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Series 16: 19. Witham to Saffron Walden
Arriving in the Essex market town of Witham, Michael heads into the countryside to visit Terling Place, one of the county’s great country houses. He hears how in the late 19th century, Victorian scientist the 3rd Baron Rayleigh discovered the atmospheric gas argon here.\n\nMichael joins the Braintree branch line - aka the Flitch line - and alights at Cressing to visit two huge medieval barns that are thought to be the oldest timber-framed structures in England.\n\nAt Braintree, Michael learns about the town's wool and silk industries before heading to the Warner and Sons archive, where he discovers a depository of thousands of silk patterns, including two pieces with a royal connection. \n\nAt Great Bardfield, Michael traces a group of artists including Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious, who settled in the pretty Essex village from the 1930s onwards. He meets the author of a book on the artists, who now lives in their former home.
Source: BBC 2
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