0:00:13 > 0:00:17This week I'm in Scotland, continuing my journey through Britain,
0:00:17 > 0:00:23to discover how 1,000 years of history has shaped the land we live in -
0:00:23 > 0:00:29the buildings, the towns and the villages that have made us who we are.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49In the story of how we built Britain, Scotland has a special part to play.
0:00:49 > 0:00:57A nation with its own distinctive character, a proud country often at odds with its neighbour, England.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02And it shows, in a landscape dotted with buildings which look different,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06and are different, from anything else in Britain.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59For centuries, Scotland was a turbulent place fought over
0:01:59 > 0:02:07by warring clans and threatened by invasion from the south, first by the Romans and then the English.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14Anybody with money and power built, to protect themselves.
0:02:17 > 0:02:23The Scottish landscape is still dominated by their magnificent castles.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Castles come in all shapes and sizes, but they have some
0:02:40 > 0:02:46things in common - thick walls, great high towers, battlements.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50And the interesting thing is that for Scotland the image of the castle
0:02:50 > 0:02:54is so powerful you find it not just in castles, but you find it in
0:02:54 > 0:03:01public buildings, you find it even in people's private homes all over Scotland, and right down the ages.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17Stirling Castle is the greatest symbol of royal power in the land.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26Built by the Stuart kings, it sits high on an outcrop of volcanic rock,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30at the nation's heart, linking highlands and lowlands.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Close by is the mighty monument to William Wallace, who defeated
0:03:45 > 0:03:49the English at the battle of Stirling Bridge, in the valley below.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08In the 16th century, the Stuarts wanted to rival the great courts
0:04:08 > 0:04:14of Europe, so Stirling would be both a fortress and a palace.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26At the heart of the castle sits the great hall.
0:04:34 > 0:04:42It was here that in 1566, Mary Queen Of Scots, celebrated the baptism of her son.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46A great banquet was held in this hall, everybody was there,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49the French ambassadors, the English ambassadors.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52But even so, Mary couldn't resist a little dig at the English.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59The servants were all dressed as Satyrs, that is to say half man, half beast, with tails.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Now the English apparently took offence at this because
0:05:03 > 0:05:10the Scots believe, or I perhaps I should say used to believe, that the English all had tails.
0:05:20 > 0:05:26Hostilities between Scotland and England were suspended in 1603, with the union of the crowns.
0:05:26 > 0:05:33Mary's son, James, King of Scotland, was crowned King of England too.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Scotland felt a new confidence and Stirling was its symbol.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Even in more peaceful times, the Scots didn't stop building castles.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Instead they reinvented them.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18They're called tower houses, still with all the features
0:06:18 > 0:06:22of a fortress, but designed for more comfortable living.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Craigievar, in Aberdeenshire, is an amazing
0:06:31 > 0:06:35collection of soaring towers, like something out of a fairy tale.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42You almost expect to see the princess leaning from a window,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46lowering her golden locks to her princely suitor below.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55This isn't mainly built for defence.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59The giveaway is there's no drawbridge.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03But it wasn't yet time to let down your guard completely.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Well, a stout enough door, with good nails on it,
0:07:10 > 0:07:17and behind it, just in case you have unwelcome visitors, this portcullis - what's called a yett,
0:07:17 > 0:07:22or a gate, this solid iron barred door, which we'll shut across.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25It has a great bolt on it
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and a padlock,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30so you can lock yourself in -
0:07:30 > 0:07:32a bit weird.
