0:00:05 > 0:00:08I'm travelling through Britain
0:00:08 > 0:00:13to discover how a thousand years of history has shaped our buildings,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16our villages and our towns.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22This week, I'm in the middle of England,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27working my way up from Wiltshire in the south to Cheshire in the north.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37I'm seeing how the country was transformed in the 16th century,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40a golden age in the story of Britain.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48I'll be discovering houses that introduced new standards of comfort.
0:00:52 > 0:00:58Spectacular palaces, built to woo a virgin queen.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05Towers that mystify with their secret codes.
0:01:08 > 0:01:14And the idyllic villages of the Cotswolds, barely changed in four centuries.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23This was an age of great wealth and the comfort and luxury that came with it,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26a new landed class, building for their own pleasure.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31It was the start of a boom in the creation of great houses
0:01:31 > 0:01:36that have left their mark forever here, in the heart of England.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16The year is 1536.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19England is undergoing a revolution.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Henry VIII is destroying the power of the Church, dissolving monasteries
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and selling off land and buildings to his supporters.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41It was a chance for ambitious men to cash in on the biggest property boom Britain had ever seen.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, was once a nunnery.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01When it came up for sale, one man saw his chance.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10It was bought by William Sherrington, a minor courtier,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13hoping to improve his social status.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Parts of Lacock Abbey still look like a religious foundation -
0:03:25 > 0:03:28these cloisters with their lovely tracery of windows,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32vaulted ceiling embossed with strange mystical beasts.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36You can almost imagine the nuns processing
0:03:36 > 0:03:41on their way to one of the seven services they went to every day in the church.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45But in 1540, Sherrington took possession,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47and he had rather different ideas.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59He knocked down the church and moved in with his family,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02transforming the abbey into a comfortable country house.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13The huge communal rooms above the cloisters, where the nuns used to eat and sleep,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18were converted into grand living quarters.
0:04:18 > 0:04:25Where the abbey church had stood, Sherrington built a tower, dedicated to worship of a different god.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35This was designed as a perfect strong-room.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Stone shelves and alcoves for him to keep his treasure.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44A great iron-bound door here for security, and padlocks.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49There was no staircase, so you can't get from this room up into the room above,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52or down to the room below - that's the only entrance.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57And then in the middle, this beautiful marble-top table,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59octagonal table,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02ideal for him to count his money.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Money was the key to Sherrington's power.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13He was the under-treasurer of the Royal Mint at Bristol.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17But there, ambition and greed got the better of him.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21He made a fortune by clipping the coinage -
0:05:21 > 0:05:27literally cutting bits of gold off it or making it lighter in weight than it should be.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31He was discovered, but there were no flies on Sherrington.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34He grassed on his boss.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36His boss was executed.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Sherrington went scot-free.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50One of the old rogue's descendants still lives in part of the house today,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53in a flat just off the courtyard.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- Hello.- Hello.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03How very nice to meet you.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Let's come out here a little bit further.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08It's a wonderful place to live, isn't it?
0:06:08 > 0:06:12It is. It's a bit big, but it's a wonderful place, yes.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16This courtyard is what? Dairy, brewery...? What are you living in - the old brewery?
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I live, um, over the stables.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21- Yes.- In the hayloft. - You're in the hayloft?
0:06:21 > 0:06:25- I'm in the hayloft.- It's a nice place to end up.- Oh, yes, very nice!
0:06:26 > 0:06:29It was originally a religious foundation.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33And it's always been a fairly peaceful life here.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38I don't think we've got any skeletons in the cupboard, and certainly no ghosts.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Well, you HAVE got a skeleton because Sherrington was a crook.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47Well, he was a crook, yes. He wasn't a very pleasant character at all.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Are you ashamed to have him as an ancestor?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Well, maybe I'd rather not.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Sir William Sherrington's rise from minor gentry to Knight of the Realm
0:07:01 > 0:07:06was typical of the upward mobility of Henry VIII's reign.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10A rare opportunity for betterment that wasn't to be missed.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20At Lacock, an abbey has been turned into a grand private house.
0:07:20 > 0:07:27It's the perfect example of the revolution that was transforming England in the 16th century.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33The country had been taken over, was owned and controlled by a whole new class of man.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55To get rich quick was the dream,
0:07:55 > 0:08:02as land and money were taken from the Church, and given to men and women on the make.
0:08:04 > 0:08:11Country houses took on a magnificence once seen only in palaces and cathedrals.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24It reached its peak in the reign of Henry VIII's daughter, Elizabeth I.
0:08:25 > 0:08:32Elizabeth's habit of dropping in on her subjects for a visit changed the look of British architecture.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Elizabeth didn't build any houses for herself.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40She didn't need to - she got others to do it for her.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45She kept her courtiers hungry for power and influence, and keen to impress her.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50And they impressed her by building some of the greatest houses in the world,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53houses literally fit for a queen.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27Burghley House in Lincolnshire - more a palace than a house.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36It was built by Sir William Cecil, founder of one of the great English dynasties.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Politics was his life, and he rose to become Elizabeth's lord treasurer.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57"No prince in Europe," she said, "hath such a councillor as I have in mine." And she needed him.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02She was all-powerful, but she was indecisive and sometimes impetuous.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08He, on the other hand, was practical, clear-headed, and above all, patient.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10They were a perfect match.
0:10:26 > 0:10:32Sherrington's Lacock was a make-over, but Burghley is a spectacular new building.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38It has Cecil's success stamped all over it, his coats of arms everywhere you look.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41"Haven't I done well!" is the message.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54This is the rooftop at Burghley House.
0:10:54 > 0:11:00Now, this is a new roof, lead one, 1991, and it's all been redone
0:11:00 > 0:11:05because in the Elizabethan era, this whole space was flat.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11An area where you could walk around and where the privileged and the powerful would come
0:11:11 > 0:11:15to argue, to discuss, to plot, maybe,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17well away from the ears of servants,
0:11:17 > 0:11:22and other people who shouldn't hear what they had to say.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25And what a place to walk.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28It's a sunny afternoon now and it's beautiful enough.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32But imagine coming up here by moonlight or starlight,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34when everything's silent all around,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39and you've got these pinnacles and pepper pots and pillars...
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Sheer magic.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The roof area covers 1½ acres,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57with turrets and arches that frame the landscape.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04And a forest of chimneys.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Chimneys were all the rage at the time.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13There was a passion for chimneys because chimneys proclaimed your wealth and your status.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18The more chimneys, the more fires, the more fires, the more rooms.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21And here at Burghley, there are chimney's everywhere,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25chimneys hidden in the balustrades, chimneys in these great Roman columns.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28And not content with that, they even added false chimneys
0:12:28 > 0:12:32to show how rich and powerful the family was.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40There are 76 chimneys at Burghley.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43And the real ones, at least, had to be cleaned.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01What do you do, exactly?
0:13:01 > 0:13:04It sends the weight right down to the bottom.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07And once the weight gets right down to the bottom,
0:13:07 > 0:13:13the rope follows through and the brush goes down, and the man at the bottom pulls it right down.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Then, when it's at the bottom, he sort of signals us,
0:13:16 > 0:13:21- and we just get the other end of the rope and pulls it back up.- Who gets covered in soot?- Edward, sometimes.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24- He does - that's why you put him up there!- Yes!
0:13:24 > 0:13:27How often to you do this job to this...?
0:13:27 > 0:13:31- About once a year.- One a year?
0:13:31 > 0:13:33How many years have you been doing it?
0:13:33 > 0:13:36- 33 years, well, 32 years now. - Have you?
0:13:36 > 0:13:41- Yes.- Is this how they'd have done it in the Elizabethan days, the way you're doing it, do you think?
0:13:41 > 0:13:46- I should think so, yes. - They'd send somebody down.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Yeah! ..OK?
0:13:50 > 0:13:52- Can you hear him?- Keep pulling!
0:13:52 > 0:13:55- You want to go and... - Yeah, go and chat to him, yes.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- Who's down at the bottom? - Simon.- Simon?- Yes.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03- Simon!- (Yes?)
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Oh, hello! Can you hear me easily?
0:14:06 > 0:14:09- (Yes, I can hear you.) - Do you like Burghley?
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- (Yes, it's OK.)- The first interview I've ever done down a chimney!
0:14:12 > 0:14:18And the funny thing is, we can't hear a word you're saying, so it's all up to me!
0:14:22 > 0:14:25They always say questions are the only things that count in interviews!
0:14:25 > 0:14:27You don't need the answers!
0:14:49 > 0:14:54The lavish extravagance of Burghley and its sophisticated style
0:14:54 > 0:14:57transformed the English country house.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01It's one of the most spectacular creations of the Elizabethan era.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38When the Queen set out to visit her subjects
0:15:38 > 0:15:42on her Royal progresses across the country,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46she used the palaces of her noblemen as her hotels.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53If you heard the Queen was coming, you might swell with pride or give way to panic -
0:15:53 > 0:15:55or both.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08It was a fabulously expensive business having the Queen to stay.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12The normal bill for a grand house would be, in those days, about £80 a week.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15It rose to £3,000 a week, when the Queen came.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20William Cecil wrote to a courtier who was expecting the Queen, "May God give us both long to enjoy her,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23"for whom we both mean to exceed our purses."
0:16:25 > 0:16:29This extravagant hospitality could prove ruinous.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41When Sir Christopher Hatton built Holdenby Hall in Northhamptonshire,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45to receive Elizabeth, he made it the largest private house in England.
0:16:45 > 0:16:52He moved an entire village so as not to spoil the Queen's view of the countryside.
0:16:52 > 0:16:59Dedicating it to her, he refused to live in Holdenby himself until the Queen had visited.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04This is all that remains of Holdenby, these two elegant arches
0:17:04 > 0:17:08that used to lead into the courtyard - everything else is gone.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And the terrible thing is, Queen Elizabeth never came here.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Hatton died penniless, because he'd spent so much money,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20childless, unmarried.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26A terribly sad end to the story of a man who just wanted to please his Queen.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44There were two Englands under Elizabeth - the vastly rich who displayed their wealth
0:17:44 > 0:17:46and wanted to gain influence at court
0:17:46 > 0:17:53and the huge majority, the rest of the country, who lived rather differently.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59Three-quarters of the working population still laboured and lived on the land.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Farm workers earning only a few pence a day
0:18:05 > 0:18:10lived in basic farmsteads much like this, in the woods near Holdenby.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21The house had a wooden roof, and at one end, a huge chimney and fireplace which stuck out.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26And then the main part of the house itself, built from tree trunks pushed into the ground
0:18:26 > 0:18:32and then wattle, which is all kinds of woods that you can sort of weave together like that,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35to make it nice and strong all the way along,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40and then cow dung, which is the clay, cow dung put on top, smeared on.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42And finally,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47a lime plaster on top of that, to allow it to breath.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Very simple construction, but very effective.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Inside is a single room
0:18:59 > 0:19:04supported by an A-shaped frame, with a sleeping area upstairs.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14Now, this is the kind of food a farmer in a simple farmhouse like this would have had.
0:19:14 > 0:19:20A staple of bread, cheese, eggs, ale to drink,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24and this soup made of barley,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28carrots, parsnips...called potage.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30A mess of potage.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35The rich looked down on this diet - not only looked down on it,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39but thought parts of it were positively dangerous.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42They wouldn't eat raw vegetables, for instance.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45What they thought was healthy to eat was meat.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Is this the kind of pig the Elizabethans would have had, is that the sort of animal?
0:20:02 > 0:20:06- This is the Iron Age wild... sort of, boar pig, yes.- A wild boar?
0:20:06 > 0:20:08- Yeah.- He looks quite wild.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13- She's got a very long nose. - This is what does the damage, this is what does the rooting up.
0:20:13 > 0:20:20If you want any ground cleared, this nose here would clean sort of brambles, nettles, the lot.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23- They'd eat the roots. - Can I pick one up and see?- Yeah.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29- You're meant to pick a pig up by the back legs, aren't you?- Yes.- Is that the safe way of doing it?- It is.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Have to get him from behind, that's the trouble.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Oi!
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Come on.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01- I don't know what you do with them when you pick them up! - Squeal like a pig.- Yes!
0:21:24 > 0:21:30Below the peasant farmer, at the bottom of the social scale were unemployed vagrants,
0:21:30 > 0:21:36who wandered from one village to another, begging for food and shelter and work in the fields.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Elizabethan parliaments passed severe penalties for vagrancy.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Offenders could be whipped until bloody, or burnt through the right ear.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10Many villages, like Dunchurch in Warwickshire, had their own way of dealing with vagrants.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18Beggars could be put into stocks, like these.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23I don't know whether I can get into them...
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Ah!
