The second episode of the fourth series of ‘Grundy’s Wonders’ produced by Tyne Tees Television and written and presented by architectural historian and broadcaster John Grundy. In this programme John travels the Northeast and Wensleydale in North Yorkshire to explore its many ruins looking at how and why they became that way and how some have found new uses. An animation of a book with its pages turning revealing different buildings and architectural styles ending on presenter John Grundy...

The second episode of the fourth series of ‘Grundy’s Wonders’ produced by Tyne Tees Television and written and presented by architectural historian and broadcaster John Grundy. In this programme John travels the Northeast and Wensleydale in North Yorkshire to explore its many ruins looking at how and why they became that way and how some have found new uses. An animation of a book with its pages turning revealing different buildings and architectural styles ending on presenter John Grundy holding the programmes title card. Title: Grundy’s Wonders A montage of some of the Northeast’s great ruins including Hadrian’s Wall as well as Dunstanburgh and Warkworth castles in Northumberland changes to presenter John Grundy sitting on a ‘scabby’ bit of Hadrian’s Wall which runs alongside the busy West Road in Newcastle. He explains that while some of the regions greatest ruins don’t need to be mentioned, other such as this section of wall are hardly worth it. After explains how he finds this bit of wall an irritation he crushes it under ‘Grundy’s Great Boot of History.’ An animation of a boot coming down on top of both John and the section of wall. Walking through the wild Redesdale hills in Northumberland John talks about why buildings become ruins, basically because no one wants to use them anymore. As he approaches the ruins of Shittlehough Bastle he talks about its origins as a defensible building and admires its construction and quality and being a bastle house found only on the England Scotland border in the 16th and 17th centuries. Over views of Woodhouses Bastle at Harbottle near Holystone, John explains that as times changed and the dangers pasts bastles like these became obsolete and were abandoned by the owners in favour of new homes. The camera pans downhill to reveal the early 19th century Holystone Grange. A montage of the grounds and gardens follow with John asking us to remember them. Filmed at high-speed John drives his car the fifty miles across Northumberland arriving at Haggerston Castle near the coast just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed. With John providing a history of its construction a mixture of contemporary views of some of the surviving building incorporated into the holiday park it now is and archival still of it when it was private residence and zoo. Standing in the caravan park with Haggerston Castle Tower in the background John provides details on its two main functions when build, as a water tower and a belvedere. Climbing onto the roof John looks out across the holiday park below followed by views across the landscape from inside the belvedere. At the base of the tower, now a reception area for the holiday park, John talks about the challenges of owning and running a building and why it had to be sold off and partly demolished in the 1930s. Walking along the veranda of a nearby private residence, John explains that part of the demolished castle ended up being used in the construction of the garden at Holystone Grange, while the rest, including two of its staircases, were used in the building of this house. Over a montage of both the interior and exterior of the property John explains how the original owner had the house built around the Great Oak staircase purchased from Haggerston Castle and why he admires this house more than the original castle. Over a montage of various working farm and industrial buildings John explains there is a new class of building that become ruins. Those which become useless because the purpose they served is no longer needed. As he walks along the track leading to Derwentcote Steel Furnace at Hamsterley Mill near Consett in County Durham John asks the question why has English Heritage, who own the site, put a roof on this useless old building to stop it from decaying further? Standing in grounds nearby John explains that this is the oldest surviving cementation furnace in the country. Over a montage of views inside and out John provides details on the cementation process which by the early 1700s made the Derwent Valley the most important source of steel in the country and thus making it massively important building for the industrial revolution. Heading into the commercial break John relaxing in the long grass. Title: Grundy’s Wonders End of Part One Part Two A montage of rural Wensleydale in North Yorkshire where a farmer makes bales of grass from a recently cut meadow and where, according to John, it gains some of its atmosphere from the melancholy beauty of its ruins. Walking along Bellow Hill towards the Green Dragon Inn John tells a story about William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy who once walked through Wensleydale heading home to Grasmere and stopped at many of its sights. Heading into the pub John appears on the other side following a path toward Hardrow Force, the highest single drop waterfall in the country at 98ft. After admitting this little diversion has nothing to do with this programme, John then states how this wonderful valley is rich in unusual ruins. Continuing to follow the path through the valley John comes across a stone hut with the remains of an iron stove. He then comes across rows of terraces build into the hillside after which he reveals it is all the remains of a venue started in the 1880s of an annual brass-band competition. Over views of the site including the remains of the 1920s bandstand John explains how a flood in 1899 destroyed the venue creating this relic of a Victorian music festival. As John states that Wensleydale contains two of the great ruined castles of England a montage of both Middleham Castle, the boyhood home of Richard III, and Bolton Castle which is the greatest of all examples of 14th century castles known as quadrangular castle and home of the mighty Scrope family. In the distance the only natural lake in the dale, Semar Water and the nearby hamlet of Stalling Busk, possibly one of the most remote villages in country. Below Stalling Busk the ruin of Old St Matthew’s Church and abandoned graveyard. A montage of the church and graveyard follows. Standing in the ruin John explains that unlike the other ruins featured in the programme Old St Matthew’s Church was abandoned because it was inconvenient and because the locals had built themselves a New St Matthew’s Church in the village itself, a building John greatly admires being one of the most original churches he has ever seen. Over views of it John provides a history of its construction in 1909. Over a montage of Jervaulx Abbey John explains how ruined monasteries such as Jervaulx are almost unique to Britan because of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries. John sees these ruins as a perfect time capsules of the styles of the past and dripping with atmosphere. Standing with the abbey in the background John explains how unlike many monastic sites it is privately owned, and there in lies it charm. Over another montage of the site John explains why he likes it so much with its honesty box and it being a site that hasn’t been overly tided up. Leaning against one of its walls John talks about its architectural as well as natural unspoiled beauty, its unexplained and accidental charms ending in programme by awarding it this weeks ‘Grundy’s Wonder’. An animation of a fanfare of trumpets over the following title. Title: Grundy’s Wonders Over the closing credits a montage of some of the locations visited in the programme. Credit: Written and Presented by John Grundy Camera and Location Director Simon Elphinstone Sound Paul Graham Lighting John Mason, John Haynes Production Manager Christine Stewart-Tilling Graphics Dave Richardson Production Assistants Margaret McKie Title Music John Cook Dubbing Mixer George Joisce Editor Mike Pounder Executive Producer Jane Bolesworth Series Producer Steve Robins Title: © Tyne Tees Television 2003 End title: A Tyne Tees Television production. Granada