0:07:37 > 0:07:44Craigievar was not the home of a great warrior or soldier king, but a merchant, William Forbes.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48He used his wealth to become the local laird.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01And the great glory
0:08:01 > 0:08:04of this tower house is the ceiling.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08It's thought to have been done by Italian craftsmen,
0:08:08 > 0:08:13or people who have been trained in the Italian style,
0:08:13 > 0:08:19a beautifully encrusted plaster roof, with these medallions, with faces,
0:08:19 > 0:08:24with the date when it was finished, 1626.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31There's a funny little thing here. This looks like just a cupboard, which could have anything inside it.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37In fact it's a doorway to a secret staircase to the very top of the house.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39So if you were under attack you would escape up there.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41But it had another use.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46The laird, if he wanted to overhear conversations in the great hall,
0:08:46 > 0:08:51could hide himself behind the cupboard and listen to what was said.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55In Scottish it was called the laird's lug.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Listen to what's going on.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Second floor, with two bedrooms.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16And up to the third floor, the fourth, and the fifth, each one with bedrooms.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Now this is the grandest of the bedrooms,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32known as the Queen's Room, named like that because
0:09:32 > 0:09:36the owners hoped the Queen would come and sleep in the bed.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40In fact Queen Victoria did come here, but she never actually stayed the night.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Still, always hope.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56A building like Craigievar couldn't be anywhere else but in Scotland.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00This is Scottish architecture at its best,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03strong but romantic.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25As you head south through Aberdeenshire, castles pepper the landscape.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29But by the end of the 17th century, the castle was out of fashion.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35As one Scottish earl put it, "Who can delight to live in his house as in a prison?"
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Kinross House, near Perth.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54It embodies a new style of comfort and space.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07This is the first big house in Scotland that wasn't built like a castle.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12This is the kind of house you could have found in England or anywhere on the continent.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Elegant...refined,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19beautiful proportions.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24And with not a trace of that feeling that the house is built to
0:11:24 > 0:11:27pretend it's protecting you from your enemies.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29What a relief it must have been.
0:11:33 > 0:11:41Built in the 1680s, Kinross House was designed by the architect Sir William Bruce as his own home.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Through the front door into this huge hall,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50columns with gold tops to them.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And then into the formal drawing room.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02The clever thing about Bruce was, that for all that he was bringing in
0:12:02 > 0:12:09new ideas, he still paid homage to the romance of Scotland's past.
0:12:09 > 0:12:16The driveway from Kinross lead straight up, through the house,
0:12:16 > 0:12:21through the gardens. You look right down there to Lochleven Castle.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25And Lochleven Castle is where, just over 100 years before,
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Mary Queen Of Scots had been imprisoned and had made one of her dramatic escapes.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44Sir William Bruce had been inspired by the grand buildings he saw on his European travels.
0:12:44 > 0:12:51The writer Daniel Defoe called Kinross the most beautiful private residence to be found in Scotland.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05And this magnificent room is the biggest room in the house, the Grand Salon.
0:13:05 > 0:13:11What a radical break with the past of Scottish buildings this must have been.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16Instead of small rooms and little windows, you've got space, height,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18and light.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31A house like this would have needed a lot of servants, and Bruce was very clever about that, because
0:13:31 > 0:13:36he created a whole warren of corridors and little staircases, so that the servants
0:13:36 > 0:13:42could come and go and look after the family and their guests without ever bumping into them in the corridors.
0:13:42 > 0:13:50And here, for instance, is a little room, probably was a bathroom, as it is today, a tiny cupboard door,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52and, lo and behold, a little staircase.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01It's rather a tight squeeze but just possible,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05though it couldn't have been very easy coming up here with a pitcher of hot water
0:14:05 > 0:14:08for the bathroom.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12And out into this corridor, which used to be a servant's corridor.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16This low ceiling, no decoration or anything. Now it's, of course, used.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21But in those days a corridor that ran right down the house with the main rooms for the family
0:14:21 > 0:14:28and the guests to right and left, so the servants could patrol up and down the centre and go down here
0:14:28 > 0:14:32to the key, the beating heart of the house.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45This corridor, tiled all the way, runs the full length of the house,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49and off to left and right, room after room after room.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54There are rooms for cleaning the silver, there were rooms that were used for cleaning the glass.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59There are rooms for the china, wine cellars, there's dry storage, everything you could think of.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Have a look in here for instance.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Look.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07This was for washing the china.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Two sinks,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11and look at this plate rack.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14150 plates it could take.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Those were the days.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34Along the east coast is the home of Scotland's unofficial religion...golf.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41I'm a non-believer myself, I've never wielded the club.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44- Where do I put this?- Would you like me to help you? High or?
0:15:44 > 0:15:46I've never done it before!
0:15:46 > 0:15:50- You're having it medium.- I can't do it in my jacket can I, or can I?
