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

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His name was George Bradshaw
and his railway guides inspired

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the Victorians to take
to the tracks.

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stop by stop he told them
where to travel,

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what to see and where to stay.

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

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across the length and breadth
of these isles

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to see what of Bradshaw's
Britain remains.

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I'm embarking on a new journey
tracking the master engineer

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of the Great Western Railway,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

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I'll begin at the line's London
gateway, Paddington Station.

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Travel west through Berkshire,
Wiltshire and Somerset.

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Before finishing up in
Newton Abbot, Devon,

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the scene of one of Brunel's
heroic failures.

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This leg covers 99 miles.

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Starting in London it's a short hop
to Hanwell.

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Then onto Hungerford in Berkshire,
before crossing counties into
Wiltshire.

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On this stretch I'll apply
my mind to a Victorian asylum.

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And come to grips with
the old grey matter.

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You know when I got on the
underground this morning,

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I never dreamt that I was going to
end up today handling a human brain.

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I'll scale great heights to give
an historic horse a facelift...

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The horse is about 800 square metres.

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I think I'll just do this little
postage stamp worth here,
if you don't mind!

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..and make malt
19th century style.

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I must say these feel like
Victorian conditions to me.

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I'm starting my journey
in the capital.

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I'm travelling along the
London Underground

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on a line that was opened
for steam trains in 1863.

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Roughly the year my Bradshaw's
Guide was published.

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It ran from Kings Cross
to Paddington,

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the terminus built by Brunel
for the Great Western Railway,

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and the scene of railway engineering
triumphs past, present and to come.

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Even to 21st century commuters,
Paddington's grandiose roof
spans are awe-inspiring.

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But when the station was
built in the 19th Century,
recent advances in technology

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made it possible to construct from
iron and glass, buildings whose like
had never been seen before.

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I was rather surprised to find that
Bradshaw says that the exterior of
Paddington is not very remarkable.

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But, of course, most people arrive
here by train and they see,

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"A station spacious enough to
accommodate the largest number
off excursionists ever accumulated."

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And Bradshaw's talks about,

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"The immense roofs which impart to
the traveller the impression

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that he is about to start by the
railway of a first-rate company."

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And impressions were everything for
the competing Victorian
railway companies.

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The London terminus reassuringly
indicated to first class passengers

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the railway's wealth and stature.

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And inspired wonder amongst the
hordes who could now go on holiday
by train.

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For the Great Western,
Brunel built the grandest yet,

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a veritable palace of steam.

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But its inauguration came 16 long
years after the railway had opened.

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I'm meeting Brunel expert and
railway historian, John Christopher
in front of Isambard himself.

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Paddington Station,
when was it built?

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It was opened in 1854 but key to
understanding this Paddington
is in it's full name.

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This is Paddington New Station.

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So the original station was
built beyond the Bishops Road Bridge

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at the far end
as a temporary structure.

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Initially, they didn't have the land
they needed or the money

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he'd spent so much building the
railway to Bristol that they built
a wooden station.

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And only when the land and money
became available by 1850 did they
start work on this station.

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So this is a rare
example of late Brunel.

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Thanks to advances in engineering

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and inspired by the Palm House
at Kew Gardens

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and Paxton's Crystal Palace,
Brunel was able to build

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a far more ambitious station than
he'd originally planned in 1835.

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The most spectacular aspect
being the roof

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three 700 foot long spans
of glass and iron.

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Making it, at the time of building,
the largest in existence.

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So here we are, the important bit,
Brunel's wonderful roof.

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So this uses the techniques that
have been developed between the time
that the railways were built

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and the time that the
station was built?

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Yes, specifically the use of wrought
iron and glass in structures.

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There are many aspects to this,
partly it's an upturned ship,
which Brunel was familiar with,

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he'd already built the Great Britain,
the large iron ship at that stage.

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But it's also an early example of
modular architecture.

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So you've got the same components
repeated again and again and again,
until you've got a whole building.

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It's something we're very
used to now.

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Perhaps the Victorians were only
just discovering.

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The station took three years to
build and cost around £620,000,

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which is equivalent to £62 million
in today's money.

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Worth every penny I think.

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That is a magnificent bird.
What is it?

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Thank you very much,
she's a Harris Hawk.

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And why are you here,
the two of you?
We're doing pigeon control.

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So the pigeons are obviously pretty
frightened of this fellow?

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Yes, she's a predator to pigeons

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And so is it enough for the pigeons
just to see the bird
and they keep away?

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Pretty much, yes, the shape
and size of her is enough
of a deterrent.

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Well, I must say if I'm were a
pigeon, I'd be quaking right now.

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Lovely to see you.
You too, take care.

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Today, Paddington is one site in
a new multi-billion pound
railway project,

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which will include additional
platforms beneath ground
and represents

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one of the most significant changes
to the station since Brunel
completed it.

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If there's one thing that excites
me as much as railway history

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it's the thought that new railways
are being built.

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And I can't wait to travel on
Crossrail which will go from
Paddington to East London

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and it really thrills me that today
we're using a technology

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that's largely unchanged since
the beginning of the 19th Century.

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Near Paddington Station,
work has commenced.

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Crossrail is currently Europe's
largest civil engineering project,
costing nearly £15 billion.

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13 miles of new twin-bored
tunnels are being built under
the heart of London.

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And a total of 37 stations will link
Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west,

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with Shenfield and
Abbey Wood in the east.

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Andy Alder is the Project Manager.

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Andy, good morning.
Good morning, Michael.

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So where we're standing now,
we're just a mile from
Paddington Station? Yeah.

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And what are you going to
do from here?

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So we got two tunnel boring machines
here, we've got Ada which is our
double second machine behind us here,

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and Phyllis is our first machine,
Phyllis is down in the ground
at the moment

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starting to dig tunnels
from here to Paddington.

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So our tunnelling machines will dig
from here all the way to Farringdon.

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and when we've done that we'll start
excavating the station tunnels

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at Bond Street
and Tottenham Court Road.

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And at the same time we've got
six more machines almost identical
to this working their way

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from east of London, coming into
Farringdon and going up to Stratford.

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It's quite a big moment here for me,
because in the 1980's I was
the Minister of Transport

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and we were already
talking about Crossrail then.

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But we had another project on the
books which was the Jubilee line
extension out to Canary Wharf

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but we only had money for one
so we did the other one.

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But if I see this machine turn in a
moment, I'll really feel that I'm...

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well I don't know,
that it's an ambition achieved.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Each custom-made boring machine
is 148 metres long.

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That's the equivalent of
14 buses end to end.

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These giant machines will work
nearly 24 hours a day
excavating soil.

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And as they move forward,
they set in place pre-cast
concrete segments

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creating the tunnel
as they burrow.

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Could you please turn
the machine for us?

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Everybody is clear,
everyone is standing clear.

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There she goes.

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So I've got to imagine now this will
be going through the rock
and the clay

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and all of that then will be prised
out and then fed back
through the machine?

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That's correct, yeah.

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Fed back through the machine,
onto the conveyers

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and then to here so we can take
the material away by train.

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About 190 years ago,

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Isambard Brunel and his father Marc
were constructing the Thames Tunnel.

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How does the way that you tunnel
now compare with the days

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of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
and his father, Marc?

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The basic technology is the same,
having a shield that supports
the ground,

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doing the excavation
and building the tunnel behind us.

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The differences are that where
we have mechanical cutter head,

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he had 36 partitions in the front

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with miners working by hand
excavating the ground away.

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And while we're building
concrete segments,

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he had bricklayers building
brickwork behind.

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They were achieving 350 feet
in whole year in the 1820s.

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We'll achieve 350 feet in a week.

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That's amazing.

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I want to get closer to the action,
so we're making our way
to the tunnel head

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passing the rear sections
of the boring machine.

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As well as containing toilets
and a kitchen,

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it hosts a narrow gauge railway
running its full length

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so that pre-cast concrete segments
can be delivered to
the cutting head.

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A railway helping to build
a railway.

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So this is where it really happens.

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It occurs to me as you're tunnelling
here you must be dodging quite
a lot of Victorian infrastructure.

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Yes, so this machine will pass close,
in ten locations, the London
Underground tube tunnels and tracks.

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We're also tunnelling underneath
the Bazalgette sewerage system

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that was the first
Victorian sewer system for London.

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So there is a lot of very historic
and very important
infrastructure to London

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that we need to protect
as we go through.

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Not much pressure on you
there then!

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Crossrail is due to open in
central London in 2018

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and I feel honoured to have had
a glimpse into the future of
rail travel in the capital.

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But it's now time to return to
Brunel's Paddington

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where my journey on his historic
Great Western Railway begins.

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My Bradshaw, written in the 1860s,
comments,

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"A metamorphosis has taken place
in the environs of the line.

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"Walls have become
green embankments,

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"embankments diminished into hedges,

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"and hedges grown into
avenues of trees

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"waving a leafy adieu
as we are carried past."

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The leafy goodbye and verdant
outlook had been incorporated into
London as the capital has expanded.

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And so also Hanwell, now part
of the London Borough of Ealing,

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in Bradshaw's day it was
a village in Middlesex

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and the first stop out of the
metropolis on the Great Western
to win a mention in the guidebook.

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No devotee of Brunel can come to
Hanwell without wanting to
visit one of his masterpieces.

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It's not just the grand stations and
powerful locomotives that have so
captured our imaginations,

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because spectacular viaducts and
bridges made it possible

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for the railways to traverse rivers
and valleys.

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This imposing viaduct across
the Brent Valley

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was the first contract to be let
on Brunel's Great Western Railway
and it was completed in 1837.

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And I can do no better than to
quote Bradshaw's.

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"A massive and elegant structure."

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Over 900 feet long, the viaduct was
Brunel's first major structure.

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In Bradshaw's day, it was said
locally, that Queen Victoria
so much enjoyed the view

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over the River Brent, that she would
have her train halt there a while.

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On such a journey, she
and her subjects travelling
on the Great Western Railway,

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could not possibly fail to notice
a huge neoclassical building just
a stone's throw from the viaduct.

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My Bradshaw's Guide says,
"The most interesting object
in the landscape is Hanwell Asylum,

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"generously devoted to the reception
of the indigent insane."

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Now, the Victorians were pretty
blunt in their language, but
actually they made as much progress

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in mental health
as in railway engineering.

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Opened in 1831, it was the United
Kingdom's first purpose-built asylum

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and represented a massive shift
in attitudes towards mental health.

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Previously, the so-called
"pauper insane"

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were locked up in
workhouses and jails.

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Even at Hanwell, treatment was from
far from sympathetic.

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Inmates spent much of their time
in restraints, with no attempt
at treatment.

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But this was set to change
when Superintendent John Connolly
took charge in 1839.

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Current librarian, Paul Lang,
is going to tell me more.

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This was founded before
the Victorian era.

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I think of the Victorians as being
quite progressive in mental health.

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Was there a change?

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Oh, yes, definitely, particularly
under John Connolly.

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He did away with restraints within
the first few months of him
being there.

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00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:25,360
He encouraged them in music,
dancing, outings - as long as they
were supervised, of course.

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There was basket weaving
and coir mat making

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and like a proto-industrial therapy,
they got them to do various things.

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00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:38,240
He took a far more humane approach
to the patients.

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Connolly's methods were to become
general practice throughout
the United Kingdom

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and Hanwell a model
for future asylums.

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00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,160
That pioneering Victorian legacy
is sensed to this day,

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00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:54,760
as it's now the headquarters for
the West London Mental Health Trust

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and home to a very rare
and intriguing archive.

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00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:02,760
I'm meeting Curator and Consultant
Psychiatrist, Michael Maier.

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00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:04,040
Hello, I'm Michael.

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00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,680
This looks like some
sort of collection, what is it?

218
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,600
Well, it's a collection of brains
across the age range -

219
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,200
from birth right
through to 100-plus.

220
00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:21,640
The collection was
started in the 1950s by a consultant
pathologist, Professor Corsellis.

221
00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,920
Determined to develop a better
understanding of neurological
and mental disease,

222
00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:30,760
he kept his patients'
brains post-mortem for research.

223
00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,280
Today, the collection amounts
to 6,000 specimens.

224
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:39,400
So this collection has been really
significant in understanding
what we used to consider

225
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:44,000
functional illnesses, illnesses
that didn't seem to have
a biological reason,

226
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,680
that they were somehow to do
with the person.

227
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:52,520
So we used to believe that
schizophrenia perhaps wasn't
based on any biological cause.

228
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,800
In this collection with the work
that Professor Corsellis did,

229
00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,680
he showed that the brains of people
with schizophrenia did have

230
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,920
abnormalities that could
explain some of the symptoms.

231
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,400
Today, the collection is linked to
the research network Brain UK

232
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:12,440
and is accessible to medical
researchers throughout the world.

233
00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:13,880
This is a typical brain.

234
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,960
Do you have a sense of awe that
we're all wandering around with
something up here

235
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,800
That we only understand
to a limited extent?

236
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,200
Well, this is what makes you what
you are, it's my brain talking
to your brain.

237
00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,440
It's not my liver or my kidneys.
What we are is a product of this
organ which is quite astonishing.

238
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:31,440
Do you want to take this?

239
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,040
I can tell you this is definitely
going to be a first for me,

240
00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,280
I have never held a brain in
my hands. Now that is extraordinary.

241
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:42,760
I tell you what really surprise me,
considering what it does,
it doesn't weigh much at all.

242
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,160
Do you know Michael, when I got on
the underground this morning,
I never dreamt

243
00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,600
that I was going to end up today
handling a human brain.

244
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,640
Well, your life is full
of surprises.

245
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,360
It's time to continue westwards
and I'm picking up a train

246
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,160
from Southall, the next station
along the line.

247
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,240
This is going to be crowded.

248
00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:07,080
I've hit rush hour,

249
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,520
and the trains coming from London
are packed with commuters.

250
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,000
It's slow going as we leave
the suburbs, stop by stop,

251
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,280
and finally make our way
into Berkshire.

252
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,640
A long journey on the stopping
train has bought me at last
to Hungerford

253
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:28,440
and it's time for me
to turn in.

254
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,680
And my Bradshaw's mentions a hotel,
The Black Bear.

255
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,240
Good evening. Good evening, sir. So
it's an old coaching in, is it?

256
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:46,520
Yes, we're one of the oldest
in the country. We're on the main
Bath to London coaching route.

257
00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,320
Once upon a time owned by
Henry VIII.

258
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,680
He used to come here
when they cleared the palaces
in London of plague.

259
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,200
So it's full of history.
So we're full of history.

260
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:55,920
Do you have a room for me?
I do indeed, sir.

261
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:57,080
There we are, number 11.

262
00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,800
You're in the main house, which is
the main part of the building.

263
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,320
Thank you very much. Good night.

264
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:15,120
It's a new day and I'm continuing
my journey westwards on Brunel's
famous railway.

265
00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:20,400
I'm re-joining the train at
Hungerford and crossing the county
border into rural Wiltshire.

266
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,040
As I approach Westbury,
there's a tantalising reference
in my Bradshaw's guide,

267
00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,920
"An ancient encampment on the edge
of the chalk downs near Bratton.

268
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,240
"On the escarpment below is
the figure of a white horse

269
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,680
"the origin of which is
doubtful and obscure."

270
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:48,240
Very intriguing.

271
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,480
Clearly visible from passing trains
this chalk horse must have been

272
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,240
an unmissable attraction
for those early Victorian tourists,

273
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,440
fascinated as they were
by all things mystical.

274
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:09,200
I'm going to take a closer look
and see whether any Westbury
locals are in the know.

275
00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,320
You're visiting the white horse.
Do you know what its origins are?

276
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:25,240
Well, I know what its origins
are linked to rather than are.

277
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:30,680
It was the Battle of Ethandun between
King Alfred and the Danes.

278
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,680
And Ethandun is thought to be
the Edington area.

279
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:40,440
And this was put up much later to
commemorate the Battle of Ethandun.

280
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,320
Indeed, this particular horse
isn't so long in the tooth,

281
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,960
and dates not from the time of the
battle in the 9th century,

282
00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:49,720
but from the early 18th.

283
00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,680
Ever since, the Westbury community
has gathered on a regular basis
on the hillside

284
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,360
to weed the site and
keep the horse white.

285
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,000
In the 1950s, Westbury's snowy
steed was concreted over

286
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,840
in a controversial bid
to reduce maintenance.

287
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,600
The horse still needs
regular grooming,

288
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,960
but today instead of
trowels and hoes,

289
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,400
the community comes armed
with paint pots and rollers.

290
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:21,360
Hello. I'm admiring the white
horse, maybe you are as well.

291
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:23,320
Are you part of the community?

292
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:27,560
Yeah, I live out in one of
the villages and I came up myself
last weekend to have a go.

293
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,200
So weren't you scared
when you went down and painted it?

294
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,880
It was a bit hairy at first getting
the hang of the abseiling.

295
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,920
But once you get down
and you start painting,

296
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,160
it's just like painting your living
room, but while being on a rope.

297
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:46,680
Now, a chance to put my DIY skills
to the test with team leader,
Steve Carrington.

298
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,080
I may be fool to suggest this,
but may I have a go? Absolutely,
let's get you on a rope, painting.

299
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:53,840
Thank you. Excellent.

300
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,920
Now, luckily I do have a reasonable
head for heights,

301
00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:01,320
even so the angle
is pretty daunting.

302
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,360
Yep, you know what you're doing?
Hope so.

303
00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,600
Good. Mind the lump to your
left foot.

304
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:14,880
Wow, home decorating has
nothing on this, does it really?

305
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,720
The horse is about 800 square metres.

306
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:22,400
I think I'll just do this little
postage stamp worth here,
if you don't mind.

307
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:26,440
Have you any idea how in
the 18th or the 19th century,
they would have done this?

308
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:27,520
Did they have ropes?

309
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,760
Well, they would have had ropes,
but certainly all the accounts

310
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,400
that we have seen of them doing
the Uffington white horse,

311
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,000
people are just shown just
walking around on it working.

312
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,960
Rather they than me.

313
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:44,960
"Former politician involved in
whitewash and hung out to dry."

314
00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:02,200
I'll hand back the reins to Steve,
as I'm returning to Westbury Station
to re-join the Great Western.

315
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,720
I'm not travelling far
along the line, just one stop.

316
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,000
Bradshaw's refers to this borough as
being well populated with maltings.

317
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,600
In fact, in the early 1800s there
were 25 malt houses in Wiltshire.

318
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:19,480
Today there's just one,

319
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,120
but it's the oldest working malt
house in the United Kingdom

320
00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:27,400
and they're making malt exactly
as they did 150 years ago.

321
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,400
I'm meeting the owner Robin Appel.

322
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,720
Robin, Hello! Hello Michael,
welcome to Warminster Maltings.

323
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,920
It's great to be here,
thank you so much.

324
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:47,760
A beautiful garden, but actually
beautiful architecture altogether.
Is it Victorian? Yes, it is.

325
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,240
It was built in 1855 by a man
called William Morgan,

326
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,560
who was an established maltster
and brewer in the town.

327
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,680
The town at that stage had 30-plus
malt houses, all very small.

328
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,200
And I suppose William Morgan
had the vision of realising,

329
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,400
"If I build a really big one, I'll
get the economics that allow me

330
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,080
"to be basically be the dominant
maltster in the town."

331
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,320
And by the end of the 19th
century, he had basically but all
the other ones out of business.

332
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,760
I'm going to ask you are really
stupid and basic question.

333
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,000
What is malt?

334
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,440
Yes, malt is principally barley.

335
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,000
Barley is a grain that's
packed full of starch,

336
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,480
and we convert that starch to sugar,

337
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,880
which is the product that
the brewers brew with.

338
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,800
From the 17th Century
malt was heavily taxed.

339
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:37,080
For nearly 300 years,
the Crown drew in excess of 10%
of its income from malt tax

340
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,800
and could raise the levy at will,
and often did so.

341
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,840
By the 19th century, the maltsters
had had enough of what they
perceived to be unfair harassment

342
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,520
and came together to petition
customs and excise.

343
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,160
And this is your archive.

344
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,200
Yes, I think what I've got here
Michael is the blotted copy

345
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,680
which was drawn up in 1845
by the maltsters of Wessex.

346
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,520
It included William Morgan
from Warminster.

347
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,280
I like this line here. It accuses
the commissioners of,

348
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:14,440
"Harassing the industry with a
vigour beyond the law which, excited
by dangerous stimulants,

349
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,520
"is calculated to create an apparent
delinquency

350
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,960
"where none by fair procedure
would be found to exist."

351
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,600
My Bradshaw's is written in very
similar flowery language.

352
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,520
I love it. Yes.

353
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:29,840
It took nearly 40 years, but in
the 1880's malt tax was abolished

354
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,760
and this maltings flourished.

355
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,200
Its success was greatly aided
by the railway,

356
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,680
which enabled the malt
to be sold far and wide.

357
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:44,960
By the time we got to the end of
the 19th century and William Frank
Morgan took over from his father,

358
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,160
here we have his cashbook from 1903

359
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,800
and lo and behold, February 2nd,
only the second entry.

360
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:56,520
"The Great Western Railway,
£135 nine shillings and nine pence."

361
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,520
A very considerable sum. Absolutely.

362
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,400
And he was paying the
Great Western Railway for what?

363
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,440
For malt freighted out of
Warminster Station.

364
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,240
And if we go through the book we
find an entry of that sort of level

365
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,840
at the beginning of every month.

366
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,360
It's a wonderful archive.

367
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,520
I'm interested to see
the traditional way of making malt.

368
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,600
The first part of the process is to
steep the grain

369
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,920
which kick-starts germination.

370
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,160
So we put it under water
for about four to six hours

371
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,280
and then we drain it for
the remainder of that 24 hours.

372
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,400
Then in the next 24 hours,
we put it under water for 12 hours,

373
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,600
and then we drain it for 12 hours.

374
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,800
And then the third 24-hour period

375
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,400
we put it under water
for another 12 hours,

376
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,160
and then drain it for 12 hours.

377
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,080
It's amazing anyone discovered
how to do this.

378
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:48,320
Exactly!

379
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,960
So when the process is complete
we transfer it out of here

380
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,440
onto the floors behind us.

381
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,240
Next, it needs to be dried
and aerated by ploughing.

382
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,480
Well, this really is
a Victorian-looking process,
or maybe much older.

383
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,680
What we want to end up achieving is
the maximum amount of starch

384
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,160
still encased in that grain
converted into sugar.

385
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,120
You have to react to exactly
how that barley behaves.

386
00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:18,760
And if that means you have to
come back at 10 o'clock at night
to plough it,

387
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,880
you come back at
10 o'clock at night.

388
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,200
There is no blueprint
for doing this.

389
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,800
And this is where the maltster's
skill really comes into its own.

390
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:31,920
In modern day maltings, this is
done on an industrial scale

391
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,600
and of course it's all
fully automated.

392
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,440
But here in Warminster
tradition is kept alive.

393
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,440
Time to see whether I would make
a good plough horse.

394
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,640
It's quite heavy. Yeah, it's the
actual jerk that makes it easier.

395
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,960
And so we are putting the air into
this, are we? Yes, that's it.

396
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,120
Also, by the way, the ceiling
is getting lower and lower.

397
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,840
I must say these feel like
Victorian conditions to me.

398
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,320
Exhausted by my day at the plough,
I'm heading back to the station.

399
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:24,800
Engineers building railways today
still draw inspiration from
role models like Brunel.

400
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,960
The Victorians brought passion
to everything they did -

401
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,880
from viaducts, to novel treatments
for the mentally ill.

402
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,800
And of course to the
making of their beer.

403
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:37,160
Cheers.

404
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:48,960
'On the next leg of my journey,
I'll be visiting a tourist hotspot

405
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:53,280
'that's been captivating visitors
since Victorian times...'

406
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:58,120
This is the granddaddy of all
castles and cathedrals
and skyscrapers.

407
00:27:58,120 --> 00:27:59,880
This is the beginning
of architecture.

408
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:01,200
Thank you very much.

409
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,720
'..I'll take to the air...'

410
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,520
I think George Bradshaw would
have loved this machine,

411
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,840
but he would have been even
more amazed to find out

412
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,120
there would be trains that went
faster than this thing does.

413
00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:16,800
'..and I'll try my hand at
cloth-making the 19th century way.'

414
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,800
Oh! This is more difficult
than it looks.

415
00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,840
You're horsing around with me,
aren't you?

416
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,040
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