0:00:04 > 0:00:08500 years ago, England was emerging into a new era.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13After years of war, plague and famine,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15the kingdom was enjoying peace and prosperity
0:00:15 > 0:00:19under the reign of the first Tudor king Henry VII.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27A new class of business-savvy farmer was thriving,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29boosting food production...
0:00:29 > 0:00:32And then over she goes!
0:00:32 > 0:00:36..while wool from their sheep was generating half the nation's wealth.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Many of the nation's farms were under the control
0:00:41 > 0:00:45of the biggest landowner in England after the King - the monasteries.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Their influence could be felt in every aspect of daily life.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54They were not just places of religion,
0:00:54 > 0:00:59they were at the forefront of technology, education and farming.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03But with the daily lives of monks devoted to prayer,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06they depended increasingly on tenant farmers
0:01:06 > 0:01:09who worked and tended their lands.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Steady, girl.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Now, historian Ruth Goodman
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and archaeologists Tom Pinfold and Peter Ginn
0:01:20 > 0:01:24are turning the clock back to Tudor England
0:01:24 > 0:01:27here at Weald and Downland in West Sussex,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31to work as ordinary farmers under the watchful eye of a monastic landlord.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Gi'away.
0:01:38 > 0:01:39That's the way! Nice.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43To succeed, they'll have to master long-lost farming methods...
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Those flanks are going again!
0:01:46 > 0:01:49..and get to grips with Tudor technology.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51ALL GASP
0:01:51 > 0:01:53MAN: Quite noisy!
0:01:53 > 0:01:55- RUTH:- It's a really violent process!
0:01:56 > 0:02:00..while immersing themselves in the beliefs...
0:02:00 > 0:02:02customs...
0:02:02 > 0:02:05and rituals that shaped the age.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11This is Merrie England for Heaven's sake, so to speak, let's enjoy it!
0:02:11 > 0:02:13SQUEALS AND LAUGHTER
0:02:13 > 0:02:17This is the untold story of the monastic farms of Tudor England.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Ruth, Tom and Peter are travelling to their new farm
0:02:34 > 0:02:39at Weald and Downland in Sussex on England's south coast.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43In 1500, England was 15 years into the rule
0:02:43 > 0:02:47of its first Tudor king Henry VII.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51The previous two centuries had seen the country ravaged
0:02:51 > 0:02:54by war, economic depression and plague.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58The Black Death had cut England's population from four million
0:02:58 > 0:03:01to just two-and-a-half million.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But under the new Tudor dynasty the nation was slowly emerging
0:03:04 > 0:03:06from the darkest of times.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11This is our marketplace.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13This is our little town.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17What a day to start out on, eh? Look at it - blue skies!
0:03:17 > 0:03:20- Welcome to Tudor England, eh? - Morning!
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The early Tudor world is a Catholic world,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29suffused with religious thought.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Even very practical stuff, it was always there.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Whatever you did, whatever you talked about, whatever you thought -
0:03:36 > 0:03:39there was no other system of understanding the world.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41It was undisputed.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47In 1500, monasteries were almost as powerful as the state itself.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50They exerted their influence over the entire population,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52not only in matters of religion,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55but in every aspect of daily life.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58This was a God-fearing nation.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03People believed they risked eternal damnation, even social isolation,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06if they didn't attend church at least once a week.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10In this period, most people were living in small wooden structures
0:04:10 > 0:04:14focal point of these communities were these massive cathedrals
0:04:14 > 0:04:17- awe-inspiring, stone built, dominating the landscape.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21And this shows how central the church and religion were
0:04:21 > 0:04:22to people's everyday lives.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It was a time when religion rather than science
0:04:27 > 0:04:30was relied upon to explain everything,
0:04:30 > 0:04:32from the weather and the growth of crops
0:04:32 > 0:04:34to health and well-being.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39Our lives, this country, the values we have, the laws we have,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41the way we approach life -
0:04:41 > 0:04:43it's all shaped by the past.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46I mean, this is one of those periods
0:04:46 > 0:04:49that really forges the identity of England.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Professor James Clark, an expert in medieval monastic life,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03is introducing them to their new farm.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07What was the relationship between monasteries and farms such as this?
0:05:07 > 0:05:12By the early Tudor period monasteries are preferring, increasingly,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17to put out a large proportion of their agricultural property to tenants.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20So we're not employed directly by the monasteries, but rather
0:05:20 > 0:05:24a sort of little enterprise paying rent to the monasteries,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and we're taking all the business risks?
0:05:27 > 0:05:28Absolutely so.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30And it's down to your ingenuity,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34and perhaps your ability to read the dynamics of the market,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36to make a success of it.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41As well as having a good head for business,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43monastic farmers needed shelter -
0:05:43 > 0:05:47not just for themselves, but also to accommodate and feed their workers.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49It's huge!
0:05:49 > 0:05:52- Hm. Heating bill's going to be a bugger, isn't it? - LAUGHTER
0:05:54 > 0:05:55Wow!
0:05:55 > 0:05:57RUTH: This is a house! Wow!
0:05:59 > 0:06:01How many people would've lived in here?
0:06:01 > 0:06:04There'd be the tenants and their immediate family,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06but there would also be live-in domestic servants.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08So, maybe eight to ten in total.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14This was the heart of the house, where the farmers would eat,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18carry out business, and house extra labourers at harvest time.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Wow, so where do we sleep?
0:06:21 > 0:06:23RUTH: Well, that'll be, for us, upstairs.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26The upper chamber, called the solar,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30was the farmer's private bed-sitting room.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31It's started already!
0:06:31 > 0:06:34And a pull-out truckle.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36- A truckle? - Yeah, yeah, it's on wheels.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38It shoves underneath during the day.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- That's where you'll be, Peter! - On the truckle.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46To pay their monastic landlords,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Tudor farmers had to turn a decent profit.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Their farm has five acres of enclosed fields,
0:06:53 > 0:06:58as well as access to hundreds of acres of common land and woods.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01They have cows to pull ploughs and carts,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04a barley crop, poultry,
0:07:04 > 0:07:06and a flock of Southdown sheep.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09What kind of farming are we going to be doing then?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Your main focus will be sheep.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And here's where the relationship between the tenant and the monastery
0:07:14 > 0:07:17is absolutely central to your productivity.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Your wool crop may well be required by the monastery,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24to satisfy the merchants that it's under contract with.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27- RUTH:- But we can't be completely wool-specialist,
0:07:27 > 0:07:29we do also have to grow arable crops...?
