:00:04. > :00:08.Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West, stories and
:00:08. > :00:15.investigations from where you live. Tonight, it has been 4,000 years
:00:15. > :00:19.but Dartmoor is finally giving up its ancient secrets. Actually, I
:00:19. > :00:22.think it is the most important find on Dartmoor full-stop.
:00:22. > :00:27.Also tonight, the Devon victims of a legal wrangle over why their
:00:27. > :00:31.homes are so cold. There is meant to be a sponge which stops the
:00:31. > :00:37.actual moisture coming through but as you can see it is coming out as
:00:37. > :00:41.dirty water. It is a marriage of spirit and
:00:41. > :00:46.matter, if you like. And a first look at the giant cross which says,
:00:46. > :00:51."Welcome to Cornwall". Sort of being infused with the sky and the
:00:51. > :01:01.spirit world. I am Sam Smith and this is Inside
:01:01. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:15.First tonight, how a chance discovery is offering tantalising
:01:15. > :01:18.new evidence about the lives our ancestors lived 4,000 years ago.
:01:18. > :01:20.Mike Dilger has been to Dartmoor to uncover the story of what is being
:01:20. > :01:30.described as the national park's most important archaeological find
:01:30. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:40.The people who lived on Dartmoor thousands of years ago have left us
:01:40. > :01:43.just glimpses of their lives. Come to the high moor and you will find
:01:43. > :01:51.the essence of stone-age Britain, enigmatic stone rows and cosmically
:01:51. > :01:53.aligned standing stones. But nearly 4,000 years ago there was a
:01:53. > :02:02.technological and cultural revolution as our ancient ancestors
:02:02. > :02:06.moved from the age of stone into the Bronze Age. These hut circles
:02:06. > :02:15.date from that time. There are more than 5,000 on Dartmoor showing a
:02:15. > :02:18.vibrant community living and working here. What is disappointing
:02:18. > :02:28.and frustrating in equal measure is how few artefacts have actually
:02:28. > :02:34.
:02:34. > :02:42.Objects from a Bronze Age burial found on the moor. Actually, I
:02:42. > :02:44.think it is the most important find on Dartmoor full stop. What makes
:02:44. > :02:48.this new discovery even more remarkable is that Dartmoor has
:02:48. > :02:54.offered up so few of its ancient secrets. I am meeting English
:02:54. > :02:58.Heritage archeologist Win Scutt to find out why. Obviously, I can
:02:58. > :03:05.recognise a stone row here but this must be one of these prehistory
:03:05. > :03:11.cists. It is indeed a burial chamber. This cist, or grave, is
:03:11. > :03:15.made up of granite slabs put in place 4,500 years ago. How would
:03:15. > :03:19.they have been buried in here? of them were really small so you
:03:19. > :03:24.just have a cremation in them. But this one is big enough for a whole
:03:24. > :03:27.body and would be something like crouched up like this. This is the
:03:27. > :03:32.standard method for burial back at that time if they did not cremate
:03:32. > :03:35.them. The great thing is you get close to their emotions. You're
:03:35. > :03:40.getting close to individuals. This is about how they loved each other,
:03:40. > :03:47.how they respected each other. rich landscape with 5000 remnants
:03:47. > :03:51.of buildings, 200 burial cists but so few artefacts, why? A lot of it
:03:51. > :03:55.is to do with robbing. Some people have robbed the stone. Some have
:03:55. > :03:59.robbed the artefacts inside because they were looking for gold. But the
:03:59. > :04:03.biggest loss is all the organic stuff. The bones have all been
:04:03. > :04:08.dissolved by the acid soil up here. The gifts of flowers and drink and
:04:08. > :04:13.food which would have gone in. Most of their life was organic. It was
:04:13. > :04:20.stuff that would rot away. If we could get the perishable items, the
:04:20. > :04:24.organic material, it would shine a big light into pre-history. That is
:04:24. > :04:29.exactly what has happened. A chance discovery of a buried cist on White
:04:30. > :04:33.Horse Hill, high in the peat bog on the northern moor. The cist had
:04:33. > :04:43.been untouched for 4,000 years. Until 18 months ago archaeologists
:04:43. > :04:45.
:04:45. > :04:48.from the National Park levered off What they found astonished them. An
:04:48. > :04:50.intact burial of cremated remains wrapped in an as yet unidentified
:04:50. > :04:59.animal pelt and containing a delicate bracelet studded with tin
:04:59. > :05:09.beads. A textile fragment with detailed leather fringing and a
:05:09. > :05:14.
:05:14. > :05:16.unique woven bag, scans of which So I am off to see the site of this
:05:16. > :05:21.extraordinary find and I am with the national park's chief
:05:21. > :05:25.archaeologist Jane Marchand. Half- an-hour in the car, half-an-hour
:05:25. > :05:30.walk, one of the most remote places in England. It is not Stonehenge,
:05:30. > :05:35.is it? I have to admit I am slightly underwhelmed. I'm sorry
:05:35. > :05:39.about that. But what we have here is visibly maybe not as impressive
:05:39. > :05:47.as Stonehenge but archaeologically it is just as important. It is what
:05:47. > :05:50.is underneath. How did this come to be revealed then? One of those
:05:50. > :05:55.stones fell out and somebody reported it to us that they thought
:05:55. > :06:01.they had found this cist up here. They came to have a look, thinking
:06:01. > :06:06.they were making it up. I could not believe it when we saw it. It still
:06:06. > :06:09.had its lid on it. There was a chance it could have something
:06:09. > :06:13.contained within it. The stones on top are nothing to do with it?
:06:13. > :06:18.are nothing to do with it. They are just walkers' cairns. Is this the
:06:18. > :06:23.first time organic remains have been found on Dartmoor? It is.
:06:23. > :06:27.on, tell me how you were feeling when you discovered it. It must
:06:27. > :06:31.have been astonishing. It was incredibly exciting. When we lifted
:06:31. > :06:34.it up, very carefully a bead fell out. The thrill of realising,
:06:34. > :06:37.actually, this is a proper burial. This is a bead that belonged to the
:06:37. > :06:42.burial. No one knows who this person was, only that the remains
:06:42. > :06:45.belonged to a young man or woman. To think of the scene that must
:06:45. > :06:51.have been going on here, almost 4,000 years ago, and the most
:06:51. > :07:01.exciting thing of all, the journey of discovery has only just begun.
:07:01. > :07:04.December of last year marked a major milestone along that journey.
:07:04. > :07:10.Jane has come to the Wiltshire Conservation Lab where they are
:07:10. > :07:15.hoping to reveal the secrets of the woven bag. That might be the
:07:15. > :07:18.remains of mineralised thread. see the way it goes through the
:07:18. > :07:21.perforation. Today, it is conservator Helen Williams' job to
:07:21. > :07:29.delicately remove the contents for the first time in nearly 4,000
:07:29. > :07:33.years. The level of preservation we have got is amazing. To find an
:07:33. > :07:38.object like this with contents intact is fantastic. It is a very
:07:38. > :07:43.exciting day and hopefully it will all go well. Let's look to see what
:07:43. > :07:49.we have got. It is painstaking work looking for and removing bead after
:07:49. > :07:59.bead. Just eight beads have been found on Dartmoor in the last 100
:07:59. > :08:04.years. It is getting better by the minute, certainly! But then,
:08:04. > :08:13.something altogether more unusual. It is a round object about that
:08:13. > :08:21.size. It has two slightly domed surfaces. It almost looks like a
:08:21. > :08:23.small yo-yo. It would have been worn in the ear. Amazing. I don't
:08:23. > :08:33.remember studs being recorded in any other excavation from this
:08:33. > :08:36.
:08:36. > :08:43.period. And then, a glint of orange. Wow. That one is amber. You can see
:08:43. > :08:47.the surface. It is in amazing condition. It is the first time we
:08:47. > :08:52.have seen or handled that material in 4,000 years so it does blow your
:08:52. > :08:55.mind sometimes when you think about that. I have worked on Dartmoor for
:08:55. > :09:04.over 20 years and never would have anticipated getting anything like
:09:04. > :09:13.Now some of the objects have been cleaned, we can start to appreciate
:09:13. > :09:21.just how delicate and beautiful they really are. So, what have we
:09:21. > :09:25.learnt? Time to meet Jane again back on Dartmoor. Here we are in
:09:25. > :09:28.this wonderful reconstruction of a Bronze Age hut circle. What more do
:09:28. > :09:36.we know about the lives of people up on Dartmoor 3,500, 4,000 years
:09:36. > :09:38.ago? It is amazing. It brings them all to life. Their standard of
:09:38. > :09:44.technology, that they could actually achieve things like this,
:09:44. > :09:50.certainly the bag, they could make things like that. They were in a
:09:50. > :09:54.position to trade and bring in amber beads. It is a level of
:09:54. > :10:00.sophistication I don't think we probably appreciated. Now, whenever
:10:00. > :10:05.I am out on the moor, my eye gets drawn to that ridge. You think, if
:10:05. > :10:08.only I could go back 4,000 years to see what was happening. Have we any
:10:08. > :10:12.idea why these people were buried high up on the hills because they
:10:12. > :10:16.may have lived down in the valleys? They are buried there because they
:10:16. > :10:20.are closer to the skies. It told them when they should plant their
:10:20. > :10:24.crops, when to gather them in. When it was the shortest day and the
:10:24. > :10:29.longest day. So much more still to discover from these artefacts?
:10:29. > :10:32.Absolutely. We are only at the beginning of a very long journey.
:10:32. > :10:35.The plan is to display the White Horse Hill artefacts in a major
:10:35. > :10:38.exhibition next year at Plymouth Museum. Until then, we can only
:10:38. > :10:48.speculate about what other treasures lie buried on the high
:10:48. > :10:49.
:10:49. > :10:54.The cost of living has been out stripping pay for three years now.
:10:54. > :10:58.Tough times if you are already on the breadline. What if you also
:10:58. > :11:02.rely on a landlord for some of life's bare necessities? Jenny
:11:02. > :11:11.Walrond has been to meet tenants in Devon who are caught up in a legal
:11:11. > :11:17.wrangle over something as basic as Alex Grey's flat in Sidwell House,
:11:17. > :11:20.Exeter. So cold it has been condemned as unfit to live in. For
:11:20. > :11:28.the last nine winters, he has struggled to pay the heating and
:11:28. > :11:33.hot water bills, as well as provide for his 16-year-old daughter, Alice.
:11:34. > :11:40.He treats the mould regularly, but it keeps coming back. Anyway, Jenny,
:11:40. > :11:45.this bathroom in here. They tiled all the back wall. They said it
:11:45. > :11:50.would be easier to clean. But there is still black mould coming through.
:11:50. > :11:54.He says the cost of keeping warm has put him in serious debt.
:11:54. > :12:03.never gets any heat or sun. I am spending �45 a week now on heating,
:12:03. > :12:09.on electric. Since September, I have now used almost �600. Alex
:12:09. > :12:12.says he began asking his landlord for help in 2006. He was given
:12:12. > :12:17.another heater. But the real problem, the building's poor
:12:17. > :12:21.insulation hasn't been tackled. They offered more heaters, it costs
:12:21. > :12:26.more money. They offered to get us debt management. We are already in
:12:26. > :12:29.debt. We have already been down the debt. We have already been down the
:12:29. > :12:32.debt. We have already been down the debt management line. Just before
:12:32. > :12:36.Christmas last year Alex got some bad news. His landlord began court
:12:36. > :12:40.action to evict him for rent arrears. My daughter is in the
:12:40. > :12:46.middle of her GCSEs. She does not need the stress. I don't need the
:12:46. > :12:52.stress. And it could all have been solved years ago. Poor-quality
:12:52. > :12:59.rented accommodation isn't unusual. But this block of flats is managed
:12:59. > :13:02.by Britain's biggest social housing charity, Sanctuary. The Sanctuary
:13:02. > :13:09.group has more than 80,000 homes in its portfolio. More than 8,000 of
:13:09. > :13:12.them in the South West. Business is booming. In the tax year to 2012,
:13:12. > :13:20.Sanctuary made a surplus of nearly �24 million, paying its chief
:13:20. > :13:24.executive 300,000. It's charitable status allows it to pay no tax.
