1 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:09,460 In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. 2 00:00:09,460 --> 00:00:11,140 His name was George Bradshaw 3 00:00:11,140 --> 00:00:16,780 and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks. 4 00:00:16,780 --> 00:00:22,740 Stop by stop, he told them where to go, what to see and where to stay. 5 00:00:22,740 --> 00:00:30,020 Now, 170 years later, I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures across the United Kingdom 6 00:00:30,020 --> 00:00:33,140 to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains. 7 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:58,260 I'm continuing my journey through from the fresh, sea-air breezes of England's South Coast 8 00:00:58,260 --> 00:01:02,140 towards the industrial heartland of the West Midlands. 9 00:01:02,140 --> 00:01:05,420 I'm travelling now on a line northwards that helped to give life 10 00:01:05,420 --> 00:01:08,540 to the commuter towns to the west of London. 11 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:10,220 And on this leg of my journey, 12 00:01:10,220 --> 00:01:14,100 I shall move from suburban Surrey into rural Wiltshire. 13 00:01:17,980 --> 00:01:21,500 'On today's leg, I create headlines in Reading...' 14 00:01:21,500 --> 00:01:26,700 You now beat the back of your flong. Like that? No, with the hairy side. Oh, with the hairy side 15 00:01:29,140 --> 00:01:32,500 '..discover a Tudor entrepreneur in Newbury...' 16 00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:38,260 Victorian historians used to label this as England's first factory, 17 00:01:38,260 --> 00:01:40,860 mainly because of the scale of production. 18 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:44,580 '..and test a bicycle with Victorian origins.' 19 00:01:44,580 --> 00:01:48,820 A lovely smooth ride over the cobbles. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Bye! 20 00:01:53,900 --> 00:01:57,780 Starting on the South Coast, my journey took in Hampshire 21 00:01:57,780 --> 00:02:00,620 and now heads north-west to Newbury, 22 00:02:00,620 --> 00:02:02,020 onward to Bristol 23 00:02:02,020 --> 00:02:04,660 and an engineering feat under the Severn 24 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:06,100 and then via the Cotswolds 25 00:02:06,100 --> 00:02:07,300 to finish in Wolverhampton, 26 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:08,940 in the West Midlands. 27 00:02:10,140 --> 00:02:12,380 Today's leg begins in Wokingham, 28 00:02:12,380 --> 00:02:15,420 calls at Reading, heads west to Newbury, 29 00:02:15,420 --> 00:02:19,460 takes a note in Trowbridge and ends in Bradford on Avon. 30 00:02:29,220 --> 00:02:31,220 My first stop will be Wokingham. 31 00:02:31,220 --> 00:02:34,300 Bradshaw's reports that, "The railways have given considerable 32 00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:39,660 "impetus to trade here and house property has become valuable." 33 00:02:39,660 --> 00:02:43,460 Also, "A new church is being built by J Walter, Esquire, 34 00:02:43,460 --> 00:02:46,300 "proprietor of the Times." 35 00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:49,780 Well, whatever the impact that the trains had on house prices, 36 00:02:49,780 --> 00:02:53,020 they had an even bigger one on newspapers. 37 00:02:57,300 --> 00:02:59,580 Known in the Middle Ages for its bell foundry, 38 00:02:59,580 --> 00:03:03,140 Wokingham first received trains in 1849 39 00:03:03,140 --> 00:03:07,220 and they were used to transport bricks manufactured in the town. 40 00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:11,180 The station's footbridge was built in 1886, 41 00:03:11,180 --> 00:03:13,100 using old rails and sleepers, 42 00:03:13,100 --> 00:03:17,740 and replaced a level-crossing where there had been a number of accidents. 43 00:03:17,740 --> 00:03:22,260 I've alighted here to learn more about the town's most influential Victorian. 44 00:03:25,460 --> 00:03:29,220 In 1785, John Walter founded a newspaper, 45 00:03:29,220 --> 00:03:32,780 which, three years later, he named the Times. 46 00:03:32,780 --> 00:03:36,900 His grandson was an innovator in print. 47 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:40,380 I'm hoping to learn more about John Walter III's philanthropy 48 00:03:40,380 --> 00:03:43,420 and his impact on the newspaper industry, 49 00:03:43,420 --> 00:03:46,220 from the senior typography lecturer at Reading University, 50 00:03:46,220 --> 00:03:49,100 Martin Andrews. 51 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:53,500 Bradshaw's mentions a J Walter, Esquire, proprietor of the Times 52 00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:57,780 and mentions that he built a church here. Would this lovely church be it? 53 00:03:57,780 --> 00:04:00,740 It is, indeed, and, in fact, he also built a school and a vicarage 54 00:04:00,740 --> 00:04:05,140 that went with the church and he was a benefactor in many ways. 55 00:04:05,140 --> 00:04:07,780 He was very good to the local people. 56 00:04:07,780 --> 00:04:11,220 My Bradshaw's is from the 1860s. 57 00:04:11,220 --> 00:04:13,900 Was that an important time in development of newspapers? 58 00:04:13,900 --> 00:04:18,740 It was, particularly in '61, when the stamp duty on paper got repealed, 59 00:04:18,740 --> 00:04:22,060 which meant, of course, there was much more opportunity 60 00:04:22,060 --> 00:04:23,340 to increase circulation. 61 00:04:23,340 --> 00:04:26,020 There was a huge demand for an increase in circulation 62 00:04:26,020 --> 00:04:29,500 because, with the improvement of literacy, education 63 00:04:29,500 --> 00:04:31,620 and, also, leisure time. 64 00:04:31,620 --> 00:04:34,980 If you think, the railways was an opportunity. It was captured time. 65 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:38,220 This was all a huge new market for the newspapers 66 00:04:38,220 --> 00:04:40,940 and that, of course, demanded new technology, 67 00:04:40,940 --> 00:04:44,060 new machines that could go faster and quicker. 68 00:04:44,060 --> 00:04:46,740 But to answer some of those questions, I think we need to go 69 00:04:46,740 --> 00:04:51,420 to Reading to have a look at some of the presses that Walter developed. 70 00:04:53,060 --> 00:04:54,540 As the railways flourished, 71 00:04:54,540 --> 00:04:59,140 J Walter III wanted his daily print run to keep pace with a circulation boom, 72 00:04:59,140 --> 00:05:02,820 which was being fuelled in part by rail travel. 73 00:05:02,820 --> 00:05:07,100 Before we get to Reading University to find out how the Times was modernised, 74 00:05:07,100 --> 00:05:09,740 Martin has more on the periodicals of the day. 75 00:05:11,340 --> 00:05:15,780 In the 1840s, WH Smith's opened the first kiosk on a railway station, 76 00:05:15,780 --> 00:05:19,580 selling literature for leisure, for recreation, for enjoyment. 77 00:05:19,580 --> 00:05:23,540 A bit like some of the magazines that we have today with human interest. 78 00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:28,220 One famous one was Tit-Bits. Here is an amazing strapline, 79 00:05:28,220 --> 00:05:33,460 which talks about, "£400 insurance money has been paid." 80 00:05:33,460 --> 00:05:37,700 So such was the fear of the possibility of a railway accident, 81 00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:40,780 that you could get free insurance with your Tit-Bits? 82 00:05:40,780 --> 00:05:42,300 Indeed, you could. 83 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:46,460 So, clearly, this newspaper was aimed at the commuter. 84 00:05:46,460 --> 00:05:48,940 Well, if you'll excuse me, between here and Reading, 85 00:05:48,940 --> 00:05:50,940 I'm going to look for some titbits. 86 00:05:57,180 --> 00:06:00,580 ANNOUNCER: 'Now arriving at Reading, our final destination.' 87 00:06:04,340 --> 00:06:07,580 Martin wants to show me how the proprietor of the Times 88 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:09,740 stole a march on his competitors. 89 00:06:13,460 --> 00:06:16,020 What did J Walter III, the one mentioned in Bradshaw, 90 00:06:16,020 --> 00:06:17,140 what did he achieve? 91 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:20,460 The Times was developing so rapidly they needed to get quicker 92 00:06:20,460 --> 00:06:22,180 and speedier and more efficient. 93 00:06:22,180 --> 00:06:26,540 So, instead of just having a circular cylinder to print from, 94 00:06:26,540 --> 00:06:30,060 the idea of having a rotary press, where everything works on cylinders, 95 00:06:30,060 --> 00:06:33,220 working automatically, was the way they cracked it. 96 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:36,260 From the beginning of the 19th century, they had been finding ways 97 00:06:36,260 --> 00:06:39,820 of duplicating pages of type by a system called stereotyping, 98 00:06:39,820 --> 00:06:42,980 which was taking a sheet of papier-mache. 99 00:06:42,980 --> 00:06:45,940 You lay this piece of papier-mache on top of the type 100 00:06:45,940 --> 00:06:48,460 and then you pick up this amazing brush. 101 00:06:48,460 --> 00:06:51,620 Now, this is not a giant's toothbrush, or a back scratcher, 102 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:53,780 this is a flong brush. 103 00:06:53,780 --> 00:06:57,780 Somebody in the industry had a job of a flong beater. 104 00:06:57,780 --> 00:06:59,260 And I give you that privilege. 105 00:06:59,260 --> 00:07:03,460 So you now beat the back of your flong. Like that? No, no with the hairy side. 106 00:07:03,460 --> 00:07:05,460 Oh, with the hairy side. 107 00:07:05,460 --> 00:07:08,740 And that is pushing the papier-mache into the type. 108 00:07:08,740 --> 00:07:12,820 And when you can pull that off, we have a perfect impression 109 00:07:12,820 --> 00:07:15,260 of every single part of the type, all the detail. 110 00:07:15,260 --> 00:07:18,500 Then you could cast that page of type 111 00:07:18,500 --> 00:07:22,580 as a complete cylinder, which looks like this. 112 00:07:22,580 --> 00:07:26,220 Now, that means we can now have fully rotary systems. 