The problem with film is that it decays. A movie everyone can watch today can swiftly become a can of faded celluloid, an overwritten file or a tape nobody has the equipment to play. The problem of media obsolescence was first taken seriously in 1933 when the National Film Library was established, its role to preserve and share cine films that might otherwise be lost to time. Since renamed the BFI National Archive, its key conservation site is in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and every year it opens its doors for just one day to allow the public inside. Which was yesterday.
Officially it's the J Paul Getty Jr Conservation Centre, because he donated most of the money that allowed it to be set up. It's in Berkhamsted for several reasons: a) the government moved its film archive out of London to nearby Aston Clinton during WW2, b) the town has excellent rail links, c) local TV reception is excellent. The building opened in 1983, when the preservation of television programmes had become more important, and includes various archive stores for different kinds of media. To avoid unintended combustion, the oldest nitrate filmreels were moved to a refrigerated Master Film Store at Gaydon, Warwickshire in 2011.
The Berkhamsted building is out by the bypass, tucked away behind cottages and a car park. It's staffed by a workforce of 80, many of whom had come in to help out at yesterday's open day and were identifiable in their white coats. They were a also a cheery bunch, even on a day off, because what a fantastic job to have, especially if your background is in physics or organic chemistry. The publicly-accessible portion of the site wasn't large, just the reception, 80s-style atrium and a few adjacent rooms, but there was plenty to learn and see. But I wish I'd read the map they gave me on the way in more carefully, as it mentioned the Projection Room required a timed ticket and by the time I noticed the only slots were two hours distant.
A curator gave a talk explaining how the BFI started and what it does. A screen outside the postroom was showing a few Mitchell & Kenyon classics. A display on the balcony outlined the particular challenges of conserving video, aided and abetted by a Q&A chat. A laptop provided a portal to the free BFIPlayer website, where anyone in the UK can watch thousands of old films for free. For example on its Britain on Film clickable map I found this delightful 1950s short of morris dancing in Berkhamsted High Street - maybe there's something local to you. I spent over an hour looking around, and if only I'd grabbed a ticket to that elusive Projection Room it would have been nearer two.
The most interesting moment was when we were led into one of the archive stores, a giant hangar containing shelves and shelves of videos, reels and DVDs stored inside over half a million cases. Video's actually an easy medium to conserve, the difficulty is all in retaining the technology to decode it. The BFI's mission is therefore now to digitise everything, or at least a sample of as much as they can afford. Old media are transferred to tape drives in small black cases each storing 8.8TB, the equivalent of 44 feature films, then packed in boxes of 9 and stacked inside a robot-accessible cabinet - the ultimate Hollywood jukebox. There are also constant plans to upgrade to the newest technology, which is a lot easier when everything's zeroes and ones, which should finally put an end to a century of media attrition. Thankyou Berkhamsted.
Five amazing facts about Berkhamsted 1) In December 1066, the Anglo-Saxons surrendered to William the Conqueror at Berkhamsted. English history pivots here. 2) Famous people who've lived in Berkhamsted include Thomas a Becket, Henry IV, Piers Gaveston, Geoffrey Chaucer, Clementine Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and Graham Greene, while famous people born here include William Cowper, Dame Esther Rantzen, Sir Michael Hordern, Nick Owen and Sarah Brightman. 3) The Whomping Willow from the Harry Potter films was an ancient beech tree on Berkhamsted Common (until it split and fell in 2014) 4) Behind the Victorian facade of the estate agents at 173 High Street is the oldest extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain. 5) The Rex Cinema, Dame Judi Dench's favourite classic single screen auditorium, was built on the site of the house once lived in by the brothers who inspired JM Barrie to write Peter Pan.
You've likely seen Berkhamsted Castle from the train - it's terribly conveniently located for the station. Construction began in 1066, courtesy of William the Conqueror's half-brother, making this one of the very first Norman motte and baileys. Two deep water-filled ditches surrounded a large central enclosure, later fortified within and palace-d up a bit, with a grassy mound rising high in one corner. Berkhamsted was only besieged once, unsuccessfully, in 1216. In its day the castle was properly important, but Edward IV's mother proved the final resident after which the place inexorably fell into ruins.
Today it's mostly grass, with a few stretches of leftover wall and a bit of a tower. English Heritage are in charge, but this is one of the sites they unlock for free at 10am every morning so it's very easy to get inside. Facilities are thin, with a Victorian cottage encroaching on one side and a history room next door which might or might not be open. Even the interpretation boards are on the minimal side, because what you're really here for is to experience the extent of the bailey and the height of the motte. The 60 steps up to the top are obviously a modern intrusion, and without them it's easy to imagine how effective the steep slopes would have been for defensive purposes.
The ditches were drained in the 1950s and these days only fill with water at times of exceptionally high rainfall, so the lifebelts around the perimeter are mostly superfluous. It is possible to follow the grassy ridge between the two dips, a singular circuit which takes all of ten minutes, although most visitors don't seem to bother. But as one of the closest surviving castles to London, even in its pristine tumbledown state, it is a fantastically accessible place to experience a window on our Norman heritage.
Five not quite so amazing facts about Berkhamsted 1) The Berkhamsted Bowmen are the oldest archery club in England. 2) Beside the canal is one of the UK's half dozen authentic totem poles, erected in the early 1960s. 3) The River Bulbourne has mostly dried up this summer, as have many other Chiltern chalk streams. 4) If Britain's high streets are dying, this'll be one of the last to go. 5) I had never been to Berkhamsted before. I'm not sure how this was ever allowed to happen.
