Time Team Special: The God of Gothic | Classic Special (Full Episode) 2007 - Augustus Pugin

FULL EPISODE | CLASSIC TIME TEAM SPECIAL
Tony Robinson follows the renovation of the Grange, a house in Ramsgate, Kent, formerly owned by 19th-century architect Augustus Pugin, co-creator of the Houses of Parliament. Pugin's designs for the home became a blueprint for thousands of properties built after his death and in 20 years he succeeded in changing the face of England. With the help of experts such as Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud, the Landmark Trust aims to restore a piece of history.
Original broadcast date: 1st March 2007
With thanks to:
V&A
Pugin Society
Hardman Studios
Alamy
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[@TimeTeamOfficial]

Join us on Patreon for a range of extras including masterclasses, Dig Watch updates during excavations, additional interviews and 3D models. Plus your membership directly supports new digs and episodes like this one!

[@Clearphish]

One of my French-speaking neighbours here in rural West Québec is a Pugin. I sent him a link to this video. It turns out that he is a direct descendant of Augustus Pugin, now four or five generations later!

[@severianmonk7394]

When I was a child in Montreal I wanted to change my name to Pugin but my mother wasn't a fan of neo-gothic design and thought it was a creepy name. I got over it.

[@Clearphish]

@@severianmonk7394 Nothing creepy about my neighbour. With a great partner, kids and a fine organic vegetable farm.

[@kvarietyfan]

First, Pugin might have been just a tad manic. (Understatement). Second. These specials are a wonderful part of the Time Team experience. Thank you very much indeed.

[@fionad9913]

I had never seen this special before, it is one of my absolute favorites now. I could have done with 2 parts more! Thanks so much!!!!!

[@harriethowell5444]

This was wonderful and so pleased to have Sir Tony Robinson as narrator. There is nobody like Tony!❤❤

[@markelder1345]

Just when you think you have seen all the specials. Love this one!

[@janielaurel]

Lovely - Pugin is one of my architectural heroes - AND a Time Team special that I had never experienced. Well done, all :)

[@frankpellow]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks for uploading

[@bigsarge2085]

Awesome!

[@angelafoxmusic7265]

How wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this master. Thankyou Time Team.

[@sushirules]

And with Sir Tony, the penultimate presenter, telling the story. Lovely!

[@tinagleeson7813]

Thank you for publishing this - it was fascinating!! What an extraordinary man Pugin must have been - and how sad that his contribution to architecture in England, and the broader Commonwealth nations, was almost forgotten - until Time Team!!

[@cncshrops]

Excellent introduction to period of extravagant enthusiasm and the wealth to realise it's fever-dreams.

[@drtrustrum]

I grew up as a Catholic in North Staffordshire, so Pugin's legacy was always a huge part of my life. The current state of Cotton College should be of national concern, it is a disgrace.

[@belwynne1386]

This was wonderful! I learned so much…just in line with the best of Time Team.

[@joannekellam191]

Fantastic special! I had not seen this before either. Awesome also to see Kevin McCloud from my other favorite series, Grand Designs, with a little bit here!

[@doobat708]

Never seen this special before! Thanks so much for re-releasing it! I love the Victorian movements around this type of revivalism, like Charles Rennie Macintosh as well, treating the home as a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk.

[@seanpaula8924]

Thank you Sir Tony.

[@edherdman9973]

Ah, just in time for a lovely evening. Thanks!

[@adamsjerome1839]

I can't think of any superlatives to describe Pugin. Simply awe inspiring.

[@0210rokvist]

Love Tonys energy

[@owenfish5450]

I thought I had seen just about every Time Team episode/special but I had not seen this one before. I think this was the best 'special' of the series actually. Very sensitive to the topic, great detail and content. It was like opening a Taschen book and seeing it come to life. Also lovely to see younger-looking Messrs. Aterbury and McCloud feature in this one, both passionate and engrossing figures in themselves.

[@desmcharris]

Thank you Time Team for putting up this astonishing episode. I do remember it's first airing here in Australia. It happened to coincide with a discovery of a Pugin designed chapel in Tasmania. I do wonder if it was still too much to recognise a Catholic and give honours to one in British society. That's why , perhaps he was passed over. Such a rich cast of characters in this episode. Thankyou again.

[@giovanni5063]

Sir Tony, so pleased to hear your voice again. Best regards to you and give my best to Black Adder.

[@susanjane4784]

By far the best Tony feature I've seen. Full of love for what would otherwise be a bewildering riot of color and form. If Tony was doing a program on birds it would include details on how claws work and how feathers shape whole bodies -- but also the graceful arc of migrating species etched against the sky.

[@54mgtf22]

Time Team with Sir Tony is my comfy slippers.

[@dragonmaid1360]

He was like the architectural Mozart of his time. Id cry every time I saw some of those buildings. How stunning and beautiful

[@amierikke6225]

Thank you for bringing this to us. I never heard of this person, never knew about him.

[@bethannyallain5395]

I never heard of this man. Thank you for doing this ❤

[@jasonmichael5055]

Sir Tony is the David Attenborough of History Documentaries. A National treasure. And I've watched everything from Australia. Just moved to Waterloo, Liverpool. Would love to get involved with Time Team

[@anitapollard1627]

Thank you!!!!

[@Davlavi]

Great episode.

[@joshhoffman1975]

How on Earth, can one man have all this output! 😲

[@mordillokiwi]

Wow, this was quite an enjoyable watch.

[@theladyoflife]

It's amazing to see how you all are able to accept a discovered truth...and stand for and by it! Awesome! Thank you!

[@NeungView]

What?

[@giovanni5063]

Seeing those artisans restoring the ceiling of the library made me wonder that if they were supine and close to the work, would it not be easier to do? Wasn't that how Michealangelo did the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

[@stevenbrown8857]

Pugin and Isambard kingdom Brunel two magnificent minds from a different time of when Britain was Great 😊

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

A true polymath.

[@guyplachy9688]

Exquisite re-released special! Pugin was, I feel, forgotten because of his religion. England may have opened the door for the Catholics to "re-enter" society but long-held bigotries require more that just words, they require time in which to change. Pugin was a Catholic & English society still looked, at the least, skeptically or, at the worst, contemptuously upon Catholics, whereas Barry was a Protestant and, therefore, a more socially acceptable focus for all the recognition for the rebuilding of Westminster.

[@chriswilson6352]

well, maybe. However the grandiose House of Lords seems counter culture to me. That gothic ornate expression of being "better" than others seems quaint now and needing to be put aside as in a museum, rather than an expression of the nation's current multi-cultural embrace. The empire and the commonwealth in their current forms would repudiate such hierarchies and Tony R does an admirable job of indicating that while also drawing attention to Pugin's genius. His values are long gone (hopefully)

[@ThreadBomb]

They were hardly going to put a 25-year-old in charge of rebuilding Westminster, whatever his religion.

[@BarbosaUral]

No one can deny Pugin had immense talent. He could see a design in his mind and then draw it out. I see a person in my mind and I draw a stick figure. I'm envious of people that can see and draw like Pugin. I however overall see his architecture as gawdy as my great aunt's costume jewelry she bought all during the 20'th century. Definitely not my style.

[@TalmidAndy]

I shared this episode with an American friend who is an architect and it was interesting to hear a very different perspective on this subject. He did purpose his comments with the fact that he does appreciate that Pugin was an excellent artist and draftsman but none of his work would have come to fruition without the skills of the stonemasons, carpenters, and plasterers who did the actual work. Phrases like "pseudo intellectual and sentimentalist waffle' we used to describe the contributions of the experts. He could see why there is a huge housing crisis in the UK as the amount of time and money spent on restoring, maintaining, and protecting buildings like this would be better spent on building affordable housing - with hundreds if not thousands being able to be placed on the grounds of each of these 'important' buildings. To be honest I don't think he's wrong.

[@rickwalden7022]

The god of Gothic is two separate things!

[@susiemartin3144]

Fab! 👍👍

[@Power_Prawnstar]

Kevin Mcleod.......yes!

[@adeptusmagi]

so if Pugin designed the infamous wall paper then its public domain now

[@davidevans3227]

people looking young

[@Awitsaduck]

Is it only me who finds his style very gaudy? I don't like it at all. I do however, love the episode. Great stuff as ever. Hardman might have survived until this episode but barely lasted another year beyond that.

[@classicambo9781]

5:10

[@ThreadBomb]

It's worth saying overtly that Pugin was a bit of a nut. He wanted British society to return to the Middle Ages, not just in architecture and decoration but in social and political structure. His profession was just a means to bring about that aim.

[@fexdammit]

20:45 budget job.... that blokes pits are blurry....

[@grabtharshammer]

More Ikea than B&Q?

[@TheDesertwalker]

If it ain't Tony......it ain't TT.

[@andrewbantick6311]

OCD 🤔

[@doncook2054]

Another Victorian who invented what we think is historically accurate...and isn't. Sigh..

[@michaelkinsey4649]

Tuned in Torrent of adverts Tuned out.

[@medievalladybird394]

What a pity, I can't remember ads. I was in the live chat. Next time join the chat. Maybe you won't get any advertisement 🤔

[@Jack-hy1zq]

KZbin Premium.

[@medievalladybird394]

@@Jack-hy1zq that ofcourse is a possibility michael will be aware of. I don't have prime either. Have a nice evening from Germany.

[@theladyoflife]

Get KZbin premium.....you will discover a whole wide new world!

[@TheSilentPrince-mt5mx]

I'd recommend Opera as a browser if a 'torrent' of ads bothers you. Set the onboard ad-blocker appropriately and Google doesn't get the ache but most adverts are filtered out.

[@kevinjamesparr552]

Great ideas fantastic vision wokaholoc but wrong about religion which is but man made.nonsense and insult to God.Loved the program though as I think Pugin was a one off

[@grabtharshammer]

My question is, was he really that clever? What did HE design, rather than just copy from Medieval designs? Was he just Autistic and was just very much into EVERY detail being just perfect? But at the same time he was just re-hashing medieval things as he saw them? What did he do that could only be described as innovative? - Serious question, I don't know much about him or architectural design, just asking from the viewpoint of someone who just sees an overall picture.

[@juliesiefke1173]

Isn’t “re-hashing things the way they see them” what every artist does? In every medium? How many poetic or musical ways are there to say “I love you.” Or “I’m lonely.” Or “Praise the Lord, for all his works are wonderful.” How many re-tellings are there of Romeo and Juliet? Or Beauty and the Beast? How many paintings of The Last Supper? Or Sunflowers? Or a nude woman? Pugin departed from the current architectural style (Georgian) and brought his love of gothic design to a new era of fabrication. Gothic was the shape, and the “window dressing” but underneath it was designing a building for FUNCTION, how people were going to use it, or designing a space for how people would experience it-that’s the theatre influence. Then he clothed it and accessorized it (to excess) in Gothic “fabric.” His work was an homage to medieval design, not a copy. Every artist stands on the shoulders of other artists who influenced them.

[@janwellington8663]

@@juliesiefke1173 Couldn't have said it better myself. (I'm an autistic artist.)

[@ThreadBomb]

@@juliesiefke1173 Put it another way: did Pugin do anything artistically original? Is there something we could describe as a unique Pugin characteristic, beyond simple pastiche?

[@gregb6469]

So what is the new Labour government going to do with that beautiful Lords' Chamber when they abolish the House of Lords, house illegal immigrants in it?

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Good idea!

[@anything6398]

They'll be in power soon enough 😢

[@ledacedar6253]

I’d like to see research exposing the no doubt many previously poor and not poor, now deeply malnourished children & babies, youth & parents & seniors!