1 00:00:00,180 --> 00:00:03,340 History isn't just something that happened to the great and the good. 2 00:00:03,380 --> 00:00:05,500 Much of who we are and where we come from 3 00:00:05,540 --> 00:00:07,900 is down to a whole host of ordinary people 4 00:00:07,940 --> 00:00:11,420 getting their hands dirty doing a lot of really terrible jobs. 5 00:00:11,460 --> 00:00:13,460 In this programme, 6 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,140 the cleaning job that kept Britain on the rails. 7 00:00:16,180 --> 00:00:18,140 (COUGHING) 8 00:00:18,940 --> 00:00:21,500 Why you need dog poo to make a saddle. 9 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:24,260 I don't think I would like to do this every day. 10 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:27,380 And what was I thinking of when I said "yes" to this? 11 00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:32,500 Welcome to the worst jobs in the Victorian period. 12 00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:56,100 Queen Victoria died over a hundred years ago. 13 00:00:56,140 --> 00:00:58,380 But it doesn't seem that long. 14 00:00:58,420 --> 00:01:01,140 And that's partly because the Victorian workers 15 00:01:01,180 --> 00:01:04,500 laid the groundwork for a lot of the things we take for granted. 16 00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:07,060 Many of us still live in their houses 17 00:01:07,100 --> 00:01:09,180 and use the schools and hospitals 18 00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:11,540 and other public buildings that they put up. 19 00:01:11,580 --> 00:01:13,580 And they built the railways. 20 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:17,020 The Victorian era was the Golden Age of Steam 21 00:01:17,060 --> 00:01:20,180 powered by a lot of really terrible tasks. 22 00:01:23,580 --> 00:01:25,620 In Queen Victoria's lifetime, 23 00:01:25,660 --> 00:01:28,380 the railways grew from 100 miles of track 24 00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:30,540 to 22,000 miles. 25 00:01:30,900 --> 00:01:34,420 The railways that transformed the country and industry 26 00:01:34,460 --> 00:01:37,140 were built by a massive army of workers. 27 00:01:38,420 --> 00:01:41,740 Rail was cutting-edge and rail was romantic. 28 00:01:41,780 --> 00:01:43,940 But that's only thanks to a labour force 29 00:01:43,980 --> 00:01:46,340 willing to do the most unromantic jobs. 30 00:01:48,220 --> 00:01:50,940 Every little boy wants to be an engine driver. 31 00:01:50,980 --> 00:01:53,500 But on the footplate, there was a hierarchy. 32 00:01:56,180 --> 00:01:58,140 The driver was top dog. 33 00:01:58,620 --> 00:02:01,700 Beneath him was the back-breaking job of fireman, 34 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:04,420 feeding the fire for hours on end. 35 00:02:04,460 --> 00:02:06,660 Not many kids wanted to do this. 36 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:09,300 And I can't imagine anyone 37 00:02:09,340 --> 00:02:11,300 dreaming of the job below the fireman. 38 00:02:13,260 --> 00:02:16,260 The very worst job on the railway was the engine cleaner. 39 00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:19,060 But that didn't mean just a tiny bit of spit and polish. 40 00:02:19,100 --> 00:02:21,340 This was a job for which you had to get 41 00:02:21,380 --> 00:02:23,820 really kitted up. 42 00:02:25,340 --> 00:02:27,340 This one's pretty cold, isn't it? 43 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:29,820 Yeah, well, I can only show you what on the cold one 44 00:02:29,860 --> 00:02:32,020 because what you gonna have to do now, Tony, 45 00:02:32,060 --> 00:02:35,020 - is get the firebox. - Get in that? 46 00:02:35,060 --> 00:02:37,060 Get in there, yeah. Off you go! 47 00:02:37,100 --> 00:02:39,420 - Right, hands on here? - Hands on there. 48 00:02:40,260 --> 00:02:42,260 NORMAN: Feet in. TONY: Feet in here. 49 00:02:42,300 --> 00:02:44,540 Yeah. Get your thighs in the hole. 50 00:02:45,260 --> 00:02:47,340 And then turn yourself over in the hole. 51 00:02:47,380 --> 00:02:49,780 Your hands are now touching the floor. 52 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:51,820 Ah! Yeah. 53 00:02:51,860 --> 00:02:54,700 - Then ease yourself in. - I can't turn round! 54 00:02:54,740 --> 00:02:57,100 - Yes, you can. (LAUGHS) - Ah! Ah! 55 00:02:58,740 --> 00:03:00,740 - There we go. - You all right? 56 00:03:01,260 --> 00:03:03,260 - Right in. - Oh! 57 00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:06,260 Your foot should touch the firebars with your feet. 58 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:08,460 - Yeah, I can feel it. - OK, you're in. 59 00:03:08,500 --> 00:03:11,140 I can't get 'em in ... (NORMAN LAUGHS) 60 00:03:11,580 --> 00:03:13,940 - I'll pass in the shovel now. - Yeah. 61 00:03:14,940 --> 00:03:18,500 - I can't see a thing. - You have to feel your way round. 62 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:20,620 - Yeah. - There's your shovel. 63 00:03:20,660 --> 00:03:22,620 You know what I've realised, 64 00:03:23,300 --> 00:03:27,380 if you were going from London to, I don't know, Glasgow, 65 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:30,180 you'd be shifting tons and tons of this stuff. 66 00:03:30,220 --> 00:03:33,300 Oh, yeah. You shovel about 5 or 6 tons of coal. 67 00:03:33,340 --> 00:03:35,340 You'd half have to be fit, you know. 68 00:03:35,380 --> 00:03:37,580 You can't get all that much on it 69 00:03:37,620 --> 00:03:39,700 cos otherwise it just all tips back on you. 70 00:03:39,740 --> 00:03:42,260 No, that's right. It's very awkward. 71 00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:45,620 You've got nice clean firebars now to light the fire on. 72 00:03:45,660 --> 00:03:48,940 'After this hole, I was happy to get a breath of fresh air.' 73 00:03:48,980 --> 00:03:52,620 'But not for long. I should have known better and stayed inside.' 74 00:03:52,660 --> 00:03:55,500 So we going right under one of these locomotives? 75 00:03:55,540 --> 00:03:58,100 We're going under to clean out the ash pan. 76 00:03:58,140 --> 00:04:00,500 - It's pretty messy down here? - Yeah, yeah, 77 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:03,940 it's very wet and oily and nasty-dirty. 78 00:04:03,980 --> 00:04:05,980 - The lads were down here all day? - Yeah, 79 00:04:06,020 --> 00:04:09,500 there would've been people on a shift system in a big depot. 80 00:04:09,540 --> 00:04:12,300 And that'll be your job all day, disposing the engines, 81 00:04:12,340 --> 00:04:15,620 which would consist of digging out the fire, like we've just done 82 00:04:15,660 --> 00:04:18,460 and doing the ash pan, like I'm gonna show you now. 83 00:04:19,980 --> 00:04:22,220 You know, as rotten jobs go, 84 00:04:22,780 --> 00:04:25,340 it must really qualify for one of the... 85 00:04:25,380 --> 00:04:27,540 one of the worst, if not THE worst. 86 00:04:27,580 --> 00:04:29,580 It could be pouring with rain 87 00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:31,740 or it could be freezing cold, 88 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:34,460 very likely in the middle of the night. 89 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:36,500 And this is all you do all day. 90 00:04:36,540 --> 00:04:39,860 And the tool I've got in my hand is the ash pan rake. 91 00:04:39,900 --> 00:04:41,900 - Yeah. - What you have to do 92 00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:44,100 is to put your ash pan rake right inside here. 93 00:04:44,500 --> 00:04:46,860 and er...and pull. 94 00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:50,100 NORMAN: It's very dusty. 95 00:04:50,140 --> 00:04:52,180 TONY: No! 96 00:05:00,260 --> 00:05:02,740 TONY: Whoa! (NORMAN COUGHS) 97 00:05:02,780 --> 00:05:04,740 NORMAN: Very dusty, isn't it? 98 00:05:05,220 --> 00:05:07,340 NORMAN: Oh, this is an empty one, by the way. 99 00:05:07,940 --> 00:05:11,420 (LAUGHS) As far as...cleaning jobs go, 100 00:05:12,580 --> 00:05:14,580 this really has got to be 101 00:05:14,620 --> 00:05:17,740 just about the worst. (NORMAN LAUGHS) 102 00:05:17,780 --> 00:05:19,740 Aw! 103 00:05:21,340 --> 00:05:23,940 It's all in your mouth. (NORMAN LAUGHS) 104 00:05:23,980 --> 00:05:26,900 (TONY COUGHS, NORMAN LAUGHS) 105 00:05:30,060 --> 00:05:32,060 Long before all this lot, though, 106 00:05:32,100 --> 00:05:34,580 long before anyone could even dream 107 00:05:34,620 --> 00:05:36,620 of getting a good job like this, 108 00:05:36,660 --> 00:05:38,820 someone had to lay THESE. 109 00:05:39,260 --> 00:05:42,340 And that end of the business really was hard work. 110 00:05:44,420 --> 00:05:48,094 111 00:05:48,214 --> 00:05:49,814 112 00:05:56,054 --> 00:05:58,654 Road-building is a huge, expensive 113 00:05:58,694 --> 00:06:00,654 vastly complicated undertaking. 114 00:06:01,334 --> 00:06:04,494 Nowadays, they've got machinery to do all the heavy lifting, 115 00:06:04,534 --> 00:06:07,014 vans to sit in, if it tips down. 116 00:06:07,054 --> 00:06:09,014 Even toilets, for God's sake! 117 00:06:09,574 --> 00:06:12,774 In Victorian times, they had to do it all by hand. 118 00:06:15,214 --> 00:06:17,374 These men did the hard work. 119 00:06:17,734 --> 00:06:21,614 Navvies, so called because they built the navigation canals. 120 00:06:21,654 --> 00:06:24,414 They were a wandering army of itinerant labourers. 121 00:06:24,974 --> 00:06:26,974 A quarter of a million of them 122 00:06:27,014 --> 00:06:29,134 built the backbone of Victorian Britain, 123 00:06:29,174 --> 00:06:31,854 the roads, the canals, docks and sewers. 124 00:06:31,894 --> 00:06:33,854 they built the railways. 125 00:06:34,494 --> 00:06:36,814 They lived in shanty towns on the job, 126 00:06:36,854 --> 00:06:38,854 on a ration of beer and meat 127 00:06:38,894 --> 00:06:41,934 2lbs of meat and a gallon of beer a day. 128 00:06:41,974 --> 00:06:44,014 After work, they drank some more. 129 00:06:44,374 --> 00:06:46,734 And their job was to dig. 130 00:06:47,574 --> 00:06:49,614 So you think digging's easy? 131 00:06:49,654 --> 00:06:51,654 What about something like this? 132 00:06:51,694 --> 00:06:54,094 It's the size of your average back garden, 133 00:06:54,134 --> 00:06:56,334 and about 4m deep. 134 00:06:56,374 --> 00:06:59,334 Imagine digging this by hand. 135 00:07:03,974 --> 00:07:05,934 Where on earth would you start? 136 00:07:07,454 --> 00:07:09,574 Actually, you start somewhere like this. 137 00:07:09,614 --> 00:07:11,814 Originally, this land would have been flat, 138 00:07:11,854 --> 00:07:14,374 right across the top, there, like that. 139 00:07:14,414 --> 00:07:17,414 And this whole V-shape would have been filled up with earth, 140 00:07:17,454 --> 00:07:19,494 covered in little bushes and trees, 141 00:07:19,534 --> 00:07:21,534 rather like it is now. 142 00:07:21,574 --> 00:07:23,614 And then the navvies would've arrived 143 00:07:23,654 --> 00:07:26,614 and they'd have started digging down and down and down, 144 00:07:26,654 --> 00:07:29,534 until, finally, they got to the level 145 00:07:29,574 --> 00:07:32,934 where the track had been dug to further down the line. 146 00:07:32,974 --> 00:07:34,974 And all they'd got to do that with 147 00:07:35,014 --> 00:07:37,014 was a shovel and a pick and a wheelbarrow 148 00:07:37,054 --> 00:07:39,014 and a couple of wooden planks. 149 00:07:40,414 --> 00:07:43,214 And, if Rob's our 19th century navvy, 150 00:07:43,254 --> 00:07:45,614 how would he get all this earth from here 151 00:07:45,654 --> 00:07:47,654 right up to the top of the cart? 152 00:07:47,694 --> 00:07:50,094 ANN: He would run it up the plank, do a barrow run. 153 00:07:50,134 --> 00:07:53,294 You've got two ropes there. One will be attached to Rob, 154 00:07:53,334 --> 00:07:55,414 the other would be attached to the barrow. 155 00:07:55,454 --> 00:07:58,854 And at the top there, you'd have a horse, in those days, 156 00:07:58,894 --> 00:08:01,014 a well-trained horse for the job. 157 00:08:01,054 --> 00:08:03,894 How much of this stuff would they have had to shift in a day? 158 00:08:04,214 --> 00:08:06,174 Believe it or not, 20 tons. 159 00:08:06,774 --> 00:08:09,774 Because they were being paid piecework, 160 00:08:09,814 --> 00:08:13,574 I mean, that's how they knew that they were moving 20 tons. 161 00:08:13,614 --> 00:08:16,774 20 tons. How much do you reckon you've got in there, Rob? 162 00:08:16,814 --> 00:08:19,894 - One and a half hundredweight. - Can you get that to the top? 163 00:08:20,374 --> 00:08:22,574 - Yeah, probably. - Go on, then. 164 00:08:25,854 --> 00:08:28,294 ANN: He wasn't actually pushing the barrow. 