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Yes, certainly, you'll probably have a barley crop, for example.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38Also, at this time, we see tenant farmers taking up pig farming -
0:07:38 > 0:07:41in a small way - as an additional small enterprise.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Peter, I think we should definitely get some pigs.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Well, if we're getting some pigs we need to place to put them.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49This project, right there.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56It's spring.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Ruth, Peter and Tom have to get their money-spinning enterprises
0:08:00 > 0:08:02up and running as soon as possible.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04They have just a few weeks to sow crops,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and get in livestock before Easter.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Wool was central to the early Tudor economy.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13It was known as the jewel in the realm,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16as it generated half the nation's wealth.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Sheep were the backbone of the British economy -
0:08:20 > 0:08:22for clothing, mostly - and not just for us.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25British wool was clothing most of Europe.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27It was the finest quality.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Come on, girls.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30It was all about grazing -
0:08:30 > 0:08:34the quality of grass influenced the quality of the wool.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The British system involved quite a lot of moving sheep about.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42In the winter months, you wanted them down on your arable land,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46nibbling at the weeds, dropping their dung on your fields,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50but come spring he moved them up into the hills,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53into areas where he can't run a plough.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57There the grass has come fresh and lush and will sustain your sheep through the summer
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and allow them to grow that perfect coat.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Only when the sheep are sheared in a couple of months' time,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07will they know the quality of the wool.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Most Tudor households kept a pig.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Since pigs ate almost anything,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19they were a good way of turning kitchen scraps into meat.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24But in the early 1500s, monastic farmers began rearing pigs
0:09:24 > 0:09:27to sell on a commercial scale.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29I suppose, modern age, you've got a lot of pig breeds,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32but the closest to the Tudor breed is the Tamworth, isn't it?
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Yeah, a little tamer now though, aren't they?
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Much wilder, more aggressive back then.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39SUDDEN SQUEALING
0:09:39 > 0:09:42The monasteries laid down strict rules for their tenants.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45It was forbidden for pigs to run free,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47as they could destroy crops and attack people.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51So Peter and Tom must build an enclosure.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53I suppose pigs... I mean, they're forest dwellers,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56so to keep them inside, they'd want to get out...
0:09:56 > 0:09:59- So it'll be a proper construction project.- Yeah.- No messing around.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06The monasteries most valuable asset, was their land.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09In an age when almost every craft relied on wood,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12management of the coppices was essential.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15John Roberts looks after this coppice
0:10:15 > 0:10:19and is helping Tom cut some hazel to build a pig enclosure.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21This is all based around the broadleaf's ability
0:10:21 > 0:10:24to regenerate very quickly, isn't it?
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Yeah, basically it releases all sorts of hormones
0:10:26 > 0:10:28that kids it into thinking it's young again.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30So can make it virtually immortal.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37After the wood is cut, new branches quickly sprout
0:10:37 > 0:10:42and within a few years it will have produced another crop of hazel poles.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45As a tenant farmer, how much wood can I actually take?
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Well, that would sort of depend on your tenancy, really.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52And, like today, you gets what you pays for.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55So the more rent you're paying, generally, the more rights you have.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00They might restrict you to how many cartloads you can take,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03or they might restrict you to how long you can be in there cutting for?
0:11:03 > 0:11:07- You're just spending your time basically.- Time and effort.- Yes.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Materials gathered, Peter and Tom begin to build the pig enclosure.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Tudor farmers had to master all types of building skills to survive.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27These things are never as easy as they look.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32They've found an area that's already fenced on three sides,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34so they just need to close it off.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38We're making good progress with this, Peter.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's hard work, but it's satisfying.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Between these stakes, the coppiced hazel is woven
0:11:44 > 0:11:48to create what is known as a wattle fence.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50So you need to start there.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52- Yeah.- OK.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Bob Holman is an expert at building Tudor fences.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59- Do you think this will hold pigs? - Oh, yes! Without a doubt.- Yeah?
0:11:59 > 0:12:02This would hold an elephant by the time we've finished it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06So what we're going to do is put our first wand in there,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08and then weave this through these,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11pushing it down all the time.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Push it down with your feet.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17- Give it a good shove.- Yeah. - And that's the first wand in.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21- The next one, of course, or go on the other side.- Right.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25So in that one goes - all the butts will then go on the inside.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28So we follow that process through,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31right the way through to the other end.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Commonly known as cockerel nobbler.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39- Cockle nobbler? - Cockerel nobbler.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42To sort of polish a cockerel off, you'd give it a tap on the head.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45- Oh, cockerel nobbler! - A nobbler. Yes.- Oh, I see.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49It's just an expression of speech, but it's good for tapping ends in.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51PETER "SQUAWKS" That's right!
0:12:53 > 0:12:55The other side of the pig pen
0:12:55 > 0:12:57is enclosed with a different type of Tudor fencing.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59A dead hedge.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Rotten wood, isn't it? It's just rotted away.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04That's just come out!
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Ruth and Tom are making some repairs.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Instead of using valuable coppiced hazel
0:13:10 > 0:13:13otherwise unwanted twigs could be used.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Basically two rows of posts or stakes, driven into the ground,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20then we take all the stuff that, on the face of it, looks like
0:13:20 > 0:13:26it's not needed - hawthorns, brambles, a bit of blackthorn there.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Look at the thorns on here -
0:13:27 > 0:13:31about an inch long, they're sharp as well - they're going to hurt.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33So if you're an animal trying to force your way in,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36you've got something to contend with.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39- You can't, can you? - No, it's going nowhere.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41- Throwing yourself against it, and nothing happens.- Exactly.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I think your aim will improve as time goes on, Peter.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00- I think that is about there.- No pig's getting through there, is it?