:13:24. > :13:27.Complaints about Sanctuary Housing are not confined to Exeter. In 2010,
:13:27. > :13:37.the Audit Commission inspected Sanctuary Midlands and found it was
:13:37. > :13:50.
:13:50. > :13:53.Inside Out have spoken to people from around the country in Torbay,
:13:53. > :14:02.Essex, Sussex and Scarborough. They told us of feelings similar to
:14:02. > :14:07.those found in the Midlands. Repairs delayed for weeks or months.
:14:07. > :14:14.Sanctuary's boss said that the complaints are minuscule. 92 % of
:14:14. > :14:18.our tenants and the South West are satisfied with what we do. The
:14:18. > :14:23.number of complaints are very small in comparison to the number of
:14:23. > :14:31.properties that we have. But our approach is simple. If someone says
:14:31. > :14:35.they are not happy with the service, we get it resolved quickly. Another
:14:35. > :14:40.tenant in the block, Warren Bridges, says that he has complained more
:14:40. > :14:45.than 20 times about the conditions in his flat. After being homeless
:14:45. > :14:52.for six months, he was believed to be offered Qatar for years ago, but
:14:52. > :14:57.he soon got into debt trying to keep warm. -- Sidwell House. I was
:14:57. > :15:02.so relieved. I was so happy. Within less than 10 days, I realised how
:15:02. > :15:10.much it was causing for a heater, which back then was just every �3 a
:15:10. > :15:15.day. -- costing. This is supposed to be a sponge that stops the
:15:15. > :15:23.moisture. Last year, Sanctuary installed a layer of foam
:15:23. > :15:28.insualtion, but the gap keeps coming. It's just coming out as
:15:28. > :15:36.dirty water. If floorboard was lifted, revealing why the prices
:15:36. > :15:40.were so high. -- a floorboard. is what we found it, no insulation,
:15:40. > :15:46.and dead, and ventilated air, which is why the floors are so freezing
:15:47. > :15:54.cold all of the time. To two years ago, Alex told Sanctuary that he
:15:54. > :16:01.thought his home was failing to the Decent Homes Standard. A survey
:16:01. > :16:05.last spring confirmed his flat was eight Class 1 excess cold hazard.
:16:05. > :16:12.The what am I supposed to do, pay the same as someone with a
:16:12. > :16:18.beautiful property with controlled heating systems? No, sorry. I am in
:16:18. > :16:27.breach on rent arrears but I have had to survive. I have had to
:16:27. > :16:31.survive for my daughter. What would any father do? He went to his MP,
:16:31. > :16:38.Ben Bradshaw, who asked to meet Simon Clark at Westminster last
:16:38. > :16:42.month. Exeter City Council officially designated this flat to
:16:42. > :16:46.have a severe cold hazard, and therefore did not meet the Home
:16:46. > :16:51.standard. They said it was uninhabitable and no action was
:16:51. > :16:55.taken. I think that is quite shocking and it surprises me that
:16:55. > :16:59.an organisation that has the reputation that Sanctuary has on a
:16:59. > :17:03.national level would allow its reputation to be damaged by such a
:17:03. > :17:09.case as this. I think it needs to think very carefully about its
:17:09. > :17:17.procedures and responsibility. People are defined as in fuel
:17:17. > :17:22.poverty if they spent 10 % of their income on heating. Warren, who has
:17:22. > :17:29.a long-term comas, has spent half of his benefit on heating. -- long-
:17:29. > :17:33.term illness. He has to take out emergency loans to pay for them. A
:17:33. > :17:39.have had to ask for help from a foodbank because everything has
:17:39. > :17:44.gone on paying the interest. -- I have had. I have had no money left
:17:44. > :17:49.to buy any food so I have had to get a support worker and ask them
:17:49. > :17:53.if it was possible to me -- for me to have another voucher for the
:17:53. > :18:01.food bent or I would not have had any food. The tenants say they have
:18:01. > :18:11.been caught in a legal row between Sanctuary and a London firm, Class
:18:11. > :18:15.
