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In 1840, one man transformed
travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw,

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and his railway guides
inspired the Victorians

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to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop, he told them where to
go, what to see, and where to stay.

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And now, 170 years later, I'm aboard
for a series of rail adventures

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across the United Kingdom to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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I'm now on the last leg
of a journey that began

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in a Victorian Manchester slum

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and will end at a stately home.

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Today, I'll find out about
a duke who changed his garden,

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and about the son of an
illiterate collier worker

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who changed the world.

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On this last leg,
I'm given a Victorian music lesson.

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EUPHONIUM SQUEAKS

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LOUD NOTE SOUNDS

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Wow!

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I learn of a watery tragedy
in the Peak District.

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The final death toll was about 81,
of whom half were children.

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And I make a splash
in Derbyshire.

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Whoa!

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I never produced as big
an impact as that!

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My journey began in Manchester,
headed west to Merseyside,

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felt the sea breeze in Southport,

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crossed Lancashire towards
Bradford and Huddersfield,

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and will finally head
to steely south Yorkshire

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to end in Derbyshire,

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where the father of the railway,
George Stephenson, is buried.

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Today's leg tunes into Honley,
surges into Holmfirth,

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takes a break in Sheffield,

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and ends in the elegant
surrounds of Chesterfield.

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My first stop will be Honley.

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Bradshaw's tells me, "This place is
the centre of the woollen trade

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"and has a population of 4626."

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Such wool towns had
a strong sense of community,

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and such communities make music.

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To reach the musical mill town of
Honley,

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my train crosses the magnificent
Victorian Lockwood Viaduct.

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The houses in Honley cluster on the
slopes of the Holme River Valley,

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peaking up above each other, facing
each other across narrow alleyways,

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the washing spread
across the street.

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You get the impression of
a wool community

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set apart by its geography
and closely knit.

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The brass bands of such small towns

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are a powerful metaphor for
the harmonious communities

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that grew up in response
to industrialisation.

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The invention of the piston valve
made the notes on brass instruments

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more uniform and easier to play,

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and mass production
made them more affordable.

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By 1860, there were over
750 brass bands in England.

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Often sponsored by a local employer,

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they were attached to collieries,
foundries and textile mills.

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Places like Honley still have them.

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Peter Marshall is a local historian.

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Peter, hello. Good morning, welcome.
What a lovely village.

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Thank you. It is.
We like it very much.

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How did bands get going
in villages like Honley?

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People needed to find a way of
entertaining themselves

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in the few hours that they had when
they weren't working in the mills

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or weaving and spinning.

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What was the music for, as it were?

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Methodism was quite strong
in this valley.

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John Wesley preached here
in the 1780s,

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and they needed music to
accompany themselves,

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both in the chapels and outside,
because they had famous sings

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where they would sing in
the open air -

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Easter time, Whitsunday
and so forth.

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And the band playing became
quite competitive, didn't it?

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Yes, it did. Honley was
able to travel by train

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to a number of the competitions
across the North,

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and including the
British Open Championship

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which was held in
Belle Vue in Manchester,

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and in 1884 they became
the British champions.

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Hello, Honley Band. How are you all?

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Who's been with the band
the longest? I have.

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When did you join the band?

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1975. They turned me down in 1952.

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Being a female, they said they'd only
got big instruments like this one,

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and that was no good for a girl.

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So, did it take them 23 years
to change their minds? Yeah. Wow.

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You, sir, at the back,
how long have you been in the band?

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I have been in the band two years.

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And what's your instrument?
The drums.

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I kind of guessed that!
Give me a twirl.

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You've been playing for longer
than two years, haven't you?

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I've been playing for five years.

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And, you sir,
you're in plain clothes,

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but are you an old bandsman?

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Yes, I've been involved with
this band for 60 years.

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60 years. Were you born here in
Honley? Yes, I was.

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What made you join the band?
A man called Arnold Booth,

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he said, "Would you like to join?"

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And he said those magic
words that make it difficult

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for a Yorkshire lad to refuse.

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He said, "And it will all be free."

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MICHAEL LAUGHS

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What could I do?

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Can I tell you about a memory?

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And I think it tells you about maybe
the dedication to banding.