0:15:50 > 0:15:52That's the way they played it in the olden days.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54- How do you swing, like that? - That's pretty good.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- And then just hit it? - Then just hit it.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02- Oh, where's it gone? - It's soared straight down, I mean absolutely on the line.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06- Absolutely on the line, straight down the middle of the fairway. - You're lying!
0:16:06 > 0:16:08And you're hooked. No, I'm not.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12- The ball's here somewhere. - Absolutely not.- That's it then, thank you very much.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16- Well, OK.- Now I know what it's all about.- Good, David. Are you hooked?
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Um, I've had my go.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25This is the most celebrated golf course in the world, St Andrews.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31- So your two husbands have come here to play this course, yes?- Yes, sir.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- Correct.- What brings them, why is it such a dream for them?
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- It's every golfer's dream.- Is it?
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Oh, to come to Scotland to play your golf courses.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42- Why aren't you two playing? - We have, a bit.- We don't qualify.
0:16:42 > 0:16:49You have turn in your handicap card, and my handicap is my swing!
0:16:49 > 0:16:51- My, I was gonna say. - What's your handicap?
0:16:51 > 0:16:56And my husband says my handicap is my personality, so, they would never let us on!
0:16:56 > 0:17:00And it's like a worm that eats into their minds, isn't it?
0:17:00 > 0:17:04- Yes.- Obsessed.- Yes. - Day and night, talks about it all the time.
0:17:04 > 0:17:05In the shower, even.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07In the shower he swings.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09- Does he?- Seriously.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12He stand in the shower, as he's showering, he goes...
0:17:12 > 0:17:14They may not want him to know that.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I don't care.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Overlooking the course is the club house of the Royal and Ancient.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32- Hello.- Morning, sir.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33Morning.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37- Can I help you?- Ah, just want to have a look around.- Certainly.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38Thank you.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42It's here that the rules of the game are still decided today.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44It's very old-fashioned.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46Members must wear ties.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Ladies can only come through these hallowed portals by special invitation.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00"Feather ball for use in snow, bright red."
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Unusual clubs, looks like a garden rake.
0:18:04 > 0:18:11And they look like instruments of torture, which of course is what they are, really.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14All designed to frustrate.
0:18:31 > 0:18:39300 miles to the northwest, and a whole world away, are the islands of the Outer Hebrides.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Still remote and bound up in a way of life all their own.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I first came to the Outer Hebrides over 40 years ago,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03I think it must have been, to cover a general election, as seen from the point of view of the islanders.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09And I remember how extremely welcoming and charming they were to a complete stranger.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Do you think that not having television, never actually seeing
0:19:19 > 0:19:22the leaders of the parties, means that people aren't so interested in them?
0:19:22 > 0:19:28Well, yes, I'm sure that makes a difference because there's no television sets on this island
0:19:28 > 0:19:35and we never see the leaders actually addressing meetings or speaking, or seeing what they're like
0:19:35 > 0:19:39unless we see their photos in the papers occasionally.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43I remember this rather acquired taste of the weather out here,
0:19:43 > 0:19:49this low scudding clouds coming in from the Atlantic and the rain.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54And then, of course, always the consolation, at the end of the day, of a dram or two.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10On the island of Lewis are the last traces of a civilisation
0:20:10 > 0:20:17that goes back to earliest times and of a culture that remained largely unchanged until the 20th century.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27The islanders scratched a living from the land and the sea as crofters.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31They lived in simple cottages called black houses.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Only a few survive.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37They're built of stone and turf and thatch.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Life here was really tough.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53The crofters didn't have much land, and what they had wasn't very fertile, didn't grow much.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56They maybe had a couple of cows, some chickens.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Otherwise it was the sea - they fished for food, and to get a bit of cash in the summer,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05collected the seaweed at low tide, the kelp, and sold that.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08And of course, there were their houses to build, and just look at
0:21:08 > 0:21:12these These are rocks from the hills around, no cement, fitted together.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Look at the size of that and that and that - really hard graft.
0:21:30 > 0:21:39Inside a black house lived an entire family of three or more generations, all crammed into this small space.
