- 6/10/2025
Hidden Treasures of the National Trust 2025 episode 6
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LearningTranscript
00:00Every year, millions of us flock to the houses and gardens of the National Trust.
00:11Taking a step back in time to delve into our history.
00:15How they did it, you know, in them days, amazes me.
00:19Whether in the grandest residence...
00:21Visitors always say, oh, I could live here.
00:24Or a modest farmhouse.
00:26To open up the house when it's just you, it just tingles with the excitement.
00:31But out of sight is a hidden world.
00:34I like to see all the secrets and looks and crannies behind the scenes.
00:37Where an army of dedicated experts...
00:40Oh, my word, look. I'm slightly lost for words.
00:44...and devoted volunteers...
00:46Quite intimate with it, really. Can I say that?
00:49...are battling to save treasured objects.
00:52Look at that.
00:53It's history, isn't it? You've been putting history together.
00:56...making new discoveries...
00:58Ooh! This might be it.
01:00Quite genuinely excited.
01:02...that tell the history of us all.
01:05These objects have stories to tell, and their stories should be heard.
01:09This time, the houses of two families who battled to defend their beliefs.
01:23Although he had faith they would win out with God on their side,
01:26it must have been a really harrowing and difficult time.
01:29In Cornwall, a divinely inspired masterpiece needs saving.
01:34If it wasn't treated, it would be on the floor.
01:36And the Midlands mansion with a priceless artwork trapped in its tower.
01:41There is no value. It's the only one of its kind.
01:44Wow. Like me.
01:51Yeah.
01:52Absolutely.
01:57Deep in the Cornish countryside, in the shadow of Bodmin Moor, is Lan Hydroc.
02:06once home to the richest family in cornwall this grand jacobean mansion now runs under
02:15the watchful eye of collections and house officer Faye I have been here 25 years I know every creek
02:25on each staircase I think if you blindfolded me in the house somewhere I'd be able to tell you
02:30exactly what room I was in just by the smell I started off cleaning the facilities outside
02:40so reception building and the toilets and it's just sort of gone from there morning Sharon spider
02:48hunting yeah Sharon calls me Ladyland Hydroc I think I would like to be Ladyland Hydroc actually
02:55but the real lords and ladies of Lan Hydroc were the Robarts family who struck gold trading Cornish tin
03:09the house itself was largely the vision of John Robarts second Baron of Truro who inherited it in 1634
03:18he's also known as Pinhead because his rosettes on his shoes are bigger than his head
03:25with a keen eye for the latest fashion John began creating a home fit for his growing family
03:34I get the feeling he was probably quite stern maybe quite hard but think a family man as well
03:41I would like to know more about him if only the walls could talk
03:46but it's a ceiling not a wall that speaks volumes about John a masterpiece of design and engineering he
03:57built at the heart of his home we're just going to open the long gallery the original Jacobean part of
04:05the house where the conservation project is ongoing
04:09nearly twice the size of a tennis court decorated with a menagerie of hand sculpted mythical beasts and
04:25biblical tales this ceiling is one of the finest of its kind to survive today it's of exceptional
04:34design those ebullient ceilings that we see through the 16th and 17th centuries are rare and amazing
04:41pieces of work the like of which we don't really see created at all today so they're on the scaffolding
04:47it's a kind of revelation isn't it but 400 years looking down on the robots family has taken its toll
05:00I didn't realize quite how dirty the ceiling was it's not until somebody starts peeling away
05:08the years of dirt that you look at it and think oh my goodness you are filthy it's filthy
05:18now the National Trust have brought in an expert team to save Cornwall's answer to the Sistine Chapel
05:27having his own Michelangelo moment is senior conservator Douglas the first time I saw the
05:38ceiling I thought it was amazing yeah I've never seen nothing like it and I haven't since it's my
05:43favorite job since working in the field probably since 1989 I started yeah I just love it but conserving
05:52a ceiling like this is a task of biblical proportions it's a big job because of the size of it it's 35
06:00meters long and eight meters wide and there's a lot of detail so it's gonna be a lot of scrubbing
06:07I keep finding really amusing things I like sea serpent that's eating a poor helpless human I really love
06:16the peering cat each creature must be painstakingly cleaned from nose to tail using water brushes and
06:27elbow grease to remove the layers of old paint this is the lamia she's kind of like a real monster you
06:37know nightmare monster she's got breasts but weirdly she's got also got a willy so she's sort of you
06:44know I'd say gender is very fluid on the ceiling
06:47meanwhile conservator Laura is tending to a more familiar animal I think it's probably a bull
07:04um it looks like a bull though a missing horn has left him looking less than impressed the plan is to
07:16drill a little hole and put the stainless steel armature in it once the support is in place Laura can model a
07:27new horn I've just made a mix consistency it's about right now only have a few minutes to work on this
07:38before this steps I think conservation is quite nice mix of art history craftsmanship and science it's a
07:50really lovely profession I think it's very happy to get a new horn one contented bull down Laura and
08:13Douglas still have months of work ahead of them John Robart's ceiling wasn't just about showing off his
08:23wealth and status it was also a display of his Puritan faith religion was an amazingly important part of
08:33everyday life it was a symbolism that everyone understood as soon as someone walked into the room
08:39they would have been able to look up and follow the story they would have seen the Old Testament in
08:45those panels John Robart himself said that he went to church every day and twice a day on Sundays
08:55this strongly held belief would eventually lead him to take up arms against the king in the English Civil War
09:03religion was so central to everything that he did he was willing to make huge decisions he was willing
09:13to risk his family and his life
09:16deep in rural Warwickshire stands the home of another family willing to risk the crown's wrath over their
09:30beliefs Tudor Manor Coton Court this is pretty terrifying when you walk into a space that should be a
09:39beautiful room and it's literally a building site and there's you know normally the sound of drills and
09:45hammers and smashing things well they assure me it's not smashing things but it's very loud
09:50the house is currently in the midst of a huge conservation project including a major
09:59restoration of the roof trying to keep it all running smoothly is operations manager Simon once
10:09we do it we can't undo it oh don't say that it's too late to go back so it's part of the adventure
10:15and the work couldn't be happening soon enough about six years ago water started coming through and we
10:26were in a situation where it was becoming almost like a monthly thing in the winter sort of where's
10:30the water going to come through very slimy water in the bucket checking for leaks has become part of
10:39the job for Simon and facilities manager Harry below us here is a sort of lap and plaster ceiling and when
10:47that gets wet it has a tendency to not be a ceiling anymore and it will get sodden and then it'll just
10:54drop through and that's obviously not what we want to happen a crack team of specialists are stripping back
11:01much of the 840 square meter roof and repairing the house's ancient stonework all in time to reopen for
11:10visitors in a few months in theory the scale of this you know we're literally gonna take all of
11:17the roof off a building I think what makes me wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night is the
11:23thought that we've bitten off a little bit more than we can chew these walls are no strangers to nail
11:32biting drama they witnessed a family caught up in one of the most seismic events in British history
11:40Coton Court is the home to the Throckmorton family and they have been one of the most well-connected
11:46Catholic families in the country since the 16th century when they built Coton they were riding high
11:56they had lands they had wealth so right at the center of English society and then you know it
12:02just shows how quickly that sort of thing could change when Henry VIII broke with Rome and established
12:11the Church of England life changed forever for Catholic families like the Throckmorton's so this is
12:19Robert Throckmorton who was the head of the Throckmorton family and an MP while many accepted the new
12:27church some stood their ground Robert's Catholic faith must have been incredibly important to him
12:34he refused to convert to Protestantism and was lots of other noble families you know saw which way the
12:41wind was blowing he held true to his beliefs when Elizabeth the first took the throne Roberts decision
12:51would come to cost his family dearly Catholicism became illegal and he still refused to change his
12:58religious beliefs the Throckmorton family became outcasts from society thrown out of the halls of
13:03power they would have been viewed with suspicion and and basically persecuted high up in Coton Court's
13:14tower is a unique record of the risk Catholics faced so up here is the oldest room in the house and
13:23this is where we've got a big piece of the collection so this is our most exciting piece the tabula
13:30Eliensis a giant Tudor painted cloth at first glance the cloth tells the history of Ely Cathedral and is
13:46decorated with the portraits of English monarchs and members of the clergy I love the fact that you can
13:53tell Queen Elizabeth down at the bottom because she's very on brand with a giant roof but the coats
14:02of arms underneath Elizabeth tell a different story they belong to 29 Catholic noblemen that she had
14:11interned including Robert Throckmorton's eldest son Thomas Thomas ends up being held hostage so if
14:21anything went wrong for Elizabeth then the threat was these people could be punished immediately it's
14:28just a way of holding people to ransom and saying look if you do anything your relatives are going
14:32to pay the price these very senior Catholic families were being broadly speaking imprisoned certainly under
14:43house arrest so I think the life of that painting links very strongly to the risks for Catholics in England
14:52what's really special about it is as far as where it's unique and it just captures that real sense of
15:00injustice about what's going on it's thought the cloth may have been made as a quiet protest against this
15:09injustice but little else is known about it we don't know who made the thing but at some point in the
15:1920th century it was taken up the winding staircase of Cote and Court put in a frame and there it's been ever
15:26since what is clear is that the tabula needs to be sent away for conservation which presents Simon with a two and a half
15:37metre wide problem because it was painted on a really loose weave bits the paint have peeled off and it
15:45obviously is too big to go down the stairs the deteriorating artwork is trapped in the tower but
15:53drastic times call for drastic measures this project has given us the opportunity to do something quite
15:59dramatic and release it from the prison by basically cutting a giant hole in the roof and then winching it out on a
16:06big crane so what could possibly go wrong commanding operations to free the tabula is project manager Amy
16:16mind your steps coming up lifting this huge artwork through the roof of Cote and Court will need nerves of
16:25steel ultimate precision and possibly a ruler we have pre-cut this strip out that there's something like
16:3535 centimeter gap to feed it through we've got to thread the needle through that bit
16:40we've taken out a four meter section and then that gives hopefully full access to the room below we've done
16:51the prepping it's one of those now just got to put it into action Amy and an elite team of art handlers
17:00have spent months planning this carefully choreographed maneuver still she's leaving nothing to chance you've
17:13certainly got all the specialists on hand and I should leave them to it but I'm a slight control freak so I'm
17:17just like so what are you doing where you're going to be where you're going to be stood and where am I
17:20going to be stood and who needs to do this I may have woken up at 3 a.m. with a little bit of
17:25butterflies but you know as an understandable there are just still a few bits of nerves going on I'm
17:31confident that's all I want to hear everything's fine there is no value it's the only one of its kind
17:38but all Amy's plans may be in danger of being blown away it's getting gusty is it going to pick up
17:57the crane can only operate in wind speeds of up to 23 miles an hour
18:04so what do you suggest do I wait till 10 30 or do I get it quicker you wait the longer you wait the
18:11worse it's going to get Amy Simon okay we're going to need to bring things earlier okay so I'll give you
18:20the shot when we're going to start oh I'll be right back a fast closing weather window means the clock
18:32is ticking is everyone up there now we've got the roof open so it's just uh okay give me the nod when
18:40you're ready to go Amy to radio two users when he's in position everybody asks for silence from you
18:57all eyes are now on the wind speed you're just on the limit
19:10just at the crucial moment the wind's picked up
19:12so they can't risk is it going out the wind catching it and hitting the boom literally like a sail isn't it that
19:19it'll just take off
19:21I'm on red now
19:26the crane won't permit it you're just just on it
19:32interesting
19:33yeah
19:34okey dokey
19:35the crane's out of action and Amy's out of options
19:42I think we're calling it for today it's not going to work is it we tried
19:48it's this sort of crushing disappointment because you've sort of built it all up and you've been
19:53working towards it and it suddenly it feels like the rug's been pulled out and everybody's like oh okay
19:58you know we'll because I was up and we'll we'll try again
20:05British weather it's you know
20:06yeah
20:07greatest plans
20:08yeah
20:09yeah it's really tough it's okay we'll do it another day
20:13thank you
20:15everything's better with a cup of tea
20:19religious treasures like the tabula are a powerful reminder of the lengths some families would go to in the name of faith
20:32I think it's hard nowadays to really understand how important religion was to people in the 17th century
20:41it underpinned everything people did back then it dictated your political allegiances it dictated the way you behaved
20:48it was all-consuming
20:52at lanhydrock the vast ceiling was a daily reminder of john robarts's beliefs
21:00but it's not the only family treasure from the long gallery that needs conserving
21:06with the work that's going on in there every piece of furniture had to be moved had to be kept safe
21:13one very special item has made the trip to the royal oak foundation conservation studio at knoll
21:23lavishly decorated in ebony and tortoiseshell lanhydrock's 17th century antwerp cabinet
21:35it's so much more beautiful inside than it is outside and that's really the whole idea of it
21:40when you open it up they have this real wow factor about them almost like a little stage a theatre set
21:46with the mirrors I think it's rather beautiful
21:51the antwerp cabinet is a demonstration of really incredible craftsmanship
21:56these were used for displaying curios so pieces of natural history or perhaps gems or bits of antiquity archaeology
22:03it was a talking point
22:06there's really not very many of these cabinets around anymore so it's a real treat to get to work on one of these
22:13but despite its grand interior closer inspection reveals this one is missing some of its elaborate decoration
22:21the first thing I noticed is the number of losses there is quite a lot of work to do
22:28Nicola's task is to replace the lost sections
22:32but the cabinet's mouldings are made from ebony
22:35a species of hardwood that is closely regulated
22:39trying to manufacture the ripple moulding out of ebony is just not feasible
22:44so we need to come up with a different cunning plan
22:49we're always testing different materials in different situations
22:52if there is a really tricky problem sometimes I've slept with a notebook beside the bed
22:56because you will wake up in the middle of the night and you think I've got it I know how to do it
23:00so you have to write that down really quickly
23:03often though I must say I've looked at my middle of the night notes and thought
23:07really not sure what you were thinking about then
23:11this time Nicola hasn't needed any nocturnal inspiration so far
23:17I'm going to take a mould using some silicone moulding material
23:21I will have to work quite quickly because it's this is what the dentist would use to take a mould of your teeth
23:26so it does set very fast
23:31I'm hoping to achieve a repair that won't be noticeable at all
23:35we do try to avoid the wonky bodge in conservation
23:41Once the silicone has set she should be able to spot any teething problems
23:47I just need to release it very slowly and hopefully
23:52so there we have a really good cast
23:54making an accurate mould of the missing section is the easy part
24:00now Nicola must work out how to recreate 400 year old ebony from scratch
24:06I'm going to fill the mould with a two pack epoxy paste
24:10this works with a biochemical reaction
24:13and then I'm going to add to that a small amount of black pigment
24:18just need to mix until everything is fully combined
24:26But does the mixture actually match the antique ebony?
24:31I'll just leave that for a few days to dry
24:35Luckily Nicola has a test batch ready to go
24:39I haven't taken this out yet so I'm really not sure how well this particular material will have worked
24:46but that's looking really promising
24:50it's got a very similar level of gleam to the original
24:56so that's the ebony and this is the two part epoxy paste
24:59that is actually I'm extremely pleased with that
25:05the level of gloss and everything about it looks really really good
25:10so I think that's going to be excellent
25:12she says quite genuinely excited
25:14the Long Gallery at Lanhydrock was also home to the Robarts Family Library
25:28one of the finest, most significant book collections in the National Trust
25:33and there's one volume that stands out from the crowd
25:37that's brilliant isn't it?
25:39it's beautiful isn't it?
25:40richly embroidered in silver and gold thread
25:45and one of only a few of its kind to survive
25:48is the Lanhydrock prayer book
25:51the colours on the back are so beautiful aren't they?
25:55the threads running up the stuff
25:57I love it, I love it
25:59books aren't normally my thing but this one
26:01there's something special about this one
26:04on the covers are figures from the Old Testament
26:07Queen Esther and King David
26:10inside
26:12four texts are bound together in one volume
26:16so that's the Book of Common Prayer
26:19this is the Old Testament
26:21and the New
26:23and then we've got the whole Book of Psalms
26:27and these are all the text blocks dated 1636
26:30Puritans like John Robarts believed that all worshippers
26:34could have a direct relationship with God
26:38through reading the Bible for themselves
26:41but it's unlikely this particular Bible was John's
26:45embroidered books of this type often belong to women
26:49not always but often and they were meant to carry with them
26:52and adorn their person
26:54so the natural theory is that this book belonged to Lucy
26:58who was John's wife
26:59John Robarts married his first wife Lucy in 1630 and she shared his devout religious beliefs
27:11Lucy would have had a real role in religion and leading that in the household
27:15although John was the patriarch responsible for the family and the servants and the community
27:20as his wife Lucy would have also had a really strong role in that as well
27:24and would have led studies and thanksgivings and blessings and prayers
27:32For many years the book's threadbare cover has meant it's been too frail to go on display
27:39It's been in store, not many people have seen it
27:44Lots of loose threads
27:46It's always looked too delicate and fragile for me to even want to breathe over it
27:52Faye and Neil are sending the book to be scanned at Exeter University's digital imaging lab
28:02to see if it can ever take its place back in Lanhydroc's library
28:07Because of the delicacy of the object we couldn't see the backs of the embroidery
28:13so we decided to pop it through the scanning process, see what we can find out
28:16National Trust Library's curator Yvonne and archaeological scientist Carly prepare their elderly patient for its procedure
28:28We're using foam to wedge it so there's no chance of anything shifting
28:33The CT scanner we have essentially creates a three-dimensional x-ray
28:41So similar to a CT scanner you'd get in a medical setting
28:44So it allows us to look inside objects
28:47The scanner will build up a detailed image of the book
28:53Revealing any damage to the embroidery and the binding
28:56currently hidden from the naked eye
28:59Okay, so the scans finished
29:03So what we can do is we can slice through the image
29:07So we can actually remove one of the covers if we want to look in greater detail
29:11If we look at the inner side of the back cover
29:15There are already visible signs of the objects that need conservation
29:18I mean it's really useful because it tells us what's lurking underneath
29:20We can also see it's secure
29:23What it's telling us is that it's in pretty good condition
29:28And the damage we can see externally with the loose threads and the fading
29:34That's basically it
29:36Internally and structurally it's looking pretty sound
29:39Now there's hope the book is strong enough to be put back on display
29:44It needs the expert eye and needlework of a textile specialist
29:48And it got packaged up
29:52What would you reckon Nick? How many tiles do you think it'd be on this section?
30:04I reckon there'd be about 3,000 tiles on this section alone
30:08At Coton Court, the work rate has gone through the roof
30:12Now stripped back to the joists with new battens installed
30:18It is being completely replaced with a combination of original and new tiles
30:24The team are flat out
30:26Because it turns out the Throckmorton family aren't the only long-term residents
30:32The biggest time pressure is the presence of bats
30:35So bats, they roost in our roofs, in our loft spaces throughout the summer and then they migrate for the winter
30:44Because bats are a protected species that means that we can only do the work when they migrate
30:49The whole project we've had to build around the bats and that means that there are various deadlines we have to meet
30:59I think everybody's really mindful there's a lot of tension around the bat deadline
31:03Have you seen any?
31:06At the minute we've been good
31:07Nothing?
31:08So yeah, pressure's on
31:10Today, the team are re-tiling the roof of the south wing above the saloon
31:16We've been a 600-year-old building
31:19The rafters are twisted and warped
31:22So nothing's actually square
31:24So you're having to try and square things up
31:26Which is quite impossible on a roof like this
31:29Helping to keep everything moving is 17-year-old apprentice, Rhys
31:37I'm never stopping
31:39I'm always
31:41On ball
31:42On my toes ready
31:44Rhys' job is to stack the tiles ready for the roofers to fix in place
31:50And he's nailing it
31:52It's like shelves so you can put them on the roof and they're ready
31:55They're pretty secure
31:56On roofs like this they're very steep
31:59So we've had a few come down
32:01We've had a few come down from it because it's very steep
32:03I've never worked on a steep roof like this
32:05It's different, it's different
32:13It's satisfying kind of putting the tiles on and seeing from nothing
32:16And then it goes to a finished roof, it's just, it's unbelievable
32:22It's history isn't it?
32:24You're putting history together
32:26Puzzle by puzzle you just
32:28You're doing it aren't you?
32:37Ah, there's one
32:39Down in the storeroom, facilities manager Harry is busy solving a puzzle of his own
32:44Found another bit
32:47And this should be enough
32:49Only time will tell
32:51He's heading up to the tower room
32:54Where in the late 16th century
32:56It's thought the Catholic Throckmorton's practiced their forbidden faith
33:03This is our priest hole
33:05The priest hole is somewhere where a priest hides basically
33:08It's likely that Robert Throckmorton himself ordered its construction
33:15The crown would hunt down priests and people who practice the Catholic faith
33:21And this would hide them if anyone came knocking on the front door
33:25Today the only thing lurking in the priest hole is dust from the building work
33:30So we're going to try and hoover it with sort of a very, very long hoover
33:36And see how we, see how we get on
33:39Right, let's try and put this together then
33:46Hilarious
33:48There we go
33:51The moment of truth
33:52I mean what I'd say is it's not not worked
34:10A clever design feature meant that this particular priest hole had hidden depths
34:15So it's a double hide priest hole, so the idea would be that if the priest was being sort of hunted down
34:29They'd hide in the bottom bit of this priest hole
34:32And the priest hunters would find the first priest hole
34:36They'd open it up, there's no one there
34:38They'd leave off to where they were going next
34:40And the priest would hopefully still be nice and hidden away
34:43If a priest was discovered, the punishment could be ruthless
34:49But thanks to the protection of families like the Throckmortons, many lived to tell the tale
34:56When you actually start thinking about why that priest hole is there
35:01They weren't hiding down there because they wanted to be down there
35:04They were very much down there because they were scared
35:08If they were found, that's it
35:11When you start looking at the human side of Cotin, the history's there, you've got to recognise it and learn from it and understand it
35:22Also tied up in the Throckmortons family history is a time when Catholic families fought back
35:30Still living in a wing of the house is Robert's 12 times great grandson, Magnus
35:40We're about to go into the blue drawing room
35:43This has mixed memory to me because as a child I was never actually allowed to be in here on my own unsupervised
35:48So I've always got that slight trepidation about coming in here
35:51But one of the things I always like is the stained glass windows
35:57These windows record marriages between Throckmortons and other prominent Catholic families
36:04One of Robert Throckmorton's daughters married into the Catesby family
36:09Her son, Robert Catesby, became the ringleader of one of the most notorious acts of rebellion in history
36:18The Throckmortons were obviously heavily linked to the Gunpowder plot
36:22And as a kid growing up, having that story, having an event that the whole nation recognises
36:29And being slightly linked to it was fascinating
36:32One of the family stories, and I don't know if this is true or not
36:35Was that several of the ladies were waiting here at Cote and fishing out of the windows here
36:40Into the moat outside when the news came that it had failed
36:43When Guy Fawkes was caught, Robert Catesby and his gang made a run for it
36:52They got as far as Dudley, just 25 miles from Cote and Court
36:57In the shootout that followed, Catesby was killed
37:02It always comes up, and everyone wants to know every detail about it
37:07Do you mind if I asked you, what do you do at Bonfire Night?
37:10Open a glass of red wine and don't burn anything
37:22That's your butter for the scones
37:24Oh, thank you
37:26Trying not to burn anything in the kitchens at Lan Hydrock
37:31Are volunteers Pamela, Ruth and Mary
37:34So every Thursday we come in and we just spend the day making pastries, making biscuits, so the visitors can see us
37:44So today we've got some cheese and tomato flams and I'm just preparing some lemon shortbread fingers
37:53But it's not just their cooking skills that are on show
37:57You do tend to get into character a bit, you know, there are times when we do interacting and we just ad lib, you know
38:07And what's it like wearing a corset and how do you get into it?
38:10Erm...
38:12My husband helps me first thing in the morning
38:16He stands behind me and laces me up
38:18Oh, it's the best fun, I love doing it, it's such a great opportunity to be a part of Lan Hydrock and to be a part of the team
38:33It just means the world to me really
38:35I think Lan Hydrock is a very spiritual place
38:39I know when I come down the drive
38:43My spirits lift straight away
38:46Doesn't matter what problems you've got
38:49You know, they do
38:51My husband likes me coming here because I'm always in a good mood
38:55When I leave
39:02Up in the Long Gallery
39:04Here we go again
39:05Douglas and his team may need their spirits lifting as the scale of the task begins to hit home
39:12We still have a lot of work to do
39:14It's got a bit hairy as we've gone on because we started at the easy end
39:21There's cracks to fill
39:24It's riddled with woodworm
39:26If it wasn't treated, it would be on the floor
39:28In some areas, the surface layer of plaster is pulling away from the ceiling
39:33If you can see that, but
39:36That's visibly moving
39:39It also sounds hollow
39:42There's always a fear that if it's starting to detach
39:47You could have catastrophic loss at the far end where the plaster feels quite alive
39:53Douglas needs to come up with a way of stabilising the precarious plaster
39:58I've drilled a few holes and I'm going to inject liquid grout and that's going to work as an adhesive
40:07It just takes a while to suck up into the syringe
40:10Oh, is everyone alright?
40:15It's good, isn't it?
40:17Cut!
40:19Let's see how it goes in, fingers crossed
40:23It's going to drip down on myself
40:26And we'll see how it firms up
40:29There are still many metres of ceiling to finish before the gallery reopens in a few weeks' time
40:38We have a time limit
40:40There is a lot of local people now waiting for the house to reopen again
40:44You just wish, like, oh, I hope we would have cleaned it already
40:48At the textile conservation studio in Norfolk
40:58Another treasure the team are hoping will be ready for the grand reopening
41:03Is now in the hands of conservator Elaine
41:06The quality of the embroidery is beautiful
41:10It's remarkable, really, his face
41:12Just using one very, very fine thread
41:16He's got his eyes, eyebrows, nose
41:19And it's just absolutely beautiful
41:23It's possible this book may have been a gift to Lucy Robarts
41:28From her husband, John
41:30In 1636, she'd been married to John for about six years by then
41:34And we know through their conjoined coat of arms in the plasterwork on the ceiling
41:39That this was a really important marriage
41:42And they were definitely shared in their pious beliefs
41:46In creating this godly household
41:50Today, Elaine will be restoring a bit of regal pride
41:55To King David's fancy frame
41:58Now going to look at stabilising some of the metal threads
42:01And so quite a lot of these are lifting
42:06As the condition of the book has deteriorated significantly over the years
42:12And the metal threads are quite brittle
42:15You just don't know how stable they're going to be
42:20These threads are quite wayward
42:24So I'm going to use a very small amount of the adhesive
42:28And just try and put it on the reverse of that thread
42:34And then I need to work quickly
42:39I'm just going to find its place
42:46That's nice
42:48But the treasonous threads are refusing to submit to Elaine's command
42:53It is so, so tricky, so, so fine
42:56It's not behaving
43:00It's a nightmare, actually
43:03Ooh!
43:05There we go
43:07I've done a lot of work on large-scale tapestries
43:11And this is worlds apart, really
43:14I think tapestries are better behaved
43:17Let's see what we've got
43:19OK, that's good
43:21It's back where it should be, I'm happy with that
43:26At the time when Lucy held this book in her hands
43:34Religious tensions in the country were on the rise again
43:37Charles I, when he came to the throne in 1625
43:44Looked a lot to Puritans like John
43:47Like he was bringing back Catholic practices
43:50Charles, his bride Henrietta Moriah
43:53Is building a Catholic chapel in the centre of London
43:55Bishops are splitting
43:58And it's against this background that this book is produced
44:02And given as a present
44:04And it's just before the advent of civil war
44:08We're on the eve of civil war in England
44:10In 1642, John left his family at Lanhydrock and went to war against the king
44:20John Robarts had quite an active time during the civil war
44:24He was colonel of a foot regiment
44:26He fought at the Battle of Edgehill
44:28But it also must have been really hard
44:30Because Lanhydrock family home was requisitioned
44:33And his children were also taken hostage during that time for a period of a year
44:36So although he had faith in God that they would win out in the end with God on their side
44:41It must have been a really harrowing and difficult time
44:54At Coton Court
44:56Good morning, welcome back
44:58Another powerful symbol of a family's commitment to their faith
45:02Is being prepared to make its second break for freedom
45:06So it is take two
45:08It's all happening all over again
45:10And again, all eyes are on the weather
45:14Look at this! Nothing, look at those trees, nothing's moving
45:17Until the blooming thing's out, not counting any chickens
45:21A narrow gap in the roof joints should just accommodate the dimensions of the tabula
45:28But there's absolutely no wiggle room
45:30There is millimeters of margin in the space that we've got between the size of the tabula and the gap that we have
45:38So when he's in position
45:41The team is in place
45:44The crane's hoists are secured to the tabula
45:48It's now or never
45:49Okay?
45:50Okay?
45:51Slowly up for a while
45:52Okay
45:54Nice and easy
45:55Go on and check the balance first, yeah?
46:00Yes
46:03Come on, son
46:04Carefully, the specialist team guide the tabula through the gap
46:17You got it, Tommy?
46:18Yeah, I got it
46:20Right, Stuart, you got it?
46:22Lovely, mate, yeah, we got it, mate
46:23But they're not out of the woods yet
46:29There's still a 90 degree turn needed to get up through the temporary roof
46:35Yeah, I'm ready now, Stuart
46:37Keep going, mate
46:39It's all happening
46:41Keep going
46:43Okay
46:45Yeah, no, I'm just pleased this is actually happening this time
46:48It's all happening
46:58After decades trapped in the tower
47:01The tabula gets its first taste of freedom
47:05Okay, Mark, you're a few metres above the temporary roof
47:09So that's all you now, mate
47:10I'm bringing that down towards the lorry for me
47:15Okay, mate, I'll go for you sure now, it's mine
47:18My eyes are watching it on the ground
47:33Finally, the tabula is back on terra firma
47:39There's a lot of smiley faces down there, which is good
47:42And saying goodbye to Coton for the foreseeable future
47:48Taking it out is the start of the journey
47:50There's months, if not years, more work to be done to the tabula now
47:54To understand it better and to make sure it's safe and secure
47:58And we can display it better and make it more accessible
48:03I'm watching it leave
48:06I'm watching it leave
48:10Done?
48:11At Landhydrock, another epic challenge is coming to an end
48:24This is the last bit of cleaning to do
48:27Yeah, we finally got here
48:29We've been here six months now
48:31So it's, uh...
48:33Yeah, it's taken a lot of, um...
48:36It's been a lot of scrubbing
48:38Bit emotional
48:40You're going to miss this?
48:42Yeah, yeah, I think we will miss it in some ways, won't we?
48:44Like you miss an ingrown toenail
48:47Have you learnt anything along the way?
48:50I've learnt not to work on such big ceilings ever again
48:54There's just one finishing touch to be made
49:00Today is the big day
49:02Laura is going to complete the ceiling by putting the horn back on the unicorn
49:07Hello, hello!
49:09Oh, my God!
49:11Oh, what a fantastic job!
49:13Oh, thanks!
49:15It's unbelievable
49:17I can't believe how white it is
49:19Yes
49:21We've come in and seen things that we have never seen before
49:23Yeah
49:25Absolutely
49:27We're going to have to get the Bible in
49:31The biblical scenes and eccentric creatures on the Robart ceiling
49:34Can finally be released from their scaffold cage
49:40All of this materials you see in this building
49:42It's got to go out that little hole
49:44It's not something we do on a daily basis, but, yeah
49:47Not a lot of room, it's a...
49:49Yeah, we haven't broken up in yet
49:51Touch wood
49:53There's a lot of random stuff here, but...
49:56It's one that looks like you over here, Wade
49:57Yeah, it's probably plenty that you look like me
49:59That's what they modelled it on
50:00Almost ready to return to the gallery is the Antwerp Cabinet
50:10But first, Conservator Nicola must repair its once eye-catching veneer
50:15The main decorative feature of the Antwerp Cabinet has to be this brilliant red tortoiseshell
50:23You've got these panels of tortoiseshell going around here
50:26And the fronts of every drawer is completely veneered in tortoiseshell
50:30The problem with the tortoiseshell on this cabinet is because of its age
50:34It's quite easily broken or snapped, so there's a number of losses
50:37But replacing the lost tortoiseshell presents Nicola with another ethical dilemma
50:46Tortoise shell was commonly the shell of a highly endangered species of marine turtle
50:52And its trade is now banned
50:55We can't use real tortoiseshell
50:57We don't want to be encouraging the use of tortoiseshell at all by using even vintage or reclaimed tortoiseshell
51:04Nicola needs to come up with a way of replacing the missing veneer
51:10Without harming any turtles
51:12So this is the section that's missing that I'm going to replace today
51:16This is the good side
51:18You can see the nice tortoiseshell ebony, tortoiseshell ebony stack
51:23And this is where we're missing this piece
51:26It's a real challenge to find the right material
51:28I want it to look right
51:30I need to find the right level of translucency and the right tone
51:35And the right kind of patterning
51:37Nicola has found a rod of polyester resin
51:41That she hopes, if sliced thinly enough, will closely match the original tortoiseshell
51:47I want the slice to be about a millimetre thick
51:52There we go
51:54She will now sand and polish the slice to see if it has the effect she's looking for
52:01I'm happy with the surface on this now
52:04It's really quite a good replication of that old tortoiseshell
52:08So I've made a little template of the piece that I'm missing
52:14Which I'm now going to cut around
52:17Let's see if we can do it first time
52:19Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun
52:25It's actually cutting really nicely
52:27But famous last words
52:30Ooh
52:34There we go
52:36Phew
52:38Finally, Nicola needs to match the colour of her fake tortoiseshell to the veneer on the cabinet
52:44I'm going to paint some of this special tissue paper with a red paint that will correspond to the red colour that's already behind the tortoiseshell
52:53I think that's not too bad at all
53:03One down, 29 to go
53:06Also counting down to the finish are the roofers at Coton Court, where the end of the job is in sight
53:22So as you can see now, I'm putting the last three tiles in as we've worked our way down from top to bottom
53:30I think there's been about 800 square metres of roofing that's been stripped and redone
53:36Which in total is about 30,000 tiles
53:39So we've had a good crack on it and yeah, it's been a good job actually
53:44Job finished
53:47Three more pieces, get it all nice and leveled
53:49Now the roof is watertight, the grand rooms below can be brought back to life
53:56Right, dust cover off
53:58Yeah, we are
54:00For Harry, Simon and Amy, there's time for just one last check-around before the house reopens to visitors
54:09Wow, look at that
54:11Yeah, this looks good
54:13I know, I can't believe it's all back
54:15I've been here now for three years and I'm seeing it from a point where it was at its worst
54:22Leaks, damage, props holding up the ceiling and that kind of thing
54:26And now seeing it come back into its own and bringing that life back to it
54:30It's close to the wire but we've, yeah, we've done it, which is the main thing and it looks great
54:34We pulled it off, so we love it when a plan comes together
54:37Yeah, I know, don't we?
54:40I've never done anything this scale before but the team are just incredible
54:45I've loved working here because we've become a little family over the last three years
54:50And I'm excited to go on to the next thing but I will be sad that this won't be my office forever
54:56Part of my history is part of Cohen's history at this point
55:01Have you left your initials anywhere?
55:03Not that anyone needs to know
55:04In Cornwall, Lanhydrock is also getting ready to reopen
55:17The Long Gallery is finally free of scaffolding
55:22Be careful, right, you ready?
55:24Conservator Nicola has come to see the Antwerp Cabinet, settled back in its home
55:29Look at that, it's just stunning, it's beautiful
55:39Thank you, I've got really attached to this cabinet now, I shall be very sad to leave it here
55:47And back to play a starring role in the gallery's library is Lucy Robart's prayer book
55:54Oh, look, it's beautiful
55:57Beautiful
55:59I was always so scared of handling this before because I was scared that it was going to fall apart and things are going to fall off
56:04But that's so much more robust now
56:12Yep, underneath the portrait, underneath Lucy
56:17But the time Lucy Robarts actually spent in this magnificent room was cut short
56:23She died before the end of the Civil War
56:27The portrait depicts her holding marigolds, which is sometimes a sign of kind of a posthumous painting
56:33So perhaps it's painted after her death, she did die quite young
56:40And for John, being on the winning side in the Civil War was a hollow victory
56:45Although John was a parliamentarian, the execution of the King appalled him, it's not something that he approved of at all
56:55So after that happened, he retreats from public life completely, he returns to Lan Hydrak with his children
57:01And he doesn't seem to want to be involved with anything that's going on
57:09Today, John's ceiling rises high above the long gallery
57:14As magnificent as it was in its 17th century heyday
57:17I think John and Lucy Robarts would be quite proud of everything we've done
57:24This has been such a labour of love
57:27It makes you want to smile
57:29It makes me want to smile
57:34The gallery will hopefully help visitors really understand the early history of Lan Hydrak
57:39From the tin mining industry and the turmoil of the Civil War
57:42We really hope the ceiling will inspire people to immerse themselves in this amazing room
57:49Can't believe we cleaned it all with tiny brushes
57:52LAUGHTER
57:54LAUGHTER
57:56MUSIC
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