1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:08,760 For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name. 2 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:10,920 At a time when railways were new, 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,400 Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks. 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:17,600 I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,800 understand how trains transformed Britain, 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:26,320 its landscape, its industry, society and leisure time. 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,000 As I crisscross the country 150 years later, 8 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,240 it helps me to discover the Britain of today. 9 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:59,360 My journey from the Irish Sea to the North Sea continues by tram through 10 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,000 Manchester. The city shared with 11 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,160 Liverpool the world's first intercity 12 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,360 passenger railway and, with its cotton mills, 13 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:13,080 it was at the heart of the world's first Industrial Revolution. 14 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,640 But, today, I hope to discover that 15 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,680 Manchester was also a city of science. 16 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,200 Was, and still is. 17 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:32,160 My journey would take me across England towards East Anglia. 18 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,200 I started in the north-west and headed to Manchester, 19 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,000 the world's first industrial city and, 20 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:40,880 using the historic route of the 21 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,880 North Country Continental rail service, 22 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:49,480 I'll cross the Fens and finish in Essex at the port of Harwich. 23 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,600 'This second leg of my journey 24 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,800 'starts in Manchester and takes me to nearby Fairfield. 25 00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,840 'From there, I'll head north-east, 26 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,720 'marvelling at Britain's longest canal tunnel in Marsden, 27 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,640 'before finishing at a triumph of Victorian manufacturing 28 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:09,280 'near Silkstone Common. 29 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,040 'On this journey, I discover 30 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,120 'Victorian grandeur deep underground...' 31 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,200 This is known as the Cathedral, 32 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:18,760 which has this vaulted cast iron arch. 33 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,960 '..find my travels lit by starlight...' 34 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,960 Lift it, please! Let there be light. 35 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:26,840 Bravo! 36 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:28,720 '..and take a miniature detour.' 37 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:43,640 Bradshaw's tells me that John Dalton here developed his great discovery 38 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:49,360 of atomic theory, which has done so much to give precision to science. 39 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,440 The revelation in Manchester of the 40 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,680 tiniest thing has had, for the world, 41 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:57,720 the most enormous consequences. 42 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,760 In the hundred years before my guidebook was published, 43 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,840 Manchester had grown from a market town of 10,000 people to become the 44 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,960 world's first industrial city, with a population of 300,000. 45 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,840 Technology drove that unprecedented expansion. 46 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,320 I'm meeting historian of technology Dr James Sumner 47 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,920 at Manchester Town Hall to learn 48 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,160 about the impact of John Dalton's work. 49 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,000 - James, hello. - Michael, pleased to meet you. 50 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,840 We meet in Manchester's famously magnificent town hall, 51 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,000 and you have a statue here of John Dalton? 52 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:34,480 We do indeed. 53 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,280 It's the first thing that people see as they come into the town hall. 54 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,320 It's right in the main entrance. 55 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,800 - Here he is. - Well, a massive statue of John Dalton. 56 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,280 James, what was it that he did? 57 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,440 John Dalton came up with the idea of the modern atomic theory. 58 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,560 He didn't come up with the idea of atoms, 59 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,040 these tiny unbreakable particles that make up all of matter, 60 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:53,680 that's an ancient idea. 61 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,080 What he did come up with was a very simple system 62 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,640 to use the atomic idea to help us understand the world. 63 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,400 So he knew about the elements that we're familiar with - hydrogen, 64 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,120 oxygen and so forth. 65 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,240 Dalton's system was all hydrogen atoms weigh the same or oxygen atoms 66 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,760 weigh the same and, 67 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,640 when you bring hydrogen and oxygen together, and combine them to make 68 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:12,560 water, what's happening is that 69 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,000 exactly one atom of oxygen is somehow 70 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,560 combining with exactly one atom of hydrogen or, possibly, two. 71 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,880 It took a while to work out the details. 72 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,000 Dalton created the periodic table, 73 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,560 showing the relative weights of atoms of different elements. 74 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,440 He has been hailed as the father of modern chemistry. 