How We Built Britain
Programme Three: Scotland – Towering Ambitions
David Dimbleby travels through Scotland – a country with a rugged landscape dotted with buildings different from anything else in Britain.
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His journey begins at Stirling Castle, a strong symbol of the moment when Scotland put its history of warring clans and threats of invasion from the south behind it.
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Explains David: "The image of the castle is so powerful you'll find it in public buildings and people's private homes all over Scotland and right down the ages."
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Even after the union of England and Scotland in 1603, castles continued. Reinvented as Tower Houses, they looked like fortresses but were designed for more comfortable living. Craigevar in Aberdeenshire, with its soaring towers and portcullis, was actually the home of merchant William Forbes.
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By the end of the 17th century, castles gave way to more elegant and comfortable living, such as Kinross House, designed by architect Sir William Bruce.
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Life was tough for poorer Scots, as David discovers in the Outer Hebrides where the islanders' remote lifestyle remained largely unchanged until the 20th century. Crofters lived in simple cottages called Blackhouses, built of stone, turf and thatch, shared by three generations – and all the animals.
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Castles returned to popularity in Victorian times as people romanticised about Scotland's past. Novelist Bram Stoker chose eerie Slains Castle as the home for his fictional creation Count Dracula.
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Aberdeen became the biggest fishing port in Scotland in the 19th century. Its wealth created grand civic buildings, almost all made from granite, including Marischal College, the second largest granite building in the world.
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Glasgow's wealth was based on ship-building, and its exploding population led to the creation of a new building – the tenement. In the early 1900s, 5000 tenements were built each year. There's also a castle theme at the city’s School of Art, designed in 1896 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
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But in Edinburgh, one building is far removed from tradition, the ultra-modern Scottish Parliament. Says David: "It's a building which resolutely refuses to look back. But in a way it's a statement of a new Scottish confidence and power."
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