0:22:25 > 0:22:28And locked in like that for three days or so,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32left here, on a diet of bread and water, unable to move,
0:22:32 > 0:22:38and then kicked out of the village, and sent back home, where very often they weren't welcomed either,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40and went back soon onto the road.
0:22:40 > 0:22:47So being a vagrant or a beggar in Tudor times was a pretty rough life.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50CAR HORN BEEPS
0:23:00 > 0:23:05In the old town of Warwick, a homeless unemployable soldier,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08just back from the wars, would fare a little better.
0:23:08 > 0:23:16Lord Leycester's Hospital was a set of Almshouses for soldiers who had been pensioned off.
0:23:16 > 0:23:22It was founded in 1571 by Lord Robert Dudley, a courtier to Queen Elizabeth.
0:23:26 > 0:23:33As long as they observed the rules, the old soldiers could live here in peace.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Over 400 years later, the Almshouses are still serving the same purpose,
0:23:46 > 0:23:52giving shelter to ex-servicemen, and still observing the same rituals.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- Morning, Reverend.- Morning, sir.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01If we remember the injuries we suffer and never deserved,
0:24:01 > 0:24:07help us to remember the kindnesses we received and never earned.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12'The same prayers have been said here every day since the 16th century.'
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Help us to be thankful for your unfailing mercies and those of other people
0:24:17 > 0:24:22for the sake of the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Amen.
0:24:34 > 0:24:40When the Almshouses were first built, all the residents slept in one large hall over the courtyard.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43These days, they have separate flats.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48My flat is known as the Upper Malt House, which is this building here.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50And I have the upstairs flat,
0:24:50 > 0:24:56and it's a nice place to rest my head, and we're keeping the history of the place going.
0:24:56 > 0:25:02We're helping to maintain what is really a traditional part of the country.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05There aren't many places like this left.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Living here - think of that.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16We had uniform on for Queen or King of country,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and you've still got that same thing here.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23There's still an opening and we're still...as if we're still needed.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25- I've won!- Cheat!
0:25:25 > 0:25:30- And if you want to stay out the night, can you do that without asking?- Nobody's checked us yet!
0:25:30 > 0:25:32You've got to be at the chapel next morning.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34You go every morning to that service.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37- Yes, yes. - What does that mean to you?
0:25:37 > 0:25:40To live here, it's part of the job.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43- There's actually a head count. - Mm, to make sure we're all in.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46And to see that you are still well.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50- You have to show you're up and alive at 9.30 every morning.- Exactly.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Down the road from Warwick, in Stratford-upon-Avon,
0:26:00 > 0:26:05is a different form of Elizabethan charity - the King Edward VI Grammar School.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Before Tudor times, schools had been run by the by the Church,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21but by 1547, there was a grammar school in every market town,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24with a common national curriculum.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The Tudor age heralded a new passion for education.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Schools were set up for the poor.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35And as long as a family could afford for them NOT to work at home, boys started going to school.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40And the result was a huge rise in literacy among all classes.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45ALL: Audit, audimus, auditis, audiunt.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Amo, amas, amat...
0:26:49 > 0:26:52THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Schoolrooms were very noisy places, with pupils learning by rote,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17either chanting or reading out texts aloud.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Doceo, doces, docet...
0:27:21 > 0:27:23Give us this day our daily bread.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- Can I borrow this?- Yes.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30This is one of the key tools for learning to read and write - the horn book.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36A wooden block covered with thin horn and with the alphabet on it.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Below that, vowel sounds, and other sounds -
0:27:39 > 0:27:44ab, eb, ib, ob, ub, ba, be, bi, bo, bu.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And then below that, the Lord's Prayer.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Thanks very much.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive them That trespass against us.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Latin and Greek were at the very heart of the curriculum.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05It was thought essential to speak the classical languages.
0:28:05 > 0:28:11Not that it always worked with all boys, even with a bit of help from teacher's little friend.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16The most famous pupil of this school, William Shakespeare,
0:28:16 > 0:28:22was described by a fellow playwright as having "small Latin and less Greek".
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Not that it did him any harm.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:28:30 > 0:28:35Punishment for failing to study was harsh and painful.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42So, what were you doing? You were doing...Latin, weren't you?
0:28:42 > 0:28:45What do you think of that as a way of learning it? Did it work?
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Um, yeah. It does help.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49- It does help.- Chanting.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51- Chanting helps.- Mm.- Why?
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Because doing it repetitively, over and over again, gets it fixed in your brain.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Can you repeat, without looking at it, what you were saying?
0:28:58 > 0:29:02- Not really. I can repeat the first three words.- Go on then.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Amo, amas, amat.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06- That's it?- Yeah.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09I think the cane for you!
0:29:17 > 0:29:21I'm heading west, crossing into Worcestershire,
0:29:21 > 0:29:26to see the darker side of 16th-century England.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33To be a Roman Catholic under Queen Elizabeth was to take your life in your hands.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39With England at war with Catholic Spain, any Catholic might be a traitor.
0:29:42 > 0:29:48To be a Catholic priest was to be guilty of high treason, punishable by death.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Many priests went on practising, holding Masses,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02travelling the country in disguise, at great risk to themselves,
0:30:02 > 0:30:07and finding sanctuary at the homes of prominent Catholic families.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09This is one of the places they came to.
0:30:12 > 0:30:19Harvington Hall, near Worcester, belonged to an eminent Catholic family called Packington.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25It houses a network of priest holes, places to conceal priests on the run.
0:30:26 > 0:30:33They were made by the master builder, Nicholas Owen, who dedicated his life to protecting Catholics.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Owen must have had a kind of computer brain.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48At least, he had the ability to see a house in three dimensions in his mind,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52so he could decide where the best places to put the hides were.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55And this is a very good example, this is just a little staircase.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Now, if you were searching the house, you'd naturally check the treads.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01And this one, you discover, lifts.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06But when you lifted it up, inside it was just a strong-box, a safe,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10with the family's jewels, silver, perhaps some money.
0:31:10 > 0:31:17So the searching party would look at it, maybe steal something, shut it up and assume there was nothing there.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22But, if you lift it right up, at the back was a partition,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24and when you removed the partition,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27it was a priest's hide.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Owen worked tirelessly across the country,
0:31:34 > 0:31:40devising and building ingenious priest holes, and saving hundreds of lives.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45He worked alone, for the sake of secrecy.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50Each hide was different, so that it offered no clues about the others.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55This time, it's the fireplace.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00It looks like a perfectly normal fireplace, with soot-stained chimney,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05but in reality this isn't soot at all - this has been painted on.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08This isn't a fireplace, it's an escape route.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12If you lie down and look up, you'll see there is no chimney.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14There are two steps,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16and it leads up into the roof.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34The most cunning hide in the building wasn't discovered until the 19th century.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38One of the beams is hinged,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41you can push it back and lift it up,
0:32:41 > 0:32:46and behind is a priest's hide,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49which I should be able to get into.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Ah! Ugh!
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I don't think I'd have made a very good priest!
0:32:57 > 0:33:00I think I'm stuck!
0:33:01 > 0:33:07That's it! Anyway, thin priests could escape discovery!
0:33:14 > 0:33:20It's a deliberately disorienting house, and it lends itself to deception,
0:33:20 > 0:33:25with walls of different thicknesses, confusing twists and turns
0:33:25 > 0:33:29and raised and sunken levels concealing hiding places.
0:33:29 > 0:33:35The family could further disguise these secret spots by covering the trapdoors with reeds,
0:33:35 > 0:33:40or even placing someone on the toilet above a hide, when the soldiers came round.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58But where many priests remained safe, Nicholas Owen, the builder, wasn't so lucky.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01A wanted Catholic, he went on the run.
0:34:01 > 0:34:07After a 12-day search, he was starved out of one of his own priest holes.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12In the Tower of London, he was tortured, hanged with weights on his body
0:34:12 > 0:34:16until, it's said, his bowels gushed out, together with his life.
0:34:23 > 0:34:2870 miles from Harvington Hall, east into Northamptonshire,
0:34:28 > 0:34:33is another building which stands in eloquent defiance of the Elizabethan state.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49The Triangular Lodge was built by the devout Catholic
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Sir Thomas Tresham, in 1594,
0:34:52 > 0:34:58after he'd been imprisoned for 12 years for his faith.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11The building is an intricate riddle, a maze of secret codes.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15At its simplest, it's all threes.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18Three sides, three stories,
0:35:18 > 0:35:23windows in rows of three, three gables.
0:35:23 > 0:35:29A celebration of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44On the face of it, it seems a fairly innocent proclamation of Christianity.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49But there are other messages here, secret messages, cryptic messages,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52treasonable messages.
0:36:01 > 0:36:07At the top of the building are Tresham's most dangerous hidden symbols.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23The angels that carry the water spouts round the building
0:36:23 > 0:36:25have letters engraved on them.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28This one, for instance, the letter S.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33The S stood for the Latin word "sanctus".
0:36:33 > 0:36:41And "sanctus, sanctus, sanctus," or "holy, holy, holy," comes from the Catholic service, the Mass.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46In England, under Elizabeth, celebrating Mass could lead to execution.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02This whole building carried a dangerous and subversive message,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06support for the outlawed Roman Catholic Mass.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18What a daring and bizarre building this is,
0:37:18 > 0:37:23expressing one man's obsession in mysterious stone symbols.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26They were never deciphered by the authorities in Tresham's lifetime,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30and some remain a mystery even today.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Thomas Tresham got away with it.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52Curiosities like the Triangular Lodge were typical of the age.
0:37:52 > 0:37:58The Elizabethans loved symbols, patterns and geometric shapes,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03sometimes used in deadly earnest, but just as often in a spirit of play.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Across the Peak District and up into Cheshire
0:38:16 > 0:38:21is a house and garden whose design is intricately woven together.
0:38:24 > 0:38:31Here at Little Moreton Hall, is a very rare and perfect example of an Elizabethan knot garden,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35these geometric shapes made from tightly clipped box.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40And in the middle of it, this four-leaf clover pattern,
0:38:40 > 0:38:45which is clever, because it exactly copies the pattern on the house.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Knot gardens are made to look like a knotted piece of string,
0:39:00 > 0:39:05with the hedge woven under and over itself.
0:39:16 > 0:39:17Hello.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23What's the idea behind a knot garden?
0:39:23 > 0:39:27The concept was to try and bring some of the house
0:39:27 > 0:39:29out into the garden.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34So, as you can see in here, the walls are yew hedging.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39And you can look down into this room from the upstairs, there.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47- Why the gravel in the middle? - To set out the pattern. - And would they have had gravel?
0:39:47 > 0:39:53Yes, it was purely ornamental. Sometimes, they used coloured gravel, if it was available.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58It's interesting, it's the exact opposite of what we think of as little gardens today, isn't it,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02with flowers and informal beds and this and that.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05This is very, very...
0:40:05 > 0:40:10- Very formal. Do you think it satisfied them?- I think so, yes. - What did they do - walk around them?
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Just take gentle walks around on the grass.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17- Oh, they walked on the grass?- Yes. - Oh, you don't walk inside the knot?
0:40:17 > 0:40:19- No. - So I'm in the wrong place, really.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Yes! If it was anybody else, I'd be telling you off!
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Do you get bored just doing the same thing, year after year?
0:40:29 > 0:40:33- No, it's quite therapeutic.- Is it? - Yeah, I think so anyway.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38- But don't you want to go mad and change the shape?- Oh, no, no! Heaven forbid!
0:41:00 > 0:41:05The house is even more intricate than the garden -
0:41:05 > 0:41:08eccentric, lively, quirky.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13Most of these crazily-shaped timbers aren't needed to keep the house standing,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17they're there for sheer fun and exuberance.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28There's hardly a right angle or a flat surface in sight.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37And here's something quite new - a long gallery,
0:41:37 > 0:41:42somewhere to walk or play or dance, away from the wind and the rain.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Little Moreton Hall is the final extravagant flowering
0:41:59 > 0:42:04of a kind of house that had been built in Britain for hundreds of years -
0:42:04 > 0:42:07a timber frame filled with plaster.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10It's based on the medieval house,
0:42:10 > 0:42:15but in its energy and exuberance, it's quintessentially Elizabethan.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18You won't find anything like this outside England.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41Heading west, I'm leaving the world of timber and plaster
0:42:41 > 0:42:45and entering the limestone belt - the Cotswolds.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06Stone was always plentiful here, but was usually kept for the grander kind of buildings.
0:43:06 > 0:43:12But as the Cotswolds grew rich - on wool and the weaving of cloth -
0:43:12 > 0:43:15even modest houses started to be built to last.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22The 17th century saw a boom at the bottom end of the scale,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25partly because the wool trade was expanding,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28partly because the population wasn't growing so fast
0:43:28 > 0:43:30and the workers could charge more for their labour.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35The result was they got richer and they could afford to buy stone for their cottages.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39That's why, all over the Cotswolds now, you see houses like this.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48Cottages were built simply, with thick stone walls filled with rubble.
