1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:06,880 Britain is home to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,960 Our religious heritage and architecture is more varied than virtually anywhere else on earth. 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:22,280 My name is Ifor ap Glyn and I am on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites 4 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,400 and to uncover the rich and diverse history of our spiritual landscape. 5 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,320 I want to know how these places came to be, 6 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,800 discover what they reveal about the people who worshipped at them, 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,400 and explore why they continue to fascinate us today. 8 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,440 This place is incredible. 9 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,320 My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways... 10 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:51,040 It was here that St Twrog took on the pagan forces of evil. 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:52,800 ..icy healing pools... 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,320 I'm not sure what effect this is having on me, 13 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,440 but it is certainly having an effect! 14 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,400 ...and the graves of long departed saints... 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,600 There's something quite unsettling about this relic. 16 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,640 I'll search out islands where the faithful seek refuge from the world. 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,600 I'll wander ruins steeped in history... 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,880 His congregation were roused to come here and rip down the rich trappings of this cathedral. 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,160 ..and descend into caves which have been sacred for thousands of years. 20 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:26,880 Wow! 21 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,000 From the divine to the unexpected, join me on a journey 22 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,640 to the unforgettable corners of our country, 23 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,480 the landscapes that make the soul soar. 24 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,360 I'm in Cambridgeshire on a glorious autumn morning. 25 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,040 This is the start of a journey to explore some of the most 26 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,880 atmospheric and best-loved holy sites in Britain - 27 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:12,920 ruins. 28 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,720 I want to understand why we are drawn to them and why we feel it's 29 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,760 so important to preserve them, long after their religious use is over. 30 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:30,400 There are few things more beautiful than the decaying grandeur 31 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,480 of a ruin, and this place in the grounds of Wimpole Hall is perhaps the perfect example - 32 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,440 set amid rolling countryside, 33 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,760 these magnificent arches tell us immediately that this once was 34 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:48,480 a monastic institution fortified against the world. You can almost imagine 35 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,280 the cowled figure of a monk flitting away from our gaze at one of those empty windows. 36 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:54,880 DEVOTIONAL MONASTIC MUSIC 37 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:06,360 But there's just one small catch - the entire thing is actually a fake. 38 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,600 This is not an abandoned monastery. 39 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,800 It was never a house of worship or a place of pilgrimage. 40 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,360 It is a folly, a fake ruin, a piece of theatrical landscape art, 41 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,320 that was actually built by a wealthy landowner in 1769. 42 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,960 This folly is by no means a one-off. 43 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,520 There are about 50 such sham ruins on 18th century estates 44 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,000 throughout Britain. 45 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,280 They were inspired by the fading grandeur of ruined abbeys 46 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:42,880 dotted around the country. 47 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,080 But this passion for ruins is still with us today. 48 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,760 We have a very British fascination with ruins. 49 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,840 Our current Romantic notions of the ivy-clad ruin date back to the 18th century. 50 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,680 But our obsession with the glorious past goes back even further than that. 51 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,600 Is it just nostalgia, or is it something in fact much deeper that 52 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,560 makes our ruins some of the best protected holy sites in Britain? 53 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:31,960 I'm heading to Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast to visit 54 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,880 one of the most famous ruins, not just in Britain but across the world. 55 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,880 Caught between the moors and the sea, this ruin, epic in scale, 56 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,000 helped change the way we define beauty.... 57 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,680 ..and in the process gave birth to a gothic nightmare. 58 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,400 DEVOTIONAL CHORAL SINGING 59 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:27,800 If there's one place that encapsulates the otherworldly qualities of ruins, 60 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,920 it's here on the cliff tops at Whitby in North Yorkshire. 61 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,600 This Saxon foundation was one of the most important Christian 62 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,880 sites in the early mediaeval period, 63 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,360 and it was run by one of the most important women in church history - St Hilda. 64 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,480 During her time here in the 7th century this place saw 65 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,520 the writing of the first hymns in English, 66 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,640 the training of a number of bishops, and it hosted an important conference or synod 67 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:58,520 that unified the different religious traditions in England. 68 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:03,800 Founded by Anglo-Saxon King Oswy in 657, Whitby Abbey 69 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:08,960 had a significant religious history before the 16th century reformation. 70 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,600 But when Henry VIII broke with Rome, turning Britain from Catholicism 71 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,560 to Protestantism, the abbey was dissolved and allowed to go to ruin. 72 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,960 Ironically, this building was to have a greater 73 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,680 impact on the cultural life of our country after it became a ruin. 74 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,200 To explain the history and significance of these ruins, 75 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,360 I'm meeting John Coates, an English Literature academic. 76 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,080 This place has been in a state of ruin for almost half its history, hasn't it? 77 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,440 Yes, destroyed first by the Vikings in 867, I think, 78 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:53,120 and not rebuilt till 1078, and then of course destroyed after 1539. 79 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,520 There is a poem by Sir John Denham where he talks about 80 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,720 that if someone looked at the ruins, they'd think some foreign invader had sacked the country. 81 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,800 But I think for a lot of people the monasteries were just 82 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,680 the places where you quarried stone. 83 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,800 You took the nice square dressed stone 84 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:16,600 and put it into your cottage and you left the, you know - the sort of tracery, and the... 85 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,200 - ..the ribs. - And the ribs. 86 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,640 and that helps to explain the look of the monastic ruin, doesn't it? 87 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,120 What happened in the 18th century to change people's sensibilities, 88 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,280 and their attitudes towards these ruins? 89 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,360 Well, it's hugely complicated, but there are two key words, really. 90 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,320 One is picturesque, and the other is sublime. 91 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,440 And they're the two new aesthetic categories. 92 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,520 What was the dominant aesthetic at that time, then? 93 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,600 Well, it had been order and regularity. 94 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:48,520 Gardens with straight lines, demonstrating man's dominance over nature, 95 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,080 and I suppose the big model is the gardens at Versailles. 96 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,240 But there is a reaction against that. 97 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,800 The picturesque becomes the dominant concept. There's a man called 98 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,880 the Reverend William Gilpin. He wrote three essays on picturesque beauty 99 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:07,000 and he talks about the value of ruins as a means of contemplation, 100 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,280 a means of spiritual development, and so on - so that's the picturesque. 101 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,160 And the sublime which is connected with fear. 102 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,720 You know, there's a sense that in some minor way we're being physically threatened. 103 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,080 You know, great mountains, torrents, dark places, 104 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:28,120 ruins - anything that's got some element of awe and strangeness about it, and he 105 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,120 definitely suggests that the sublime is more powerful than the beautiful. 106 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:39,640 That feeds very much I think into the growing gothic, the gothic novel. 107 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,640 Very often set in ruined or half ruined mansions, 108 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:48,760 secret passages, dark chambers - above all, secrets from the past. 109 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:55,200 The idea of Gothic was starting to take root during the 19th century 110 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,280 but it was a visit to Whitby by author and actors' agent 111 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:02,640 Bram Stoker that was to forever link the movement to these ruins. 112 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,040 Whitby became the inspiration 113 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,520 and setting for much of Gothic's most famous novel - Dracula. 114 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:18,040 When exactly was Bram Stoker around Whitby? 115 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,160 Well, in the 1890s. I mean, 116 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,240 he gathered some of the material for Dracula from the old 117 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,080 library in Whitby, including the name Dracula itself, and the wrecking of 118 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,360 the ship. There was a ship, a Russian ship called the Dimitri - 119 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:32,480 in Dracula, it's the Demeter. 120 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,760 To what extent can we see the ruins here in Whitby as inspiration 121 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,640 for Bram Stoker's Dracula? 122 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,560 I think you could probably see it in terms of the weight and the power of the past. 123 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:45,880 You get that feeling in the 18th century that the past has a kind of terror 124 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,880 simply because it's so strange. It's so alien. 125 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,280 And I think that feeds into Dracula, the figure of Dracula himself. 126 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,560 It's hard to overstate the impact of Bram Stoker's creation. 127 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,240 Over 170 Dracula films have been made, along with countless 128 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,120 other re-imaginings of the basic vampire idea. 129 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:17,960 Even today, one of the most successful film franchises - Twilight - 130 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:20,640 is merely a re-working of 19th century gothic. 131 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,200 Halloween has become a major secular festival, 132 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:32,560 with the legend of Dracula as one of its cornerstones. 133 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:36,800 The feelings which these ruins evoked in Bram Stoker have proved 134 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,120 enduringly unsettling and intriguing. 135 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:46,040 The blend of death, sex and beautiful doomed youth 136 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,720 are now one of the mainstays of popular culture. 137 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,080 It's ironic that the Protestant Reformation, the revolution 138 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:00,680 that was intended to effect a complete break with the mediaeval past and end our 139 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:06,400 reverence for relics, in fact created hundreds of new architectural relics. 140 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,240 Holy places like this may have acquired a different resonance, 141 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,640 but they've lost none of their power to awe and inspire us. 142 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,920 Yet our celebrated taste for the gothic is just one 143 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,360 aspect of a much older history of ruins. 144 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,240 Whilst Gothic and the romantic idealising of ruins 145 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,760 in the 19th century may have felt like a radical idea, 146 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,040 nothing is ever really new. 147 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,920 History forever repeats itself, and the nostalgic pull of the ruin 148 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,440 has been around for much longer than you might think. 149 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:53,640 I am heading to south Wales and the crumbing remains of a far 150 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:54,680 earlier empire. 151 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,880 This is Caerwent, one of the major towns of Roman Britain. 152 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,800 Its name, Caerwent, means fortress of Gwent. 153 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,680 This was a regional capital for the area, 154 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:11,920 and although these walls are over 1,700 years old they're still 155 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,880 very impressive - they still convey a strong sense of imperial might. 156 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:25,880 Caerwent was founded by the Romans in AD 75, 157 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,520 and is one of the best preserved Roman sites in Northern Europe. 158 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:37,880 This allows us to understand what would have taken place here during its Roman heyday. 159 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:47,560 You can still clearly make out the remains of the temple on the old 160 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:52,760 main street, although to whom it was dedicated is no longer known. 161 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:58,200 Behind me is the inner sanctum of the temple at Caerwent. 162 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,160 When we think about Roman spiritual life, we tend to think of them 163 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,160 worshipping a pantheon of gods such as Mars, Jupiter, Apollo and so on. 164 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:09,640 We sometimes forget that in its latter years the Roman empire was a Christian empire. 165 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,520 And as a result, temples such as this were either 166 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:17,960 converted for use as churches, or more often than not, simply abandoned. 167 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,760 When the Roman empire went into decline, the indigenous population 168 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:27,040 of Britain didn't have the skills to maintain buildings on this scale. 169 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,920 Before long, they were tumbling into disrepair 170 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:38,440 and not long after, the allure of the ruin was starting to weave its magic. 171 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:43,240 In the middle ages, an Anglo-Saxon monk wrote a poem entitled 'The Ruin'. 172 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,000 It's an eerie precursor to the way the romantics would 173 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,240 fall for the strange beauty of decay many hundreds of years later. 174 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,800 "Wondrously ornate is the stone of this wall, shattered by fate. 175 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,040 "Those who should repair it, the multitudes, 176 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,160 "Were fallen to the ground. 177 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,840 "The site is fallen into ruin, reduced to heaps." 178 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:17,040 It's clear the Anglo-Saxons felt the same way 179 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,480 about the ruins of the Roman Empire as we now feel about the ruins at 180 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:27,160 Whitby - strange, slightly unnerving, but also full of nostalgic promise. 181 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,440 This passion for the fading glory of old Roman architecture led to 182 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,600 ruins gaining a whole new lease of life. 183 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,960 The oldest parts of the church of St Stephen 184 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,920 and St Tathan at Caerwent date back to 560 AD. 185 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:55,120 As new settlements sprang up in the old Roman towns, building 186 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,320 materials from the ruins were often incorporated in the fabric 187 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,920 of the new buildings, such as this church here at Caerwent. 188 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,000 A cynic might say they were just being architectural jackdaws 189 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,480 taking advantage of the decorative stonework, but it was more 190 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:14,800 than that - by incorporating stones from the Roman buildings within buildings such as this, 191 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:20,680 they were also appropriating some of the spiritual prestige of the Christian Roman Empire - 192 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,080 they were seeking a continuity with the past. 193 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,720 Ruins of great buildings don't generally happen by accident. 194 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,680 They mark seismic shifts in our country's history. 195 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:41,040 The fall of the Roman empire was one such shift, 196 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:46,080 but 1,000 years later the shift from Catholicism to Protestantism 197 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,240 was to leave a far deeper scar on the British landscape. 198 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,440 This is the ruin of St Andrew's cathedral. 199 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,800 It was founded to house the relics of St Andrew, one of Jesus's 200 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,120 disciples and Patron Saint of Scotland. 201 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,240 All over Britain, the 16th century reformation saw 202 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:13,120 the replacing of a Catholic theology with a Protestant one - 203 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,760 monks had no place in this new order and abbeys were dissolved. 204 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,240 But here in Scotland, they took things a step further and got 205 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,120 rid of the bishops too, making cathedrals like this redundant. 206 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,760 According to the Gospels, 207 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,160 when Jesus approached the fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee, 208 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,840 it was Andrew who first agreed to become a disciple. 209 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:44,560 So St Andrew can be considered the first-ever follower of Christ, 210 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,560 and this cathedral is said to be his final resting place. 211 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:53,320 But when the reformation took hold, even this impressive pedigree 212 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,240 was no shield against the mob. 213 00:16:56,240 --> 00:17:01,160 In 1559, Protestant reformer John Knox preached such a fiery sermon 214 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,560 in a nearby church that his congregation were roused to come here 215 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,640 and rip down the rich trappings of the cathedral - 216 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,520 the symbols of popish worship - and they didn't stop there. 217 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,800 This place hasn't peacefully crumbled to its present state - 218 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,480 it would have looked pretty much like this as early as 1600 - 219 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,120 a stark testimony to the destructive zeal of the Protestant reformers. 220 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,920 In much of Britain, the passions of the reformation have gradually faded. 221 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,640 But that is not entirely the case here. 222 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,840 For people on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic divide, 223 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,960 the Reformation was about far more than buildings. 224 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,360 It was about cultural identity, bound up with the most deeply held convictions. 225 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,880 And on the streets of Scotland's major cities you can still see 226 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:02,120 one side or the other acting out long-established rituals. 227 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:07,760 This march is the Protestant Apprentice Boys parading through the centre of Glasgow. 228 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,040 But the city also plays host to very 229 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,360 similar marches by those from the Catholic tradition. 230 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:18,480 During the five-month summer marching season, there are up 231 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:23,800 to 1,000 such marches throughout Scotland. 232 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:28,240 For a church dedicated to a saint as important as Saint Andrew - 233 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:29,680 Christ's first apostle, 234 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,720 and the patron saint of Scotland - it's surprising to find that the 235 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:37,360 Scots don't make more of these ruins - but then, maybe that's more honest. 236 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:41,320 These ruins certainly enshrine a religious difference. 237 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,880 It would be a shame if they also enshrined religious division. 238 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:51,840 In many ways, the Reformation 239 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,440 and the bitterness and division it represents 240 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,040 reminds us of the worst aspects of our religious instincts. 241 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,800 But with my next location I am off to see a ruin which shows us at our best. 242 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,520 This is Coventry Cathedral. 243 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:25,600 The oldest part of the cathedral was built in the 14th century. 244 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:31,720 It's not a ruin of the Reformation and didn't inspire a literary movement, 245 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,800 but because of the destruction rained upon it during World War Two, 246 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,320 it holds a special place in our affections. 247 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,320 The ruins here at Coventry Cathedral are amongst Britain's most recent, 248 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,640 and because of that, most poignant. 249 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,360 The bombing that destroyed this building occurred within 250 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:54,000 living memory and Coventry's oldest residents can recall only too 251 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,760 well the human cost associated with that night in November 1940. 252 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,040 AIR RAID SIREN 253 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:07,240 515 planes attacked Coventry on the 14th of November that year. 254 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:14,320 And tragically for the people of the city, things could not have 255 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,400 gone better for the German raiders. 256 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:23,080 By the end of the night, 4,000 homes were destroyed. 257 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:29,320 The city centre was obliterated, and the Cathedral a burned-out shell. 258 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,240 Roughly 568 people were killed, 259 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,280 although an exact death toll was never established. 260 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,600 The Nazis were delighted with their night's work and even coined 261 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:47,800 a new word to describe the wholesale destruction of an enemy town. 262 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,480 Henceforth they referred to anywhere that suffered this 263 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,360 fate as having been "Coventried". 264 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,360 It would be understandable after suffering such a terrible act 265 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:06,520 of violence if this city had adopted its shattered cathedral as a symbol 266 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,040 of defiance or even triumphalism once the war was finally won. 267 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:16,080 But the bombing set Coventry and its Cathedral on a very different path, 268 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,200 a path that began almost immediately after their night of destruction. 269 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,960 After the bombing, the cathedral's stonemason noticed that 270 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:34,320 two charred mediaeval roof timbers had fallen in the shape of a cross, 271 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,320 so he set them up against this wall here originally, 272 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,120 on a pile of rubble, and that cross is still on display. 273 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:47,880 A local priest found three mediaeval nails and he fashioned them into a cross 274 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,480 which still stands to this day on the altar in the new cathedral. 