113 00:07:26,220 --> 00:07:28,860 And that is the breakthrough? That's the breakthrough. 114 00:07:28,860 --> 00:07:31,740 By 1869, they were working in the Times. 115 00:07:31,740 --> 00:07:34,860 And this is really the way that presses were going to develop. 116 00:07:34,860 --> 00:07:38,220 This is the beginning of the modern printing press for newspapers. 117 00:07:38,220 --> 00:07:42,340 Obviously, this is too big for everyday jobbing printing. 118 00:07:42,340 --> 00:07:44,460 'Before I continue my journey, 119 00:07:44,460 --> 00:07:47,580 'Martin wants me to experience the rather simpler press 120 00:07:47,580 --> 00:07:53,140 'that a Victorian jobbing printer would have used...while wearing his printers' hat.' 121 00:07:55,300 --> 00:07:57,980 And it's made out of a sheet of newspaper, as you can see. 122 00:07:57,980 --> 00:07:59,940 I am a man of letters. 123 00:07:59,940 --> 00:08:02,380 Here we have some ink. 124 00:08:02,380 --> 00:08:04,460 We're now going to roll this up. 125 00:08:04,460 --> 00:08:07,660 So here we go, we've got a nice, even set of ink now. Let me have a go at that. 126 00:08:07,660 --> 00:08:08,580 You need to take over. 127 00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:14,020 Hm. I can feel it's sticking there. It's lovely stuff, isn't it? 128 00:08:14,020 --> 00:08:17,020 Now, I think we're ready to apply that to the type. 129 00:08:17,020 --> 00:08:18,580 So, if we come over here, 130 00:08:18,580 --> 00:08:21,900 you can ink up the form that we prepared for you earlier. 131 00:08:21,900 --> 00:08:24,980 Right. That looks perfect, beautifully even and ready to print. 132 00:08:24,980 --> 00:08:27,780 The press we're going to use today is, in fact, an iron press, 133 00:08:27,780 --> 00:08:30,820 made in 1860s, the time of Walter III. 134 00:08:30,820 --> 00:08:35,020 Take the paper, place it with confidence on top of the type. 135 00:08:35,020 --> 00:08:38,260 Now you can lower the tin-pan - that protects the type. 136 00:08:38,260 --> 00:08:40,380 Press that handle down, the rotary action, 137 00:08:40,380 --> 00:08:43,300 it will push the bed underneath the platen, as we call it. 138 00:08:43,300 --> 00:08:44,500 That's perfect. 139 00:08:44,500 --> 00:08:47,540 Now, grab the handle and pull it towards you 140 00:08:47,540 --> 00:08:50,300 and you will have made a print in true traditional style. 141 00:08:50,300 --> 00:08:51,780 Roll it out again. 142 00:08:51,780 --> 00:08:54,780 Don't forget, you've got to do this 250 times an hour. 143 00:08:54,780 --> 00:08:56,460 If you now peel the paper off, 144 00:08:56,460 --> 00:08:59,660 hopefully, we've got a nice souvenir of your day in the department. 145 00:08:59,660 --> 00:09:03,900 I have to say, for a beginner, that is perfect. 146 00:09:03,900 --> 00:09:06,540 It's a lovely souvenir, thank you very much. A pleasure. 147 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:19,180 Reading Station is being transformed. 148 00:09:19,180 --> 00:09:23,820 The most enormous extension has been built in striking modern architecture. 149 00:09:23,820 --> 00:09:27,300 But, in all that's going on here, somehow, 150 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:29,940 the old clock tower has been preserved. 151 00:09:37,620 --> 00:09:41,220 This new bridge, 110 metres long, 152 00:09:41,220 --> 00:09:43,540 is just part of the rebuilding of Reading Station. 153 00:09:43,540 --> 00:09:48,220 They've also put in new platforms and new lines to ease congestion. 154 00:09:48,220 --> 00:09:52,260 There's going to be electrification of the line from London to South Wales. 155 00:09:52,260 --> 00:09:56,660 And, shortly, they'll be building a flyover, again to ease congestion. 156 00:09:56,660 --> 00:10:01,220 Reading has been given a station on an international scale. 157 00:10:16,020 --> 00:10:19,100 I'm on the old Great Western Railway and my next stop is Newbury. 158 00:10:19,100 --> 00:10:22,180 Bradshaw's tells me that the town was, "Formerly celebrated 159 00:10:22,180 --> 00:10:25,780 "for its extensive manufactories of woollen cloth, 160 00:10:25,780 --> 00:10:29,860 "especially when Jack of Newbury led his company of stout tailors, 161 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:35,140 "all proper men, to the famous battle of Flodden Field." 162 00:10:35,140 --> 00:10:37,340 That's an interesting swatch of history 163 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:39,420 and, in Newbury, I'll pick up the thread. 164 00:10:44,100 --> 00:10:46,780 Once an important and thriving textile town, 165 00:10:46,780 --> 00:10:50,540 Newbury was connected by waterway to Reading in the 18th century. 166 00:10:51,580 --> 00:10:55,060 I'm meeting local historian David Peacock at a church 167 00:10:55,060 --> 00:10:58,900 built by the most successful cloth producer of Tudor times - 168 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:02,540 John Winchcombe, also known as Jack of Newbury, 169 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:06,380 who manufactured textiles in unprecedented volumes. 170 00:11:09,020 --> 00:11:10,700 Jack of Newbury, 171 00:11:10,700 --> 00:11:13,820 important enough to make his way into my Bradshaw's. Who was he? 172 00:11:13,820 --> 00:11:18,140 He was a cloth producer producing a vast amount of cloth. 173 00:11:18,140 --> 00:11:20,700 Most of the cloth went from here up to London, 174 00:11:20,700 --> 00:11:23,860 from London exported to the continent and, from there, 175 00:11:23,860 --> 00:11:26,540 went throughout Europe into Hungary, 176 00:11:26,540 --> 00:11:29,940 around to Venice and even as far as the Middle East. 177 00:11:29,940 --> 00:11:32,740 Wow! In those days we knew how to export. 178 00:11:32,740 --> 00:11:35,500 I'm intrigued by this reference in Bradshaw's. 179 00:11:35,500 --> 00:11:40,700 "He led his company of stout tailors, all proper men, to the famous battle of Flodden Field." 180 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:44,780 This is the wrong battle, basically, that Bradshaw has. 181 00:11:44,780 --> 00:11:49,020 They went to the Siege of Boulogne in the 1540s. 182 00:11:49,020 --> 00:11:51,300 Was this usual - that a businessman took 183 00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:54,500 a troop of his workers off to war? 184 00:11:54,500 --> 00:11:58,820 It was not unusual for the gentry to provide some of the army. 185 00:11:58,820 --> 00:12:01,940 It was unusual for a businessman, for a clothier, 186 00:12:01,940 --> 00:12:05,740 but, particularly for John Winchcombe, the scale of this. 187 00:12:05,740 --> 00:12:08,380 He wasn't just taking five or ten men to war, 188 00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:11,700 he was leading 100, or 150, men to war. 189 00:12:13,860 --> 00:12:17,140 Jack used fulling mills along the River Kennet 190 00:12:17,140 --> 00:12:20,900 and legend has it his proto-industrial cloth empire 191 00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:24,020 included 200 looms in his town-centre property, 192 00:12:24,020 --> 00:12:29,820 producing three quarters of Newbury's considerable textile output in Tudor times. 193 00:12:31,780 --> 00:12:33,780 It was a massive establishment. 194 00:12:33,780 --> 00:12:39,460 He was producing cloth on an industrial scale long before the Industrial Revolution. 195 00:12:39,460 --> 00:12:42,980 I thought factories originated in the late 18th century. 196 00:12:42,980 --> 00:12:45,740 I mean, would we be right to think this is a factory? 197 00:12:45,740 --> 00:12:51,180 Victorian historians used to label this as England's first factory, 198 00:12:51,180 --> 00:12:54,660 mainly because of the scale of production that was going on here. 199 00:12:54,660 --> 00:12:58,020 He was producing over 6,000 cloths a year. 200 00:12:58,020 --> 00:13:02,060 And a cloth was what? A cloth would be 17 or 18 yards long, 201 00:13:02,060 --> 00:13:06,260 woven by one man, so the width of a one-man loom. 202 00:13:06,260 --> 00:13:09,180 It stretched all the way from the other side of the department store, 203 00:13:09,180 --> 00:13:12,540 right the way along to the gable end at the corner here, 204 00:13:12,540 --> 00:13:16,620 and back further towards what was then the marsh, Newbury Marsh. 205 00:13:19,580 --> 00:13:21,700 David has brought me to the town hall, 206 00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:25,340 where a portrait of this Tudor captain of industry still hangs. 207 00:13:26,780 --> 00:13:28,780 So how should we remember Jack of Newbury? 208 00:13:28,780 --> 00:13:34,900 He was tremendously important in England's economic history 209 00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:39,940 at a time that is usually remembered for the six wives of Henry VIII 210 00:13:39,940 --> 00:13:42,460 and, really, relatively little else. 211 00:13:42,460 --> 00:13:44,780 What does he mean to you personally, David? 212 00:13:44,780 --> 00:13:47,860 I feel that he was a major figure in English history. 213 00:13:47,860 --> 00:13:52,780 A tremendously important contributor to the development of this country 214 00:13:52,780 --> 00:13:56,900 and he ought not have been written out of the history of the country. 215 00:13:56,900 --> 00:13:59,580 Well, at least he's remembered in Bradshaw's. 216 00:14:02,700 --> 00:14:07,780 After a long day, I'm ready to feel the soft fabric of my pillow. 217 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:11,700 This is the busy Bath Road and, long before the railways, 218 00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:14,700 Newbury had almost innumerable coaching inns - 219 00:14:14,700 --> 00:14:16,940 the Angel, the Bear, the Cross Keys, 220 00:14:16,940 --> 00:14:18,780 the George and Pelican - 221 00:14:18,780 --> 00:14:24,540 all serving the landed gentry on their to fashionable Bath to take the waters. 222 00:14:24,540 --> 00:14:27,460 But I've decided to stay at the Hare and Hounds. 223 00:14:29,420 --> 00:14:33,740 Good evening, landlord. Good evening, sir. A splendid coaching inn you've got here. Thank you. 224 00:14:33,740 --> 00:14:39,060 Just before I turn in, could I have a pint of your finest West Berkshire ale? 225 00:14:39,060 --> 00:14:41,940 There we go. You'll enjoy that. Thank you. 226 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:45,780 That has the makings of a sound sleep. Thank you. Thank you very much. 227 00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:00,980 Set for the day ahead, 228 00:15:00,980 --> 00:15:04,540 I'm continuing my journey along the old Great Western railway 229 00:15:04,540 --> 00:15:07,980 towards Westbury, where I shall change trains and head north. 230 00:15:22,420 --> 00:15:25,620 My next destination is Trowbridge, which Bradshaw's tells me 231 00:15:25,620 --> 00:15:30,900 has a population of 9,626 and is situated on the River Ware. 232 00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:34,540 It's one of the largest clothing towns in the west of England. 233 00:15:34,540 --> 00:15:37,740 "The church is large and highly decorated," 234 00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:42,180 which makes it sound a bit like a stout and gallant military officer. 235 00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:44,980 Anyway, I will go there and make notes. 236 00:15:49,220 --> 00:15:54,300 Wiltshire's county town of Trowbridge is mentioned as far back as the Domesday Book. 237 00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:58,700 And its most celebrated resident was another man of letters. 238 00:15:58,700 --> 00:16:00,580 His name was Isaac Pitman. 239 00:16:00,580 --> 00:16:04,580 I'm hoping that Trowbridge Museum curator Clare Lyall knows more. 240 00:16:05,900 --> 00:16:08,260 Hello, Clare. Hello, Michael. 241 00:16:08,260 --> 00:16:11,500 A large and decorated church, as promised by my Bradshaw's, 242 00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:13,180 but why have you asked to meet here? 243 00:16:13,180 --> 00:16:15,580 Well, the inventor of shorthand, Sir Isaac Pitman, 244 00:16:15,580 --> 00:16:19,660 and Trowbridge's most famous son, was actually educated in the grounds here. 245 00:16:19,660 --> 00:16:23,300 What led him to devise a system of shorthand? 246 00:16:23,300 --> 00:16:28,580 He saw there was a need for key events in history and society 247 00:16:28,580 --> 00:16:31,820 to be disseminated very quickly and effectively. 248 00:16:31,820 --> 00:16:35,220 Hence he came up with the Pitman stenograph system. 249 00:16:35,220 --> 00:16:38,380 I think of shorthand now as being a secretarial device, 250 00:16:38,380 --> 00:16:43,180 but I'm getting the impression that Isaac Pitman had broader uses for it. 251 00:16:43,180 --> 00:16:47,540 That was the key. He saw it as a crucial communication tool 252 00:16:47,540 --> 00:16:52,180 and he ensured that it received the wide notoriety that it did 253 00:16:52,180 --> 00:16:55,580 by publicising and marketing it incredibly effectively. 254 00:16:55,580 --> 00:16:57,380 He went on lecture tours. 255 00:16:57,380 --> 00:17:00,140 So he was very good at raising the profile of it 256 00:17:00,140 --> 00:17:04,300 and ensuring that people saw it as a very useful communication tool. 257 00:17:06,140 --> 00:17:10,140 Isaac Pitman was the son of a manual worker. 258 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:14,660 In 1837, he published Stenographic Sound-Hand - 259 00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:19,300 a classification of language into basic abbreviations, 260 00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:22,220 which allowed men to quickly record important events 261 00:17:22,220 --> 00:17:26,660 and later revolutionised the role of women in the workplace. 262 00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:32,100 If you had the shorthand qualification it gave you that extra kudos, 263 00:17:32,100 --> 00:17:35,220 that extra status, and it meant you could justify a higher salary. 264 00:17:35,220 --> 00:17:38,500 So, in terms of that, I think it's had a real impact 265 00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:41,700 in enabling women to be independent, financially, 266 00:17:41,700 --> 00:17:44,140 from a quite a relatively young age. 267 00:17:44,140 --> 00:17:46,180 What's the legacy? 268 00:17:46,180 --> 00:17:49,620 I think the fact that Pitman shorthand is still being learnt today, 269 00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:53,060 176 years after Pitman was born. That's quite an achievement. 270 00:17:55,900 --> 00:18:00,780 Clare's introducing me to Anne Bishop, a retired council secretary, 271 00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:04,340 who started learning Pitman's shorthand when she was just 13. 272 00:18:06,260 --> 00:18:10,380 Hello, Anne. The system worked for you, you found it was effective? 273 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:13,660 Yes, very much so. How many words do you do a minute? 274 00:18:13,660 --> 00:18:18,700 At County Hall, to become a senior secretary, you needed 120. 275 00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:21,740 Was that sufficient for everything you needed to do? 276 00:18:21,740 --> 00:18:25,140 The news on the television is mainly read at about that speed 277 00:18:25,140 --> 00:18:27,860 and I used to use that as a guide. 278 00:18:27,860 --> 00:18:30,620 Did you ever have anyone really unreasonable, 279 00:18:30,620 --> 00:18:33,900 who spoke, or dictated, much faster? 280 00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:36,340 Well, you'd ask them to slow down! 281 00:18:37,860 --> 00:18:40,980 Anne, would you like to demonstrate your skills? 282 00:18:40,980 --> 00:18:47,100 If I hand Bradshaw over to Clare, she can read something to us. 283 00:18:47,100 --> 00:18:51,980 You can put it down with pinpoint accuracy in your shorthand 284 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:56,460 and I'll struggle along in my longhand. 285 00:18:56,460 --> 00:19:00,180 "Trowbridge. This town is the largest in the county, 286 00:19:00,180 --> 00:19:02,380 "with the exception of Salisbury. 287 00:19:02,380 --> 00:19:08,940 "It has a population of 9,626 and is situated on the River Ware." 288 00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:16,940 So this is what I got, "Trowbridge. This is the largest..." 289 00:19:16,940 --> 00:19:21,620 Ha! But I missed out quite a lot. What have you got? You did miss quite a lot. 290 00:19:21,620 --> 00:19:24,300 "Trowbridge. This town is the largest in the county, 291 00:19:24,300 --> 00:19:26,100 "with the exception of Salisbury. 292 00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:31,740 "It has a population of 9,626 and is situated on the River Ware." 293 00:19:31,740 --> 00:19:33,620 That's brilliant! 294 00:19:33,620 --> 00:19:37,660 I missed out about 50%, didn't I? Probably, yes. Wow. 295 00:19:37,660 --> 00:19:41,540 Well done, Anne, and well done, Pitman. Thank you. 296 00:19:54,900 --> 00:19:56,780 Bradford on Avon next. 297 00:19:56,780 --> 00:20:02,460 Bradshaw says, " 'A town that standeth by cloth making,' said Leland three centuries ago, 298 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:05,380 "and the same may be said of it now." That's a reference 299 00:20:05,380 --> 00:20:09,940 to John Leland, who catalogued much of England for Henry VIII. 300 00:20:09,940 --> 00:20:11,820 "The Avon is crossed by two bridges, 301 00:20:11,820 --> 00:20:16,420 one very ancient one with a chapel over one of the piers." 302 00:20:16,420 --> 00:20:19,900 I wonder why there's a place of worship over the river. 303 00:20:19,900 --> 00:20:21,140 I'm in suspense. 304 00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:26,980 The company funding Bradford on Avon's original line went bust 305 00:20:26,980 --> 00:20:31,740 and it was a decade before tracks were laid through the town's Victorian station. 306 00:20:31,740 --> 00:20:33,940 But it looks well looked after today. 307 00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:39,300 Hello, gentlemen. Hello, Michael. 308 00:20:39,300 --> 00:20:41,940 Nice to see you. Very good to see you. Hello. 309 00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:44,780 You're doing a beautiful job, keeping the station looking lovely. 310 00:20:44,780 --> 00:20:47,580 All volunteers are you? All volunteers, that's right. 311 00:20:47,580 --> 00:20:50,900 What's your planting plan here? What do you do around the year? 312 00:20:50,900 --> 00:20:54,660 We don't have a great plan. It just evolves as we go along week by week. 313 00:20:54,660 --> 00:20:57,100 We don't profess to be professionals at it. 314 00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:59,380 We just put it in and it works. 315 00:20:59,380 --> 00:21:04,300 Where are you getting your plants from? Many, many sources. Many donations of plants. 316 00:21:04,300 --> 00:21:06,700 Ladies will turn up and say, "Can you put this in?" 317 00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:08,700 "What is it?" "Don't know." In it goes. 318 00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:11,100 We've even got some strawberries across there. 319 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:13,780 That's our treat for the summer, if they grow. 320 00:21:13,780 --> 00:21:16,860 That'll be for the workers, or will you hand them out to the passengers? 321 00:21:16,860 --> 00:21:19,420 Oh, no, workers! LAUGHTER 322 00:21:19,420 --> 00:21:21,020 Thanks very much, bye-bye. 323 00:21:21,020 --> 00:21:24,940 Having seen a station as flowery as a church on a wedding day, 324 00:21:24,940 --> 00:21:27,780 I'm meeting local historian Margaret Dobson, 325 00:21:27,780 --> 00:21:30,740 to hear about the chapel on the bridge. 326 00:21:30,740 --> 00:21:34,860 Margaret, Bradshaw's refers to an ancient bridge across the Avon. How old is it? 327 00:21:34,860 --> 00:21:37,500 Probably 13th or 14th century. 328 00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:40,940 Bradshaw's talks about a chapel on one of the piers. That would be the chapel? 329 00:21:40,940 --> 00:21:44,420 No, this would not be the chapel. There was a mediaeval chapel there, 330 00:21:44,420 --> 00:21:47,740 but, by Bradshaw's day, it was a blind house, 331 00:21:47,740 --> 00:21:52,900 a new building that went up - many of them in this area - in the 18th century. 332 00:21:52,900 --> 00:21:55,420 What was a blind house? A blind house was a lock-up. 333 00:21:55,420 --> 00:21:59,020 You put people in that if they were misbehaving, 334 00:21:59,020 --> 00:22:03,100 quite probably drunk and disorderly and they couldn't get home, 335 00:22:03,100 --> 00:22:04,740 so you shoved them in there. 336 00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:06,220 The whole town is so pretty 337 00:22:06,220 --> 00:22:08,940 and the weather vane on the lock-up is beautiful. 338 00:22:08,940 --> 00:22:13,620 We think that's a 16th-century fish. It's been there a very long time, 339 00:22:13,620 --> 00:22:18,980 because if somebody was put in there for the night, they were "under the fish and over the water". 340 00:22:18,980 --> 00:22:21,820 That expression survives to today. It does, indeed. 341 00:22:21,820 --> 00:22:24,660 Not that many people are locked up in it these days! 342 00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:25,980 Though you might be! 343 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:32,780 Hopeful that Margaret won't leave me under the fish and over the water, 344 00:22:32,780 --> 00:22:34,420 I'm keen to have a look inside. 345 00:22:37,220 --> 00:22:39,300 Oh, this is pretty grim. 346 00:22:39,300 --> 00:22:44,060 Well, actually, it's a great improvement on what it was up to about 1826, 347 00:22:44,060 --> 00:22:46,780 when it was simply one large cell. 348 00:22:46,780 --> 00:22:50,220 And the man who was kept in here in 1757 349 00:22:50,220 --> 00:22:53,380 wrote an indignant letter afterwards, 350 00:22:53,380 --> 00:22:56,540 saying that he just had a stone to sit on 351 00:22:56,540 --> 00:22:58,380 and straw on the floor. 352 00:22:58,380 --> 00:23:02,180 So what did these great improvements consist of? 353 00:23:02,180 --> 00:23:05,140 Making it into two separate cells. Ah, yes. 354 00:23:05,140 --> 00:23:09,180 And you do have a bed here and, even more modern, 355 00:23:09,180 --> 00:23:13,860 you have a lavatory, which discharges, of course, straight into the river. 356 00:23:13,860 --> 00:23:17,660 Well, let's face it, the bed is not exactly highly sprung 357 00:23:17,660 --> 00:23:21,260 and the lavatory, of course, lacks a flush. 358 00:23:21,260 --> 00:23:24,140 For 1827, I should think this was a delight. 359 00:23:29,660 --> 00:23:33,980 Surprisingly, tranquil Bradford on Avon was the birthplace 360 00:23:33,980 --> 00:23:36,740 of the Victorian vulcanised rubber industry. 361 00:23:36,740 --> 00:23:39,260 And by the look of the family pile, 362 00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:42,860 it brought Shaun Moulton's forebear a great fortune. 363 00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:49,580 Shaun, what a marvellous house. Hello, Michael, how do you do? Gorgeous. 364 00:23:49,580 --> 00:23:55,540 So, what's the story of your family and rubber and Bradford on Avon? 365 00:23:55,540 --> 00:23:57,020 It's a long story, 366 00:23:57,020 --> 00:24:01,140 but a very quick way of explaining it would be to say, 367 00:24:01,140 --> 00:24:04,140 1848, Stephen Moulton came back from America 368 00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:09,980 with a licence from Charles Goodyear to vulcanise rubber. 369 00:24:09,980 --> 00:24:14,180 To stop it from being brittle in the winter, in the cold, and sticky in the summer, in the heat. 370 00:24:14,180 --> 00:24:19,420 And it was Charles Goodyear, back in 1839, who found a way, by adding sulphur. 371 00:24:19,420 --> 00:24:22,460 And he gave that licence to Stephen Moulton, 372 00:24:22,460 --> 00:24:25,540 who sailed back to England with it to try and find a backer. 373 00:24:25,540 --> 00:24:27,620 These early pioneers, these Victorians - 374 00:24:27,620 --> 00:24:29,780 what opportunities did they see for rubber? 375 00:24:29,780 --> 00:24:31,420 First of all, it was the Crimean War. 376 00:24:31,420 --> 00:24:35,340 Waterproof capes, blankets, groundsheets, tents et cetera. 377 00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:38,580 But, after that, it was very much the locomotive industry - 378 00:24:38,580 --> 00:24:43,180 springs, buffers, hoses, you name it. It was a vast business. 379 00:24:44,780 --> 00:24:48,860 Moulton's vulcanised rubber could be useful beyond the railways. 380 00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:53,740 Great engineers like Isambard Kingdom Brunel saw wider potential. 381 00:24:54,980 --> 00:25:00,220 This is a fascinating letter from Brunel to Stephen Moulton, 1859, 382 00:25:00,220 --> 00:25:04,100 requiring a staff for his mast aboard the Great Eastern. 383 00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:07,140 You can see from his lovely diagram that what he's trying to do 384 00:25:07,140 --> 00:25:10,300 is enable the mast to actually move on the deck, 385 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:12,860 so they don't get snapped off in heavy weather. 386 00:25:12,860 --> 00:25:16,300 It's signed beautifully. This is a real treasure, isn't it? 387 00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:18,420 And these are little Brunel sketches! 388 00:25:18,420 --> 00:25:21,020 Yeah, he's actually seen the possibilities 389 00:25:21,020 --> 00:25:22,980 for the application of rubber. 390 00:25:24,980 --> 00:25:29,940 In 1956, Shaun's great uncle, Dr Alex Moulton, sold the rubber company 391 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:35,180 and, shortly after, began manufacturing luxury, handmade small-wheeled bicycles, 392 00:25:35,180 --> 00:25:38,060 which are fitted with rubber suspension systems. 393 00:25:40,460 --> 00:25:43,420 Here's Joel, one of our apprentices. Nice to meet you. Good to see you. 394 00:25:43,420 --> 00:25:46,340 He's learnt how to mould here in the factory. 395 00:25:46,340 --> 00:25:47,980 What component is being made here? 396 00:25:47,980 --> 00:25:51,020 The four painted parts here are all filled with rubber, 397 00:25:51,020 --> 00:25:52,980 giving the suspension of the front wheel. 398 00:25:52,980 --> 00:25:55,860 So, Joel, what is it that you have to do here? 399 00:25:55,860 --> 00:25:58,340 My task here is to take the vulcanised rubber 400 00:25:58,340 --> 00:26:02,820 and to press it in the press, under heat and 18 tonnes of pressure, 401 00:26:02,820 --> 00:26:06,340 and form the end product, which is our Flexitor piece. 402 00:26:06,340 --> 00:26:09,140 OK, where do we start? So, if I give you those. 403 00:26:09,140 --> 00:26:13,220 I'm trusting you that these are heatproof! They are. To an extent, yes. 404 00:26:13,220 --> 00:26:16,020 LAUGHTER I guess we start with that piece, yes? 405 00:26:16,020 --> 00:26:18,660 We do. We pop it in there? Yep. There we go. 406 00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:21,780 And we take the wooden wedge and tap it down 407 00:26:21,780 --> 00:26:24,940 into the base of the mould. This is hi-tech. It is! 408 00:26:26,180 --> 00:26:28,620 Shaun, this is a highly manual process. 409 00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:31,260 I can imagine Victorians doing similar things. 410 00:26:31,260 --> 00:26:34,700 Our customers love the fact that it is manual and that we're making these by hand. 411 00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:37,460 Don't apply the pressure while I've got my fingers in there! 412 00:26:37,460 --> 00:26:41,140 Now I'm going to put apply pressure and heat? Is that right? Yes, that's correct. 413 00:26:45,820 --> 00:26:47,980 And now, I sit back and wait for 15 minutes? 414 00:26:47,980 --> 00:26:51,180 Yes, 15 minutes' securing time and then it's ready to come out. 415 00:26:51,180 --> 00:26:53,180 What is so special about this suspension? 416 00:26:53,180 --> 00:26:55,100 I think you should try it, Michael, and see. 417 00:26:56,500 --> 00:26:58,300 So what will I notice as I go along? 418 00:26:58,300 --> 00:27:02,740 When you come down through the archway over those cobbles, you'll feel totally isolated. 419 00:27:02,740 --> 00:27:04,660 Ha ha! Here I go. 420 00:27:06,060 --> 00:27:08,620 Whoa! 421 00:27:15,340 --> 00:27:17,980 Yeah, a lovely smooth ride over the cobbles. 422 00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:19,780 Thank you very much. You're welcome. Bye! 423 00:27:26,100 --> 00:27:30,380 The Victorian age witnessed a revolution in communications. 424 00:27:30,380 --> 00:27:35,660 Men like J Walter developed mass-circulation, mass-production newspapers, 425 00:27:35,660 --> 00:27:40,340 while Isaac Pitman gave his name to a faster way of recording speech. 426 00:27:40,340 --> 00:27:42,740 But the most remarkable advance in communications 427 00:27:42,740 --> 00:27:45,580 was the growth of the railways 428 00:27:45,580 --> 00:27:50,580 and the shorthand for timetables and guide books was Bradshaw's. 429 00:27:56,460 --> 00:28:00,620 'Next time, I discover the origins of Victorian photography...' 430 00:28:00,620 --> 00:28:03,460 Talbot made the first photographic negative. 431 00:28:03,460 --> 00:28:07,780 A shot of this window. Wow, that is a feeling of history. 432 00:28:07,780 --> 00:28:12,220 '..I visit Britain's longest rail tunnel and its worrying water feature...' 433 00:28:12,220 --> 00:28:15,780 Torrents of water. That is unbelievable! 434 00:28:15,780 --> 00:28:19,300 '..and I receive Bristol Zoo's SEAL of approval.' 435 00:28:19,300 --> 00:28:22,300 OK, Michael, if you just want to raise your right hand. 436 00:28:23,780 --> 00:28:26,020 And your left hand. 437 00:28:26,020 --> 00:28:28,100 Hey! Well done!