0:21:41 > 0:21:50At the heart of the black house was this open hearth fire, just stones and peat, which burnt day and night.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54It of course kept the place warm, it was used for the cooking.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57But the most important thing it did was to keep the roof dry.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00There was no chimney, the smoke went up into the roof here,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05which is just turf and straw, and stopped the rain coming in.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And, in fact, when they built chimneys to these houses,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13they started to get ill, because the roof got damp and let the rain in.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16So this smoke everywhere is vital. And it has one other property.
0:22:16 > 0:22:23It's said that peat itself is an antiseptic, so that breathing the smoke kept you healthy.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Like a theatre set.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Box beds with curtains, very cosy.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42We'll see if we can get in.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Oh, my goodness it's hard.
0:22:44 > 0:22:51HE GRUNTS AND GROANS
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Just under six foot.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57I'll have to sleep with my feet curled up.
0:23:05 > 0:23:12One half of the black house for humans, this half for animals, and it's almost as large a space.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18One idea of it was that the heat from the animals
0:23:18 > 0:23:25helped keep the cottage, where the humans lived, warm, and there was a very slight slope,
0:23:25 > 0:23:32so that the hot air rose up to the cottage, and equally of course the drainage ran down.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35And there's a drain here that leads out.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And then at the end of the winter months, when the animals
0:23:38 > 0:23:44went outside, then all the manure would be taken out and put back on the fields, as would the roof.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48It wasn't just the manure from the cows they used to fertilise,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52but the roof itself, after a year or two, full of smoke,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55was a very good fertiliser too.
0:23:55 > 0:24:03So it's a complete self-sufficient cycle of life that the crofters had.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05It's absolutely magical.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23There's a long tradition among the islanders of making the hard-wearing Harris tweed.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33One weaver who grew up in a black house is Duncan McCloud, now in his nineties.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38And he's still most comfortable speaking the language he grew up with, Gaelic.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42How many hours a day would he have done this for, this weaving?
0:24:42 > 0:24:50THEY SPEAK GAELIC
0:24:50 > 0:24:53You make your own hours, this was the beauty.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55But I mean you'd get exhausted after what?
0:24:55 > 0:24:59An hour of it is enough or could you go on for two or three hours?
0:24:59 > 0:25:07THEY SPEAK GAELIC
0:25:07 > 0:25:10You could weave all day without getting overtired.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13- Really?- Yes.- Just with the noise. Bang, bang, bang.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Can I have, can you ask him if I could have a go?
0:25:15 > 0:25:26THEY SPEAK GAELIC
0:25:26 > 0:25:28- You've got to give a good...- Push?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44You did really well! >
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Very tiring on the legs, like bicycling up hill.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Back on the mainland, I'm heading east through the highlands.
0:26:38 > 0:26:46The Victorians found the hard unchanging way of life of the highlanders romantic
0:26:46 > 0:26:53and with it came a new fashion for historical romance and a nostalgia for Scotland's past.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57And, inevitably, a yearning for the age of the castle.
0:27:01 > 0:27:09The most majestic example of this romantic revival is on the far north coast - Dunrobin Castle.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20This fairytale palace shows the lengths to which the Victorians would go
0:27:20 > 0:27:26in romanticising Scotland's past. All these towers and turrets, really the whole thing taken to excess.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30It's as though they were saying, we honour the past,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33but we want to make sure we do it on an even grander scale.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Dunrobin Castle was built in the 1840s by Sir Charles Barry,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50best known as the architect of the Houses of Parliament.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53The style is known as Scots baronial.
0:27:53 > 0:28:00It combines the toughness of a Scottish fortress with the elegance of a French chateau.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Ah, June, northern Scotland,
0:28:07 > 0:28:08got to keep warm.
0:28:08 > 0:28:16BELL CHIMES
0:28:16 > 0:28:21The first forms of life you meet inside are stuffed animals.
0:28:21 > 0:28:22Ah!
0:28:22 > 0:28:29Well! You normally only get the heads, but this is the whole animal.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34Heads everywhere.
0:29:01 > 0:29:08This is the bed Queen Victoria slept on, when she came here in 1872, I'm told.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I shouldn't sit on it, but I think I will,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13because the mattress is the original... Oh! ..horse hair mattress.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17That's quite comfortable.
0:29:17 > 0:29:23I suppose if you did a DNA test of the mattress, you could find little bits of Queen Victoria left behind.
0:29:35 > 0:29:42Dunrobin Castle is the largest private house in the highlands, with 189 rooms.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50It was created for the Sutherlands, one of the oldest aristocratic families in Scotland.
0:29:52 > 0:29:59By marrying into English money, the Sutherlands had become the fifth richest family in Europe,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03but it won them no friends among the highlanders, who lived on their lands.
0:30:16 > 0:30:22Towering high over the castle stands the formidable figure of the first duke of Sutherland,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26a man still reviled up here, for throwing out thousands
0:30:26 > 0:30:31of crofters and turning the land over to more profitable sheep farming.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35The "clearances", as they were called, were often conducted with
0:30:35 > 0:30:43such cruelty, families driven from their homes by force, that even today, more than 150 years later,
0:30:43 > 0:30:47attempts have been made to topple this great column, as retribution.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57But the Victorians preferred to focus on the beauties
0:30:57 > 0:31:01of the landscape, rather than the harshness of life in the highlands.
0:31:24 > 0:31:31Throughout the 19th century, artists and writers were inspired by these dramatic landscapes.
0:31:36 > 0:31:42The novelist Bram Stoker chose a castle further down the east coast
0:31:42 > 0:31:46for the home of his fictional creation, Count Dracula.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Slains Castle, an eerie place.
0:32:07 > 0:32:12There are no sign posts to it, it's not shown on most maps.
0:32:12 > 0:32:19What Stoker found most chilling about it, was its position, right on the edge of these jagged rocks
0:32:19 > 0:32:22that tumble down into the sea.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44"Suddenly I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act
0:32:44 > 0:32:52"of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle from whose black windows came
0:32:52 > 0:32:59"no ray of light and whose battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.
0:32:59 > 0:33:05"In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size and several dark ways
0:33:05 > 0:33:09"led from under great ruined arches."
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Phwwrrr!
0:33:35 > 0:33:39On this coast is a region of cliffs and tiny inlets
0:33:39 > 0:33:42where for centuries people made a hard living from the sea.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00This is the little fishing village of Creevy.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03It's about 300 years old.
0:34:03 > 0:34:09And like so many places we've seen in Scotland, it's had to adapt itself to the landscape.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14In this case, a tiny strip of land, between the cliffs and the sea,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18so narrow that there isn't a road along in front of the houses.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23You can drive down to the start of the village and everything else has to be done on foot.
0:34:41 > 0:34:48100 years ago, this was a thriving village with over 50 fishing boats working out of the harbour.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It's a bit quieter these days.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03There's an interesting thing about the way Creevy is built.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06If you look to the top end of the village there,
0:35:06 > 0:35:11the cottages are facing out to sea, which would seem the natural way, with a view, lovely view.
0:35:11 > 0:35:17But you get just a few houses down, and suddenly they're all end on, just looking in at each other.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22And the reason is that when the gales come from the north, that bit of the village is protected,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25but from here onwards, the waves smash in to the houses,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28and they had to put them that way to protect them,
0:35:28 > 0:35:34and incidentally then pull their fishing boats up, between the cottages, to keep them safe as well.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Cottages on this coast were well built
0:35:42 > 0:35:46and they're still lived in today, though by rather fewer people.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51Now this is one of the of the fishermen's cottages,
0:35:51 > 0:35:56and you have to imagine this with a whole family living in this tiny little space.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59Here's the cooking range,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03a little oven down here.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Kettle on the hob.
0:36:05 > 0:36:11It's uneconomic, one fisherman told me, not to have a wife if you're a fisherman, because your mother
0:36:11 > 0:36:14can't bait the hooks for your father and yourself.
0:36:14 > 0:36:20You have to have your own wife, and her job, with all the children, is to sit here and just put bait,
0:36:20 > 0:36:25shellfish or something like that, on hook after hook after hook to go line fishing.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28And the floor, which would have been rather suitable for this,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31was earth and sand spread on it, very efficient,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34kept warm, because you were all in this tiny little space.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Today, there's only one local fisherman still operating his boat on this stretch of coast.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57So what's happened for you to be the last one fishing?
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Well, at one time you could make quite a bit of money,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and it could be quite a good lifestyle,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05but then there's no steady income.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09And families now need to get... Because they've got children, they need a regular income.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14What's cottage life in a village like? Did you have a room of your own?
