How We Built Britain, on BBC One, is an epic six-part journey around the British Isles, telling the story of how periods of architecture gave each region its unique character. David Dimbleby, who presents the series, told BBC Radio Berkshire's Henry Kelly one story relating to Berkshire's Stratfield Saye House.  | | Aerial view (C) Stratfield Saye |
The house was built in 1630 by Sir William Pitt, and from the early nineteenth century became home to the Dukes of Wellington. It lies on the border between Berkshire and Hampshire, and is still home to the present Duke of Wellington. You can visit it during July and August each year. 'He saw his own ceiling'"I came across a very interesting story there," Dimbleby told us. "Stratfield Saye is built in classical style and was given to the Duke of Wellington by a grateful nation after the Battle of Waterloo. "While he was still a soldier in the Second World War, the present Duke of Wellington was fighting in Syria, among the great classical ruins of Palmyra, because the Germans had an airport there and the Vichy French were defending it.  | | Dining room (C) Stratfield Saye |
"As he took refuge in a ruined Syrian temple, he looked up and saw above him the ceiling from his dining room back home at Stratfield Saye. "The reason is that in the eighteenth century, classical drawings of these buildings came back to Britain. "These drawings were used to help design British buildings in that classical style. "So the ceiling of the Duke of Wellington's dining room at Stratfield Saye is an exact replica of the temple in the Syrian battlefield." How We Built Britain begins this Sunday evening on BBC One.Stay tuned to BBC Berkshire to have your say on Berkshire's finest - or worst - buildings over the coming weeks as the series continues. | 