165 00:08:28,334 --> 00:08:31,894 There was a horse at the top taking the strain. He was steering it. 166 00:08:31,934 --> 00:08:35,094 But you've got to think about the slipperiness of the wet plank 167 00:08:35,134 --> 00:08:36,694 and all that sort of business. 168 00:08:36,734 --> 00:08:40,254 TONY: Must have been dangerous. ANN: Very dangerous, indeed. 169 00:08:40,294 --> 00:08:42,614 ANN: Very dangerous. If the horse took fright 170 00:08:42,654 --> 00:08:46,094 or suddenly refused to do what it was supposed to do, 171 00:08:46,614 --> 00:08:48,574 then the barrow would lose momentum. 172 00:08:48,974 --> 00:08:52,694 Suddenly, probably the barrow would go one side, the man the other. 173 00:08:52,734 --> 00:08:54,734 That was one of the many dangers 174 00:08:54,774 --> 00:08:56,734 attached to making a cutting. 175 00:08:58,454 --> 00:09:01,694 It was said that every mile of track 176 00:09:02,094 --> 00:09:04,654 claimed a life. - That was the price that was paid. 177 00:09:04,694 --> 00:09:08,094 ANN: That was the price that was paid. Life was cheap. Yeah. 178 00:09:09,734 --> 00:09:11,374 - Shall I have a go? - Yeah. 179 00:09:11,414 --> 00:09:13,294 - Can you bring it down? - Yeah. 180 00:09:13,334 --> 00:09:15,214 Can you hold my coat? 181 00:09:15,254 --> 00:09:18,694 The irony was that because the barrow run was so dangerous, 182 00:09:18,734 --> 00:09:21,574 the bosses put in new machines to do the same job. 183 00:09:21,614 --> 00:09:24,294 But the guys hated them because they were on piece-rate 184 00:09:24,334 --> 00:09:26,854 and so they could earn much more - Cheers, Rob - 185 00:09:26,894 --> 00:09:29,934 from doing it with the barrow. So they smashed the machines up 186 00:09:29,974 --> 00:09:31,974 and reverted to doing it this way. 187 00:09:32,014 --> 00:09:34,014 You've got to fill it yourself. 188 00:09:34,054 --> 00:09:36,014 - I've got to fill it first? - Yeah. 189 00:09:36,374 --> 00:09:38,334 I thought you were gonna do that. 190 00:09:41,334 --> 00:09:43,294 That'll do me. 191 00:09:45,614 --> 00:09:48,734 - All right? - Yeah. Right, go on, then. 192 00:09:50,414 --> 00:09:53,454 Have to lean right back presumably otherwise my feet'll slip 193 00:09:53,494 --> 00:09:55,454 when I get to the tack board. 194 00:09:56,294 --> 00:09:58,534 - Am I lined up all right? - Yeah. 195 00:09:58,574 --> 00:10:01,334 (NERVOUS SHOUT) 196 00:10:03,254 --> 00:10:05,854 It feels as though it's all going to tip back onto me. 197 00:10:06,214 --> 00:10:09,974 The extraordinary thing is, if I'd been doing this in Victorian times, 198 00:10:10,534 --> 00:10:13,014 I'd have been been full of beer and meat. 199 00:10:13,654 --> 00:10:16,854 Oh, my legs, come off the duck board! Oops! 200 00:10:18,294 --> 00:10:20,494 Keep going, keep going. 201 00:10:20,534 --> 00:10:22,614 Keep going. YES! 202 00:10:22,974 --> 00:10:24,934 Done it! Done it. 203 00:10:26,774 --> 00:10:28,734 It's really satisfying. 204 00:10:29,974 --> 00:10:32,494 Satisfying, yes. But also terrifying. 205 00:10:32,534 --> 00:10:35,934 I thought the barrow was just going to collapse on top of me. 206 00:10:35,974 --> 00:10:37,934 It was pretty heavy going. 207 00:10:40,374 --> 00:10:43,494 If I was a Victorian navvy, I'd have had to have done about 208 00:10:43,534 --> 00:10:45,494 200 of these every day... 209 00:10:46,654 --> 00:10:48,614 ..pissed! 210 00:10:53,854 --> 00:10:56,734 OK. So the tracks are down, the job's done. 211 00:10:57,334 --> 00:11:01,094 Well, no, actually. Navvies cued up for the barrow run. 212 00:11:01,134 --> 00:11:03,294 No one wanted to pack the ballast. 213 00:11:05,174 --> 00:11:07,414 What's the ballast actually for? 214 00:11:07,454 --> 00:11:11,174 You use your ballast to get good drainage on your track. 215 00:11:11,214 --> 00:11:13,454 So your sleepers don't fill up with water. 216 00:11:13,494 --> 00:11:15,574 And obviously, the more ballast you got, 217 00:11:15,614 --> 00:11:17,614 the more stable the track is. 218 00:11:17,654 --> 00:11:19,774 Obviously, when you drive a train over it, 219 00:11:19,814 --> 00:11:21,894 the track tends to move around. 220 00:11:21,934 --> 00:11:24,094 And if you've not got much ballast, 221 00:11:24,134 --> 00:11:26,254 then you end up with an uneven track. 222 00:11:26,294 --> 00:11:29,294 TONY: Not a very difficult job? ROB: By the time you're done, 223 00:11:29,334 --> 00:11:31,814 you're gonna end up with it level between sleepers, 224 00:11:31,854 --> 00:11:34,054 having shovelled a ton and a half of ballast. 225 00:11:34,094 --> 00:11:36,054 - Right. - Off you go. 226 00:11:41,294 --> 00:11:44,214 My little pile here is just a mingy half a ton. 227 00:11:45,094 --> 00:11:47,174 This pile is 20 tons. 228 00:11:47,574 --> 00:11:50,654 Each navvy would have had to shift this every day. 229 00:11:52,734 --> 00:11:56,254 Digging it was a doddle, really. but packing it... 230 00:11:56,294 --> 00:11:59,054 ROB: You've got to get it underneath the sleeper, 231 00:11:59,094 --> 00:12:01,094 pack it in as hard as you can. 232 00:12:01,134 --> 00:12:04,294 Once you've filled t'void that one's fairly stable. 233 00:12:07,134 --> 00:12:09,174 That's really hard work, isn't it? 234 00:12:12,094 --> 00:12:14,654 After only 10 minutes of this, I'd had enough. 235 00:12:20,094 --> 00:12:23,054 I was going to say something like presenters are supposed to 236 00:12:23,094 --> 00:12:25,934 but my mind's gone numb. 237 00:12:25,974 --> 00:12:27,934 I've only done half a sleeper. 238 00:12:31,494 --> 00:12:33,454 (STEAM WHISTLE) 239 00:12:34,494 --> 00:12:36,934 But however much your muscles screamed, 240 00:12:36,974 --> 00:12:38,974 the worst job of all on the railways 241 00:12:39,014 --> 00:12:41,134 was the one that took the most lives.' 242 00:12:41,174 --> 00:12:44,214 The worst job was having to dig out tunnels. 243 00:12:46,454 --> 00:12:49,214 This tunnel is about half a mile long.' 244 00:12:49,654 --> 00:12:52,294 It took hundreds of men to dig a tunnel like this. 245 00:12:52,334 --> 00:12:56,494 They worked in candlelight. 12 hour days were the norm. 246 00:12:56,854 --> 00:12:58,854 Accidents were common. 247 00:12:58,894 --> 00:13:01,694 A combination of naked flames and dynamite 248 00:13:01,734 --> 00:13:03,734 was often lethal. 249 00:13:03,774 --> 00:13:05,934 ANN: There was one particular explosion 250 00:13:05,974 --> 00:13:08,574 on Manchester to Sheffield stretch. 251 00:13:08,934 --> 00:13:12,974 And 50 men were killed and 500 injured. 252 00:13:13,014 --> 00:13:15,014 What happened if someone was injured? 253 00:13:15,054 --> 00:13:17,494 What happened was, as like as not, 254 00:13:17,534 --> 00:13:20,094 you'd be carted to the mouth of the tunnel 255 00:13:20,134 --> 00:13:23,094 and put on an ordinary wagon... 256 00:13:24,374 --> 00:13:26,854 ..with straw, and just jolted along 257 00:13:26,894 --> 00:13:29,214 for probably 3 miles to the nearest road 258 00:13:29,494 --> 00:13:31,774 before ever you got anyway near a hospital, 259 00:13:31,814 --> 00:13:33,774 such as they were in those days. 260 00:13:34,214 --> 00:13:37,094 It was unimaginable torture for the injured man 261 00:13:37,134 --> 00:13:40,214 just to be taken to the nearest hospital. 262 00:13:41,014 --> 00:13:43,934 In 1840, in the Woodhead Tunnel in Cheshire, 263 00:13:43,974 --> 00:13:47,614 32 men were killed, 140 seriously injured, 264 00:13:47,654 --> 00:13:49,734 two had fractured skulls, 265 00:13:49,774 --> 00:13:52,814 and 500 others suffered broken bones. 266 00:13:53,454 --> 00:13:56,374 It's hard to imagine what an explosion would have been like 267 00:13:56,414 --> 00:13:59,134 in a tunnel like this. - I don't think we can imagine it. 268 00:13:59,774 --> 00:14:02,734 Well, we can't imagine it but we can recreate it. 269 00:14:02,774 --> 00:14:06,534 We can't do the panic and the terror 270 00:14:06,574 --> 00:14:08,534 and the feeling of isolation. 271 00:14:09,614 --> 00:14:11,974 But we can recreate the explosion. 272 00:14:12,014 --> 00:14:13,774 This being the 21st century, 273 00:14:13,814 --> 00:14:16,214 we've got a special effects man way over there. 274 00:14:16,254 --> 00:14:20,094 And we've got a second camera and loads of lighting. 275 00:14:20,134 --> 00:14:22,134 We've got ear defenders, 276 00:14:22,174 --> 00:14:24,814 fire extinguishers, electrician, 277 00:14:24,854 --> 00:14:27,254 the police have been informed, we've got the man 278 00:14:27,294 --> 00:14:30,334 from the parks authority keeping an eye on us all. 279 00:14:30,694 --> 00:14:34,774 In fact, we've got all the paraphernalia of a 21st century 280 00:14:34,814 --> 00:14:36,494 risk assessment form. 281 00:14:36,534 --> 00:14:38,814 Go! 282 00:14:42,734 --> 00:14:44,814 It is pretty terrifying, isn't it? 283 00:14:44,854 --> 00:14:48,414 (LAUGHING) It's brilliant. I could feel it. I could feel it. 284 00:14:48,454 --> 00:14:51,334 You actually get the shake as much as the noise, don't you? 285 00:14:51,374 --> 00:14:54,134 That's what I meant, I felt it. Tremendous! 286 00:14:54,534 --> 00:14:57,014 ANN: A jolly good bang, though, you've got to admit. 287 00:14:57,054 --> 00:14:59,014 (BOTH LAUGH) 288 00:15:03,734 --> 00:15:07,054 The railways built by the navvies transformed the country 289 00:15:07,094 --> 00:15:09,974 and gave the Victorians a new freedom to travel. 290 00:15:10,494 --> 00:15:12,934 For the first time, large numbers of people 291 00:15:12,974 --> 00:15:15,174 were able to move around very easily. 292 00:15:15,734 --> 00:15:19,174 In the 1870s, 92,000 farm workers 293 00:15:19,214 --> 00:15:22,934 left the countryside and moved to towns in search of work. 294 00:15:27,294 --> 00:15:30,494 Life out in the country was becoming more difficult 295 00:15:30,534 --> 00:15:33,774 as agriculture staggered from one depression to another. 296 00:15:35,214 --> 00:15:37,214 For those farmers left behind, 297 00:15:37,254 --> 00:15:39,534 the work got tougher and money was tight. 298 00:15:40,774 --> 00:15:43,334 Which meant that the worst jobs in the countryside 299 00:15:43,374 --> 00:15:45,374 were left for those who came cheapest... 300 00:15:46,214 --> 00:15:48,174 mostly kids. 301 00:15:51,334 --> 00:15:54,694 Why were so many of the worst jobs done by children? 302 00:15:54,734 --> 00:15:56,734 Quite frankly, there was a lot of them. 303 00:15:56,774 --> 00:15:59,774 Large Victorian families and they were a readily available 304 00:15:59,814 --> 00:16:01,854 cheap form of labour. - What kind of jobs 305 00:16:01,894 --> 00:16:04,454 would they have done? - They would've done any job. 306 00:16:04,494 --> 00:16:06,814 Any fetching, carrying, menial jobs. 307 00:16:06,854 --> 00:16:09,894 Water for pigs, wood for the fire, anything like that. 308 00:16:09,934 --> 00:16:12,494 - What are they doing? - Scaring crows. 309 00:16:12,534 --> 00:16:16,014 "One for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow." 310 00:16:16,054 --> 00:16:18,974 - What does that mean? - It means you sow enough seed 311 00:16:19,014 --> 00:16:21,814 that you're gonna get a crop and the one that was growing, 312 00:16:21,854 --> 00:16:24,574 you wanna do your best to keep the birds off that. 313 00:16:24,614 --> 00:16:27,734 By having your kids running around and keeping the birds away, 314 00:16:27,774 --> 00:16:30,334 you're hopefully gonna have enough to harvest. 315 00:16:30,374 --> 00:16:33,294 They don't have to get rid of every one, as long as there are 316 00:16:33,334 --> 00:16:36,334 seeds and seedlings available to let the field flourish. 317 00:16:36,374 --> 00:16:40,294 That's right, keep the majority there, and keep the birds off. 318 00:16:43,694 --> 00:16:46,334 This looks like a worst job for me. What's this? 319 00:16:46,374 --> 00:16:48,494 Yes, this is dibbing or dibbling. 320 00:16:48,534 --> 00:16:52,094 So we're going to take these dibbers, put them in the ground. 321 00:16:53,574 --> 00:16:55,774 - Why? - Making little dents. 322 00:16:55,814 --> 00:17:00,814 Then you can sow the seeds in the little basket. Put a few in each. 323 00:17:01,014 --> 00:17:04,414 - Like, sort of, 9 or 10. - That'll do. 324 00:17:05,254 --> 00:17:07,294 - Just keep going like that. - Yeah. 325 00:17:07,334 --> 00:17:09,774 RICHARD: Till we've sown nice even rows. 326 00:17:12,574 --> 00:17:14,934 Your back'd go quickly doing too much of this. 327 00:17:14,974 --> 00:17:17,374 - It certainly would. - Who would've done it? 328 00:17:17,414 --> 00:17:21,094 It would've been smallholders, small little family farms 329 00:17:21,134 --> 00:17:25,134 cos this is a very cheap form of equipment 330 00:17:25,174 --> 00:17:27,734 rather than the expensive horse-drawn machinery. 331 00:17:27,774 --> 00:17:30,814 And, of course, the whole family could get involved, 332 00:17:30,854 --> 00:17:35,214 children, wives, everyone helping out sowing this crop, 333 00:17:35,254 --> 00:17:37,254 so it's an nice, even space apart. 