories here. Always warm.

I noticed there, you can see where the damp's come through.

Yes, you can.

Hopefully all will be restored in the end.

Is it a massive relief to you to know the place is going to survive

and, you know, for the next millennium?

Well, I think so, yes, it's such a huge undertaking, isn't it?

A huge undertaking. Of course it's a relief,

and of course it's nice to see it return to its glory.

During the renovation of Castle Drogo,

builders discovered that its roof required replacement granite slabs,

so here in York, specialist stonemasons

are making them from Dartmoor granite,

and I'm keen to find out just how they do it.

So, granite - what's it like to work with?

It's very, very hard.

It's just hard on the saws, it's hard on the men,

it's hard on the chisels.

So that is how the rock looks when it comes from the quarry.

As it comes from the quarry, it's all different thicknesses.

So what we do, the first part of what we do here

is put it on our machine and we will bed it off to a uniform thickness.

What would have people done before they had machinery?

It was all done by hand.

It is absolutely incredible and the more bigger jobs we do,

with the skills of our lads and the machinery we've got,

the more and more unbelievable it is to me

of how they did projects in the past.

And keeping sympathetic to the original work,

first, the stone slab will be cut to measure

before the craftsman tackles the underside.

As you can see, it's quite tough.

What you have to do is go across to put a punch mark in,

so it adheres to the fixing compound

-or the gravel that's actually on the roof.

-By hand.

Because that's how it was done originally.

It is a heritage building, it has to go back, and the new stuff,

as it was before.

-Can I have a go, Jamie?

-You can do.

I've just given my knuckles a bat.

How often do you hit yourself?

Probably once a day, I'd say.

Hit it, Dave, don't tickle it.

'Now the specialist work really takes place,

'as skilled masons chisel the marks on the top sides by hand

'so it looks the same as the original.'

-This is Tom.

-How do you do, Tom?

Tom is working now again with a different tool

to put a surface texture on which is the top side of the pavement,

which is what people will be walking on.

So, really, this is basically like the tread.

-When people are on it, it's non-slip.

-Correct.

So when you look at it, you've got your non-slip bits,

there's a fella cut every notch into that piece of stone.

-Yep.

-It's bonkers.

By hand, with a hammer and chisel.

-Can I have a go at that?

-Yeah, of course you can.

-Let me get out of your way.

-No,

I think I will be good at this because I'm good at kind of...

That one is a bit kind of random.

Is that sort of it? Or is it a bit rubbish?

Keep going until you miss and hit your hand.

'Well, I've done my share of hard graft, so it's back to Dartmoor.'

Now, Drogo may look olde-worlde on the outside,

but the inside was very up to date for its day,

with the latest mod cons.

And they needed power to work.

Drogo Castle's architect, Lutyens,

didn't just build in bricks and mortar -

sometimes he worked in liquid too.

For decades the castle was water-powered,

thanks to this hydroelectric power station just here.

In its remote location, the castle wasn't connected

to the National Grid until the 1950s.

It was powerless,

so Lutyens gave it electricity

through the clever use of water by building this power plant

not far from the castle.

National Trust building surveyor Wesley Key

is going to give me the lowdown.

Is it still working today?

It's not. It was turned off in 1994.

-Right.

-Due to regulations for

obstruction licences to stop the...

It's a big salmon river,

and it was to stop the salmon going through the turbine.

But hopefully we are going to get it up and running

in the next couple of years,

and really it is just to make sure the Environment Agency are happy

and we can start going.

-Let's go and have a look. I can't wait to see how this is done.

-No problem.

'Wes has worked at the castle since 1983

'and sure knows a thing or two about the turbine.'

Oh, brill.

Oh, wow.

Look at this, Wes. It's all very Jules Verne, isn't it?

It is, isn't it?

God, blimey. So, how do you make electricity from water?

-Well, you need a turbine.

-Yep.

Here we've got two Francis drop turbines

and the water is about eight feet above our heads.

And it actually drops through a turbine and it makes

the generator spin. That spins, it produces our DC electric.

So presumably you've got a massive tank of water,

so if the river's not flowing,

you've still got your head of water to make electric.

We've got a head which would last, with a big turbine,

no more than about 20 minutes.

So you need quite a bit of flow on the river.

The River Teign has got a big catchment area.

You do get a lot of water off the moor.

So this is a Grade II-listed building.

It is, yes. It was listed a few years ago now.

When we do put new machinery in,

we'll make sure it's sympathetic to what we've got,

-so we wouldn't take any of this out, we'll build around it.

-Fantastic.

'I'm learning all these wonderful things about Lutyens' genius designs,

'but as I'm in Devon, there's one burning question I have,

'and it's about their famous cream teas.'

Now, Wes, it struck me that with your accent, you're a local fella.

I am.

Are you cream or jam first?

-Cream first.

-Cream first.

-Yeah.

The Cornish are a lot more militant, aren't they,

in safeguarding their culture?

But you've got your own culture here, haven't you?

Oh, yes, we've got our own culture, yes.

More of a drinking culture, really, but we like our cider,

which is more a Devon thing.

-Yeah, certainly.

-And of course a Devon pasty.

Oh, aye. Devon pasty.

Never a Cornish pasty - it is a Devon pasty.

'Not only do they have their own pasties,

'they've got their own dialect too.'

We're down in the valley here and there is a path that goes up over,

-and that would be stickle.

-Stickle.

Steep, fair steep.

Could you say that like, "That price is fair stickle?"

-Fair stickle, yes.

-Too dear. Aye.

And there's a village across there, just up the valley,

which is called Sticklepath,

which means steep path.

-So it's pretty much its own language.

-Yes, yes, it is.

The turbine was state-of-the-art in Lutyens' day,

but today Drogo is doing all it can to become a self-sustaining castle

like it was 100 years ago.

In 2009,

the National Trust installed the largest biomass boiler

on any of its properties. Fuelled by woodchip,

this beauty provides heat for both the castle and the visitor centre.

Oh, right, so this is your new toy.

Yes, it is our biomass boiler.

-The wood chip, so it is 400 kilowatts.

-Right.

Which is enough to run 50 four-bedroom houses.

'The boiler has cut carbon emissions massively

'and generated 1 million kWh of renewable heat.'

You've got the land, so you can grow your own fuel.

Yes, we have all the woodland down through the Teign Valley,

and that has been managed by our ranger team.

So when you start producing your own electricity again,

this estate is going to be...

carbon neutral?

Yes, as close to carbon neutral as we will ever get.

It is just using a bit of modern technology and a bit of Lutyens

-technology and linking the two together.

-Good on you.

At the time the castle was built,

Lutyens used materials and labour sourced right here in Dartmoor.

Local lads built Drogo Castle

using wooden scaffolding made from local trees.

He liked to use local materials, delivered by local transport.

Namely, shire horses.

Back then, shire horses would have been used to transport

the building materials for the castle.

Mechanisation made shire horses redundant for a while,

but Dartmoor local Ben May has given these powerful creatures

another chance to shine.

I'll go to the horse racing track and I'll look at the horses,

but these are different. These are positively prehistoric in size.

We've got Tom here, he's 17.

I've had him since he was two, so he's been there, done it all.

And we've got Sonny here, and he is only three.

He is our first home-bred shire horse.

-Strong, aren't they?

-Yes.

-And this is Joey.

-Hello, Joey.

-And he's six years old.

-Hello, Joey.

'The farm prides itself on traditional farming methods

'using shire horses rather than modern equipment.'

They really are like the juggernauts of the farm, aren't they?

Oh, completely. It's all about power, really,

that sort of real traction they get,

which is just incredible when you're working three horses.

Yes, so he's a bit friendly. I said he's quite young.

I think there must be something on my jacket

that he's taken a liking to.

What is it that particularly attracts you to the horses?

I love that feeling of working the land, and with the horses

you have to understand the land, you have to work with the land.

And of course, I just love to work my horses.

So these are working horses, they're not ornaments.

These guys are working horses, very much so.

Well, I think Sonny is ready for work.

Shall we go down and do some...?

-Love to, love to.

-Great.

OK, lads, walk on.

Get on.

'Shire horses are a strong bunch

'and their origins date back to the Normans.

'They became known as warhorses and in medieval times

'were used for battle.

'By the 17th century, shire horses became workhorses,

'turning the wheels of Britain's industry.'

This is incredible.

I tell you what, though, if they got a spurt on,

I don't think I'd be able to hold them back.

'Shire horses are still used for jobs

'such as ploughing the fields and logging trees,

'but today, Ben has a special treat in store.

'He's using his horses for muck spreading.

'Time I got shovelling.

'But before we get started...'

When you're muck spreading,

a little bit of muck just goes a little bit forwards

and there's a slight possibility it may get you,

so what we do is we wear these...we wear these things.

And then stops the muck hitting your head.

-So...

-Very pagan.

-Yes, it is quite pagan, isn't it?

Suits you very well.

This is cow muck and horse muck,

and you can imagine, with a horse of this size,

-a lot of horse muck in it.

-There is, isn't there?