75 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,880 Chemists of Dalton's time really started to take notice because they 76 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,400 were getting very good at making 77 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,160 exact measurements of various chemical and physical processes, 78 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:41,440 and Dalton's system of simple 79 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,240 proportions allowed them to understand a lot 80 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:44,880 of the results that they were getting. 81 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:46,520 How was he regarded here in Manchester? 82 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:47,680 John Dalton was not only 83 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,120 Manchester's most important scientific hero, 84 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,080 he was its only scientific hero in the first half of the 19th century. 85 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,840 And so there was so much effort to commemorate Dalton, 86 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:58,920 even during his own lifetime. 87 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,040 What's really unusual about this statue is that it was produced while 88 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:03,640 Dalton was still alive, 89 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,440 so Dalton actually went down to London and modelled for this. 90 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,680 The civic leaders of Manchester were keen to establish it's not just a 91 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:11,640 place where people manufactured things, 92 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,800 it's a place that has culture and art and science, 93 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,080 so they needed a scientific hero. 94 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,920 When Dalton died, Manchester honoured him with a civic funeral. 95 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,320 He lay in state in the town hall for 96 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:29,560 four days as 40,000 people filed past his coffin. 97 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,320 His ideas transformed 19th-century science and remain 98 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,280 important for today's research. 99 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,280 I'm heading to the National Graphene Institute to meet Professor of 100 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:43,960 Material Science Ian Kinloch. 101 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,440 - Hello, Ian. - Hi. Welcome to Manchester. 102 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,480 Thank you very much indeed. What an almost James Bondian scene this is! 103 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,720 Manchester has the National Graphene Institute, 104 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,240 which raises the question, what is graphene? 105 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,040 Graphene is a lattice of carbon atoms where the atoms are 106 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,400 arranged in a hexagon, but the interest in graphene is because, 107 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,400 when it gets down to one atom thick, 108 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,160 it has excellent conductive properties, 109 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,480 the electrons are moving as if they're close to the speed of light, 110 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,040 it has excellent stiffness, 111 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,280 excellent strength, and a really high surface area, 112 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:16,600 which opens up a whole range of applications. 113 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,680 It is mind-boggling, to me, to 114 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,720 imagine a substance that is one atom thick. 115 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:27,160 Graphene was isolated in 2004 by physicists Konstantin Novoselov 116 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:28,800 and Andre Geim, 117 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,560 who received the Nobel Prize and were knighted. 118 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,640 They used a piece of sticky tape to isolate graphite by peeling it 119 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,000 backwards again and again and again until it got thinner and thinner and 120 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,480 thinner. They just had one atom thick of material left. 121 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,160 That is an extraordinary image! 122 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:47,760 It's the world's first 123 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:52,480 two-dimensional material as well as its most electro conductive. 124 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,680 It's 200 times stronger than steel 125 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,640 and a million times thinner than a human hair. 126 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,320 What uses have you found so far for graphene? 127 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,880 We are looking at putting graphene into energy storage devices such as 128 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,000 batteries to make them last longer, for them to store more power, 129 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:10,560 applications in aerospace. 130 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,280 Why are the people behind us wearing such a lot of protective clothing? 131 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,880 When you are working down on the atomic scale, 132 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:18,920 bits of dust can interfere with experiments, 133 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:20,960 and the biggest source of dust is ourselves, 134 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,520 so all these protective gowns you 135 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,720 can see here is actually to protect the samples from the scientists. 136 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,160 Though graphene is a substance that works at an atomic level, 137 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,000 it's possible to see it being created. 138 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,800 So what we have is we have a beaker with two graphite electrodes in it. 139 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,760 The idea is that we put a potential across this and drive ions into the 140 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,240 graphite lattice, and we expand it so the graphene falls apart. 141 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,600 So it's all set up and all we need to do is just switch on the switch. 142 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,120 Off we go and make some graphene. 143 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,560 Power on! 144 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,360 I can see that the clear solution is now being clouded with black, 145 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,800 and that is the graphene been pushed off the graphite, is it? 146 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,600 Yes, so the ions are going into the graphite and pushing the graphene 147 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:01,760 layers away from that graphite electrode, 148 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,480 and what we end up with this a solution such as this. 149 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:06,640 We end up with a nice black solution. 150 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,560 Then we can dry it even further and make a powder. 151 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,560 Can you demonstrate an application to me? 152 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,840 Of course. So we have just over here a brick, 153 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,200 which has been covered in graphene paint. 154 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,120 We've got this side is uncoated and this side you can see is coated with 155 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,120 the graphene. If we put water on here, 156 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,360 you can see the water on the brick fairly quickly goes into the brick. 157 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,320 Or if we put it over on the graphene surface here, 158 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,400 you can see how it rises up and it's hydrophobic and the water droplets 159 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:33,960 stay on the surface. 160 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,840 So Manchester is not any more the city of horny-handed toil, 161 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:38,520 but actually of science? 162 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,320 Yes, and, in fact, we are the 2016 City of Science. 163 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:49,080 I'm returning to Piccadilly station and taking the short hop four miles 164 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,840 west on the line which connects 165 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:53,720 Manchester to Leeds, via Huddersfield. 166 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,320 My next stop will be Fairfield. 167 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:07,280 Bradshaw's tells me that it's 168 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,920 celebrated for its extensive Moravian settlement. 169 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,400 It shows there's nothing new about immigration. 170 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:15,440 Moravians were, I think, a fleeing, 171 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,680 persecuted religious minority at a time when most people thought that 172 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:22,040 their immortal souls depended not 173 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,600 only upon being godly but on adhering 174 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,240 to a single religion which they regarded as true. 175 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,080 Today, the Moravians are still part of the Fairfield community. 176 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,880 I'm eager to learn more about the settlement from Fairfield community 177 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:42,680 guide Janet Waugh. 178 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,600 Janet, where is the Moravia from which Moravians come? 179 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:49,320 It's from the Czech Republic. 180 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:53,680 It has two provinces there, or did have, called Moravia and Bohemia, 181 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,880 and that's where they got their sort of nickname, if you like. 182 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,520 Why did they move out of Moravia and Bohemia? 183 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:01,320 Because they were being persecuted. 184 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:03,320 They were a Protestant church, 185 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,200 and the ruling king and queen were Catholics 186 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,920 and they couldn't freely worship as they wanted to, 187 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,720 so they decided it was best to move on. 188 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:13,440 The Moravians objected to many 189 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,480 doctrines and practices within the Catholic Church. 190 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,600 They criticised the behaviour of priests and the Pope, 191 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,960 in particular, the sale by the church of indulgences, 192 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,960 which amounted to selling forgiveness for one's sins. 193 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:27,920 Moravians also believed that 194 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,040 ordinary people should receive wine, as well as bread at Mass. 195 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,040 So are Moravians part of a 196 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,680 Protestant movement around the time of Luther and Calvin? 197 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:42,120 Yeah, they were actually about 50 years before Martin Luther. 198 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,800 The main person in the Czech Republic was Jan Hus. 199 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,320 He was around 1400. 200 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,920 He was asked to go and meet the Pope and he was martyred there, 201 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,240 - killed for heresy. - When did the Moravians first come to Britain? 202 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,680 About 1740. 203 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:56,280 They'd come from Germany. 204 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,760 They decided they wanted to go out into the world and be missionaries. 205 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,680 This extraordinary and wonderful place, 206 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:04,480 they built this as we see it today? 207 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,800 Yes, they started in 1783. 208 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:11,200 They set up kilns on-site in 1783 and used the clay that was here so 209 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,280 that all the bricks are handmade and, by 1785, 210 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,800 they'd managed to build the main Church Terrace, 211 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:19,880 the brethren's house and the sisters house and 13 dwellings. 212 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,800 And the rest of it was finished about 1796. 213 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,400 Though it's now been engulfed by the city of Manchester, 214 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,360 the Fairfield settlement was originally built in open fields. 215 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,560 When inaugurated in 1785, it had 110 inhabitants. 216 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:38,320 How many Moravians would there be, for example, in Britain? 217 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,000 There's about 2,000. 30 churches. 218 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,760 And what does it mean to you to be a Moravian and to live in a Moravian 219 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,440 - community? - I feel very privileged to live in this community because it is 220 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,840 a community, we do look after one another. 