All language subtitles for The.World.From.Above.S09E03.England.Epping.Forest.to.Blickling.Hall.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-alfaHD_track3_[eng]

(majestic music)

- Our journey
begins at Epping Forest,

once a royal hunting ground.

From there we travel northeast and explore

several beautiful houses,
including the Tudor gatehouse

at Layer Marney Tower.

Heading into East Anglia, we
discover the medieval towers

of Long Melford and Lavenham,

made rich with the wool trade.

In the heart of the County of Norfolk

is the City of Norwich and its
beautiful Norman cathedral.

Flying east we come to
one of the best known

seaside resorts in the
country, Great Yarmouth,

with its golden mile of
all the fun of the seaside.

East Anglia is well known
for the Norfolk Broads,

where boating holidays have been popular

for well over a century.

We end our journey at
one of the finest houses

in the country, Blickling Hall,

and its association with a
tragic figure of Anne Boleyn,

the second wife of Henry the Eighth

and mother of Elizabeth the First.

Epping Forest lies to
the northeast of London

and is an ancient woodland
and former royal forest.

As a royal forest, only the
monarch could hunt here.

But local people had
rights to graze animals,

gather food, as well as collect firewood.

Poaching was harshly dealt with,

often by death or mutilation.

Over the centuries the
forest was gradually reduced

in size due to land owners cleaning areas

and enclosing the land.

In 1878 an act of Parliament
was passed stipulating

that the forest must be
unenclosed and not built on.

Four years later, Queen Victoria gave up

the monarch's rights and gifted
the forest to her subjects.

She said, "It gives me
the greatest satisfaction

"to dedicate this
beautiful forest to the use

"and enjoyment of my people for all time."

And thus it became known
as the people's forest.

In Tudor times, Henry the Eighth

and Queen Elizabeth the
First may well have hunted

in the forest, though
no documentary evidence

has survived to prove it.

In 1543, though, Henry
commissioned a building

known as the Great Standing
from which to view the chase.

The building was largely rebuilt in 1589

for Queen Elizabeth the First,

and this is what we see today.

It's now known as Queen
Elizabeth's hunting lodge

and is open to the public.

"Sir William hath at his
own great costs and charges

"erected and builded a new house,

"very fair, large, and stately,

"made of brick and embattled."

So wrote Thomas Larke in 1566,

surveyor to Sir William
Petre about Ingatestone Hall,

the new house that Sir William had built

on his Essex estates.

As a mark of her favor,
Queen Elizabeth the First

spent several nights here on
her royal progress of 1561.

The Hall stands in open countryside

one mile from the Village of Ingatestone

and substantially retains
its original Tudor form

and appearance with its mullioned windows,

high chimneys and crow-step gables.

The Hall is surrounded by 10
acres of enclosed gardens.

Since it was built,
Ingatestone Hall has passed

through the hands of 15
generations of the Petre family,

who open it to the public
during summer months.

Hylands House is on the
outskirts of Chelmsford,

the County town of Essex.

It has had a succession of colorful owners

who have altered and improved
the house over 200 years.

The last owner, Mrs. Christine Hanbury,

lived alone here during
the second World War

when the house was used by
the SAS as their headquarters

and the grounds had a
German prisoner of war camp

built in it.

She died in 1962 and the house was bought

by the local authority and a
massive restoration program

began both of the house
and the landscaped park.

Every August Hylands Park is packed

with thousands of people who
come to the V Music Festival

and give a new lease
of life to the estate.

We now head into East Anglia,

an area rich in historic places.

Layer Marney Tower is a good example.

It is one of the finest as well as tallest

Tudor gatehouses.

Sadly, the rest of the
house was never built.

Lord Marney began
construction of his new house

around 1520, starting with the tower.

But no sooner was building
underway than he died.

His son then took over, but
he too died just a year later.

Leaving no male heirs, building stopped,

leaving the central tower
and two wings constructed.

The gatehouse is a remarkable
and very fine example

of early Renaissance work.

King Henry the Eighth's Italian architect,

Girolamo da Treviso, is said
to have designed the building.

It stands 80 foot high
and built in red brick

with terra cotta ornaments.

Restoration took place in the 20th century

to restore Layer Marney
to its former glory.

John Constable is one of
England's greatest painters

and grew up here in the late 18th century

at Flatfort Mill in Suffolk,

which was owned by his father.

One of his most famous
paintings, "The Hay Wain,"

featured Willy Lott's Cottage.

In 1926 this cottage, along with the mill,

were in a near derelict state

until a local philanthropist bought them

and undertook basic repairs.

After he died in 1943,
he left both properties

to the National Trust, who
continued the restoration work.

The mill is now leased out
to the Field Studies Council,

a registered charity
committed to helping people

of all ages to understand and be inspired

by the natural world just
as John Constable was.

Many of Constable's greatest
pictures were painted

along this stretch of the river,

which is known today as Constable Country.

This is Hedingham
Castle, built around 1140

on the site of an earlier
11th century wooden one.

It has a five-story keep,

which is still over 36 meters high.

It was designed for defense and also

to dominate the area
as a physical reminder

of the absolute power of Aubrey
de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.

Two of the original four
corner turrets are missing,

and it seems likely
that this was the result

of an attempt to demolish
the building for materials

rather than through military action.

The castle was original
surrounded by a stone curtain wall

but all traces of this have now vanished,

probably demolished at the beginning

of the 17th century when
the castle fell into ruin.

In 1713, the castle was bought
by Sir William Ashhurst,

the Lord Mayor of London.

He landscaped the grounds and
built a fine country house

close by which today is occupied

by the descendants of Aubrey de Vere

who built the castle of 850 years earlier.

During the Medieval and Tudor ages,

wool became big business
and brought great wealth

to parts of the country,
including East Anglia.

And this can be seen in
the houses of the merchants

and investors such as Milford Hall.

The house has been designed
with a sense of symmetry.

Each half of the house is a
mirror image of the other.

The style reflected the
wish of the Tudor family

for order and harmony in their own lives

as well as for the design of the house.

It is built of brick, a building material

the Tudors made fashionable.

While there is no
fortification of the house,

there are still small towers
and turrets on the corners

that seem a reminder of
an earlier age of castles.

This style of house became very popular.

So much so that in the same village

there is another fine
house, Kentwell Manor.

Here a decorative moat
surrounds the house,

which has the same style
of towers and turrets

like Milford Hall.

The money made from wool
also went to building

what are known as wool churches.

And the one at Long Melford is considered

the finest in East Anglia.

Its impressive size would
have far exceeded the needs

of the small village population.

(bright Medieval music)

Evidence of the Medieval
wealth of the wool trade

can also be seen just five
kilometers away at Lavenham.

This is one of England's
largest parish churches.

With its monumental flint
and limestone tower,

it dominates the small weaving village.

It was financed largely by donations

from two local families
during the 15th century.

During the Medieval
period, Lavenham was among

the 20 wealthiest settlements in England.

This was entirely due to wool and a trade

from here at the Lavenham Wool Hall.

By the late 15th century
the town was paying more

in taxation than
considerably larger cities

such as York and Lincoln.

But this was not to last.

Within a hundred years
cheaper cloth imports

from the continent
dealt a blow to the town

and it lost its reputation.

As a result, it was largely forgotten

over the succeeding centuries

and remained remarkably unchanged.

This has resulted in Lavenham becoming

a very popular tourist attraction

for its many unspoiled
Medieval and Tudor buildings.

Another Suffolk attraction
rises above these trees,

Ickworth House.

This is an astonishing
Italianate structure topped

by a massive rotunda begun
for the eccentric fourth

and very rich Earl of Bristol in 1795.

The huge circular
centerpiece is a structure

that would look more at home
in Rome than in Suffolk.

Indeed, it was designed
by an Italian architect.

The house was never actually
intended to be a home,

but a gallery to show off the
earl's art and fine furniture.

Unfortunately, much of the
earl's collection was seized

by Napoleon's troops in
1798 and the earl spent

the rest of his life trying unsuccessfully

to gain its return.

This house is a testament to
a rich man's flight of fancy,

and even his own wife thought Ickworth

was a stupendous monument of folly.

Close by Ickworth is Bury St. Edmunds,

which has a history
stretching back to the Saxons

as one of the royal
towns of the 9th century.

It was planned on a grid system,

rather like a Roman town,

and the shape survives to this day.

It was built by the
Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds

in the year 1080, not long after

the Norman invasion of 1066.

The bones of the Saxon King, Edmund,

who was slain by invading gains,

were laid to rest in the
old abbey, now in ruins.

It's often assumed that the
name Bury refers to burial,

but it actually refers to
old words like burg or borg,

meaning fortress or castle
and was in existence

before Edmund was re-interred.

The abbey is associated with a great event

in English history, the Magna Carta.

In 1214, the barons of
England are believed

to have met here in the Medieval church

and sworn to force King John

to accept the Charter of Liberties.

This document influenced the
creation of the Magna Carta,

which was signed a year later
at Runnymede near Windsor.

Very little remains of
Saxon, England today

except for a few simple stone churches,

as buildings were made of wood

and have not survived the centuries.

At West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village,

a reconstructed one has been built

over the original site of a building dated

from around the 6th century.

The first excavations to take place

in the vicinity of the West
Stow Village were in 1849

when an Anglo-Saxon cemetery
was accidentally discovered

on the nearby heath.

In 1947, the outline of
the village was discovered,

and following extensive excavation,

it was decided in 1974 to
reconstruct the village

on the site as an experimental
archeological project,

which has been ongoing ever since.

In 1999, the site was opened to the public

and offers visitors a feel of
how early Saxons once lived.

Norwich is the county town of Norfolk,

and back in the 11th century
it was the largest city

in England after London and one

of the most important
places in the kingdom.

Throughout the Medieval
period, Norwich established

wide-ranging trading links
with other parts of Europe,

with its market stretching
from Scandinavia to Spain.

Norwich Castle was founded
soon after the Norman conquest

and records show that 98
Saxon homes were demolished

to make way for it.

The Normans established a new settlement

around the castle, as
well as a marketplace,

which has been in continuous
operation for over 900 years.

In 1096, the Bishop of
Feckford began construction

of Norwich Cathedral.

The chief building material
was limestone imported

from Carne in Normandy.

To transport it to the cathedral site,

a canal was cut from the river to get it

as close as possible.

When it was completed, the bishop moved

his episcopal seat to the new cathedral.

In 1272, it suffered considerable damage

after riots in the city.

In 1362, the spire fell
down, causing major damage.

And if that was not enough,
lightning struck in 1463,

causing a fire to rage through the nave.

The new spire is the second
tallest in the country

after Salisbury Cathedral at 96 meters.

The building still retains much

of its original Norman design

and remains a place of worship.

The castle, however,
was turned into a prison

in the 13th century and
remained so until 1887

when it was bought by the city council

and turned into a museum.

In 1845, the railway arrived

and a grand Victorian station was built.

Up until then, it was often
quicker, surprisingly,

to travel by boat from
Norwich to Amsterdam

than to travel to London by road.

The Romans also occupied East Anglia,

and next to the Village of
Burgh Castle is the site

of one of several forts.

It was constructed around the 4th century

to house cavalry as a
defense against Saxon raids

up the rivers of the east coast.

The fort is a very large
rectangle with three

of the tall, massively
built walls still standing.

The fourth fell into
what was once an estuary

but is now a marsh.

The projecting towers enabled soldiers

to defend the walls against attack

and were a useful place
to position catapults,

which the Romans called ballistae.

The fort was garrisoned for a period

by a 500 strong cavalry unit.

Unusually, no Roman roads
have been identified

connecting Burgh Fort with the remainder

of the military network.

It's quite possible it was resupplied

exclusively from the sea.

This is the River Yare
which runs up to Norwich

from the coast, and along
the river at Reedham

are a number of windmills.

This is the Berney Arms
Mill, which was built in 1865

to grind cement clinker.

The raw materials would
have been delivered by boat.

When production ceased,
the mill was converted

to a pumping mill to drain
the surrounding marshland.

Today it's restored
and open to the public.

Close by is Polkey's Mill, which was built

for drainage and modernized
in the late 19th century

from an earlier mill of
the late 18th century.

It was restored in 2002 and is managed

by the Norfolk Windmills Trust.

We now follow the River Yare to the coast,

where it flows into the
North Sea at Great Yarmouth.

For hundreds of years this
was a major fishing port,

depending mainly on the herring industry.

In the second half of the 20th century,

it suffered a steep decline and
has now all but disappeared.

However, the town has
been a resort since 1760

and has steadily grown
in size and popularity

over the last two centuries.

The town's seafront is
known as the Golden Mile

and attracts millions
of visitors each year

to its sandy beaches,
along with a whole host

of indoor and outdoor attractions
and amusement arcades,

including two piers.

Charles Dickens used
Yarmouth as a key location

in his novel, "David Copperfield,"

and is said to have described the town

as the finest place in the universe.

He stayed at the Royal
Hotel on the Marine Parade

while writing one of his best known books.

From the seafront it's possible

to see Scroby Sands Wind Farm,

one of the U.K.'s first
offshore installations.

It was commissioned in March 2004

and has a capacity of 60 megawatts,

enough power to supply 41,000 households.

(inspiring music)

The farm consists of 30 wind turbines

located in water about 15 meters deep.

Each turbine has three, 40 meter blades

that rotate round a center point

some 60 meters above sea level.

The steel masts that carry the turbines

are driven 30 meters into the seabed

to provide stability
on the shifting sands.

The wind is also useful
for the 100s of boats

that can be seen on the Norfolk Broads

and the rivers that join
these open stretches of water.

Boating holidays have
been popular on the Broads

for well over a hundred years,

and one of the most
famous sites on the river

is the Norfolk wherry.

This is the Albion, built
in 1898 as a trading vessel.

She was rescued and restored in 1949

and is one of only a few
remaining trading barges

built specifically for the Broads.

In the Edwardian summer
months during the 1900s,

skippers scrubbed out the hulls

and took holiday makers for
trips to make extra money,

just as she does today.

One of the most popular holiday centers

in the Broadland National Park is Horning.

It's hard to believe now
that the village goes back

to the year 1020 when King Canute gave it

to the local abbey.

Horning lies on the River Bure

and is a good place to
hire a pleasure cruiser

or rent a waterside cottage.

It's described as the prettiest
village on the Broads,

and the designs of some
of the waterside homes

are very individual indeed.

And today these houses change hands

for a great deal of money,

many exceeding well over a million pounds.

The Broads are a network
of navigable rivers

and lakes across the Counties
of Norfolk and Suffolk

and were formed by the
flooding of peat workings.

In January of 2015 the
Broads were recognized

as a national park, which
includes seven rivers

and 63 Broads, mostly less
than four meters deep.

This one is Hickling Broad,
the largest of the group.

It's a haven for all sorts of wildlife,

and of course, a great
place to sail or cruise.

At the north end of the
Broad is Hickling Staithe,

where this is a sailing club, boatyards

and a pleasure boat inn for
a well-earned drink and meal.

Horsey Mere is one of
the most northerly Broads

and ends at Horsey Wind Pump.

This drainage windmill was built in 1912

on the foundations of an earlier one

and was working until
1943 when it was struck

by lightning and severely damaged.

Now restored, it marks the
end of the navigable waterway.

We end our journey at
one of England's finest

historic estates and
the probable birthplace

of Anne Boleyn, mother
of Elizabeth the First

and executed by her husband,
Henry the Eighth, in 1536.

This is Blickling Hall.

(palatial music)

The present house was built in 1616

and largely replaced the Boleyn one.

It's in the Jacobian style, which refers

to the Latin name of King James the First,

who reigned at the time.

It was once surrounded by
a magnificent formal garden

which was later reduced in size

to make way for a landscaped park.

For many visitors, it's the association

with the tragic story of Anne Boleyn

that captures the imagination,
and the ghost story.

It's said that every
year on the anniversary

of her execution a headless ghost arrives

at Blickling in a carriage driven

by an equally headless coachman.

But she hasn't lost her head
completely in the afterlife.

She carries it along with
her during her hauntings.

A ghostly place to end this journey.

(majestic music)