1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,880 Britain is home to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world. 2 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:10,200 Our religious heritage 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,320 and architecture is more varied than virtually anywhere else on earth. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:17,920 My name is Ifor ap Glyn 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,600 and I am on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,720 and to uncover the rich and diverse history of our spiritual landscape. 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,320 I want to know how these places came to be, 8 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,560 discover what they reveal about the people who worshipped at them, 9 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,560 and explore why they continue to fascinate us today. 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,080 This place is incredible. 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,520 My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways... 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:51,080 It was here that St Twrog took on the pagan forces of evil. 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:52,880 ..icy healing pools... 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,640 I'm not sure what effect this is having on me, 15 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,640 but it is certainly having an effect! 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,560 ...and the graves of long departed saints.. 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,680 There's something quite unsettling about this relic. 18 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:09,640 I'll search out islands where the faithful seek refuge from the world. 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,680 I'll wander ruins steeped in history... 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,600 His congregation were roused to come here 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,320 and rip down the rich trappings of this cathedral. 22 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,480 ..and descend into caves which have been sacred for thousands of years. 23 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,080 Wow! 24 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,880 From the divine to the unexpected, join me on a journey 25 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,400 to the unforgettable corners of our country, 26 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,480 the landscapes that make the soul soar. 27 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,600 It is not hard to see why places of staggering natural beauty 28 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,200 make people feel closer to God - a towering mountain view, 29 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,200 the delicate beauty of a flower, a tranquil woodland pool. 30 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,840 It is harder to understand why people might feel 31 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,320 closer to the divine by going underground. 32 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,640 I'm setting out to discover why subterranean sites have 33 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:38,640 some of the richest religious histories in Britain 34 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,920 and how these sites came to be considered holy. 35 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:48,760 My first destination is tucked away in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. 36 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:58,160 This is Lud's Church, a natural canyon that has an atmosphere 37 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,360 all of its own - indeed it has an ecology all of its own - 38 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,400 many of these plants and ferns around me are extremely rare. 39 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,520 It's a place that's on the margins in more ways than one. 40 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,680 As you descend into its depths, the temperature drops by a few 41 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,280 degrees and you feel these mossy green walls closing around you, 42 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:24,200 giving it an otherworldly energy that repels some people but has attracted others. 43 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,520 Is it haunted? Or is it holy? 44 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,640 No-one knows when it was first used but Pagans are thought to 45 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,840 have worshipped here and one theory is that its name comes 46 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:44,760 from the Celtic deity Lud, who also gave his name to Ludgate in London. 47 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,840 It crops up in Arthurian legend where it is described as 48 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,640 "the place for the Devil to recite matins". 49 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,600 During the 15th century, it was refuge for religious 50 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:10,720 dissenters called Lollards, led by a man named Walter de Lud-Auk. 51 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,920 They were discovered, 52 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:18,640 and Lud-Auk's granddaughter was killed by soldiers sent to break up their meeting. 53 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,080 All this history weighs heavily. 54 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:33,760 I sense someone forever just over my shoulder. 55 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:39,240 The rocks and ferns offer fleeting glimpses of faces gazing down as I pass through. 56 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:45,200 Indeed, as I set off for Lud's Church, locals warned me 57 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:47,000 not to linger after dark. 58 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,440 Lud Church's labyrinth of corridors 59 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,400 make it feel like a building designed by nature. It's a natural 60 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:02,320 wonder, and it has been a subterranean refuge and a meeting point for clandestine worship. 61 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:08,840 It's the perfect place to start my journey to discover what happens when holy places go underground. 62 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,720 When considering the religious history of caves, 63 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,120 the timescale opens right up. 64 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,000 Since the earliest evidence of our ancestors is to be found in caves, 65 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,440 it's no surprise that they were also the site 66 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,240 of our earliest ritual activity. 67 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,320 There's one such site in north Wales, a cave high up 68 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,040 on the side of the Great Orme, overlooking the town of Llandudno. 69 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,800 This site contains signs of ritual use dating as far back 70 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:49,400 as 14,000 years ago, making this one of the oldest-known sites 71 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,920 of religious practice in Britain. 72 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,960 The view today is just as stunning as it would have been 73 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,760 14,000 years ago when the first settlers came here, although as that was during the Ice Age, 74 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:03,960 the sea would have been much further away. 75 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:08,400 But it would have been a perfect vantage point for a people who lived as hunter gatherers 76 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:13,120 to study the game on the plains beneath. 