221 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,200 It is a very equal church, 222 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:57,520 so there's no hierarchy in at all and everybody 223 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,080 calls each other still brother and sister. 224 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,000 - Well, thank you for your welcome, sister. - Thank you, brother. 225 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,120 Though they ordain ministers, 226 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,320 Moravians believe in a personal relationship with God, 227 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,760 not one that's mediated by priests. 228 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,280 The settlement's Chapel is still in use. 229 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,960 We're just in the process here of making and assembling a star. 230 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:21,720 And what's that for? 231 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,080 We put these up in Advent, until the 12th night. 232 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,160 So how do you make this thing? 233 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,040 Well, we have the three different sizes of points. 234 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,120 Would you like to have a go at making one? 235 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:33,960 HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY 236 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:35,720 I'll give it a go. 237 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,160 Hello. I'm Michael. 238 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,040 Hi. I'm Carol. How are you? 239 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,640 I'll put my spectacles on for this one. 240 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,440 Now, I imagine you've got to draw lines, haven't you? 241 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,920 What I have to remember from childhood days is to get my finger 242 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:52,040 and thumb out the way when I come past. 243 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,880 How long have you been doing this, Carol? 244 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,840 Well, this is the first time that the star's been done for quite a few 245 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:04,560 years so, hopefully, this will last us for over 25 years. 246 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,080 If I make a mess, I've got to remember that I'm in church. 247 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,320 - Yes. - No rude words! 248 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:13,480 Did you get it right first time or were you a bit clumsy like me? 249 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,160 Well, we had a few spare, so that's always good! 250 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,120 Absolutely brill. We'll get you back in another 25 years(!) 251 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,000 - Yes. - Hello, Sarah. 252 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,160 - Hello. - Here is my poor offering. 253 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:27,920 And that appears to be the slot. 254 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,320 Yeah, one last slot there. 255 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,480 - So what happens now? - It needs to go up. 256 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,480 I need to shout. Lift it, please! 257 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,120 Let there be light. 258 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,080 Bravo! 259 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,080 A star is borne aloft! 260 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,600 Leaving Fairfield, I'm re-joining the railway at Ashton-under-Lyne. 261 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,880 My next stop will be Stalybridge. 262 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:10,320 Bradshaw's tells me that it's part in Lancashire and part in Cheshire, 263 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:15,400 the two being joined by an old bridge, the rugged limestone bridge, 264 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,480 forming the backbone of England. 265 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:22,720 But my interest is not in the skeleton of the country. 266 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,760 I'm here for the buffet bar at Stalybridge station, 267 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:31,040 where travellers have slaked their thirst since 1885. 268 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:42,600 Good evening to you. Hello. 269 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:44,320 Hello. 270 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,680 Can I have a pint of Stalybridge's best, please? 271 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:51,960 There you go. Can I get you anything else? 272 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,960 You wouldn't have anything to eat at this time, would you? 273 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,880 What we've got, which is a kind of local speciality to this pub, 274 00:14:57,880 --> 00:14:59,760 is something called black peas. 275 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,120 Black peas, you're on! 276 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,400 - Excellent. Portion of black peas. - Please. - Magic. 277 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:07,880 The buffet at Stalybridge is one of a handful of surviving 278 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,040 Victorian station bars. 279 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,520 I'm pleased to see that the walls are adorned with memorabilia from 280 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,040 the halcyon days of the railways. 281 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,440 In truth, I've never seen anything like these black peas. 282 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,400 They are about the same colour as my Bradshaw's and they look as though 283 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:23,840 they're about as old! 284 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,400 And yet, of course, they're delicious. 285 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,040 Ready for the day ahead, 286 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,960 I resume my journey east on the Huddersfield line, 287 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:56,000 skirting around the northern edge of the Peak District National Park. 288 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,200 The first stop of my new day will be Marston. 289 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,040 My guidebook directs me to the entrances, 290 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:16,600 to the railway and canal tunnels which run parallel with each other 291 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,320 and are the longest in the world. 292 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,040 George Bradshaw's first job was mapping canals, and he developed a 293 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,520 tremendous admiration for their brilliant civil engineers, 294 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:32,760 an enthusiasm which I find infectious. 295 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,280 I cross the Saddleworth viaduct, completed in 1849. 296 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,720 Its 23 arches carry the railway in a gentle curve 297 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,480 above the Huddersfield narrow canal. 298 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,560 Surrounded by the Pennines, 299 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,400 Marsden grew rich from the wool trade in the 19th century. 300 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,280 Bank Bottom Mill was one of the largest in the country, 301 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,680 and closed only in 2003. 302 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,000 Fred Carter from the Canal and River Trust 303 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,600 is my guide to the Standedge Tunnel. 304 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:10,560 Fred, this canal tunnel dates from 305 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,760 long before the railway age finished, 306 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:14,480 I think, in 1811. 307 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,000 It must've been a prodigious achievement in those days. 308 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,720 Well, you're quite right. 309 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,600 As I say, the fourth of April, 1811, when this tunnel was opened and, 310 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,640 originally, they said it would take six years to build or complete. 311 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,840 16 years later, they were still at it. 312 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,880 It's the highest, longest, deepest canal tunnel in this country. 313 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,480 So you're now 645 feet above sea-level. 314 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,280 The tunnel itself is three and a quarter miles long 315 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,920 and there's about 680 feet of Hillside above us. 316 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:47,840 16 years to build. 317 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,480 - What went wrong? - Unfortunately, the hit a band of millstone grit, 318 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,280 and it's one of the hardest rocks. 319 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,360 Also, when they did actually dig from both ends, 320 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,440 they actually quite managed to miss one another and, believe it or not, 321 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,680 the two tunnels were actually 50 feet out of line. 322 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,520 And, to make life interesting, 323 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,920 we've got a lovely S-bend right in the middle. 324 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,600 The engineer for the Huddersfield narrow canal was Benjamin Outram. 325 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,240 He mistakenly thought that they 326 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,440 would be tunnelling through soft rock and 327 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,040 left most of the work under the 328 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,280 control of a less experienced engineer. 329 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,160 In 1801, with costs and schedules spiralling out of control, 330 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,200 Outram resigned. 331 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,560 It wasn't until six years later that renowned engineer Thomas Telford was 332 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,960 called in to advise on the canal's completion. 333 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:41,560 What is so striking about it, Fred, is just how incredibly narrow it is. 334 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,040 Well, that's why they call it a narrow canal, 335 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,320 and it stays about this width all the way through, would you believe? 336 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:48,960 How did they build it? 337 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,840 I'll just show you some of the tools. 338 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,360 This is what we call a star drill. 339 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:55,840 One of the navvies would hold this against the wall. 340 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,680 Either one or two of his colleagues 341 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,280 would strike at it with sledgehammers. 342 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,640 Strike, turn, strike, turn until, eventually, this would drill a hole. 343 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:10,080 They'd then fill the hole with gunpowder and fire that charge. 344 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:11,680 Many deaths during the construction? 345 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,240 They say 50, but we think there are more. 346 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:19,840 The tunnel cost around £125,000, 347 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,040 one of the most expensive canal tunnels built at the time. 348 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,960 To cut costs, the engineers dispensed with a tow path. 349 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:31,520 No room here for an animal. 350 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:33,080 - What was the propulsion? - They used 351 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,840 to bring the barges through here by a method called legging. 352 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,960 Two gentleman would lie on the backs of the boats here, 353 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:40,720 feet out to either side. 354 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,760 They'd begin to take this sideways step like a crab. 355 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,400 For more than three miles? 356 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,320 Yeah, this took them about three to 357 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,600 three and a half hours to leg a boat through the tunnel here. 358 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,600 They must have been absolutely exhausted. 359 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,400 Absolutely shattered. 360 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,600 How they did not break their ankles or their legs in some of it, 361 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:03,640 - it's a wonder. - The tunnel is an awe inspiring relic of the tenacity and 362 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,720 grit of the industrial age but its heyday was brief. 363 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:13,120 With their vastly superior speed and power, railways superseded canals. 364 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:18,240 The London and North Western Railway built a bore or tunnel parallel to 365 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,400 the canal, to carry trains between Manchester and Huddersfield. 366 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,560 Network Rail's Ian Wilson has been 367 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,360 responsible for maintenance at Standedge for over 20 years. 368 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,200 My guidebook, which is about 1864, 369 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,160 refers to the longest railway tunnel in the world. 370 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,400 - Which one is that? - That would have been this one, 371 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:39,840 which is the Standedge Centre Bore. 372 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,600 It's just over three miles long and that was open at the time of the 373 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,480 guidebook, 1849. 374 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,680 Since then, the south bore was built, when rail traffic increased, 375 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:50,600 and then the twin track live bore, 376 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,920 which is this one that's still running. 377 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,480 What happened to the two tunnels that are now closed? 378 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,440 They were closed in around 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts. 379 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,720 - Can we go inside? - Yes, let's go. 380 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,320 The closed tunnels are carefully maintained to allow servicing of the 381 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,920 operating bore. They also preserve the opportunity to increase rail 382 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,880 capacity, should it ever be required. 383 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:18,360 The 1894 tunnel is the fifth longest on the National Rail network, 384 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,400 running for just over three miles. 385 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,320 Well, this is the midpoint of the tunnels. 386 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:26,280 This is known as the Cathedral, 387 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,760 which has this vaulted cast iron arch, 388 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,640 and it's the widest connecting point between the two tunnels. 389 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,720 This tunnel was built, what, more 390 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,080 than 30 years after the canal tunnel. 391 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,240 Was it of any use to these tunnel builders that the canal tunnel was 392 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:41,560 - already there? - Having the canal 393 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,200 meant they could create short passages 394 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,240 across from this tunnel to the canal 395 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,920 and they could take the spoil out and bring materials in, 396 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,280 which would have speeded the 397 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:51,440 building of the tunnel up by possibly years. 398 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,000 And, by comparison with the canal 399 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,840 tunnel, of course, this is much bigger. 400 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:56,800 I mean, this is a monumental piece of work. 401 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,320 It's huge. I think there's 50 402 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:00,960 million bricks used to build one of these tunnels. 403 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:02,560 50 million bricks! 404 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:03,880 - 50 million bricks. - And how do you 405 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,880 feel about these tunnels where you work every day? 406 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,280 I do get quite attached to them and I have been known to refer 407 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,200 to them as my babies, because every one has its own character and little 408 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:13,520 traits and things. 409 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:15,160 - So, yeah. - Your babies? 410 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:16,800 They're my babies, yes! 411 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,000 With my subterranean exploration at an end, 412 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,120 I'm completing my journey across the Pennines to Huddersfield. 413 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:29,400 From there, the railway takes me 17 miles south. 414 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,400 'The important rank,' 415 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,480 which the manufacturers of Yorkshire have long maintained in the 416 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,600 estimation of the world, the amount of patient thought, 417 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:52,360 of repeated experiment and happy exertion of genius, 418 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,720 by which our various manufacturers 419 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,880 have been carried to their present excellence, 420 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,240 is scarcely to be imagined. 421 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,120 When I leave this train at Silkstone Common, 422 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:07,760 I'm going to investigate the life of a man who added mightily to the 423 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,080 reputation of his county and his country. 424 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:19,280 Four miles south of Silkstone Common lies Wortley Top Forge. 425 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:20,920 It's the oldest surviving 426 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,520 water-powered iron forge in the country, 427 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,440 dating back to 1640. 428 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,400 It's now a museum, and I'm meeting guide Ted Young. 429 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:33,840 So was the history of the forge? 430 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:39,040 Early in the 1600s, it was set up by the Lord of the Manor, 431 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,920 Sir Francis Wortley, because he was using water power. 432 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:47,080 And around a third of a mile up that way, he put the weir in, 433 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,320 and that holds the water at a level, 434 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,160 giving a difference that allows you to run the water wheels. 435 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:54,680 During the 1870s, 436 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,800 the metallurgist Thomas Andrews 437 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,520 began to conduct experiments at the forge. 438 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,280 He focused on the strength of 439 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,400 railway axles that were used on early 440 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,640 rolling stock, whose failure could cause a catastrophe. 441 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,720 Ted, do you think that Thomas Andrews was a man who used thought 442 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,320 and experiment, and indeed genius? 443 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,760 Oh, absolutely so. 444 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,760 He was a man who committed his life to looking into the properties of 445 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:24,360 various metals. 446 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:26,760 And is it possible to see the place where he did his work? 447 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,680 Certainly. Shall we go into the forge? 448 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,440 - Thank you. - At the time Andrews conducted his experiments, 449 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,440 he was a pioneer. 450 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,000 The forge seems to be very kind of rustic, almost homely. 451 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,680 Did they have serious production going on in here? 452 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:41,800 Absolutely so. 453 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,120 It is, essentially, a preindustrial revolution site but, 454 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,160 by the railway era, 455 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:53,640 it was bringing in wrought iron bars and making 200 to 300 axles a week. 456 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:55,080 Extraordinary! 457 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Andrews created wrought iron and subjected it to a variety 458 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,240 of strength and temperature experiments. 459 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,200 This is a bar of wrought iron. 460 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,120 This is the result of a process of taking pig iron, 461 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,560 which came from the blast furnaces. 462 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,520 The wonderful thing about this 463 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,000 material is that it has great strength. 464 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,280 So how'd you get from this to a railway axle? 465 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,920 You have to overcome one of its weaknesses, 466 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:26,360 and that is it can only be produced in bars of that size. 467 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:31,440 They got round that by fixing together 16 bars 468 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,720 in what they called a faggot. 469 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:41,040 The faggot is heated in the furnace up until it's white heat, 470 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:46,400 hung from a crane, and then swung across under the hammer. 471 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,320 And then this has begun to acquire the round shape of an axle? 472 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,800 Yes, this one is nearly complete, 473 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,120 and we can gauge it up to see that we've reached the correct diameter. 474 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:02,040 And I can swing it into position on this chain 475 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,080 and I can rotate it comme ca. 476 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,960 And how does the hammer get its power? 477 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:12,600 - From the water wheel. - Between 1840 and 1910, 478 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,720 railway axles from Wortley were exported all over the world. 479 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,080 It's said that none ever failed, a legacy to be proud of. 480 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,920 Ted, that's beautiful. A working water wheel. 481 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,480 The power of these things is extraordinary, isn't it? 482 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:31,680 It's producing 8-10 horsepower. 483 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:35,120 This was really advanced engineering. 484 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:37,560 A real gem from the Industrial Revolution. 485 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,240 As though to remind us of the train axles that were manufactured here, 486 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,360 the forge has its own railway. 487 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,440 Hello, Chris. What a beautiful miniature locomotive. 488 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:54,640 - Tell me about it. - Well, it's a quarter scale model of a locomotive, 489 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,440 - typically used in the North Wales quarries. - And it runs? 490 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:00,240 Strong enough to carry someone like me? 491 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,640 - Hopefully. - Shall we give it a whirl? - We'll give it a good whirl. 492 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,520 There might not seem to be much 493 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,200 connection between the arrival of Moravian 494 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,760 immigrants in the 18th century and 495 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,600 the much later development of tunnels 496 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,840 and iron forges during the Industrial Revolution. 497 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,160 But the fact that nonconformists 498 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,560 were welcome in England points to 499 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:36,320 the fact that the British enjoyed relative freedom of speech 500 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:38,760 and thought at that time. 501 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,960 People who were educated, and those who were not, 502 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,720 felt at liberty to enquire 503 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:49,000 into the nature and origin of things and to experiment. 504 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:54,080 And that led to an extraordinary British contribution to engineering, 505 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,040 science and thought. 506 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:02,760 Next time... 507 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,240 - Up there? - That's the one. 508 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,120 'I climb beyond my comfort zone...' 509 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,080 - Just put your other foot on the next hold. - All the way over there? 510 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,760 Yeah, you'll be fine. I've got you nice and safe. 511 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,640 '..uncover a museum of curiosities...' 512 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,800 If a predator tries to grab them, 513 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:20,280 they will ooze out all this slime and the predator will literally kind 514 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,000 of spit the hagfish out in disgust. 515 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,640 '..and embrace a new language with open arms.' 516 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:28,600 This is 'have to'. 517 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,120 - Oh, that's 'have to'? - Yeah. 518 00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:31,560 - Yeah. - That's good, yeah.