:18:15. > :18:23.1 excess cold hazard. Both organisations -- Prime Esates. Alex
:18:23. > :18:29.says, as he pays rent to Sanctuary, it is up to Sanctuary to sort it
:18:29. > :18:34.out. There they are vulnerable people and do not have the means to
:18:34. > :18:39.go fighting big companies. Why did you put so much -- why did you not
:18:39. > :18:46.put pressure on them years ago? have to support the residents and
:18:46. > :18:53.we are now getting an improvement notice on Prime Esates to do the
:18:53. > :18:59.work. You have to remember, this is not a building that Sanctuary Evans.
:18:59. > :19:02.Exeter City Council says it is now considering taking enforcement
:19:02. > :19:07.actions against Prime Esates, but Prime Esates says it believes it
:19:07. > :19:17.will not be issued with such a notice. It told Inside Out that
:19:17. > :19:30.
:19:31. > :19:34.Sanctuary first raised the issue Sanctuary says that it has been in
:19:34. > :19:39.frequent contact with Prime Esates and believes Prime Esates is
:19:39. > :19:45.responsible. As the legal battle goes on, Alex has had some good
:19:45. > :19:51.news. His eviction proceedings have been dropped. We used to call
:19:51. > :19:58.ourselves the forgotten ones. That was our nickname. No matter how
:19:58. > :20:04.hard we would try, nothing ever got done. But now it is. The residents
:20:04. > :20:14.have been told that work should begin on improvements soon, making
:20:14. > :20:15.
:20:15. > :20:18.Alex's home fit to live in for the first time in years.
:20:18. > :20:26.The Tamar Bridge, unmistakable and impressive, but there could soon be
:20:26. > :20:31.a new icon apparently in Europe arrival into Cornwall. -- hero Dick
:20:31. > :20:36.Muir arrival into Cornwall. We have been speaking to the artist hoping
:20:36. > :20:43.to make this dream a reality. thing like this is going to change
:20:43. > :20:52.my life. Opportunities like this do not come up that often. I have put
:20:52. > :20:58.everything into it. In it has taken Simon Thomas 13 years and many
:20:58. > :21:04.setbacks, but his daring design for a Celtic cross sculpture is finally
:21:04. > :21:12.coming to life. The biggest challenge in creating a sculpture,
:21:12. > :21:21.really, is taking it from my initial blue-sky thinking design
:21:21. > :21:24.and anchoring it in the real world. And once it goes up, if you are
:21:24. > :21:33.coming into Cornwall across the Tamar Bridge, you're not going to
:21:33. > :21:42.miss it. For Simon, the anticipation is building. We will
:21:42. > :21:52.be getting quite an eyeful of it before we come through this bit.
:21:52. > :21:54.
:21:54. > :22:00.Celtic crosses were traditional the wayside and boundary markers.
:22:01. > :22:05.is fitting that Simon's sculpture is going to be here. The cost side
:22:05. > :22:10.of the Cross is that it is -- the concept of the Cross is that it is
:22:10. > :22:15.a marriage of spirit and matter. The matter starts here. We are
:22:15. > :22:22.standing on matter. This is the world. From there, as it is going
:22:22. > :22:28.up, it is held together by blocks, and they start parting and
:22:28. > :22:38.levitating away from each other. It is sort of being infused with the
:22:38. > :22:39.
:22:39. > :22:45.sky and the spirit world. Being so tall and in such an exposed
:22:46. > :22:53.location, it will need to withstand a battering from higher winds. So
:22:53. > :22:59.Simon has had to entrust his design to the experts at Gate Guards.
:22:59. > :23:03.Based in Newquay, they are more used to building a replica aircraft.
:23:03. > :23:09.The these blocks are made out of a glass fibre and they are incredibly
:23:09. > :23:14.strong. You would more likely see them on a racing yacht than
:23:14. > :23:21.anything else. You will have somewhere in the region of about 55
:23:21. > :23:31.different boxes within boxes, because it has to have massive in
:23:31. > :23:39.structural integrity. It is the structures and forms that occur in
:23:39. > :23:44.the natural world that inspire Simon. I am looking for exciting
:23:44. > :23:51.formulations for the structures, which I see in nature. I find the
:23:51. > :23:56.countryside and being part of it does feed your soul. It is just a
:23:56. > :24:04.nice to be able to wake up and look at the sea. It does go in and
:24:04. > :24:08.somehow it comes out. This soaking up of his Cornish surroundings led
:24:08. > :24:13.Simon to his concept, and there is one cross in particular that has
:24:13. > :24:18.caught his eye. This is just outside Bodmin. I know it is a
:24:19. > :24:28.strange location to have a Celtic cross. Ironically, it is in the
:24:28. > :24:33.middle of a roundabout, but it was built in the 11th century. I used
:24:34. > :24:41.to pass this twice a-day, and it has kind of burnt itself into my
:24:41. > :24:51.brain. I must say, it is probably my favourite one, funnily enough.
:24:51. > :25:02.
:25:02. > :25:07.For wayside markers, you could not The sculpture is costing �650,000
:25:07. > :25:15.of lottery and local authority money, so there is a lot riding on
:25:15. > :25:19.it being a success. Today is the first time they will see whether
:25:19. > :25:24.all of the pieces they have made so far are going to fit together.
:25:24. > :25:29.has been months of bits and pieces sitting around, stacked up in a
:25:29. > :25:39.corner. Today, it is really starting to look like something for
:25:39. > :25:56.
:25:56. > :26:03.Just leave it in the middle to give Working on this project led Simon
:26:03. > :26:09.to explore the history and landscape of Cornwall. Carnbane Red
:26:09. > :26:12.Rood has particular significance. They wanted to include the
:26:12. > :26:22.reference to the cultural heritage of Cornwall, and part of that would
:26:22. > :26:28.
:26:28. > :26:33.The cross is, basically it has got a copper service -- surface. It has
:26:33. > :26:41.got silver rays coming out of it. Those minerals are very important
:26:41. > :26:47.in the mining history of Cornwall. Like Simon's sculpture, this
:26:47. > :26:52.monument is a modern interpretation of a Celtic cross. It is a tribute
:26:52. > :26:56.to Francis Bassett, who owned most of the mines in this area. The only
:26:56. > :27:02.other cross in Cornwall that is of a similar scale to the one that we
:27:02. > :27:10.are putting up is actually sitting on top of a site which is so
:27:10. > :27:20.relevant to the history of Cornwall's Mining Heritage.
:27:20. > :27:20.
:27:20. > :27:24.Although, to be perfectly honest, I think ours might look a bit better.
:27:24. > :27:31.But as his design years completion, will it be everything Simon has
:27:31. > :27:41.dreamed of? We are going to put your beautiful rays on. Then we
:27:41. > :27:44.
:27:44. > :27:49.This is the most important bit, especially with ours. It is the
:27:49. > :27:59.last bit. It is a bit like getting a photograph in focus or slightly
:27:59. > :28:03.
:28:03. > :28:07.blurred. We are looking for a good Seeing it coming together, you get
:28:07. > :28:16.a sense of its presence. A sculpture lives and dies on the
:28:16. > :28:20.present. If it does not have peasants, it will die. -- presence.
:28:20. > :28:30.We should be finished in the next month. It will have been a lot of
:28:30. > :28:35.years of waiting for that, so very exciting times.