Machines Time Forgot (C4): HOW they built vast 14-storey cathedrals in medieval Europe is not a question, I would suggest, that has vexed much of the population in recent years. We're more concerned whether Peter Barlow will marry his Shell or Scott will beat Ray to win Big Brother.

But TV producers can make an entertaining hour out of virtually anything these days and Crane, which opened a series examining achievements advanced for their time, had as much tension as any soap or reality show.

Eight hundred years ago there was a cathedral-building boom in Europe. Somewhere was needed to store the bones of martyrs, and the competition heated up to see who could build the biggest and the tallest cathedral. In the process, they quarried more stones than the Egyptians as thousands of religious buildings sprung up.

The task was to see if a modern team, led by film set designer Julian Weaver, could construct one of the 30ft cranes used by Gothic builders. And could the crane, driven by a giant treadwheel, actually be able to lift heavy loads as they did in medieval times?

With no plans available and using only medieval paintings as guidelines, this seemed a daunting task, especially as Weaver had no formal engineering training. "Working from intuition" hardly seemed a sensible way to proceed. His comment on seeing the raw materials - "strewth, we've got a lot of wood" - indicated his somewhat unscientific approach.

The team that assembled in a field in Normandy, close to an abbey with an 80ft tower to give viewers a sense of scale, included eight carpenters and two blacksmiths. The challenge was to turn Weaver's scale model into reality, using, as far as possible, medieval techniques.

The building of the four-storey high wheel - big enough to hold the man whose footpower turned the thing - was not without problems. It was decided to make it bigger than planned, without considering the implications of whether the frame could support a heavier wheel.

Tempers frayed as pressure built - bad for them, good for the programme - and they tried, with the help of every able-bodied man in the village, to fit the wheel to the rest of the crane.

Again, impatience won over careful thought as they started to lift despite protests from team members worried about the whole thing crashing to the ground.

The outcome was a draw. The crane wouldn't turn but did lift heavy weights. We left it with a very heavy van dangling from the end of the crane arm.

Point proved.

Published: 22/07/2003