I mean, what is it that appeals to you about this traditional type of farming?

I think it is what we've called slow farming.

What we're after is quality, not quantity.

And with our cattle, they take probably 12 months more to grow,

-but the quality you're getting in the food because of that...

-Superb.

'If you're not going to farm with chemicals,

'you need a natural alternative, and what could be more natural than muck?'

Do you think this is more sustainable?

But if you can use something that's a little bit more natural,

like this muck, then...

Incredible amount of earthworms. It's all there, it's all goodness.

It's like the inside of David Bellamy's beard.

It is, though. It stinks.

'Traditional farming works in harmony with nature,

'keeping the soil rich and the wildlife diverse

'whilst helping to protect the land from floods and storms.'

Come, boys, walk on.

Go on. Go on, boys.

-I see now Tom is taking up the load.

-Go on, lads.

Good lads, go on.

Of course the field's wet, so it's not easy.

No, it does make it a lot harder work for them.

Good lads, come on.

Good lads.

Come on.

Good lads. Good lads.

So that's how you spread muck, 18th-century fashion.

Exactly.

'Back on site, and the builders are working hard

'to repair the original brass windows.

'And there's a lot of them.'

So, how many windows have you had to do?

We've done 650 up to now.

And how many have you got to go?

Another 300-odd. There's about 900...

I think there's 914 in total.

-Blooming heck.

-And 14,000 panes of glass,

or quarries as they're called.

On commissioning the castle,

Julius Drewe demanded that no window sills were fitted,

but that meant there was no protection

from the fierce Dartmoor elements,

so rainwater ran down the walls.

Were the windows really leaking?

Yes. And falling out, blowing out on the high winds,

-the pressure from the inside and outside.

-Really?

They would actually blow them out, take them out.

'The only things that are new

'are the lead cames in the windows and the putty to fit the glass.'

So would this be the specific window that has come out of this hole?

Yes, they're all on our database. Every one is photographed,

so we've got literally thousands and thousands

of photographs of different stages.

So we've got lead plugs with a hole in it,

ready for the screw to go in.

-Lead.

-It's lead, which has got its advantages

because it doesn't deteriorate.

So the screw goes in and out the same.

You know, it's beautiful to work with.

-So, here we go, if I hold it in...

-Original screws.

Put that screw into there.

Grab that screwdriver.

-Right.

-Just screw it in till you feel a bit of tension, basically,

till it's screwed fully in.

It is going in nice and easy.

'The screws are in, and a specialist company will seal it later.

'A fully leak-proof window.

'And this builder isn't just good at fitting windows -

'he has a passion that's very close to my heart.'

I don't know if you'll enjoy it or not, but I made you a cake.

Unfortunately we've already eaten some of it.

There you go.

-Did you bake this?

-I certainly did.

Smells great.

You've caramelised your pecans.

-I certainly did.

-Can I have a slice?

-Maple syrup.

-What a treat.

-That's beautiful. It's really moist.

-You've got to try a pecan.

Lovely.

Who'd have thought it?

Drogo Castle, have a go at the roof, a bit of waterproofing,

fit a window and you get a nice bit of cake.

It's not a bad life, being a builder.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC

'It's the end of a hard day

'and I want to bring some entertainment to the castle.

'Unfortunately, the Royal Ballet weren't available.'

Morris dancing - there's a thing.

Why did people Morris dance?

-Money.

-Money, busking.

-Really?

-Yes, it was a form of busking.

You could earn a fair few if you went out into a town

and did a bit of Morris dancing.

People would just give you a couple of coins.

All right. I gather that with Morris dancing, ale is a very big part.

Yes. Yes.

So in the convention of the Morris dancing group,

I noticed they were calling you squire.

-Yes. And are you the fool?

-Yes.

-I'm not being disrespectful.

-No, it's all right.

No, no, that's a great deal of respect.

-Thank you.

-That's all right.

'I'm not sure why they're all laughing - it's their turn next.'

Keep me right. Go on, aye.

-Hey!

-Hey!

Buildings don't need to be ancient to be intriguing.

Drogo is the most modern castle in Britain,

and I'll never forget its double identity.

Norman on the outside, Edwardian on the inside,

set in one of the most haunting and lively places in the country.

ALL CHEER

'Next time on Hairy Builder, I'm at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol...

'..where I'll be ripping off the roof...'

There's acres and acres of it.

'..thumping out some tunes...'

Two, three, four.

THEY PLAY "Do-Re-Mi"

'..and finding out more about Bristol's rich engineering heritage.'

Oh, this is high. It's not like this making pies, you know.