0:43:54 > 0:44:01The roofs are steep, to allow for the weight of the stone tiles, and to let the rain flow off easily.
0:44:01 > 0:44:07They have heavy square chimney stacks, gables, dormers and small latticed windows.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19Everything is built in the same local stone -
0:44:19 > 0:44:23from the cottages to the churches and mansions,
0:44:23 > 0:44:28to the walls round the fields, knitting village and countryside together.
0:44:28 > 0:44:35These dry-stone walls are built without any mortar or cement to hold them together.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Why is it called dry-stone?
0:44:46 > 0:44:50It's called dry, because the wall actually stays dry.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55The stones are positioned so they run the water away from the wall,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58so that the water will run off.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00So, how do you get this neatness on the outside?
0:45:00 > 0:45:03- Years of practice. - Is that right?- Yes.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Who is the better stone-waller - you or your father?
0:45:07 > 0:45:09My father's better. I'm still learning.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11- You're still learning?- Yeah.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Is he any good at it, Richard?
0:45:13 > 0:45:17- He's not bad. - You're learning.- He'll get there.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Wouldn't it be easier
0:45:20 > 0:45:25to put posts and barbed wire,
0:45:25 > 0:45:30- and cheaper?- Yes, it would be cheaper and easier, um...
0:45:30 > 0:45:33So, why do people still have stone walls?
0:45:33 > 0:45:38Because they're part of the Cotswolds, they do more than a post-and-wire fence,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41in as much as they create shelter for the stock,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45and that's one of the reasons they were put there in the first place,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47not just as a boundary, but as a shelter as well.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50- Is that right?- Yes.
0:45:58 > 0:46:04At the junction of four counties - Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire,
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Worcestershire and Warwickshire -
0:46:06 > 0:46:12is a remarkable house that's remained untouched for 400 years.
0:46:28 > 0:46:34Chastleton House was built at the turn of the 17th century by a successful wool merchant.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56In the late 1940s, the last owner of Castleton used to let people come and see round the house,
0:46:56 > 0:47:01and it was in a terrible state, and she used to explain, "Well, you see, we lost all our money in the war."
0:47:01 > 0:47:07But she didn't mean the recent war, she meant the Civil War, 300 years earlier.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17With no money for renovation, this house became frozen in time.
0:47:17 > 0:47:23It preserves the design that was fashionable in the early 1600s.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26The front is balanced and symmetrical.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32But the odd thing is, there's something missing -
0:47:32 > 0:47:34there's no front door,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37which you'd expect to be there, in the middle of the house.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40Instead, you go up these grand stairs...
0:47:42 > 0:47:48..turn to the left, and here, hidden away, is the rather grand porch and the front door.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57The peculiar layout had a purpose.
0:47:59 > 0:48:05The reason is that they wanted to preserve the appearance of the medieval hall.
0:48:05 > 0:48:13The screen here, the entrance there, into this big hall, where all the life of the house would take place.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19But, in fact, this house had given up communal living, this wasn't used for eating.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22The family didn't sit here on this dais.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25They lived their life in private.
0:48:29 > 0:48:36The days of the master's family and their servants living together in a great hall were over.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Now, the family wanted rooms of their own.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55It was the start of a trend that led to the layout of the houses we build nowadays,
0:48:55 > 0:48:59though we don't, perhaps, build quite on this scale.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13The great glory of this room is the ceiling -
0:49:13 > 0:49:18brilliant white against these dark oak panels.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23And beautifully worked plaster - bunches of grapes,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27roses, and then these bosses of plaster,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31which look like icing sugar dripping from the ceiling.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42Chastleton has a rather special place in the history books.
0:49:47 > 0:49:54It was here that the rules of one version of croquet, as it's played today, were first laid down.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01- Oh.- Well, done! Go on, Barbara.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- Can I have a go?- Yes, of course.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08- Are you going to be black? - Black, yes. ..Thank you.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11- Yes, red next. - Do you trust me with your ball?
0:50:15 > 0:50:17It's an awkward angle,
0:50:17 > 0:50:20and I can't see the lie of the land right.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25That's good, very good.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27- That'll be all right, won't it?- Yes.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Now, if you hit that, you're disqualified, aren't you?
0:50:31 > 0:50:34- It's black now.- You don't play the proper rules!- Oh, oh, yes, we do!
0:50:34 > 0:50:39- What? - You've just got to go through here.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41Oh! I don't believe it.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46I don't understand how you get any pleasure from it.
0:50:46 > 0:50:52It's all... I thought it was all to do with cheating, aggro,
0:50:52 > 0:50:54bullying - it's a nasty game.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59- You're talking about the David Dimbleby game!- The David Dimbleby game! Exactly, yes!
0:51:10 > 0:51:16Queen Elizabeth died after 45 years on the throne, and her successor was very different.
0:51:16 > 0:51:23James I was intelligent and well educated, but he ran a court riddled with scandals over sex and money.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27The age of pleasure showed no sign of coming to an end.
0:51:30 > 0:51:36Architecture in the age of James became ever more sophisticated,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38even in the rural Cotswolds,
0:51:38 > 0:51:44full of graceful curves and finely sculpted columns.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53For the last leg of my journey,
0:51:53 > 0:51:58I'm going to see a particularly bold example of this ornate style.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Lodge Park, near Sherborne in Gloucester,
0:52:10 > 0:52:14was built for the aristocratic sport of deer coursing,
0:52:14 > 0:52:18the chasing of deer, by hounds, along a racecourse.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30A deer coursing event still takes place here once a year.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Lodge Park was built in the early 17th century.
0:52:38 > 0:52:45It was a grandstand for watching the sport, designed to entertain guests in luxury.
0:52:45 > 0:52:52It looks more suited to be part of a royal palace in the capital than a country racetrack.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08The guests sort of come first into this hall, with its fireplace,
0:53:08 > 0:53:13and then, through this very fine arch, up to the grandstand above.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24Here, in the great room, there would have been food and drink laid out for refreshment,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27and then, out through the doors onto the balcony to watch the racing.
0:53:27 > 0:53:33Now, we think the dogs are going down, they're into slips, now they're both...
0:53:34 > 0:53:40So, we've got Juno running in the red collar, with Murdo running in white.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44And I don't know who you're going to put your money on, but let the best hound win.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47STARTER'S GUN
0:53:47 > 0:53:51Nowadays, instead of a deer, the hounds chase a bit of old fur.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57In the 1600s, the deer was chased to a ditch,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01where the dogs would have to stop and the deer would jump and get away.
0:54:03 > 0:54:09But if a bet of £20 or more was made, it became a fleshing course,
0:54:09 > 0:54:14the ditch was bypassed, and the race was won by the dog that killed the deer.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20James I would have found this very tame.
0:54:20 > 0:54:26He once charged after the hounds on horseback. When the deer was brought down, in his excitement, leapt off,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28slit the deer's throat,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31cut open its belly and climbed inside the deer,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35covering himself and all his companions in blood.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49No period of British history had seen such extravagance,
0:54:49 > 0:54:54in buildings created for pleasure and comfort and show.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08But this world of aristocratic luxury was soon to come to an end.
0:55:11 > 0:55:16In 1642, Britain was plunged into civil war -
0:55:16 > 0:55:22monarchists against republicans, Cavaliers against Roundheads.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27A speaker in Parliament said, "These are days of great shaking."
0:55:27 > 0:55:33And the destruction was terrible - 100,000 people killed, 10,000 buildings destroyed.
0:55:33 > 0:55:39And then, in 1649, the monarchy abolished, and Charles I executed.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Oliver Cromwell and his puritan revolutionaries
0:55:48 > 0:55:52brought a halt to an era of grand and lavish building.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56What they built couldn't have been more different.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07Littlecote Chapel, on the borders of Wiltshire and Berkshire,
0:56:07 > 0:56:11was built by one of Cromwell's most ardent supporters during the Civil War.
0:56:16 > 0:56:22It was converted from a medieval hall to a simple room of prayer,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25and plainly - even severely - furnished.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36This chapel is simplicity itself, purged of every decoration -
0:56:36 > 0:56:42no stained glass, no paintings on the wall, no altar.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Instead, dominating the chapel,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48the pulpit.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54At the heart of their religion was not music and ceremony,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57but preaching and reading the Bible.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02In other words, focusing, quite simply, on the Word of God.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19A century after Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries,
0:57:19 > 0:57:25the religious revolutionaries were on the march again - this time, vowing to turn the world upside-down.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29They promised that Britain would never be the same again.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd