Victorian farm S01E02

DocuDrift

Documentary, Victorian farm S01E02  Victorian Farm Season 2  The documentary "Victorian Farm S01E02" is part of the first season of the historical observational documentary series "Victorian Farm," which follows historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn as they live the life of Victorian farmers for a year.   In this specific episode, the team focuses on winterproofing, which involves essential work to ensure the livestock and crops survive the cold and frost.   They stock up on animal feed using a variety of Victorian machinery, and Peter faces his biggest challenge so far: building pigsties.   Ruth tackles the grueling four-day process of laundry, which Victorians handled weekly.   The ram arrives on the farm, and ensuring it gets the ewes pregnant is crucial for producing lambs in the spring. The team also takes delivery of a Shire horse, and there is a traditional Victorian  Christmas to look forward to, including decorations, cookery, and church carols.   They celebrate Christmas Day with the friends they have made over the past four

Transcript

00:00Here in Shropshire is a farm frozen in time, lost in Victorian rural England.

00:07Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn have returned to the Acton Scott Estate

00:15to celebrate a Victorian Christmas on a grand scale.

00:20We'd like you to recreate the Victorian Christmas at Acton Scott.

00:24Right.

00:25What, for the whole estate?

00:26Yes.

00:27Oh my giddy aunt.

00:29So far, they've brought in the hay crop to feed the livestock through the winter

00:34and begun the festive preparations.

00:37It should make wonderful mince pies for Christmas.

00:40Now, as Christmas approaches, thoughts turn to presents, treats and staving off the cold.

00:49But work on the farm never stops.

00:52They need to make 10,000 bricks by hand.

00:56It's time.

00:57It is so tough.

00:58And the blacksmith's forge must be restored and ready for business in time for Christmas.

01:04So here's to hard-working Victorian farmers.

01:07Hard-working Victorian farmers.

01:08Cheers.

01:09Peter and Alex are about to get their first taste of the donkey work involved in preparing for a Victorian Christmas.

01:28Now, we use the Shire horses for most of the big jobs on the farm, and they really are the sort of equivalent, if you like, of a modern-day tractor.

01:43When you've got two of them and you're out in the fields ploughing, that's your tractor.

01:47Just one on its own.

01:48It's more like a sort of four-wheel drive, a Land Rover type thing.

01:52Okay, but every farmer needs a nice little run around on the farm, a kind of quad bike.

01:57And what we have is Dusty the donkey.

02:01No Victorian farm would be without its donkey.

02:04The thing we've got to get to grips with is just how to tack him up.

02:09Right, okay.

02:10Just like a normal horse?

02:11Just...

02:12Ever so small.

02:13Everything's in miniature.

02:14You know, I've never seen an animal that looks quite so miserable all of the time.

02:21Dusty.

02:23Here's the saddle.

02:24Here's the cart saddle.

02:26There we are.

02:27It's on there.

02:28Yeah.

02:29That's tight enough.

02:30So, we've got everything we need.

02:33Let's go then.

02:34Let's go and get him in the cart and see how he fares.

02:38The boys are in search of the centrepiece for their Victorian Christmas celebration.

02:43The Yule log.

02:44I think it's over, just past that oak.

02:48Lovely big oak tree, though, isn't that?

02:53Well, there's something over there that's fallen down, a windfall.

02:57What about that beauty over there?

02:59Look at that.

03:00I know, that looks nice, doesn't it?

03:02That is a tasty bit of wood.

03:04Traditionally, the Yule log would have been large enough to burn for several days throughout Christmas.

03:10You won't be able to get up and put some more logs on the fire?

03:14No.

03:15Hopefully, I'll be drinking all 12 days of Christmas.

03:19But we need a bit of wood that's going to burn in the hearth.

03:22I'm pulling.

03:23I'm pulling.

03:24I'm pulling.

03:25To cut the log, they're using a genuine Victorian crosscut saw, borrowed from Mr Acton.

03:32This will be burning for 12 years, let alone 12 days.

03:37You're a man that hates Christmas.

03:40I'm hating it even more, Peter.

03:47Oh!

03:48Oh my word.

03:57Actually, it is normally me that breaks everything, so it's nice to see someone else on the Victorian

04:02farm breaking something.

04:05Oh dear.

04:06It's typical.

04:07Absolutely typical.

04:12At the cottage, Ruth's growing food for the winter.

04:16I'm starting off our mushroom bed.

04:19It's such a Victorian thing to do.

04:21Almost all the books you read have instructions on how to grow mushrooms.

04:26And it does make a really good crop that you can be harvesting right through the winter.

04:32So, the first thing you have to do is to make a really deep bed of well-rotted horse manure.

04:39Trample it down.

04:41By having a big, deep, fat layer, it'll sort of warm from underneath.

04:46And hopefully, there's your fruit and fruit and fruit and fruit and fruit.

04:50I've got spores to go in here.

04:53Sort of the fungi equivalent of seeds.

04:55So, I'm just going to sprinkle my spores on.

05:02And then, lightly fork it.

05:07Mushrooms like to grow somewhere damp and dark.

05:11So, leaving the heap just exposed to the air.

05:14The top would dry out and they wouldn't like that at all.

05:16So, this is to keep the damp in and to keep the worst of the sunlight off it.

05:21It'd be rather nice at Christmas dinner to be able to offer mushrooms homegrown alongside everything else.

05:27The saw breaking turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

05:34You bungled, didn't you?

05:36Well, no.

05:37Actually, you did us the good favour of breaking the saw just before we cut through this log here.

05:45Which, in fact, has a conservation order on it.

05:48And it would have meant that this yule log would have cost us an absolute fortune.

05:52Thousands of pairs.

05:53Now, the reason these things have conservation orders on them is because they're allowed, they're left here, to rot in the field.

05:59And all of the insects that then take to the tree, and you can see all the little wormholes here, then encourage all sorts of different wildlife.

06:06In particular, woodpeckers will be bouncing up and down this log, seeking out lovely little tasty grubs.

06:11So, it's really, really good for the environment to have logs like this lying around and not burning in the hearth at the hall as a yule log.

06:19However, thankfully, we have got a piece of ash that fell down in this field that's been down for about three years.

06:24It's well-seasoned.

06:25We've chopped off the ends, and it's going to make a lovely yule log.

06:29Woo!

06:30You're in, Dawn.

06:32You're in, Dawn.

06:40Perfect fit.

06:41Stand.

06:42Stand there, Dusty.

06:43To the hall.

06:44To the hall.

06:53Good lad.

06:57Get this bark stripped off it.

06:59A few more months' seasoning, and this will be absolutely perfect, won't it?

07:03Yeah.

07:04This should burn really well.

07:09Put a bit of oil on these wheels, don't we?

07:13With Christmas approaching, Ruth's come to the nearby Blissed Hill Victorian village in Shropshire, to buy some material for making presents.

07:20Ah, good afternoon.

07:21Good afternoon.

07:22Can I help you?

07:23Well, I was thinking of some flannel, actually.

07:26I've got some very good Welsh flannel.

07:27Would that be interesting?

07:28Yes.

07:29Welsh flannel is a really nice, warm fabric.

07:30Not fancy, but really quite hard-wearing and very insulative, really good against the cold.

07:33Such woolen fabrics were believed to help wick all the sweat and things away from the body to leave you with a really healthy skin.

07:40Right.

07:41What is Madam making?

07:42Um, I want to make two pairs of gentlemen's drawers and two gentlemen's vests.

07:46It's for a Christmas present.

07:47There we go, Madam.

07:48Thank you very much.

07:50Back at Acton-Scott, Alex and Peter have an appointment with their land agent, Rupert Anderson.

07:53And, you know, I've got to make two pairs of gentlemen's drawers and two gentlemen's vests.

07:55It's for a Christmas present.

07:56There we go, Madam.

07:57Thank you very much.

07:59Back at Acton-Scott, Alex and Peter have an appointment with their land agent, Rupert Anderson.

08:03In a neglected corner of the estate.

08:18This is a project which I'd like you both can have a look at.

08:23Right.

08:24To see if you can, uh, perhaps get it working again.

08:27Well, let's give it our best shot.

08:28It's all a bit overgrown here, isn't it?

08:30It certainly is.

08:31This tumbledown cottage was once a blacksmith's forge, the industrial heart of Acton-Scott.

08:38How long has it been derelict?

08:40This has been unused for about 40 years.

08:43It would have been in its heyday in the Victorian period then, yeah?

08:46That's right.

08:47It certainly would.

08:48I mean, this forge is actually geographically at the centre of the parish.

08:53Right.

08:54Um, and it's equidistant for all the people within that parish.

08:57Very important.

08:58So it's dead centre in the village.

08:59And it would have been a hive of activity and a hive of gossip.

09:03Come along in then.

09:04The forge was especially important during winter.

09:06So this is the, uh, this is the old forge.

09:09This was when maintenance jobs on the estate were done.

09:13Fantastic.

09:14Wow.

09:15All manner of iron work was needed, as well as the more day-to-day tasks, like shoeing horses.

09:23What do you think?

09:24That's amazing.

09:26This is just...

09:27Are these, they're not horseshoes are they?

09:29Well, they've been put up hot.

09:31They look like they have been put up there hot, don't they?

09:34You can see the scorch marks on the rafters.

09:36Yeah.

09:37And it looks like that the anvil has been placed here on this ring of stone.

09:41Round stone there.

09:42This is where the fire would have been in the half behind you.

09:45Right.

09:46What are you looking at up there then, Peter?

09:50Oh, I'm trying to find the chimney.

09:52There seems to be a distinct lack of one.

09:55Yes, I'm afraid that the chimney has been blocked up, so that's going to be one of the many tasks.

09:59To help get the forge up and running before Christmas, the team have called in stonemason Paul Arrowsmith.

10:06Paul on this, we'd be very grateful.

10:08Certainly.

10:09This is our forge.

10:14The first job is to assess the chimney.

10:19Blimey, it's higher than it looks.

10:24The question is, where's the blockage?

10:29I've found the bottom of the blockage.

10:34Okay, so you want to pull it up and measure it.

10:38One, two, three, four, five yards.

10:47Five to the end of the stone, so five yards down is where exactly?

10:50Five yards would be roughly the top of the lintel in the bedroom.

10:56Right.

10:57So we've got quite a lot of work on our hands here trying to unblock this.

11:09I love my job.

11:11I think I'm just about going through now.

11:14All the way through?

11:15Yeah.

11:16Excellent.

11:17Daylight.

11:19Daylight?

11:20Daylight.

11:21That's great.

11:22So what's the next stage then?

11:23Now we've got this chimney cleared.

11:26The next step is re-establish the masonry back into here to form a hood to take the smoke up into the chimney.

11:37So what sort of materials are we going to need to build this then?

11:40Well, brick would be good.

11:41Right.

11:42Contemporary with the time.

11:43So we're going to need quite a few bricks then for this?

11:46We will, yes.

11:47We'll need quite a few bricks to rebuild this back up again.

11:49OK.

11:50Your favourite job, sewing.

11:52Oh, brilliant.

11:54I know you love it so much.

11:57So much fun.

12:00For the Victorian farmer, staving off the cold of winter was a major challenge.

12:05So Ruth and her daughter Eve are making useful Christmas presents for Alex and Peter. Warm underwear.

12:12Come in looking all sad and tired and cold.

12:15The ordinary working people were still making their own flannel underwear at home and really quite simple shapes.

12:21Everything I read said that in this Victorian period men wore full length drawers right down to the ankle.

12:29So the best thing I thought was really what we want is a very simple trouser pattern, isn't there?

12:34Just straight.

12:38Rural poverty in the 19th century made sewing and mending an essential skill.

12:43Girls would start as young as five years old.

12:47It was one of the most important parts of any young woman's education, sewing.

12:52I mean, when compulsory education comes in, they're all taught at school.

12:55So that is his back waist.

12:59And then that's his front waist.

13:02See? That was only that much. Halfway round.

13:06Doubled.

13:07That's a waist that big.

13:09That's not particularly big.

13:10And then that's going to be pleated in slightly.

13:12You know, it looks like he's got a really small waist and a really big bum.

13:16I mean, I really like sort of rural clothing, ordinary people's clothing.

13:24If you go in most museums, what you see is the really posh stuff, isn't it?

13:27You see all the really beautiful ones, all beautifully displayed.

13:30You see the ball gowns and the, you know.

13:33What you don't see is the ordinary workaday stashed because they trashed it.

13:39OK, that's one pair of trousers.

13:41The cold of winter made it a prime time for jobs that could be done regardless of the elements.

13:55That'll be."

13:58Tasked with restoring the forge before Christmas, Peter's come to the estate's brickmaker, Colin Richards.

14:01...compressed and the air go into it, so it'll take a few minutes to go through.

14:07few minutes to go through. The clay's been mined locally. It'll be processed using a pug mill

14:15powered by the estate's shire horse, Clumper. The pug mill is like a food mixer almost to

14:22actually get air into the clay. It makes it into a material which is pliable. You can make the

14:28bricks more easy. Constant restoration work is needed on the 1,200 acre estate. So Colin's making

14:3910,000 bricks, identical to those used to build the distinctive red brick Acton Scott Hall.

14:49Well, we've got to get Colin in because I think it's getting a little bit too much for Clumper

14:52and he's doing a sterling job there. Do you want some more water in there?

14:56Yeah, it's just a bit. It's getting a bit sticky.

15:04We've got Alistair outside pushing the gin and I've resorted to using my hands because it's so

15:09hard to shovel the clay. It's all going wrong. Except it is just teetering on the edge.

15:26It's tantalisingly. It is.

15:32And there it goes.

15:34We now have milled clay.

15:36Once the clay's processed, it's ready to mould the bricks with help from expert Alistair Compton.

15:42Basically, a two-part mould. We get some kiln-dried sharp sand and we use this as a releasing agent

15:51because it's easy getting the clay into the mould.

15:53Not so easy getting it out.

15:55Sometimes it can be problematic. Forming a clod straight into the mould.

16:02Down. You get the bow. Just take the top off.

16:06That stops it sticking to the board. Bring her out. This is where you need long thumbs.

16:19And that is a brick?

16:20That is a brick. Right.

16:22From here, it's got to be dried. About two weeks later, we'll be able to put it into the kiln,

16:29go through the firing process and you'll get your quality bricks coming out.

16:34Brilliant.

16:35So we've only got another 999,999 to do.

16:39Probably nowhere near as speedy as a professional brickmaker by any stretch of imagination.

16:49I missed. Again.

16:53In Victorian times, a group of eight to ten people could produce around about 10 to 12,000 a day.

17:00So basically, I mean, you've got enough bricks there for a large cottage.

17:06Yeah.

17:07But all I can tell you, it's hard work.

17:10Yeah. And I suppose quite monotonous as well.

17:13Quite repetitive.

17:14No, therapeutic to a degree.

17:18Well, that's what my psychiatrist keeps telling me.

17:30Ruth and Eve are using the nights to work on the Christmas presents.

17:41Winter evenings are so long. What are you going to do?

17:44You can't be gardening or doing very much with the animals.

17:47You can't be doing very much outside at all once it's dark.

17:50You know, it's really useful to catch up on these sorts of jobs, which

17:53at other times of the year there is no time for, no time whatsoever.

17:59The onset of winter means shortening days and falling temperatures on the Victorian farm.

18:18Ruth's finishing off Peter and Alex's warm underwear.

18:21They've come out quite nice. They certainly look warm.

18:32And 10,000 bricks have been moulded to restore the blacksmith's forge before Christmas.

18:38Two weeks have passed and the bricks have dried out.

18:57Now they must be baked to make them rock hard, using a kiln.

19:01So how many bricks does this kiln hold?

19:13Well, about 7,000, depending on what size bricks we make.

19:17Crikey, that's a lot of bricks.

19:18Yeah, that's enough to make a small cottage.

19:21Right.

19:21So every time we fire it, you could effectively build a house.

19:27I've got some of the bricks that I've inscribed.

19:29Right.

19:29Done one for Alex.

19:30Right. Where'd you want that one?

19:32Oh, probably at the bottom.

19:33Right.

19:34Near the fire where it's going to break.

19:36One for Ruth.

19:36All right.

19:37One for me.

19:41The kiln must be sealed and Colin has a tried and tested method.

19:46Here's the clay.

19:47Right.

19:51It's a very effective way of sealing it all up.

19:58That's the most fun way of doing it as well.

19:59And with it being soft, it gets in all those little crevices and makes quite a strong wall, really.

20:08It's really good fun, actually.

20:16Thanks.

20:17So far, Colin has resisted the urge to throw the clay at me.

20:21It's only a matter of time.

20:26These eight kiln fires need tending around the clock for five days.

20:32Are you quietly confident this is going to go well?

20:37Well, whenever we light a kiln, it's an unknown quantity, really.

20:41And it is a bit nerve-wracking.

20:44You know, once you've started, that's it now.

20:46The kiln fires 7,000 bricks, but Colin needs 10,000.

20:53So he's also attempting a more primitive, old-fashioned method of firing bricks, using a clamp.

20:59Here, bricks are simply stacked on a slow-burning fire.

21:05They were used in cities, weren't they?

21:08That's right.

21:09This was a way of bringing the firing process right to the site where the houses were being built.

21:15Often you use the clay that was dug from the foundations and from the cellars to make the

21:20bricks to build the house.

21:21The stacks were so long that as the fire moved through the stack, they would actually be unloading

21:30at one end whilst the fire was moving through.

21:33So it was a continual process.

21:35And, you know, they were sometimes 40 feet high.

21:48So I'm glad we're not going up 40 feet, but it gives you an insight as to the amount of work

21:55involved in making a clamp. It's very labor-intensive.

22:09With a clamp, you don't know what's happening inside.

22:12It's very much when you open this, you know, there's an element of surprise.

22:16You hope it's going to work, but until you crack it open, you just don't know.

22:26Ruth's discovered a novel Victorian way to keep warm in winter.

22:34I came across quite an interesting thing in this lovely little book called Common Sense Clothing.

22:40It was written in 1869.

22:42And it's got this piece and it absolutely intrigued me when I read this.

22:45The charlatine blankets, now so much used, are made of paper with cotton wool between.

22:52Oh, I've never heard of such a thing. A charlatine blanket.

22:56I suppose being made out of paper and cotton waste, they just haven't survived.

23:01They're the sort of thing that lasts a couple of years and gets in a state,

23:04and you put it on the fire and burn.

23:05And like many things, those at the sort of cheap working end

23:09don't get recorded in quite the same way.

23:11So I thought it would be really good to have a go at making a paper blanket.

23:16Cheap and warm, it says.

23:18I mean, I haven't really got a clue. I'm having to sort of make it up because

23:22nobody's ever heard of a charlatine blanket.

23:26Right, that's my pieces of paper.

23:29So now I want my cotton wool and I'm going to have to sort of just loosely

23:34glue it to this surface.

23:35I think I'll start in one corner and move me way down.

23:40Cotton wool has been around in Britain for over 400 years.

23:44The next layer of paper.

23:53I'm not sure how this is going to work.

23:55We'll find out.

23:58The only thing Common Sense Clothing says about

24:02paper being a problem on the bed is that it doesn't breathe.

24:06And then the Victorians are very worried about

24:08not allowing the body to breathe. There'd be new work done on the pores of the skin.

24:14And they also worried about putting something on the bed that didn't breathe.

24:20And it is surprisingly hard to get the needle through.

24:22It's been three days and nights since the kiln was lit.

24:35Peter and the brick team have been continually stoking the fires.

24:42Alex is joining them for the final night of the kiln vigil.

24:45Okay, grubs up guys.

24:48Hi Alex. What do you mean grubs up?

24:50They're raw potatoes.

24:51They are indeed mate, but you're the one with the oven.

24:52Shall I take that cider?

24:53Yeah, take that cider. That's the most important thing.

24:57Right, so what's the idea with the potatoes then?

25:00Slam it in.

25:01See this is the sort of thing that over 150 years ago

25:04Victorian brick makers would have done.

25:06Oh that's right, because this is a big oven really.

25:08You've got the fire, you've got your shovels and you've got all the embers.

25:12Yeah, so you use that to cook your meal.

25:14So that's your brick.

25:15Oh, I'm liking it.

25:19Just stick it in and then just fold it over.

25:23Wow, it's like a potato brick pasty.

25:27Yeah, amazing.

25:30The thickness of a brick is just perfect.

25:32It leaves the skins intact and a lovely tasting potato.

25:39There we go.

25:40Stoking the fires day in, day out has raised the temperature of the kiln to around a thousand degrees.

25:53It's very hot.

25:55Like you wouldn't believe really.

25:56It is incredibly hot, isn't it?

26:00You're the one who's had sleep.

26:01I mean, that is just crazy.

26:07That just demonstrates how hot this thing is.

26:10Well, it also emphasises we're not playing at this.

26:13You know, these are real forces that we're dealing with with the fire and the earth and the clay.

26:19And we have to be mindful of what's happening all around us.

26:23Yes.

26:26Job done?

26:26Yeah, that's the last one in.

26:28Right.

26:28And I'm pooped.

26:30I'm knackered and only put eight potatoes in there.

26:33But what do you reckon, an hour then?

26:35Yeah, an hour, almost to the minute.

26:36I'm going to have to lose this jacket, I think.

26:38Yeah.

26:39I'm roasting.

26:39Until you walk away from the kiln and then you are freezing.

26:42Having prepared for the cold of winter, Ruth turns her attention to the long, dark nights leading up to Christmas.

27:00Now that the nights have really begun drawing in, this has become a weekly task.

27:05Cleaning, maintaining all the oil lamps.

27:07And indeed, candles too, all the artificial light.

27:14The glass on the mantles gets really, really dirty.

27:17And of course, if I don't clean it, then obviously the light can't come out.

27:21And we get dimmer and dimmer and dingier and dingier and dingier.

27:24As I always find a bit of vinegar on the cloth helps when I'm doing this.

27:30You also have to trim the wicks.

27:32If you don't get off all the sort of old wick, it doesn't burn very bright.

27:39So I use my lovely little trimmers here and just take off anything that's a bit old and burnt.

27:48This was the way most rural homes were lit until the 1930s,

27:52when the creation of the national grid brought electricity to most corners of Britain.

28:03Managing of light, such a central thing.

28:08Oil lamps, they're a good deal brighter than a candle lamp.

28:11And it doesn't blow out.

28:12So you find that there are quite a lot of things that you can get on with.

28:16Nothing that needs really close looking at.

28:19But you can read by all lamp.

28:22You can sew by all lamp, but not maybe the finest of stuff.

28:27For fine sewing and lace work, the Victorians had an ingenious solution.

28:32A blown glass bowl filled with water acted as a lens to focus the candlelight on the work.

28:38Oh, I can see it on my arm. It's a bit like playing with mirrors when you're a child,

28:43a little flashing a light around the room.

28:51How many more hours is it going to take?

28:55While the potatoes cook in the kiln, Alex and Peter check on the brick clamp.

29:01This has to be one of the most bizarre sights I've seen.

29:04It looks like one enormous brick on fire.

29:08We say enormous. This is small.

29:12With this clamp, whilst it's maybe cheaper to set up, it's not something you can tend.

29:17You've got no control over this.

29:18Yeah.

29:21That's really going out the back of my throat now.

29:27Oh, blimey.

29:28Imagine being in London in the 1850s, 1860s.

29:32The only way that Britain was going to build these vast, expanding industrial centres is if it could

29:39find a cheap and economic way to build the homes for all the labourers and the workers.

29:44Imagine a lifetime of this.

29:45It would have been pretty short.

29:47I know.

29:48You wouldn't have lasted very long, would you?

29:50No.

29:50The life expectancy in Britain's cities was just 40 years.

29:58The whole of the city would constantly be covered in this smog.

30:01You get that real sort of Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper-y type of feel from this, don't you?

30:09Yeah.

30:09You can imagine these kilns burning on the suburbs and outskirts of these growing industrial cities

30:15and smoke pouring down the streets.

30:18This is a tiny, tiny clamp compared to what they were building.

30:21When there's a half a mile long, 40 feet high, they must have produced some smoke.

30:26I must have done that.

30:27Why are we whispering?

30:29I don't want to wait Mr Acton up with you.

30:38Let's have these potatoes out then.

30:41An hour has passed since the potatoes went in the kiln.

30:44Looking good, there we go.

30:47It's red hot, it's red hot.

30:48I feel like a surgeon.

30:51Oh ho ho, you beauty.

30:54Look at that.

30:55Ready to receive the butter.

30:58Butter made on the farm, no less, Peter.

31:01Yes, butter made on the farm.

31:03It doesn't get better than this chaps, does it?

31:05Colin, this one yours?

31:07Put your name on it.

31:08Nice.

31:13There's your fork.

31:13How does that taste then?

31:16It's great.

31:17Yeah, I think the clay around the edge adds something to it.

31:22It's really nice.

31:24Oh, that's a stone.

31:29So it's got a nice texture then, has it?

31:31I'll tell you what Alex, this will taste a darn sight better once you've done some work.

31:42I'm looking forward to it, but you should have some of that.

31:45But how are the bricks doing?

31:48If we look in the fire hole, you can see they're sort of going from sort of yellow to white.

31:54Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.

31:55Those ones right in the middle.

31:56And that's where we want to be at this stage.

31:58It's taken us four days and four nights to get to this point,

32:02but we've got to hold that temperature for about 12 hours to ensure that it soaks through the kiln.

32:07To miss this stage of it would mean that all that work and effort has gone to waste.

32:15The team work to maintain the intense temperature of the brick kiln until dawn.

32:20If they fail, their plans to have the forge in use by Christmas will be scuppered.

32:36Away from the kiln, temperatures are dropping.

32:40Ruth heads off to bed.

32:42It's such a cheap solution to keep him warm, this.

32:55It's quite a surprising thing once made up.

32:58It feels like one of those padded envelopes that you send through the post.

33:03And actually thinking about it, some of the older ones are actually full of cotton, aren't they?

33:07Mind you, I bet the bubble wrap ones would be warm too.

33:12I'm sleeping in an envelope.

33:19Oh, well it certainly feels nice and warm at the moment.

33:22Hope it stays like that all night.

33:24For the last few nights, Peter's had nothing but the brick kiln and cider to keep him warm.

33:45Now, it's over.

33:46We've done it, we've done the kiln.

33:53Four lights, five days, all over.

33:58Too little sleep, too much, too much work.

34:02This is the closest park ever gets to working as a Victorian.

34:08And it's tough, it is so tough.

34:13Whoa!

34:13The team must wait a week for the kiln to cool before opening it.

34:21Only then will they know if their efforts have been successful.

34:28Working outside all hours in all weathers took a toll on the Victorian farmer.

34:34Pneumonia, rheumatism and asthma were all exacerbated by the cold.

34:40And in the countryside, although better off than in the cities, you couldn't expect to live much beyond 50.

34:48But the Victorians had concoctions to combat common winter ailments.

34:52This one's a gargle for a sore throat. And you start with sage.

34:58Sage is an important medicinal herb. It's Latin name, salvia, means to heal.

35:07It's great stuff, sage. It turns up in loads of different remedies.

35:10Things like rubbing on the joints for arthritis to try and take down the swelling.

35:15Lots of cough and cold things and anything to do with, well, anything to do with something that's swollen and sore.

35:20So the recipe says a pint of boiling water, but I haven't got very much sage here.

35:28So I'm just going to do about a cup, I think.

35:31Home remedies were sort of, for many Victorians, pretty much the only way they could get hold of medicine.

35:36Although there were an increasing range of medicines available to buy, that's the point.

35:41They were to buy. But for the ordinary little lumps and bumps of life,

35:47it made a great deal more sense to make your own home remedies if you possibly could.

35:52Right, now that's supposed to stand for half an hour.

35:55And you can see already that the water is slightly coloured by the sage.

36:01Once that has cooled down, then the only things that got to go in it are vinegar.

36:06Not too much, just a tiny bit.

36:08And I suppose the warmth of the water helps it to sort of evaporate.

36:15And then the other thing supposed to be is honey.

36:18And the recipe just says to taste.

36:21So it's to make it palatable.

36:25But it's also supposed to help soothe the insides of the throat lining.

36:31You're supposed to gargle with it.

36:34Let's just try a little bit.

36:35Excuse me if I'm disgusting and gargle and spit it out.

36:50Oh, that's quite nice, actually.

36:55After a good night's sleep,

36:57the boys catch up with stonemason Paul Arrowsmith at the forge.

37:00The steam was a lintel that would have carried the masonry above.

37:05That would not work as a flue.

37:06They've unblocked the chimney, but they still have to wait for the bricks to cool before rebuilding it.

37:12The floor will also need relaying.

37:14And Paul's spotted another vital component that's missing.

37:19Ah, right.

37:20So you'd have bellows on the outside of this wall.

37:25That's another sore point, actually, for us.

37:27Bellows.

37:28Yeah.

37:29To work iron, they'll need bellows to blow air through the fire, raising the temperature to over 1500 degrees.

37:39If they're to complete the forge before celebrating Christmas, there isn't a second to lose.

37:44I don't think I've ever had too much fun.

37:49That's the big thing.

37:50But there's no telling how deep these holes are.

37:52No.

37:55Have we taken on too much?

37:58Still, we can't let the Actons down.

38:00No.

38:01The search for bellows takes them to the far reaches of the Acton-Scott estate.

38:05Can't feel below my navel, Dusty.

38:08It's not like the old forks-sprung-dork technique, is it?

38:10Go on, dear.

38:14Oh, not what we need.

38:21This is what we're looking for.

38:23Let's get that under there.

38:24I mean, without this kit, our forge is...

38:27Well, it's not a forge, is it?

38:28Well, it's a fire, basically.

38:30Think you can move that on your own?

38:32Probably.

38:33Well, my back is playing the net.

38:35It always is.

38:35Alex, get it.

38:37One, two, three.

38:40Okay, I'm up, I'm up.

38:40You see, in the modern age, you wouldn't be allowed to lift these sorts of weights.

38:46But because we're in Victoriana, obviously, we'd be expected to do it.

38:53Right.

38:57Perfect.

38:58Good boy, Dusty.

39:13Come on.

39:13Working in exposed areas at the mercy of the elements gave rise to another common winter

39:21ailment for the Victorian farmer.

39:24Chilblains.

39:26Painful, itchy sores on fingers and toes.

39:28Ruth's found a recipe that should prevent them.

39:36Chilblains are something that farmers were particularly prone to, because you're out

39:40and about in all weathers and in and out of cold water all the time.

39:45So that's my egg broken up, and that's got to be whisked and beaten really strongly

39:51with a mixture of oil.

39:54And I'm going to whisk it up into a bit like an emulsion.

39:58It's almost like making mayonnaise.

40:00This bit needs to be really quite thoroughly mixed.

40:04Not as thoroughly as mayonnaise, but nonetheless, somewhere along those lines.

40:08And now I can start dripping in my other ingredients.

40:12This is the turpentine.

40:15So just a tiny spot to start.

40:19And then some vinegar.

40:22Next thing is spirits of wine.

40:25Well, that's just distilled wine, otherwise known as brandy.

40:30And then finally, perhaps the oddest ingredient, camphor.

40:35Well, I wasn't going to go to the shop and buy camphor specially.

40:39So I'm going to use small moth balls.

40:40Whoops!

40:43As well as repelling moths, camphor has a cooling and anaesthetising effect on the skin.

40:51Now, once I've mixed this, I'm supposed to put it into a little airtight bottle.

41:00And shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake.

41:05So inside the bottle, hopefully, it's turning into something that's going to be

41:09a little bit closer in texture to mayonnaise.

41:12And that's good because it makes it easy to rub on your chillblains or the areas where you might get chillblains.

41:19I feel a bit like I'm shaking a cocktail, frankly.

41:26What's a glam rest though, is it? Chillblain preventative.

41:31This thing?

41:31That's it.

41:32Give it a smell, make sure it's the right one.

41:34Ruth's found a guinea pig for her latest concoction.

41:37Ah, that's moth balls maybe with a touch of brandy.

41:41It has got moth balls in it.

41:43Looks a bit like silver polish.

41:47Stinks.

41:50But probably not as much as me.

41:58With the preparations for winter nearly complete, the countdown to Christmas can begin in earnest.

42:05Alex is trying his hand at decorating wrapping paper, using a favourite technique of the era.

42:11Often, Victorian books were bound with marbled endpapers, and he's attempting to reproduce the effect.

42:23Okay, so I've prepared now the solution within which we're going to drop in our inks.

42:29This is carrageen moss, okay, so it's like a seaweed.

42:32And what this helps to do is really just sort of thicken up the water.

42:37So now for the pigments.

42:38These are made up with pigment powders and linseed oil.

42:42And it's critical to have an oil-based paint, because the oil will sit on top of the water.

42:47So when we apply the paper, that oil-based paint is going to stick to it.

42:54I'm just trying to get a nice, even distribution of each colour.

42:57This has really sort of demonstrated for me what Victorian Christmas was all about.

43:02This sort of level of preparation, because the Victorians really threw everything into Christmas.

43:08They really did.

43:10And on that goes, on that goes, we can see.

43:14I can use these first dummy ones to wrap Peter's present in.

43:26While Alex's wrapping paper dries, Ruth calls on food historian Ivan Day to make a special treat for the Christmas banquet.

43:37So sweeties, what sort of sweeties are we making?

43:39We're going to actually make some lozenges out of sugar paste, which is flavoured with things like ginger and peppermint oil and rose water.

43:47So you get a variety of flavours and colourings.

43:51And we've got powdered sugar.

43:53Powdered sugar, yep.

43:54And we're going to put into it about half an ounce of what is called gum dragon.

44:01Gum dragon, derived from prickly Middle Eastern shrubs, swells in water, forming a stiff gel.

44:07Lovely.

44:09Now, once the gum starts to sort of dissolve into the sugar, it should turn into something that looks a bit like chewing gum.

44:21But what we have, which is really great, are these.

44:24Yeah.

44:25You rotate it and cut.

44:28Rotate it and cut.

44:29And you can make a stack all at once.

44:31And it's so brilliantly designed.

44:33Yeah, because it's a cone, they're not going to stick.

44:36You get your little tablets like that.

44:42But as ever, when it came to Christmas, the Victorians added a fun-loving twist.

44:47We're going to actually make some motto, sweeties, with these wonderful little mid-19th century prints.

44:55We've got questions like, can you like me?

45:00And on there it might say...

45:01I do not.

45:03I do not.

45:04And I'm not quite sure how it was used, but they are the precursors of those little love heart sweets that you buy nowadays.

45:12So what we're actually making are Victorian love hearts, if you like.

45:18And then it's a case, really, about here.

45:20Just press in.

45:21Peel them off.

45:23And you've got your perfect little Victorian love hearts.

45:28These would be perfect for Christmas crackers because they're part of that fortune cookie type of tradition, really.

45:36Tradition, yeah.

45:37It's fun and games, really.

45:38Yes, absolutely.

45:42At last, the brickmaker's moment of truth has arrived.

46:02After a gruelling firing, we've left this for a week to cool down because the bricks inside would have been red hot.

46:08And now it's time to crack open our brick kiln and see how we've done.

46:15So, as a veteran of these kilns, how are you feeling about this one?

46:19Well, each firing is different and it depends on the conditions, the temperature, you know, around when we actually fired it.

46:28And at the beginning of the firing, we had some pretty bad weather.

46:31We had a lot of wind, a lot of rain.

46:33Until we opened the door, we just don't know.

46:39Despite the bad weather, the majority of the kiln bricks seem to have fired well.

46:44That's a nice brick.

46:56That's the one we wanted to work.

46:59Peter.

47:00You all right, Alex?

47:10Yeah.

47:10How are these bricks looking, then?

47:11Really, really good.

47:14There's nothing like a good handmade brick, is there?

47:18And it'll give our forge, as well, some proper Victorian character.

47:23Next, the clamp.

47:25Here, the bricks were simply stacked on coal and left to burn.

47:31But how do they compare to the kiln bricks?

47:36They're pretty hot, these ones.

47:39They sound good.

47:41That means they're cooked.

47:42My gloves must be thicker than yours.

47:46They are very hot.

47:49One of the things that makes handmade bricks and hand-fired bricks so interesting is the

47:54variety of colours you get, depending on where they are in the clamp.

47:59Slightly more irregular, and you get the risk of having a lot more that are perhaps over-fired

48:05near the fuel source.

48:06But what would I do with an over-fired brick in the building process?

48:09They'd be seconds.

48:10Right.

48:11And so if you were building a sort of prestigious house, you know, you'd perhaps use those in

48:15partitions or where they wouldn't be seen.

48:18But if it was a humble cottage and you'd be buying them cheaply from the brick maker,

48:22you'd use them.

48:24It's clear there are far fewer properly fired bricks produced by a clamp than a kiln.

48:30But they'll come apart.

48:31But this is offset by a huge advantage.

48:34It's far more economical because, as you saw, we only had a bed of coal four inches deep to fire

48:43all these bricks.

48:43The clamp uses less than a tenth of the fuel of the kiln per brick.

48:48So how are you feeling about this clamp?

48:50I'm really pleased, yeah.

48:53It's now at the end of the firing to actually get bricks out, which you can use straight away,

48:59and they're nice colour, nice shape, and, you know, they're very durable.

49:03I'm dead chuffed.

49:04I think you should be very proud, although we're dirty again.

49:08Yeah, again.

49:11By the end of the Victorian age, the simple clamp had gone out of favour, replaced by the less fuel

49:17efficient but more reliable brick kiln.

49:24Finally, the team have the bricks they need to rebuild the forged chimney.

49:28Ruth's continuing her Christmas preparations.

49:38The sweets have hardened, and historian Peter Kimpton is going to help her ensure

49:43the festivities go with a bang.

49:49Hello. Oh, hello. You must be Peter, the Christmas cracker chap.

49:52Yes, hello. Pleased to meet you.

49:54Hello. Well, come on in.

49:55Thanks very much.

49:56Shall I move some of these lovely delicious sweeties out of the way?

50:00So we've got these pieces of crepe paper here.

50:02You need to put the longer piece on the inside.

50:06Why do I need two bits?

50:07That's the way the Victorians used to do it.

50:09Oh, it's always two layers, is it?

50:11Yes, and the inner layer they tended to call the petticoat.

50:15Just as a lady's petticoat goes under her dress.

50:19Crackers were dreamt up in 1847 by an entrepreneurial confectioner called Tom Smith.

50:26Taking the shape of a French bonbon, he placed sweets inside cardboard tubes and wrapped them as a festive surprise.

50:35Okie doke. And now is a rolling up time.

50:38Right.

50:40But his first designs failed to make an impression.

50:44What he needed was a spark of inspiration.

50:47The traditional story is that he was sitting in front of the fire one day and one of the logs gave off a pop and it was the eureka moment.

51:00He thought, ah, if I could have a pop in my crackers.

51:03Everybody would buy them.

51:04Exactly.

51:05And there were a number of people along the way who claimed to have invented what we call the snap.

51:10These snaps were actually known about, believe it or not, in 1813.

51:17Adding the snap perfected the Christmas cracker.

51:20Which would explode.

51:21In about 1861, he launched it on the market and he called it, um, bangs of expectation.

51:28Bangs of expectation.

51:33I mean, if you look in his 1891 catalogue.

51:36Look at that giant cracker there.

51:38An immense cracker.

51:39Two feet, three inches long.

51:41It's a very, very commercial thing this, isn't it?

51:44Yes.

51:45Bought decorations, bought sweets, bought crackers.

51:49They were very good at responding to what was going on at a given time.

51:54Yeah.

51:54I'll tell you what was a good one they used to do.

51:56They used to do crackers for spinsters.

51:58Yeah.

51:59Crackers for bachelors.

52:00Bachelors.

52:02And crackers for married couples.

52:04And in the spinsters, they used to have things like faded flowers.

52:08Oh, no.

52:10False teeth.

52:11Oh, that's really mean.

52:13A wedding ring.

52:16Oh, how horrid.

52:18That's really mean, that is.

52:19Yeah, it does seem rather unkind.

52:19That's horrid, horrid, horrid, horrid.

52:24The Christmas celebrations are fast approaching and time's running out to complete the forge.

52:31So, armed with their Victorian bricks, the team crack on with the chimney.

52:36Do you want to leave the first brick?

52:42Into this corner here, yeah?

52:43Yeah, and square with the ball.

52:45First brick laid.

52:48Second brick laid.

52:50They're going out quickly.

52:52Yes, a lot quicker than they did, than it was to make them.

52:59This takes me back to my childhood, this does.

53:01Was your father a blacksmith?

53:03No, no, I used to play with legos.

53:04It was lots of bricks.

53:05It was good.

53:12Oh, fantastic.

53:13Yeah, do you want to come in?

53:14Yeah, it's a minute.

53:16Four days later, the chimney's complete.

53:19It's such a simple building material, I didn't realise how much effort went into making bricks.

53:23It's really lovely and smooth.

53:26It really is.

53:29That's a cracking job.

53:31Well, hopefully this will just draw all the smoke up.

53:34And, um, yeah, we'll have a working forge.

53:37Yeah, I'm really impressed, mate.

53:39They've got a fireplace, but to work iron, they'll need the bellows.

53:44What do you think, Peter?

53:46Spin it here.

53:48I'll pop it down.

53:50There we are, that's good.

53:53Shall we give it the candle test?

54:00Yeah, give it the candle test.

54:02Let's see if it blows it out.

54:03Have a pump.

54:07Look at that.

54:09Time to add the finishing touches.

54:15Blacksmith's forges have solid clay rather than stone floors.

54:19Clay deadened the sound of beating metal, and it wouldn't be damaged by dropped tools.

54:26There we go.

54:26Brilliant.

54:29Bucket of lime, Nick.

54:30Bucket of lime.

54:32Gravel and lime added to the clay's resilience.

54:37And the Victorians congealed it with a special ingredient.

54:41It just mixes nicely, probably the same way that they crush grapes for Bull's Blood wine or

55:00Taurus Diablo or something.

55:03What are you going on about?

55:04I have no idea.

55:12Just make sure I don't fall over.

55:14That wouldn't be nice.

55:24All right, Peter, how's it going?

55:26It's going well, but it's hard work.

55:28Looks like a mugs game to me.

55:31I think we should show him how it's done with.

55:33I think so.

55:33I think we have a cunning plan here.

55:35They involve clogs, dancing, and some ale.

55:39Yeah.

55:39Let's get your clogs on then, Peter.

55:43Clog dancing was a common Victorian method to beat down clay floors.

55:49Wooden-soled clogs were the steel toe-capped boots of the age.

55:53Mill workers would stamp their clogs to the rhythm of the weaving machines to keep warm.

56:00Clog dancing was born.

56:11Phil Howard's an expert in the history of clog dancing.

56:16So have you ever come across clogs being used to stamp down the floor?

56:20Well, it's a variation on a theme because every single canal around the country

56:25was done with tamp clay.

56:27And navvies used to sort of walk up and down and stamp it down and use the spades and such like.

56:31And then Capability Brown actually used a herd of cows,

56:35which is pretty much similar.

56:38And of course, this is too small.

56:39So I think this is pretty similar to a herd of cows coming in.

56:42Well, I think some of our dancing is a bit like a herd of cows.

56:44Oh, no, we're up, Peter.

56:48And in the middle, in balls.

56:54Michael, look at the end of that, come on.

56:56Can anybody like a drink? Something to eat?

57:12Yes, please.

57:13I've got some bread, cheese and butter.

57:15As much as your name up there and yours.

57:19Oh, Peter.

57:20Isn't that nice, Peter?

57:22I'm glad you put my name first.

57:26Well, here's a toast to the forge and all who helped build it.

57:30Thank you very much.

57:31Cheers.

57:31After six weeks of backbreaking work, the forge is restored to its Victorian glory.

57:44Next time on Victorian Farm, it's Christmas with gifts, trees, Christmas cards and last-minute shopping.

57:55This is real nose pressed against the glass thing.

57:58But first, they must learn the skills of the blacksmith.

58:02Slaving over a very, very hot fire.

58:06Before putting on a feast for the entire estate.

58:15Inject some Victorian magic into your Christmas as Alex, Peter and Ruth show you how to make gifts, food, decorations and more.

58:23Go to bbc.co.uk forward slash Victorian Christmas

58:29Let's get into place.

58:56You

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