0:14:00 > 0:14:02He he he he....!
0:14:03 > 0:14:07After just a day's work, the enclosure is complete.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12This fence is as secure as it's going to get.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15So, hopefully - pigs contained.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17That's the great thing about Tudor building,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21it's all about sourcing your materials from your landscape.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32To the monasteries, farming was a sideline.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33A way of earning money.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Their primary purpose was to perform religious worship
0:14:39 > 0:14:42on such a scale that its spiritual power would benefit
0:14:42 > 0:14:44every Christian soul.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47SPEAK LATIN PRAYER
0:14:50 > 0:14:55The oldest of all the monastic orders were the Benedictines.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Established by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century,
0:14:58 > 0:15:03they were bound by vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07and followed a demanding daily routine of worship, study and prayer.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Peter is visiting Downside Abbey, a Benedictine monastery
0:15:16 > 0:15:19to meet its abbot Father Aidan Bellenger.
0:15:19 > 0:15:20Hello, Father Abbot.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24- Hello, Peter. Very good to see you. - You, too.- It always is.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Tudor tradesmen formed religious guilds
0:15:28 > 0:15:33to ensure prosperity in this life and safe passage to heaven in the next.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Peter wants advice on setting up a guild for farmers.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Which patron saint do you think a guild of farmers would adopt?
0:15:43 > 0:15:47I think, in general, the most likely patron for a farmer
0:15:47 > 0:15:50- would actually be St Benedict himself.- Right, OK.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54And one I'd particularly like to think goes in hand with St Benedict
0:15:54 > 0:15:57is St Benedict's sister St Scholastica,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00who is often seen as the patron saint of good weather.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03And I think that must be very important for any farmer.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Every area of life was represented by a different saint.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10As illustrated by this medieval prayer book.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13They begin with calendars -
0:16:13 > 0:16:16and the months are the same as the months we have now -
0:16:16 > 0:16:21but many people would identify the day less by the day of the month,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24than by the saint of the day.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29And some parts of the year are absolutely full of saints,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31which gave people an excuse for jollification
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and having a good party, but they were also a reminder
0:16:35 > 0:16:38of the way in which the Church and God and the saints
0:16:38 > 0:16:40intervened in everyday life.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48HE CHANTS
0:16:50 > 0:16:53The first stage in establishing the guild of St Benedict,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56is to create a register of its members.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Inspired by the prayer book,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Peter is commissioning a richly illuminated document.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Monasteries employed lay folk to do domestic work,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07like cooking and laundry,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and skilled workers to do stone-carving, bookbinding,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12and calligraphy.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Josie Brown has begun the calligraphy on vellum
0:17:16 > 0:17:18made from calfskin.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20So how are you getting on with our manuscript?
0:17:20 > 0:17:22It's coming along very nicely.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24I remember making a quill,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27but mine had quite a lot of feather on it.
0:17:27 > 0:17:28Absolutely.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32You very often see the romantic idea of using a pretty quill,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34but we don't use them like that.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38We cut the ends off, because they get in the way,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41and we strip the barbs and use them like that.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Not quite so attractive,
0:17:43 > 0:17:44but much more authentic.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Are you squeezing that to suck ink into this,
0:17:49 > 0:17:51or are you simply dipping it in?
0:17:51 > 0:17:52I'm simply dipping it in,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56but that's also why the board is set at an angle,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59because if you are writing flat gravity will take over
0:17:59 > 0:18:04so you want your pen almost horizontal, to stop the ink flooding.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Once the calligraphy is finished, the document will move on to
0:18:09 > 0:18:13an artist within the abbey to illuminate the text.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24The Tudor farmer's day began at sunrise.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27Brush the grit off my feet -
0:18:27 > 0:18:32I don't want a little stone in the bottom of my hose.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37Now these are made out of sheep's wool, hence the pure whiteness of them.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41The doublet here, is what's going to hold the hose up.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47The doublet is just like a jacket essentially.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49I sew myself together.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56But being laced into clothing, created problems all its own.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00The book of manners which essentially tells a page boy
0:19:00 > 0:19:02how to dress the squire,
0:19:02 > 0:19:08suggests that he first makes sure that the privy is available,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12because the implication is that once you're sewn into this
0:19:12 > 0:19:15you'd much rather have used the facilities
0:19:15 > 0:19:18before you did up all the stitches than afterwards.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22And it's certainly something you start considering.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24We talk about rhythms of daily life,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28well, I've certainly established my own rhythms for my own daily life.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Once in the morning, twice in the evenings,
0:19:32 > 0:19:33in case you are wondering.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39To preserve modesty, a flap of fabric known as a codpiece
0:19:39 > 0:19:41was worn on the front of the hose.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45It's not something you're used to coming across in modern life.
0:19:45 > 0:19:46And it's tied at the top here
0:19:46 > 0:19:50so that you can undo the ties and go to the loo.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It's essentially a fly.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55So it's just like the zip on your jeans,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58so it's functional and, surprisingly, comfortable.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03For the woman of the house,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the first job of the day was to light the fire.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12I've got my flint and my steel - struck together they spark.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The trick so is to catch one of those sparks and keep it alight.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22Ah, there!
0:20:22 > 0:20:24You see it?
0:20:24 > 0:20:25A little spark.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Ruth uses charred cloth for tinder
0:20:27 > 0:20:30which will catch light from a tiny spark.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Now, we surround it...
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and we have fire.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Farmhouses had no glazed windows, because glass was expensive.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47To keep warm, a fire was essential.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49One of the things you may notice
0:20:49 > 0:20:52is that I am not doing this in the middle of a hearth,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56you know with a chimney. There are several reasons for that.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Most important, is probably to do with fuel efficiency -
0:20:59 > 0:21:02the heating of your home.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06About 70% of the heat of a fire goes straight up a chimney.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10That means if I wanted to keep a house like this warm,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I would have to have nearly three times as much fuel -
0:21:13 > 0:21:15day in, day out, day in, day out - with a chimney,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18as I do with a little fire in the centre of the room.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22So this is really, really fuel-efficient.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28For the men, the first job was to feed the livestock.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Peter and Tom are sourcing water from the farm's well.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34- Look at this! - Wow, look at that.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The water is over 20 feet down.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Blimey, that is...
0:21:40 > 0:21:41That is deep.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45To reach it, some ingenious Tudor technology is called for.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50I think slow and steady wins the race here, Peter.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53HE GROANS
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Treadwheels were the engines of the day.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Used to power cranes to build cathedrals, monasteries and castles,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02as well as to drive machinery.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Slow it down, Peter? I'm applying the brake.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10OK, let's get this into the buckets.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12OK.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Oh! That was close!
0:22:16 > 0:22:19THEY LAUGH
0:22:19 > 0:22:22This is going to be ideal water for our cattle, isn't it?
0:22:24 > 0:22:26But humans back then...
0:22:26 > 0:22:29You've got to keep yourself healthy, haven't you?
0:22:29 > 0:22:33So you need to purify the water, and the best way of doing that is making beer.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Which suits us very well, I think.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Yeah, let's get these to our cows.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Since water from wells was often contaminated,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44people drank ale all day, every day.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49The alcohol killed any bacteria, making it safe to drink.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53How are these tight clothes working for you now, Peter?
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Animals, on the other hand,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59have better resistance to the bacteria in dirty water,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02so were less likely to get ill from drinking it.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Perfect.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08I like that treadwheel.
0:23:08 > 0:23:09It's really cool.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18In a world without electric light,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21work indoors like writing accounts or mending clothes,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23had to be done during daylight hours.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28The only illumination came from dim lights
0:23:28 > 0:23:30made from rushes and sheep fat.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36What I want to do is, end up with pure fat.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41So that means I got to cook out
0:23:41 > 0:23:45all the little bits of blood vessel, skin...
0:23:45 > 0:23:49The easiest way to do this is to just boil it all up.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I want to boil it until all those great big solid lumps of tallow
0:23:52 > 0:23:53have dissolved.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58The fat needs to boil continuously all morning.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07As well as breeding sheep, pigs and geese,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10the Tudor farmer also cultivated crops.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The farmer's already growing barley
0:24:14 > 0:24:16used for making bread and ale.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Another essential Tudor crop would be peas.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24I mean, obviously, peas are a crop you associate with a garden.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Yes, but all the text and evidence that's come down to us
0:24:26 > 0:24:29shows that they were using it as a field crop, as well.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31On a smaller scale than the barley and the wheat,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34but nonetheless something that you have out in the field
0:24:34 > 0:24:37- for your livestock and for yourselves.- I think it's ideal.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41In modern Britain we rely quite heavily on potatoes, don't we?
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Whereas in Tudor Britain, or Tudor England, there are no potatoes.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46That is a good point.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48That is a very good point. Yeah.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Potatoes didn't arrive in Britain until the 1580s.
0:24:52 > 0:24:53To sow their peas
0:24:53 > 0:24:56they are seeking guidance from a Tudor farming manual,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00FitzHerbert's Book of Husbandry.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02If we're following the advice in this book,
0:25:02 > 0:25:07then we're following the ideas and the farming practice of this era.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11In Tudor English, spelling was yet to be standardised.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13As Peter is discovering.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16- "How will you know... - The "seasonable time".
0:25:16 > 0:25:21Yeah. "..seasonable time to go upon the land that is ploughed...
0:25:21 > 0:25:23- "and if it...- "Sing".- Oh, yes.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28"..and if it sing or cry or make any noise under thy feet,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30"then it is too wet to sow.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34"And if it makes no noise and will bear the horses,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36"then sow in the name of God."
0:25:36 > 0:25:40You're listening to the land. That's the idea, isn't it?
0:25:40 > 0:25:43So if it's absolutely saturated with water, or anywhere in between,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47it's going to make a noise - be squelchy or squishy or...
0:25:47 > 0:25:49It's going to "sing or cry".
0:25:49 > 0:25:51You'll hear sticky noises. Yeah.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53But as soon as the noise ceases, that's when you hit it.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55That's when you sow.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58This certainly isn't singing or crying under my feet.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00- Looks pretty darned dry to me. - Mm.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Before sowing, the land must be ploughed to turn over the soil
0:26:06 > 0:26:09and return it to bare earth.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12In Tudor times, the plough would have been pulled by cattle,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15often oxen, rather than horses.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20Gwen and Graceful are one of the only pairs of cattle left in Britain
0:26:20 > 0:26:22trained to pull a plough.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But they haven't worked for a couple of years
0:26:25 > 0:26:28so the boys will have to break them in again.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Hello, old thing. Hello, biddy.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34- Hi, Charles.- Hi, Peter. - Pleased to meet you.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36They have called on someone with a lifetime's experience
0:26:36 > 0:26:40in working with cattle - Charles Martell.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42This is Gwen. She's on the nearside.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44GWEN MOOS LOUDLY
0:26:44 > 0:26:48The short name is on the nearside of a pair of oxen.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50And then she's Graceful - double syllable -
0:26:50 > 0:26:53so eventually they respond to their name.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56They don't actually understand English too well,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58but they can hear the difference in the length of the word.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Gwen, Graceful.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03For the first time in two years
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Gwen and Graceful are being fitted with a yolk.
0:27:06 > 0:27:07One yolk.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13All right, there you are, so just hold it so she doesn't walk away.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15Held in place with oxbows,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19the yoke is what the plough will be attached to.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20They almost look happy.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23This is the easy bit, it's when we get out in the field
0:27:23 > 0:27:26and see open grassland, and you might not see them again.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Of course they haven't seen grassland for the best part of winter.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Oh, dear, don't say that. THEY LAUGH
0:27:33 > 0:27:34Steady, steady, steady.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45It's like the bloody circus, isn't it?
0:27:45 > 0:27:47All right, old biddies. It's all right.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49That's just got the edge off them now.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52We need to convince them to do some work, before they get their food.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Get them into a routine. Here they come again.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Yeah, I don't think we should let them out, actually.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01- I'm afraid, that's what they're after - their grub.- Yeah.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03So, because I'm afraid if they do go
0:28:03 > 0:28:06they'll think it's a great laugh and we might not catch them tonight.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08They can smell their grub there.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11That's what it is. That's what it is.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12MOOS
0:28:12 > 0:28:15So why exactly did people move away from ploughing
0:28:15 > 0:28:19- with oxen and cattle towards horses? - Two things, I think.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22First of all, fashion. It played a big part in that.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26- Really?- You go and see a farmer now... Careful what I say -
0:28:26 > 0:28:29but the tractor's got to be the latest one,
0:28:29 > 0:28:31the modern one, a bigger one,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36and oxen were regarded as lowly and poor beasts.
0:28:36 > 0:28:37And the other thing is speed.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Horses were more expensive, but they were fast.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43So that's why we're in this situation today, where
0:28:43 > 0:28:46working oxen in Britain - this is probably one of the only pairs.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48And I think it's a great shame.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00The sheep fat has spent the morning boiling,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04and has been left to cool leaving pure tallow on the surface.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Ruth's reheating it to make the rush lights.
0:29:11 > 0:29:12If you think about modern life,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16we get sort of fats and oils from a huge number of sources.
0:29:16 > 0:29:22Things like olives, sunflower seed, linseed, rapeseed,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25as well as crude oil and all its various derivatives.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28But if you were living in around 1500,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31then the animal fats are pretty much all there is.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37And those animal fats have got to do every food job,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41every light and energy job, every axle-grease job.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46Anything that needs fat has to come from...animal fats.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53And this is the other ingredient, rushes.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56The sort you want are those that have a sort of solid, pith-like centre.
0:29:56 > 0:30:02And what I want to do is to soak the fat into the pith.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07And then that little bit of green rind will act as the wick,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09which helps that to burn.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17Right. All I want to do is to soak that just briefly in the fat.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20And that pith draws the fat into it.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23That is a rush light. It's really simple, isn't it?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30It's the moment of truth for Gwyn and Graceful.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33They are about to work for the first time in years.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37Whoa!
0:30:41 > 0:30:45Once in the field, Charles' fears are realised.
0:30:45 > 0:30:46Oh, dear!
0:30:46 > 0:30:50But look at them now. You can see they're not the least bit upset.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54They had their little run. They're quite fat, so it wasn't very far.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57- Just need to work out what stop is, then.- Yeah.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05We've got to get a plough into that soil in the next week or so,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07otherwise we're not going to get a crop.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11Before the plough is attached,
0:31:11 > 0:31:16Charles has suggested letting them pull a much lighter implement.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19It's vital that the ploughed furrows are absolutely straight
0:31:19 > 0:31:22to ensure every inch of land is turned over.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26So Tom and Peter must persuade Gwyn and Graceful
0:31:26 > 0:31:29to walk in a straight line.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Move on, move on.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Come on, come on.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35- Come on.- There we go.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Just need to tap them ever so gently and they move. It's amazing.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44They look kind of happy. They're earning their food now.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Come walk, come walk. We'll keep them moving.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50That's the trick, apparently. Don't let them stop.
0:31:55 > 0:31:56(Come on.)
0:31:56 > 0:31:59Come on. Oh! Come on.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04Come on! Come on! Come on!
0:32:04 > 0:32:08Well, there we are, they're working. I'm amazed.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Pete's a bit noisy. You don't need to shout at them like that.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13They've got quite good hearing, oxen.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16I'll tell him about that in a minute. Hah!
0:32:16 > 0:32:17I'm impressed. It's lovely.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21And, er...the next stage is ploughing.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Well done, girls. Well done.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32As night fell, with the farmhouse plunged into darkness,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35the Tudor farmer would go to bed.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39About the same as a candle flame, isn't it?
0:32:39 > 0:32:40Not much different.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It smells a lot worse. SHE LAUGHS
0:32:43 > 0:32:47There ain't much work you can do by rush light.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54BIRDSONG
0:33:12 > 0:33:13Beautiful day!
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It was believed that devotion to a patron saint
0:33:18 > 0:33:22through a religious guild was the key to success.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26At the monastery,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30the calligraphy on the Guild of St Benedict register is complete.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Next, a painter illuminates the text.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35As with all trades of the day,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38it wasn't only creative skills that were required,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42but also craft skills to make the tools for the job.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Artist Mark Goodman begins by making a brush from a feather.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49The simple way to get a point on it
0:33:49 > 0:33:52is just to cut it through just over halfway.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55We've now got a point on our feather.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57We can cut the feather off.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03We can then...make a tube.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11And then we can push the feather through the tube.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16And as you see...there we have a brush.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Then the only last bit you've got to worry about is your stick,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25which you can get anywhere. And there we have it, a paintbrush.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29To paint these very fine details,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33the Tudor artist had an ingenious solution.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Just a glass globe full of water.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39If it's not full of water, nothing happens with it really.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42As you can see there. The trick is filling it with water.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46As soon as you fill it with water, it becomes a large magnifying lens.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50This one's around about 16 times magnification.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Illumination was a complex and expensive process,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00so reserved only for special books and documents, like this register.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09After many hours of delicate work, the register is complete.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13An indelible record of the Guild of St Benedict's paying members.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17The Guild would have funded an altar in the local church
0:35:17 > 0:35:19dedicated to their cause.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22LAUGHTER
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Pre-Reformation churches look completely different.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Look at all the imagery on the walls.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31This chapel at St Fagans
0:35:31 > 0:35:35has been restored to how it would have been in 1500.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41In the late 1520s, Henry VIII broke away from the Roman church
0:35:41 > 0:35:44and formed the Church of England.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Beginning a process that would see the monasteries destroyed
0:35:47 > 0:35:50and parish churches like this one stripped of their splendour.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55This is the side altar of our guild,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57the one that we maintain and look after.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01And here, we, as ordinary lay folk,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05pay for a priest to come and do additional masses
0:36:05 > 0:36:08for the souls of all of us within the guild
0:36:08 > 0:36:10for now and for ever-more.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16These are in need of some TLC, aren't they? Look at that!
0:36:16 > 0:36:21Not only covered in wax, but filthy. So that's a job for me.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Tom and Peter have spent the last week
0:36:35 > 0:36:38getting the cattle used to working again.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42We've got five willing participants at the moment, I believe.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Ruth's happy, Peter's kind of happy.
0:36:45 > 0:36:46There we go.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51Now they're ready to take the plough for the first time in years.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53- OK.- This is the moment of truth.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56These cows are getting restless, they want to get on with some work.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00OK, Tommo, we're in your hands. Walk on!
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Straight line, Tommo, straight line.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08- This is good, I think.- It's a start.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Yeah. We are...we are experimenting here.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16It's vital that Gwyn and Graceful plough in straight lines.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21- Gee away. Gee away.- Gee away!
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Now, that's nice! That's good!
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Keep that straight line. Gee away.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29We're going straight, what are you doing at the back?
0:37:29 > 0:37:30Are those cows straight?
0:37:30 > 0:37:33- LAUGHTER - They need a line to follow.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36- Really?- Unfortunately for us... - LAUGHTER
0:37:36 > 0:37:39- Look at it!- ..we've got a bit of spaghetti ploughing.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41Spaghetti ploughing? It's worse than spaghetti ploughing.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45But the ploughing goes from bad to worse.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Walk on! Oh!
0:37:49 > 0:37:51- You all right, Tommo? - We've got a revolution here.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55- Walk on.- We've got cow mutiny! - Walk on.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Gwyn and Graceful are exhausted after just a couple of furrows.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Come on!
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Oh, dear. The problem is, they're really hating this, aren't they?
0:38:03 > 0:38:06They're not used to having the equipment. They're not happy.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Once you've got that pressure of pulling the plough,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11when we're trying to go deeper, it's too much work for them.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Walk on!
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Getting the peas in the ground within the next week is crucial.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Otherwise, the crop will fail.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Also pressing is the pig concern.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28Well, there we go.
0:38:28 > 0:38:29Timber!
0:38:29 > 0:38:34The enclosure's complete, but now they must build a shelter within in.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Pigs don't like draughts, so if they're to breed successfully,
0:38:44 > 0:38:46the shelter must have solid walls.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50They're basing the design on medieval buildings
0:38:50 > 0:38:52they've excavated as archaeologists.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57But constructing the walls without nails is proving tricky.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06- This one is high.- Yeah.- I might need to get the axe.- Or we could bash it.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Tom and Peter have rather different ideas as to how it should be built.
0:39:14 > 0:39:15You split that timber...
0:39:16 > 0:39:19What?
0:39:19 > 0:39:22I think, basically, it should be shaped slightly with the axe,
0:39:22 > 0:39:27and Peter's just enjoying hitting stuff with a piece of wood.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29That one's fat.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33- Are you damaging my timber? - Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, ooh!
0:39:33 > 0:39:34Right!
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Move that across like that. There we go. Boom!
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I'm so impressed by this, Tom. You really have outdone yourself.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48- Friendship still intact.- Just.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58It's two weeks until Easter.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02For Tudors it was preceded by Lent, 40 days of fasting
0:40:02 > 0:40:04and reflection, ending on Easter Sunday.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09The church dictated that no meat or fish be eaten,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12and in this God-fearing society it was a practice
0:40:12 > 0:40:15observed by almost everyone.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Vegetables from the garden were essential for survival.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23The whole point of gardening at this period of history is to have
0:40:23 > 0:40:26something to eat every day.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30And if you look around you, you can see just how hard that could be.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Oddly enough, you might think the hungriest period of the year
0:40:33 > 0:40:35is in the dead of winter, but that's not quite true.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39It's really sort of now that we call traditionally "the hungry gap".
0:40:39 > 0:40:44That part of the year between your supplies, your stores
0:40:44 > 0:40:48beginning to run low and the new harvests arriving.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53There are just leeks, parsley and a vegetable that's long
0:40:53 > 0:40:55since disappeared from the kitchen.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57This is alexanders.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01I think the Romans brought them over to begin with.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04They're very versatile.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07These young leaves are edible just as they are,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09and these are a real treat.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Can you see the flower heads in here, just forming underneath?
0:41:12 > 0:41:16Poach just those, they're absolutely delicious.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24This is a real favourite of mine this time of year. Primroses.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Delicious salad.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29You just pull the petals,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33so you just get that bit out and they are so lovely.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36And if the sun's being on them they're really sweet.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Mmm. They're really tasty.
0:41:39 > 0:41:40SHE LAUGHS
0:41:40 > 0:41:44Here we go...weavy, weavy, weavy...
0:41:44 > 0:41:47To construct the pig shelter walls,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Peter and Tom are using a building technique has been around
0:41:49 > 0:41:54for over 6,000 years - wattle and daub.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Thin hazel sticks are woven around the uprights to create a fence.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04Then a mixture of clay, horse dung and straw is daubed onto it,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07creating a solid, draughtproof wall.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Look out easily that just works into the earth, into the wattle.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15That's amazing.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17The stickiness comes from the manure.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Sorry, this is really quite horrible.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Probably, it can be as strong as bricks.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26All the pressure is spread out over all the different bits of wattle.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28All this is going to dry, go solid.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31You know, it's not hard to work with, it's just unpleasant.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38500 years ago, this was the way most houses were built.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42Our farm cottage, you can see the timber structures
0:42:42 > 0:42:46and the panels in between. They are all wattle and daub.
0:42:46 > 0:42:47Beautifully smoothed off.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50We're building pigsties in exactly the same way that
0:42:50 > 0:42:52that Tudor cottage was built.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03Ruth is equipping the farmhouse with utensils and tableware.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08In Tudor times these were sourced from local craftsmen
0:43:08 > 0:43:11and most villages would have had a dish-maker.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Today, there's just one professional wooden dish-maker
0:43:15 > 0:43:19left in Britain, aptly named Robin Wood.
0:43:19 > 0:43:20Right, here we go.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23- Right, so this is what you're going to make ours out of.- Yeah.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Out of each log like this I get three dishes.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29So we're not making them out of slices that way.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32- It's not like that's the bowl? - Exactly.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36All the strength in wood is the fibres running along this way.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39So if you just cannot a ring off like this,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42then they'd all be very short fibres and it would just break apart.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47The dishes are hewn from a hardwood, such as beech.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Nice! Let's see. Let's see what we got. There it goes.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03The dish is roughly shaped using just one tool, an axe.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09- And these are your chisels.- Yes. I forge all these myself.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12Traditionally, forging your tools would have been
0:44:12 > 0:44:15- part of the apprenticeship of the job.- Right.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20Then it's turned, using a foot-operated pole lathe.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23It's a device so simple and ingenious that it
0:44:23 > 0:44:27saw use from the 10th century right through until the 20th.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31- Clunk!- Clunk! SHE LAUGHS
0:44:31 > 0:44:33I love the way it's turning it around.
0:44:33 > 0:44:34It really is as simple as that.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Throughout history these wooden dishes have gone
0:44:38 > 0:44:39in and out of fashion.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44In the Roman period they all ate from ceramic.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48And then we had about 1,000 years when people ate from wood.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51And then it was really the 18th century when the Stoke potteries
0:44:51 > 0:44:55started mass-producing very cheap ceramic,
0:44:55 > 0:44:57that we went back to being a ceramic culture.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Oh, there we go.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10- There we go, all finished. - Wow. That is beautiful.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14Probably 1,000 years of accumulated knowledge handed down
0:45:14 > 0:45:18through the generations has gone into that bowl.
0:45:24 > 0:45:29In the 1500s people ate their main meal at 11 o'clock in the morning.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31Having risen at dawn,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35by then the farm workers would have been ravenous.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39Taking pride of place on the Tudor table was the salt.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46Without salt, people, for centuries and centuries and centuries,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50would have found living in the northern climes nigh impossible.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54Salt allows you to preserve meat, it allows you to preserve fish.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Like most things in Tudor life,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00even setting the table was laden with Christian symbolism.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05You might look at it and think it looks rather like an altar
0:46:05 > 0:46:08in a church, and that's what many people in the period thought too.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13They made the connection between dining and God's table.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16There was something of the sacred
0:46:16 > 0:46:20in the daily ritual of eating a meal.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22Something of remembering Christ.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Something of an echo of the Last Supper.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27And people were quite conscious of that.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30They wrote about it at the time. They talked about it at the time.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32And they quite deliberately made the most of it.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42It's the week before Easter.
0:46:42 > 0:46:43If the peas aren't planted now
0:46:43 > 0:46:46they won't have time to germinate and grow.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Peter and Tom have spent the week getting
0:46:52 > 0:46:56Gwen and Graceful used to working again.
0:46:56 > 0:46:57Whoa! Blimey!
0:46:57 > 0:47:01- They're fast! They're faster than I thought they'd be.- That's good.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03Go on, girl. Walk on.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08Finally, the field is ploughed and harrowed to break up the soil.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10I'm just give them a little helping hand here,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13taking a bit of the pressure off.
0:47:13 > 0:47:14Whoa! Whoa!
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Steady!
0:47:17 > 0:47:20The peas can now be sown.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Peter's taking advice from the book of husbandry.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31"Let thy left foot before... and take a handful of peas...
0:47:31 > 0:47:33"And when thou take up thy right foot...
0:47:35 > 0:47:36"..thou can throw...
0:47:39 > 0:47:41"..thy..." Hang about.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44- "Thy peas." - Just throw, Peter. Just throw.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46BOTH: one, two, three...
0:47:49 > 0:47:52Hand-broadcasting seed was inevitably haphazard.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58It wasn't until the invention of Jethro Tull's seed drill
0:47:58 > 0:48:03200 years later that seeds could be sown in regular rows, evenly spaced.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07By putting your left foot forward and then throwing to the right,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09left foot forward, throwing to the right,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12it does mean that you are trying to get them
0:48:12 > 0:48:14broadcast as evenly as possible.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Come summer, they should have a crop to harvest.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33It's Palm Sunday, marking the last week of Lent.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38It commemorates Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40when palm leaves were laid before him,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44days before he was betrayed and crucified.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Peter has a key role in the celebrations.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Palm Sunday, starting around 1490,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56people used to dress up as prophets.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Basically, a yeoman or a respected member of the village,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03but a layperson, such as myself,
0:49:03 > 0:49:08would don the outfit of a prophet, and the more dramatic the better.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Such as John the Baptist emerging from the wilderness.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Records show that villages would actually hire in beards
0:49:15 > 0:49:19so that they could dress up their prophets accordingly.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21It wasn't meant to poke fun.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Tis I, John the Baptist!
0:49:26 > 0:49:27Right!
0:49:28 > 0:49:30I wonder if they will recognise me.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34CHANTING
0:49:42 > 0:49:46The most important ritual of Palm Sunday was Holy Mass.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51HE SPEAKS IN LATIN
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Delivered in Latin, the text would not have been understood
0:49:54 > 0:49:58by the congregation, but its rituals were.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00HE SPEAKS IN LATIN
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Central to the mass was the blessing of greenery,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08symbolising the palms that were laid before Jesus.
0:50:12 > 0:50:13ALL: Amen.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Then the blessed branches were turned into crosses,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19symbolic of the crucifixion.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25Finally, the congregation processed from the church with their crosses,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28which would then be taken home to protect them for the year to come.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Professor Ronald Hutton, an expert on English rituals, explains
0:50:34 > 0:50:39the importance of Palm Sunday celebrations in early Tudor England.
0:50:39 > 0:50:40You get three things in one.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44You get people reminded of what the Christian message
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and the Christian story is all about.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49You get the greenery, which symbolises spring and hope
0:50:49 > 0:50:53and new life, and you get something which is actually going to
0:50:53 > 0:50:56protect your house and your family and your farm.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01And all this in one symbolised in this procession with a layman -
0:51:01 > 0:51:07that's Peter up there, dressed up as a prophet - to dress this up as fun,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11make it something people can engage in and which they can make their own.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15It's just a totally brilliant way of giving religion to the people
0:51:15 > 0:51:17and enabling them to share in it.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24By the 1500s there was a new, raucous side to the celebrations.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30The truly insanely wonderful thing about Palm Sunday ritual
0:51:30 > 0:51:34is that it ended in a kind of spring version of a snowball fight.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37And it's a wonderful example of the way in which
0:51:37 > 0:51:41religion round about 1500 introduced an element
0:51:41 > 0:51:46of just sheer merrymaking at the end of something solemn and profound,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50to remind us that we are alive and being alive means having fun.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52LAUGHTER
0:51:56 > 0:51:57Good shot!
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Being a prophet has its advantages.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07I'm staying well out of the melee.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22This is the last ritual of Palm Sunday,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25but it's a really important one.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29It's where we take the crosses woven out of our consecrated greenery
0:52:29 > 0:52:36and put them over the doorway of your home to protect it for the next
0:52:36 > 0:52:41year against witchcraft, curses, demons and general misfortune.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45It's the ultimate security system circa 1500.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49- Does it work? - Apparently so, England is still here.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50LAUGHTER
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Can't argue with that.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Have a nice Tudor Easter!
0:52:54 > 0:52:56- Thank you kindly.- Bye!
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Bye-bye.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18It's late spring. The pea crop is coming through.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22It's a really healthy-looking crop, isn't it? The sun is really helping.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Just look out there, that's very impressive, if I say so myself.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32But the pigsties are still not finished.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Without a shelter they can't introduce pigs
0:53:34 > 0:53:36and breed them for cash.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39This is all we've been doing.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44This project could happen like that, but we've got the field to sort out
0:53:44 > 0:53:48and we've got the farm to sort out, we've got the animals to sort out.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Everything needs attention, everything requires time.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55- We sweated, we bled... - We've argued.- We've argued!
0:53:55 > 0:53:59We've road-tested not only our skills but our friendship.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03From here on in, you and I can do anything. Absolutely anything.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09For the roof, they're making shingles, wooden tiles.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16That's pretty good, actually. But I think it'll shed water.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Well, they are pigs, so they can't be too fussy.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26- It's time to get the pigs in. - Yeah, I think so.- Cool!
0:54:31 > 0:54:35As soon as Lent was over meat could be eaten once again.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40And at this time of year, it's one particular kind of meat.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42This is veal.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45You have to kill a young calf if you want to have cheese
0:54:45 > 0:54:50for the rest of the year, so Easter is all about veal.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Rennet from the calf's stomach is essential in cheesemaking.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58With the meat, Ruth's cooking a Tudor favourite, pottage.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03This, with its Easter veal, and its fresh, young alexanders
0:55:03 > 0:55:06and last year's leeks and last year's beans,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09it's just typical of this couple of weeks of the year.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12In two or three weeks' time I won't be able to make this pottage.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Half these ingredients won't be around.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19So although in some ways a diet in the late-medieval,
0:55:19 > 0:55:22early Tudor period can sound a little boring - bread and pottage,
0:55:22 > 0:55:24bread and pottage, next day, bread and pottage, next day,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26bread and pottage -
0:55:26 > 0:55:30nonetheless, those words actually hide quite a lot of variety,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34as week by week by week, that pottage changes all through the year.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45Local farmer Neal Kareswell is delivering two Tamworth sows
0:55:45 > 0:55:47and six piglets.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51Tamworths can be dangerous,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55but Neil's got some advice on how to move them safely around.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58If you try and push a pig from behind,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01they're a lot bigger than you, are a lot stronger than you, and if
0:56:01 > 0:56:04they don't want to do it, they will just come through the other way.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09So, if you try and use psychology more than brute strength,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11you'll be a little bit more successful.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14The best thing to do is convince them that you're brilliant
0:56:14 > 0:56:16and you've got some food.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19As you can tell, they are definitely enjoying that.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22They're not taking a blind bit of notice of us.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Which is a good sign, Peter.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27- It's amazing how much they complete this area.- Yeah.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30It's been quite sterile up until now and all of a sudden it's,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33like, "Ah! That's why we've been doing all the work."
0:56:38 > 0:56:42Lord, let us remember just how much effort goes into putting
0:56:42 > 0:56:44food on the table.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45Amen.
0:56:45 > 0:56:46ALL: Amen.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52By 11 o'clock in the morning, with the livestock fed and watered,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55workers would head to the farmhouse for their main meal of the day.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03It's not every day you find yourself in a Leonardo da Vinci painting,
0:57:03 > 0:57:05- is it?- The Last Supper!
0:57:05 > 0:57:06LAUGHTER
0:57:06 > 0:57:09It does, doesn't it, have that sort of religious feel?
0:57:12 > 0:57:16- Echoes just how much the church influenced society.- Yes, absolutely.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20It's sort of embedded and ingrained through absolutely everything you do.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Powers have changed, kings have come and gone,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25but the church has always been there.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Yes, it was the one way you understood where you came from,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31where you were going to, how you related to the natural world.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34We should see our farming through that lens,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37how the crops grow, what we are doing on the land.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39If we want to get into the minds of people in 1500
0:57:39 > 0:57:42we should be trying to see that through the lens of the church.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Next time on Tudor Monastery Farm,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05the team explore how farms made money to pay the rent.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07Oh! That was a good dunk!
0:58:07 > 0:58:09By farming sheep...
0:58:09 > 0:58:12The question is, are you going to buy our wool?
0:58:12 > 0:58:16- As we say in the monastery, you have to have faith.- We certainly will!
0:58:16 > 0:58:19..adopting new technology...
0:58:19 > 0:58:20Ruth: Wow!
0:58:20 > 0:58:23..and trading their wares.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25Geese for sale, people! Anyone want a goose?
0:58:25 > 0:58:29If you don't want a whole goose, we've got parts of geese.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd