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In 1840, one man transformed
travel in the British Isles.

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00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,600
His name was George Bradshaw,

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and his railway guides inspired the
Victorians to take to the tracks.

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Stop-by-stop,
he told them where to travel,

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00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,480
what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later, I'm making a
series of journeys across the length

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and breadth of the isles to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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I'm now completing my journey
from High Wycombe to Aberystwyth.

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I've left behind me the smoke
stacks of the West Midlands in the

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19th century and I'm on the Cambrian
railway, looking to discover what

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was the impact of industrialisation
on rural and coastal towns in Wales.

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'This scenic line opened up mid
Wales to 19th-century travellers,

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'and my Bradshaw's Guide
steered them

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'towards all that the
region had to offer.

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'Today, I'll experience Victorian
entertainment in one of Wales'

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'best-loved resorts...'

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Here are the waves hitting the shore
and here is the bay of Aberystwyth.

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Isn't that marvellous?

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'..hear how the railways took Welsh
textiles into even the most

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'exclusive households.'

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When Queen Victoria sat down,

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there was a good piece of Newtown
flannel between her and the throne.

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HE LAUGHS

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'And unleash the power of
a 19th-century engineering marvel.'

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Whoa!

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Listen to the sound of that water!
It's got 125 feet of head behind it!

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HE LAUGHS

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This trip began in the Chilterns
and has taken me

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through the Victorians' beloved
Shakespeare Country, and revealed

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00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,160
the rich industrial heritage
of the 19th-century Midlands.

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Now I'm heading for Wales,
and my final stop on its west coast.

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'On this last leg I'll
begin in rural Welshpool,

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'then stop off in Newtown,

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'before exploring the beautiful
county of Ceredigion.'

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Judging from the many fields here
studded with sheep and cows,

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this area remains agricultural,
as it was in the 19th century.

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My first stop will be Welshpool.

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Bradshaw's tells me that it's
"a place of considerable trade,"

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which I think must be a reference
to a market economy.

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'I'm on the Shrewsbury
to Welshpool line.

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'Opened in 1862, it gave the town
a new lease of life.

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'I'm meeting local historian
Chris Martin to hear the tale.'

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Hello, Chris. Hello, Michael,
welcome to Welshpool. Thank you.

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Rather a momentous
pedestrian bridge?

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Yes, it was put in when the bypass
was constructed in 1990.

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You can see the old
station is over here.

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00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,120
'Chris is leading me to an abandoned
spot beside the tracks.

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'Here, Victorian visitors could
have witnessed livestock

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'being herded onto trains,

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'as a result of Welshpool's thriving
cattle and livestock market.'

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So, in the heyday of the railway,
how did the market here function?

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Well, the market dates
from more-or-less immediately after

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the railway was built.

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There was a terminal here
built as sidings into the market,

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so you could get stock in
and out of the market,

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you could take it out to the
Midlands, bring in from the Midlands.

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'Welshpool's rail links
improved further

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'when the Welshpool & Llanfair Light
Railway opened in 1903.

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'One of a number of narrow-gauge
routes built from the late 1890s

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'to stimulate the flagging
rural economy, it gave remote

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'farming communities direct access
to markets.'

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What was that line like?

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Well, the line sort of came
in at the northeast end of the town,

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at a station, Raven Square,

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then came down through
the built-up area of the town.

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You could see engines weaving
their way through the traffic.

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Health and safety nightmare,
I suspect.

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'Thanks to improvements in the
roads, the narrow-gauge line

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'closed in the 1950s,
and while a stretch outside the town

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'reopened as a heritage line, the
tracks in the centre were removed.

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'The market in the open air
lasted in Welshpool until 2009,

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'when it moved to a modern
under-cover site out of town,
built at a cost of £13 million.'

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Hello, Frank, how very good
to see you. Welcome to Welshpool.
Thank you.

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00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,560
'Retired auctioneer Frank Knight
is giving me a guided tour.'

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I had no idea I'd be seeing anything
quite as vast as this.

76
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It's sheep from one end to the
other, isn't it? It is.
It's quite a spectacle.

77
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How long have you been
with the market, Frank?

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I left school in 1957 and joined
the firm running the market then,

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and I've been here ever since.

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How does it rank now amongst
national and international markets?

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It's the largest sheep
market in Europe. Really?

82
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We've always claimed that
and nobody's ever disputed it.

83
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,800
'Nowadays the livestock
come by road,

84
00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,200
'and on market day, the building
throngs with buyers and sellers,

85
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'all anxious to seal a bargain.'

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Are you a sheep farmer? I AM a sheep
farmer. Good to see you. Pleased to
meet you.

87
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How long have you
been in the business?

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Well, I'm 66 years of age now,
and I've been in country life or
farming life all my life, really.

89
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Do you have any memory of the
narrow-gauge, steam railway?

90
00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,080
I just about remember it.

91
00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:06,640
The engines then didn't make a big
noise but you saw the steam, then
knew the train was coming.

92
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It makes you nostalgic,
doesn't it? It does,
only trouble is you feel old

93
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when you look back and see them
things happening.

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Not old,
just lucky to remember those days?

95
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Lucky to remember those days,
that's the main thing, we're here
to remember.

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Morning, you buying or selling?
Selling. These are yours? Yes.

97
00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,520
How often do you bring lamb
in here?

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Every week. Every Monday,
there's a market.

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You try to sell so you've got
a continuous cash flow every week.

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You bet, good luck.

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'The seller's fate is in the hands
of the auctioneer.'

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You're auctioning the sheep
this morning? Yes.

103
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How many? Not so many today -
only about 4,500, 5,000.

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That sounds like quite a lot to me.
How many on a really good day?

105
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Up to 10,000...lambs, that's
without ewes, there's 5,000-odd
ewes here as well.

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How do the bidders bid?

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Very sneakily - winking, twitching
their nose. Really?

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You're serious, aren't you? I am.

109
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You say what the next number is
and they go...?

110
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Yeah, you got it. You watch now
when they go, you'll see.

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We'll keep a watch out.
Good luck with your auction.

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58, 20, 80, 89.

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Sold at £62.

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Sold at £63.

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'It strikes me that,
while the setting may have changed,

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'the back-and-forth of the auction
would have been just the same

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'in Bradshaw's day.

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'The wool produced by Welsh sheep

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'has long been a significant
source of the country's wealth.'

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'I'm now rejoining the Cambrian
railway

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'and heading for a place where
it gave rise to a booming Victorian
industry.'

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Having now spent some time with
woolly animals,

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I'm attracted by this entry in my
Bradshaw's for Newtown.

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"A spacious flannel hall
has been erected."

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Now, any former politician
knows how TO flannel,

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but as for the material,
my education looms ahead.

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'Flannel is a soft fabric,

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'which has been woven from Welsh
wool for centuries.

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'In the late 1700s, technological
advances revolutionised it

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'and dozens of factories
sprang up in Newtown.

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'But only in the railway age did
this traditional product

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'become a global brand.'

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00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:40,600
Hello, David. Hello, Michael,
welcome to Newtown.
Very good to be here.

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'Local historian David Pugh is
sharing the story.'

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What difference did the railways
make to the flannel business here?

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Well, that was the second
phase of the flannel business.

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In the mid-19th century,
it declined and then...

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the railway through to the rest of
the country opened in 1860...

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00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:06,400
and also, thousands of miles away,
something else happened,
the American Civil War.

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The Northern states
blockaded the Southern ports,

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cotton couldn't get out
to Manchester, and the cotton
industry collapsed

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00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,200
in Manchester, and the silver lining
from that particular cloud fell

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in Newtown, because if you can't have
cotton, have soft Welsh flannel
instead.

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And the chap that saw
the opportunity...

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with the railway coming and
the Civil War was a local draper,

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and that's his monument over there,
that building.

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'The imposing Royal Welsh Warehouse
was built by Newtown entrepreneur

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'Pryce Pryce-Jones, whose big idea
changed the way we shop forever.'

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It's a palatial entrance,
who was this Pryce-Jones?

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He was a local man
of humble origins.

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00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,320
He became an apprentice draper,

152
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,760
then started own business
in the town centre.

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Then, when the railway came,
he had this idea, mail order.

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Supposedly the first in the world.
Certainly in Europe, Pryce-Jones

155
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was the first to have a mail order
store where people wrote in
with their orders,

156
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and the parcels were dispatched
by rail just across the road.

157
00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,520
'Pryce-Jones started out with small
local orders for Newtown flannel,

158
00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,800
'but as the railway network
expanded, so did his business.

159
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,600
'By 1879,
he was doing a roaring trade.'

160
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He'd made enough money to leave
his premises in the town centre,

161
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:33,120
which were much smaller, and build
this vast Royal Welsh Warehouse...

162
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and notice that it's not facing
the town, it's facing the railway,

163
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because it was the railway that it
was...intended to impress...

164
00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,880
travellers passing through the town,
to see this great building.

165
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,720
If you go round the back,
it's not nearly so ornate.

166
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,800
'Pryce-Jones soon became
a national figure,

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00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:54,640
'elected as Conservative MP in 1885
and receiving a knighthood in 1887.

168
00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,560
'He's even credited with
the invention of the parcel post,

169
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'having suggested to the Royal Mail
that the system for letters

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'be extended to packages.

171
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'And the railways carried his
flannel products right to

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'the top of Victorian society.'

173
00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,760
That really is a most handsome
window. It is.

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00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,960
To commemorate Queen Victoria's
patronage of his business. She was

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a regular customer, as he claimed
were all the crowned heads of Europe.

176
00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,520
What sort of products do you think
she bought from him?

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00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,040
Well...

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00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,800
Welsh flannel hand-woven, very soft,

179
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,720
ideal for wearing next to the skin,
so when Queen Victoria sat down

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00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,120
there was a good piece of Newtown
flannel between her and the throne.

181
00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:41,440
HE LAUGHS

182
00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,800
'Today, mail order has been
transformed once again

183
00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,440
'by the advent of the internet.

184
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,600
'It's so interesting to
learn that the story started here.

185
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,960
'Before I rest for the night I've
got one more journey to make,

186
00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,320
'and it's a feast for the eyes.

187
00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:01,280
'I'm following a section of the
Cambrian Line built in 1863,

188
00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,120
'whose stunning route crosses the
Cambrian mountains

189
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:05,800
'and the River Severn.

190
00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,320
'This picturesque landscape must
have delighted Victorian railway

191
00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,760
'travellers, and I'm leaving
the tracks to take a closer look.'

192
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,440
Machynlleth, and what a beautiful
train journey that was,

193
00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,960
along that broad river valley,
all those beautiful greens.

194
00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,000
And it's so nice to see on a rural
train service like this,

195
00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000
the train was virtually full.

196
00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:38,960
'Machynlleth is the gateway
to the southern part

197
00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,320
of Snowdonia National Park,
and my Bradshaw's

198
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,320
enthuses about this region's
"Cyclopean precipices...

199
00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,440
"upheaved at our very path."

200
00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:53,080
'It recommends exploring the pretty
area around Dolgellau

201
00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,640
'and who better to enjoy it with
than local artist Keith Davies?'

202
00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,760
You're a painter, aren't you?

203
00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,800
What do you find
compelling about this countryside?

204
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:04,080
Well, just everything.

205
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,360
The light's fantastic. but everything
I want to paint is here...

206
00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,120
the mountains,
the forest, the beach, the sea.

207
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,080
If you can't get inspired here,
you can't get inspired anywhere.

208
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,440
'Soon after my guidebook was
published, a branch line was

209
00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,880
'built which passed through
Dolgellau en route to the coast.

210
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,920
'Closed in the 1960s,
it's now a popular walk,

211
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,400
'and while the main
attraction is the scenery,

212
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,400
'traces of the railway heritage
can still be seen.'

213
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,440
This really is
enchanting as the sun goes down.

214
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,320
It's absolutely amazing,
an artist's dream.

215
00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,440
And this, quite evidently,
is the old railway station?

216
00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,640
Yes, it is. We start with the
booking office, the ticket office,

217
00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:43,640
and on the end,
the stationmaster's house.

218
00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:47,720
'Today the old railway buildings
form part of a small hotel.

219
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,760
'An ideal spot for my Bradshaw's
and me to spend the night.'

220
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,760
To wake to such a morning in such
a wonderful landscape,

221
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,000
it's a joy to be alive,
a joy to travel.

222
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,160
'It's time for me to
retrace my steps to Machynlleth...

223
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,800
'and embark on the final
part of the Cambrian Line.'

224
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,040
This spectacular scenery
is bringing me

225
00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,800
towards my last destination on
the regular railway, Aberystwyth,

226
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,800
of which Bradshaw says, "There's no
station southward of Caernarvonshire

227
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,440
"from which the Welsh Alps may be
so advantageously seen,."

228
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,160
It also bring me of course to
the Irish Sea and a resort which,

229
00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,000
in the late 19th century, was
populated with Black Country workers

230
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:58,200
and their families, anxious to dip
their coal-stained toes
in the brine.

231
00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,800
'When my guidebook was published,
this line was not yet complete,

232
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,920
'stopping eight miles
short of Aberystwyth.

233
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,920
'Despite that, my Bradshaw's has
a detailed entry for the town.

234
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:16,000
'Its author clearly knew that this
place would astonish railway
tourists.'

235
00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,160
Aberystwyth station is
built on a scale that reminds us

236
00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,600
that this was once
a substantial resort.

237
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,040
I like to imagine, in Victorian
times, the steam engines

238
00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:32,520
smoking behind as thousands
of excursionists disembark,

239
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,520
many of them about to see
the sea for the first time.

240
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,440
'By the early 1900s,

241
00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,560
'Aberystwyth was welcoming thousands
of visitors every year,

242
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:48,720
'and the seafront was lined
with Victorian buildings
and a fine new pier.'

243
00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:52,320
'I'm admiring it with local
historian Michael Freeman.'

244
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,480
Michael. Hello, Michael.

245
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,120
I must say, I'm bowled over by
this view, it's absolutely superb.

246
00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,680
I always enjoy looking at it,
especially at sunset.

247
00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:06,000
Was Aberystwyth already an important
resort before the railways?

248
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,600
Yes, from the 1770s, the gentry came
here in quite large numbers.

249
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,360
It was quite an exclusive resort
because it was

250
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,120
so expensive to travel
across the mountains of Wales.

251
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,200
And where were they staying in
those pre-railway days?

252
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,680
There were a few hotels, or "inns"
as they called them then...

253
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,000
so that's mostly where they would
have stayed,

254
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,160
then they had an assembly room where
they would have met to socialise

255
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,200
and dance and play cards.

256
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:34,000
'But this genteel resort
was soon to change forever,

257
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:39,520
'with the arrival of the Aberystwyth
& Welsh Coast Railway line in 1864.

258
00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,680
'At a stroke, a whole new section
of society could afford
to travel here.'

259
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,480
Where were they coming from?

260
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:49,120
Mostly the Midlands, Birmingham
area, because all the trains
could come here

261
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,280
quite easily then, there were far
more train lines in Wales than
earlier on.

262
00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,720
'The early railway tourists
came to exchange the smoke

263
00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:01,080
'of Britain's industrial heartland
for fresh air and sunshine.

264
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:02,920
'But by the end of the 19th century,

265
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:07,600
'more sophisticated
entertainment was available.'

266
00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:09,560
Ah, exposed to the elements.

267
00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:14,320
'This funicular railway was
opened in 1896,

268
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,360
'part of an ambitious programme to
turn so-called Constitution Hill

269
00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:21,000
'into a special tourist attraction.'

270
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,240
The view of Aberystwyth
is absolutely superb.

271
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,080
It is magnificent from up here,

272
00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,080
and many people would have climbed
the hill just to see that.

273
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:29,920
'Supposedly the longest in Britain,

274
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,200
'the funicular led tourists to
hilltop pleasure gardens,

275
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,880
'including a Victorian favourite
attraction, the camera obscura.

276
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,600
'This optical device allowed
tourists to see a moving

277
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,560
'image of the world outside from
within the confines of a building.

278
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,840
'Modern visitors can experience
a 1980s reproduction

279
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,560
'of the 19th-century original.'

280
00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,600
So what am I seeing there?

281
00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,000
This is a live image of what's
going on outside.

282
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,200
It's projected from a mirror above us
onto this table.

283
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:06,080
Here are the waves hitting the shore
and here is the bay of Aberystwyth.

284
00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,360
Isn't that marvellous?

285
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:11,960
'The principle is
the same as a pinhole camera

286
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,200
'and dates back to antiquity.

287
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:15,840
'By Victorian times,

288
00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:20,920
'improved lenses had seaside
tourists marvelling at
the perfect picture.'

289
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:22,760
In the late 19th century,

290
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,120
nobody would have seen
a moving image before?

291
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,360
No, it must have been
exciting for them, to see that,

292
00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:32,880
but of course, the cinema took over
and this went out of fashion...

293
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,120
at the beginning of the 20th century.

294
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,080
Well, I think this has given me

295
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:41,520
almost as clear an image of
Victorian Britain as my Bradshaw's.

296
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,080
'The Victorians made the seaside
break a British institution,

297
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,560
'and right through the 20th century,
the people of the Midlands flocked

298
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,760
'to the so-called
"Biarritz of Wales."

299
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,960
'Before my last train of the day,

300
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,400
'I'm catching up with
Birmingham-born Pat Hovers,

301
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,520
'who first visited Aberystwyth
over 50 years ago.'

302
00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,960
What kind of a resort was it
in the '60s?

303
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,640
It was very popular,
because coming to the seaside

304
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,280
was an adventure in those days,
and Midlanders very much came to

305
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:12,760
this part of Wales,
to Aberystwyth, whereas

306
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,400
the Manchester people would go north
to Blackpool. It was where
the railway lines go.

307
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,160
So what did you do in Aberystwyth.
Was it ice creams and candy floss?

308
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,280
Paddling.

309
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,320
You had to go in the sea
if you came to the coast.

310
00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:31,040
And, yes, ice creams on the prom.
Just walking along the prom,

311
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,080
there was always something going on,
Punch and Judy sometimes,

312
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:36,840
and the pier and the amusements.

313
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:41,400
Something must have appealed to you
as you've now settled in the area?

314
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,560
Indeed I have, yes.

315
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,600
I can't think what it was.
I could say,

316
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,360
"Rwy'n hapus iawn
i fyw yn y diwylliant Cymreig,"

317
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:50,880
but my accent isn't very good.

318
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,160
What would that mean? "I'm very
happy to live in the Welsh culture."

319
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,600
I remember my children coming
home and saying,
"The Brummies are here."

320
00:19:57,600 --> 00:19:59,640
What they actually said was,

321
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,040
"The otters and grotters are here."
I said, "What do you mean?!"

322
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:07,000
"Oh, they come from Birmingham
and they say, 'It's 'otter here
than it is at home.'

323
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,400
I had to remind them they were born
and bred in Birmingham,

324
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,320
so we would not laugh

325
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,480
at the otters and grotters,
no, not at all.

326
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:20,080
'When my guidebook was published,
tourists wanting to explore

327
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:24,440
'the area around Aberystwyth
had to go by coach or on foot,

328
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,880
'but very soon, along came a much
more satisfactory way to travel.'

329
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,160
You may think that there's nothing
so beautiful as to see

330
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,200
the Welsh landscape slip by through
the window of a train.

331
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,120
But what about this?

332
00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:41,840
All-round visibility

333
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,520
in the first-class
observation saloon

334
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,560
of the Vale Of Rheidol Railway,

335
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,000
which has been carrying tourists for
110 years.

336
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:56,920
'First opened in 1902 to serve local
lead mines, this narrow-gauge line

337
00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,800
'was soon popular with
holidaymakers, and remains so today.

338
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,200
'From vintage 1920s
and '30s carriages,

339
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,440
'tourists can admire stunning
views on their way to a landmark

340
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,600
'favoured by Victorian visitors...'

341
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,120
My Bradshaw's says that
Pontarfynach,

342
00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:24,120
or "the devil's bridge"
is no more than 12 miles away,

343
00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:27,960
and although those words were
written 40 years before this line
was built,

344
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,040
it is indeed just short of 12 miles,
following the course

345
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,680
of the River Rheidol.

346
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:38,920
I can hear the locomotive straining
ahead as we climb 650 feet

347
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:43,000
through intense greenery of this
gentle Mid-Wales country.

348
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,760
'I'm leaving the train
at Devil's Bridge station,

349
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,400
'which takes its name from an
11th-century bridge
over the River Mynach.

350
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:58,160
'Since surmounted by two newer
bridges, this curiosity can be

351
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,480
'admired en route to the nearby
Devil's Bridge Falls.

352
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,920
'Rendered in paint by Turner
and in verse by Wordsworth,

353
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,440
'their natural beauty magnetised
Victorian tourists.

354
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:17,320
'But I'm heading off the beaten
track, in search of
a man-made marvel.'

355
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:18,800
During the course of my travels,

356
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,320
I've admired many
feats of Victorian engineering,

357
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,200
but now I've ventured some distance
from the nearest railway station

358
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,080
to see one that, even by
the standards of the age,

359
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,200
was vast and audacious.

360
00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,920
'This epic site is the extraordinary
Elan Valley reservoir system,

361
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,960
'whose series of dams holds back
up to 100,000 megalitres
of pure Welsh water.

362
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,480
'Begun in the 1890s, it's a fitting
final stop on my long journey

363
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,040
'from the heart of England
to Mid Wales.

364
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,840
'Because this water is
destined for the taps of Birmingham.

365
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:59,600
'I'll hear the explanation
from site manager Noel Hughes.'

366
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,480
Hello. Hello, Michael,
welcome to Elan Valley.

367
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,120
'As industrial Birmingham boomed
and its population mushroomed,

368
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:10,400
'the inadequate water supply led to
devastating epidemics of cholera

369
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,120
'and typhoid.

370
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:16,840
'So the City Corporation bought land
in the Elan Valley, 70 miles away.

371
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:22,480
'Their bold vision was to carry
water by pipeline to Birmingham.'

372
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:24,560
Give me
an idea of the scale of this thing.

373
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,400
It was phenomenal.

374
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:32,320
It was one of the largest Victorian
engineering complexes at the time.

375
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,600
Liverpool had certainly constructed
a dam some ten years prior to that

376
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:41,640
to supply water to the city,
but on this scale, it's phenomenal.

377
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,080
How did they transport
the materials they needed?

378
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,840
Well, in this area you'd expect them
to quarry

379
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,640
and use the local stone.

380
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,640
However, the local stone here is so
hard, it's one of the hardest
granites in Wales,

381
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:59,320
so they transported the stone from
the South Wales valleys by railway.

382
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:04,800
There was about 33 miles of railway
constructed in the Elan Valley

383
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,320
to assist with the building
of the reservoirs themselves.

384
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:14,920
'The ambitious project needed
dismaying tonnages of stone and
unimaginable numbers of men.'

385
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,640
Over the 12 years that it took
to construct the dams,

386
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,080
50,000 people went through
the books.

387
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,320
Goodness. At any one time, there was
5,000 people working.

388
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,760
They must have made a construction
village, I suppose?

389
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,840
They did, what they called
the navvy village which held

390
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,120
somewhere in the region of 2-2,500
people at any one time.

391
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,560
It was a wooden shanty town,

392
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,360
constructed just downstream
of the first dam.

393
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,600
'With typical Victorian
attention to detail,

394
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,120
'every aspect of the project
was carefully conceived,

395
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:54,360
'and the result is a system of dams
which are both functional
and elegant.'

396
00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,800
Here we are, Michael,
Penygarreg Dam.

397
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,880
I mean, of course it's huge,

398
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:04,560
but I didn't expect it to be so
beautiful with this lovely,
cascading foam.

399
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:10,440
That's right, yes. It was designed
that way to oxygenate the water as
it cascades over.

400
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,920
It must cost a lot to maintain
a Victorian structure?

401
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,960
Not at all. The construction itself
is designed to be almost
maintenance-free.

402
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,560
It's as good now as
when first constructed.

403
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,280
They were fantastic people,
those Victorians.

404
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,000
They knew what they were doing!

405
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,400
'By the time the project
was complete,

406
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:35,840
'Victoria's reign had ended,
and her son Edward VII opened
the pipeline in 1904.

407
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:40,080
'Amazingly, the dam's inner workings
have barely changed since then.'

408
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,120
Helmet for you, Michael. Thank you.

409
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:51,280
Would like to go first? Is it a long
way? There's 174 steps to go down!

410
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:57,520
'Our destination is the valve
chamber, right in the heart
of the dam.'

411
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:04,880
What we have here is the original
Victorian valves that were installed
some 110 years ago.

412
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,920
'Normally, water flows over the top
of the dam into the next reservoir,

413
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,360
'but the valves are used in times
of drought to regulate the supply.

414
00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,080
Eventually, it reaches the main
reservoir, where it's filtered,

415
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,720
before being gently propelled by
gravity along a closed aqueduct
to the Midlands.

416
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,200
I tell you what we'll do, we'll do
what the king did 110 years ago.

417
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:29,440
Let's release the water to
Birmingham. Let's give it a go. OK.

418
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,920
HE GROANS
There we go. And again.

419
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,960
Whoa, listen
to the sound of that water!

420
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,720
Indeed, it's got 125 feet
of head behind it!

421
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,240
HE LAUGHS

422
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,840
The water is roaring past us!

423
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:50,120
I think that should be enough to
keep 'em going for tomorrow.

424
00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:53,160
The whole chamber is soaking
with the water!

425
00:26:54,200 --> 00:27:00,520
Water, water everywhere.
Enough for Birmingham to drink.

426
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,040
'Feeling the sheer
power of the water brings home

427
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,760
'the admirable self-confidence
of the engineers who built this dam.

428
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,400
'No challenge was too great for the
visionaries of the railway age.'

429
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:21,080
Guided by my Bradshaw's, my travels
through the West Midlands

430
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,240
reminded me that for the majority
of Queen Victoria's subjects,

431
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,520
industrialisation brought
squalor, disease

432
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:29,920
and dangerous working conditions.

433
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,240
But regular wages also produced
higher living standards,

434
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:39,480
new engineering supplied clean
water, and the railways opened up

435
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:45,600
the country and seaside to city
dwellers who'd never before seen
such beauty.

436
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,840
Victorian Britain offered for
the first time to working people...

437
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,280
broad horizons.

438
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,360
'On my next journey,

439
00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:59,400
'I'll travel sea-to-sea
from the Solent to the Humber,

440
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,440
'starting at the centuries-old
naval hub of Portsmouth.'

441
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,320
Fire!
CANNON FIRES

442
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,360
'I'll visit a surprising
19th-century place of worship.'

443
00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:14,880
It's not only the first UK mosque,
it's the first in Northern Europe.

444
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,120
'Put in a shift at London's
oldest fish market.'

445
00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:20,840
Man wants his fish today,
not the weekend.

446
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,200
'And marvel at Lincoln's
most-impressive cathedral.'

447
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,040
Like fingers of honey-coloured
stone. Absolutely breathtaking.

448
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,480
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