The BBC's Restoration series is showing how many outstanding buildings in Britain have fallen into a state of disrepair. Part of the problem is money but lack of trained craftsmen with the skills to do the intricate repair work is another headache.  | | This staircase looks like something out of an Escher painting |
But in a hidden valley in the Cotswolds a school for stonemasons is teaching the craftsmen and women of the future. Master mason Tom Maude reveals the wonderful work going on at Woodchester Mansion near Stroud on BBC West's Inside Out television series. The Victorian Gothic mansion was mysteriously abandoned during construction in 1868 and, after years untouched, a trust was founded in 1989 to save this unique listed building. Click on the link below to take a virtual tour of wonderful Woodchester Mansion 
It has been saved from dereliction but remains unfinished so modern stonemasons can study centuries-old building techniques and architectural details - and put them to use to preserve churches, cathedrals and stately homes across Britain and the world. 
You've got all these original remnants. It's like a three-dimensional textbook of medieval building. | | Master mason Mark Hancock |
Walking through Woodchester, it looks for all the world as if the builders went off for a tea-break - and never came back. Says Tom Maude: "It's almost as if someone's just come down the ladder, leaned the square up against the wall and walked away." Master mason Mark Hancock has spent many years learning the secrets of Woodchester. He says: "You've got all these original remnants. It's like a three-dimensional textbook of medieval building. "William Leigh who built this house was a very, very devout man. there's so much of this house which has been built almost in a monastic, cathedral style."  | | One of the many gargoyles |
The exterior is dominated by weird gargoyles and interior ceiling bosses feature stunning carvings of ferns, vines, and mysterious figures like the Green Man, a fertility figure from ancient British legend. The sometimes creepy feel of this abandoned house is added to by the fact that Woodchester is also home to one of the largest colonies of rare horseshoe bats - and the mansion is also reputed to be home to several ghosts.
>>More about Woodchester's ghost stories Neil Bond, an apprentice at Canterbury Cathedral, is one of the trainee stonemasons learning his craft at Woodchester. He says: "It's great, it's an amazing place. "I know it's not completely finished but you can see something which shows the stages of how this place was built." >>What's a hunky punk? A stonemason's ABC Forsaken in the 19th century and forgotten for much of the 20th, Woodchester's legacy is that many more historic buildings will benefit from the skills being learned here in the 21st century.
Inside Out on Woodchester Mansion is on BBC1 in the West, Monday September 1, 7.30pm. | 
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