0:00:11 > 0:00:17This is a journey through Britain and through 1,000 years of our history,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21to see how we've built the country we live in.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35We are reflected in our buildings.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37They tell us who we are.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42Sometimes fearless and heroic,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46sometimes exuberant,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49often ambitious.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52When we reach for the skies...
0:00:54 > 0:00:59..we can be innovative and industrious.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05But we have a cosy side...
0:01:06 > 0:01:09..an eccentric streak
0:01:09 > 0:01:11and a taste for fun.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20This is the story of Britain told through its buildings
0:01:20 > 0:01:22and the people who built them.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Our journey starts in the east of England.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47In the Middle Ages this was the richest corner of the country
0:01:47 > 0:01:53where out of conflict and conquest arose buildings the like of which we'd never seen.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03These glorious buildings are more than just objects of great beauty,
0:02:03 > 0:02:08they marked the beginning of a new era of progress and sophistication.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14It was here in the medieval east that the foundations of modern Britain were laid.
0:02:59 > 0:03:041066, Britain is conquered by the Normans.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11William the Conqueror is waging a ferocious campaign to subdue England.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21The last outpost of Anglo-Saxon resistance, the Fenlands of East Anglia and the Isle of Ely.
0:03:29 > 0:03:37Ely used to be a treacherous place, an island surrounded by these bogs and marshes.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It got its name from the huge number of eels that used to be caught here.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48And the only people who were safe were the fen men, who according to legend, had webbed feet.
0:03:57 > 0:04:04It was only when the Isle of Ely fell that the conquest was complete.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26After the devastation of war,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29work started on the building of a new world.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39Towering over this flat landscape, Ely Cathedral,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43the start of the first construction boom in our history.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46It was the birth of modern Britain.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58The Normans were visionary builders.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04And they used their skills to make the conquered population cower before them.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Imagine what it must have been like if you lived as a villager here,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14you know, in a low-lying house, quite modest,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19and suddenly in your midst arose this enormous building
0:05:19 > 0:05:24made of stone and taller than anything you'd ever seen in your life before.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47For medieval man, to build a cathedral was to build paradise on earth.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54Every part was beautifully crafted,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59stonework almost out of sight but so finely made
0:05:59 > 0:06:02for God, not man, to see.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13What's one to say? The first feeling coming into this place
0:06:13 > 0:06:16is just a sense of...awe,
0:06:16 > 0:06:23of the majesty of a building so glorious, so vast.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27This high, high, high nave with its pillars.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32And you think, "How did a building like this get to be built
0:06:32 > 0:06:35"so many hundreds of years ago?
0:06:35 > 0:06:39"Who were the people that were prepared to spend the time
0:06:39 > 0:06:42"and the energy creating this great monument,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45"when nothing like it existed?"
0:06:45 > 0:06:47It's just breathtaking!
0:07:10 > 0:07:16If you were making a cathedral like this today, you'd have architectural plans, engineering drawings,
0:07:16 > 0:07:22structural engineers poring over all the stresses and the load-bearing walls and the rest of it.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27And after a long time they'd probably conclude it couldn't be built anyway cos it would fall down.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Now, this building was built entirely
0:07:29 > 0:07:33by the knowledge, the experience of the master masons who made it.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37The miracle is, and I think even they would have been astonished,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41that almost 1,000 years later it's still standing.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53You couldn't rush the building of a medieval cathedral. Ely took almost 300 years
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Thousands of tons of stone was quarried 50 miles away
0:07:59 > 0:08:02and brought to Ely by boat.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Working with little more than a set square, some compasses
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and a knowledge of geometry,
0:08:09 > 0:08:14medieval masons were able to raise this glorious building to the heavens.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18And 1,000 years later stonemasons are still working -
0:08:18 > 0:08:21repairing and restoring it.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26You see it from a distance and you feel you've put your mark on it,
0:08:26 > 0:08:31- you can feel proud of what you've done.- Feel part of it's yours?
0:08:31 > 0:08:35I think every stone you put in, it's yours, you know.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40It sounds strange, but every stone you touch and put in, on any building, you know,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44you've done it and you'll respect that building for it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52'Stonemasons have a tradition. They leave tokens behind for future generations to find.'
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Ah! It's too steep, I get vertigo looking at it.
0:08:56 > 0:09:03'I wanted to leave a time capsule of my own, to puzzle people 1,000 years from now.'