77 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,400 The cave itself was rediscovered just over a hundred years ago, 78 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,440 by a man named Thomas Kendrick, and the first thing that strikes 79 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,680 us as we come up to it is - it doesn't look anything like a cave. 80 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,160 Thomas Kendrick was hoping to attract visitors here, 81 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,920 so he built this Victorian facade over the mouth of the cave 82 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,960 so that his visitors could take tea whilst they, too, enjoyed the view. 83 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:42,040 Its days as a tourist attraction have obviously long since gone, 84 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,960 but the spiritual significance of the cave within remains undiminished. 85 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,800 The caves are no longer open to the public but we've gained permission 86 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,040 from the current owners to venture into the depths. 87 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,000 As Kendrick delved into the system of caves, he came across more 88 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,600 than he'd bargained for. He found lots of bones and initially 89 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,440 threw them out before thinking that they might be worth something. 90 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,520 Archaeological examinations, and later, carbon dating, 91 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,640 revealed that these were the remains of three adults 92 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,040 and a young person who lived 14,000 years ago. 93 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,720 This isn't the earliest cave in Britain with evidence of human burial. 94 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,440 That honour belongs to a cave on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales 95 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,240 which dates back over 30,000 years. 96 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,480 But what makes this place special is the fact that with the human remains they found here, 97 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:56,000 they also found objects, jewellery, and one particular artefact 98 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,120 that's now kept in the British Museum in London. 99 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,000 It's one of the earliest example of artwork in the whole of Britain. 100 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,560 And there's a copy of it in the local museum here in Llandudno. 101 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,440 And this is it. 102 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:26,600 It's the carved jawbone of a horse. 103 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,600 Ice Age horses were obviously much smaller than their modern counterparts, 104 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:37,600 and as we can see, the surface has been carefully etched with this herringbone pattern 105 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,600 which would have had red ochre rubbed into it to make the markings stand out. 106 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:49,240 Now, we don't know whether it was worn as some kind of a pendant - 107 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,080 or was it used as some kind of religious talisman? 108 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,600 We don't know whether it was made here in Wales or carried here 109 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,720 with people who migrated into the country at the time of the last ice age. 110 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,800 What we do know is that somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it 111 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,920 and the fact that it was found 112 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:15,240 with evidence of human burial in Kendrick's cave 113 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:19,080 seems to indicate it was part of a burial ritual. 114 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:24,320 And even though this is a copy, it's quite an experience to 115 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,920 hold something like this, that even indirectly 116 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:32,400 connects us to our long forgotten forefathers 117 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,160 who buried their dead in the caves above Llandudno. 118 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:45,440 Events that took place 14,000 years ago are almost impossible 119 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,160 to piece together in any significant detail. 120 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,400 But my next stop, in Northumberland, allows me 121 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,640 to jump forward 13,000 years to the resting place 122 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,000 of one of the most renowned early British Christians. 123 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,440 His life - and death - were recorded in exhaustive detail. 124 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,640 When we think of caves we tend to think of a refuge, a sanctuary, 125 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:18,880 a hiding place. 126 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,920 And once we move on from pre-history to the Christian era, 127 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,000 that is exactly how caves were being used. 128 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,080 This isn't an easy place to find - but then that's the whole point. 129 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,880 In the 870s, following a series of Viking raids on the island 130 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:03,040 of Lindisfarne, the monks fled six miles inland to here. 131 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,680 They took with them their most treasured possessions, 132 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:09,800 including the body of their most famous abbot, St Cuthbert. 133 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,120 So, this cave became a place of refuge for somebody 134 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,200 who'd already been dead for the best part of 200 years. 135 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:21,760 Now as we can still see today, it's a pretty bleak spot - not that that would have bothered St Cuthbert, 136 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,560 but the monks apparently didn't stay here for very long. 137 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:28,520 They roamed for the best part of seven years around the north of England, 138 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:33,560 looking for a safe spot for the body of their most famous abbot 139 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,600 before they finally settled at Chester-le-Street, 140 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,440 having left a string of holy places in their wake. 141 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:52,040 This place is wonderful, but also bleak, harsh and inhospitable. 142 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,760 You can understand why this would have seemed a good option 143 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,520 when escaping from marauding Vikings, 144 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,520 but also why you would soon crave more comfortable surroundings. 145 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:19,000 At St Cuthbert's cave, the monks came to hide but then swiftly moved on. 146 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,520 The hermit at my next location spent most of his life in a cave 147 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:27,400 and in his hour of need, the very rocks themselves 148 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,960 are said to have come to the aid of their holy resident. 149 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,720 From Northumberland I've come down to South Wales 150 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,400 and a wonderful coastal setting. 151 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,560 St Govan's chapel here in Pembrokeshire 152 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:07,600 provides the location for perhaps the most dramatic holy cave story of them all, 153 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,440 albeit one of the most far-fetched. 154 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,440 It looks as if the cliffs themselves have split apart in order to 155 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:18,600 accommodate this tiny chapel, wedged down here, almost out of sight. 156 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:23,160 As a place to hide, it takes some beating. 157 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,400 Some time around the year 500, a mysterious hermit called St Govan 158 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,200 came to live in this stunning ravine. 159 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,520 St Govan himself would have lived in a cave amongst the rocks 160 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,640 as this chapel wasn't built until the 13th century. 161 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:53,800 I'm meeting Dr Patrick Thomas, Chancellor of St David's Cathedral, 162 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,160 to find out more about St Govan's claim to fame. 163 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,240 Well, he came here to escape from the world 164 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:06,240 and he was living in this place, halfway up the cliff, 165 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,880 where it seemed to be quiet and out of the way of things, 166 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,440 and he tried to help people who were shipwrecked, 167 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,880 and in doing so, he upset the local people 168 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:21,680 who depended on their living from stripping the people who had been 169 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,120 shipwrecked and indeed causing some of the shipwrecks themselves. 170 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,880 So they came to do him over, the local Mafia, as it were, 171 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:38,520 and he hid in a corner of the cave in a little split in the rocks, 172 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:40,680 a cleft in the rocks, and prayed, 173 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:45,760 and according to the tradition, that rock closed around him, 174 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,160 and there are marks on the cleft that is said to be the place 175 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,080 where Govan hid, that are like ribs, 176 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,000 and that's obviously strengthened the tradition. 177 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,920 The story of St Govan's subterranean miracle would have struck 178 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:04,080 a chord with many of our forefathers as the idea of caves as holy places 179 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,360 already had a special resonance. 180 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,120 Particularly within the Christian tradition and within the eastern tradition 181 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,640 which also affected strongly on the early Celtic saints, 182 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:19,600 the idea was that Jesus himself was born in a cave, 183 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:24,840 that was used as a stable, so it becomes connected with birth, 184 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,880 then Jesus' tomb was seen as being a cave. 185 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,640 So you've got a connection with life and with death, 186 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:36,360 with the most basic things, and so it becomes a place of sanctuary, 187 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,560 but also a place connected with the central themes of life and death. 188 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:44,360 The other undeniable attraction of this place 189 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:45,720 is its coastal location, 190 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,200 something that would not have been lost on St Govan. 191 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,560 For all the Celtic saints, water and the sound of water 192 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:56,280 was particularly important, so you are by a river, you are by a well. 193 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,280 You are here by the sea. 194 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:03,400 And the rhythm of the sea, and the ebb and flow of the tides 195 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,320 was something that again, would have become part of his prayer life. 196 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:15,440 Living here would undoubtedly have been harsh, but also very beautiful. 197 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,560 And the allure of retreating to a waterside cave is central 198 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:27,920 to my next destination, too. 199 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,080 All over the world, it seems that we are drawn to worshipping 200 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,240 underground - there are instances of this practise in many religions. 201 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,800 It was in a cave that the Prophet Mohammed received 202 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,000 the revelations that are the basis of the Koran. 203 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,920 Buddha also lived for a time within a cave. 204 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,720 In France there are vast ornate chapels built underground but 205 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,480 in Britain this practice only seems to have caught on in Derbyshire, 206 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,600 perhaps because the rocks here lend themselves to carving. 207 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:06,760 So I am heading out to see the finest example of a cave church in Britain. 208 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:11,760 And this is it - the Anchor Church at Ingleby. 209 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,200 This rocky outcrop once formed the southern bank of the River Trent 210 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,760 and the caves here were formed partly by the action of river water 211 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,840 on the soft rock, and partly cut out by hand. 212 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,960 As Christian worship became more mainstream, 213 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,120 people no longer sought out caves as a place of refuge and a place of safety, 214 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:37,320 but they still sometimes chose them as somewhere to get away from the noise 215 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,680 of the secular world, a place for spiritual contemplation and prayer. 216 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:48,240 The name Anchor Church derives from the Greek word "anachoreo", meaning "to withdraw". 217 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,800 This cave at Ingleby was first used as a religious retreat 218 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:00,240 in the 6th or 7th century, but it wasn't home to just one 219 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:05,840 solitary hermit - there is evidence of multiple dwellings in the area. 220 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,320 All along these cliffs are signs of candle holes 221 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,200 carved into the rock, perhaps part of lean-to structures, 222 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:17,240 and then spots like this where smaller caves have been carved out. 223 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:21,440 The first recorded hermit at Ingleby was called St Hardulph, 224 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:26,200 who his reputation for wisdom and holiness was such that he began to attract visitors. 225 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,920 On one occasion he famously had to save two nuns who were drowning in the river as their boat capsized 226 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:32,840 on their way to come and see him. 227 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,240 It would appear from cells like these that other people came to stay, 228 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,760 and so gradually it would appear that a community of hermits evolved in this area. 229 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,640 Now of course, the point of being a hermit is to get away from it all, 230 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,520 so it would seem that that was defeating the object of the exercise. 231 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,400 But as hermits came together, something else happened 232 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:58,840 and it is in communities of hermits like these that we find the roots of monasticism. 233 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,160 We're used to seeing the ruins of medieval monasteries that 234 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,640 in their day must have been the most spectacular buildings in the land. 235 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,720 So it's humbling to think that the monastic tradition actually grew 236 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,640 out of places like these - groups of hermits withdrawing from mainstream 237 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,880 society and then being drawn back together in isolated corners 238 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:24,600 of the countryside to live out their lives in devotion and prayer. 239 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,480 Even today this place still feels remote. 240 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,160 You still get a strong sense of the seclusion that would have 241 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,480 attracted a Saxon hermit here for a life of contemplation and prayer. 242 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,880 But there's something else about this place - 243 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:46,000 when you go inside, you're drawn somehow deeper into the earth - 244 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,080 it has that womb-like feeling 245 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,440 and it's quite unlike any of the other places I've visited. 246 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,320 Perhaps this is the appeal of underground worship, 247 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,560 the sense that by detaching yourself from the everyday concerns 248 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,400 of the world, you're almost returning to the womb, 249 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,320 entombing yourself within your beliefs. 250 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,600 If that is the case, then it can be no more graphically 251 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:22,360 illustrated than at the home of my next extraordinary anchorite. 252 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,960 This is the church of St Julian's in Norwich 253 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,120 where in the mid 1370's a woman made the momentous decision 254 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:44,040 to become an anchorite, but chose to do so in a manner that required an incredible level of commitment. 255 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:49,000 At the age of just 30, she willingly allowed herself to be bricked up 256 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,440 in a tiny cell within the walls of the church, 257 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,160 for the rest of her natural life. 258 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,800 She spent the next 40 years in meditation and in prayer 259 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,960 and became, in the process, 260 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,520 literally part of the fabric of the church that she loved. 261 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,760 Julian's cell itself was destroyed during the Reformation, 262 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,960 but during restoration work 263 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,320 following the bombing of the church during the last war, 264 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,520 they found some medieval foundations 265 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,520 indicating where the cell probably lay, 266 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,320 and they built this chapel on that very spot - 267 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:39,360 although this is much, much bigger and much, much lighter than the original cell would have been. 268 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:43,160 However, the original cell, like this chapel, would have been south facing, 269 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:50,680 so Julian could at least have enjoyed some of the warmth of the sun that she would never see again, 270 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,480 There were three windows in cells of this nature, 271 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,120 one opening into the main body of the church, 272 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:01,400 so that the anchorite could see the altar and receive communion. 273 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:07,760 then a second window through which she would receive food and be able to pass her waste out, 274 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:11,520 and then a third window opening out onto the street, 275 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,880 so that she could dispense advice and consolation 276 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,480 to people or pilgrims who came to see her - 277 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:25,480 because to the medieval mind, this extreme way of life was just as fascinating to them as it is to us. 278 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,640 Lady Julian chose to embark upon her life as an anchorite after 279 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,120 experiencing a series of visions or revelations. 280 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,440 To hear more about this I am meeting Sister Pamela 281 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,960 who lives in a nunnery attached to the church 282 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:46,160 and helps visitors understand the rigours of Lady Julian's life. 283 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,440 When she was 30-and-a-half years old but told that she was nearly 284 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,600 dying, and drifting away, and yet, she didn't - 285 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,800 she had these revelations, and being a sane sort of woman, 286 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,960 which I'm sure she was, she doubted them, and she was given 287 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:03,720 the sixteenth revelation to say, "They're not just for you. 288 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:10,200 "They're for everybody." She had a vivid vision of the Crucifix. 289 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,480 It was as though she was at the Passion, 290 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,080 and if any people have seen the movie Passion Of Christ, 291 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,840 you'll know how vivid that is, and I think she felt she was there. 292 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,120 Once she'd taken the momentous decision to become an anchorite, 293 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:26,840 the machinery of the church would have sprung into action 294 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:30,880 to organise the practicalities of her interment. 295 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,800 She would have been led here from the Benedictine 296 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,840 monastery at Carrow, which is just outside the city walls here, 297 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,560 and the bishop would have conducted the service, 298 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,560 which would actually have been a Requiem Mass. 299 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,880 She was being buried - not in a cave or a hole in the ground, 300 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,360 but actually in a small cell. 301 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,280 And possibly the brickie would be there, 302 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:59,120 to actually brick her up afterwards, after she'd been enclosed. 303 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:03,120 Being an anchorite, she'd spend her time praying 304 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:04,840 and counselling people, 305 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,320 but also meditating on these amazing revelations that she'd had, 306 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:14,760 so she spent 15-20 years expounding, meditating, writing...rewriting them. 307 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,480 She was a unique figure in English literature. 308 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,000 She was the first woman we know of to write a book in English. 309 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,040 - She was contemporary with Chaucer. - Yeah. - Yes. 310 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,520 The ultimate thing, of course, 311 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:31,200 is that she said at the end of her book, "15 years or more, 312 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,920 "God showed me in my inward being what this was all about - 313 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,280 "that love is his meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. 314 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,000 "What did He show you? Love! Why did he show you? For love. 315 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,120 "Hold onto this, and you need not know anything else, 316 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,880 "because love is Our Lord's meaning." 317 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,360 And so she sums it all up, in that word - love. 318 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,320 It is impossible for most of us 319 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,040 to imagine having ourselves bricked up for the rest of our lives. 320 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,240 Many of us would consider such an extreme decision as stifling, 321 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:11,240 crazy, a waste of life, even. 322 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,760 But coming here has left me with a strange admiration for 323 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:20,360 Lady Julian. It's rare that you come across such a singular act of faith. 324 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:25,280 However, after contemplating the claustrophobic confines 325 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:27,920 of an anchorite cell, it's almost like being able to 326 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,120 breathe again to come back into a space like this. 327 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,440 This is my final stop - Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire. 328 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:46,120 To our modern eyes, this is the kind of church architecture that we 329 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:47,920 find most inspiring. 330 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:53,040 Soaring columns, stained-glass windows, plenty of light and space. 331 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,800 For us, the idea of delving into the dark recesses of a crypt 332 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,240 is not particularly appealing, but for the earliest pilgrims to this 333 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,840 church, that would have been the main attraction. 334 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,840 This 12th century cathedral is magnificent, 335 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,640 but it was not the first church built on this site. 336 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,280 The first church here dated back to 672, 337 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,640 and was built by a man called St Wilfrid. 338 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:31,000 The only remaining part of that earlier church is the crypt, 339 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,560 but it was actually the crypt that made this place such 340 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,560 a celebrated destination. 341 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,480 Pilgrims would have wended their way down that passage into this 342 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,680 central chamber, lit then, as today, 343 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,560 by lamps placed in these niches, before they then venerated 344 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:54,640 the holy relic that would have been set in this larger niche here. 345 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,680 In a sense, it's a piece of religious theatre, 346 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,240 and the man who had it built, St Wilfrid, was certainly something 347 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,560 of a showman and this place was certainly built to impress. 348 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,000 There would have been nothing quite like it in Britain at the time. 349 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,400 What St Wilfrid built and what countless pilgrims 350 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,640 flocked to see was nothing less than a recreation of the most holy site 351 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,720 in Christendom - Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem. 352 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,240 At a time before foreign travel was a realistic possibility, 353 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:32,000 the crypt at Ripon was as close to the Holy Land as most 354 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,680 people in Britain would ever get. 355 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,720 This crypt consciously echoes Christ's tomb 356 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,360 where his body was laid for three days before the resurrection. 357 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:47,320 And in some of the other caves we've visited, they might be interpreted as womb-like structures, 358 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:53,800 places of refuge, of safety, and of rebirth, even. 359 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,040 This is surely why caves crop up again and again 360 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,280 in all the world's religions. 361 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,840 The reason they strike such a deep chord is because they echo 362 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,200 so closely the places we've come from and the place we will all end up - 363 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,240 the womb and the tomb. 364 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,440 What could be more primal than that? 365 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,000 It's a challenging concept, but in somewhere like this 366 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,160 perhaps we can come a little bit closer to understanding that meaning. 367 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,160 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd