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This magnificent town hall in Bolton
is a grand example
of Victorian civic pride.

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The success and prosperity
that the industrial revolution
brought to towns like this

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00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,640
left us
with some magnificent buildings.

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Victorians loved to have everything
ornate and pleasing to the eye.

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The ornamentation was almost
as important as the building itself.

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The construction and engineering
skills I've looked at
in "The Building of Britain"

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has brought me to
my favourite period and buildings -
the great age of Victorian splendour.

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I first became interested
in buildings at about 15 years old.

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I lived here in this small, terraced
house and me mother and father
wanted me to be an undertaker.

10
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Now I didn't fancy that, you know.

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So, I peddled off
to the Youth Employment Bureau
where they got me a job as a joiner.

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My work as a joiner
got me into some splendid mansions

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that the cotton-mill owners
and bleach-work owners had built.

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This was built
by a bleach-works owner.

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I couldn't help but notice -
having come from a house
that hadn't got any skirting boards -

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the quality of the woodwork,

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skirting boards, marble fire places,
alcoves and panel doors...

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and best of all,
the plastered ceilings.
It made me wonder how they did it.

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Of course, it's a pub now,
so really, everybody can enjoy it.

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The Victorians went to great lengths
to make things pleasing to the eye -

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whether it were a great
civil engineering project or
something as small as a window catch.

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Much more ornate
than what we do these days.

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'On their buildings,
they did all this ornamentation
on a really grand scale,

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'something I was able to see
at close quarters.'

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About 30 years ago,
when I were in me prime,

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I got the job of repairing the
lantern on top of this town hall.

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I thought I'd reached
the pinnacle of my career.

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'On the top, around the lantern,
there are 16 stone pillars.

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'And I made a machine and
actually turned these stone pillars.

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'And then, of course, I talked myself
into gilding the ball on the top

31
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'and pointing the whole lantern
right down to the top of the lead.

32
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'When it was built
in the 19th century,

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'it was a time when
they had great respect for the past

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'and they wanted their buildings to
reflect the values of an earlier age.

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'They built a new House of Parliament
that matched the medieval splendours
of Westminster Abbey right next door.

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'They made country houses
look like castles.

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'Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire
isn't really a proper castle.

38
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'It's a big country house,
designed to look like one.

39
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'It was built for the first Earl
Sommers in the early 19th century.

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'He wanted everybody to know how rich
and well established his family were.

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'He commissioned the architect,
Robert Smirke, to design a place

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'that looked as big and impressive
as one of the castles that Edward I
had built nearly 1,000 years earlier.

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'Eastnor took six years to build
and cost over £85,000.

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'At a time when
Britain's aristocracy felt threatened
by the recent French Revolution,

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'it sent a clear message
to ordinary people.'

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It said,
"Remember who your masters are".

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The scale of this building
is as impressive
as any of Edward's castles in Wales.

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In the first 18 months alone,
there were 4,000 tonnes
of building stones used,

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16,000 tonnes of mortar,

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600 tonnes of wood -
and this was only
in the construction of the walls!

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They're built
directly onto the granite bedrock,

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so there was little need
for any foundations.

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When you look up, it makes you wonder
how they got the walls so smooth.

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And, of course, where are the holes
for the scaffolding?

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How could they make the archways
so big?

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How could they vault such
a large, cavernous space like this

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without using
massive structural timbers?

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You can find out a lot about
Smirke's building techniques and
the way he went about doing things

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because of all the records
he left behind at Eastnor castle.

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This is James, the current owner,
who's got all these wonderful plans.

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He's gonna read me
a few letters about it.
We're very lucky we've kept these.

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It gives us a very good record
of drawings and letters,
describing the process.

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The first thing to notice

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is the huge amount
of stone required.

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They were keen to quarry it locally,

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so the original estimate is for
a total bill of £82,000. Incredible!

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They said, "We don't expect to take
the stone more than five miles",

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but when they looked locally,
the stone was mostly granite
and they had to look elsewhere.

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"I'm sorry to say we must abandon
all hope of procuring stone from
the ground westward of the house".

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They looked further
and the house came to be built
from Forest of Dean sandstone.

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It's obvious Mr Smirke
kept tight controls over
his finances and accounting system.

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We've already seen this costing
for the whole building of £82,000.

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Interestingly, at the end,
it had cost £85,000 -
only £3,000 over budget.