0:09:03 > 0:09:08So, there's a bill for a week's shopping,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10a packet of cigarettes saying "smoking kills" -
0:09:10 > 0:09:15because I think by the time it's opened, nobody will know what cigarettes are -
0:09:15 > 0:09:19a week's television programmes, so they can see the kind of stuff we watched.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22And finally a Mars bar. I don't know why it's there,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25but I've said, "You may live there by now."
0:09:25 > 0:09:26So I thought they'd feel at home.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32- Can I say goodbye to the box?- Yes.- Lovely.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35You can see that sort of fits there.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Great, it's not going to fall out.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Well, fill this, some muck in there, and then fill the back.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Time capsule's gone for a few hundred years
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and we're happy, job's done, and then onto the next one.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52It's wonderful to see a bit of work like this all hand-carved,
0:09:52 > 0:09:57this decoration here, way out of sight of anybody on the ground.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00You can just see it if you look up, get a slight feel of it.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04- And yet so much love and attention has been paid to it.- Yeah.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06It's extraordinary, beautiful.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21What's really exciting about Ely Cathedral
0:10:21 > 0:10:26is this feeling of the energy, the determination of the people who built it.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31For 1,000 years, time has been spent restoring and embellishing it,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34to make sure it stands for another 1,000 years.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52In the years after the Conquest, the land that wasn't given to the Church
0:10:52 > 0:10:57was shared out between a handful of William's loyal followers.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01And to secure their hold on the country, they introduced a building
0:11:01 > 0:11:06never before seen in England - the castle.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Within a generation of their arrival,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18the Normans had built over 500 castles.
0:11:21 > 0:11:2650 miles south of Ely, across the border into Essex, is one of the finest.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Hedingham Castle, built around 1140,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39is a monument to Norman might.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52The idea behind a Norman castle wasn't just to establish power over an area,
0:11:52 > 0:11:58it was actually to frighten people with the authority and wealth of the family who built it.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04And this is the keep of a castle of a very, very powerful family indeed, the De Veres.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12They were known as "The Fighting Veres",
0:12:12 > 0:12:17an elite warrior class of noblemen who owed their position to the king
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and who in return fought for him.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Their castles were built to overpower and intimidate.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31If attacked, they could hold their own.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Massive walls, 12-feet thick, protected them again battering rams.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Narrow windows shielded them from missiles.
0:12:41 > 0:12:47And a raised entrance to the first floor made it harder for enemies to penetrate.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57The staircase was built in a clockwise direction.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01And there's a reason for that, too. It's so that it you were under attack,
0:13:01 > 0:13:06you could fight your way back with your right arm free to attack your enemy,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09whereas he, had this in the way
0:13:09 > 0:13:12and couldn't ever get his arm free.
0:13:16 > 0:13:22'But this wasn't just a fortress, it was a place of ritual and ceremony.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26'You came here to pay homage to your lord.'
0:13:40 > 0:13:44This is the grandest room in the castle, the banqueting hall,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48where the mighty De Veres held court.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50This was the centre of their empire.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55It's where knights would come and swear loyalty to them and obedience,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59putting their hands between the hands of the De Veres.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04And it's decorated to show that grand style,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08that need to impress people who came here.
0:14:08 > 0:14:14Beautiful decorations, zigzag decorations round the curved arches and the fireplace.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Hangings on the wall would all have been tapestries.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22And then this magnificent archway,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24huge Norman arch,
0:14:24 > 0:14:30it's the widest arch built by the Normans left standing.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50In the Middle Ages almost everyone lived off the land.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Landlords grew rich by forcing their tenants to work for them.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09We were a nation of peasants shackled to the lord of the manor.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33Cressing Temple, in Essex, the heart of a medieval estate
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and, if you worked here, a medieval production line.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48This was once a hugely profitable farm complex
0:15:48 > 0:15:52with a brew house, a granary, a dairy and a water mill.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Two 13th-century barns survive,
0:15:59 > 0:16:05so magnificent, they're known as "cathedrals of the countryside".
0:16:26 > 0:16:30It's no coincidence that these are called cathedrals,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34because it was designed on the same basis as a big church -
0:16:34 > 0:16:38the nave here, and an aisle each side.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43So it copied the way that medieval churches were built.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47It even seems a place of quiet contemplation, as it is now.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53But not so - this was the factory at the centre of the whole estate,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56a place that thrummed with industry.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03At the time of harvest the corn would be cut and brought into this barn.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06There's always a high entrance and a low entrance.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The high one for the wagon piled up with corn,
0:17:09 > 0:17:14the low one, when it's been emptied, you don't need the height. Then the corn would be stacked here.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17And what they did was to start at the low level
0:17:17 > 0:17:20and use a horse to trample it down,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23so it really used as little space as possible.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Then you started the threshing process, using this flail.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29You spread the corn on the floor
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and for hour after hour you stood and simply beat it
0:17:32 > 0:17:36until the grain was beaten...
0:17:36 > 0:17:40out of the top of the sheaves of corn.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Oh! Until your flail broke!
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And at that point you had to go hungry.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59It took nearly 500 trees to create one barn at Cressing.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Oak was the most popular building material in the Middle Ages,
0:18:04 > 0:18:09and woodland was carefully managed to produce just the right size of timber.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Tightly packed trees grow tall and straight
0:18:15 > 0:18:18to reach the light - perfect for construction.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27The tools that we used then were very efficient for their time.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32And they did evolve over a period of time to become even more efficient.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33This is very handsome.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36This is a copy of an 11th-century axe,
0:18:36 > 0:18:41and you can see an axe identical in the margins of the Bayeux Tapestry
0:18:41 > 0:18:44from the second half of the 11th century.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54'To make a beam, the bark is first removed
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'and then the log is hewn square.'
0:18:57 > 0:19:03I wonder what you thought about all day while you were doing this! Mm?
0:19:03 > 0:19:06- Evil thoughts!- Who knows?
0:19:06 > 0:19:09I think revolutionary thoughts would come to MY mind
0:19:09 > 0:19:11if I was doing this for three pence a day.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18'When that's done, the timber is sawn over great trestles.'
0:19:18 > 0:19:21- So what am I called? - You're the underdog.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24- I'm the top dog.- Oh, right. Did they really call them that?
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- I get paid more than you.- Why?
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Because I'm responsible for looking after the saw.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33But it's much harder pulling down. I'm doing all the work.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38You stop, you see if you can do it by yourself, I bet you can't.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44'The next stage is to cut the joints.'
0:19:47 > 0:19:49God, it weighs a ton!
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Ah! It's like steel.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57'The framework of the barn is pre-fabricated on the ground.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02'Each piece is made to fit its neighbour, so the carpenters
0:20:02 > 0:20:07'cut marks to allow the timbers to be reassembled in the right place.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09'You can see the medieval carpenter's marks
0:20:09 > 0:20:12'all through the barn.'
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Right...
0:20:16 > 0:20:21And there we have it - a pair of rafters and a collar for a medieval roof.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24'This simple joint took us all morning.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28'And there are 1,500 in the barn at Cressing.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:50I'm going north now, to an undisturbed wilderness in the heart of East Anglia...
0:20:52 > 0:20:54..the Brecklands.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58In the Middle Ages much of the land that wasn't farmed
0:20:58 > 0:21:02was reserved by the rich for sport and leisure.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12The Brecklands were home to what might seem a rather lowly pursuit for a lord...
0:21:13 > 0:21:16..hunting rabbits.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20In the 13th century, the right to breed and hunt rabbits
0:21:20 > 0:21:23was a fiercely guarded privilege.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29Their meat was an expensive delicacy, their fur a luxury.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35They were carefully nurtured in special enclosures
0:21:35 > 0:21:37and guarded by a warrener.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46This warrener's lodge near Thetford once stood in open heathland.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53The warrener's lodge was on two floors.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54This ground floor was a storeroom
0:21:54 > 0:21:58with thick walls and small windows to protect it.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02And here there'd be the nets, the lamps, the snares,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07racks to hold the valuable rabbit skins and the rabbit flesh itself.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11And then a staircase up here which goes up to the first floor
0:22:11 > 0:22:15and that was where the warrener lived with his family,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18so a huge fireplace,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22and windows all the way around. And a final tower at the top there,
0:22:22 > 0:22:28so that he could look out with a view, 360 degrees, of the whole warren.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36Just as the warrener protected his rabbits, so his lodge protected him.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41His home was built to be a fortress.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48It's a very fine building, these lovely stones on the corner
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and the flint work, almost too grand you might think for it's purpose,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57but the warrener faced real enemies, gangs of marauding poachers
0:22:57 > 0:23:01armed with bows and arrows and sticks, who'd come after him.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06And there was another reason. This lodge could be seen for miles around,
0:23:06 > 0:23:11and it said to everybody, "This is a private warren and the warrener is there to protect it."
0:23:15 > 0:23:19That's an albino ferret, he's about three years old.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23He's in his prime, ferret never get no better.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26- You can hold him if you like. - He's a biter, that one?
0:23:26 > 0:23:28- No. It bit me, mind you.- Did it?
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Why won't it bite me, then?
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Do you train them to go after rabbits or is it just natural?
0:23:34 > 0:23:37No, it's just a natural instinct. Like me, hopefully.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46'Warreners still use the old methods
0:23:46 > 0:23:49'to control the rabbit population.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02'These rabbits are being rounded up to be moved to another warren nearby.'
0:24:02 > 0:24:05It's an old, old skill being a warrener, isn't it?
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Well, it is. It's a family thing as well.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Our family, going back, to my knowledge, five, six generations
0:24:13 > 0:24:18have been warreners and probably before that. It's a gift, if you like.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24What's the appeal?
0:24:24 > 0:24:30Just, you know, a lovely, natural feeling you get with the rabbits and all the wildlife.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34And, eh...to be able to...
0:24:34 > 0:24:39love wildlife as well as control, like, where you have to, and make the balance.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42And that seems a good way of life to me.
0:24:54 > 0:25:00I'm on my way to Lincolnshire, to a place which reminds me who I am.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06My family used to come from this part of the world,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11a tiny little hamlet called Dembleby. Haven't been... Here we are!
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Oops. Turn left, hold on tight. Whoa!
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Haven't been here for 40 years, over 40 years.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Dembleby.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27It's a Viking name, we're Vikings. It means a little stream going through a valley,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30which is what it is. Dembleby, "Please drive slowly
0:25:30 > 0:25:34"through our village." Through my village!
0:25:36 > 0:25:42Dembleby's changed very little since the Middle Ages, it's just a few houses and a parish church.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58- Hello, how do you do?- Good to meet you.- David Dimbleby.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03- How many people live in Dembleby now?- 35.- What, 35 people in the village, is that it?
0:26:03 > 0:26:08- That's about it yes, yeah.- I think I better come back and live here and increase the population by 10%!
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Has it been very difficult to find any references to Dimblebys?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18No, I mean, these are the... I've looked in two books and there they were.
0:26:18 > 0:26:25'The local historian had done some digging to find out what my medieval ancestors were up to.'
0:26:25 > 0:26:28This is the 1341 Royal Inquest in Lincolnshire
0:26:28 > 0:26:33and, um, here we have... Where is he...? Can you see him on here?
0:26:33 > 0:26:36- Thomas de Dembleby.- Yes.- Chaplain.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40"On the 14th of June 1339 at Lincoln,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44"feloniously killed Gilbert Sharpe..."
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- What, the chaplain?!- "..Former servant of the parson of Leake."
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Is "feloniously killing" the same as murder?
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I'm trying to avoid saying it, I'm glad you're saying it.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58- So, a Dimbleby who was a chaplain... - Yes.- ..Committed murder?
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Well, um, that's what it seems to say on the face of it.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07- Would you cease your historical research, please? Thank you very much!- I will, indeed.- Forthwith.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Let's forget the murky past of the humble Dimblebys
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and see how the grand members of medieval society lived.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Gainsborough Old Hall was built around 1460.
0:27:40 > 0:27:46It was the home of a rich, powerful and flamboyant knight, Sir Thomas Burgh.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55For much of the medieval period, everyone - the lord, his lady,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58their retainers and servants -
0:27:58 > 0:28:02would live in one big room like this.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06This is one of the last great halls left standing in England
0:28:06 > 0:28:08and what a wonderful sight it is.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12These black and white stripes, the plaster and the beams,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15the great beamed roof... Exactly as it would have looked
0:28:15 > 0:28:19except for one missing element - and that's the people.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Because this was the centre of the household, this is where everything happened.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25It wasn't just that people ate here.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29They did all their business here, standing in groups in the corners,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32arguing, talking, warming themselves by the fire.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36And then as night fell, out came skins, rugs, whatever,
0:28:36 > 0:28:38and they all slept in here.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It must have been a disgusting smell.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45This is a really impressive part of the house, the kitchen,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48which is one third the size of the great hall.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Twelve people working here all day long, feeding anything from 50 to 100 people.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58And the whole thing tightly controlled because they had to make sure food wasn't stolen,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00that the work was done exactly as it should be.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04So the clerk was in charge, and he had his own office in here.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09You couldn't get into the kitchen without passing through his office,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12he'd check what you were up to,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14and came into the kitchen here.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Now, here is a huge fireplace.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20And this is a boiling area,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23ladles and devices there for cooking with.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27There's a corner here for boiling meats, and meat hanging up.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30An extremely large wild boar waiting to be cut up.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35And then you come to the pastry ovens, where pastry and bread were done,
0:29:35 > 0:29:37just like a pizza oven, if I can take this one out...
0:29:39 > 0:29:45And then going on round is the roasting fireplace with a spit,
0:29:45 > 0:29:50and here four people sat while they roasted, turning these.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56I can't do it right. There we are, turning...
0:29:56 > 0:29:58I don't know how that works.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02Four people sat turning these spits, and it was so hot
0:30:02 > 0:30:05that the four men working here
0:30:05 > 0:30:08did their work stark naked, because if they had clothes on,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11it would get fat on it and would catch fire.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16It seems to me it might have been a bit dangerous being stark naked. But, anyway, that's what they did.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20And then you come to the delivery of the food. The food is all laid out
0:30:20 > 0:30:24and carefully worked out. You know how easy it is in the kitchen to bump into people,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28at the dishwasher, at the sink, at the stove. Here it's big enough
0:30:28 > 0:30:31for all the food to be brought from these tables
0:30:31 > 0:30:34to the serving hatch, which is huge, here,
0:30:34 > 0:30:36and from there into the great hall.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54'The provision of a fine table was essential to a lord's standing in society.'
0:30:54 > 0:30:56I can't eat all that!
0:30:56 > 0:31:02'At a medieval feast, there were as many as 24 different dishes.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'They were served by the carver
0:31:05 > 0:31:10'in delicate pieces, laid on thick bread, which acted as a plate.' Mmm!
0:31:10 > 0:31:13That's spectacular.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17- The first course done. - I need a drink.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21'Everybody drank. A visiting Italian monk said,
0:31:21 > 0:31:26' "the English delight in drink and make it their business to drain full goblets."
0:31:28 > 0:31:30'No change there, then.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37'Medieval specialities included roast rabbit, of course,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40'castles made of pastry served flambe...' Lord!
0:31:40 > 0:31:43'And the cockatrice - the head of a cockerel
0:31:43 > 0:31:45'sewn onto the back end of a pig.'
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Oh...!
0:31:58 > 0:32:04They must sometimes have said, "I just want to have a boiled egg and go to bed early." No?
0:32:04 > 0:32:06- No.- No?
0:32:16 > 0:32:21But there was one thing that wealth and power couldn't protect you from,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24which made lord and peasant equal...
0:32:26 > 0:32:29..the devastating effects of the Plague.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36In 1348, the Black Death struck England.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40The deadly disease began with swellings in the groin,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44the eruption of black pustules all over the body
0:32:44 > 0:32:45and the vomiting of blood.
0:32:47 > 0:32:53Within hours came an agonising death as victims coughed uncontrollably
0:32:53 > 0:32:55and drowned in the fluid in their lungs.
0:32:59 > 0:33:06The Great Plague killed almost half the people of England.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11But, for the peasants who survived, the devastation brought benefits,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14the promise of a better life.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19The sudden shortage of labour meant they could demand their freedom
0:33:19 > 0:33:21and higher wages for their work.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Swathes of the countryside were neglected for lack of manpower.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29What was to be done?
0:33:30 > 0:33:32This was the answer.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34SHEEP BLEAT
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Come on, in you go.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54'Sheep-rearing didn't need as many labourers as growing corn.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58'Sheep produced meat and, most valuable of all, they produced wool.'
0:34:02 > 0:34:05This beauty is a Lincoln Long Wool sheep.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09And this huge fleece, just look at the thickness of it!
0:34:09 > 0:34:15This was what brought prosperity back to East Anglia, it's this animal that's responsible
0:34:15 > 0:34:21for the building of towns and villages and some of the finest churches England has.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24You don't realise that, do you, hey?
0:34:29 > 0:34:32- Like that?- Yeah.- Sure?
0:34:36 > 0:34:38..Was that something I said?
0:34:40 > 0:34:43There is no sheep that produces the quantity
0:34:43 > 0:34:46or the length or the strength
0:34:46 > 0:34:50- of wool that the Lincoln does.- The length of the thread or whatever?
0:34:50 > 0:34:53- It can be up to 1ft long.- Really?
0:34:53 > 0:34:58- They're wonderful-looking, they look as if they've got dreadlocks, don't they?- Oh, yes, yes.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02- A sort of Rasta look.- Yes.- How much do you get for a fleece now?
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Unfortunately, the price is going down this year but about £4.50.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09- £4.50?!- Yes. - What, for all that wool?
0:35:09 > 0:35:12- Yes.- I don't believe it. - Well, farming doesn't pay very well.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16- But that's less than they'd have got in the 14th century.- Well, it is.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20I think rams then were worth about £15 to £20,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23whereas the labourers probably got a shilling a week,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26or something like... probably even less than that.
0:35:26 > 0:35:32So you can understand why people sometimes stole sheep, and were hanged for it.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46Lincolnshire's prize wool was transported south to Suffolk
0:35:46 > 0:35:51where new towns grew up, devoted to turning the wool into cloth.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56The peaceful town of Lavenham was once one of the richest towns
0:35:56 > 0:36:01in medieval England, thanks to this boom in the cloth industry.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08Whole streets of medieval houses and workshops survive here.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15They were built by rich cloth merchants in the most flamboyant style.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27A street like this looks quaint, picturesque to our eyes,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31but five centuries ago it would have been far from quaint or picturesque.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37This would have been a noisy place day and night. Men shouting as bales of wool were unloaded
0:36:37 > 0:36:41from the horses that have come down from Lincolnshire. Women gossiping as they washed
0:36:41 > 0:36:47and sorted and carded the wool Women on the doorstep spinning the yarn.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52Men working on the looms inside, turning the yarn into cloth.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55And then there were the dyers - Lavenham's famous
0:36:55 > 0:36:57for something called Lavenham Blue -
0:36:57 > 0:37:01with great big vats of boiling water with woad added to it.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06And the effluent from the vats would come running down a drain in the middle of this street
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and not just that stinking mess
0:37:08 > 0:37:14but urine, the droppings of horses, offal from the butcher's shops,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18and human excrement, which was simply taken out of the houses and dropped in the street.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22The whole place was a stinking mess.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39'As the town grew, a way had to be found to cope with pollution from the cloth industry.'
0:37:40 > 0:37:42Ugh!
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Lavenham was rich enough to find a solution.
0:37:47 > 0:37:53In the 1520s, they simply covered over the drain, they built this beautiful brick culvert,
0:37:53 > 0:37:58and down it came all the effluent, all the sewage.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03They were the envy of towns and cities all over England.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Lavenham's houses belonged to a rising middle class
0:38:14 > 0:38:17who could afford to build in style.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27'Their homes and their meeting halls were comfortable and airy.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31'They could buy glass for their windows,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33'a luxury in medieval England.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43'Later they began to decorate their homes with elaborate plaster work
0:38:43 > 0:38:46'known as pargeting.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05'A mixture of sand, lime and animal hair
0:39:05 > 0:39:09'was applied to the building and shaped into intricate patterns.'
0:39:09 > 0:39:12If I fill in this bit here...
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Perfect.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17- Not much of a pattern I'm making. - That looks all right to me.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22The pargeter had to work fast
0:39:22 > 0:39:25to finish his design before the plaster dried hard.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32It looks like making mud pies, doesn't it, though?
0:39:32 > 0:39:36- Well, it is a similar sort of thing, only on walls.- Do you enjoy doing it?
0:39:36 > 0:39:41I love doing it. Every job's a challenge. You're thinking before,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45"What am I going to do? How am I going to do it? What's the best kind of design?"
0:39:45 > 0:39:49And, eh, this is lovely, I never get tired of doing it,
0:39:49 > 0:39:54never ever get tired of doing it.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54You could have some mischief with this, couldn't you?
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Something like that wouldn't occur to me!
0:39:57 > 0:40:00What's the most mischievous thing you've done?
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Eh, I never HAVE done, actually, I don't think.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- Have you not?- Oh, yes, I did. I done a job for some people
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and right at the end they wanted a barn owl.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13Then they told me they didn't have all my money ready, so I put a rat in its beak.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17And it's still on their gable, a barn owl with a big rat hanging out of its beak.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23CHURCH BELL RINGS
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Travel through Suffolk and you'll see magnificent churches everywhere,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39built by locals who grew rich on cloth.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44It's sometimes called Silly Suffolk today,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48but that's from the Anglo-Saxon "seely", meaning "blessed".
0:40:57 > 0:41:03"What would you be, you wide East Anglian sky, without a church to recognise you by?"
0:41:03 > 0:41:06The words of the Poet Laureate John Betjeman,
0:41:06 > 0:41:10who encouraged people to go, not pub-crawling, but church-crawling.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26The Holy Trinity in Blythburgh is a must for any church crawl.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36The great glory of Blythburgh
0:41:36 > 0:41:39are these pairs of angels
0:41:39 > 0:41:43supporting the roof, all the way down the nave,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47looking like eagles with their wings outstretched. Really exciting.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57Every church has something special about it - round tower, thatch tower -
0:41:57 > 0:41:59each has its own unique treasure.
0:42:03 > 0:42:09'St Peter's in Wenhaston boasts a breathtaking survival from the Middle Ages.'
0:42:14 > 0:42:16A strange thing happened in this church.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21Towards the end of the 19th century, the Victorians, who loved restoring churches,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23were busy putting in that new archway there.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28And to do so they had to take out a great piece of wood, all covered in whitewash.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33And the workmen simply took it outside and put it in the churchyard overnight.
0:42:33 > 0:42:40That night there was a torrential downpour and in the morning the workmen came back...
0:42:40 > 0:42:43and this is what they found.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Under the whitewash was this terrifying vision
0:42:51 > 0:42:54of the Day of Judgment.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59The souls of the dead are weighed by St Michael as the Devil looks on.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02The good are received into heaven,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06the sinners chained and cast into hell.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11This vision of heaven and hell doesn't mean much to us now,
0:43:11 > 0:43:16but in the Middle Ages people were really fearful about the Day of Judgment.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20And it's what led to some of the greatest churches and cathedrals,
0:43:20 > 0:43:25because people poured their money into these buildings, to maintain them, to endow them,
0:43:25 > 0:43:31not for THIS world but because of their concern for what would happen in the next.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39Fear of death preyed on the medieval mind.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41And it's not hard to see why.
0:43:43 > 0:43:49The skeletons in the graveyard of St Margaret's church in Norwich have been exhumed and analysed.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55The bones tell a grim tale.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11Over half the skeletons that were dug up
0:44:11 > 0:44:15were found to be suffering either from illnesses
0:44:15 > 0:44:17or from severe injuries.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19Now, this one, for instance,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23the bottom of the leg bone, that curve
0:44:23 > 0:44:28is a symptom of rickets caused by malnutrition, a bad diet.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30The forearm here...
0:44:31 > 0:44:33..has been broken
0:44:33 > 0:44:37and not properly set, but has somehow healed itself.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43And then this skull...
0:44:45 > 0:44:48..the skull should be smooth on the inside.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51In fact, if you look at this one,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54it's got little scars all around it, like lesions,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58and that's a symptom of syphilis.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Two thirds of children died before the age of 12.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09Even if you lived beyond 12, you couldn't expect a long life.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13The average age of death was the early 30s.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36One way to ward off illness and misfortune was to go on a pilgrimage.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Up in the north of Norfolk is the village of Little Walsingham.
0:45:54 > 0:45:59Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared here in 1061.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01Thank you. Thank you very much.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03- Thank you so much.- OK.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08By the 13th century, Walsingham ranked alongside Rome and Jerusalem
0:46:08 > 0:46:13as a place of pilgrimage. It became known as England's Nazareth.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Kings, nobles and the common people came on pilgrimage here
0:46:34 > 0:46:40to affirm their faith and to pay homage to Our Lady of Walsingham.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Slipper Chapel is the last in a whole series of chapels that lead up to Walsingham.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05Not Slipper as some people think because people took their shoes off to walk barefoot,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09but from the word "slipe", meaning to slide, to move,
0:47:09 > 0:47:14from the rest of England into the Holy Land of Walsingham.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17It's the last stop before the pilgrims reach the shrine.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31Today, pilgrims still come, as they did in medieval times, to walk in procession
0:47:31 > 0:47:35the last leg of their journey along a road known as the Holy Mile.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45A medieval writer said of Walsingham, "Many sick have been cured
0:47:45 > 0:47:49"by Our Lady's power, the dead revived, the lame made whole,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52"the blind have had their sight restored."
0:47:52 > 0:47:55..Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...
0:47:55 > 0:48:00..Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05The final stop on the pilgrims' journey, the ruins of Walsingham Priory.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17It was built in 1150
0:48:17 > 0:48:21to celebrate the miraculous appearance of the Virgin.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Today, all that remains is a magnificent turreted arch.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36The pilgrimage to Little Walsingham is like nothing else in Britain.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42It's an extraordinary reminder of a vanished religious era.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48The Middle Ages are alive and well in Little Walsingham.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01As the Middle Ages drew to a close,
0:49:01 > 0:49:06England settled into a new period of peace and prosperity.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10The days of looking nervously over your shoulder were passing,
0:49:10 > 0:49:14and the fortified castle gave way to the country house.
0:49:21 > 0:49:27Oxburgh Hall, near King's Lynn, was built towards the end of the 15th century.
0:49:38 > 0:49:44It could be a castle - gatehouse, moat, battlements, all present and correct.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49But this building isn't about defence, it's about display.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Those battlements aren't there to shield archers, they're just decoration.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05The moat provides a nice reflection, not protection from attack.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10And instead of blocks of defensive stone,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13a new building material was used - brick.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17In the early 15th century it was very expensive, used pretty well only by the king.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21But by the time Oxburgh was built it had become readily available here.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25And it allowed the owner not only to look grand
0:50:25 > 0:50:28but also to be in the fashion.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41The fashion was to use brick to do what you couldn't easily do with stone.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48The gatehouse uses bands of brick on the front to make it look
0:50:48 > 0:50:53as if it's eight storeys high, a medieval skyscraper, to impress visitors.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57'But all isn't what it seems.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03'Go through the archway into the courtyard on the other side, and in fact it's only three storeys high.'
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Towards the end of the Middle Ages,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23the rich were using the trappings of fortifications like this
0:51:23 > 0:51:29to suggest power, prestige, perhaps a little touch of romance.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33Buildings were harking back to the past
0:51:33 > 0:51:38while at the same time looking forward to a new age.
0:51:55 > 0:52:02For the final part of my journey I'm travelling back across the fens of East Anglia
0:52:02 > 0:52:06to a place where the medieval age reached its peak of sophistication -
0:52:06 > 0:52:09the University of Cambridge.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23The Middle Ages began with buildings that grew out of conquest and oppression.
0:52:23 > 0:52:29Now came a nobler aim, the pursuit of knowledge and learning.
0:52:31 > 0:52:36The building of Cambridge University began in the 13th century.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Its growth caused fury among the townsfolk
0:52:39 > 0:52:45because it threatened their prosperity as a thriving riverside port.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50But the building of King's College sealed the fate of the town.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01When Henry VI decided to build King's College, he faced every developer's nightmare.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05The land from here down to the river was full of houses, of shops,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08lanes going down to the wharves.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10There was a church, there were two pubs.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14But being the monarch, of course, he simply razed the lot to the ground,
0:53:14 > 0:53:19and in doing so he cut off the town from the river.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23It was the beginning of the university's takeover of Cambridge.
0:53:29 > 0:53:34Narrow streets and dank lanes gave way to the most magnificent building
0:53:34 > 0:53:37in the university - King's College Chapel.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Henry VI wanted to astonish people by building a chapel
0:53:53 > 0:53:56bigger than anything they'd ever seen before.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01It was 70 years and six monarchs before it was completed,
0:54:01 > 0:54:07but when it was, it stood as the most magnificent memorial to medieval man.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37The delicacy and elegance of the stonework
0:54:37 > 0:54:40was unlike anything seen before.
0:54:47 > 0:54:53We've travelled a long way from the Normans with their solid, powerful, rather severe buildings
0:54:53 > 0:54:56to this end of the Middle Ages,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59with this wonderful lightness and exuberance.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03The final flowering of medieval architecture.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14The building is a miraculous feat of engineering.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27From slender columns at the side,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31stone ribs soar heavenwards
0:55:31 > 0:55:34to the crowning glory, the fan vaulted ceiling.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39Its sheer scale is breathtaking.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43It's the largest fan vault in the world.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05This is quite astonishing. I'm standing under the great roof
0:56:05 > 0:56:08of the chapel, these are the wooden beans that support it.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11But what I'm standing ON is the top of the ceiling,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13the fan vaulted ceiling.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18And the stone here is only 12 centimetres thick,
0:56:18 > 0:56:24almost like an eggshell supporting nearly 2,000 tons of stone.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27You almost feel you could fall through.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50When they built this ceiling, they cut holes through it
0:56:50 > 0:56:54so that they could communicate with the stonemason on the other side.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56And the holes have been left here. If you look through,
0:56:56 > 0:57:01you can see right down to the choir stalls,
0:57:01 > 0:57:07about 100ft below me. Very tempting, if you were a schoolboy,
0:57:07 > 0:57:12to throw little stink bombs down in the middle of evensong.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36Staring at this ceiling sends me into a kind of trance-like state...
0:57:37 > 0:57:40..almost like a dream...
0:57:41 > 0:57:44..listening to fine music.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48It's SO beautiful.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55It's just what the builders wanted -
0:57:55 > 0:57:58to make it look like a dream
0:57:58 > 0:58:01so you didn't believe it was real.
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd