Britain's soaring spires that became Ken Follet's Pillars Of The Earth

By KEN FOLLETT

Must-see: The Pillars Of The Earth was adapted for television


The television adaptation of my 1989 historical novel The Pillars Of The Earth, which reached a climax last night, was terrific.

In eight hour-long episodes, it told the story of the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge during turbulent times in the 12th Century.

The Channel 4 drama featured top-notch British actors including Matthew Macfadyen as Prior Philip and Rufus Sewell as Tom Builder.

Ian McShane played the manipulative Bishop Waleran Bigod wonderfully well, while Eddie Redmayne was super as the story's hero, Jack. And the series also starred a very sexy German actress called Natalia Woerner as Ellen, a witchy woman who lived in the forest.

Filming actually took place in Hungary. When I arrived on set for the first time, I was astonished to discover that the crew had built a full-scale medieval English village in a field outside Budapest.

Kingsbridge was a place I had invented in my head and yet here it was for real. Everything had been presented just as I saw it in my mind's eye.

I have long been fascinated by cathedrals. It's that feeling you get when you stand outside one of these huge edifices and you think: Why is it here?

The first cathedral to strike me in such a way was Peterborough. Suddenly I wanted to know more about its history. Why did they build it? Why did they want it?

When I was creating Kingsbridge for my book, I had Wells Cathedral in mind. In the early to mid-14th Century, the tower at Wells was raised to its present height, which caused structural problems. Stonemasons set about building the magnificent scissor arches to keep the building up - features that still exist today.


Inspiration: Ken Follett has always been fascinated by cathedrals


But the finished building that I described in my book looks like Salisbury Cathedral - and this is how the producers of the Channel 4 series made the Kingsbridge cathedral look.

Salisbury is one of my favourite cathedrals. I think it is the most charming because it is built in just one architectural style. Very few English cathedrals are like that for the simple reason that they were usually built over an extended period. In contrast, Salisbury was built relatively quickly - in 38 years.

As well as being impressed by British cathedrals, I have also visited many examples across Europe. In my novel, I mention the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain - Jack goes there and sees Moorish architecture for the first time.

There is a theory that Moorish architecture inspired cathedral builders here to incorporate the pointed arch into their designs.

When I look at cathedrals - especially the biggest ones - I still find it hard to believe that they were constructed without the use of power tools and without the detailed knowledge of structural engineering that we have today. In medieval times, they relied an awful lot on guesswork and luck.

Building cathedrals was certainly a hazardous business. William of Sens, the man tasked with rebuilding part of Canterbury Cathedral after it was destroyed in a fire in 1174, was severely injured after falling from its scaffolding.

It's a pretty fair assumption that many lesser people were killed or badly injured during the whole building process.

Today, scaffolding comprises long steel poles and steel fittings, but it was much more primitive in those days - branches held together with rope.

I thought a lot about the risks that people took as I wrote my book, as well as reflecting on the sheer effort and the huge amounts of money involved. These are inspirational subjects for a writer.

You also have to remember that there was no such thing as a cathedral architect during those times. The most skilled people involved in the building process were the stonemasons. They really were at the forefront of technology - such as it was - in the Middle Ages.

Stonemasons learned from each other and they were among a select band of people who travelled abroad. In my book, Jack moves from England to France and later to Spain.


Influence: The scissor arches at Wells - the cathedral Ken Follett had in mind when creating Kingsbridge


When visiting cathedrals, it's worth studying the finer details. At Salisbury, for example, the lancet windows - those tall narrow windows with a pointed arch at the top - are particularly interesting.

Lancet windows are a feature of the style called Early English, the earliest Gothic style in the country. As well as the lancet windows, if you visit Salisbury it is worth going up to the tower where you can see the great wheel - a winch used for hauling up massive stones.

Another aspect that I find interesting about cathedrals is the length of time it took to construct them - work could take many decades or even centuries. For example, construction of the glorious Cologne cathedral began in 1248 but later stopped for hundreds of years before resuming. It was finally finished in 1880.



Ornate: The ceiling in the Trinity Chapel at Salisbury, Britain's tallest cathedral


Work on a cathedral would stop for several reasons - those in charge of the project could run out of stone or money, or even decide they should build it somewhere else entirely and start all over again.

And what is fascinating for me is that while work stopped for, say, a century, different architectural styles were developing.

In English cathedrals, you can walk around and see that some parts are Norman, some are Early English, others are Decorated (a Middle English style) and more still are High Gothic.
I enjoy looking at cathedrals very much. I'm not a religious person - in fact I'm an atheist - but I'm still moved by the beauty and grandeur of these buildings.

Wherever I happen to be travelling, I enjoy spending time looking at the local cathedral. I go to Cologne a lot because this is where my German publishers are based, and I take the opportunity to visit the cathedral every time I'm in the city.

Meanwhile, I'm planning another Kingsbridge novel - it won't be about building a cathedral but it will be about the town.

The Pillars Of The Earth DVD is now on sale priced £29.99. Ken Follett was speaking to Frank Barrett.


source: dailymail