334 00:17:37,294 --> 00:17:40,294 You can get through when it grows, hoe it and keep weeds down. 335 00:17:40,334 --> 00:17:42,374 - Which is the dibbler, you or me? - Me. 336 00:17:42,414 --> 00:17:44,374 - Can I have a dibble? - I think so. 337 00:17:45,974 --> 00:17:47,934 Thank you. 338 00:17:53,134 --> 00:17:56,374 TONY: I like being the dibbler. RICHARD: You've got the easy job. 339 00:17:56,414 --> 00:17:59,014 TONY: It's better than sticking the seed in. 340 00:17:59,534 --> 00:18:02,094 There's definitely a hierarchy in this job. 341 00:18:02,134 --> 00:18:04,334 RICHARD: Definitely. You are a top dibber. 342 00:18:04,374 --> 00:18:06,534 TONY: Oh, I can go quicker now. 343 00:18:06,574 --> 00:18:09,254 RICHARD: Getting a routine going now, rhythm going. 344 00:18:09,294 --> 00:18:11,574 It's just a little bit monotonous, isn't it? 345 00:18:13,494 --> 00:18:15,454 My arms starting to ache now. 346 00:18:16,414 --> 00:18:18,374 RICHARD: My back is. 347 00:18:24,094 --> 00:18:27,614 If you've ever complained about your job being boring, forget it. 348 00:18:27,654 --> 00:18:29,574 You have no idea. 349 00:18:30,014 --> 00:18:32,014 Try this one. 350 00:18:43,694 --> 00:18:45,734 Actually, I am hard at work here. 351 00:18:45,774 --> 00:18:49,174 I know it doesn't look like it, but I am a herring caller. 352 00:18:49,854 --> 00:18:52,054 My job is to sit here and watch. 353 00:18:52,094 --> 00:18:55,374 And when I see a flock of gulls flying low over the water, 354 00:18:55,414 --> 00:18:57,854 I know that there's a shoal of herring out there. 355 00:18:57,894 --> 00:19:00,774 So I shout out the word, "herring" to the villagers 356 00:19:00,814 --> 00:19:02,774 and they rush out of their houses 357 00:19:02,814 --> 00:19:05,494 and jump in their boats and go and catch them. 358 00:19:07,534 --> 00:19:09,534 But it can take quite a while. 359 00:19:23,494 --> 00:19:27,014 - What are they collecting? - They're collecting stones. 360 00:19:27,054 --> 00:19:29,614 The crops have been sown, it's been two weeks, 361 00:19:29,654 --> 00:19:32,774 and it stands about 2 or 3in above the actual stone now. 362 00:19:32,814 --> 00:19:36,734 There's one thing about this land, it almost grows stone. 363 00:19:36,774 --> 00:19:39,774 They're getting them up off the soil to improve the soil 364 00:19:39,814 --> 00:19:43,094 and get the stones out of the way of the harvesting machines 365 00:19:43,134 --> 00:19:46,054 with their moving blades, which are expensive machines. 366 00:19:46,094 --> 00:19:48,094 So we're using a cheap form of labour 367 00:19:48,134 --> 00:19:50,774 to actually get this potential hazard out of the way. 368 00:19:50,814 --> 00:19:54,174 - What happens to the stones? - They'll go into the cart, 369 00:19:54,214 --> 00:19:56,654 and we can utilise those for making trackways 370 00:19:56,694 --> 00:19:59,134 and little pathways just round and about 371 00:19:59,174 --> 00:20:01,454 and maybe even use them on the parish roads. 372 00:20:01,494 --> 00:20:03,494 What was life like for these kids? 373 00:20:03,534 --> 00:20:06,414 It wouldn't have been nice and sunny like today. 374 00:20:06,454 --> 00:20:08,694 It would've been cold, hard, real drudgery. 375 00:20:08,734 --> 00:20:11,134 They'd have been out all weathers, picking away. 376 00:20:11,174 --> 00:20:13,614 I've got gloves and they didn't have the luxury. 377 00:20:13,654 --> 00:20:16,614 Pretty grim conditions and, of course, at the end of the day, 378 00:20:16,654 --> 00:20:18,654 after a long 10-12hrs work, 379 00:20:18,694 --> 00:20:22,094 getting home to a small, damp, crowded little house, 380 00:20:22,134 --> 00:20:24,134 large families, not much to eat, 381 00:20:24,174 --> 00:20:27,374 probably a little bread and cheese, all in all, pretty grim. 382 00:20:28,174 --> 00:20:31,094 Life was really very tough for Victorian children. 383 00:20:31,774 --> 00:20:34,894 Victorian kids were skinny and undernourished. 384 00:20:34,934 --> 00:20:38,294 Many were beaten and they were drugged to ease their pain 385 00:20:38,334 --> 00:20:40,734 so that they could work even longer hours. 386 00:20:41,294 --> 00:20:45,134 When Parliament outlawed the use of child labour in 1869, 387 00:20:45,174 --> 00:20:47,694 no-one really seemed to take any notice. 388 00:20:52,894 --> 00:20:55,134 Jobs like these may have been boring, 389 00:20:55,174 --> 00:20:57,614 or messy or just plain hard 390 00:20:57,654 --> 00:21:00,814 but they were nothing like facing one of mankind's creepiest 391 00:21:00,854 --> 00:21:03,494 and oldest enemies. The rat. 392 00:21:03,694 --> 00:21:07,774 Welcome to the grim world of the Victorian rat-catcher. 393 00:21:12,894 --> 00:21:15,534 Rats were rampant in Victorian times. 394 00:21:16,094 --> 00:21:20,174 In overcrowded towns, washing and toilet facilities were very poor. 395 00:21:20,214 --> 00:21:23,414 Disease was rife, filth was commonplace. 396 00:21:23,894 --> 00:21:25,894 In one single building in London, 397 00:21:25,934 --> 00:21:28,854 a rat-catcher caught 700 rats. 398 00:21:29,534 --> 00:21:33,694 Everyone needed a rat-catcher and this was the most famous of them, 399 00:21:33,734 --> 00:21:37,414 Jack Black, rat-catcher to Queen Victoria. 400 00:21:37,454 --> 00:21:39,454 Rat-catching was a big business. 401 00:21:39,494 --> 00:21:41,454 There was money to be made. 402 00:21:41,814 --> 00:21:43,814 Rats were very saleable. 403 00:21:44,334 --> 00:21:46,374 He could catch rats 404 00:21:46,414 --> 00:21:48,414 and sell them to publicans, 405 00:21:48,454 --> 00:21:51,934 who were running rat pits in their pubs 406 00:21:51,974 --> 00:21:53,974 a secret, illegal occupation. 407 00:21:54,014 --> 00:21:56,014 - What was a rat pit? - A rat pit is where 408 00:21:56,054 --> 00:21:58,774 they pitch the rats against dogs, probably terriers, 409 00:21:58,814 --> 00:22:01,134 and they had a fight and people betted on them. 410 00:22:01,174 --> 00:22:03,414 TONY: That can't have been much of a market! 411 00:22:03,454 --> 00:22:05,814 Well, one publican in Enfield 412 00:22:05,854 --> 00:22:08,174 was buying 500 rats a week. 413 00:22:08,214 --> 00:22:10,254 That's 26,000 a year. 414 00:22:10,294 --> 00:22:12,894 That's thruppence a head. Work it out for yourself. 415 00:22:12,934 --> 00:22:15,854 Presumably, they had rat poison in those days, though. 