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Hidden Treasures of the National Trust - Season 4 Episode 3 - Puffins and Pilgrims
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00:02Every year, millions of us flock to the houses and gardens of the National Trust.
00:09Taking a step back in time to delve into our history.
00:14When you see something forgotten for thousands of years, that's quite amazing.
00:19Whether in the grandest residence...
00:21This is the kind of room you walk into and you sort of go, oh my goodness.
00:25Or on a windswept island...
00:28Big moment for this little guy.
00:30That's what you want to see.
00:32But out of sight is a hidden world.
00:35Very few people, this whole world can go behind the scenes and you're one of them.
00:40Where an army of dedicated experts...
00:42I have never seen anything like this, it's absolutely bonkers.
00:46...are battling to save treasured objects.
00:49I've not yet smashed anything.
00:51Don't say that.
00:52Am I going to have to be here all day like this?
00:54Meow.
00:55Wow.
00:56Making new discoveries...
00:58How exciting.
00:59Look at that.
01:00Oh my goodness.
01:02...that tell the history of us all.
01:05These objects still speak if you listen hard enough.
01:16This time, two of the Trust's most remote properties...
01:21...that have both inspired generations of pilgrims.
01:25A rugged island once home to a saint.
01:29St. Cuthbert's form of faith required that he be alone.
01:33And where better to come to be alone in a place like this.
01:36Whose hidden history is being uncovered by modern technology.
01:41If we can find some physical trace of the places where he lived and where he prayed, that would be
01:47truly extraordinary.
01:48And a modest farmhouse that shaped the soul of a nation.
01:53So this item played such a huge role in the Wales we know today.
01:59And now needs saving from the elements.
02:03If this building was left to nature, it would just get wetter and wetter and it would become a ruin.
02:16We're starting to see the Farns Archipelago appear in front of us.
02:21Early morning, mid-summer.
02:24Just off the coast of Northumberland, collections and house manager Nick is on his regular commute to work.
02:31It never really gets normal.
02:33It's always very special.
02:36We see some dolphins.
02:37That would be good.
02:40His destination, two miles out into the North Sea, is an archipelago of 28 tiny islands.
02:50The Farns are mysterious.
02:52They're intriguing.
02:53They are separate from us, but they're also just within reach.
02:57They have that kind of heavenly feel about them.
02:59That in itself is really compelling.
03:01And I think that draws people to it.
03:02Only a handful of the islands are accessible to the public under tight restrictions because of some very special visitors.
03:19It's an internationally important seabird colony with hundreds of thousands of birds coming to the islands every breeding season.
03:30But I would argue of equal significance are the island's cultural heritage.
03:36Key to its heritage is a man who first arrived on the largest island, Inner Farn, over 1400 years ago.
03:46Well, the most important and most famous person that's ever inhabited in a farm was St. Cuthbert, who essentially found
03:53the religious presence on this island.
03:55And he was here for a good few years back in the seventh century.
03:58And although there's not really anything left tangibly of his world today, Cuthbert's presence is very much the key thing
04:05here.
04:07Cuthbert was prior of the monastery on nearby Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, one of the most significant centers
04:16of Christianity in the early medieval British Isles.
04:21Seeking solitude and a place to worship in peace, he came to live on the Farn Islands.
04:28The appeal of this place is the tranquility that you're at one with nature, with God, with the heavens.
04:33It's all about that kind of location, that kind of endless sky and sea that you get.
04:39The island's 14th century chapel has long been the first port of call for pilgrims following in Cuthbert's footsteps.
04:48Its crowning glory is this later 19th century stained glass window.
04:53It depicts Cuthbert alongside his fellow Northumbrian saints, Aidan and Ethelwald.
05:01It's really vibrant. I think people really, really are wowed by it when they come in the door.
05:05You're not really expecting it. And you come in and bang, you get this colour.
05:15It's a real beauty, a real cracker.
05:18But because of where it is, it's on the east side of a chapel in the middle of the sea.
05:23It really gets the brunt of the bad weather.
05:26And so over the last 170 odd years, it's been hammered.
05:29The window is stunning as it is, but once it's cleaned and repaired, it could look incredible, like even more
05:36amazing.
05:42Today, a team of stained glass conservators have arrived on Innerfarn to restore Cuthbert's windows to their former glory.
05:52I'd ideally want to take the top off first.
05:54Yeah, yeah. Take the top off first. Yes, definitely.
05:56Do you want me to come up with you?
05:57No, that's fine.
05:58The plan is for Alison and her team to carefully remove the six panes, then clean and repair the intricate
06:06glasswork at ground level.
06:08The screws are nice and willing to come out, then it should be nice and easy.
06:12And if the screws are a bit tight or don't wanting to move, then it'll be a bit more tricky.
06:18Yeah, this one's coming.
06:20It might be just that one.
06:29It was pretty comprehensively repaired back in the 1990s, to the extent that it was actually taken out and taken
06:35to the mainland.
06:37I'm hoping we don't have to do something that drastic this time.
06:43I've not yet smashed anything.
06:45Don't say that. Touch wood.
06:47Because, you know, you've now been filmed, so today would be the day.
06:51Every time, I try to think that I can keep my cool now, because I've done it so many times.
06:56I've taken, you know, stained glass windows at massive heights out before.
07:03But it's always nerve-wracking, especially, you know, it's a historical piece.
07:07It's priceless.
07:10After some gentle persuasion...
07:14Yep, right.
07:16...Cuthbert is ready for his first clean in 30 years.
07:22OK, so that's the reason we're taking it out, because of all the filth that's come out.
07:29Cuthbert lived a simple island life, but he continued to receive visitors and preach Christianity.
07:37He gained such legendary status that, shortly after his death, he began to be venerated as a saint.
07:44Through the Middle Ages, right up until the dissolution, essentially, he becomes this figurehead of the North, essentially.
07:49His banner is carried into battle against the Scots.
07:52You know, you look around today, and I, you know, we see school groups coming to visit from St Cuthbert's
07:57Primary School.
07:57It still kind of comes right through into the modern period.
08:01The lower panes are all safely out.
08:04But as Victoria moves up to the smaller ones at the top...
08:08It's tight.
08:10..she hits a problem.
08:11I think we're going to have to have a think about how we're going to take that out.
08:15That should be filled in with lime mortar pointing.
08:17I would usually just go hard at it, but because of the delicacy of the stonework,
08:23I don't want to put any more pressure on it.
08:25The mortar around the window has crumbled away.
08:29You can see it moving.
08:31Leaving the stonework itself dangerously unstable.
08:35There's not a lot holding that, there, there...
08:40..and possibly there.
08:42Mm-hm.
08:43We've got to get the masons to have a proper look at it
08:47before we can carry on and start trying to get the glass out.
08:53Us moving the stained glass windows could mean that the stone ends up falling out
08:59and damage it even further.
09:02For now, the windows are staying put,
09:05until the stone masons make it over from the mainland.
09:09It's a crossing that has been made by hundreds of thousands of people over the years.
09:15And like for so many pilgrims, it's a journey of deep, personal meaning.
09:22We probably all go on pilgrimages of some kind.
09:26We feel a familiarity with certain landscapes and places,
09:29and I think it has long been the case of people going to shrines,
09:33to go to places for healing, for contemplation,
09:37meeting other people who are on that journey for their own individual reasons.
09:41Because of the solitude, because of the landscape,
09:44because of the beauty of it, that's something intimate.
09:47And it's really quite magical.
09:52200 miles from the Farn Islands,
09:55deep in a valley in the Gwydyr Forest in North Wales,
09:59sits a modest farmhouse that has also become an unlikely place of pilgrimage.
10:13The experience of the nature of the place starts, I think, when you come up through the trees.
10:21You're on your own, really, yeah.
10:24The house and nature.
10:27But, yeah, you've got to really want to find it.
10:40There's been a property here since at least the 15th century.
10:44Although Timar translates as big house,
10:48this later building still only has two stories and a handful of rooms.
10:54Mind your heart there.
10:57Restored to reflect how it would have looked in the 16th century,
11:01Flir now cares for the building and the stories it holds.
11:07So I usually sort of greet the space in the morning.
11:12I just like to take just a little bit of silence,
11:14to just set out the intention and the welcome that I wish for people to receive here.
11:26It's an ancient place.
11:28It doesn't have a voice, but it still speaks.
11:33And it speaks quiet.
11:38It holds its history.
11:40And I think it shares its history if you're quiet enough and can listen deep enough.
11:46There's layers to it, I think.
11:49The more time you spend there, the deeper you get to know it.
11:54It's an item within these four walls that draws people here from all around the world.
12:01So here at Timar we have something that is of great national importance and meaning to the people of Wales.
12:07It's a treasure really that's an honour to look after and I can show you now.
12:16So this is the first translation of the complete Bible into the Welsh language.
12:21People come here from far and wide to come and witness and experience this
12:26because of its cultural importance and history for the people of Wales.
12:30The Welsh Bible is forever linked with Timar because it was the work of a man who was born and
12:36grew up here, William Morgan.
12:40It's often been said that Morgan's translation of the Bible saved the Welsh language or preserved it and stopped it
12:48from dying out.
12:50William was the son of John and Laurie Morgan, tenant farmers on the Timar estate.
12:57Back in the mid-16th century, the main building was a busy inn, providing shelter for passing cattle and sheep
13:05drovers.
13:09It would have been an incredible place of culture, language, song, poetry.
13:17And so William Morgan, without a doubt, would have heard a lot of these stories.
13:23He would have been able to be part of conversations and picked up on those cues that were enriching for
13:32his vocabulary.
13:34William's way with words was spotted at an early age.
13:38He was sent away to be educated by a local chaplain and later ordained as a clergyman.
13:45When Elizabeth I commissioned a Welsh Bible to help secure the Protestant church in Wales,
13:52Morgan was chosen to translate.
13:56William Morgan was really familiar with that kind of lyricism that's so integral to the language.
14:03That was all part of his culture. That was all part of what he learnt as a boy growing up
14:08at Timower.
14:09And all of that knowledge found its way into the text that he produced in 1588.
14:16It took William Morgan ten years to translate the Bible.
14:21A thousand copies were printed and distributed to every church in Wales.
14:25It's the reason why we are still here today speaking Welsh.
14:29It would have disappeared had the Bible not been translated into Welsh.
14:34Taking along all the richness, all the culture, never to be seen again.
14:42Only around 60 copies of the original 1588 Bible survive.
14:48And this one is showing its age.
14:54The Trust owns about half a million books, but I think it's not a stretch to say that the copy
15:00of the 1588 Bible at Timower is one of its most important.
15:08Hello!
15:09Hi Sharon!
15:10Okay, welcome to Timower.
15:12To preserve this piece of history,
15:15FLIR and Trust Conservator Clare have called in help.
15:19It's nice to see it all in its glory.
15:22It's beautiful.
15:24Specialist Book Conservator Sharon must get the 1588 Bible stable enough to leave Timower.
15:32In a few months' time, it's going on display at the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff.
15:40Our copy of the 1588 Bible is going to visit the people of Wales rather than the other way round.
15:48Lovely, thank you.
15:49It'll be quite special, I think.
15:53The text block is original, but the binding is later, which is starting to fail.
16:02Over its 450 years, this well-thumbed Bible has been patched up many times, with missing pages replaced by crude
16:13copies.
16:15The repairs are unsightly, they haven't aged very well,
16:19they've become quite brown and quite brittle, and there are a lot of them.
16:25Sharon must first deal with the dirt before she can address the damage to the cover and the many tears.
16:33The first thing I'm going to do is to surface clean the outside of the binding.
16:38I'm going to use a soft brush initially just to get rid of any loose dirt.
16:46This has been a well-used Bible and it's clear that it has been loved and cherished and been important
16:52to so many people.
16:54I can be respectful of an item's age and its provenance and its value, but I place that to one
17:01side and then focus on the job I need to do.
17:06The pages look quite dirty, there's a little bit coming off, so I shall continue working my way through the
17:14text block.
17:14There's probably 500 plus leaves in this book, so I'm going to be cleaning for a while.
17:23Ever since the National Trust opened Timower's doors to the public in 1951, William Morgan's Bible has inspired thousands of
17:33visitors to seek out its birthplace.
17:37I don't think pilgrimage is always tied to faith, but certainly at Timower there's that layer of faith that's so
17:44kind of inherent to its story and the objects that are there.
17:47And I think people probably do come to the site now as a site of pilgrimage to come and see
17:53this object in its kind of spiritual home.
18:05On Inafarn, it's not just St Cuthbert that entices visitors from across the world.
18:11So we're going through the Arctic Terran colony at the moment, so it might get quite loud.
18:17And I have forgotten the hat, which is an error.
18:24Sophia is one of 12 National Trust rangers who work on the island, sharing it with around 200,000 seabirds.
18:34Sophia, I couldn't help but notice you've got a bit of poo on your head.
18:37Oh, I knew that would happen.
18:39The rangers stay on site for several days at a time.
18:45I've come to Red Wing today.
18:46Oh, nice. That's a classic.
18:48Yeah, that was great.
18:49And are entrusted with the upkeep of the island for visitors of all types.
18:56The day in the life of a ranger is, I think, the most varied role that one can have.
19:02This morning, for example, we were rescuing pufflings from that lighthouse compound, pumping seawater, fixing boardwalk.
19:11It's never quite the same.
19:13To be a Farne Islands ranger, you've got to like the island life.
19:18You're not going to be watching Netflix every evening with your fancy coffee machine.
19:24There's no Wi-Fi.
19:25There's no water supply.
19:27You've got to like a bit of rough in it.
19:33OK.
19:34I think this is about the centre of the plot.
19:36It's a lovely borough.
19:37Well used.
19:38One of the rangers' most important jobs is taking a census of the winged visitors who come to breed here
19:46over the summer months.
19:47From razorbills, shags and Arctic terns to the island's star attraction.
19:59I think everybody has a love for puffins.
20:02I think it's something about their character.
20:04They're quite comical.
20:06They just act in, well, I want to say silly ways, because I guess they're so used to being out
20:12at sea that when they're on land, it can just seem like they're just...
20:15Yeah, they just march around, don't they?
20:21Puffins are believed to have been spending summer on the Farne's long before Cuthbert ever set foot here.
20:29OK, so there is poo in this one.
20:32Today, Sophia and Heather are searching their burrows.
20:39So I think it's occupied.
20:41Where pairs of puffins raise their chicks, called pufflings, several feet underground.
20:49It's quite deep.
20:50Doesn't look very occupied, that one.
20:52I have to say, I was not expecting to see your arm disappear that far down the ground.
20:56Yeah, yeah.
20:57When you put your hand down a burrow, it can be quite daunting, because you don't really know what to
21:00expect,
21:01whether you're going to get the beak end of a puffin or the fluffy end of a puffin.
21:06There's an important reason behind this puffin roulette.
21:10Each occupied burrow means another pair of returning puffins, whose numbers in recent years have taken a worrying turn.
21:25They're globally in decline.
21:27They face risks on the mainland, such as rats and ground predators.
21:33And then they've got climate change, changing the temperature of the sea, pushing where their food is further away.
21:39So they've got a lot of challenges ahead of them.
21:41So the rangers are counting them, one burrow at a time.
21:47Oh, there is something in here.
21:49Can you use someone home?
21:51Do you think puffling or puffin?
21:53I think puffin.
21:55Following standard puffin handling procedure...
21:58So we're just going to put a bag over it, it just keeps them calm.
22:01This adult male is safely bagged.
22:04Lovely.
22:06Sophia and Heather must work fast to harvest as much personal data as possible.
22:13First, they tag him.
22:15Any puffin you see with a blue colour ring has come from Farne Islands.
22:19Then, give him a weigh-in.
22:21It looks a bit undignified, but...
22:24Just pop it head-first in there.
22:26So that's 425 with the bag.
22:29..before measuring the size of his beak.
22:33All right, little dude.
22:36Once checked over, the puffin is free to go.
22:43They only come to land for three months of the year,
22:45so it's really important we get all the research we can from them
22:48while they're raising their chick on the island.
22:52So 18 occupied burrows and three unoccupied burrows.
22:56So that is good. That is good for this patch.
22:59There's a lot more work to do.
23:02This is a bit more than a bit of slate, like.
23:04Over at the chapel, there's also more work to do on the wobbly windows.
23:10Mullions and everything's moving there, isn't there?
23:12Alison is showing stonemason John the size of the task in hand.
23:18You can just see daylight. There's nothing in there.
23:21Yeah.
23:22Before the last panes of stained glass can be removed for cleaning,
23:27John needs to stabilise the loose masonry.
23:31Let's get some more slate on this side.
23:35We're getting these slate puckers in just to hold it into its bit.
23:40So you just wedged it?
23:41Wedged it in, yeah.
23:43The wedges should hold the stonework steady while they carry out repairs.
23:50If we didn't do this now, you'd be in serious danger of losing the full window.
23:58At the top of the tower, Nick is getting his own bird's-eye view
24:03of the island that Cuthbert called home.
24:07It's quite a difficult task to try and describe how it might have looked for Cuthbert,
24:11beyond the fact that we don't think much has changed.
24:14Living on this island, it can't have been easy.
24:16I suppose that adds to the allure of the guy, that he was able to come out
24:19and not only do that, but also be able to do what he wanted to do,
24:22which was to ultimately pray.
24:25Despite the island being just a few hundred metres wide,
24:28no evidence of where Cuthbert lived and worshipped
24:321400 years ago has ever been found.
24:37We're not certain at all where Cuthbert's cell was.
24:39We can make a few educated guesses based on the sources that we have,
24:43but also the research that we're doing at the moment as well.
24:47To try and locate it, last year, a team of archaeologists carried out
24:52a preliminary survey of the island.
24:56Now, they're taking things a step further.
24:59It's incredibly exciting to get archaeological work done on a farm.
25:03Given the significance of the place, the sort of longevity of the occupation of the farms,
25:07it's pretty incredible, actually, that no one's been out there with a trowel.
25:13It's such a great place to come and work.
25:15There are moments when I kind of think, are they paying me to work here?
25:19Under the watchful eye of archaeologist Mark...
25:23Good morning. How's it going? Hello.
25:26Over the next two weeks, the ground will be scanned and assessed using cutting-edge technology.
25:34Uncovering all those stories we don't even know exist.
25:36Exactly.
25:37Much of what is known about St Cuthbert comes from an account of his life
25:42written just 30 years after his death by the monk and early medieval historian, Bede.
25:50So Bede's really vivid about what Cuthbert did on the island, we might find archaeologically.
25:55It was a structure, almost round in plan, measuring about four or five poles,
26:01so 60 to 80 feet, from wall to wall.
26:04But inside, he made it much higher by cutting away the living rock.
26:08So that gives us a sense of scale.
26:11It's not a hut with a cellar cut underneath it.
26:15This is a big thing.
26:19The most intriguing part of the site has to be that medieval complex on the north of the island.
26:24It's such an obvious location in Malina, the way it's given the protection by the lie of the land.
26:28You know, that's absolutely the first place to look.
26:30It's the sheltered part of the island, that's where boats can get in safely, that hasn't changed.
26:37This is my 38th year working with the National Trust as an archaeologist.
26:41We're doing this looking for the first time.
26:44It's really thrilling to think what might emerge in the next few days of work out there.
26:49While Mark and Nick prepare for the arrival of the archaeology team, at team hour,
26:55Clir is mopping up after a storm.
26:58I like picking the petals that have fallen to make tea.
27:05It's a nice place to be alone.
27:07Some visitors, when they do arrive after having the journey down here, they're quite surprised that there's anybody here at
27:13all.
27:14Clir first came to team hour on school trips, before joining the team welcoming visitors two years ago, drawing on
27:23the skills of her previous career.
27:28So I used to be a performer, performing for children, which is so much fun.
27:33I feel that being in team hour with it, still utilising storytelling skills, there's a theatrical element to it.
27:41I love that.
27:43Just the feeling of standing at the door, you know, just like the key, it's like the key to the
27:50nation's heart, really.
27:52As well as preserving William Morgan's story at team hour, the building itself also needs protecting.
28:05And Clir is about to oversee a very timely project.
28:10The weather here can be quite extreme, and the rainfall also.
28:14We're very exposed here to the elements, and it's this gable end wall here that gets the full force of
28:20that.
28:21The water was coming in at a degree that we couldn't stop.
28:26The beam itself above the fireplace that becomes saturated with water.
28:32Over the next few weeks, the building will be made watertight, using traditional methods that would have been used back
28:39in William Morgan's day.
28:44Imagine living there in the 15th or the 16th or the 17th century.
28:48And I guess not a huge amount has changed.
28:52It has to be a functioning building, and the trust don't want to be mopping up puddles of water every
28:57time they open the door.
29:00Ned and his team will be repointing the mortar and lime washing the whole of the gable end.
29:07But first, they have to make it even wetter.
29:11The reason we're wetting the wall down is because we need to work onto a damp surface, so we want
29:18to control the suction when we come to repoint.
29:20So if I didn't wet this wall down and I put my lime waters in, they would fail at 100%,
29:25especially in this weather.
29:28There's only one outcome if nothing's done, which is that that building is just going to get wetter and wetter
29:33and wetter.
29:34It is a challenge, because it's not an easy building to keep dry.
29:37So, yeah, let's put our skills to the test here and see if we can do it.
29:42Although Ned needs to weatherproof the building to protect the 1588 Bible, that's not the only treasure that will be
29:50taking shelter at Team Hour.
29:56So this is a really exciting day, and is a culmination of an enormous amount of work, and involves a
30:05brand new exhibition, which we're all really excited about.
30:09In a week's time, Tristan will be opening a unique library.
30:24Ever since the 1588 Bible was put on display at Team Hour, people from all over the world have been
30:32paying tribute by donating Bibles in other languages.
30:37These ones are all from Africa, and they're going up here, right at the start.
30:42You know, there are different dialects in Kenya, there are different dialects in India.
30:47These different forms of Bible start to be donated to us. That's how it's developed over time.
30:52Today, Fleur and Visitor Operations and Experience's manager, Lauri, are bringing the Bibles out of storage, and putting them on
31:01the new library shelves for the very first time.
31:04Japanese.
31:06Might be a bit of a challenge, though, how to display, you know, small books like this against, like, massive
31:13church Bibles.
31:15As the collection grew, they were held in various cabinets in Team Hour, where ambition is to have somewhere that
31:23is much safer for them, much better for their conservation.
31:29So, this is a Scouse Bible, Gospels in Scouse. It creates accessibility to people in a language that's familiar. And,
31:37in a way, that's what William Morgan did.
31:40Yeah.
31:41With the shelves fully stacked, the library is about to welcome its very first visitor.
31:48Can't wait to see the books.
31:50Tim, the Trust's National Curator for Libraries.
31:55Oh, wow.
31:56Look at that.
31:56What do you reckon?
31:57Looks so good.
31:58Looks amazing.
31:59So good.
32:00Really, really lovely.
32:01And this is a much nicer space to be in.
32:04It's so nice to see the books out, ready to be looked at by whoever comes and kind of discovers
32:11Tim Hour, and the story of William Morgan, and the story of the book collection kind of organically growing over
32:17the decades.
32:17So, it's really lovely.
32:19It looks tantalising.
32:20It looks like, you know, welcoming.
32:23It's a welcoming space.
32:24But you're really interested to see how the sections grow.
32:28Yeah.
32:28Yeah.
32:29As we get new donations in.
32:31Yeah.
32:31See if we can get one on the Antarctica shell.
32:36Like the 1588 Bible, which we are conserving hopefully in perpetuity, actually this is a story that we also want
32:43to look after for a very, very long time.
32:48Although Tim Hour has gained 300 new Bibles, its Welsh original is heading for the exit.
32:56This is going okay.
32:58There's not as much surface dirt coming off as I anticipated, as I would have liked.
33:03Sharon has her work cut out to make the 1588 Bible strong enough to leave in a few weeks' time,
33:09to go on display at the Welsh Parliament.
33:12So, I'm working my way through the text block now, and I'm making any repairs to the tears that I
33:20find.
33:22After a thorough clean, she's now turning her attention to the damaged pages.
33:28You can see that as I turn that page, those tears are moving, they're opening up, so those are ones
33:35I'm going to fix.
33:36So I'm just going to put a protective layer of acid-free blotter underneath.
33:40Using tiny squares of fine Japanese tissue paper.
33:46It's like a little bandage.
33:47Yes.
33:49Sharon carefully covers each tear.
33:54That looks really good.
33:58Fixing them in place with a gentle adhesive of wheat starch and water.
34:04I think each book is so different, and the needs for each book are often different as well.
34:13Each item has its own journey, and I find that enjoyable.
34:18So I'm putting blotter on either side to draw the moisture of the adhesive out of the paper quickly.
34:26And you can see now that that moves with the body of the page, so the risk of that tearing
34:32further into the page is now gone.
34:35Finally, Sharon trims away any excess paper, leaving a seamless, invisible repair.
34:42This leaf is now done, and then I've got the main title page, which is really quite torn on the
34:51edge.
34:51So I've got a few still to do.
35:05It's not a bad place to work, is it, when you've got a day like the day?
35:08It's grim up north, and kind of, ah, yeah, yeah, right.
35:13On Innerfarn, Peter and John are repointing the last of the loose masonry around the chapel windows.
35:20If you don't point it up, you're going to get your rein in.
35:23It's going to freeze, and then it expands, and it bursts of stone.
35:28Get the water done.
35:29Get the water done, get the muck done.
35:33Inside the chapel...
35:34You got it? Yep.
35:36...Alison and her team get to work.
35:39Look, I missed it.
35:43...removing the last of the stained glass windows.
35:47It's out, so we can clean it, and hopefully it'll go back in smoother than it came out, you know?
35:54The team can start to address the six panes and their 30 years of dirt.
36:02We are just using soft cloths, cotton buds, and purified water.
36:11What we have to be careful of is making sure we don't take any paint off the window,
36:15because Victorian paint wasn't always fired at a very hot temperature, therefore it can come off.
36:21So we just have to make sure when we're cleaning we're doing it gently.
36:25The windows were the handiwork of William Wales of Gateshead.
36:30Renowned for his ornate patterns and bold colour combinations,
36:34he was one of England's most prolific 19th century stained glass manufacturers.
36:40I think it's interesting working for a company in what used to be a very male-dominated industry as women,
36:49but it just proves that women can just do it just as well.
36:57I've been working for the company for about two years now.
37:02I got into the job as my father used to do, stained glass.
37:07He had his own company still when we lived in Poland.
37:09I remember when I was about five, six years old, I used to help him in the workshop
37:13and then see his projects and his kind of art come to life.
37:19Each individual project will have its own challenges and this one definitely is quite challenging,
37:27but I wouldn't change it for the world.
37:28I feel very privileged to be part of something that will stay in the earth for the next 100, 200
37:38years, you know.
37:43Visitors to the chapel today are following in the footsteps of pilgrims
37:47who have been coming to Innerfarn for over a thousand years,
37:51every one of them having to brave the trip across the North Sea.
37:56A few days past there, a couple of days ago, it was a snotty day out on the water, snotty
38:00day.
38:01William's family have been keeping visitors' feet dry since 1918.
38:10So, I'm the third generation taking boats across to the islands, the third generation.
38:19I've done this for pretty much 40 years now.
38:22It has its moments, like everything, you know, but if you like the job, it's half the battle, half the
38:27battle.
38:29There's pilgrims all the time and they'll often make reference to Simcoff,
38:33but there's been crossings going across to these islands back and forward in little boats for hundreds of years.
38:41On board today are pilgrims of a very different kind, a crack team of archaeological experts from the University of
38:50Bradford.
38:54Cuthbert has a long shadow in the North East.
38:58It's astonishing that we can also follow in those footsteps.
39:04Although Cuthbert briefly left the island to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, he returned to see out his final days in
39:11solitude.
39:13Nick and Mark are hoping that Chris and his team can pinpoint exactly where.
39:19This is the area where we found the potential foundations last year with the ground penetrating radar.
39:26But this archaeology project won't involve any digging.
39:31Hi, Chris.
39:32Hi, Mark.
39:33Chris, how are you?
39:34Hi, Nick.
39:35So, how's it going?
39:36OK.
39:36I mean, you've set this quite a difficult challenge here.
39:40One of the biggest challenges is protecting the network of fragile puffin burrows.
39:47I'm not a heavyweight, but if I stand on those puffin burrows, they will collapse.
39:52There's way too many puffin burrows on that island.
39:56Instead of digging, they're using the latest non-invasive geophysical techniques.
40:07Once the birds' breeding season is over and the skies are clear, Tom uses a drone to capture 3D imagery
40:16of the island.
40:18So, the green lines are the flight paths.
40:21So, it's going to be the whole island flown in about 25 minutes.
40:27We've taken large drones and we've slung underneath them instruments for collecting magnetic data.
40:35And that gives us a fighting chance of finding evidence of St Cuthbert.
40:39So, this is the ground penetrating radar.
40:43With this one, we collect 10 profiles six and a half centimeters apart.
40:49For more stable areas, Michael is hoovering up data with his radar.
40:55It's sending radio pulses into the ground.
41:00Looking for hidden clues in the soil below.
41:03At the end of the day, you press that final button and that map emerges in front of your eyes.
41:10And you see something that, you know, hasn't been seen, has been forgotten for tens, hundreds or thousands of years.
41:17And that's really satisfying.
41:18But even with all the latest technology, Chris and his team still have a mountain to climb to find evidence
41:26of Cuthbert.
41:27We're using virtually every single technique that we can on the island.
41:33And that is a challenge and it's also novel.
41:36And we're looking forward to trying to work our way through understanding what this data means for us.
41:43But perhaps it might just give us the story that we need around St Cuthbert.
41:55Yeah, we know this bird's going in here, in this hole here.
41:58A birdie?
41:58Yeah.
41:59What, which bird?
42:01You aren't a birder, Dave.
42:03No, it's too far away from me.
42:04At team hour, the builders are making the most of unusually dry conditions in the valley.
42:10You couldn't choose a nicer spot to work, I don't think.
42:14I just parked the car further away today, just the off chance of seeing a cuckoo.
42:19Today, Ned and the team are replacing the crumbling mortar in the leaky gable end.
42:24When team hour was built in the 16th century, all of the building materials would have come from the surrounding
42:31area.
42:32So they would have gone to the river, they would have dug out the river gravel, they would have sieved
42:36it, and then they would have made a hot mix.
42:39A hot mix is the traditional way of creating mortar, combining gravel from the stream with lumps of burnt limestone
42:48to create an extreme chemical reaction.
42:52As soon as I add water to this, it will reach 200 degrees maybe in seconds.
42:57I won't put it all in.
43:01And at this stage, I'm going to stir it in because it's nice and easy.
43:05It's gone very, very hot very quick.
43:07You want it to be sticky and stiff, so you can really push it into the wall and then compress
43:13it in.
43:15There you go.
43:16The perfect lime mortar.
43:20It might be perfect, but these days it's not permitted to use river gravel.
43:26So Ned's team set to work with a hot mix using aggregate from a builder's merchant.
43:33What we're doing here is just building out the pointing in layers and making sure that it makes a better
43:38bond.
43:39Even in this modern hot mix, lime is still the magic ingredient, drawing moisture out of the wall and making
43:48it breathable.
43:49What we want to achieve at the end of this is we want to have a very, very flush mortar.
43:55So the mortar is going to be very flush to the stone.
43:59I think it's looking really nice.
44:01Yeah.
44:01Actually, the stone is much better than I thought it was going to be.
44:07Once the gable end is perfectly pointed, Ned can get cracking with the lime washing.
44:14When you're applying a lime wash, the idea of this is to build it up in quite a few coats.
44:19And obviously, the more weather you're going to get, the more coats you're going to put on.
44:24We'll do seven or eight layers.
44:27Well, basically, we'll mix up a load and we'll just keep going until we run out.
44:32You've got to imagine houses wearing clothes, you know, and this house has been naked for so long.
44:37In an extraordinarily wet climate, what we're doing is we're just putting a light cortex jacket on it.
44:44And we're just giving it that little bit more protection from the weather.
44:49Hi Ned.
44:50Hi.
44:51Swimming.
44:52Just around.
44:53Oh, the last coat.
44:57Oh.
44:57The last brush strokes.
44:59It's great to feel that it's being sensitively taken care of.
45:04It still feels like Ti Mauer, but Ti Mauer's had an injection of care.
45:10While Ti Mauer is almost ready to receive guests again, the winged visitors on Inner Farn are preparing to take
45:18their leave.
45:20That's still a lot of puffling.
45:22The rangers are crunching the numbers on their census as the birds are heading off for another nine months at
45:29sea.
45:30But one is struggling to say goodbye.
45:36So this is a puffling.
45:38This one was stuck in the lighthouse compound at the top of the island.
45:41So if we left him, he just would have either stressed out and become increasingly ill or got eaten by
45:48a large gull.
45:49To give him his wings, Sophia is lending a helping hand.
45:55They've never touched the water before in their lives or seen the sea.
46:00So it's a big, big moment for them.
46:04Let him get his bearings.
46:08Just let him get his bearings a wee bit.
46:10Stood up quite tall on his legs.
46:12Right, I think he's going to fly off.
46:13He might just look at the sea.
46:16He's slightly shell-shocked at what's going on.
46:18He's like, is this the start to life?
46:29That's what you want to see.
46:31A happy story for that puffling.
46:34Sometimes you can't intervene and it is frustrating because you can't do anything about it.
46:39But when you can rescue it and it is a happy ending for the puffling, it is very rewarding.
46:44It makes it worthwhile.
46:50Here is where we are now.
46:53This is the tower.
46:54And if I switch on our survey.
46:57Also praying for a happy conclusion to their stay on the island are the team of archaeologists searching for Cuthbert's
47:05Hermitage.
47:06So here we are looking at some eight centimetres below ground level.
47:11They've analysed the data and have found something intriguing.
47:15Essentially, we have a series of potential walls.
47:18There's a flask shape and a feature, which I don't know really what that is, but Mark, have you any
47:24ideas?
47:25Well, it has the feel of something early medieval about it to me.
47:29A roundhouse with an entrance passage or something on it could well look like something of this form.
47:36The flask shaped structure over by the tower is the thing that most immediately grabs your eye.
47:43It's definitely something that was there and was very likely there 1400 years ago.
47:48And perhaps that starts to give you a clue that we are in the right bit of the island.
47:54That's a really important step forwards.
47:56We're not imagining that shape.
47:59No, not at all.
48:00But the GPR is restricted in terms of the depth that it can get to.
48:06Although Chris and his team have now gone as far as they can with their ground penetrating radar, this is
48:13just the beginning.
48:15In five years, ten years, twenty years, there might be other techniques, non-invasive techniques, that allow us to say
48:24that is definitively something from the age of Sunkuthbert.
48:30I think it's a case of watch this space.
48:32Scan this space.
48:33Oh, nice. Very good.
48:35Yeah, that's right. Definitely. Scan it some more.
48:36It would be lovely to have reached this point in the investigation and found something that really absolutely reflected Bede's
48:45description.
48:45I don't think we've got to that yet, but absolutely what we're walking away from this from is certainty of
48:53the extraordinary archaeological potential that exists here.
48:56And that's a pretty exciting prospect.
49:10At team hour, Ned is checking in to see if the newly lime-washed Gable N is standing up to
49:17the elements.
49:22We've had a few bad storms. Storm Amy was really quite vicious up here.
49:27So it's had a proper test.
49:29But it's great to see that it's adhered really well and it's feeling just as we'd want it to.
49:35So long as we keep the lime-washing up year on year, then it will hopefully mean that the moisture
49:41of the rain won't actually dry through the wall into the inside.
49:47No.
49:50Happy?
49:53Well, it's lovely, isn't it? What a transformation.
49:57We've been living in the fear of the next storm, the next wet period to come, and being able to
50:03relax a lot more now knowing that we have a resilient building.
50:10The project's gone well, and it seems to have solved the problem.
50:13So you know in your heart of hearts that you've done the best for that building.
50:17It's steeped in history, and it's a place where a very important man lived and did a very important job.
50:25In a distinguished career, William Morgan rose through the ranks to become a priest and then a bishop.
50:32And although he died in relative poverty in 1604, he left the nation a priceless treasure.
50:41I'm just going to use a little tool just to encourage that piece of leather back down.
50:47Sharon is finishing her painstaking repair of the 1588 Bible.
50:53I'm really happy with how it's looking.
50:56It doesn't look very different really, but I know that all of the little tears have been repaired.
51:01I know it's safe to handle.
51:04Now the Bible is ready to make its own pilgrimage.
51:08A hundred and seventy mile journey to the Seneth, the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff.
51:17Now that it has become so closely associated with Tim Auer, the birthplace of William Morgan, this particular copy has
51:26taken on a greater degree of significance.
51:30And I think that's part of the reason for wanting to share the Bible with the rest of Wales.
51:37It's great to see the 1588 Bible here. It's like everything. It's a long time in the planning to get
51:45something as monumental as this into a place as monumental as this.
51:55The Bible is the centerpiece of a new exhibition celebrating the legacy of Bishop Morgan and his Bible's pivotal role
52:04in Welsh language and culture.
52:09Morgan's translation was not simply a religious act. It was a revolutionary act of preservation.
52:17It gave the Welsh people access to scripture in their own tongue.
52:23It gave the Welsh people access to scripture in their own tongue.
52:24Rhym ni'n cael un hatgoffa o hyd an bwysigrwydd cynnal ac anodd defnydd y Gymraeg.
52:30Achos eto, nid artefact hanesyddol yw hi.
52:34Ond drwywbeth byw.
52:37Ffenestr un gorffenol a'n dyfodol.
52:42I'm so delighted the Senedd members have spoken so passionately about what it means to them to have it here,
52:50bringing something of this nature into the heart of democracy in Wales.
52:55After two months in Cardiff, the 1588 Bible will be wending its way back to Timower, its modest but newly
53:04watertight home.
53:06So we have now the structure and the ability to ensure that people enjoy seeing that 1588 Bible there and
53:14I can't wait to see it back in its rightful place.
53:31So I've heard you guys have a wager on the puffin number.
53:35On Innerfarn, it's also a big day for the rangers.
53:39Sophia has the results of this year's bird count, starting with the puffins.
53:45How many do you think that you've counted this year?
53:48My bet was 37,000 pairs.
53:51Yeah, my bet was 38,000.
53:53Very close, Evie.
53:55So we had 38,500 pairs of puffins across the islands this year.
54:03So really a lot of puffins.
54:06Yeah, it has a lot of puffins.
54:08So last year we had 50,000 pairs, but that's nothing to panic about.
54:17So the puffin count figure this year is lower, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the population is in decline
54:24on the Farn Islands.
54:26This could be due to seals coming up the island and compressing the soil or storms washing away, you know,
54:35the soil cap where the puffins borrow.
54:37The puffins move around where they nest on the island and this fresh map of where they're living on the
54:44islands hasn't been mapped out yet.
54:47And it's not just the puffins that the team have been counting.
54:53So the Arctic turns across all of the Farn Islands.
54:58They have gone up by 24%.
55:00That's fantastic.
55:02That's really good.
55:03That's really good, really good.
55:03And then shags.
55:05So they've gone up from 30 pairs to 58.
55:09Oh, good.
55:10Well done.
55:11Yeah, it's been a busy since, hasn't it?
55:12Yeah, it was a big, big old job.
55:15We've got 25 breeding species of birds on the farns and it's such an important hub for those species as
55:21well.
55:21So we'll do everything we can to keep their area safe for when they do come back and land and
55:26nest for that really short period of time.
55:29Right, T's up.
55:30So you've got a certain kind of person to work on the Farn Islands, but it's such a special experience.
55:34It's brilliant.
55:35I don't think there'll be many people out there that wouldn't enjoy it.
55:43In the chapel, another major project is drawing to a close.
55:52After a week-long deep clean of the stained glass windows...
55:57Yeah, it's gone nice and smoothly once the stonework was fixed.
56:01...Cuthbert and his fellow saints are coming home.
56:06It's just an incredible feeling.
56:08It feels like you're definitely making a difference to, I wouldn't say the world, but, you know, to the historical
56:16part of that building and the life on the Farn Isles.
56:20After Cuthbert died here, he was buried at Lindisfarne, where he remained for nearly 200 years, before the monks fled
56:29from the invading Vikings in 875, taking Cuthbert's body with them.
56:35His shrine was later relocated to Durham Cathedral, which has, in turn, become a place of pilgrimage.
56:42Ooh!
56:45That's nice.
56:57Definitely looks cleaner and brighter and richer, if possible.
57:05Oh, it just looks incredible.
57:07I mean, there's details in that window that I'd never noticed.
57:09I've been staring at it for over 10 years.
57:12You can see where there's, like, a soldier with his hand over his eye.
57:15Yeah.
57:15I genuinely have never seen that much before.
57:20There's so much history on Ina Farn, you can't really get away from it.
57:24Everywhere you turn, it's there.
57:26All these things link back to that incredibly long story, and you have to remind yourself you're just, like, a
57:33lion in that story that goes back, you know, one and a half millennia.
57:38It's just mind-blowing.
57:54Take an interactive journey with the Open University to discover how different landscapes have shaped these hidden treasures.
58:02Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect.open.ac.uk forward slash hidden treasures.
58:15Next time, the homes of two eclectic collectors.
58:20The more money you have, the more you can do absolutely anything, and you are limited only by your imagination.
58:27It's just bonkers, isn't it? But beautiful as well.
58:30With unexpected discoveries.
58:33Oh, and I've got a body.
58:34And long-forgotten objects shining once again.
58:38They just dazzle and leap out.
58:41You know all the way down.
58:44You know all the way down.
59:11The most beautiful world Ina Farn.
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