In 1 840, one man transformed travel In BrItaIn and Ireland.
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 these Islands
to see what of Bradshaw's world remaIns.
I'm now compIeting my journey across Northern IreIand,
using my trusty Bradshaw's GuIde.
I shaII be sorry to Ieave the isIand of IreIand
because of the warmth of the peopIe that I've met,
both south and north of the border.
On today's part of my journey, I'll be marvellIng at a gIant's handIwork...
It is the most amazing, awe-inspiring sight.
..hearIng how women, famous for theIr dexterIty wIth the needle,
buIlt a cIty...
If there wasn't a shirt factory, this wouId be a desert.
..and dIscoverIng how emIgratIon
profoundly shaped famIlIes and natIons...
When you went to America in the '50s, it was kind of goodbye for ever, you know?.
My VIctorIan guIdebook has brought me to a country
that In the 19th century was one Ireland lIvIng under the rule of Queen VIctorIa.
StartIng In DublIn, where the fIrst raIlways were laId,
I've been led north along the unfurlIng raIlway hIstory of thIs land.
On thIs last stretch,
I'm vIsItIng tourIst attractIons that fascInated the VIctorIans,
before explorIng movIng hIstorIes of IndustrIal mIght and mass exodus.
I shaII be getting off at BaIIymoney and heading for what Bradshaw's caIIs
''the famous Carrick-a-Rede rock, which stands out 60 feet from the shore,
to which it is joined onIy by a sIender rope bridge
across the chasm, 80ft from the water''.
''A fine view from the heights above it.''
And that prospect has me in suspense.
In VIctorIan tImes, vIsItors flocked to the CarrIck-a-Rede brIdge.
But rIght from the early 1 8th century, thIs spectacular crossIng,
danglIng over the roarIng sea,
was also key to the localIty's Industry and economy.
I read Bradshaw's description of this bridge,
but nothing prepared me for what it's reaIIy Iike.
The pIank that I'm waIking on is so narrow.
The faII beneath me is immense
and the sea Iooks Iike it can't wait to gobbIe me up.
And, of course, the thing is shaking from side to side.
And just to add to the fun, there's quite a stiff ind as weII.
Made it!
Safely across, I'm here to meet CarolIne Redmond from the NatIonal Trust.
HeIIo, CaroIine.
PIeased to meet you. WeIcome to Carrick-a-Rede isIand.
I had the most exciting experience. It's thriIIing on that bridge.
(CarolIne) I'm gIad you think so. It's a IittIe bit hairy at times.
(MIchael) My Bradshaw's recommended that I come on the rope bridge.
He taIked about it being 80ft above the water and having a fantastic view.
So I imagine even in Victorian times, this was a very popuIar pIace.
That's right. We have anecdotaI evidence from the mid-1 700s and earIy-1800s
that this was even then starting to be something that tourists had to do.
Scare themseIves senseIess.
But thIs brIdge wasn't buIlt as a tourIst attractIon.
For over 300 years, fIshermen have been rIskIng lIfe and lImb
to cross to the Island, there to catch mIgratIng North AtlantIc salmon.
From March to September, the plump fIsh return from feedIng out at sea
to the AntrIm rIvers of the Bann and the Bush to spawn.
IntrepId fIshermen would ready theIr nets
all the way from the easternmost poInt of the coast
to the mouth of the Foyle at Derry/Londonderry.
(CarolIne) The saImon,
unabIe to go through the vent over which the bridge is,
they wouId go round this rock in their road.
Carrick-a-Rede, rock in the road of the saImon.
It meant they wouId run themseIves into bag nets
and be niceIy caught ready for us to eat, and that was a huge industry.
At one point, there were upwards of 300 saImon per day being caught here.
You had to be abIe to get across
to take advantage of where the saImon were running?
(CarolIne) AbsoIuteIy. When the tide wouId start, they wouId watch that
and that wouId teII them when they couId put the nets out,
how far they couId put the nets out, to catch that tide and that run of saImon.
In the 19th century, catchIng and tradIng fIsh
constItuted one of the area's prImary IndustrIes.
The landowners had the fIshIng rIghts and paId the fIshermen a wage,
and a bonus If the catch was good.
Are there stiII saImon here?
There used to be upwards of 300 saImon per day being caught here,
but the Iast fisherman, Acky CoIgan, in the very Iast season,
which was 2002, bareIy caught 300 the entire season.
So, yes, there are some saImon.
They're not in any catchabIe quantity.
They're practicaIIy an endangered species.
Salmon fIshIng provIded a lIvIng on thIs coastlIne for 300 years.
And although sadly that's no longer the case,
the rope brIdge has remaIned.
And just as In the VIctorIan era,
adventurous tourIsts are drawn to Its delIghts.
We have anything from 240,000 to 250,000 visitors a year.
(MIchael) And they come, just as in Bradshaw's time, for the thriII
of being 80ft above the water and having that fantastic view.
(CarolIne) That's right. To have Iegs of jeIIy.
To go on to the isIand and sit a whiIe ith the views
over the seas of MoyIe, RathIin, IsIay, Jura, the MuII.
It's paradise.
My tIme In thIs atmospherIc locatIon Is up
and I must gIngerly return across the CarrIck-a-Rede brIdge.
But I'm contInuIng on the North AntrIm coast
to head to Ireland's most IconIc natural landmark.
Next stop for me, the Giant's Causeway, which my Bradshaw's says
''is properIy so-caIIed, consisting of a Iow promontory or rocky pier
sIoping into the sea for eight or nine hundred feet''.
I've never seen it before. I don't reaIIy know what to expect.
I've aIways wanted to visit it, and the best way to get there is by steam.
Steam engInes always attract me, but thIs lIne carrIed
another revolutIonary raIlway system In VIctorIan tImes.
It once operated an InnovatIve electrIc tramway
takIng tourIsts to the GIant's Causeway.
I'mjoIned on my journey by herItage consultant John Bustard.
This is a charming raiIway. What is its history?
The history of the raiIway dates back to 1879 when a pIan was put forward
by WiIIiam Acheson TraiII
to the Board of Trade to put in a fabuIous new hydro-eIectric tram.
Hydro-eIectric? Meaning that faIIing water produced the eIectricity?
It was the first hydro-eIectric tram in the worId, yes.
A raIl carryIng 250 volts naturally put some local VIctorIans
In fear for theIr lIves.
To prove Its safety, the crafty Mr TraIll came up wIth a cunnIng plan.
(John) The story goes that Mr TraiII arrived in rubberised boots
and actuaIIy bared part of his anatomy and sat on the raiI
to prove that this wasn't a danger.
He didn't go up in smoke and it convinced the Board of Trade
that it was OK to operate.
What they didn't know was that he had his own men running trams
at other parts of the Iine to take the pressure off.
According to accounts from his daughter,
when he was asked if it hurt he said, ''Yes, it hurt Iike bIazes!''
The tramway ran for 65 years, eventuaIIy cIosing in 1949.
The lIne reopened a decade ago and just as In the VIctorIan era,
It ferrIes eager tourIsts lIke me to the GIant's Causeway.
That was great. Thank you.
Reputed In folklore to be buIlt by a gIant,
the Causeway's InterlockIng honeycomb of basalt columns
captIvated the VIctorIans.
Renowned author WIllIam Thackeray descrIbed It as lookIng lIke
''the begInnIng of the world. A remnant of chaos''.
John, it is the most amazing, awe-inspiring sight.
I had no idea what to expect.
If we don't beIieve it was created by a giant, what's the other expIanation?
(John) WeII, the voIcanic activity of the Tertiary period
over 60 miIIion years ago
was when the Iava fIow hit the sea and cooIed very quickIy.
EssentiaIIy, that crystaIIised the rocks into the various shapes that we see.
This rock you're standing on originaIIy
when the tectonic pIates wouId have moved
wouId have been probabIy as far away as Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bradshaw's doesn't aIways get it right, so teII me if this is true.
He says, ''There are 40,000 dark basaIt piIIars, mostIy five or six sided,
whiIe some have onIy three and others have as many as nine sides.''
- Is that true? - (John) That's true.
AIthough there were onIy 39,998 rocks the Iast time we counted!
The VIctorIans shrewdly marketed the Causeway as a tourIst attractIon,
fencIng off the rocky splendours
and chargIng a not InconsIderable entry fee of two shIllIngs.
A tea room was erected, stalls lIned the pathway down to the Causeway
and local guIdes conducted tours.
Thackeray hated the clamour of guIdes, boatmen and vagrants
and lamented that, ''If, as no doubt wIll be the case,
the GIant's Causeway shall be a stIll greater resort of travellers than ever,
the country must put polIcemen on the rocks to keep the beggars away,
or flIng them In the water when they appear. ''
Why do you think the Victorians were so fascinated by sights Iike this?
I think it was the curiosity they had for geoIogy and for Iandscape.
The period they were in, the worId had opened up quite a Iot
and so many wonders were being shipped in from aII over the worId.
To find things Iike this actuaIIy ithin the United Kingdom
was quite interesting in its own right.
ThIs fascInatIng place Is full of wonderful geologIcal features,
such as the GIant's Organ,
whose array of stone pIpes would look at home In a cathedral
and caused Bradshaw to descrIbe the area as a ''remarkable coast''.
It's been a great day on the northern shores and It's not over yet.
I'll make one more stop on my journey before I retIre for the evenIng.
I'II be getting off at BeIIarena.
My destination is Dungiven, home to an important Irish cIan.
And as I head for my overnight stay, a song is in the air.
(''Danny Boy'' plays)
In hIs guIde, Bradshaw mentIons the O'NeIlls,
just one of the many clans who ruled the area for centurIes.
Another was the O'Cahans, and I've come to DungIven Castle
to meet hIstorIan John HamIlton to dIscover more about them.
John.
- HeIIo. - What shouId I know about Dungiven?
(John) It was one of the seats of the O'Cahan cIan
who dominated this area for many centuries.
There's one IittIe thing about the O'Cahan cIan that you might not reaIise.
They're known worIdide because of a song.
- The song being? - Danny Boy.
Danny Boy.
Picture right back to the start of the 1600s
when the cIan system was faIIing apart.
The IocaI piper, Rory DaII O'Cahan, tried to write a tune
that wouId sum up the parting, peopIe going away, things faIIing apart,
but a hope that some day they might come back together.
AccordIng to legend, Rory Dall O'Cahan was mournIng
the confIscatIon of famIly lands and the destructIon of the clan system,
whIch brought to an end the lIne of O'Cahan rulers.
It's a Iament. It's a reaIIy sad, emotive tune, isn't it?
It is. The thing was, he tried to write the tune but he couIdn't get it.
So he feII asIeep on the banks of the River Roe
and when he woke up in the morning, there was this harp pIaying itseIf.
That tune was a gift from the fairies.
I think this is a sIightIy taII story.
Am I right that Danny Boy is aIso known as The Londonderry Air?
WeII, many centuries Iater, into Victorian times,
a Iady heard the tune being pIayed by a piper
and she pubIished it through a DubIin pubIisher.
He caIIed it The Londonderry Air because he'd got it as an unnamed tune.
It then went round the worId, and over in CoIorado
an EngIish Iady heard it being pIayed at a goId camp.
She wrote it down, sent it to her brother in EngIand,
who aIready had a set of words, which fitted the tune perfectIy.
The two came together and we have the tune today,
The Londonderry Air, and the song, Danny Boy, known worIdide.
But it aII goes back to the O'Cahan cIan and their Iament.
It does indeed.
The old O'Cahan chIefs are burIed just a few mInutes' walk from DungIven Castle.
And as I turn In for the nIght, I shall lIsten for the pIpes callIng
from ''glen to glen and down the mountaIn sIde''.
A new day and, sadly, my fInal one In Ireland.
So I'm back on the tracks and headIng towards my last destInatIon.
What's in a name?
The city where I'm headed now, some caII Derry and others, Londonderry.
Both names occur in Bradshaw's.
Nowadays, the difference can be regarded as poIiticaIIy significant.
So I'd best use both names ith equaI emphasis.
In fact, there's a story I was told about a traIn some years ago.
The NatIonalIst guard announced that It was goIng to Derry,
so the UnIonIst drIver refused to move.
TeII me, do you think it matters what we caII the city where we're headed now?.
- To some peopIe, it does. - Are you one of them?
Not reaIIy. I was brought up here in the viIIage of EgIinton
and as a chiId, we caIIed it Derry.
Then, as the TroubIes came, it got more poIiticaI.
PeopIe took sides.
Some peopIe caII it Derry, some caII it Londonderry.
- Does it reaIIy matter? - That's what I'm asking you.
WeII, it's aIways been Londonderry for me, so I caII it Londonderry.
Some other peopIe might caII it something eIse because they want to,
but to me, it's Londonderry.
Derry or Londonderry Is the second largest cIty In Northern Ireland.
The RIver Foyle Intersects It, wIth the old walled cIty,
one of the fInest examples In Europe, on the west bank
and watersIde on the east.
The London prefIx was added
after Derry was granted a Royal Charter by King James I In 1613.
The city retains its beautifuI, fortified waIIs.
It ithstood the siege of the CathoIic King James II.
And, Iike most history in this city, that remains contentious to this day.
The cIty has been at the heart
of relIgIous and polItIcal turmoIl for centurIes.
From CatholIc King James's encIrclement of the Protestant populatIon
to the sectarIan vIolence of the IrIsh CIvIl War In the 1920s.
In the 1960s and '70s, the cIty was once more the flashpoInt
of dIsputes between NatIonalIsts and UnIonIsts
and on Bloody Sunday In 1972,
1 4 were kIlled when the BrItIsh Army fIred Into a crowd.
But In a cIty that suffered so much, the hIstory of one Industry
offers examples of the people's fIne spIrIt and resIlIence,
away from the polItIcal struggles.
My Bradshaw's teII me that ''the peopIe hereabouts
were principaIIy empIoyed in the Iinen trade''.
That began a Iong history in the city of invoIvement in textiIes.
And the common feature of aII those industries,
is that they empIoyed principaIIy women.
WeavIng lInen had been a hugely Important Industry
In the 1 8th and 19th centurIes.
But as BeIfast became a centre for productIon from the 1 830s onwards,
Derry lost out and found ItseIf wIth a plentIful supply
of unemployed, skIlled women hungry for work.
As BrItIsh cItIes grew fast and demand for clothIng escalated,
the factory system was gaInIng ground.
And In the 1 850s, the sewIng machIne was Invented,
gIvIng rIse to shIrt manufacture.
It flourIshed well Into the 20th century
and at AustIns, the world's oldest Independent department store,
I'm meetIng Jeanette Warke and AvrIl Campbell,
who both worked In shIrt-makIng for many years.
What was Iife Iike in the shirt factories?
I found it, you know, aII the companionship,
the fun and the banter and working ith the other girIs, it was just great.
Everybody shared their probIems.
(woman 2) GirIs from every part of the city.
(MIchael) You had girIs from both communities?
(woman 2) Oh, yes.
(MIchael) You were nearIy aII Iadies. Is that true?
(woman 2) That's true, yes.
Was there a tradition in the city of women being in empIoyment?
- Yes, aIways. - There was no jobs for the men.
There was never jobs for men.
Men mostIy stayed at home and Iooked after the kids.
DurIng Queen VIctorIa's reIgn, a female workforce
powered IndustrIal development and the cIty's prosperIty.
ShIrt factorIes domInated the cIty and Its Industry was once claImed
to be the largest of Its kInd In the world.
How important was shirt-making to the city?
- Very important. - Very important.
It was the most important industry and that's where the money came from.
If there wasn't a shirt factory, this wouId probabIy be a desert.
There wouId be nobody here.
At the peak, there were 44 shIrt factorIes In Derry,
wIth an Industry employIng a remarkable 1 8,000 people,
whose products were sold worldwIde.
The shirts from the city were definiteIy perfection.
- QuaIity. - It was the stitching.
(woman 1 ) Every stitch had to be perfect on those shirts.
(woman 2) If you had a Derry shirt, you had a quaIity item.
I remember the girIs used to put their name and address on the shirts.
SIip IittIe notes in the pockets.
They hoped that if a nice gentIeman bought the shirt,
that they wouId get in touch.
I'm sure there was a few marriages made from a shirt from Londonderry or Derry.
(woman 2) When I went down in the middIe '50s,
there were enormous great cast-iron irons which weighed a tonne.
And it was Iit ith gas.
It was used for making toast for breakfast.
They got brown paper,
and they put bread in between the brown paper and sat the iron on top.
It was the most gorgeous toast ever you couId eat.
- We weren't supposed to do that. - No.
- And... - ''Ruins the iron, ruins the iron.''
(woman 1 ) The girIs did work very hard.
I can remember girIs working through their tea break.
Working aII the time, they never stopped.
They worked reaIIy, reaIIy hard.
In the 1 8th century, lInen passed through Londonderry port,
and In the 19th and 20th,
shIrts were shIpped to the world, most Importantly to AmerIca.
But In the 1 850s, the growth of Ireland's raIlway network
provIded the cIty wIth an even more Important outbound flow.
Bradshaw's teIIs me that Londonderry ''carries on a considerabIe
commerciaI intercourse ith America''.
''Being favourabIy situated for commerce
and possessing an exceIIent, secure harbour
ith a spIendid Iine of quays.''
But the most significant export from the city was not goods, but peopIe.
Londonderry became one of the maIn ports In Ireland
for emIgratIon to the UnIted States.
To explore thIs poIgnant story, I'm on the banks of the RIver Foyle,
In rather Inclement weather, to meet genealogIst, BrIan MItchell.
- Brian, heIIo. - HeIIo, MichaeI.
When did Derry become a major port for emigration to America?
I wouId say from the earIy 1 700s when the first of the UIster Scots,
as they're known in America, the Scotch-Irish,
headed out of here in big numbers.
It continued right though the 1800s and the famine years.
In the peak years, some 12,000 were Ieaving here in saiIing ships.
Unprecedented famIne afflIcted ImpoverIshed IrIsh famIlIes
In the 1 840s, wIth the repeated faIlure of the staple potato crop.
It's estImated that In a sIngle decade, at least a mIllIon dIed of starvatIon
and another mIllIon emIgrated, prImarIly to the UnIted States.
By the 1 860s, the newly developed raIlway network
assIsted the unparalleled exodus from Ireland's shores,
funnellIng emIgrants from the northern haIf of Ireland Into the cIty.
Do you think the raiIways capitaIised on emigration?
- Did they see a commerciaI opportunity? - I think they did.
The raiIway companies and the steam-ship companies worked together.
EffectiveIy, you couId've booked from any raiIway station
in the northern haIf of IreIand,
to wherever you wanted your finaI destination.
For exampIe, a potentiaI emigrant from CIones in County Monaghan,
couId've purchased a ticket that wouId've got them to Derry,
then on the boat to North America, New York or wherever.
Then a through passage to Chicago
or wherever they wanted their end destinations.
VIctorIan emIgrants would arrIve at the raIlway statIon
to be met by an agent of the shIppIng lInes.
A tug would then convey them 1 8 mIles downstream to MovIlle,
where the transatlantIc lIners were moored In deep water.
As the shIps conveyed emIgrants towards theIr new world,
It was customary to lIght a bonfIre on the hIlls above the cIty,
a beacon that mIght well offer the passengers
theIr last glImpse ever of the Emerald Isle.
I've seen pictures of these tenders. They're nearIy Iopsided.
There's 400 peopIe crammed into these tenders
that were taking them down to MoviIIe.
Every week there was at Ieast one ship from GIasgow or LiverpooI
coming into MoviIIe to coIIect emigrants.
I've heard a figure that eight miIIion peopIe emigrated from IreIand
between 1800 and 1922.
The popuIation of IreIand today is onIy six miIIion,
it gives you an idea of the scaIe of it.
The determInatIon, regrets and hopes of those 19th-century emIgrants
can only be guessed at.
But mass emIgratIon contInued well Into the 20th century.
As the weather clears, I'm meetIng someone
who can tell me of that mIx of emotIons, BrIgId MakowskI.
I understand that you emigrated to America.
I did. 1955.
I went out and I married an American.
(MIchael) How had you met this American?
He came up that river on the USS Johnson, an American Navy ship.
I met him at a dance haII, I was 18 and he was 21 .
Me daddy said it was OK. I went out on the SS Saxonia Cunard Iine.
I remember it weII.
Did you have an tremendous sense of adventure, of starting a new Iife?
I did. At that time, Derry was weII depressed.
Derry now is coming on grand.
But in them days, in the '50s, it was mass emigration.
- There didn't seem to be any future. - Did you get much of a send off?
Yes. There was aIways in those days a thing caIIed an American Wake.
The famiIy wouId aII get together.
In the '50s, it wasn't Iike now where you can come back and forth.
When you went to America in the '50s, it was kind of goodbye for ever, you know?.
I remember my father when I was Ieaving, I was in the taxi and he kissed me.
He says, ''Goodbye, I'II hardIy see you again.''
It turned out to be true. He died before I'd seen him again.
BrIgId's new lIfe In the UnIted States brought change on every front.
(BrIgId) I was born in a wee house.
There were seven kids, my mother and father in two bedrooms.
No inside toiIet, no inside water.
When I went out to the States, in PhiIadeIphia,
Leo's house, I thought they were miIIionaires.
They had TV and a refrigerator and a freezer.
They aII had their own bedrooms, and, you know.
After 1 8 years In AmerIca,
BrIdget and her husband returned to lIve In Ireland.
Are you gIad to be Iiving now back in Derry?
I'm just across the border in DonegaI.
I'm in Derry aII the time, because Derry and DonegaI,
everybody in Derry has a granny in DonegaI.
But I Iove it. I'm as happy as the day is Iong.
BrIgId's famIly Is typIcal of many In Ireland,
wIth relatIves stIll In AmerIca,
IncludIng one of her sIsters and her son,
who left durIng the 1980s recessIon to seek work.
And echoIng the past, recent fIgures show that as thIs recessIon bItes,
Ireland Is once agaIn seeIng a large Increase In emIgratIon,
wIth over 3,000 leavIng each month,
the hIghest fIgure In more than a century.
My raiIway journeys across EngIand, WaIes and the isIand of IreIand,
have brought me at Iast to the Peace Bridge in Londonderry/Derry,
buiIt as a symboI of hope to join communities together.
My Bradshaw's says, ''To those who rush from the cares of business
to feast upon beauty
and to inhaIe the fresh air of fieIds, Iakes and mountains,
we recommend a trip to IreIand.''
And I wouId onIy add, that for aII its gifts of nature,
IreIand is made by its peopIe.