How we built Britain
Beginning with magnificent cathedrals and country estates born out of war and plague David gave us a fascinating insight into the foundations of modern Britain, from medieval times right through to our modern city sky scrapers.
Read on for a snapshot from the series and a journey through time including passages from the script itself. Use the links to find out more about the incredible buildings. Seen in the context of our turbulent history our historic attractions are truly inspirational.
Ely Cathedral
The last outpost of Anglo Saxon resistance were the fenlands of East Anglia and The Isle of Ely. Ely used to be a treacherous place, an island surrounded by bogs and marshes. It got its name from the huge number of eels that used to be caught there. The only people who were safe were the fenmen, who according to legend had webbed feet.
It was only when the Isle of Ely fell that the Norman Conquest was complete. After the devastation of war - work started on the building of a new world... the birth of modern Britain. The Normans were visionary builders and they used their skills to make the conquered population cower before them. Imagine what it must have been like to have been a villager living here in a low hut or hall and suddenly to see rising in the middle of your village a huge stone cathedral taller than anything you'd ever seen.
Every part was beautifully crafted - stonework, almost out of sight, but so finely detailed that it must have been made for God, not man to see. And you couldn’t rush the building of a medieval cathedral – Ely took almost 300 years!
Find out more about Ely Cathedral (www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/)
Hedingham Castle
In the years after the Conquest the land that wasn’t given to the church was shared out between a handful of William’s loyal followers. To secure their hold on the country they introduced a building never before seen in England – the fortified castle.
Within a generation of their arrival the Normans had built over 500 castles and 50 miles south of Ely, across the border into Essex, is one of the finest... Hedingham Castle - built around 1140 - is a monument to Norman might.
The idea behind a Norman castle wasn't just to establish power over an area; it was to frighten people with the authority and wealth of the family who built it. The owners of Hedingham Castle, the de Veres were known as the “fighting Veres” – knights at the top of an elite ‘warrior-class’ of noblemen who owed their positions to the King and who in return fought for him.
Their castles were built to overpower and intimidate. Massive walls 12ft thick protected against battering rams… narrow windows shielded from missiles… and a raised entrance on the first floor made it harder for enemies to penetrate.
Find out more about Hedingham Castle (www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk/)
Cressing Temple
In the middle ages almost everyone lived on the land. Landlords grew rich by forcing their tenants to work for them. We were a nation of peasants - shackled to the lord of the manor – often little more than slaves!
Cressing Temple lies at the heart of a medieval estate in Essex. For those that worked there it was a medieval sweat shop! The temple was once a huge - and hugely profitable – farm complex with a brewhouse, granary, diary and watermill. Two 13th century barns survive today. They so magnificent that they known as the ‘Cathedrals of the Countryside’.
Find out more about Cressing Temple (www.cressingtemple.org.uk/)
Kings College Chapel
Narrow streets and dank lanes gave way to the most magnificent building in the university – King’s College Chapel. Henry the Sixth wanted to astonish people by building a chapel bigger than anything they'd ever seen before.
It was 70 years and six monarchs before it was completed. When it was finished it stood as the most magnificent memorial to medieval man.
Find out more about Kings College Chapel (www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/)
Gainsborough Old Hall
One of the last great halls left standing in England, Gainsborough Old Hall was built in the 1460s. It was home to a rich, powerful and flamboyant Knight – Sir Thomas Burgh. For much of the medieval period, everyone – the lord his lady, their retainers and servants would live in one room big room. This is where everything happened. It wasn't just that people ate here they did all their business there. They came to transact business standing in groups in the corners, arguing, talking, warming themselves by the fire. Then as night fell out came skins, rugs, whatever and they all slept in there. It must have been a disgusting smell!
Find out more about Gainsborough Old Hall (www.gainsborougholdhall.co.uk/)
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire was once a nunnery. When it came up for sale one man saw his chance. William Sharington, a minor courtier looking to enhance his social status bought the property.
He knocked down the church, and moved in with his family - transforming the abbey into a comfortable country house.
The huge communal rooms above the cloisters, where the nuns used to eat and sleep, were converted into grand living quarters for the family.
Where the abbey church had stood, Sharington built a tower, dedicated to worship of a different God. This was designed as the perfect strong room, stone shelves and alcoves, for him to keep his treasure!
Find out more about Lacock Abbey (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lacockabbeyvillage.htm)
Burghley House
Burghley House was built by Sir William Cecil, founder of one of the great English dynasties. Politics was his life and he rose to become Queen Elizabeth’s Lord Treasurer.
No prince in Europe” she said “hath such a councillor as I have in mine” and she needed him. She was all-powerful, but she was indecisive and sometimes impetuous. He on the other hand was practical, clearheaded and above all patient - they were a perfect match.
Burghley is a spectacular new building. It has Cecil’s success stamped all over it: His coat of arms everywhere you look. Haven’t I done well? – is the over-riding message.
Find out more about Burghley House (www.burghley.co.uk)
St Peter’s in Wenhaston
A strange thing happened at St Peter’s towards the end of the 19th century. The Victorians who loved restoring churches were busy putting in a new archway and to do so they had to take out a great piece of wood all covered in whitewash and the workmen simply took it outside and put it in the churchyard over night. That night there was a torrential downpour and in the morning the workman came back to a terrifying surprise.
Under the whitewash was a vision of the Day of Judgement. The souls of the dead are weighed by St Michael while the Devil looks on. The good are received into heaven, the sinners chained and cast into hell.
Visions of heaven and hell don’t mean much to us today, but in the middle ages people were really fearful about the day of judgement. This led to some of the greatest churches and cathedrals. People poured their money into these buildings to endow them not for this world but because of their concern for what would happen in the next.
Find out more about St Peter's in Wenhaston (www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/wenhaston.html)
Blenheim Palace
The Palace took its name from the battle of Blenheim in 1704. It marked Marlborough’s resounding defeat of the French a victory which ended their hopes of dominating Europe.
This building was meant to leave no-one in doubt how glorious the victory was. It’s built on a stupendous scale. Blenheim shows Britain with a new self-confidence, even a bit of a swagger, this vast celebration in stone, shouting to the world ‘we’re top dog now, and we plan to stay that way!’
The style of Blenheim was already fashionable in Europe but relatively new to Britain. It echoes the great civilizations of the past... This classical look was based on ancient Rome and Greece, reminder of a world of strength and order.
Find out more about Blenheim Palace (www.blenheimpalace.com/)
St Margaret’s Church in Norwich
Fear of death preyed on the medieval mind – and its not hard to see why. 20 years ago the skeletons in the graveyard of St Margaret’s in Norwich were exhumed and analysed.
The bones told a grim tale. Over half the skeletons that were dug up were found to be suffering from illnesses or from severe injuries. Two thirds of children died before the age of 12. Even if you lived beyond twelve you couldn’t bank on a long life. The average age of death was the early thirties!
Find out more about St Margaret's Church (www.norwichchurches.co.uk/St%20Margaret/home.html)
The Slipper Chapel in Walsingham
The slipper chapel is the last in a whole series of chapels that lead up to Walsingham. Slipper comes from the word ‘slipe’ meaning to slide, to move out of the rest of England into this holy land of Walsingham. It’s the last stop before the pilgrims reach the shrine.
Today pilgrims still come as they did in medieval times to walk in procession the last leg of their journey along the road known as the holy mile. The final stop on the pilgrims journey is the ruins of Walsingham Priory. It was built in 1150 to celebrate the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary. Today all that remains is a magnificent turreted arch.
The pilgrimage to Little Walsingham is like nothing else in Britain. It’s an extraordinary reminder of a vanished religious era. The middle ages are alive and well in Walsingham!
Find out more about The Slipper Chapel (www.ecumenicalnews.co.uk/SlipperChapel.html)
Cambridge University
Out of peace and prosperity came a nobler aim - the pursuit of knowledge and learning. The building of Cambridge University began in the 13th century. Its growth caused fury among the townsfolk who relied for their prosperity on a thriving riverside port here, but the building of King’s College sealed the fate of the town.
When Henry VI decided to build King’s College he faced every developers' nightmare; the land from here down to the river was full of houses and shops. There was a church, as well as two pubs, situated on the lanes leading to the wharves, but being the monarch he simply razed the lot to the ground and in doing so he cut off the town from the river. It was the beginning of the university’s take over of Cambridge.
Find out more about Cambridge University (www.cam.ac.uk/)
Blackpool
The north of England may have been a place for hard graft, but it was also a place for pleasure. Blackpool was Victorian Britain’s favourite resort, with its pleasure beach, ballroom and tower!
Find out more about Blackpool
Holdenby Arches
When Sir Christopher Hatton built Holdenby Hall in Northamptonshire to receive Queen Elizabeth he made it the largest private house in England. He moved an entire village, so as not to spoil the Queen’s view of the countryside. Dedicating it to her he refused to live in Holdenby himself until the Queen had visited.
Today all that remains of Holdenby are two elegant arches that used to lead into the courtyard. Everything else has gone. And the terrible thing is Queen Elizabeth never came here. Hatton died penniless because he'd spent so much money. He was childless and unmarried. A terribly sad end to the story of a man who just wanted to please his Queen.
Find out more about Holdenby Arches (www.holdenby.com)
Canary Wharf and high-rise London
From life in the leafy suburbs, to prefabs and high rise blocks, technology opened up new worlds to ordinary people, changing the way they worked, lived and played. The modern age is the age of the optimist, always looking for new ways of living, willing to experiment even at the risk of failure. One hundred years ago, London was bursting at the seams, with five million people. The answer was the Metropolitan Line taking the underground into the country.
Four million new homes were built in the area known as ‘Metroland’. High rise blocks came in the 1950s and the Post Office Tower transformed London’s skyline, soaring 620ft into the air, with viewing galleries and a revolving restaurant. Skyscrapers also sprang up in the City following the 1980s Big Bang, rivalled later by Canary Wharf.
Find out more about Canary Wharf
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