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On 18th May 1959,
I got married.

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It was Whit Monday,

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the busiest day of the year
in the brass band calendar

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and after the ceremony we
went to my new wife's mother

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and then I said goodbye to the
guests, and, along with the best man

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and the groomsmen, we went and
joined our brass band colleagues.

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I think she made a decision
that day that it was,

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"If you can't beat them, join them,"

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and she's been a brass band
enthusiast ever since.

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Now, if I were to play, what would
be the instrument that would,

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I don't know, suit me?

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To suit you? Well, I think a big
lad like you would suit a euphonium.

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That fits you like a glove.

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Now, then, doesn't he look smart, eh?

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Do I look the part? Yeah!

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Don't think I'm going to sound it,
somehow! Right.

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To play on the instrument,
you need to vibrate air,

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cos that's what makes sound.

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And the best way to
do that is to buzz.

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THEY BUZZ

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That's right. And, at the
same time, press on your tummy,

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make your tummy hard.

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EUPHONIUM SQUEAKS

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EUPHONIUM SOUNDS LOUDER

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Wow!

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I'm very sorry to have insulted
your ears with that noise.

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Can we now hear some
real music, please?

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Maestro!

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What a glorious sound!
Now I believe I'm in Yorkshire.

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Staying in Yorkshire,
I'm continuing my journey southeast

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on a branch line towards Sheffield.

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I'll shortly be entering
the Thurstonland tunnel

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where, reputedly,

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a Victorian film-maker made a film
called Kiss In The Tunnel.

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In 1899, pioneer Victorian
film-maker James Bamforth

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directed The Kiss in the Tunnel, an
early example of narrative editing

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using three shots to tell
the story of a furtive moment

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of passenger passion on a train
in Thurstonland tunnel.

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No such luck for me.

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My next stop will be Stocksmoor.

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I am interested by this
reference in Bradshaw,

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"Holmfirth, where the Ribble
and Diggle brooks join,

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"was dreadfully ravaged in 1852 by
the bursting of the Bilberry Dam."

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Despite the general excellence
of Victorian engineering,

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there were disasters, and
this one was apparently appalling.

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Holmfirth station was closed
to passengers in 1959,

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so I shall make my own way
there from Stocksmoor.

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Now surrounded by
reservoirs,

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Holmfirth is celebrated as
the location

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for Last of The Summer Wine.

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By contrast, in Victorian times,
the village was notorious.

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Bradshaw's remarks that the
"valley is about six miles long

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"and only 100 yards broad
at the widest,

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"and the immense volume of water
set free in this narrow gutter

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"carried away 100 lives with houses
and mills and other property.

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"The bridge was entirely destroyed,

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"and only the bare
walls of the church left."

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And standing here seeing how the
town is wedged into the crevasse,

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I begin to imagine that
horrific wall of water

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advancing upon its people.

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In 1852, Bilberry Dam burst

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and an unforgiving torrent
swept through Holmfirth.

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I'm meeting local historian
David Cockman at the rebuilt dam.

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Was the Victorian Bilberry
Dam in this position?

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Near enough, I think. We are
standing almost at the spot

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where at 1am on
5th February 1852,

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this collapsed with
a pop, with a bang -

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80 million gallons, 400,000 tonnes

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swept down the valley
towards Holmfirth.

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Had there been an
engineering failure?

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This was a Victorian structure,
wasn't it? Very much so, Michael.

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Coming out of this hillside
there was a spring,

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it was described as being as
big as a man's arm.

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And the water came down,
flowed down through into the valley

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where they wanted to
build the retaining wall.

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They should have put this spring
into some kind of culvert

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or conduit leading it away.

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But they built the dam wall
on top of the flowing spring

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and gradually, over the years,

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this water ate away at
the base of the dam,

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weakening it all the time,

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until it began to leak
and it just gave way.

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It was one of the most serious
civilian disasters

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of Victorian England.

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300 feet across and
70 feet at its deepest,

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the reservoir's 86 million gallons
of water weighed 300,000 tonnes.

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The water rushed three and a half
miles down the valley,

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reaching the village
in around 15 minutes.

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And it was going so fast that
even people who ran ahead to try

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to warn the citizens that
something was about to happen,

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they were overtaken by the water.

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Now, in one of these houses,
there lived a weaver called

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Joseph Halliwell with his family -
wife and five children.

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The water rose in his house almost
up to the second floor.

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He managed to get up to the second
floor, into his weaving room,

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and shout for help.

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And he was heard by his neighbours
who lived above him in the top house,

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and they hacked a hole in the floor
and dragged him to safety.

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But unfortunately, his wife and
the five children were drowned.

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Appalling. Yes. Up the valley, it
had wrecked at least three mills,

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and it had uprooted boilers
weighing 15, 20 tonnes,

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and the whole centre of Holmfirth
was hit by a battering ram.

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00:12:43,540 --> 00:12:49,140
The final death toll was about 81,
of whom half were children.

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Most, I think, were caught
asleep in their beds

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and drowned in their sleep.

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Was there Victorian ghoulishness?

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I think so. On the Sunday after
the flood,

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the railway reported that 16,000
tickets were collected

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at Holmfirth station.

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00:13:06,140 --> 00:13:09,700
But, in the fortnight or so after,
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

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00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:12,780
reported that they were selling
9,000 tickets a day

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00:13:12,780 --> 00:13:14,580
for people to come to Holmfirth.

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00:13:14,580 --> 00:13:17,460
I am sure it was just
disaster tourism, basically.

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Ghoulishness to come and
walk through the rubble here.

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00:13:20,020 --> 00:13:21,900
I can't think what else it would be.

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I'm heading back to Stocksmoor
to travel to Sheffield,

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where I shall break my journey.

217
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Looking forward to the day ahead,

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00:13:46,940 --> 00:13:49,980
I'm taking an East Midlands
service south.

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My next stop will be Chesterfield,
which, like so many places,

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is associated by Bradshaw's
with coal.

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And there, I want to look at
the career of one of my heroes,

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a man who did so much to convert
coal to steam to locomotion

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00:14:08,020 --> 00:14:10,700
and who made all of this possible.

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00:14:10,700 --> 00:14:12,420
Mr George Stephenson.

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00:14:25,580 --> 00:14:29,420
George Stephenson,
perfector of locomotives,

226
00:14:29,420 --> 00:14:32,500
builder of railways, whose
inventions included

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00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:35,140
new sorts of rail and bridge and
a miner's lamp.

228
00:14:35,140 --> 00:14:40,340
Endlessly inventive, but illiterate
until he was 18.

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00:14:40,340 --> 00:14:45,020
A man who dragged himself up by his
bootstraps, the sort that I admire.

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00:14:48,180 --> 00:14:52,140
Having been born to a poor family
near Newcastle upon Tyne,

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00:14:52,140 --> 00:14:54,300
George Stephenson came to
Chesterfield

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00:14:54,300 --> 00:14:56,180
for the last ten
years of his life.

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Passionate about machines,
back in 1804,

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00:15:01,140 --> 00:15:05,100
George had walked to Scotland
in order to work with steam engines.

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00:15:06,700 --> 00:15:09,420
A decade later,
Stephenson's locomotive,

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00:15:09,420 --> 00:15:14,660
the Blucher, hauled coal wagons
along a wagon way and in 1825,

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00:15:14,660 --> 00:15:19,180
Stephenson's locomotion Number 1,
seen here on its centenary,

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00:15:19,180 --> 00:15:23,460
ran between Stockton and Darlington,
the first public railway on earth.

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00:15:25,060 --> 00:15:27,500
To learn more of this hero,

240
00:15:27,500 --> 00:15:30,500
I'm visiting Chesterfield
Borough Council Museum,

241
00:15:30,500 --> 00:15:33,740
adjacent to the town's famous
crooked spire,

242
00:15:33,740 --> 00:15:38,220
to meet curator Anne-Marie Knowles
by a Stephenson family portrait.

243
00:15:41,340 --> 00:15:46,300
There's George, centre stage in
this rather strange looking outfit,

244
00:15:46,300 --> 00:15:49,620
which is what he used to
wear as a younger man.

245
00:15:49,620 --> 00:15:52,060
We're used to seeing George
in the frock coat,

246
00:15:52,060 --> 00:15:53,980
looking very Victorian and grand.

247
00:15:53,980 --> 00:15:56,740
But here he is as a much humbler man

248
00:15:56,740 --> 00:16:01,060
when he was the engine-wright
at Killingworth colliery.

249
00:16:01,060 --> 00:16:05,540
So this is a picture that says quite
a lot about George's life.

250
00:16:05,540 --> 00:16:09,580
The lady who's standing at the
back with the churn on her head,

251
00:16:09,580 --> 00:16:13,300
this is Mabel Carr,
who was George's mother.

252
00:16:13,300 --> 00:16:16,940
And standing next to her is her
husband, George's father.

253
00:16:16,940 --> 00:16:20,780
Then we've got George's first wife
with a child,

254
00:16:20,780 --> 00:16:23,260
who actually died in infancy.

255
00:16:23,260 --> 00:16:25,620
Then we have George's second wife,

256
00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:27,980
who is seated here in front
of George.

257
00:16:27,980 --> 00:16:31,460
And is George clutching the miner's
lamp he invented?

258
00:16:31,460 --> 00:16:32,900
He most certainly is.

259
00:16:32,900 --> 00:16:36,140
Now, there was some controversy
about this, wasn't there,

260
00:16:36,140 --> 00:16:39,860
because he invented a miner's safety
lamp and Davy invented one,

261
00:16:39,860 --> 00:16:41,980
and there was a bit of argy-bargy

262
00:16:41,980 --> 00:16:46,340
about whether there'd been some
piracy of copyright, wasn't there?

263
00:16:46,340 --> 00:16:50,940
Yes, certainly, and Davy actually
accused George Stephenson

264
00:16:50,940 --> 00:16:53,380
of stealing the idea from him.

265
00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:56,340
And Stephenson went to a lot of
trouble to prove

266
00:16:56,340 --> 00:17:00,340
that he'd actually developed
the miners' lamp prior to Davy.

267
00:17:00,340 --> 00:17:02,740
I've heard it said that miners
in the North East

268
00:17:02,740 --> 00:17:04,900
used
the George Stephenson miners' lamp,

269
00:17:04,900 --> 00:17:07,420
miners elsewhere tended to use
the Davy lamp?

270
00:17:07,420 --> 00:17:09,620
That's right. I've even heard it said

271
00:17:09,620 --> 00:17:12,100
that is why people in the North East
are called Geordies,

272
00:17:12,100 --> 00:17:13,900
I don't know whether that's true?

273
00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:16,540
Well, I don't think anybody is
very sure about that,

274
00:17:16,540 --> 00:17:20,220
but certainly the lamp was referred
to as the Geordie lamp

275
00:17:20,220 --> 00:17:22,580
because it was made by
Geordie, George.

276
00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:27,220
One of George's lesser-known
inventions

277
00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:29,780
grew from his passion for gardening.

278
00:17:29,780 --> 00:17:33,220
OK, so here it is, one of the famous
cucumber straightening tubes

279
00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:35,500
that was developed
by George Stephenson.

280
00:17:38,700 --> 00:17:42,940
Well...that looks like a fairly
simple glass tube,

281
00:17:42,940 --> 00:17:45,340
what's so special about it?

282
00:17:45,340 --> 00:17:46,980
Well, when the fruit is very small

283
00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:48,860
it is inserted at this end of
the tube

284
00:17:48,860 --> 00:17:51,300
and then it grows
straight down the tube,

285
00:17:51,300 --> 00:17:54,460
rather than curling as it grows,
because this was always the problem

286
00:17:54,460 --> 00:17:58,500
before modern hybrids, that cucumbers
have this tendency to curl.

287
00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:00,460
So that's how he did it.

288
00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:02,940
It actually became a standard
piece of kit

289
00:18:02,940 --> 00:18:05,500
for all Victorian
kitchen gardeners.

290
00:18:05,500 --> 00:18:08,700
Since George Stephenson took such
care to straighten cucumbers,

291
00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:11,180
I wonder why he didn't
apply his attention

292
00:18:11,180 --> 00:18:13,620
to the twisted spire of
Chesterfield?

293
00:18:13,620 --> 00:18:16,820
That's a very good question,
I have absolutely no idea.

294
00:18:18,460 --> 00:18:20,060
Anne-Marie has brought me

295
00:18:20,060 --> 00:18:22,260
to Chesterfield's Holy Trinity
Church,

296
00:18:22,260 --> 00:18:24,220
where George Stephenson is buried.

297
00:18:25,660 --> 00:18:28,500
So no Westminster Abbey
for George Stephenson? No.

298
00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:31,700
Why was he buried in this
church, particularly?

299
00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:34,740
Holy Trinity was the church
that his wife attended

300
00:18:34,740 --> 00:18:36,580
and she too is buried here.

301
00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:39,940
Is that the only memorial to
George Stephenson in this church?

302
00:18:39,940 --> 00:18:41,780
No, actually, it isn't.

303
00:18:41,780 --> 00:18:45,060
If you look above, you can see
that there's a rather magnificent

304
00:18:45,060 --> 00:18:47,940
stained glass window which was
donated to the church

305
00:18:47,940 --> 00:18:51,020
by Robert Stephenson
in memory of his father.

306
00:18:51,020 --> 00:18:52,620
And if you look carefully,

307
00:18:52,620 --> 00:18:55,700
you can see the "S" for Stephenson
quite clearly.

308
00:18:55,700 --> 00:18:59,380
It's very touching that it was
given by the son.

309
00:18:59,380 --> 00:19:02,420
Robert and George Stephenson
are comparable geniuses,

310
00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:06,460
but George Stephenson began without
the benefit of any education.

311
00:19:11,540 --> 00:19:16,220
Bradshaw's devotes a lot of space
to Chatsworth, which it describes as

312
00:19:16,220 --> 00:19:21,740
"the splendid seat of the Duke of
Devonshire, ten miles from
Chesterfield station."

313
00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:24,500
Since there's no station closer,

314
00:19:24,500 --> 00:19:26,740
for once, I'm going to have
to take a taxi.

315
00:19:29,580 --> 00:19:33,140
Having begun my journey
investigating the squalid existence

316
00:19:33,140 --> 00:19:35,700
of Manchester's
19th-century mill workers,

317
00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:40,620
I'm concluding it at the other end
of the Victorian social spectrum.

318
00:19:42,820 --> 00:19:45,900
Home to the Duke and Duchess
of Devonshire,

319
00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:49,780
Chatsworth has been
passed down through 16 generations

320
00:19:49,780 --> 00:19:51,700
of the Cavendish family.

321
00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:56,220
Its architecture and collection of
art have developed over 500 years.

322
00:19:57,700 --> 00:20:00,340
Bradshaw's has led me to this point,

323
00:20:00,340 --> 00:20:04,980
says "The best view of the house
is from a point near the bridge

324
00:20:04,980 --> 00:20:11,860
"and Queen Mary's Bower,
where the old hunting tower
is seen on the hill."

325
00:20:11,860 --> 00:20:17,540
And yes, this is a fantastic vista.
One of the finest houses ever built.

326
00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:20,980
Magnificent and beautiful.

327
00:20:23,860 --> 00:20:28,900
The first Duke completed this
Baroque palace in 1707.

328
00:20:28,900 --> 00:20:31,580
It stands in the wilds of Derbyshire

329
00:20:31,580 --> 00:20:35,020
and glows in its warm,
buff-coloured stone.

330
00:20:35,020 --> 00:20:38,540
In the 19th century, the sixth Duke
built the north wing

331
00:20:38,540 --> 00:20:40,140
and a sculpture gallery.

332
00:20:42,740 --> 00:20:44,220
He added priceless works

333
00:20:44,220 --> 00:20:48,020
to the family's already glorious
collection of great masters.

334
00:20:49,220 --> 00:20:51,860
Today it's curated by Matthew Hirst.

335
00:20:53,780 --> 00:20:55,980
Matthew, hello. Hello, Michael.

336
00:20:55,980 --> 00:20:58,340
My Bradshaw's is from the middle
1860s.

337
00:20:58,340 --> 00:21:01,500
What recent changes
would there have been to the house

338
00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:03,660
just before the guide was written?

339
00:21:03,660 --> 00:21:06,500
Well, quite substantial
changes, actually,

340
00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:10,300
because in the 19th century,
the sixth Duke of Devonshire

341
00:21:10,300 --> 00:21:13,380
and the Bachelor Duke,
as we call him,

342
00:21:13,380 --> 00:21:14,900
kept the Baroque house,

343
00:21:14,900 --> 00:21:18,780
but built an enormous wing to
the north, really for two reasons.

344
00:21:18,780 --> 00:21:21,940
He was a great art collector
and a great bibliophile,

345
00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:25,540
so he needed space for his
ever-growing library,

346
00:21:25,540 --> 00:21:28,100
his new collection of sculpture.

347
00:21:28,100 --> 00:21:30,700
He was a man of many
different interests

348
00:21:30,700 --> 00:21:34,900
and was very much at the apex
of the social scene at the time.

349
00:21:34,900 --> 00:21:37,900
He entertained Princess Victoria

350
00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:41,660
in 1832 and then she came back
again in 1846.

351
00:21:41,660 --> 00:21:47,100
So it was a constant scene of high
society and lavish entertaining.

352
00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:48,580
Bradshaw's tells me

353
00:21:48,580 --> 00:21:51,980
"The house may be seen daily
from 11 to 5.

354
00:21:51,980 --> 00:21:57,060
"Parties are let in by turns. Apply
early if you want to save time."

355
00:21:57,060 --> 00:21:59,900
So, apparently even
by the middle 19th century,

356
00:21:59,900 --> 00:22:01,940
this was a magnet for tourists?

357
00:22:01,940 --> 00:22:04,460
Definitely. With the arrival of
the railways,

358
00:22:04,460 --> 00:22:06,580
that was made considerably easier.

359
00:22:06,580 --> 00:22:08,500
By 1849 in the summer

360
00:22:08,500 --> 00:22:11,540
we were getting 80,000 visitors
a year,

361
00:22:11,540 --> 00:22:15,980
which is staggering when you think
about what that means

362
00:22:15,980 --> 00:22:17,700
in the 19th century.

363
00:22:30,180 --> 00:22:33,180
Was this superb dining room
created by the sixth Duke?

364
00:22:33,180 --> 00:22:36,500
It was, this was finished in 1832,

365
00:22:36,500 --> 00:22:40,340
just in time for
Princess Victoria's visit,

366
00:22:40,340 --> 00:22:45,260
and she dined at this table
for the first time in adult company.

367
00:22:45,260 --> 00:22:48,060
And this is the room
the sixth Duke referred to

368
00:22:48,060 --> 00:22:51,060
as being like dining in a great
treasure chest.

369
00:22:51,060 --> 00:22:53,620
I think you can see that
with the vaults,

370
00:22:53,620 --> 00:22:56,380
as if it were about to be
opened like a lid.

371
00:22:56,380 --> 00:22:58,020
Magnificent barrel ceiling.

372
00:23:00,860 --> 00:23:04,900
As well as portraits by old
masters like Thomas Gainsborough,

373
00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:09,460
Chatsworth's art collection includes
the exceptional sculpture gallery,

374
00:23:09,460 --> 00:23:12,820
augmented by the sixth Duke's
acquisition of pieces

375
00:23:12,820 --> 00:23:17,140
by the 19th century Venetian
sculpture, Antonio Canova.

376
00:23:19,460 --> 00:23:23,820
This sculpture gallery really is
beautiful, isn't it? Bradshaw's says

377
00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:27,900
"It's extremely rich in original
works, cast busts, marble tables."

378
00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:31,740
"Amongst others are Napoleon's
mother, Madame Mere,
as she was called,

379
00:23:31,740 --> 00:23:34,580
"and Canova's large bust
of Napoleon."

380
00:23:34,580 --> 00:23:38,980
We know the sixth Duke was very
passionate about Canova's work,

381
00:23:38,980 --> 00:23:42,500
so much so that the giant
bust of Napoleon,

382
00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:46,500
when Candover died, the sixth Duke
was so desperate to acquire it

383
00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:50,580
that he immediately started to
organise its acquisition.

384
00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:53,420
Napoleon looking...almost like
a Roman emperor.

385
00:23:56,700 --> 00:23:59,140
The sixth Duke also played close
attention

386
00:23:59,140 --> 00:24:00,900
to the grounds of the house.

387
00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:05,340
In 1826, the work of a young
gardener near his property
in Chiswick

388
00:24:05,340 --> 00:24:07,660
impressed the Duke of Devonshire

389
00:24:07,660 --> 00:24:11,740
and he appointed Joseph Paxton
head gardener at Chatsworth

390
00:24:11,740 --> 00:24:12,820
at the age of 23.

391
00:24:15,420 --> 00:24:19,060
As soon as you set foot outside
Chatsworth, it becomes clear

392
00:24:19,060 --> 00:24:20,900
that the house is one of two
wonders,

393
00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:22,540
the other being the gardens.

394
00:24:22,540 --> 00:24:26,060
Bradshaw's tells me of the work
of Sir Joseph Paxton,

395
00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:28,740
the late duke's celebrated gardener.

396
00:24:28,740 --> 00:24:31,420
And I suspect these wonderful
glasshouses

397
00:24:31,420 --> 00:24:33,020
are just part of his work.

398
00:24:35,260 --> 00:24:38,180
The present incumbent of Paxton's
post

399
00:24:38,180 --> 00:24:41,340
is head of gardens and landscape,
Steve Porter.

400
00:24:41,340 --> 00:24:43,860
What kind of man was Joseph Paxton?

401
00:24:43,860 --> 00:24:46,460
He was an amazing guy,
amazingly driven.

402
00:24:46,460 --> 00:24:49,140
The story of his first day here just
describes it perfectly.

403
00:24:49,140 --> 00:24:52,380
He caught the coach from London to
Chesterfield, arriving at 4.30am.

404
00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:54,860
He then walked the 12 miles to
Chatsworth,

405
00:24:54,860 --> 00:24:56,820
climbing over the garden wall
when he arrived

406
00:24:56,820 --> 00:24:58,340
to be able to look round the garden

407
00:24:58,340 --> 00:25:00,100
and see exactly what he was taking
on

408
00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:01,740
before coming back to the main house

409
00:25:01,740 --> 00:25:04,620
to meet the housekeeper and have
breakfast with the housekeeper.

410
00:25:04,620 --> 00:25:07,380
He also met the housekeeper's
niece, who he fell in love with

411
00:25:07,380 --> 00:25:10,260
and she fell in love with him
and they got married a year later.

412
00:25:10,260 --> 00:25:12,500
That is an amazing story.

413
00:25:12,500 --> 00:25:15,220
So, was the transformation
of the garden as thorough

414
00:25:15,220 --> 00:25:17,820
as the transformation of the house
under the sixth Duke?

415
00:25:17,820 --> 00:25:19,460
Yeah, absolutely. Paxton came along

416
00:25:19,460 --> 00:25:21,820
and really laid out the garden
as you see it today,

417
00:25:21,820 --> 00:25:23,660
so most of the paths, most of the
features,

418
00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:26,060
certainly the glasshouses
are all from that period.

419
00:25:26,060 --> 00:25:28,300
So, a very important time for
the garden.

420
00:25:29,380 --> 00:25:34,620
Paxton achieved fame when his grand
Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park

421
00:25:34,620 --> 00:25:37,260
housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.

422
00:25:37,260 --> 00:25:39,340
It took 2000 men eight months

423
00:25:39,340 --> 00:25:43,220
to build the innovative design
in glass and cast iron.

424
00:25:43,220 --> 00:25:47,460
And it was based upon his grand
conservatory at Chatsworth.

425
00:25:47,460 --> 00:25:50,860
So, Steve, it was here
that the grand conservatory stood.

426
00:25:50,860 --> 00:25:54,100
Bradshaw's says "It was 300 foot
long and 65 foot high."

427
00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:56,460
It must have been astonishing?
Absolutely.

428
00:25:56,460 --> 00:25:59,220
It was the biggest freestanding
glasshouse in the world at the time

429
00:25:59,220 --> 00:26:00,420
when it was built in 1836,

430
00:26:00,420 --> 00:26:03,460
so before the Palm House at Kew
and those sort of buildings.

431
00:26:03,460 --> 00:26:05,540
He'd been playing with smaller
glass houses,

432
00:26:05,540 --> 00:26:07,980
trying out different
systems of glazing and construction,

433
00:26:07,980 --> 00:26:10,780
and designed this amazing spectacle
full of exotic plants

434
00:26:10,780 --> 00:26:13,020
most people wouldn't have
seen before.

435
00:26:13,020 --> 00:26:15,900
I can't help noticing it's not here
any more? Sadly not.

436
00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:18,340
No, during the First World War,
it fell into disrepair.

437
00:26:18,340 --> 00:26:21,180
It was a constant case of painting
it as well.

438
00:26:21,180 --> 00:26:23,380
So sadly, in 1920,
it was actually blown up.

439
00:26:25,140 --> 00:26:26,780
Leaving us with a maze.

440
00:26:35,780 --> 00:26:38,100
Now, in a moment,
you're going to need this.

441
00:26:39,580 --> 00:26:41,420
LAUGHTER

442
00:26:41,420 --> 00:26:42,740
What for?

443
00:26:42,740 --> 00:26:46,340
This is the key to Paxton's greatest
engineering feat at Chatsworth,

444
00:26:46,340 --> 00:26:47,540
the Emperor Fountain.

445
00:26:47,540 --> 00:26:50,380
Designed for a visit by
Tzar Nicholas I.

446
00:26:50,380 --> 00:26:54,260
When they turned it on in the early
1840s it went up to 296 feet high,

447
00:26:54,260 --> 00:26:56,900
which was the tallest gravity-fed
fountain in the world.

448
00:26:56,900 --> 00:26:59,860
Unfortunately, Tsar Nicholas I
never made it to Chatsworth,

449
00:26:59,860 --> 00:27:02,220
so he never saw his fountain
that they created for him.

450
00:27:02,220 --> 00:27:04,820
I just need to locate this.

451
00:27:04,820 --> 00:27:07,220
This is the biggest key I've
ever turned.

452
00:27:10,980 --> 00:27:12,940
Whoa!

453
00:27:12,940 --> 00:27:14,700
For all my years in politics,

454
00:27:14,700 --> 00:27:17,300
I never produced as big
an impact as that!

455
00:27:23,900 --> 00:27:25,860
No journey could be longer

456
00:27:25,860 --> 00:27:29,700
than from the Victorian Manchester
slum where I began

457
00:27:29,700 --> 00:27:32,860
to the grandeur
of Chatsworth, where I end.

458
00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:36,300
Victorian society was characterised
by extremes of poverty and wealth,

459
00:27:36,300 --> 00:27:40,100
but also by social mobility.

460
00:27:40,100 --> 00:27:44,220
The self-made man could win as much
respect as a duke,

461
00:27:44,220 --> 00:27:48,500
and there was no finer example
of that than George Stephenson,

462
00:27:48,500 --> 00:27:50,500
the Father of the Railways.

463
00:27:52,420 --> 00:27:55,980
On my next adventure, I discover an
underground warehouse

464
00:27:55,980 --> 00:27:57,820
that once served the Empire.

465
00:27:57,820 --> 00:28:00,260
So this was for the storage of
beer, was it?

466
00:28:00,260 --> 00:28:04,300
It's an amazing labyrinth,
it goes on and on and on.

467
00:28:04,300 --> 00:28:06,540
I hear about the millionaire
eccentric

468
00:28:06,540 --> 00:28:08,380
whose home was an exotic museum.

469
00:28:08,380 --> 00:28:11,660
He would be seen driving
around with his four zebras?

470
00:28:11,660 --> 00:28:15,140
Both here and also Piccadilly
in London.

471
00:28:15,140 --> 00:28:19,780
And I visit the line where the
railway's age of innocence ended.

472
00:28:19,780 --> 00:28:22,620
There's quite a big gang, 15 guys,
and they formed a human chain

473
00:28:22,620 --> 00:28:25,500
down this embankment
and passed the mailbag stand.

474
00:28:25,500 --> 00:28:27,660
2.6 million in 120 mailbags.

475
00:28:31,100 --> 00:28:33,380
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