0:37:14 > 0:37:19No, no. We'd a living room and a pantry and it was an outside toilet, just across the lane.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24And up the stair there was a big bedroom, like a bigger bedroom, and a smaller bedroom.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28And there was me and my father and my sister.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30- And bathrooms?- Oh, no bathrooms.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33But we kept ourselves clean, of course, in the sink.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37We had big sinks and my mother just used to put us into the sink.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Or we didn't ha' a galvanised tub, but we'd a fairly big sink.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Of course we were smaller then as well, you see.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46You wouldn't fit into a sink nowadays, would you?
0:37:46 > 0:37:48Definitely not oh, my goodness no!
0:37:48 > 0:37:50It's enough I need to fit into the bath!
0:37:57 > 0:38:00With the introduction of big steam-driven trawlers,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04many villages moved out to work in the larger ports.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The biggest fishing port in Scotland in the 19th century was Aberdeen.
0:38:10 > 0:38:16Its wealth created some of Scotland's grandest civic buildings.
0:38:29 > 0:38:35Almost every building in Aberdeen is made of granite,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38one of the hardest stones you can find.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00To split granite, you hammer in wedges and wait for it to fall apart.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Ah! It's going!
0:39:03 > 0:39:05Ah!
0:39:05 > 0:39:09- What do you get paid for doing that an hour?- Very little!
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Kenmore quarry supplied much of the granite for Aberdeen.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23It's left behind a spooky green lake, 450 feet deep.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29If you go to Aberdeen and see the buildings that were made with stone from this quarry,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32are they still in the condition they were 100 years ago or so?
0:39:32 > 0:39:37Oh, yes, aye. Some of it maybe got a bit faded but if they gonna wash 'em, take 'em back, and they'll still be
0:39:37 > 0:39:40looking as good they were the day they were built.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43- So it's really durable. - It's durable, very durable.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45- Do you like the look of it?- Oh, yes.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Not brick - I don't like the look of brick.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49You're against brick, are you?
0:39:49 > 0:39:51- Oh, yes.- Why?
0:39:51 > 0:39:54It doesn't weather as well as granite.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00It looks OK when it's new built, but it doesn't stand the test of time, as granite does.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Granite will be here longest, and we're all gone.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16To promote the merits of granite you couldn't do better than show off Marshall College, in Aberdeen.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Marshall is more like a great cathedral than a university,
0:40:24 > 0:40:30with its forest of strangely shaped towers, etched against the sky.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32It's a building like none other.
0:40:52 > 0:41:00This is the second largest granite building in the world, the pride of Aberdeen, the granite city.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04Now some people don't like granite. They find it dark, gloomy,
0:41:04 > 0:41:09and when it rains it certainly does go a very dark grey.
0:41:09 > 0:41:15But then when the sun comes out, on a day like today, the stone actually
0:41:15 > 0:41:21sparkles with what seem to be little chips of diamond in it.
0:41:21 > 0:41:29And the whole thing comes alive, this hard unyielding stone dancing with light.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55THUNDER
0:42:00 > 0:42:04Scots are rightly proud of all their inventions.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08But there's one invention of a Scot that really has made
0:42:08 > 0:42:12a major contribution to how we built Britain.
0:42:12 > 0:42:18It's the invention of John Loudon Macadam.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Macadam was fed up of not being able to drive around when,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33on days like this, the rain came down and the roads turned to mush.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37And he worked out that if you used even sized stones, and packed them
0:42:37 > 0:42:42down together tight, the roads would hold against any weather.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45The stones had to be two inches across, no bigger.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48And when he got his stone masons making them, he said,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53if it'll go in you mouth, it's all right. If you can't get it into your mouth, it's too big.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57And one day he was going around, he saw a pile of stones. "What are these? Much too big!"
0:42:57 > 0:43:02He turned to the stone mason, saw he'd got a huge mouth and no teeth!
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Anyway that was Macadam.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07He transformed roads, not just in Scotland,
0:43:07 > 0:43:11all over the United Kingdom, in Europe and in the rest of the world.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13God bless John Macadam.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27The late 19th century saw Scotland enjoying an industrial boom.
0:43:27 > 0:43:35One city in particular would prosper so much, it became known as the engine room of the empire.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37Glasgow.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Glasgow's wealth was based on trade and ship building.
0:44:06 > 0:44:14At the height of its fortune, one in five of the world's ships was built here, on the River Clyde.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22Between 1800 and 1900, Glasgow grew from a population of
0:44:22 > 0:44:2780,000 to 800,000, making it the sixth largest city in Europe.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31And, of course, all that created a huge demand for housing.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39Glasgow architects were among the first in Britain to build tall.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44And they created a new Scottish form of building, the tenement.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55Tenements have a terrible reputation as the filthy, miserable dwellings of the poor.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58And it's true the over crowded, badly maintained tenements
0:44:58 > 0:45:03in the Gorbals became hellish places to live.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09They were pulled down in the 1960s to make way for high rise flats.
0:45:23 > 0:45:29But tenements were built for the middle classes as well, and many of them survive.
0:45:29 > 0:45:35Simple and efficient, they're designed to make maximum use of limited space.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38They stand four storeys high, with two or three apartments
0:45:38 > 0:45:42on each floor, served by a central staircase.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54One home here is pretty much as it was at the end of the 19th century.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59Solid stone staircase.
0:46:01 > 0:46:08This firm banister rail with these little brass knobs so that children can't go... Ow! ..sliding down.
0:46:12 > 0:46:13BELL RINGS
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Nice doorbell.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20Right, we come into the lobby -
0:46:20 > 0:46:23very dark, just like houses were 100 years ago.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26It's lit by gas, not by electricity.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28There's a slight hiss,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and just this slightly sweet sickly smell.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43You see it's small, this tenement house, but it's very comfortable.
0:46:45 > 0:46:52The clever thing was everything had its place. They were very neatly organised.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54For instance, have a look in here.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Open it up, and lo and behold,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04double bed, in a cupboard built into the wall.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08They actually decided these were unhygienic in the end, and in 1900
0:47:08 > 0:47:11they banned them, but this is the original.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19And next door to the parlour, the bedroom.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24The only bedroom in a four-roomed tenement.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Now this is the great jewel of the tenement, this is a kitchen exactly
0:47:36 > 0:47:42as it would have been in 1890 or so, when it was built.
0:47:42 > 0:47:47And then this glorious stove, all black and silver,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49simply magical.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Now there's one big surprise in this kitchen,
0:47:57 > 0:48:03which is here, which you think might be concealing china or whatever.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06Lo and behold,
0:48:06 > 0:48:07it's another bed.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14So the last room, and this is interesting, is the bathroom.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20Lavatory there, big sink
0:48:20 > 0:48:24and a bath heated from the boiler in the kitchen.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Well, I think I'll get into it and just see.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28Oh!
0:48:28 > 0:48:35It's narrow, which of course saves the hot water.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39You're covered with about three or four inches of water.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41And very comfortable.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46I like a bath you can read in, without sliding down.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50Very good.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00In the early 1900s, 5,000 tenements were built each year in Glasgow.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05To attract middle class residents elaborate features were provided.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Tiled staircases
0:49:07 > 0:49:13and stained glass windows - a throw-back to a medieval past.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20Tenements were like the castles of the modern city.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25One block even sported a baronial flourish to prove it.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35And the castle theme can be seen again in one of Scotland's most famous buildings.
0:49:39 > 0:49:46It wasn't built for the military or for housing, but for art students, the Glasgow School of Art.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54It was designed in 1896, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
0:49:59 > 0:50:04Mackintosh had a strong sense of the Scottish architecture of the past,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07but he took it forward into the modern age.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12- Morning.- Morning.
0:50:20 > 0:50:26Sometimes you can come into a building by a grand architect and it feels, you know, a bit intimidating.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31The nice thing about Mackintosh is it's so friendly, welcoming, warm.
0:50:31 > 0:50:38Warm and a bit worn too, because for 100 years, it's had students in and out, and it shows it.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47It was built quite cheaply but the design is magic and it stood
0:50:47 > 0:50:51the test of time, so much so it'll be here in another 100, 200 years.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56And so much so that thousands of people come here every year, just to have a look
0:50:56 > 0:50:59at these spaces and how he built them.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Mackintosh is much loved today, not just for his buildings,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19but for the care he put into all the fittings that go into a building.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Everything carries his personal stamp.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41Some parts of the building are big open spaces, other bits you could be in an old castle,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44these great buttresses and arches here.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50And then little bits of decoration he put in - these tiles all the way up, one set there, one set there.
0:51:53 > 0:52:00And this is one of the great rooms, the library, completely improbable.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Look at the lights - they could have been designed yesterday.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11And then this great gallery all the way round
0:52:11 > 0:52:15with balustrades with little bits of colour.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17Astonishing place.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21And then every little detail worked on. Here look at these,
0:52:21 > 0:52:28strange sort of Indian shapes, with little arches cut, and each one different
0:52:28 > 0:52:30so they sort of play tunes.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35# Da, da, te, dum, ta, ta, da, he, he, di, di, di, da, de, da. #
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Just very playful and nice.
0:53:02 > 0:53:10The last leg of this Scottish journey takes us inevitably to the capital city, Edinburgh.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26At one end of Edinburgh stands the castle.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31Like Stirling, it's poised high on a rocky outcrop.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33A superb defensive position.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44At the other, sits a new symbol of Scottish identity,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48a home for self government in Scotland.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Everywhere we've been in Scotland, we've been looking at buildings
0:53:57 > 0:54:02with strong character, some of which shout their Scottishness.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08Well, now we come to the latest great Scottish building, the Scottish Parliament, and, frankly,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11from the outside, it's a disappointment.
0:54:11 > 0:54:18To me it could be any old Spanish airport terminal.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20But you wait till you come inside.
0:54:39 > 0:54:46The architect of the parliament building was in fact a Spaniard, Enrique Miralles, from Barcelona.
0:54:46 > 0:54:52His design was deliberately unconventional, and doesn't attempt to build on Scottish tradition.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02It's very nice and light and it's rather refreshing this building,
0:55:02 > 0:55:08on the inside, very different from what you see of the outside.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10All very strange shapes, different angles.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Whether anybody can ever find their way around the building, I do not know.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24I'm lost,
0:55:24 > 0:55:25and the floor doesn't help.
0:55:38 > 0:55:44This is a thoroughly modern building with state-of-the-art technology in the committee rooms.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49What do you think of the look of the room, generally?
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Oh, I think they're lovely. I love the building. I love working here.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55- It's just a wonderful environment, it's great.- In what way?
0:55:55 > 0:55:57It's inspiring, the views are great.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01The rooms are all different. There's not two bits of the building that are
0:56:01 > 0:56:04the same. I don't think there's a single right angle in the place.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Everything is just new and exciting.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09And I'm still finding bits of the building
0:56:09 > 0:56:12that I haven't been in before, and it never ceases to surprise me.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16There we are.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25This is the debating chamber itself.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Scottish MPs sit here in a semicircle.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35It's the European model, meant to encourage compromise
0:56:35 > 0:56:38as opposed to the gladiatorial struggles at Westminster
0:56:38 > 0:56:41where MPs glare at each other across the floor.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46The presiding officer sits here...
0:56:48 > 0:56:52..in the high chair with two clerks either side.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54And you see he's got a very old-fashioned...
0:56:56 > 0:56:57THUMPING
0:56:57 > 0:57:02The only non-electronic bit of the chamber.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08There's a rather odd detail here which is
0:57:08 > 0:57:11meant to represent the people of Scotland,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14watching over the proceedings.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19But when tour guides go around they say that they look like whisky bottles.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Perhaps that's what you need, to get you through a debate.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53After seeing so many buildings which reflect Scotland's past,
0:57:53 > 0:58:00it's confusing to find one which so resolutely refuses to be Scottish.
0:58:00 > 0:58:07I suppose it could be a sign of confidence about what the future holds, or a sign of uncertainty.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Next week, my journey takes me to the west,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22to the great cities of Bath and Bristol and Dublin...
0:58:25 > 0:58:28..to see how the Georgian dream of order
0:58:28 > 0:58:33and perfection transformed the way we built Britain.
0:58:38 > 0:58:43Subtitling by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:43 > 0:58:48Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk