In 1 840, one man transformed travel In BrItaIn.
HIs name was George Bradshaw,
and hIs raIlway guIdes InspIred the VIctorIans to take to the tracks.
Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,
what to see and where to stay.
Now, 1 70 years later,
I'm makIng a serIes ofjourneys across the length and breadth of the country
to see what of Bradshaw's BrItaIn remaIns.
Steered by my Bradshaw's GuIde,
I'm now compIeting my journey towards the most westerIy part of south WaIes.
This area hosted a powerhouse of the IndustriaI RevoIution.
And I'm keen to discover the cuIturaI Iegacy of that period,
and aIso to find out whether industry and trade
are stiII continued here on a coIossaI scaIe.
On the fInal leg of thIsjourney,
I'll be dIscoverIng how the 19th-century steel trade
has been brought up to date...
I can feeI the heat of the bIast furnace,
I can see a stream of moIten iron, I can see sparks fIying,
I can see smoke.
And now this fantastic train that's emerging.
..goIng on a VIctorIan adventure to see a marvel of the natural world...
It's wonderfuIIy wet and wonderfuIIy thriIIing, isn't it?
It's kind of... very, very romantic.
..and learnIng how Industry gave bIrth to beautIful musIc In Bradshaw's day.
So, how Iong have you been in the choir?
OnIy 53 years.
- No? - Yeah.
(laughter)
I've been makIng a long journey from the heart of England to west Wales.
It's taken me through rollIng hIlls and ancIent forests,
before crossIng the border,
where I've been explorIng the rIch IndustrIal and raIlway herItage
of the Welsh valleys.
ThIs stretch kIcks off In Port Talbot,
then takes In the natural wonders of the Vale of Neath,
fInIshIng up at the port of MIIford Haven.
My guIdebook paInts a vIvId pIcture of thIs regIon's beatIng IndustrIal heart.
Here is Bradshaw's gripping description of south WaIes in the mid-19th century.
''At night, the Iurid gIare from countIess coke ovens.''
''By day, the dense cIouds proceeding from hundreds of chimney staIks
overhanging the vaIIey.''
''At aII times, the arsenicaI, suIphurous vapour fiIIing the air,
which you may both smeII and taste.''
''And that gives the scene a character scarceIy to be seen eIsewhere.''
Bradshaw's recognised that the IndustriaI RevoIution
had bought both paradise and inferno.
The heat and smoke that hung over the valleys In Bradshaw's day
was producIng Iron and steel,
vItal IngredIents for the spread of the raIlways
and BrItaIn's rapId IndustrIal growth.
My fIrst stop Is Port Talbot,
a town whIch Is stIll synonymous wIth steel today.
I'm headIng to the vast modern steelworksjust south of the town
to see how the Industry has changed sInce the 19th century.
ThIs 20-square kIlometre sIte Is managed by John Ferryman.
Good morning, John.
Morning, MichaeI. LoveIy to see you.
This is reaIIy industry on an epic scaIe, isn't it?
AbsoIuteIy. We're stood in front of the bIast furnaces here at Port TaIbot.
Fantastic sight.
I was reading my Bradshaw's GuIde on the way here.
He has this description of the bIast furnaces in the mid-19th century,
so iron and steeI-making goes back a Iong way here?
AbsoIuteIy. The pIant is buiIt around coaI suppIies and iron-ore suppIies.
It goes back to Christopher TaIbot back in the 19th century.
ChrIstopher RIce Mansel Talbot was a local landowner.
The Ironworks he opened here In 1 831
took advantage of recent IndustrIal InnovatIons
that made large-scale Iron productIon possIble.
But hIs ambItIons for the area went further, as the town's name suggests.
So, he gave his name to Port TaIbot,
he deveIoped the dock?
AbsoIuteIy. The dock came aIong...
He reaIised, when you had an ironworks, that you needed to bring materiaIs in,
so he deveIoped the docks.
He aIso had something to do ith the raiIways.
In fact, Talbot was a major player In the raIlway hIstory of south Wales.
He was chaIrman of the South Wales RaIlway Company,
whIch buIlt the lIne used to export coal from the regIon to London.
Closer to home, hIs efforts helped Port Talbot to boom In the 19th century.
(MIchael) So, actuaIIy, in one person, this TaIbot,
you've got the dock, the ironworks, the raiIways,
aII integrated in this singIe figure.
Yeah, he brought that in in the 19th century
and made a huge difference to this area. It's stiII the same today.
IndustrIally produced Iron helped BrItaIn's raIlways
to unfurl across the land.
Used for everythIng from tracks to statIons and vIaducts.
But by the 1 870s, a new technology allowed Iron to be transformed
InexpensIvely Into steel,
whIch was stronger,
gIvIng fresh Impetus to the IndustrIal RevolutIon.
Port Talbot gaIned Its fIrst steelworks In 1901,
and then the core of the modern plant opened In the 1950s.
Further technologIcal progress has transformed the manufacturIng process.
- (MIchael) Wayne, heIIo. - HeIIo.
- (MIchael) What is it that you controI? - AII the furnace parameters,
how quick the furnace runs, how much iron we're making,
what we put in the top, what percentage of coke to ore.
(MIchael) So, what I'm Iooking at, at the screen,
how far away is that from this buiIding?
- It's about 30ft behind those indows. - ReaIIy?
But it wouId be pretty damn hot if we were down there?
If you were up there at the moment, you'd be very warm,
uncomfortabIe. You'd be wearing safety gear.
The iron itseIf is about 1500 degrees this morning.
(MIchael) How do you get it up?
(Wayne) We bIow hot air in the bottom. About 1 ,000 degrees.
And then, inside there, we mix that ith coke and oxygen.
And then we get combustion.
The fIame temperature at the bottom then is about 2,240 degrees,
which produces that iron at about 1528 right now.
The temperatures are just beiIdering to me. An extraordinary environment.
ThIs vast sIte handles the whole steelmakIng process,
from smeltIng to rollIng out the fInIshed product,
producIng up to fIve mIllIon tonnes per year.
The plant has Its own Internal raIlway,
where locomotIves pull so-called torpedoes,
full of blIsterIng hot lIquId Iron.
(MIchael) John, it's a fantastic feeIing and sight here.
I can feeI the heat of the bIast furnace.
I can see a stream of moIten iron, I can see sparks fIying,
I can see smoke.
And now this fantastic train that's emerging. TeII me about that.
The torpedo is Iike a fIask on wheeIs.
It's hoIding in 1530 degrees of moIten iron.
So there's about 300 tonnes in this torpedo behind us.
It's now going to our steeI pIant,
where it iII be treated to turn it from iron into steeI.
I can see the heat haze rising above the torpedo.
- So, this is an open vesseI, is it? - (John) The top of the vesseI is open.
That's the area that we pour into and actuaIIy pour out of
when it gets into the steeI pump.
You must have yourseIves a pretty enormous and busy raiIway network
inside the pIant.
Yeah, the bIast furnaces are known as the heart of the pIant,
and the raiIway network is known as the veins.
And actuaIIy, we're moving about 80,000 tonnes of moIten iron a week
through the pIant.
- A week? - A week, yes.
So, I mean, that does make you a very substantiaI raiIway operation.
The raiIway here is absoIuteIy essentiaI to this business.
It just cannot operate ithout a raiIway network.
I'm sure George Bradshaw would be struck
that coke, Iron smeltIng and the transportatIon of steel by raIl
contInue today In a form that he would recognIse.
But the raIlways In hIs day served passengers as well as freIght.
I'm leavIng Port Talbot,
followIng the tracks of VIctorIan adventurers,
who came to explore thIs regIon's gorgeous landscape.
My Bradshaw's says,
''Here, the fine vaIe of Neath may be ascended
to the beautifuI waterfaIIs at its summit.''
''Some of the best waterfaIIs in south WaIes.''
And whiIst industry has changed a Iot since Bradshaw's day,
I'm assuming that nature has not.
I leave the traIn at Neath StatIon.
In Bradshaw's day,
I would have been able to pIck up the Vale of Neath raIlway here
to take me closer to the valley's most stunnIng scenery.
The lIne's gone now.
But that won't deter me from followIng the traIl of VIctorIans,
who sought the thrIlls of nature In waterfall country.
I'm meetIng countrysIde warden Helen Pye
to hear whether thIs beauty spot has changed sInce Bradshaw's day.
HeIen.
- How are you? - What an awesome sight that is.
It's absoIuteIy stunning, isn't it?
(MIchael) The power of nature, eh?
I imagine that Victorian tourists did come in considerabIe numbers.
The numbers were actuaIIy quite Iow.
This area was quite an extreme environment for them to come to,
so you did generaIIy tend to get expIorers, naturaIists, artists, reaIIy.
And probabIy peopIe who were more of the higher cIasses,
because it was quite an adventure to come here, reaIIy.
(MIchael) Of course, the Victorians combined this romanticism,
this ish to get back to the forces of nature
ith a very keen sense of scientific inquiry, didn't they?
Yeah, definiteIy. So, you had peopIe Iike AIfred RusseI WaIIace coming here.
He was a famous naturaIist of the 19th century.
Though no longer a household name,
AIfred Russel Wallace was well known In VIctorIan tImes.
WorkIng Independently,
he hIt upon a theory of evolutIon at the same tIme as DarwIn.
Indeed, hearIng of Wallace's work spurred DarwIn to publIsh hIs own.
ThIs countrysIde fIrst InspIred Wallace to study the natural world.
And It stIll attracts scIentIfIc Interest today.
(Helen) This site is actuaIIy of European importance.
And it's designated for its open ash woodIand
and some of the reaIIy rare species that that supports.
And most peopIe don't reaIIy know about them. They're Iichens and mosses.
AII those green things that you see groing on trees.
But they're actuaIIy reaIIy important and rare on this site.
These days, the area attracts 154,000 vIsItors a year,
many doIng the 2 1st-century equIvalent of the VIctorIan tour,
the four waterfalls walk.
A hIghlIght Is the opportunIty to stand behInd
thIs magnIfIcent torrent of water.
It's wonderfuIIy wet and wonderfuIIy thriIIing, isn't it?
It's kind of... very, very romantic.
I ish I were a Victorian poet who couId pen a few Iines,
or a Victorian painter who couId capture the beauty.
Or a Victorian who couId take the steam raiIway back down the Neath VaIIey.
Somewhere dry.
After my VIctorIan adventure, I'm now In search of a bed for the nIght.
''Bradshaw's'' recommends Neath's Castle Hotel.
And apparently, It also has a sportIng claIm to fame.
Before I touch down for the nIght,
I'm stoppIng off for a chat wIth Neath rugby club secretary MIke PrIce.
HeIIo, Mike.
MichaeI. WeIcome to WaIes's rugby capitaI.
That's Neath, is it?
That's Neath, yeah.
The good citizens of Cardiff might disagree,
but Neath is the pIace where WeIsh rugby reaIIy aII started.
(MIchael) This room is a particuIar shrine?
(MIke) Yes, this is the centenary room in the CastIe HoteI in Neath.
And this is where the WeIsh Rugby Union itseIf was founded.
Rugby was Introduced to Wales In the 19th century,
and the workIng men of the Welsh valleys were quIck to make It theIr own.
The raIlways helped to encourage matches,
even between dIstant teams.
And wIth the creatIon of the Rugby UnIon, Welsh rugby came of age.
Now Wales could fIeld an offIcIal natIonal team,
kIckIng off a love affaIr that shows no sIgn of fadIng.
So, teII me about WaIes's Iove of or passion for rugby.
WeII, it borders on fanaticism reaIIy.
And I think it aII grows from peopIe's schooIdays.
I wouIdn't think there's a schooI kid in WaIes
who hasn't participated in a game of rugby at some IeveI or other.
And even before that,
chiIdren get given rugby baIIs as presents, even as toddIers.
After a stImulatIng day,
I must convert my energy to sleep and try to get some rest.
Today, I'm contInuIng west towards the cIty of Swansea.
In the 19th century, thIs area was a hIve of IndustrIal actIvIty,
domInated by coal-mInIng and copper smeltIng.
At the end of a day working in the pit, or on the raiIways,
or at the bIast furnace,
the working man sought a Ieisure activity.
And that has bequeathed us something
that we associate more particuIarIy ith the WeIsh than even coaI or steeI.
(Welsh male voIce choIr sIngIng)
In thIs regIon, the dIrt and smoke of the IndustrIal RevolutIon
gave bIrth to the Welsh male voIce choIr.
Formed not of classIcally-traIned musIcIans but workIng men,
these choIrs are a fundament of Welsh culture.
I'm leavIng the traIn at Swansea,
and headIng to the nearby suburb of Dunvant,
where I've heard there's an IntrIguIng connectIon
between sIngIng and the raIlways.
UntIl the 1960s, Dunvant was lInked by raIl to Swansea Docks.
Sadly, these days that lIne has gone,
and all that remaIns of the statIon Is a modest hut.
It's where I'm meetIng the choIr chaIrman Barry Evans.
- Barry. - MichaeI.
- Nice to meet you. - Great to see you.
Now, the Dunvant MaIe Voice Choir has quite a cIaim to fame, doesn't it?
Yes, it's the oIdest estabIished continuous maIe voice choir in WaIes.
EstabIished in 1895.
And it's been going ever since ithout a break, reaIIy.
You've decided to meet me here for what reason?
Because before the main maIe voice choir was formed,
the other choir in the viIIage started in this buiIding in 1880
when it was part of the main station buiIding.
And when this choir spIit up,
some of the members went to form the maIe voice choir.
(MIchael) Why did they form in a raiIway station?
Because the station master, Isaac Peters, was a musician of sorts.
He puIIed peopIe together in the area from KiIIay and Dunvant
to form a mixed choir.
And they used to practise in the station when he was on shift.
IndustrIalIsatIon and the new raIlways
soon brought unprecedented numbers of mIners and metalworkers
to vIllages across the valleys.
All workIng to the new rhythms of the IndustrIal age.
Set shIfts became the norm,
leavIng the men wIth structured leIsure tIme to fIll.
Why did working men join choirs in the 19th century?
I think it was a bit of a chaIIenge. There wasn't much eIse to do.
Most peopIe were in the chapeI. It paid to be in the chapeI and the schooIs.
And it was a community thing.
You got together, not just men, but Iadies as weII,
and you had mixed choirs.
And then the men found you couId have a nice sound ith a maIe voice choir.
So Iots of maIe voice choirs were founded.
(MIchael) Did it mix ith what I assume is quite a macho cuIture?
Men who were working underground aII day,
working in the raiIways, working in the bIast furnaces.
(Barry) WeII, I think it was just being part of a team.
As weII as being in the pit, they used to pIay rugby together
and do aII sorts of things together.
Singing, it just brought peopIe together for a bit of enjoyment.
That was the main reason for it.
The choIrs could exploIt local rIvalrIes,
as the men threw theIr hearts Into competItIons between vIllages.
The tradItIon survIves to thIs day.
And the quest for excellence Is undImInIshed.
(choIr sIngIng In Welsh)
I suppose that I could have strayed here durIng VIctorIa's reIgn
and heard a sound as powerful and as movIng.
What a priviIege. What beautifuI harmonies.
You've got fantastic voices.
AbsoIuteIy incredibIe voices.
Thank you so much.
May I ask you, how Iong have you been in the choir?
Twenty-five years now.
- Twenty-five years? - Yes.
- What do you get out of your singing? - I suppose it's the comradeship.
It's good fun, it's good for your heaIth.
Very good for your heaIth, in fact.
Erm, the opportunity to traveI.
And the opportunity to Iearn from peopIe,
Iike our musicaI team here, for instance, how to hone our voices.
And take us to some very prestigious venues
and to sing ith some very prestigious peopIe.
- How Iong have you been in the choir? - OnIy 53 years.
- No? - Yeah.
(laughter)
- Yes. - Fifty-three years.
And I'm the youngster in the choir now.
Fantastic. Were your famiIy in the choir?
Very much so, yes. My father and my grandfather.
Three generations.
And my other grandfather was aIso in it, but not during my time.
(MIchael) Why have you done it for 53 years?
What have you gained from your singing?
WeII, it's my viIIage. I was born here, born into this chapeI.
Spent aII my Iife here.
It's the peopIe that I've Iived ith... it's a part of what we are.
What wouId Iife have been Iike for you ithout your singing?
- Oh, dear. I... - (laughter)
You can't even think about it, can you?
No. Not reaIIy, no.
No. I wouIdn't have imagined Iiving ithout singing.
You know, I can't imagine anything more beautifuI
than waIking in here and hearing this choir sing.
I can't imagine any better weIcome in the hiIIside
or any better weIcome in the vaIes.
(choIr sIng In Welsh)
WIth the sound of Wales rIngIng In my ears,
I'm now takIng my last traIn on thIs long trIp.
I'm bound for MIIford Haven In PembrokeshIre,
whIch receIves an enthusIastIc revIew In my 19th-century guIde.
The finaI stage of my journey takes me to the WeIsh coast,
to one of the most westerIy pIaces in mainIand Britain.
My Bradshaw's taIks about ''that magnificent inIet caIIed MiIford Haven''.
''MiIford is prettiIy situated on a sIoping point of Iand
about six miIes from the entrance to the haven, to which it gives its name.''
And the naturaI advantages of that harbour seRVe MiIford Haven today
as weII as they have in centuries gone by.
The raIlway reached MIIford In 1 856.
And a few years later, the lIne was extended to reach the maIn docks.
I'm gettIng off In the town centre and headIng to the waterfront
to see what the locals make of theIr fIne harbour.
- (MIchael) HeIIo. - (woman) HeIIo.
- Enjoying the view?. - It's IoveIy.
- Do you come from MiIford Haven? - I Iive around the corner.
Not far from here at aII.
Do you manage to get out and enjoy the water sometimes?
Yes, we do. We go out on my friend's jet-ski and we go surfing.
The beaches are beautifuI, I have to say.
Pembrokeshire has its cons, but the beaches are absoIuteIy stunning.
It's not great today, but the scenery is beautifuI.
It's supposed to be summer. But obviousIy not today. (laughs)
MIIford Haven was founded only In the 1 790s.
But In Its short 200-year hIstory, It's been through several IncarnatIons.
SurprIsIngly, some of the fIrst people to settle here came from AmerIca.
And theIr legacy Is dIscernIble In the town today.
ThIs transatlantIc connectIon came about
thanks to the remarkable natural harbour.
To hear more, I'm meetIng Andrew Brown from the MIIford Haven Port AuthorIty.
HeIIo, Andrew.
MichaeI, weIcome to MiIford Haven.
It's great to be here.
I'd been Iured here by my Bradshaw's GuIde.
It says that, ''As there is pIenty of deep water,
the harbour at MiIford Haven wouId easiIy hoId the entire British Navy.''
That's quite a thought and quite a cIaim, isn't it?
It is, and it's absoIuteIy true.
And it's been part of the success of MiIford Haven over the Iast 200 years.
Erm, the water depth is 16.5 metres in the main channeI.
And that's minimum. It's actuaIIy more than that.
In Bradshaw's day, that's over 50ft of water at aII states of the tide.
Only In the late 1 8th century
dId local landowners realIse the potentIal of the Haven.
They lobbIed ParlIament for permIssIon to buIld a new town
wIth a very unusual group of new resIdents In mInd.
AmerIcan whalers.
They were Iooking for a base in the UK
to bring in aII the spoiIs from their whaIing.
And they started here in the Iate 1 790s, into the 1800s.
They wouId go away into the seas for a year or more at a time,
and they brought the whaIes in
and the whaIe bones were used to Iine Iadies' corsetry, apparentIy.
And the sperm oiI was taken up to London,
and that was used as fueI for street Iighting in London.
These whalers had settled In MIIford partly because of Its excellent harbour,
but also to avoId hIgh Import dutIes.
At that tIme, AmerIca led the hugely lucratIve whale trade.
In the days before petroleum,
oIl made from whale blubber was hIghly prIzed,
and as the IndustrIal RevolutIon progressed, It was put to many uses,
from candles to lubrIcatIng locomotIves.
But as a whalIng port, MIIford dIdn't last long.
By the mId-19th century, the whale trade was In declIne
thanks to the InventIons of gas lIghtIng and kerosene.
In the 1 880s, MIIford Haven decIded to chart a dIfferent course,
whIch began wIth buIldIng new docks.
The initiaI aspiration was that the docks,
when they were buiIt, wouId attract transatIantic Iiners.
But the reaIity, when the gates first opened in 1888,
was that the first ship in was a smaII team steam traler by the name of SybiI.
I beIieve she Ianded about five tons of fish.
And that, in fact, set the future of MiIford for the foIIoing hundred years.
(MIchael) And that fish was headed, I assume,
for the raiIway and for the cities of Britain.
WeII, indeed. In fact, there was a fish quay that was one-fifth of a miIe Iong.
And in fact, in Paddington as weII,
there were posters that said, ''MiIford Haven, where the fish comes from.''
And there were fish trains that went up to London, up to BiIIingsgate every day.
By the 1900s, MIIford was BrItaIn's sIxth largest fIshIng port.
But by the mIddle of the 20th century, thIngs were goIng downhIll.
The harbour came to the rescue once agaIn,
when In the 1950s and 60s, oIl companIes saw It as an Ideal sIte for refInerIes.
Today, the docks are fIlled wIth vast tankers
carryIng oIl and lIquefIed natural gas.
So, MiIford Haven has gone from whaIe oiI to crude oiI.
It's the second oiI age, as we caII it.
And then more recentIy, in the Iast two or three years,
Iiquefied naturaI gas has started to come ashore,
and each of them produce about 20-25 per cent of the UK's needs,
both in terms of refined product and in terms of the gas.
MIIford's lIquefIed natural gas complex Is one of the bIggest In the world.
The oIl companIes stIll use the raIlways,
wIth eIght to ten traIns carryIng 2,000 tonnes of refIned materIal
out of the town every week.
It was the references in Bradshaw's that brought me here today.
FrankIy, it's been a surprise
because MiIford Haven is not necessariIy a name that's on everybody's Iips,
and yet it turns out to be a fundamentaIIy important port
for the very same reason that Bradshaw's mentions, the depth of the water.
It's the depth of the water that has made MiIford Haven.
In spite of its peripheraIity,
in spite of how far away it is from the centre of the UK and Europe,
we are the energy port of the UK.
We're the third Iargest port in terms of tonnage moved in the UK.
And we're the Iargest port in WaIes.
There is an immense pride in MiIford Haven in what the port's done for it.
DurIng thIs raIl trIp,
I've been musIng on how the VIctorIans harnessed the raIlways
to make the most of theIr resources.
TraIns carrIed everythIng from seIf-ImprovIng tourIsts...
..to the very coal, Iron and steel that fuelled the IndustrIal RevolutIon.
On this journey from Oxford to MiIford Haven,
I've contempIated beautifuI British Iandscape from towers and hiIIs.
This Iand has been good to us.
The Victorians changed it, cuItivating its fieIds and mining its mineraIs.
Some of what they did has now returned to nature.
For the span from Bradshaw's time to ours is but a moment gone,
whiIst this isIand of ours endures forever.
My nextjourney takes me to the north of England,
as my ''Bradshaw's'' leads me from BerwIck-upon-Tweed,
south-west across the backbone of England,
through IndustrIal heartlands and dramatIc scenery,
fInIshIng on the beautIful and unIque Isle of Man.
I'll be admIrIng spectacular engIneerIng trIumphs
In the CumbrIan countrysIde...
Thank you for going so sIoly over the viaduct.
- Isn't that a beautifuI thing? - Aye.
..submergIng myseIf In a top-secret world...
It is enormous.
It's Iike the Iast scene of a James Bond movie, isn't it?
..and hearIng how perIlous lIfe was
on the IndustrIal raIlways of the north-east.
So, if it's your job to get that rope off
and you happened to trip, what's the consequence?
You're dead.