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This is interesting as it shows
how he was drawing on craftsmen
from around the country

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and there's obviously some very busy
ones in London from Smith street...

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One from Carlisle. ..Then, at the
bottom, he's put his own billing for
£1,641, 11 shillings and tuppence.

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It's quite obvious he used a lot
of new techniques for that period.

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Smirke was prepared
to use modern methods,
or what was becoming modern methods.

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He introduced cast iron.

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There was a shortage of wood at
the time the castle was being built.

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Although a lot was cut here,
they still needed more...
Than they could find. Yes.

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He used cast-iron beams
to support the structure

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and to enable us to have these large
roof spans which otherwise, could
only have been managed with arches.

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Fred, this is the biggest cast-iron
beam we've got in the house.

85
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You remember it on the drawings?
Yes.

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It's a cast-iron bearer fitted
in 1818, just as the castle
was being topped out.

87
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In an older building,
there'd be a massive stone vault
to support the superstructure.

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These are the ones who did the job,
Mr Pen and Mr Worth, the joiners.

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00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:22,880
It's amazing there's only two of
them - they must have been fantastic
men. They'd be the literate ones.

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They could write!
There'd be a big army of labourers.

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Over here, there's something
inscribed which describes
one of the things that happened

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at the time the beam was fitted.

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"The memory of this day's events,
July 13th 1818,

94
00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:48,040
"John Worth, George Clarke, George
Botter, James Curry, all fined
a quarter for being too late

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"by John Penn and JG -
Clerk of Works".

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So, they missed out on
a bit of money for turning up late.

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The reason for the great
cast-iron beam at Eastnor castle

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is to actually hold up
the front wall of the tower.

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This wall on this tower
is situated roughly halfway along
the great hall.

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Instead of building a great,
big arch like the Normans would have,

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they cast these two iron beams -
held together by bolts
with spear-headed nuts.

102
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The whole roof's made of iron -
there's no wood at all.

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The only wood
is the ceiling of the great hall.

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When you get up there
inside the roof space,

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they're all units - they're
all pieces around eight feet long
with dovetails on the end

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and mortis holes and pin holes and
holes for keys to be knocked through.

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The rate of assembly
would be very quick and
there's no dry rot and wood worm -

108
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it'd be there in 1,000 years
if you gave it a coat of tar
every now and then.

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Mr Smirke made very clever use
of cast iron
in the building of the castle,

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not only for the structural part of
it, but the ornamental bits as well.

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I mean, if you study
this staircase, at first,
it appears to be made of wood.

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But these posts are cast iron
and the way they'd do this

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is to make a wooden pattern and
bury that in the sand in a moulding
box and then pour in the molten iron.

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The great beam in the rafters
would be made in the same way,
but on a mightier scale.

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It wasn't the only modern technique
that Smirke used.

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In the letter, he mentions
that he purchased a hydraulic engine.

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At this time, 1818,
steam engines were being used
to power various sorts of machinery,

118
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no doubt, stone saws and big
wood saws and all sorts of things.

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In my garden, I've got a steam engine
that can do the same things
Smirke's men would've needed

120
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to build the castle.

121
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'It meant that great amounts of stone
could be cut and made nice and smooth

122
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:24,840
'in a fraction of the time it would
have taken to do the job by hand.

123
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'One man could now do what
hundreds were needed for in the past.

124
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'They were able
to more or less mass produce
beautiful detail and ornamentation.'

125
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,280
It's this that I like
about the Victorian era.

126
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That's why I've got so much
of this sort of stuff in my house.

127
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This wonderful bit here came off
the front of a shop somewhere

128
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and you couldn't see the detail,
of course, for the paint.

129
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I boiled it up in caustic
and all the paint came off,
revealing this lovely fancy-work.

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It's made of pot - terracotta.

131
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And then, the wonderful age
of Victorian gas lighting.

132
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The trouble they went to!
There must have been lots of leaks
from the joints and taps.

133
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Up there, we've got some more
terracotta lions' heads off a pub.

134
00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,560
Even things like sports trophies
were beautifully made.

135
00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:30,360
Me grandfather, with funny shorts,
was a runner at the turn of the
century and won wonderful things -

136
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French clocks and this palm tree
with the cut-glass bowl on top.

137
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It's one of the nicer items
that he won.

138
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It's been handed down
over the years in the family
and I've ended up with it.

139
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'When you're having building work
done,

140
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'plasterers, tilers and joiners
are as important
as the men who built the place.

141
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'Once Eastnor castle had been built,
they proceeded with the interior work
and it was all pretty lavish.

142
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'This is the gothic drawing room
which was re-decorated in 1849.

143
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'For me, it's the height of Victorian
splendour and embellishment.

144
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:22,360
'It's a very fine example of how good
they were at decorating places
back in them days.

145
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'The man responsible for the room
was architect and designer,
Augustus Welby Pugin.

146
00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:37,080
'Pugin had a great passion
for the gothic architecture
of the medieval cathedrals -

147
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'all those pointed archways
and ornate stone work.'

148
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To him, gothic architecture
wasn't just a passing fancy.

149
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He really believed in it
with his heart and soul.

150
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'This is St Giles
at Cheadle in Staffordshire,

151
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'which was designed by Pugin when
he was at the height of his career.

152
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'He got together a team of craftsmen
to provide the decorative detail
for buildings like this.

153
00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,760
'I went to see
how some of it was done.'

154
00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:19,160
Pugin's beautiful tile designs
were actually manufactured
by Herbert Minton.

155
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:25,400
Chris is gonna let me
have a go at making one
in exactly the same way as they did.

156
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,280
Hiya, Fred. All right. OK...

157
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:33,120
This is one of the earliest forms
of decorative tile manufacture

158
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,600
and this is very much
a Pugin design.

159
00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,920
First, the light colours
are pressed into the mould.

160
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,840
Then, the background clay is added.

161
00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,160
Do you wanna have a go?

162
00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:51,040
Go on. There's the clay. Use your
thumb and push it into the corners.

163
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,480
Hang on...I've not got enough on.

164
00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:03,000
That's it.
Then take your cake of clay
and just pat that on the surface.

165
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,840
Slap it down right in the middle.

166
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:07,360
Boom!

167
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:12,600
Then, you need to beat the clay in.
Beat a row up the middle.

168
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,640
That's consolidated the clay. The
next job is to wire the surplus off.

169
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,800
Stretch your wire out taut...

170
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,760
It's quite hard stuff.
It is, isn't it?!

171
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,920
We can get rid of that.

172
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,480
That's it. That's enough.
Pull it out.

173
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:35,800
That's the back stamp. Mm-hm.

174
00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:39,880
There it is.

175
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:44,440
'Once it's dry, we can release it
round the edges.

176
00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:50,600
'We take a liquid version of the clay
and pour it into the recesses
left in the pattern.

177
00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:56,920
'The final stage in the process
is to scrape away the surplus
on top of the tile.

178
00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,320
'This is very time consuming.

179
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:04,800
'As Minton became more successful,
they had to find ways
of speeding up production

180
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:12,280
'and they started to use
tile presses, beginning
to semi-automate the process.

181
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:19,960
'Even so, many of the printed designs
still needed to be finished
and glazed by hand.'

182
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:25,080
So, you can see Pugin came up with
a strange mixture of the old and new.

183
00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,120
He created some magnificent designs.

184
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,280
He never stopped working.

185
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:36,640
He did over 2,000 designs
for the fixtures and fittings
in the Houses of Parliament alone.

186
00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,120
'This was the job
that made Pugin's name.

187
00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:48,800
'He got it as a result
of the old Palace of Westminster
burning down in 1834.

188
00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:54,240
'The commission to rebuild it
had actually gone to someone else.

189
00:16:54,240 --> 00:17:00,880
'Sir Charles Barry was the main man
for the classical style,
popular at this time -

190
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,400
'like Bolton Town Hall.

191
00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:09,520
'The contract stated that
it had to be in the gothic style -
not really his thing.

192
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,160
'So, he turned to Pugin for help.'

193
00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:19,080
It was acceptable for Pugin
to marry a modern building
with the ancient gothic style

194
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,600
and that's exactly what he did
with the Houses of Parliament.

195
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:31,320
One of these buildings was built at
the time of Henry VIII and the other
in the 1830s. Notice the difference?

196
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,280
'You can't, and that's the point.

197
00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:39,080
'Pugin wanted something that would
match Westminster Abbey next door.

198
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:46,760
'What he and Barry did was to blend
what was left of the medieval palace
with their design.

199
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:53,640
'They came up with a splendid new
palace that would be a fitting home
for Britain's government.

200
00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,720
'Work began in 1837

201
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:04,400
'and the Pugin-Barry partnership
was dead right for the job.

202
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,920
'While Pugin looked after the detail,

203
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:12,720
'Barry tackled the problem of how to
build the palace in the first place.'

204
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,240
As you can see,
it's a building site today,

205
00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:22,760
but in 1836,
it would have looked pretty similar,
but for one or two things.

206
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,400
There would've been quite substantial
scaffolding, I should imagine.

207
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:34,720
Not even fair-poles - big eight-inch
square baulks of timber and really
grand platforms for working on.

208
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,560
There wouldn't have been
any cement mixers.

209
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:45,800
There'd have been a steam-driven
mortar mill and of course lynches and
cranage for lifting up the stones.

210
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:54,160
The fence they erected to hide the
work was made of wood in those days,
not wire mesh.

211
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:58,760
But behind it, the workmen
would have been doing much as today -

212
00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,080
laying pavings, mixing mortar,

213
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,880
flattening the surface
with steam rollers...

214
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:11,240
It would've been a hive of activity,
using the most up-to-date machinery
of the day.

215
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:21,200
Even though it looks medieval,
there's a lot of modern materials
been used in its construction.

216
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:28,560
In medieval times, everything were
wrought iron - it had to be
banged with a big hammer in a fire.

217
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,920
Here, there's great use
of cast iron everywhere.

218
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:38,440
The roof has cast iron plates
and there are lots
of girders and beams inside.

219
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:43,040
So, although it mimics
the cathedrals of the Middle Ages,

220
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,560
the site would have looked
very similar to them cathedrals,

221
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:53,520
apart from the modern aids
of the 1830s, like the steam engine.

222
00:19:53,520 --> 00:20:00,760
In order to get the foundations
for the Houses of Parliament so
close to the shoreline of the river,

223
00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:05,720
they came up with an ingenious
solution of building a coffer damn -

224
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:13,120
driving a great row of wooden piles
into the bed of the river, making
them safe and corking up the seams.

225
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,720
They would pump the water
out of the banking side

226
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:25,640
where they were gonna do
the foundations for the wall
of the Houses of Parliament.

227
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:33,480
They, of course, would have had
steam-driven pumps, but I'm siphoning
it out - or most of it.

228
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,240
That's it.

229
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:43,280
The builders could now
proceed to put in the foundations.

230
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:50,800
They put a slab of concrete
in ten-feet thick in the bottom
and then, started with the masonry.

231
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:57,240
And once the palace was built,
it was left up to Pugin
to decorate it's interior.

232
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,840
'This is the interior
of the House of Lords.

233
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,120
'And here, Pugin used all his skills
to make a grand statement.

234
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:19,120
'He busied himself
with every detail of the decoration

235
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:25,520
'from the detailed carvings
to every piece
of its 1,100 items of furniture.

236
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:28,320
'He even designed the wallpaper.

237
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:34,840
'The original designs for Pugin's
interiors were done by Crase Brothers

238
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:42,040
'and here at Cole and Companies,
they've got the actual original
Pugin blocks.

239
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:48,800
'These blocks were used
to print Pugin's patterns
onto sheets of wall paper.

240
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:55,000
'You have to line it up with a mark
and press down hard
with a foot pedal.

241
00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:01,640
'There can be as many
as seven different printing processes
to go through.

242
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:10,760
'Another method Pugin and Crase used
was to print the pattern
onto the wallpaper with glue

243
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:15,640
'and then, stick flocking to it
to give it a textured look.

244
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:21,760
'They still beat it on today in the
same way it was done in Pugin's time.

245
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,000
'Pugin died in 1852,

246
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,600
'but work on his designs
for the Houses of Parliament went on.

247
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:34,120
'In 1858, the Westminster
clock tower was completed,

248
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:38,040
'the one we call "Big Ben"
after the bell inside it.

249
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,320
'It stands 316-feet high

250
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:46,920
'and 40-feet square
and is constructed of Anston stone
from Yorkshire.

251
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:52,600
'By 1860, all the work
had been completed

252
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:57,440
'at a total cost
of just under £2,200,000.

253
00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:06,720
'Big Ben has 334 steps
leading up to the belfry and
a further 59 to the lantern above.'

254
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:19,240
When they built this tower,
they installed a steam hoist

255
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:24,080
to raise up all the machinery
for the clock and the bells

256
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,800
and all the cast-iron work that
forms the lantern on top of Big Ben.

257
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:33,680
When the job were finished
they shifted it all out the bottom.

258
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:40,240
They should have left the steam winch
cos this staircase
is the only way up here...

259
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,200
and believe me, it takes it
out of you. Bloomin' heck!

260
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,800
These are the original clockworks
that have been here since 1859.

261
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:59,000
It used to take six men eight hours
to wind up the clock
with these handles at each end,

262
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:04,120
but nowadays, it's electrified,
which has took a lot of hard graft
out of it,

263
00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:08,800
but there are still certain bits
that are hydraulic, like this one.

264
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,240
This has got to be done
once every two days.

265
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,680
And it's thoroughly hard work,
believe me.

266
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:30,280
'The design of the mechanism
followed strict requirements
from the Astronomer Royal,

267
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:37,000
'who wanted to ensure that
no matter how hard the wind blows
on the hands outside,

268
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,480
'the rate of timekeeping
remained constant.

269
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,080
'They couldn't control temperature.

270
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:50,440
'The pendulum expands and contracts
with the heat, so these old pennies
are used to adjust the weight.

271
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:55,840
'Each penny makes the clock go faster
by 2/5 of a second.'

272
00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:00,600
In 1976, they had an unbelievable
disaster here in this tower.

273
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,640
The mechanism
on the chiming side of the clock -

274
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:09,720
the brakes failed and the weights
began to descend inside the tower

275
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:16,640
and reputedly reached the speed of
200 miles an hour, which would make
these wheels go round at some speed.

276
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:21,080
The centrifugal force got so great,
the frame blew to pieces.

277
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,840
It only took 13 hours to get the
actual clock mechanism going again,

278
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,440
but it took nine months
to get the chime right.

279
00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:37,680
BELL STARTS TO CHIME

280
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,880
BOING!

281
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,960
BOING!

282
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,400
BOING!

283
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,800
I don't know what they'll say next
week at the hearing-aid clinic.

284
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:23,560
'There are four quarter bells
which chime the introduction
to the great hour-bell, Big Ben.

285
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,120
'But it isn't the original Big Ben.

286
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:30,960
'The original one
was cast at Stockton-on-Tees,

287
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:37,240
'but it shattered under the weight
of the hammer when it was first hit.'

288
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:42,560
Two months after
this particular bell was installed,
two more cracks appeared.

289
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:47,520
You can see where they chiselled in
to find the true depth of the crack.

290
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,080
There were no radiography then.

291
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:54,840
To solve the problem, they moved
the bell round a quarter of a turn

292
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:58,800
and reduced the hammer
by almost half its weight.

293
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:09,440
'The clock tower is the crowning
glory of the Palace of Westminster

294
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,680
'and it's one of the greatest and
most recognisable national monuments

295
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,920
'we've seen
in "The Building of Britain".'

296
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:26,840
While we've been going about
on our travels,
we've met craftsmen of all sorts -

297
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,080
wallpaperers, plasterers,
lead men, stone masons -

298
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:37,360
and it's nice to know
there are still craftsmen about
who can do this type of work.

299
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,840
'The big enemy now is time.

300
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:46,640
'Everything comes and is erected
in a matter of months and not years,

301
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,600
'like it used to be
in the olden days.

302
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,560
'A stonemason working on a cathedral

303
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:59,560
'got out of bed
and his only great worry
would be the sharpness of his chisel,

304
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,640
'how good his hammer was
and his dinner, maybe.

305
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,760
'He'd work all day, possibly just for
food and a gallon of bitter or ale.

306
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,760
'To do a beautiful building job,
it takes time.

307
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,040
'They spent hundreds of years
on some of these places

308
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:24,120
'and what we see today is a wonderful
example of Britain's creative genius
over the centuries.

309
00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:28,560
'From the solid stonework
of medieval castles and cathedrals

310
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:32,320
'through the growth
of the country house

311
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:36,600
'to the elaborate grandeur
of Victorian Gothic,

312
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:43,720
'they're a credit to those whose
vision, craft and sheer hard work
have made Britain what it is today.'

313
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:55,000
To find out more about "The Building
of Britain", visit the website...