275 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:58,280 After the war, similar crosses were sent as a gesture of reconciliation to Berlin, Kiel, 276 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:02,040 and Dresden - cities that had also suffered during the war. 277 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,320 From the very start, there was a strong emphasis on reconciliation 278 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,400 and forgiveness, as well as remembrance. 279 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,000 It lends this ruin a real sense of purpose, 280 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,560 and this was enhanced yet further by some clever architecture. 281 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:35,320 When planning the restoration of the site, it was decided to attach 282 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:37,800 the new cathedral to the shattered remains of the old, 283 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,600 and the decision has been a triumph. 284 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:49,560 The interplay between the old and the new is what gives this place its unique atmosphere - 285 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,040 one without the other would not have the same power. 286 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,520 This is not just a war memorial - 287 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,960 this is still an integral part of the cathedral. 288 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,360 This is still hallowed ground. The two parts - the old and the new - 289 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:14,560 constitute one whole. 290 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,640 The decision to keep the ruins and to continue to worship here ensures 291 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:23,760 that not only do we never forget, but also that we continue to forgive. 292 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,800 It's in a place like this that our experience of ruins becomes personal. 293 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:40,080 And for me the final destination is most definitely personal. 294 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,720 This is an area my family originate from 295 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:47,320 and this is a ruin that holds a very special place in my heart. 296 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:53,360 I'm on my way to the abbey at Strata Florida near Aberystwyth in Ceredigion. 297 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,160 The abbey here was founded in 1154, 298 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,840 and it was a major centre of learning. 299 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:12,040 Its remote location did not spare it from the Reformation. 300 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:19,200 Following its dissolution, the abbey's walls were mined for stone to build a local manor house. 301 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:28,480 Over the next 300 years the site was gradually reclaimed by nature and all but lost. 302 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,840 In the 1860s, whilst building a railway line in the area, 303 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,680 an engineer named Steven Williams became fascinated with the site 304 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:47,440 and started a large-scale excavation, uncovering the ruins we see today. 305 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,880 He hoped it might become a major tourist destination for wealthy Victorians. 306 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:57,680 Sadly this was not to be. 307 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:03,680 The late 19th century was a time of economic hardship and much of the 308 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:09,320 local population sought to escape the grinding poverty on the new railway lines, 309 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,760 some going as far afield as Australia and Patagonia. 310 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:24,120 Ceredigion has been described as the Ireland of Wales because of the massive outflow of population 311 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,800 during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 312 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,040 Some went to the south Wales coalfields, some went to the United States. 313 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,240 In the case of my own family, most went to London. 314 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,040 But the connection with this place remained strong 315 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,080 both in life and in death. 316 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,080 A cursory inspection of the gravestones around us 317 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,560 reveal - even if you don't speak Welsh - just how many people were brought 318 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:55,800 back here for burial from 'Llundain', which is Welsh for London. 319 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,840 Funeral services would be held on the platforms at Paddington. 320 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:05,000 Welsh hymns would resound beneath the station roof, and then the coffin would be placed in the train 321 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,640 to be brought back here for burial. 322 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,200 And that is how many of the dead around us here 323 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,520 would have been brought to their final resting place. 324 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,400 DEVOTIONAL CHORAL SINGING 325 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,320 And amongst those Welshmen who came back from London to be buried 326 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:36,640 here are many members of my own family - aunts, uncles, cousins. 327 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,720 My journey across Britain to our holiest ruins has made me 328 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:50,200 realise that what we are drawn to with ruins is the things that 329 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:54,760 are lost, be that some part of our history 330 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,880 or those that we have loved. 331 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:08,840 Implicit in every ruin is a scattering, a breaking apart, 332 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,400 and maybe that's why this place appeals to me so much, 333 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,960 as a child of the Welsh diaspora, 334 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:21,160 because just as time has gradually opened up this old abbey church to the elements, 335 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:26,560 in the same way, my own family have been blown in all directions away 336 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:32,440 from this place - but something still remains, something still draws us back. 337 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,560 Perhaps the secret of ruins is this - 338 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,040 just as individual family members may come and go, the "idea" 339 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,160 of "family" remains, and in the same way, although the Christian 340 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:51,520 institution that once stood here is now in ruins, the "idea" of it still remains. 341 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,440 Ideas can never die. 342 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,760 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd