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00:00:05,380 --> 00:00:11,260
'In 1840, one man transformed travel
in Britain. His name was George

2
00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:15,740
'Bradshaw, and his railway guides
inspired the Victorians to take to

3
00:00:15,740 --> 00:00:17,380
'the tracks.

4
00:00:17,380 --> 00:00:23,540
'Stop by stop, he told them where to
go, what to see and where to stay.

5
00:00:23,540 --> 00:00:25,940
'And now, 170 years later,

6
00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:28,740
'I'm aboard for a series of rail
adventures

7
00:00:28,740 --> 00:00:33,020
'across the United Kingdom to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.'

8
00:00:53,700 --> 00:00:56,460
With my Bradshaw's,
I'm continuing my journey around the

9
00:00:56,460 --> 00:01:00,420
industrial heartland of northern
England, travelling on the very

10
00:01:00,420 --> 00:01:04,260
tracks that helped to make the
fortunes of entrepreneurs.

11
00:01:04,260 --> 00:01:07,340
And I hope to discover that
even in Victorian times,

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00:01:07,340 --> 00:01:09,860
some of them were men
and others were women.

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00:01:12,260 --> 00:01:16,860
'On this leg of my journey, I put
a vintage truck to the test...'

14
00:01:16,860 --> 00:01:20,540
More than a century old
and still going strong!

15
00:01:20,540 --> 00:01:22,860
'..Learn how the railways
transformed

16
00:01:22,860 --> 00:01:24,980
'the North West's seaside...'

17
00:01:24,980 --> 00:01:27,700
Without any doubt,
they were fundamental

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00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:30,500
to the future success of the resort.

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00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:34,340
'And I bake a 19th century
worker's lunchtime staple.'

20
00:01:34,340 --> 00:01:36,780
You have to get a lot of air
into it.

21
00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:40,020
It's already feeling lovely.
You're quite good at this!

22
00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:49,580
My journey began in Manchester,
headed west to soapy Merseyside.

23
00:01:50,940 --> 00:01:54,420
It will now traverse Lancashire to
Preston and then Bradford,

24
00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:57,980
and will dip down to steely
South Yorkshire

25
00:01:57,980 --> 00:01:59,700
and will end in Derbyshire,

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00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:03,380
the resting place of the father
of the railway, George Stephenson.

27
00:02:05,140 --> 00:02:08,900
This Lancastrian leg
begins in sun-drenched Southport,

28
00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:14,340
devours pies in Wigan, surges east
to subversive Westhoughton,

29
00:02:14,340 --> 00:02:18,100
weaves towards Bolton, and drives
north to finish at Leyland.

30
00:02:22,260 --> 00:02:24,100
From Birkenhead, I've crossed
the Mersey

31
00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:26,140
and I'm now heading to Southport.

32
00:02:26,140 --> 00:02:29,780
Bradshaw's tells me it's a favourite
and fashionable watering place.

33
00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:31,300
From its situation and

34
00:02:31,300 --> 00:02:35,100
salubrity, it's been christened
the Montpellier of England.

35
00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:38,820
Well, I've been to Montpellier on
a blistering hot Mediterranean day,

36
00:02:38,820 --> 00:02:41,180
and I'm assuming that the
comparison is more

37
00:02:41,180 --> 00:02:43,300
one of architecture than climate.

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00:02:48,260 --> 00:02:51,940
Lying on the coast, almost 20 miles
north of Liverpool,

39
00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:55,620
nowhere better epitomises
the late 18th century fashion

40
00:02:55,620 --> 00:02:59,460
for bathing in sea water than
the once small fishing port,

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00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:01,260
which came to be known as Southport.

42
00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:05,140
The future French emperor
Napoleon III

43
00:03:05,140 --> 00:03:07,300
took an apartment here for a season,

44
00:03:07,300 --> 00:03:09,860
and it's said that he used
the tree-lined

45
00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:13,660
Lord Street as a template for his
subsequent redesign of Paris.

46
00:03:15,220 --> 00:03:17,540
My guidebook certainly
liked the place.

47
00:03:18,980 --> 00:03:21,740
Southport's buildings,
says Bradshaw's, are

48
00:03:21,740 --> 00:03:25,220
architecturally elegant,
and the broad and beautiful streets,

49
00:03:25,220 --> 00:03:29,860
particularly Lord Street, have made
it universally admired.

50
00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:33,780
In my mind, I can hear the jangle of
bridles as the horses and carriages

51
00:03:33,780 --> 00:03:39,060
pass by, and the clink of China
as elegant ladies take their tea.

52
00:03:44,340 --> 00:03:48,460
When the railways arrived in 1848,
Southport's popularity

53
00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:53,500
boomed as first Liverpudlians, and
later, Mancunians, arrived,

54
00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:55,940
looking for a refined
break from their

55
00:03:55,940 --> 00:03:57,860
industrial cities.

56
00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:01,860
In 1860, Southport's elegant
promenade was graced with

57
00:04:01,860 --> 00:04:06,100
a pier, upon which I'm meeting
former director of tourism,

58
00:04:06,100 --> 00:04:08,100
Phil King.

59
00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:12,780
Hello, Phil. Michael, welcome to
sunny Southport. Lovely to see you.

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00:04:12,780 --> 00:04:15,420
You've made me walk a long way!
How long is this pier? It must be

61
00:04:15,420 --> 00:04:18,900
one of the longest in Britain.
3,600-odd feet.

62
00:04:18,900 --> 00:04:22,340
Second longest
to our friends down at Southend.

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00:04:22,340 --> 00:04:24,580
This pier was built for what?

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00:04:24,580 --> 00:04:29,860
For leisure and pleasure.
And people used to promenade up to be

65
00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:34,380
seen, to talk, to bow their heads,
to enjoy.

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00:04:34,380 --> 00:04:37,900
It used to cost you six pence.
And if you had a

67
00:04:37,900 --> 00:04:43,620
perambulator, one-and-six. And then,
of course, as time went on, paddle

68
00:04:43,620 --> 00:04:48,780
steamers arrived at the pierhead,
which used to go to Blackpool,

69
00:04:48,780 --> 00:04:51,980
Llandudno
and other exotic places as well.

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00:04:53,380 --> 00:04:56,380
Tell me about the impact of
the railways on Southport.

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00:04:56,380 --> 00:04:59,820
Without any doubt, they were
fundamental to the future

72
00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:01,940
success of the resort.

73
00:05:01,940 --> 00:05:03,140
People came off, literally

74
00:05:03,140 --> 00:05:07,300
in their thousands,
to swim, use the bathing machines,

75
00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:10,460
and then there was
the development of the funfairs.

76
00:05:10,460 --> 00:05:13,380
And they used to go for rides
on the carousel,

77
00:05:13,380 --> 00:05:15,940
a wonderful selling
point for our resort.

78
00:05:17,180 --> 00:05:20,420
The carousel is thought to date
back to the Crusades

79
00:05:20,420 --> 00:05:23,460
and to have its origins
in a Turkish game.

80
00:05:23,460 --> 00:05:26,980
By the 17th century, it had
developed into a fixed structure

81
00:05:26,980 --> 00:05:31,460
with legless wooden horses. It was
revolutionised by an English

82
00:05:31,460 --> 00:05:35,540
engineer called Frederick Savage
who, during the late 19th century,

83
00:05:35,540 --> 00:05:40,220
designed a machine whose horses
moved up and down as they galloped.

84
00:05:40,220 --> 00:05:41,740
I'm meeting Herbert Silcock,

85
00:05:41,740 --> 00:05:45,620
who owns the fine
exemplar at Southport Pier.

86
00:05:45,620 --> 00:05:47,860
Herbert.
Pleased to meet you, Michael.

87
00:05:47,860 --> 00:05:50,620
It's a lovely carousel.
Is it Victorian?

88
00:05:50,620 --> 00:05:54,620
It is Victorian, built in 1900.
How far back does your family

89
00:05:54,620 --> 00:05:59,060
go in the fairground business?
We go back to the late 1800s.

90
00:05:59,060 --> 00:06:02,620
This is the earliest picture
we have of the family.

91
00:06:02,620 --> 00:06:06,940
That's Great-grandfather, four
sons. One, two, three, four.

92
00:06:06,940 --> 00:06:10,660
Now, this is the showman's
caravan that they lived in.

93
00:06:10,660 --> 00:06:13,300
Because in those days, they were
travelling from place to place?

94
00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:16,060
Correct. How did your family
actually get going in the business?

95
00:06:16,060 --> 00:06:17,500
What was the first thing they did?

96
00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:20,380
Well, well, this man here,
Great-grandfather Edward,

97
00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:23,220
he worked in a wire works
in Warrington, and to

98
00:06:23,220 --> 00:06:26,020
supplement his income,
he opened a small little stall,

99
00:06:26,020 --> 00:06:29,420
a coconut shy, in a railway viaduct.

100
00:06:29,420 --> 00:06:34,140
And as the workers came out, he
would offer them a game for a penny.

101
00:06:34,140 --> 00:06:37,180
And eventually, this took over
cos he was earning more money

102
00:06:37,180 --> 00:06:39,420
than in the wire works.
My mother and father

103
00:06:39,420 --> 00:06:44,500
came here in 1959
and we've prospered since.

104
00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:46,140
The elaborately-carved animals

105
00:06:46,140 --> 00:06:49,340
and ornate panels provided
more than decoration.

106
00:06:49,340 --> 00:06:51,500
They also hid the mechanism which,

107
00:06:51,500 --> 00:06:55,220
in Herbert's great-grandfather's
day, was powered by steam.

108
00:06:55,220 --> 00:06:57,700
During the
heyday of the Golden Galloper,

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00:06:57,700 --> 00:07:00,780
more than 250 carousels were built

110
00:07:00,780 --> 00:07:03,620
and they were the most popular
ride in the British fairground.

111
00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:07,700
Nowadays, people have computer games
and I don't know what.

112
00:07:07,700 --> 00:07:10,260
Why do you think they're still
attracted to carousels?

113
00:07:10,260 --> 00:07:14,140
The carousel, in its heyday, was
actually a white-knuckle ride.

114
00:07:14,140 --> 00:07:16,660
It was quite fast, for the time.

115
00:07:16,660 --> 00:07:19,700
It fell out of favour in the '50s
and the '60s as people wanted

116
00:07:19,700 --> 00:07:23,260
more speed.
But now, it's as popular as ever,

117
00:07:23,260 --> 00:07:25,780
but it's now a children's
and family ride.

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00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:28,460
Well, it may well be,
but I hope that doesn't prevent me

119
00:07:28,460 --> 00:07:31,860
from having a go! It certainly
will not, Michael. Follow me.

120
00:07:38,540 --> 00:07:42,020
Former politician backs
wrong horse and is taken for a ride!

121
00:07:50,860 --> 00:07:55,420
'Feeling a little giddy, I'm going
back to Southport Station.

122
00:07:55,420 --> 00:08:00,220
'Northern Rail is less ornate,
but its iron horse will carry me

123
00:08:00,220 --> 00:08:01,500
'east at a canter.'

124
00:08:03,900 --> 00:08:07,740
This train will take me to Wigan.
Bradshaw's tells me it's a

125
00:08:07,740 --> 00:08:12,260
great cotton town in Lancashire
near the head of the River Douglas.

126
00:08:12,260 --> 00:08:16,740
It contains stone
and coal in great abundance.

127
00:08:16,740 --> 00:08:21,620
Wigan has found fame
for its industry, in literature

128
00:08:21,620 --> 00:08:23,180
and for the history of its food.

129
00:08:27,460 --> 00:08:31,140
'Coal was mined in and around Wigan
from the Middle Ages,

130
00:08:31,140 --> 00:08:33,620
'and when the canals
and then the railway linked it

131
00:08:33,620 --> 00:08:36,620
'to its bigger manufacturing
neighbours, the town prospered.

132
00:08:37,740 --> 00:08:41,500
'But the Great Depression
of the 1930s hit Wigan hard,

133
00:08:41,500 --> 00:08:42,820
'and the town, which has never

134
00:08:42,820 --> 00:08:46,380
'since matched its Victorian
prosperity, presently strikes

135
00:08:46,380 --> 00:08:50,660
'a chord because of a book named
after its most famous landmark.'

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00:08:52,740 --> 00:08:54,900
When you think of famous piers,

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00:08:54,900 --> 00:08:59,020
you think of Southend,
Southport and Wigan.

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00:08:59,020 --> 00:09:03,060
I've never seen Wigan Pier, but
given that the town isn't on the sea

139
00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:05,900
but on the Manchester to Liverpool
canal, I have a feeling

140
00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:09,460
that its pier can't be as
spectacular as Southend

141
00:09:09,460 --> 00:09:10,380
or Southport.

142
00:09:12,620 --> 00:09:17,100
Ahoy! Can you give me
directions to Wigan Pier, please?

143
00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:19,420
The actual pier itself?
Yes, the pier.

144
00:09:21,540 --> 00:09:22,900
This is it, really!

145
00:09:26,020 --> 00:09:30,060
'None the wiser, I'm hoping
Wigan Archives manager Alex Miller

146
00:09:30,060 --> 00:09:31,900
'will know the pier's
precise location.'

147
00:09:33,380 --> 00:09:39,020
Um... I'm in search of Wigan Pier.
Right. Can you direct me?

148
00:09:39,020 --> 00:09:41,860
You're on it! You're standing
on the very Wigan Pier, such as it

149
00:09:41,860 --> 00:09:42,860
exists at the moment.

150
00:09:43,900 --> 00:09:46,060
Is this some kind of joke?
This isn't a pier!

151
00:09:46,060 --> 00:09:48,340
Well, actually, it is
a bit of a joke.

152
00:09:48,340 --> 00:09:52,540
It's a 20th century,
early 20th century music hall joke.

153
00:09:52,540 --> 00:09:55,460
This is Wigan Pier.
It's essentially a coal tippler

154
00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:58,900
that came to become Wigan Pier
of music hall jokes.

155
00:09:58,900 --> 00:10:01,740
And it was carried on by the Formbys,
in particular,

156
00:10:01,740 --> 00:10:03,780
George Formby Senior and
George Formby Junior.

157
00:10:03,780 --> 00:10:05,140
# Now when we shunt

158
00:10:05,140 --> 00:10:06,220
# The back's in front

159
00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:08,460
# And the front part's in the rear

160
00:10:08,460 --> 00:10:09,660
# If we survive

161
00:10:09,660 --> 00:10:11,100
# Then we'll arrive

162
00:10:11,100 --> 00:10:12,420
# Alongside Wigan Pier... #

163
00:10:14,540 --> 00:10:16,220
This construction here would have

164
00:10:16,220 --> 00:10:20,100
been the end point of a railway line
stretching up into the network of

165
00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:23,340
railways that fed all the coal
industry. And essentially, the wagons

166
00:10:23,340 --> 00:10:25,700
would have come down the railway line
to the tippler,

167
00:10:25,700 --> 00:10:28,580
where they would have been tipped
into the barges waiting beneath.

168
00:10:28,580 --> 00:10:33,060
And the story goes that on a boat
trip down the canal to Southport,

169
00:10:33,060 --> 00:10:35,820
a group of people on the canal,
they were lost in the fog,

170
00:10:35,820 --> 00:10:38,900
and they shout out, "Well, where are
we? We have no idea where we are!"

171
00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:41,740
And the local wag shouts out,
from the banks of the canal,

172
00:10:41,740 --> 00:10:43,260
"You're at Wigan Pier!"

173
00:10:43,260 --> 00:10:46,060
Obviously, they're on their way to
Southport, expecting to see

174
00:10:46,060 --> 00:10:48,660
something a little bit grander,
so that's where it comes from.

175
00:10:48,660 --> 00:10:50,500
And that's now all
lost in time, isn't it?

176
00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:53,460
Cos all of us just think of
George Orwell and Wigan Pier.

177
00:10:53,460 --> 00:10:56,780
But he then was picking up on
an existing joke? Absolutely.

178
00:10:56,780 --> 00:10:59,860
I mean, he was using it
almost as a snappy title,

179
00:10:59,860 --> 00:11:02,300
apart from anything else,
saying The Road to Wigan Pier.

180
00:11:02,300 --> 00:11:05,900
It gave him a very fixed
point, in the end, to his journey

181
00:11:05,900 --> 00:11:06,900
when he came to Wigan.

182
00:11:09,220 --> 00:11:14,340
Born Eric Blair in 1903, George
Orwell attended Eton College on

183
00:11:14,340 --> 00:11:18,140
a scholarship and became
a leading left-wing author.

184
00:11:18,140 --> 00:11:20,580
He's best known
for his anti-Soviet novel

185
00:11:20,580 --> 00:11:23,420
Animal Farm and the dystopian
Nineteen Eighty-Four.

186
00:11:24,620 --> 00:11:28,900
In The Road to Wigan Pier, he wrote
graphically of the poverty suffered

187
00:11:28,900 --> 00:11:34,180
by the northern working class during
the 1930s Great Depression.

188
00:11:34,180 --> 00:11:37,020
So there had obviously been
a decline in Wigan,

189
00:11:37,020 --> 00:11:39,500
because Bradshaw's talks about
the place being

190
00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:41,780
absolutely replete with
stone and coal.

191
00:11:41,780 --> 00:11:42,860
Yes. I mean, it was.

192
00:11:42,860 --> 00:11:46,780
I mean, Wigan is very much a town
built on coal, but then, in the years

193
00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:49,820
after the Second World War, Wigan's
come to be known as a centre for

194
00:11:49,820 --> 00:11:51,300
food manufacturing.

195
00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:53,940
You've got many multinational firms
working in the area,

196
00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:57,780
people like Heinz and Patak's,
and you've got one firm that has

197
00:11:57,780 --> 00:12:01,380
Victorian origins that
manufactures pies in the area.

198
00:12:01,380 --> 00:12:02,740
And that is Poole's Pies.

199
00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:10,340
'Heinz came to Wigan in the late
1950s, attracted by the ready

200
00:12:10,340 --> 00:12:14,580
'availability of crops grown
on the fertile Lancashire plain.

201
00:12:14,580 --> 00:12:16,860
'Over a billion cans of food
per year

202
00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:18,860
'were produced in their Wigan
factory.

203
00:12:20,580 --> 00:12:21,900
'But a century earlier,

204
00:12:21,900 --> 00:12:25,780
'Margaret Poole started a business
that first put Wigan on the

205
00:12:25,780 --> 00:12:26,980
'British culinary map.

206
00:12:29,780 --> 00:12:33,900
'I'm meeting baker Pauline Atherton
at the Poole's Pie factory

207
00:12:33,900 --> 00:12:36,540
'in Pemberton,
south-west of the town centre.'

208
00:12:37,740 --> 00:12:40,820
Pauline? Yes? Hello, I'm Michael.
Hello.

209
00:12:40,820 --> 00:12:43,660
So what happens in this kitchen?

210
00:12:43,660 --> 00:12:45,540
This is where all the product
development

211
00:12:45,540 --> 00:12:48,100
we do, all the new
recipes are formulated here.

212
00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:50,180
Have you been making pies for long?

213
00:12:50,180 --> 00:12:55,020
A long time. About 50 years. Really?
Were the Victorian recipes much

214
00:12:55,020 --> 00:12:56,860
different from what you're doing
today?

215
00:12:56,860 --> 00:13:01,100
You got whatever was available -
pigeon, rabbits, oxtail,

216
00:13:01,100 --> 00:13:03,380
even blackbird, you know.

217
00:13:03,380 --> 00:13:08,020
Lots of things that you wouldn't use
today, but now, it was more

218
00:13:08,020 --> 00:13:10,820
concentration on what is actually
in it. Yes.

219
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:13,860
'Pauline has offered to show me

220
00:13:13,860 --> 00:13:18,180
'how Margaret Poole might have baked
a beef pie back in 1847.'

221
00:13:19,820 --> 00:13:23,100
You have to get a lot of air into it
so the pastry will be nice

222
00:13:23,100 --> 00:13:28,460
and light. Mm! It's already feeling
lovely. You're quite good at this!

223
00:13:28,460 --> 00:13:30,380
That looks pretty good to me. Yup.

224
00:13:30,380 --> 00:13:34,180
You roll it quite... Some pressure.
Quite vigorously. Yeah.

225
00:13:34,180 --> 00:13:36,860
Little thinner. Little thinner.

226
00:13:36,860 --> 00:13:39,900
Lovely. And then roll it over. Ooh!

227
00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:43,980
That's it. We start with the filling
now. Shall I put that in there? Yes.

228
00:13:43,980 --> 00:13:45,820
Spread it nice and evenly.

229
00:13:45,820 --> 00:13:48,660
Margaret really knew how to make
a pie, didn't she? Oh, yeah!

230
00:13:48,660 --> 00:13:51,460
Pop it down over here.
Bring it towards you.

231
00:13:51,460 --> 00:13:54,740
Make it pretty.
With a few thumbprints? Yes.

232
00:13:54,740 --> 00:13:56,660
And it's to seal it as well.

233
00:13:56,660 --> 00:13:59,340
And I have something that
looks like a pie!

234
00:13:59,340 --> 00:14:02,380
Very nice.
And how long shall we cook that for?

235
00:14:02,380 --> 00:14:04,700
Roughly about 25 minutes,
200 degrees.

236
00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:11,740
'Nowadays, only
prototype pies are handmade, and as

237
00:14:11,740 --> 00:14:16,220
'mine bakes, Pauline wants to show
me the 300,000 square foot factory.

238
00:14:17,300 --> 00:14:20,780
'Here, 50 people on five
production lines make

239
00:14:20,780 --> 00:14:25,100
'an astonishing 100,000 pies
and pastries per hour.'

240
00:14:26,020 --> 00:14:28,140
Even though Margaret Poole had
a factory, I think

241
00:14:28,140 --> 00:14:29,460
she would have been amazed

242
00:14:29,460 --> 00:14:32,740
to see this. She certainly would.
What's the ingredients?

243
00:14:32,740 --> 00:14:33,940
This is meat and potato.

244
00:14:35,460 --> 00:14:38,540
And then, a bit like making a pie,
when you're doing it at home,

245
00:14:38,540 --> 00:14:42,060
you spread the pastry on top and
then you just cut off the surplus?

246
00:14:42,060 --> 00:14:44,900
Yes. Everything's all recycled,
all the way up again.

247
00:14:46,060 --> 00:14:48,540
And here they are, ready to
go in the freezer.

248
00:14:48,540 --> 00:14:50,940
And then, anyone could cook
those at home? Yes.

249
00:14:52,340 --> 00:14:55,100
'The proof of the pudding
is in the eating,

250
00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:57,380
'and I'm afraid that the same
applies to my pie.'

251
00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:04,020
Am I Mother? Please. Just about. Oh!

252
00:15:04,020 --> 00:15:06,820
Now, that looks pretty good,
but I want your opinion, Pauline.

253
00:15:06,820 --> 00:15:08,860
I'm not going to touch it
until you do.

254
00:15:14,780 --> 00:15:15,780
Superb.

255
00:15:17,220 --> 00:15:19,260
Mm!

256
00:15:19,260 --> 00:15:21,260
It is pretty good!

257
00:15:21,260 --> 00:15:24,180
Well done, Margaret Poole!
May her memory be blessed.

258
00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:36,420
With a full tummy,
I'm heading six miles east

259
00:15:36,420 --> 00:15:38,740
toward today's final destination.

260
00:15:41,580 --> 00:15:44,460
To end my day,
I'm heading to Westhoughton.

261
00:15:44,460 --> 00:15:49,860
Bradshaw's tells me that "in 1812
a dreadful Luddite riot took place

262
00:15:49,860 --> 00:15:54,580
"at which a large quantity of
machinery was destroyed by the mob."

263
00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:58,860
If I remember, the Luddites were men
driven to desperate violence

264
00:15:58,860 --> 00:16:02,740
by the fear that mechanisation would
cost them their livelihoods.

265
00:16:07,180 --> 00:16:12,060
In 1812, England was mired in the
worst trade depression for 50 years.

266
00:16:12,060 --> 00:16:17,100
The invention of new machinery
threatened to consign home weaving

267
00:16:17,100 --> 00:16:19,980
to the annals of history.

268
00:16:19,980 --> 00:16:23,620
Those conditions gave rise
to machine breakers and rioters

269
00:16:23,620 --> 00:16:25,340
dubbed the Luddites.

270
00:16:25,340 --> 00:16:30,060
I'm hoping local historian Pamela
Clarke can tell me what happened

271
00:16:30,060 --> 00:16:31,740
in Westhoughton.

272
00:16:33,580 --> 00:16:35,620
Hello, Pam. Hello, Michael.

273
00:16:36,860 --> 00:16:40,260
According to my Bradshaw's,
the violence here in 1812

274
00:16:40,260 --> 00:16:42,100
was pretty bad. What happened?

275
00:16:42,100 --> 00:16:46,940
In 1804, a new factory was
built across the road

276
00:16:46,940 --> 00:16:51,700
and it was full of 170 power looms
with the big steam engine.

277
00:16:51,700 --> 00:16:56,500
Luddites from Bolton decided to burn
the factory and destroy
the equipment there.

278
00:16:56,500 --> 00:16:58,660
And so is that exactly
what happened there,

279
00:16:58,660 --> 00:17:00,380
they marched up here and did it?

280
00:17:00,380 --> 00:17:03,860
On the 24th of April,
the mill was set ablaze.

281
00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:07,420
All the machinery was made of wood
and there was lots and lots of cloth

282
00:17:07,420 --> 00:17:10,660
around so it was easy to get
the fire going.

283
00:17:10,660 --> 00:17:14,420
What were the consequences
for the people who had perpetrated
this attack?

284
00:17:14,420 --> 00:17:18,340
Four of them were charged with
breaking the machinery,

285
00:17:18,340 --> 00:17:20,980
which was made a capital offence
in 1812.

286
00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:23,340
And they were sentenced to be hanged.

287
00:17:23,340 --> 00:17:25,460
And were they?
They were,

288
00:17:25,460 --> 00:17:31,660
including a young lad who was said to
be anything from 12 to 16 years old.

289
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:36,100
Tomorrow, I'm hoping
to find out more

290
00:17:36,100 --> 00:17:39,820
about one of the machines that led
to this dreadful incident

291
00:17:39,820 --> 00:17:43,700
in Westhoughton, but now it's time
for some quiet refreshment.

292
00:17:48,820 --> 00:17:50,700
Morning. Nice sunny day.
Aye, it is.

293
00:17:55,300 --> 00:17:59,100
Continuing east,
my next destination is Bolton.

294
00:18:04,900 --> 00:18:08,700
This is Bolton, what Bradshaw's
calls Bolton Le Moors.

295
00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:12,940
"Cotton velvets and muslins were
first manufactured here

296
00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:17,020
"about 1760-80 on a large scale
by the new machinery

297
00:18:17,020 --> 00:18:21,020
"of Richard Arkwright,
who resided here when a barber,

298
00:18:21,020 --> 00:18:25,100
"and Samuel Crompton who
lived at Hall i'th' Wood."

299
00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:28,340
Much though I sympathise with
the desperate Luddites who broke

300
00:18:28,340 --> 00:18:31,580
the machines, I have real admiration
for the inventors

301
00:18:31,580 --> 00:18:33,580
who sought to perfect them.

302
00:18:38,340 --> 00:18:40,940
In 1773,
Bolton's population

303
00:18:40,940 --> 00:18:44,300
numbered less than 5,500.

304
00:18:44,300 --> 00:18:47,260
By 1901,
it had soared to 168,000.

305
00:18:47,260 --> 00:18:50,900
The biggest reason for that increase

306
00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:53,340
was the town's booming
textile industry,

307
00:18:53,340 --> 00:18:57,580
begun by a Bolton inventor
who was born in 1753.

308
00:19:01,180 --> 00:19:05,300
I'm meeting curator Erin Beeston
at Samuel Crompton's house

309
00:19:05,300 --> 00:19:08,700
in Hall i'th' Wood,
north of Bolton.

310
00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:12,020
Erin, hello.
Hello. Welcome to Hall i'th' Wood.

311
00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:15,140
It's a beautiful house
and rather grand.

312
00:19:15,140 --> 00:19:18,100
Was Samuel Crompton
quite a rich man?

313
00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:20,660
Well, actually at the time
Samuel Crompton lived here,

314
00:19:20,660 --> 00:19:24,020
the hall was in a quite bad state of
repair and shortly after they moved

315
00:19:24,020 --> 00:19:27,860
to some rooms upstairs in the hall,
his father actually died.

316
00:19:27,860 --> 00:19:31,140
His father was only about 33 at the
time so he was left

317
00:19:31,140 --> 00:19:34,780
with two sisters and
his mother and he was very quickly

318
00:19:34,780 --> 00:19:37,020
taught how to spin from an early age

319
00:19:37,020 --> 00:19:41,060
to help the family produce the cotton
that they needed to weave with.

320
00:19:41,060 --> 00:19:43,260
In the middle of the 18th century,

321
00:19:43,260 --> 00:19:46,140
people were producing
fabrics in their homes?

322
00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:48,580
Yes, essentially it was
a cottage industry.

323
00:19:49,860 --> 00:19:53,020
To produce the yarn
required to make cloth,

324
00:19:53,020 --> 00:19:55,900
Samuel and his family used
a single thread spinning wheel.

325
00:19:57,340 --> 00:20:00,780
Volunteer Jacqui Elvin's
demonstrating with raw wool.

326
00:20:02,820 --> 00:20:05,420
To spin the yarn, you need
to work the pedal,

327
00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:07,660
and that's a rocking motion.

328
00:20:07,660 --> 00:20:11,620
With that, it turns the spindle
in a clockwise direction.

329
00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:14,460
You extend with the left hand.

330
00:20:14,460 --> 00:20:17,740
That causes the twist
to go down the yarn,

331
00:20:17,740 --> 00:20:20,260
and that creates your thread.

332
00:20:22,700 --> 00:20:25,940
Not too straightforward, I must say.

333
00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:28,220
It's a bit like one of these things
where you have

334
00:20:28,220 --> 00:20:31,300
to rub the top of your head and
stroke your nose at the same time.

335
00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:35,180
And I'm only producing
one thread. Exactly.

336
00:20:35,180 --> 00:20:38,380
For weavers, you needed
an awful lot of thread.

337
00:20:38,380 --> 00:20:41,580
And that, I have a feeling,
is where our Mr Crompton comes in.

338
00:20:43,420 --> 00:20:45,500
Thank you, Jacqui.

339
00:20:45,500 --> 00:20:49,940
A number of 18th-century inventions
transformed cloth production

340
00:20:49,940 --> 00:20:53,860
from a cottage industry into
steam-powered mass production

341
00:20:53,860 --> 00:20:57,900
in factories during
the Industrial Revolution.

342
00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:01,580
Samuel Crompton's invention was
called the spinning mule,

343
00:21:01,580 --> 00:21:05,380
and, borrowing elements from
James Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny

344
00:21:05,380 --> 00:21:08,900
and Sir Richard Arkwright's
water frame, it revolutionised

345
00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:11,260
the production of yarn.

346
00:21:11,260 --> 00:21:15,820
How did Crompton come to be
so inventive?

347
00:21:15,820 --> 00:21:17,940
Well, he was quite well educated.

348
00:21:17,940 --> 00:21:20,540
He actually went to night school
until he was 16.

349
00:21:20,540 --> 00:21:23,700
He did things like mathematics,
he did algebra and arithmetic.

350
00:21:23,700 --> 00:21:27,980
He also was very musically talented
and he used the money that he made

351
00:21:27,980 --> 00:21:31,980
from playing the violin at the
theatre to get the parts together

352
00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:36,260
ready to make his invention. And what
is the significance of this room?

353
00:21:36,260 --> 00:21:39,260
Well, this came to be
known as his conjuring room.

354
00:21:39,260 --> 00:21:42,340
There were reports of him
staying up into the small hours

355
00:21:42,340 --> 00:21:46,020
and passers-by travelling
seeing flickering lights.

356
00:21:46,020 --> 00:21:48,580
Toiling away by candlelight.

357
00:21:48,580 --> 00:21:52,100
Legend has it that Crompton
was so worried

358
00:21:52,100 --> 00:21:56,220
about local Luddites hearing about
his spinning mule and attempting

359
00:21:56,220 --> 00:22:00,020
to destroy it that he kept it
dismantled and hidden in his attic.

360
00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:03,820
Today, there's a replica on display.

361
00:22:06,660 --> 00:22:11,380
Did Samuel Crompton make his fortune
from it? Sadly, he didn't.

362
00:22:11,380 --> 00:22:13,900
Crompton has been criticised
by historians for not being

363
00:22:13,900 --> 00:22:15,700
a great businessman.

364
00:22:15,700 --> 00:22:20,500
He listened to some of his peers who
encouraged him to take subscriptions

365
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:24,420
to have his machine viewed rather
than to take out a patent.

366
00:22:24,420 --> 00:22:27,620
So they would come along and give him
small sums of money

367
00:22:27,620 --> 00:22:29,860
to see his machine and then copy it.

368
00:22:29,860 --> 00:22:33,220
So his idea passed into the world
virtually free of charge?

369
00:22:33,220 --> 00:22:36,620
They said at one point there was
four million spindles

370
00:22:36,620 --> 00:22:39,220
spinning cotton yarn
on his invention.

371
00:22:39,220 --> 00:22:42,220
The manufacturers gained all this
wealth and Samuel himself

372
00:22:42,220 --> 00:22:44,180
died in near poverty.

373
00:22:51,180 --> 00:22:54,700
Decades after Samuel Crompton
died a poor man,

374
00:22:54,700 --> 00:22:59,540
a rather guilty Bolton erected
a statue of him
by public subscription.

375
00:22:59,540 --> 00:23:03,260
But his real monument was
that his invention enabled Bolton

376
00:23:03,260 --> 00:23:07,060
and other Lancashire towns to
establish factories that were

377
00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:10,300
the most productive
and competitive in the world.

378
00:23:15,780 --> 00:23:21,420
Another invention benefitted
my next destination at the turn
of the 20th century.

379
00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:26,740
I'm on my way to Leyland.

380
00:23:26,740 --> 00:23:30,420
Bradshaw's tells me that it
has an excellent free grammar school

381
00:23:30,420 --> 00:23:35,420
and I am going there to study how
a local boy, James Sumner,

382
00:23:35,420 --> 00:23:38,300
started a business that made his
town a household name.

383
00:23:42,220 --> 00:23:45,380
Six miles south of Preston,
Leyland is synonymous

384
00:23:45,380 --> 00:23:49,220
with the largest car manufacturer
that Britain has ever had.

385
00:23:49,220 --> 00:23:53,340
British Leyland had its roots
in the commercial vehicle maker

386
00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:56,740
The Lancashire Steam Motor Company,

387
00:23:56,740 --> 00:23:59,300
which was formed
here in 1896.

388
00:23:59,300 --> 00:24:03,340
Bob Howell is an engineer
at Leyland's British
Commercial Vehicle Museum.

389
00:24:05,060 --> 00:24:07,220
What an amazing collection
of vehicles.

390
00:24:07,220 --> 00:24:11,220
Yes, we have vehicles from 1896
right up to 2006.

391
00:24:11,220 --> 00:24:13,420
And what are we standing
amongst here, for example?

392
00:24:13,420 --> 00:24:16,460
This is the Leyland Lioness,
bought by King George V

393
00:24:16,460 --> 00:24:21,100
for conveying visitors
to the Sandringham estate
from the railway station.

394
00:24:21,100 --> 00:24:23,660
And what about this one here?
This is the Popemobile.

395
00:24:23,660 --> 00:24:26,540
The designer's brief for this
was a high-sided vehicle

396
00:24:26,540 --> 00:24:29,540
so the Pope could see the people
and they could see him.

397
00:24:29,540 --> 00:24:32,940
And so that was used
during the Pope's visit to Britain?

398
00:24:32,940 --> 00:24:34,580
Yes, it was.

399
00:24:34,580 --> 00:24:37,820
The Leyland marque might
never have existed

400
00:24:37,820 --> 00:24:41,180
had its young founder, James Sumner,
the son of a blacksmith,

401
00:24:41,180 --> 00:24:44,740
not attached a steam engine
to a lawn mower.

402
00:24:46,020 --> 00:24:50,180
As a teenager James was allowed to
experiment in his father's workshop.

403
00:24:50,180 --> 00:24:53,260
He made his own two-cylinder
compound steam engine,

404
00:24:53,260 --> 00:24:55,500
which he fitted to a pedal tricycle.

405
00:24:55,500 --> 00:25:00,540
Then a local head gardener gave
James an old horse-drawn lawn mower.

406
00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:03,860
This is the result. Immediately,
the orders started flooding in.

407
00:25:03,860 --> 00:25:07,900
Not only from the owners of large
estate houses

408
00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:10,740
but also from the cricket clubs.

409
00:25:10,740 --> 00:25:14,380
In fact, WG Grace bought one for his
hallowed cricket pitch at the Oval.

410
00:25:15,980 --> 00:25:19,900
James went into partnership with
the wealthy Spurrier family

411
00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:22,780
and, opting to use
new petrol engines,

412
00:25:22,780 --> 00:25:26,580
by 1914 the re-named
Leyland Motors Ltd

413
00:25:26,580 --> 00:25:28,740
employed a workforce of 1,500.

414
00:25:31,780 --> 00:25:37,340
In the 1960s, the company bought
car manufacturers Triumph and Rover

415
00:25:37,340 --> 00:25:41,420
and a merger in 1968 with
British Motor Holdings

416
00:25:41,420 --> 00:25:45,260
brought Jaguar, Morris
and Austin into the group.

417
00:25:45,260 --> 00:25:48,980
Following the oil crisis of 1973,

418
00:25:48,980 --> 00:25:53,220
this monolithic company
was almost bankrupt,

419
00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:56,420
and was first nationalised,
then broken up.

420
00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:01,300
The now American-owned
Leyland Trucks still produces

421
00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:06,180
state of the art vehicles
as this museum example once was.

422
00:26:06,180 --> 00:26:09,220
And we're away!

423
00:26:11,340 --> 00:26:13,940
How old is the vehicle, Bob? 1908.

424
00:26:13,940 --> 00:26:18,060
We believe it is the oldest
commercial vehicle running.

425
00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:21,260
Do you know what the history of the
vehicle is? What was it used for?

426
00:26:21,260 --> 00:26:26,340
It was involved in parcel collection
and delivery in the London area.

427
00:26:26,340 --> 00:26:29,420
It did a total of 390,000 miles
before being retired.

428
00:26:29,420 --> 00:26:32,380
How many years were you
in the motor industry?

429
00:26:32,380 --> 00:26:34,540
76. 76!

430
00:26:34,540 --> 00:26:38,180
I started on October 1, 1937.

431
00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:40,940
Would you care to have
a little drive?

432
00:26:40,940 --> 00:26:43,460
I would absolutely love to, please.
Why not?

433
00:26:43,460 --> 00:26:47,780
Depress clutch,
engage second gear...

434
00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:52,700
Release brake...

435
00:26:54,540 --> 00:26:56,180
Apply throttle...

436
00:26:57,980 --> 00:27:00,620
Hooray, we're moving!

437
00:27:06,020 --> 00:27:07,940
This is enormous fun, Bob.

438
00:27:10,140 --> 00:27:12,700
This is a great tribute to Leyland.

439
00:27:12,700 --> 00:27:16,260
More than a century old
and still going strong.

440
00:27:26,260 --> 00:27:29,700
I'm saddened that despite
his inventive genius,

441
00:27:29,700 --> 00:27:33,420
Samuel Crompton of Bolton
failed to capitalise

442
00:27:33,420 --> 00:27:36,540
on his invention
of the spinning mule.

443
00:27:36,540 --> 00:27:40,220
In Wigan, Margaret Poole enjoyed
greater material success

444
00:27:40,220 --> 00:27:42,460
with her homely recipes.

445
00:27:42,460 --> 00:27:45,300
She has reminded me that
for the rail traveller,

446
00:27:45,300 --> 00:27:47,340
there are two essential artefacts -

447
00:27:47,340 --> 00:27:51,220
a Bradshaw's guide
and a sustaining pie.

448
00:27:58,980 --> 00:28:03,620
On the next leg, I hear about
unscrupulous Victorian grocers.

449
00:28:03,620 --> 00:28:07,060
Oatmeal was often mixed
with gravel or sand.

450
00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:10,340
This appears to be about 90% gravel.

451
00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:13,820
I have to hail a train
at a request stop.

452
00:28:13,820 --> 00:28:15,260
Success!

453
00:28:15,260 --> 00:28:19,540
And I learn of King James's
beefiest knighting.

454
00:28:19,540 --> 00:28:23,700
He took his sword and dubbed this
loin of beef,

455
00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:26,540
"Arise, Sir Loin."

456
00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:28,380
And everybody went, whoa!