1
00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:11,000
'In 1840, one man
transformed travel in Britain.

2
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:17,640
'His name was George Bradshaw,
and his railway guides inspired the
Victorians to take to the tracks.

3
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,760
'Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,

4
00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,800
'what to see, and where to stay.

5
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,840
'Now, 170 years later, I'm making a
series of journeys across the length

6
00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:35,760
'and breadth of the country to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.'

7
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,960
My railway journey will now plunge
me deep into the heart of Kent,

8
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,840
picking my destinations
from Bradshaw's guide

9
00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,480
just as Victorian tourists
would've done.

10
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:13,760
Although one of the home counties,
Bradshaw's notes that Kent
is still very rural.

11
00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,200
It strikes me that the same
is true today.

12
00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:26,280
'Kent's beautiful countryside was
brought within easy reach of the
capital when the railways arrived.

13
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,920
'The county became attractive
to tourists and commuters alike.

14
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,680
'Rural businesses boomed,
and I'll be visiting some of those

15
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,360
'that have survived
since Bradshaw's time.

16
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:41,360
'On my route today, I'll be hopping
with excitement, Victorian style...'

17
00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,160
I just yank this, do I?

18
00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:44,640
Give it a good pull.

19
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,120
'..discovering the secrets of paper
from a leading expert.'

20
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,720
Would you like to know
where this paper was made?

21
00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,000
Don't tell me you can tell that.
I can.

22
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,680
'..and learning how the trains
transported a very English game
all over the country.'

23
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,120
If you look at a map
of expansion of the rail network

24
00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:10,080
around England and Scotland,
cricket follows those lines.

25
00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:25,080
'So far, I've travelled 30 miles
from London to Chatham, and now
I'm continuing through Kent.

26
00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:31,560
'I'll follow the tracks
as they snake across the county
before heading east via Canterbury.

27
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,280
'Then I'll explore the seaside towns
perched along our frontier

28
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,360
'with Europe on the way to my
final stop, Hastings.

29
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,360
'Starting in Aylesford today,
I'll pass through Maidstone,

30
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,760
'before ending at the historic
spa town of Tunbridge Wells.'

31
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:58,080
Bradshaw's refers to the journey
from Chatham to Aylesford.

32
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,000
He says, "We get glimpses
of woody country, the land is

33
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,120
"studded with substantial homesteads

34
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,840
"and wealthy looking farms,
rising in the midst

35
00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:08,320
"of cornfields or orchards

36
00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,120
"or surrounded by the British
vineyards, the Kentish hop grounds."

37
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:18,080
In the Victorian era, when there
were no grapes in Kent, that was
George Bradshaw's idea of a joke.

38
00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,160
Hops were an essential
ingredient in beer,
and Kent was a key supplier.

39
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:31,960
My guide says, "The ancient
Aylesford has a population of
1,487 employed in the hop gardens.

40
00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:36,760
"The hop was first cultivated
in Kent about the middle
of the 15th century."

41
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:43,880
By 1878, around 47,000 acres of hops
were under cultivation in Kent.

42
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:48,520
Castle Farm,
owned by William Alexander's family,
stills grows hops today.

43
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,880
Hello, William. Hello, Michael.

44
00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:52,640
How are you? Very well, thank you.

45
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,960
'Even hop growing was transformed
by the arrival of the railways.'

46
00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,160
There was a period where

47
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:06,240
the consumption of beer increased,
not least because of
railway construction.

48
00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:11,000
The large teams
of navvies were given up to

49
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:18,600
ten pints a day as part of wages, and
so the hop industry grew on the back
of this raised consumption of beer.

50
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:23,280
Judging by my Bradshaw's guide,
in the middle of the 19th century,

51
00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,720
there would've been extensive
hop growing in Kent,
much more than today.

52
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,800
How was that crop got in?
It must have been very demanding.

53
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:36,040
Yes, to bring in the crop,
you needed to do it in September,
over quite a short period.

54
00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:37,680
You needed a lot of labour.

55
00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,520
This was drawn in from East London,

56
00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,800
often coming down on the trains
when they were available,

57
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:51,720
big groups would arrive on particular
dates, often three generations in

58
00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:58,160
a family, spending two,
three weeks picking hops.

59
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:05,720
From 1865, dedicated trains
known as hopping specials

60
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:10,000
left London Bridge each summer,
packed with families bound for Kent.

61
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,040
For unemployed Londoners,
it was a chance to earn some cash

62
00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,560
and to escape
the smoke of the city.

63
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:23,400
Up to 80,000 people came each year,
and they needed places to stay.

64
00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,960
These are the only two remaining
examples of hopper huts

65
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,520
that families used to live in.

66
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,560
You're not serious?
People lived in these tiny huts?
I know, haven't times changed?

67
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,760
They would have bunk beds built
onto the walls and they made them

68
00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:43,320
quite homely by putting paint
or wallpaper stuck
to the corrugated iron.

69
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:49,920
There was quite a community, with
a whole row of these in the fields,
and a central cooking area.

70
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,560
Every day they were given
a bundle of sticks for the fires

71
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:58,360
from the farm called faggots, which
were made up in the previous winter.

72
00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:04,520
I have to imagine five or six
people stayed in here, and this
was their holiday? Absolutely.

73
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,640
They made it a holiday time.

74
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:08,680
There was a great atmosphere.

75
00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,200
A few weeks in the fresh air was
seen as a benefit to the children.

76
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,920
But it was hard work,
and picking began at daybreak.

77
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:24,200
William's taking me into the fields
to see what's involved.

78
00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:29,080
I can safely say I've never
been in a hop garden before,

79
00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,000
and this is what they mean by one,
is it?

80
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,960
Yes, they grow 16 foot high up
these strings, from ground level,

81
00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,440
which they shoot from in April,
they grow rapidly.

82
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:46,240
When they get to top, they branch out
and you get all these
lovely hops developing.

83
00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,080
Paint for me a Victorian scene.

84
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,120
What would the picking have
been like in Victorian times?

85
00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,640
We've got all this family labour
which has arrived.

86
00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:02,520
They come out on a misty morning,
they would spread up a long row
like this in groups

87
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,400
of family. The farm staff
would come out with

88
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:13,480
long hooks, or pullers,
and pull the vines down,
giving vines to each family to pick.

89
00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,720
They would pick them into baskets.

90
00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:17,560
Can we have a go at doing this?

91
00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:19,240
Yes.

92
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:26,680
We don't have a traditional puller,
so I thought you could act as one
and bring this one down for us.

93
00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,120
If you move over there,
I'll cut this one off.

94
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:36,480
Right.
If you get her on to the end of that
one, Michael, I'll hold your book.

95
00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,680
That's Bradshaw, you hold him
with great respect.
I just yank this, do I?

96
00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:42,320
Give it a good pull.

97
00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:44,640
LAUGHTER

98
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,880
Very good.

99
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,720
Is that how it always goes?

100
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,160
You need to practise, I think.

101
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:54,320
Would you like to try another one?

102
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,520
No. One is enough for today,
I think.

103
00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,400
Pick the hop vine up

104
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:04,280
and lay it near a basket,
and then rapidly pick off the hops.

105
00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,720
You have to go at quite a speed
if you want to get paid.

106
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,320
If you want to earn money,
you've got to get moving.

107
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,200
How were they paid?

108
00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:19,720
Payment was based on the amount
picked every day and in order to keep
your whole, large gang of pickers

109
00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:25,600
here on the farm, and not to lose
them before the crop was fully home
and dry,

110
00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:27,840
they were paid with tokens.

111
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:35,560
I have a hop token, which was
only recognised locally in the pubs
and the grocers of the village.

112
00:08:35,560 --> 00:08:39,240
At the end of the season, the farmer
would exchange it back for good

113
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,880
pounds, shillings and pence,
as they left on the train
back to East London.

114
00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,920
That device prevented
them hopping off... Exactly!

115
00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:49,560
..before the end of the season.

116
00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:53,760
I'd better give you that token back,
I don't feel I've quite earned it.

117
00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:00,760
These days, the brewers
import a lot of their hops,
and William no longer supplies them.

118
00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,600
The process of picking
has been mechanised.

119
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:08,880
What we're seeing here
is how it is harvested today.

120
00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:14,560
They're cut at the bottom
and held in the front of the trailer.

121
00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:19,520
Then the man at the back is cutting
them off at the wirework level,

122
00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,880
rather than pulling them
down to the ground by hand.

123
00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:27,760
Having brought one down
on my own head, I can see
the advantages of this method.

124
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,200
Do you have any people coming
in to do the picking?

125
00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:37,080
We have a different use for hops,
we're cutting them for decoration.

126
00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,120
We're not actually picking them off.
We're drying them on the vine.

127
00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:45,840
That means we don't need vast numbers
of people to do it. We do still,

128
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:51,480
even now, have seasonal labour,
and have a couple with us
at the moment from New Zealand.

129
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:52,960
They didn't come on the train!

130
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,160
They didn't come on the train, no.

131
00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,680
'Victorian workers
might have been rewarded with beer,

132
00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:05,800
'but my clumsy efforts
don't earn me a pint.

133
00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:15,200
'Soberly, I now leave Aylesford and
continue the next leg of my journey,
three miles down the track.'

134
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,360
Maidstone is my next stop.

135
00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,200
Bradshaw says that it's
the capital of Kent.

136
00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:26,040
In a tract of land of great
fertility among the hop grounds.

137
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:32,960
It says that besides hops, paper
is a staple production, especially
at the Turkey and Pole mills.

138
00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,480
I'm on my way to the Turkey Mill.

139
00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,160
'There's a reason why Bradshaw's
singles out the Turkey Mill.

140
00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:45,360
'It was established by
James Whatman, an 18th-century
businessman who

141
00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:50,880
'invented a revolutionary
technique for making paper
that's employed to this day.

142
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,880
'I'm meeting forensic paper
historian, Peter Bower,
to find out more.'

143
00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,080
Peter.

144
00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:57,720
Hello, Michael.

145
00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:02,560
So this is Turkey Mill, and I gather
it is quite a shrine because this is

146
00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,480
where James Whatman
lived and manufactured.

147
00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,160
He's quite a name in paper,
isn't he?

148
00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,760
He is one of the great paper makers.

149
00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:14,560
Might sound odd to talk
about a great paper maker, but
he really did know what he was doing.

150
00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:18,600
He developed better
and better papers.

151
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,720
His paper was forged
by the Austrians, French, Germans,

152
00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,760
because of his fame.

153
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,680
He was also very,
very financially successful.

154
00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,320
At the time, Whatman's Turkey Mill
was the largest paper mill
in Britain,

155
00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:41,400
and one of 14 in Maidstone,
where the industry was centred.

156
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,480
Why was paper made
in Maidstone at all?

157
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:49,320
I think, initially, because
there were a lot of streams
like the Len, which this mill is on,

158
00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:54,760
There was good, consistent
supplies of water, both for power
and for making the paper with.

159
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,840
And you need good, clean water
to make paper.

160
00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:05,640
'The clean water helped Whatman to
make high quality, pure white paper.

161
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,440
'By the 1750s, he'd developed
a new way to make paper
which transformed the industry.

162
00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,520
'Peter's brought me two samples
so I can see the difference.

163
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,000
'First, the old paper.'

164
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,840
I'm seeing a lot
of parallel lines, and I'm seeing
a watermark in the centre, too.

165
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,480
The lines are the traces of the wire
that the paper was made on.

166
00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,280
And now what's this other sheet?
This was also made here.

167
00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,320
And as you can see,
it's completely different.

168
00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:34,600
Yeah, it's much, much smoother,
isn't it?

169
00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,360
It allows you to smooth it much more.

170
00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,360
This is a wove paper. It's actually
made on a woven wire mesh so you

171
00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,800
don't get the texture of the lines,
and it was very deliberate.

172
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,240
A lot of people in the 18th century
really wanted paper like this.

173
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,600
And by the 19th century,
this was the norm.

174
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,360
'The new smooth paper
took print much better.

175
00:12:54,360 --> 00:13:00,720
'With the advent of the railways,
business soared in response to
demand from all over the country.

176
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:03,480
'Whatman's paper was
used by Queen Victoria.

177
00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:08,760
'British Acts of Parliament,
and even Soviet five-year plans
were printed on it..

178
00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,640
One of the reasons why this mill
was so successful, and why Bradshaw

179
00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:19,800
mentions it, because it was famous,
is because this mill provided paper
for some of the greatest artists

180
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,880
Britain's ever seen. Like who?
Turner, Constable, William Blake.

181
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,520
All sorts of people used the paper
over and over and over again.

182
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,080
Pretty demanding clients. Yes.

183
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:34,120
Turner's amusing, because he
quite often bought seconds.

184
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,200
He saved his money!
What a cheapskate!

185
00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:42,080
'Peter's a forensic paper analyst
who gives vital evidence
in fraud cases,

186
00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,120
'so I'm intrigued to know what he
can tell me about my guidebook.'

187
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,360
Now, I know you've been
looking at my Bradshaw's before.

188
00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,160
What sort of paper is this?

189
00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,400
Well, this is quite intriguing.

190
00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,920
Three are three different papers
in this book.

191
00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,360
You've got the end paper,
which is slightly heavier,
a different tone as well.

192
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,240
They're both wove, these
are both machine-made papers.

193
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,280
But there's another paper
in here, which is the maps,

194
00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:13,000
which is much smoother,
again wove, of quite light weight,

195
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,320
again, a different tone.

196
00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,440
And would you like to know
where this paper was made?

197
00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,000
Don't tell me you can tell that?
I can.

198
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,560
Where was it made, then?

199
00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,160
It was made by a company called
James Cropper, who still exist.

200
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,440
The mill is still there and very,
very successful.

201
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:37,920
And we know this because
William Blacklock,
who was Bradshaw's partner,

202
00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,800
was a one-third owner
of James Cropper, the paper mill.

203
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,440
You are the real Professor Higgins
of paper, aren't you?

204
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:47,720
You can find the origins
of anything!

205
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:54,120
'Today, Whatman paper is still made
in a factory a few miles from
the original Turkey Mill,

206
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,520
'and I'm curious to see it.'

207
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,640
Paul. Michael, hello.

208
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,520
How very good to see you.

209
00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,800
Paul Highstead works at
Springfield Mill, and will
show me how the paper's made.

210
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,680
What have we got in there?
Essentially, this is the same
as it has always been made,

211
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:16,240
where we're taking dilute fibres
that have been treated and we're
draining them through a screen.

212
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,400
What you're seeing there
is just fibre and water.

213
00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:24,960
Now, James Whatman
wasn't using glass fibre.
I guess he wasn't using cotton.

214
00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,760
He was using a form of cotton.

215
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,160
He was using rags,
which is second-hand cotton.

216
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:34,840
So it would have been boiled
and prepared, until you end
up with a solution like this.

217
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:38,040
Still using developments
of Whatman's techniques,

218
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:41,240
the factory makes specialised paper
for use in scientific analysis.

219
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:46,200
As in Bradshaw's day, the firm
focuses on products of high quality.

220
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:51,240
It's beautiful stuff, actually.
Where are these particular
rolls destined for?

221
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,520
This particular product
is made from glass microfibre.

222
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,560
And this will be destined for
environmental monitoring
applications.

223
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:02,040
So you have to be able to
guarantee the purity of the product
before it leaves the factory?

224
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:06,880
Yeah, both physically and chemically,
we have to guarantee the quality.

225
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:13,760
I leave the mill knowing more
about my guidebook than ever before.

226
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,040
And, as usual, it suggests where I
should seek my bed for the night.

227
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,600
Since Bradshaw mentions hops
several times,

228
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:33,320
and since there can be nothing more
typical of Kent than oast house,
I've picked one to stay in.

229
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:40,240
This one has
been turned into a bed and breakfast
by owner Katherine Morgan.

230
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,280
Katherine.
Good evening. Nice to meet you.

231
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:47,960
Lovely to meet you, and what a
beautiful oast. It's magnificent.
Well, thank you very much.

232
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:52,840
I'm really looking forward to
staying here. You know, all the time
I've seen oast houses,

233
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:56,800
maybe when going by on the train,
I've never really understood
what they're for.

234
00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,960
How does it all work? Well,
they were used for drying hops.

235
00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,000
They would have a fire in
this bottom room, your bedroom.

236
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,680
And where the ceiling is
there were slats, and the hops
would be put on the slats.

237
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:16,800
The fire would dry them,
and the hot air from this fire would
go out through the cowl at the top.

238
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,040
It would turn round in the
wind so there was no backdraft.

239
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:25,920
And now, so often, the oast houses
have been turned to
living accommodation?

240
00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,760
Yes, but it's extremely difficult to
get permission to do it! Is it? Yes.

241
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,640
Anyway, you've done it.
Would you mind showing me inside?

242
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,680
Not at all.
It looks absolutely wonderful.
Your garden is delightful.

243
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:41,320
The Kent you see
through train windows is
distinguished by oast houses,

244
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,760
so I can think
of nowhere better to stay.

245
00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,080
Having slept soundly in my oast,

246
00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:12,000
or roundly in my oast, another
dry morning smiles upon Maidstone.

247
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,680
And it's a very good day to visit
picturesque Tunbridge Wells.

248
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,960
For the final leg of my route today,
I'm travelling 20 miles down the

249
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:35,880
line to a place that my
guidebook extols.

250
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,120
Bradshaw is almost breathlessly
enthusiastic about Tunbridge Wells.

251
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,800
"The town is, with the exception
of Bath, the most ancient of
the inland watering places.

252
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:52,640
"Nature has eminently favoured it
by the salubrity of its air,
the potency of its mineral springs

253
00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:57,640
"and the adjacent appendages
for romantic and agreeable scenery."

254
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:02,200
Do you know, I never thought
I would be so excited
about going to Tunbridge Wells?

255
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,160
Like so many spa towns,

256
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:17,640
Tunbridge Wells was
the preserve of the rich until
1845, when a new railway line

257
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,680
enabled bourgeois Victorians to
travel quickly and cheaply to Kent.

258
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,800
The great thing about
most of our old railway stations is

259
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,400
that they pop out in the middle of
town, like here in Tunbridge Wells.

260
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,960
You can see how that gave rise
to a lifestyle of commuting,

261
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,400
but equally, it was very convenient
for the Victorian tourist.

262
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:47,880
Just a short walk away,
my guidebook recommends some
highlights for visitors.

263
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,320
Bradshaw comments that,
"The town has been
much modernised of late years,

264
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,680
"the parade alone evincing any
symptoms of antiquity."

265
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:04,920
And he refers to this street,
with a row of trees on one side and
a colonade with shops on the other.

266
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,520
And it is a breathtaking street.

267
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,920
It's changed very little since
Bradshaw's time, except in name.

268
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,240
Because now
it's known as the Pantiles.

269
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:23,040
The Pantiles, or parade as it
was known then, was an elegant
17th century shopping arcade

270
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:24,720
where visitors could
stroll and be seen.

271
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:29,120
Today, many of the buildings
have been beautifully restored.

272
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,680
Hello there. How are you?
I'm very well. How are you?

273
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,640
This was known as the Parade,
and now it's called the Pantiles.
Does anybody know why?

274
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,840
Yes, it was the slabs.

275
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,720
There are 15 down there,
15 pantiles.

276
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:48,000
There are 15 of them still down
there left. From when would that be?
1600s, 1650?

277
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,680
I've been here 45 years,
so it's definitely right.

278
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,720
45 years in Tunbridge Wells? Yes.

279
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:59,560
Were you by any chance a commuter?
I was, unfortunately.
This is your train journey thing!

280
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,640
No, I did it for 16 years.

281
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,840
16 years on the train?
And I loved it. You did?

282
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,840
I did it for 10.
And we had great fun.

283
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,280
It's better now,
the trains are much better.

284
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:15,120
Tunbridge Wells is
famous for commuters.
Yeah. It's about 45 minutes.

285
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:20,920
There was a buffet car, so you could
have toast and tea in the morning and
a drink on the way home.

286
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,560
When they stopped that I
packed up going to London.

287
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:27,200
You used to play cards, didn't you?
Play cards, yeah. You had a group?

288
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,880
Six of us met
and played cards in the evening.

289
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,800
That's where you made your real
money! Nothing to do with work!

290
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:38,840
Well, you look like Contented
of Tunbridge Wells! We love it.
It's a lovely place.

291
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:43,920
Lovely to talk to you. Thank you
very much. Nice to meet you.
You'll be a bit fishy now!

292
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:54,360
Tunbridge Wells became popular
with commuters back in Bradshaw's
time and the town began to expand.

293
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:55,960
My guide says,

294
00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:01,760
"The houses are chiefly detached
villas with lawns in front and large
gardens in the rear."

295
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,440
Many of the grandest streets
were laid out in the 19th Century.

296
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:15,360
This gorgeous crescent was by
a architect with the wonderful
Victorian name of Decimus Burton.

297
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:18,400
And he worked on the
London parks and Kew Gardens.

298
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,840
And these houses were
originally built as shops.

299
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,520
But by the late 19th century
they were for the middle classes,

300
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:29,600
people commuting to the city,
where, presumably, they made enough
money to be able to afford them.

301
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,040
Hello. Hello.

302
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:40,960
You're very lucky if you live here.

303
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:45,640
Yes, we are, actually.
You do live here?
Yes, we live in this house here.

304
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,040
Beautiful.
And we're near everything, you know.

305
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,080
Trains, shops, the lot.

306
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,120
Well, yes, but
just such an exceptional crescent.

307
00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,280
Great view as well.

308
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,040
Presumably they're very
strict with what you can
do to these houses. Very.

309
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,240
They're beautifully preserved,
aren't they, I must say.

310
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,760
Yes, and English Heritage make sure
that you don't do anything awful.

311
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,600
Are you a commuter? Any
member of your family a commuter?

312
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,760
My husband was, my husband was.

313
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,880
Was he taking the train
from Tunbridge Wells? Yeah.

314
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,920
I must say, a train every
quarter of an hour is a godsend.

315
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,320
It's like
a village rather than a town.

316
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,200
I think it's really beautiful.

317
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,080
It's got that flavour of Bath about
it, hasn't it? It has, yes.

318
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,400
Bradshaw's praise of the
town's pleasing architecture

319
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,680
is followed by a less
obvious comment that I must pursue.

320
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,520
Writing of Tunbridge Wells,
Bradshaw's says,

321
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:50,120
"A new cricket ground has been made
where many great matches are held."

322
00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:55,080
That was written in the 1860s and I
last followed cricket in the 1960s.

323
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,440
But the ground to which Bradshaw
refers is the Higher Ground.

324
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,800
This is it.

325
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:05,200
In the 19th century,
cricket was central to the
life of Tunbridge Wells.

326
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:10,560
I'm meeting cricket historian
Glenys Williams to find out why.

327
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,120
Hello Glenys. Hello!

328
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,400
Good match so far? Yeah, looks good.

329
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:20,680
Tunbridge Wells is really a kind
of centre for cricket, isn't it,
historically speaking? Very much so.

330
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,840
Kent was cradle of the game.

331
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,200
It was Kent and Hampshire,
Sussex, where the game
originated, we believe,

332
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,640
way back in the 12th, 13th century.

333
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:36,240
And because of all the willow being
grown here, it was the perfect
place for cricket bat making.

334
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:41,200
And so, certainly from the
17th, 18th century onwards,

335
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,240
we see the growth of the game here.

336
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,880
And also we get the development of
the various cricket bat making firms

337
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,320
and ball making firms
in this area as well.

338
00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:55,280
Cricket balls have been
made locally since the 1760s.

339
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,080
They were hand-stitched
by workers at home.

340
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,040
Then, in the 1840s,
Duke's opened a factory
alongside the railway tracks.

341
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,600
Trains began carrying cricket balls
and bats to the rest of the country,

342
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,040
and they also helped
to transform the game.

343
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:16,920
The all-England 11 that travelled
in 1849 travelled by stagecoach.

344
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,040
By 1852,
they were using the rail network.

345
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:26,280
And if you look at map
of the expansion of the rail network
around England and Scotland,

346
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,320
cricket follows those lines.

347
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:33,400
The all-England 11s were
particularly popular in some of the
industrial cities of up North.

348
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,880
Sheffield, Manchester.

349
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,160
They played as far south
as St Ives and they went
as far north as Scotland.

350
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,120
So trains enabled players to
get to more distant places.

351
00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:46,000
Do the railways also popularise the
sport? Yes, they do.

352
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:51,720
With the rise of the mass media in
the 1840s to 1860s, newspapers are
travelling on trains,

353
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,760
match reports are being
sent via the telegraph, which
also goes via the rail network.

354
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,400
And people sitting in their homes,
reading these newspapers,

355
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,280
were able to read about the
exploits of players such as WG Grace.

356
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:08,920
And so when they heard that he was
coming to play, there was, for the
first time, a sense of anticipation.

357
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:17,480
By the mid 1800s, tens of thousand
of Victorians would travel across
the country to watch a fixture.

358
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:25,000
Cricket's increasing popularity
with the masses would forever
change the way it was played.

359
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,280
I think of cricket
in its heyday as being

360
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,320
a game for aristocrats
and the gifted amateur.

361
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,240
What we see in 1860s are two
different games, if you like.

362
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,680
You have the professionals who are
earning their living by playing games

363
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,520
around the country in front of big
crowds, popularising the game.

364
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:51,080
At the same time, you have the
aristocracy who have almost withdrawn
back to their own county estates.

365
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,680
Once the game retreated, if you like,
into the county scene,

366
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,320
it was much more refined.

367
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,960
And I think if you really wanted to
get a feel of one of those matches

368
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:08,720
from the 1860s, you'd really
have to go to India today,

369
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:15,360
to see these massive grounds where
people just crowd in and are all so
completely passionate about the game.

370
00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:21,960
The more I follow
my Bradshaw's along the tracks,
the more I understand

371
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,360
how the railways changed
the country.

372
00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:29,880
They laid the foundations of
Britain's Industrial Revolution,

373
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:35,280
and also of a quintessentially
English identity.

374
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,240
Nothing conjures up old England
more than the thwack

375
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,120
of willow on leather and long
shadows across a cricket ground.

376
00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:46,280
Except, perhaps,
a pint of warm beer. And Kent,

377
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:52,760
aided by its railways,
helped to create both those vital
elements in our national nostalgia.

378
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,720
On my next journey,
I'll be finding out how a railway

379
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:06,040
helped to save Canterbury's
historic heart in World War Two...

380
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:13,480
The cathedral actually had
railway lines laid into the knave
to deliver sandbags to protect it.

381
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:18,120
..hearing how the Whitstable
whelk industry has changed
since Bradshaw's day...

382
00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:19,960
In the old days,
that's not what happened?

383
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,800
They used to go away in the shell.

384
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:28,960
But when the rail stopped taking
perishable goods, we had to find
another way of dealing with it.

385
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,760
..and exploring the history
of a seaside swim.

386
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:33,920
Imagine you're staying in Margate.

387
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:38,000
You come out of your
lodgings and wait for
a bathing machine to be ready,

388
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:43,720
which apparently
always smelt like rotting carpet,
that kind of horrible sort of smell.

389
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,280
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

390
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,880
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk