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For Victorian Britons,
George Bradshaw was a household name.

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At a time when railways were new,

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Bradshaw's guidebook
inspired them to take to the tracks.

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I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide

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to understand how trains
transformed Britain -

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its landscape, its industry,
society and leisure time.

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As I crisscross the country
150 years later,

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it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.

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Britain's industrial heartland
is far behind me as I travel south,

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discovering some of the great
Victorian ideas and innovations

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that swept aside the old order
and ushered in the modern age.

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My route, which began in Birmingham,
now arrives in South West England,

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where I'll be visiting
ancient ports and sacred sites

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before ending up in one of Britain's
most glorious national parks.

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This fourth leg begins in Bristol,
moves up to Avonmouth

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and turns south to Nailsea

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before ending up at Highbridge
and Burnham-on-Sea.

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On this part of the journey,

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I enter the foul smelling world
of a Victorian tannery.

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I find myself
well out of my comfort zone here.

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Is it dangerous?
It's pretty dangerous.

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HE LAUGHS

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Soak up the splendour of one
of Britain's finest Gothic mansions.

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Ha, a gentleman's library indeed.

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And get in touch with
my spiritual side in Glastonbury.

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Stay bright.
Yeah, absolutely, and you.

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Birmingham seems far behind me
as I approach the county of Somerset.

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Bradshaw's tells me that,

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"The county,
from its favourable climate and soil,

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"stands very high in reputation
for agricultural and rural produce."

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And amongst those products
were farm animals,

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of which we make use of every part,
from heart to soul.

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Bristol, from the Middle Ages
to the 18th century,

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was one of the three most prosperous
cities in England

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thanks to its seafaring links,

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and my guidebook points out
its fine historic buildings.

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By the 19th century, the population
was expanding rapidly

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and Bristol,
like any other Victorian city,

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was blighted by dirt and disease.

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A major contribution
came from the 60 or so tanneries

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that surrounded the city.

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Necessary providers of leather
for the new industries

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but filthy and unhealthy.

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Thomas Ware and Son
was founded in 1840,

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and I'm heading there
to meet Barry Knight,

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who has 30 years of experience
in the business.

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I find myself, Barry,
well out of my comfort zone here.

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An extraordinary sight all these pits
filled with goodness knows what

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and, I have to say,
a terrible stench.

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What's going on here?

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Well, we're taking
domestic cattle hides

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that have come from Somerset.

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They've come to us packed in salt,

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and then we need to remove the salt

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and put them through
a series of pits...

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And I'm just smelling
the natural smell of cow, am I?

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This is a fatty animal smell
basically, but a lot of the smells

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are chemicals
that are coming from the pits.

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What chemicals
are you putting in those pits?

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It's largely lime, slaked lime,

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that have come out of lime kilns
from close by in Somerset

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and the slaked lime
turns into hydrated lime.

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It's going to loosen the hair
and open the fibre structure

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in such a way that we can actually
tan the leather in a later stage.

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Is this process very different

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from what one would have seen
150 years ago?

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If a tanner was to come back
from 150 years ago, 500 years ago,

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he would instantly recognise
everything that's going off here.

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You're obviously doing something
very traditional here.

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How rare is that?

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Well, we've gone from about 6,000
heavy-leather tanners in the UK

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since World War II,

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but unfortunately,
there's only three of us left

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doing traditional methods.

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What's the difference
between traditional

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and whatever the modern method
is then?

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Well, traditional, by that I mean
it's vegetable-tanned leather.

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And basically,
it's a long, slow process -

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three to four months
would be typical.

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The more commercial tanneries
would be turning leather over

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in three, four, five,
maybe ten days, start to finish.

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One natural ingredient
that played a key role

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in traditional leather tanning
was dog dirt,

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which was collected
from the local hunt kennels

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and added in with the lime.

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The enzymes that it contained
helped to flatten the hides

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and make them more pliable.

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Do you yourself
remember using dog dirt?

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No, I don't, but
when I first came into the industry,

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I was working alongside some of
the old guys who were using dog dirt.

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They told me it stopped them
from biting their fingernails.

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After the hides were removed
from this noxious cocktail,

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they were scraped clean of hair,
a job which is now done by machine.

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Next,
it's through to the tanning area,

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where the preservation of the leather
takes place.

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What a vast space, Barry.

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What part of the process
have we reached now?

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What are you doing to the pelts?

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All of the pits have got
vegetable matter inside them.

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The vegetable matter will actually
penetrate into the hide structure

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and it'll change
the chemical composition.

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And once it's tanned through,

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it's almost impossible
for the leather to rot or decay.

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So it's a permanent means
of preservation.

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What is going on
in all of these pits?

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Well, there's 320 pits.

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There's two separate parts
of the yard

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but each has got a slight slope,

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so the hides will come into
the first bit for one day

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and we pull the hide
into the next bit on the second day

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and so on and so on as it goes down.

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It's a countercurrent system,
so the hide will travel one way

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and the liquors, fed by gravity,
travel the other way.

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And what are the liquors?

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The liquors, basically it's
extract from the vegetable matter.

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So, the main tanning ingredients
are mimosa, which is an acacia tree.

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We have chestnut, obviously
you know what a chestnut tree is.

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There's quebracho,
which is a South American hardwood

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and myrobalan, which is a nut
that comes from India.

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And is the liquor changing
as it goes through these pits?

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Yeah, it becomes weaker

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because the hide is actually
drawing up all of the nutrients.

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What do you think conditions
would have been like in tanneries,

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say, 150 years ago?

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It must have been grim.

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In winter,
it's absolutely freezing cold here.

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In summer, it gets roasting hot.

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The chemicals that we use now,
the guys are protected,

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but back then,
there were no health and safety.

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The hides when they come,
they're packed with bacteria,

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it would have been a horrible place.

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In the 19th century,
leather was more in demand than ever.

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In a pre-plastic world,
it was needed for everything,

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from drive belts for machinery
to ladies' shoes and corsetry.

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The railways were big consumers.

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The seats had leather upholstery

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and a thin strip
inserted in the window frames

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prevented them from rattling.

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These days,
Barry's high-quality product

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goes to make luxury items
like saddlery and ladies' handbags.

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And there's nothing to rival leather
in a shoe.

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Les, can I introduce you to Michael?

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Hello, Les. Hello, mate.

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So, obviously, you're cutting out...

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What, these are half soles are they?

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These are half soles
for the shoe pair, yeah.

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Any chance I could have a go at that?

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Yes, you can have a go,
by all means.

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Is it dangerous?
It's pretty dangerous.

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HE LAUGHS
Thank you.

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So, this is obviously
a very sharp thing.

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Yes, a very sharp knife.

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And the idea is to maximise
the space, yeah? That's correct.

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Is that looking good?
Yeah, it's fine.

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Let's have a go at that.

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Press here and... That's it.
..there we go.

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Have a go at another one.

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Put them in tighter, a little bit.

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You don't want to waste anything
do you, Les?

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No, not to waste anything.
There we go.

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Upon my soul, I didn't know
I was capable of that.

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Les, thank you very much. Thank you.

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Leaving behind the distinctive
Victorian whiff of the tannery,

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I'm heading for the purer air
of the old port.

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In the 15th century,
the Italian explorer John Cabot

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set sail from here to become
the first European to make landfall

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on mainland America.

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During the 18th century,

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Bristol was the second busiest
harbour in England, after London.

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These days, much of the traffic
is made up of tourists

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coming to visit Brunel's mighty iron
passenger ship, SS Great Britain.

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"Bristol has from the earliest times
been an important seaport

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"from whence old navigators
used to start."

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But even by the time
of my Bradshaw's Guide,

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the winding river
in the centre of the city

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was becoming too small
for modern ships that were larger,

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and the solution was new docks
closer to the mouth of the Avon.

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'For 2,000 years,
give or take a few,

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'ships have been coming
to the mouth of the Avon from abroad

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'but not until a mere century ago,
to Avonmouth docks.

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'That is the name of
the Port of Bristol's front door,

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'the great dock system

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'where the Avon
flows into the Bristol Channel.

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'That is where the big ships go,
carrying the cargoes of the world.'

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To take a closer look at these docks,

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I've caught the train out
to Avonmouth.

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All tickets and passes, please.

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There we go. That's great.

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Will I get much of a view
of the river as I go down?

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For Avonmouth, this side,
you will do, yes.

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Oh, good, good, good.
Thanks very much. OK.

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This six-mile stretch of line
was built in 1862

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by the newly-created
Bristol Port Railway and Pier Company

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to ferry goods and passengers
out to the new docks.

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The man in charge today
is Simon Bird.

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Simon, very good to see you.
Welcome to Avonmouth.

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What were the sorts of changes
in ships

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in the middle of the 19th century

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that made it necessary to move them
out of the centre of Bristol?

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We saw ships getting larger
and as those vessels got larger

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the vessels are unable
to go up into Bristol docks.

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As the rise and fall of the tide
here between high and low water

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is 15m,

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the vessels needed somewhere safe
to berth and secure.

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At low water,
the Avon largely dries out.

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And there's a lovely picture,
which shows the SS Gypsy,

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which broke her back
on a bend in the River Avon

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called Horseshoe Bend.

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She just lost the water,

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she blocked the river entrance
for weeks on end,

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which meant ships couldn't go up
or come out of Bristol docks

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at that time.

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When the port first opened in 1877,

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much of the cargo
arriving at Avonmouth

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came from the West Indies,
including sugar, cocoa and tobacco,

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as well as tea.

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By the 1930s, it was also
a busy passenger terminal

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for pleasure cruisers to
the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.

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Meanwhile, British manufactured goods
bound for export

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arrived by rail
from all over the country

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within feet of where the ships
were tied up.

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Well, here, evidently,
are some railway tracks

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but no trains, of course.

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Sadly, in the 20th century,
rail seemed to fall out of fashion,

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I think in the country generally,
let alone in the port.

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The humble truck
is far more flexible,

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has been flexible
in moving cargoes around.

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But here we are today,
rail is going back into ports.

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And you'll see
lots of the major ports,

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Bristol are no exception,

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is increasing
its rail infrastructure and links.

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For which trades?

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Our containers are a big user
of the rail sector,

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cars will use more and more rail

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00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,960
and then you look at steel -
steel slabs, steel coil.

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Now, the Victorians
had to take account

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of increasing sizes of vessels
and move their port.

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Will you, like the Victorians,
have to build a new dock, a new port?

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00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:12,720
Yes, we are.

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00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,120
Ships just keep getting larger,

241
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,640
that's been the constant theme
in the maritime world.

242
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:18,360
The current container vessels,

243
00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,520
which are operating
from Asia to Europe,

244
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,600
are 400m long and are 60m wide,

245
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,120
so we here in Bristol have a project
to build a new port facility

246
00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,600
into the estuary,
outside the lock entrances.

247
00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,560
By going into the deep water, we're
able to accommodate those vessels

248
00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:33,680
at all states of the tide.

249
00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:35,240
And so just like the Victorians,

250
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,280
the answer is to go further and
further out to sea? Absolutely.

251
00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,680
Ingenious and ambitious
Victorian engineers

252
00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:46,640
battled nature and the elements

253
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,920
to maintain Bristol's position
as a major West Coast seaport.

254
00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,840
I've arrived back in the city centre,
where I'll spend the night.

255
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,200
But first, I'm heading
to the old docks

256
00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,160
to find out about a much earlier
and less admirable period

257
00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:08,200
in Bristol's maritime history.

258
00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,000
The 7 Stars pub,
down by the old port,

259
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,560
is famous thanks to its connections
with Thomas Clarkson,

260
00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:20,560
leading campaigner
against the slave trade,

261
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:26,280
who between 1787 and 1793 -
with the help of the pub landlord -

262
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:31,480
risked his life to expose the true
horrors of the trade in human beings.

263
00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:36,800
Present-day landlord Steve Smith
is well versed in the story.

264
00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,800
Now, slaves weren't actually passing
through the city of Bristol,

265
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:42,840
were they?

266
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,920
No. It was a triangle,
a trading triangle, if you like.

267
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,520
So, the ships would leave here,
go to West Africa,

268
00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,680
and they'd pick the slaves up
to the Caribbean

269
00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,880
and later on, the eastern seaboard
of the States,

270
00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,640
and then they would bring back
to Bristol

271
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,040
the cargo they picked up there -
sugar, molasses, tobacco.

272
00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,440
So, the vessels, the crews,
the captains that were in Bristol,

273
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,360
they were part of the slave trade?

274
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,200
And the merchants that ran it
were the merchants of Bristol.

275
00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:16,200
What role did the landlord here,
Thompson, play in all of this?

276
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,640
Thompson befriended Clarkson,

277
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,160
Clarkson stayed here
on some 13 occasions.

278
00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,720
And those two together would go out
late at night...

279
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,040
..and seek out the captains
and members of the crew

280
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,480
that were willing to talk.

281
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,240
Many weren't,
but over a period of time,

282
00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,080
that's when the evidence
was put together.

283
00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,120
And the evidence that he put together
on the mistreatment of the slaves,

284
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,320
do you think this was quite important
in the abolition campaign?

285
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,880
Incredibly so.

286
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,360
It was, you know, he was trying
to break down a wall of silence,

287
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:47,400
in a way.

288
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,360
You know, huge sums were made
through the brokerage of slaves,

289
00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:52,440
and the city has done very well
on it,

290
00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,600
and nobody wants to kill the goose.

291
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,120
Steve, the abolition
of the slave trade

292
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,880
is something we can be quite proud of
as Brits.

293
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,200
Shall we raise our glasses
to Thomas Clarkson?

294
00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,240
Thomas Clarkson
and the abolition of slavery.

295
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:19,800
The next day, I'm up early to return
to Bristol Temple Meads station

296
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,240
to pick up
the First Great Western service

297
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,320
heading towards the coast.

298
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,120
My word of the day is guano.

299
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,720
It's posh speak for bird droppings.

300
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,800
But with the Midas touch
of a Victorian entrepreneur,

301
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,680
it could be converted into gold.

302
00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:38,640
I shall be leaving the train
at Nailsea,

303
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,840
which Bradshaw's tells me
"is a place of no importance,"

304
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,920
but it's of great interest to me.

305
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,360
Nailsea and Backwell is
the nearest station to Tyntesfield,

306
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,800
a Gothic mansion, one of
the most extravagant in the country,

307
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,600
built on the proceeds
of one of the greatest fortunes

308
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,080
made in the Victorian age.

309
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,880
It was the family home
of William Gibbs,

310
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,560
an entrepreneur whose business
transporting and selling

311
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,920
Peruvian guano
to the farmers of Europe,

312
00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,320
capitalised on the recent discovery

313
00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:17,400
that its high nitrogen, potassium
and phosphate content

314
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:19,320
made it a potent fertiliser.

315
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,920
Eric Evans, one of Tyntesfield's
tour guides, is showing me around.

316
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,360
Tyntesfield really is quite a pile,
isn't it?

317
00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:30,160
Tell me about William Gibbs,
who built it.

318
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,400
He was a very successful
wool and cloth trader

319
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,560
across the whole of Europe,
in fact beyond, into South America.

320
00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:40,880
And at some point, he makes
the discovery that guano is useful.

321
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:42,520
Well, this was sort of accidental.

322
00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,680
His junior partner in Peru
sent a message back.

323
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,240
He said he had the opportunity
to sign this contract

324
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,960
with the Peruvian government
to bring the guano back

325
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:52,960
to Europe and to England.

326
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,080
And William was, I think, reluctant

327
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,160
and sent back the message
accordingly.

328
00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,160
However, by the time the message
had got back

329
00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,160
to the junior partner
in South America,

330
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:02,920
he had actually signed up
the contract,

331
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,360
so William had to then make the best
of it, which he of course did.

332
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,080
Gibbs' great wealth made Tyntesfield

333
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,560
a most luxuriously-appointed
country house.

334
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:23,040
It's regarded as a masterpiece
of the Gothic Revival style,

335
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:27,640
inspired by mediaeval design
but unusually full of light

336
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,440
thanks to its multitude
of large arched windows.

337
00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:36,120
The staircase is really a gem,
isn't it? Absolutely magnificent.

338
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,920
No expense was spared.

339
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,040
The slate bed of the billiard table
was heated

340
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,000
to prevent the cloth
from getting damp.

341
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:50,240
The redevelopment bill
came to £70,000 in 1865,

342
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,480
the equivalent to the profit
that he made in just one year.

343
00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,600
Ha, a gentleman's library indeed.

344
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,520
What was it about the guano
that made it so valuable?

345
00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,600
Really, it was so high in nitrates,

346
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,520
which is the product that
actually gives you the fertiliser.

347
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,800
Now, I kind of imagine them
down in Peru, on those islands,

348
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,720
scraping the bird droppings
off the rock,

349
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:16,880
but it didn't really look like that,
did it? No, no.

350
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,720
It was on a massive scale.

351
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,040
You were talking about
mountains of the stuff.

352
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,000
Over centuries,
the birds had dropped the guano.

353
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,280
And what sort of quantities
are we talking about?

354
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:27,600
Well, we're not sure exactly,

355
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,560
but we think that something
in the region of 60,000 tonnes.

356
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,680
And in the harbour in South America,

357
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,680
it was just full of ships
of the stuff,

358
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:37,840
waiting to be brought back
to Europe.

359
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,520
And who was it that extracted
the guano?

360
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,000
Well, it was the Peruvian government
who were doing the mining,

361
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,520
and they had had indented
Chinese labour,

362
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:49,680
probably slaves, effectively,
in those days.

363
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,120
And then the Gibbs family

364
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:54,400
shipped the stuff back to Europe
and to England.

365
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,440
And what were conditions like
for these labourers?

366
00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:58,680
They were pretty grim.

367
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,480
You know, the sort of dust
of the stuff would have been awful

368
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,240
in terms of breathing
and that sort of thing.

369
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,120
Like many new Victorian millionaires,

370
00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:10,560
William Gibbs was known as a pillar
of the establishment

371
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,680
and a religious man.

372
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,440
He was an adherent of the Tractarian
movement of High Church Anglicans

373
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,960
and his family motto,
translated from the Spanish, reads,

374
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:22,960
"God is my shelter and my hope."

375
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,960
In later life,
he paid for the construction

376
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,320
of several churches and chapels
all over the country,

377
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,400
including his private chapel
at Tyntesfield,

378
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:38,360
which was completed only in 1875,
the year that he died.

379
00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:40,000
He was a religious man,

380
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,400
did that mean that he lived
an austere sort of life?

381
00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:48,280
Yes, he was teetotal,
he believed in prayer twice a day,

382
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:49,920
morning and evening.

383
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:54,720
In fact, all the staff
were expected to attend as well.

384
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,640
Before we had the chapel,
they had an oratory within the house

385
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,160
with pews for 50 people,

386
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,280
so that the staff
could come together with the family.

387
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,640
And how would you describe
William Gibbs' legacy?

388
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,280
Well, there's Tyntesfield
for a start.

389
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,320
But he also contributed
to the building and restoration

390
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:14,800
of 19 churches and chapels.

391
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:18,240
That's a lot of building
on a foundation of guano. Yes.

392
00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,440
Leaving the splendour
of Tyntesfield behind,

393
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,840
I'm rejoining the train at Nailsea

394
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,200
en route to my final destination
of the day.

395
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,720
How are we all enjoying
the English summer then?

396
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:34,120
We're waiting for it.

397
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,000
There we are. At least he's stopped
near the shelter, which is nice.

398
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,280
I shall be leaving this crowded train
at Highbridge and Burnham,

399
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,000
headed for Glastonbury.

400
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,200
Bradshaw's says,

401
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,520
"Here are considerable ruins
of a famous abbey,

402
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,520
"which occupied an area of 60 acres."

403
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,960
For the Victorians,
ruins were romantic,

404
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:12,440
and ancient vestiges
were shrouded in myth and legend.

405
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:25,400
The town of Glastonbury is situated
on the low-lying Somerset Levels

406
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,720
and has been inhabited
since Neolithic times.

407
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,640
The area that surrounds it
is known as the Vale of Avalon,

408
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,040
which lays claim to be
Britain's most spiritual site

409
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,600
thanks to its early Christian,
pagan and Arthurian connections.

410
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,640
Something for everyone, it seems.

411
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,800
What's attracted you to Glastonbury
today?

412
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:49,680
I really like the history.

413
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,040
Oh, which part of it?

414
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,240
The ancient history,
all the legends.

415
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,240
They say the tor was Merlin's Tower.
I just like all that magic.

416
00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:00,960
What attracted you to Glastonbury?

417
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,600
I'm just trying to get away
from the matrix of society, really.

418
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:06,920
What made you come here today?

419
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,440
I've come here today
cos I'm part of a hen party. No!

420
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,360
So, we're having a cream tea
down near the abbey.

421
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,120
Hello. Hello.

422
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,640
I don't often meet someone
more brightly dressed than I am.

423
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,200
I know who you are. Yes.

424
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:21,640
Michael. Is this your shop?

425
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,560
It is. What do you do in this shop?

426
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,200
We offer cosmic wares
of the universe.

427
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,280
Stay bright. Yeah, absolutely,
and you. Bye.

428
00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,320
Just to the south of the town
stand the ruins

429
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,960
of the 7th-century Glastonbury Abbey,

430
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,480
which was destroyed
when King Henry VIII

431
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,400
ordered the dissolution
of the monasteries in 1536.

432
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,560
I'm meeting tour guide Tor Webster,

433
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,680
a Glastonbury resident
of some 14 years,

434
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,440
who's going to show me around.

435
00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,160
Bradshaw's tells me about
Glastonbury Abbey covering 60 acres,

436
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,080
it must have been enormous.

437
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,760
Give me an idea of the dimensions
of the buildings that arose here.

438
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:11,440
Yeah, well, the height was 580ft,
which is enormous.

439
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:16,520
This was the second largest and most
affluent abbey after Westminster,

440
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,600
sometimes even greater
than Westminster

441
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,840
in historical references.
So it was pretty big, yeah.

442
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,520
Benedictine, I think?

443
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:24,680
Benedictine monks, yeah.

444
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,560
There was about 50 or 60 monks
living here,

445
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,120
and then you had
a lot of lay brothers

446
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:30,720
that were doing the farming
and such.

447
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,520
They were
completely self- sustainable.

448
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:33,840
And what were they engaged in?

449
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:35,800
Glastonbury was a major scriptorium

450
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,560
where they were writing and copying
religious text.

451
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,000
They had what was known as
the perpetual choir here,

452
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,080
one of the perpetual choirs
of England,

453
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:45,960
where a monk was singing
all the time.

454
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,120
So, they had services
going through the night.

455
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:50,320
So, it was a very important place,
you know.

456
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:56,960
In amongst the swirling mists of myth
and legend that surround this place,

457
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,400
the most potent is that Christ
himself travelled here

458
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,600
from the Holy Land as a young man.

459
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,000
Another popular theory
is that his uncle

460
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,680
brought the Holy Grail here
after the crucifixion,

461
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,960
which in turn leads
to the Arthurian legends,

462
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,760
which have at their heart
the quest for the Grail.

463
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:18,280
Whatever we think about them,

464
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,240
these stories have been around
for 1,000 years,

465
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,560
which might go to explain
why many people

466
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,080
have come to treat them
as historical fact.

467
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,720
In 1191, the monks dug to find
the tombs of Arthur and Guinevere.

468
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,880
Do you think they were successful?

469
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,960
Yeah, they found the plaque saying

470
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,680
"Here lies
King Arthur and Guinevere,"

471
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,720
so it was pretty conclusive.

472
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,160
But excuse me,
aren't these people legends?

473
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,560
Well, I personally believe
that it was King Arthur,

474
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:51,160
who was more of a, kind of,
archetypal character.

475
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:55,280
To me, he's a hero, you know?
And everybody loves a hero.

476
00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:00,160
And he is an ancient hero
connected to the histories of...

477
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,560
the spiritual history of England
and the Celtic Christian church.

478
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,720
I think in Victorian times, there was
quite a resurgence of interest

479
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,800
in Arthur and Guinevere,
whether a myth or not.

480
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,560
Why do you think that would be?

481
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:17,040
Well, there was a resurgence
of mystic spirituality

482
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,920
and I think that people
were getting a bit disillusioned

483
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,080
by the church at the time
and were looking for new ways,

484
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,040
new connections, and Glastonbury
definitely offered that.

485
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,240
Glastonbury,
and particularly the abbey,

486
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,080
is clearly a place
of great spirituality

487
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:32,920
that attracts
many different religions.

488
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,160
Yeah. We have over 70 practising
faiths and traditions

489
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,200
in Glastonbury,

490
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,720
and we all pretty much get along.

491
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,920
You know, we can get along
because there's a thread of love.

492
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,720
Love is all you need.
Love is all you need.

493
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,440
HE CHUCKLES

494
00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:53,160
With that very modern sentiment
echoing in my ears,

495
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,840
it's time to take leave
of this Victorian place of pilgrimage

496
00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,960
and reflect on the huge
social changes witnessed by that age.

497
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,320
You wouldn't want to enquire
too closely

498
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,320
into how some Victorian fortunes
were made.

499
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,360
Conditions for tanners were appalling

500
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:15,000
and the chemicals that they used,
damaging to health,

501
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,120
as was the guano
to those Chinese workers

502
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:20,520
who mined it for William Gibbs.

503
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,600
But when Victoria was still a girl,

504
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:27,840
thanks to abolitionists like
Thomas Clarkson of Bristol,

505
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,560
Britain had set an example
to the world

506
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:34,560
by abolishing slavery
throughout the Empire.

507
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:40,200
That great reform invoked
the idealism of a legendary age

508
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,920
when Arthur reigned at Camelot.

509
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:53,320
Next time, I get to grips with
a miracle of Victorian engineering...

510
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,160
I've never felt so much power.

511
00:27:57,800 --> 00:27:59,920
ALL: Traitor! Traitor!

512
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:04,360
..stand trial in Taunton and
suffer the full weight of the law.

513
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:08,880
I plead guilty and throw myself
upon the mercy of this court.

514
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,600
And go looking for hidden treasure
on Dartmoor.

515
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,280
I've found it! Whey!