416 00:22:15,894 --> 00:22:19,334 Yes. Rat-catchers used to make their own poisons. Secret recipe. 417 00:22:19,374 --> 00:22:21,214 Here's an example. 418 00:22:21,254 --> 00:22:25,294 Now, a rat-catcher would go to a marketplace 419 00:22:25,334 --> 00:22:27,814 with his poison to sell to the general public 420 00:22:27,854 --> 00:22:30,254 because rats were a problem then as they are now. 421 00:22:30,294 --> 00:22:33,454 And he might have a cage with many, many rats in. 422 00:22:33,494 --> 00:22:35,894 And to demonstrate the efficacy of his poison, 423 00:22:35,934 --> 00:22:37,934 he'd take a live rat out of his cage, 424 00:22:37,974 --> 00:22:40,054 give it the poison and fssst! There you go! 425 00:22:40,534 --> 00:22:43,094 Killing rats using poison was easy. 426 00:22:43,134 --> 00:22:46,014 What made this one of the worst jobs of the age 427 00:22:46,054 --> 00:22:48,134 was when they had to catch them live. 428 00:22:49,174 --> 00:22:51,174 They did it by hand. 429 00:22:52,134 --> 00:22:54,134 Rat-catchers attracted the rats 430 00:22:54,174 --> 00:22:57,254 by rubbing a mixture of sweet- smelling oils on their hands. 431 00:22:57,974 --> 00:23:01,214 This worked. But rats bite, a lot. 432 00:23:01,854 --> 00:23:04,614 Rat-catchers often caught terrible infections. 433 00:23:04,654 --> 00:23:07,494 You'd need to be an idiot to put your hand blindly 434 00:23:07,534 --> 00:23:10,734 in a hole after a rat. Wouldn't you? 435 00:23:10,774 --> 00:23:13,214 I smell like an old-fashioned boiled sweet. 436 00:23:14,014 --> 00:23:15,974 I think those rats are gonna love that. 437 00:23:16,414 --> 00:23:19,860 438 00:23:19,980 --> 00:23:21,580 439 00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:25,700 The problem is, half the time you don't know 440 00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:28,060 whether you can hear something rustling 441 00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:31,820 or whether it's just you leaning on the... (RAT SQUEAKS) 442 00:23:31,860 --> 00:23:36,700 D'you hear that? That is...that is definitely something live. 443 00:23:37,220 --> 00:23:39,220 Seemed like a good idea at the time 444 00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:43,700 but, quite honestly, when you just stick your defenceless hand... 445 00:23:45,340 --> 00:23:47,900 ..in here and you've no idea - there isn't anything here - 446 00:23:47,940 --> 00:23:50,540 what's going to be...on the other end, 447 00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:53,740 it is a little bit scary. 448 00:23:54,460 --> 00:23:58,460 There's been no noise in here at all for the last 2 or 3 minutes. 449 00:23:58,500 --> 00:24:00,460 That's my hand, not...not a rat. 450 00:24:00,980 --> 00:24:04,820 Oh, I've got something! I've got something furry, definitely. 451 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:07,620 And it's wiggling, it's horrible! 452 00:24:07,660 --> 00:24:09,980 I don't...I just don't wanna hurt it, 453 00:24:10,020 --> 00:24:12,860 but, I suppose, that wasn't really the issue for... 454 00:24:12,900 --> 00:24:15,580 Oh, there it is! There it is. 455 00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:20,020 Ow! Thought it was gonna bite me there. 456 00:24:20,860 --> 00:24:23,540 - So what do you think now? - It's kind of cute. 457 00:24:23,580 --> 00:24:25,940 But it's also fairly disgusting. 458 00:24:25,980 --> 00:24:28,260 I don't think I would like to do this every day. 459 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:30,460 - Shall I take it? - Yeah. 460 00:24:52,460 --> 00:24:54,420 Herring! 461 00:24:55,820 --> 00:24:57,780 Herring! 462 00:24:58,900 --> 00:25:00,860 Herring! 463 00:25:03,180 --> 00:25:05,140 I think they're all asleep. 464 00:25:10,860 --> 00:25:12,820 An anchovy. 465 00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:23,340 Top of virtually everyone's list of worst jobs of the Victorian era 466 00:25:23,380 --> 00:25:25,460 has gotta be child chimney sweep. 467 00:25:25,500 --> 00:25:27,500 But according to Dick Van Dyke, 468 00:25:27,540 --> 00:25:30,020 "a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be". 469 00:25:30,060 --> 00:25:32,020 Was it really such a bad job? 470 00:25:33,700 --> 00:25:35,700 Sending little boys up chimneys 471 00:25:35,740 --> 00:25:38,100 was actually made illegal in 1840. 472 00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:43,100 24 years later, the act had to be strengthened 473 00:25:43,140 --> 00:25:45,100 because people just ignored it. 474 00:25:47,940 --> 00:25:51,940 Lesley, did they really put little children as young as Daniel 475 00:25:51,980 --> 00:25:53,980 up the chimney? - I am afraid they did, 476 00:25:54,020 --> 00:25:56,020 children even younger than Daniel. 477 00:25:56,060 --> 00:26:00,100 Daniel's eight and children of six and seven were sent up chimneys. 478 00:26:00,140 --> 00:26:02,500 Why didn't they just shove big brushes up? 479 00:26:02,540 --> 00:26:05,380 There were lots of very poor children around 480 00:26:05,420 --> 00:26:08,460 who'd got stunted growth from bad nutrition. 481 00:26:08,500 --> 00:26:12,260 And they were very, very slim, and they were very, very agile 482 00:26:12,300 --> 00:26:15,220 and could handle a little brush like that superbly 483 00:26:15,260 --> 00:26:18,500 for sweeping down the soot. - Right, you scruffy little urchin, 484 00:26:18,540 --> 00:26:20,500 get up that chimney (!) 485 00:26:24,700 --> 00:26:26,900 Lesley, how much did they pay these kids? 486 00:26:26,940 --> 00:26:29,580 Well, they didn't pay them anything at all, actually. 487 00:26:30,420 --> 00:26:33,620 Kids of about six and seven, often orphans, 488 00:26:33,660 --> 00:26:35,940 or kids looked after by the parish, 489 00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:38,580 they'd apprentice them to a master sweep. 490 00:26:38,620 --> 00:26:41,500 And the idea was the master sweep would care for them, 491 00:26:41,540 --> 00:26:44,540 feed them, clothe them, give them a living, 492 00:26:44,580 --> 00:26:47,660 until such time as they were too big to go up the chimney. 493 00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:49,700 Then the problem is, of course, 494 00:26:49,740 --> 00:26:52,780 the master sweeps were out to make as much money as they could. 495 00:26:52,820 --> 00:26:56,460 So the kids didn't get paid. They'd get very meagre food. 496 00:26:56,500 --> 00:27:00,060 Often that meant they got stunted growth, they were very slim. 497 00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:02,180 TONY: Daniel! - Yeah. 498 00:27:02,220 --> 00:27:04,660 You all right in there? You're not stuck, are you? 499 00:27:04,700 --> 00:27:07,700 - Just a little bit. - What you doing? 500 00:27:07,740 --> 00:27:09,740 I'm cleaning. 501 00:27:09,780 --> 00:27:11,820 TONY: What was it like up in the chimney? 502 00:27:11,860 --> 00:27:15,100 Very tight-fitting. I mean, often, on a chimney like this, 503 00:27:15,140 --> 00:27:17,140 you'd have your main chimney 504 00:27:17,180 --> 00:27:19,820 but you'd have flues going off from the main chimney. 505 00:27:19,860 --> 00:27:22,860 So very, very narrow areas that they had to climb in. 506 00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:26,180 TONY: Suppose you were in there for about 3 hours 507 00:27:26,220 --> 00:27:29,500 and there was loads of chimney soot and stuff. 508 00:27:29,940 --> 00:27:31,900 DANIEL: I would cough a lot and... 509 00:27:32,940 --> 00:27:35,540 ..get squashed by the space 510 00:27:35,580 --> 00:27:37,540 because you're in this tight space. 511 00:27:38,020 --> 00:27:41,940 LESLEY: Kids did get stuck. Kids died of respiratory problems. 512 00:27:41,980 --> 00:27:45,220 Sometimes, they got stuck in there and nobody could get them out. 513 00:27:45,260 --> 00:27:47,220 So it was a very tragic life. 514 00:27:47,660 --> 00:27:49,780 TONY: You wanna come out? - Yeah! 515 00:27:50,180 --> 00:27:53,060 All right, finish your cleaning, then you can come. 516 00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:55,060 OK. 517 00:28:09,060 --> 00:28:11,900 As industry grew in the Victorian period, 518 00:28:11,940 --> 00:28:15,660 mass production broke jobs down into individual tasks 519 00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:18,420 that were unbelievably repetitive and dull. 520 00:28:19,060 --> 00:28:22,260 Label sticking was the Mount Everest of dull. 521 00:28:23,260 --> 00:28:25,580 This was as good as it got for a lot of people. 522 00:28:25,620 --> 00:28:27,580 There was nowhere else to go. 523 00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:32,540 But, ironically, one of the great men of the age 524 00:28:32,580 --> 00:28:34,580 started off here. 525 00:28:34,620 --> 00:28:36,580 This is a very boring job. 526 00:28:37,460 --> 00:28:40,300 Charles Dickens was a label sticker as a lad 527 00:28:40,340 --> 00:28:42,340 before going on to write the novels 528 00:28:42,380 --> 00:28:44,820 which give us our clearest pictures of the age. 529 00:28:46,260 --> 00:28:48,300 We know a lot about the Victorians 530 00:28:48,340 --> 00:28:50,860 because in their curiosity to explore life, 531 00:28:50,900 --> 00:28:53,100 they documented almost everything. 532 00:28:54,220 --> 00:28:56,220 Even something like this. 533 00:28:56,260 --> 00:28:59,660 I am a cigar-end collector. And why? 534 00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:02,860 Because I can sell them back to the cigar manufacturers 535 00:29:02,900 --> 00:29:04,900 or on to people who want to smoke 536 00:29:04,940 --> 00:29:06,900 but can't afford to buy full cigars. 537 00:29:08,060 --> 00:29:11,460 We know of people who did jobs like this from Henry Mayhew, 538 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:13,860 who documented the poor of London. 539 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:15,900 And some of the worst jobs he found 540 00:29:15,940 --> 00:29:18,100 were jobs involving scavenging. 541 00:29:19,460 --> 00:29:22,780 Why was there so much scavenging in Victorian times? 542 00:29:22,820 --> 00:29:26,220 There'd always been people scavenging on the streets. 543 00:29:26,260 --> 00:29:28,260 But during the Victorian period, 544 00:29:28,300 --> 00:29:30,660 England was becoming more and more urbanised. 545 00:29:30,700 --> 00:29:33,420 More people were moving into the towns and the cities. 546 00:29:33,460 --> 00:29:36,260 And they were producing a lot more rubbish and refuse. 547 00:29:36,300 --> 00:29:38,380 Plus, there were just more and more people 548 00:29:38,420 --> 00:29:40,460 who needed to find employment 549 00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:42,500 and some way to feed themselves. 550 00:29:42,540 --> 00:29:46,620 This guy with the tall hat over here, what's he scavenging? 551 00:29:46,660 --> 00:29:49,700 Are these ham bones, chicken bones? 552 00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:53,660 KAREN: These're all sorts of bones this bone grubber has picked up 553 00:29:53,700 --> 00:29:56,820 outside houses and just in the streets of London. 554 00:29:56,860 --> 00:29:58,860 And they were a very valuable commodity 555 00:29:58,900 --> 00:30:01,220 because he could sell them on to bone mills. 556 00:30:01,260 --> 00:30:03,620 And they would be ground up and used for manure, 557 00:30:03,660 --> 00:30:05,820 and to produce soap and other products. 558 00:30:06,660 --> 00:30:09,340 Phwoar! Those don't smell very fresh, do they? 559 00:30:09,380 --> 00:30:11,380 What about this burly-looking guy? 560 00:30:11,420 --> 00:30:13,860 Looks like the coal man we had when I was a kid. 561 00:30:13,900 --> 00:30:15,900 Well, he's actually a dustman. 562 00:30:15,940 --> 00:30:18,860 So he's going around households emptying dustbins 563 00:30:18,900 --> 00:30:21,060 and collecting the dust and cinders there. 564 00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:23,820 - That's what we've got. Dust. - That's right. 565 00:30:23,860 --> 00:30:26,740 Most of the rubbish Victorian households were producing 566 00:30:26,780 --> 00:30:29,300 was the dust and cinder from fires. 567 00:30:29,340 --> 00:30:32,340 And this dust would be taken by pony and cart 568 00:30:32,380 --> 00:30:35,100 to some of the enormous dust-yards around the city. 569 00:30:35,140 --> 00:30:37,460 And the dust there would be sifted and sorted. 570 00:30:37,500 --> 00:30:39,500 Some of it would go for manure, 571 00:30:39,540 --> 00:30:41,580 some of it for making bricks. 572 00:30:41,620 --> 00:30:46,140 There'd be a lot of other useful and valuable things mixed in. 573 00:30:46,180 --> 00:30:48,940 KAREN: So, there will be things like old boots and shoes 574 00:30:48,980 --> 00:30:52,020 and jewellery and rags and bones. 575 00:30:52,060 --> 00:30:54,340 All kinds of things that had a sell-on value. 576 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:56,900 This is a rather sinister looking guy. 577 00:30:56,940 --> 00:30:58,940 What about this? What's that for? 578 00:30:58,980 --> 00:31:01,460 Well, this man is a tosher or a sewer-hunter. 579 00:31:01,500 --> 00:31:05,260 So he made his living going down London's ramshackle sewers, 580 00:31:05,620 --> 00:31:09,420 finding coins, jewellery, silver-plated cutlery. 581 00:31:09,460 --> 00:31:12,820 And he would use this hoe to poke around in the old brickwork. 582 00:31:12,860 --> 00:31:16,060 Also, if he fell into difficulty, if he got stuck in a quagmire, 583 00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:18,740 he could use this hoe to try and lift himself out 584 00:31:18,780 --> 00:31:20,980 before he...he sunk without a trace. 585 00:31:21,020 --> 00:31:23,300 Are these the premier league of scavengers? 586 00:31:23,340 --> 00:31:25,340 These are the elite of scavengers 587 00:31:25,380 --> 00:31:27,660 because they could make as much as 2 a week 588 00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:30,260 from the items that they found down in the sewers. 589 00:31:30,300 --> 00:31:33,180 And they had to be very fit, very strong, very healthy 590 00:31:33,220 --> 00:31:35,900 because they faced a lot of dangers down in the sewers, 591 00:31:35,940 --> 00:31:37,940 from attacks from rats, 592 00:31:37,980 --> 00:31:40,740 from the poisonous fumes that were down in the sewers. 593 00:31:41,660 --> 00:31:44,140 Rummaging around in bins like these guys, 594 00:31:44,180 --> 00:31:48,540 collecting dust and even bits of bone were pretty horrible jobs. 595 00:31:48,580 --> 00:31:50,580 But they weren't the worst. 596 00:31:50,620 --> 00:31:53,900 The worst scavenging job was down here on the shore. 597 00:31:54,260 --> 00:31:57,340 This place had 50 people a day working here. 598 00:31:57,380 --> 00:32:01,980 The name sounds charming but the job of mudlark certainly wasn't. 599 00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:05,580 In Victorian times, this was a grim place to be. 600 00:32:06,260 --> 00:32:08,260 It would have been incredibly smelly. 601 00:32:08,300 --> 00:32:11,700 The River Thames was basically like an open sewer. 602 00:32:11,740 --> 00:32:14,940 The majority of London's population, 603 00:32:14,980 --> 00:32:18,940 their sewage just went straight into the river, untreated. 604 00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:22,460 There were other things that were going into the river as well. 605 00:32:23,060 --> 00:32:25,980 Things like offal from the city's slaughterhouses, 606 00:32:26,020 --> 00:32:29,660 vegetable waste from the wholesale markets, 607 00:32:29,700 --> 00:32:32,620 even things like dead dogs, dead cats, 608 00:32:32,660 --> 00:32:36,340 even bodies from murdered people who had been tossed into the river. 609 00:32:36,380 --> 00:32:39,580 Who were the people poking around here looking for stuff? 610 00:32:39,620 --> 00:32:41,620 These were the mudlarks. 611 00:32:41,660 --> 00:32:44,020 They were really the most wretched of people. 612 00:32:44,060 --> 00:32:47,580 They were very young children who were perhaps orphans, 613 00:32:48,260 --> 00:32:50,820 old women who were either widowed 614 00:32:50,860 --> 00:32:54,100 or perhaps their husbands had turned to drink and couldn't work. 615 00:32:54,140 --> 00:32:57,180 They were the people who were on the verge of destitution. 616 00:32:57,220 --> 00:33:00,500 They had no choice. They were forced to come onto the foreshore 617 00:33:00,540 --> 00:33:03,820 to try and find any tiny scrap that they could sell on. 618 00:33:03,860 --> 00:33:06,780 Is this the kind of thing people would've been looking for? 619 00:33:06,820 --> 00:33:08,820 That's exactly the sort of thing. 620 00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:11,620 And any old bits of coal, bits of wood, 621 00:33:11,660 --> 00:33:13,660 bits of metal, particularly copper. 622 00:33:13,700 --> 00:33:16,100 Copper was a particularly prized metal. 623 00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:19,660 And things like rags and bones and old bits of rope. 624 00:33:19,700 --> 00:33:22,620 - They can't have made much money. - They certainly didn't. 625 00:33:22,660 --> 00:33:24,660 They would be lucky if they made 626 00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:28,460 maybe a penny or two pennies a day from what they could pick up. 627 00:33:28,500 --> 00:33:32,100 So, these were people who were pretty much destitute. 628 00:33:32,140 --> 00:33:34,980 - They worked long hours? - They'd only work at low tides, 629 00:33:35,020 --> 00:33:38,420 so that was only for about an hour and a half every day. 630 00:33:38,460 --> 00:33:41,940 So, not only were they working in the most stinking place 631 00:33:41,980 --> 00:33:43,980 and making no money, 632 00:33:44,020 --> 00:33:46,940 but they didn't have decent hours to try and make a bit more. 633 00:33:46,980 --> 00:33:48,940 That's right. 634 00:33:56,260 --> 00:33:58,340 You may think that these scavenging jobs, 635 00:33:58,380 --> 00:34:02,260 cigar-end collecting, mudlarking, bone-picking, 636 00:34:02,300 --> 00:34:04,980 were the worst, and sure they were terrible. 637 00:34:05,020 --> 00:34:07,020 But, they weren't the poorest. 638 00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:09,420 Below them were the very worst jobs. 639 00:34:09,460 --> 00:34:12,140 Because the really destitute ended up here 640 00:34:12,180 --> 00:34:14,140 in the workhouse. 641 00:34:14,860 --> 00:34:17,940 There were workhouses before the Victorian period 642 00:34:17,980 --> 00:34:20,780 but the Victorians took them a stage further. 643 00:34:20,820 --> 00:34:23,180 The new Poor Laws of 1834 644 00:34:23,220 --> 00:34:25,420 made them even nastier than they had been. 645 00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:29,900 The whole point about the workhouse was that the jobs you did 646 00:34:29,940 --> 00:34:32,420 had to be worse than anything outside. 647 00:34:32,460 --> 00:34:34,620 Even so, in the 1850s, 648 00:34:34,660 --> 00:34:38,460 there were 200,000 people in workhouses all over the country. 649 00:34:38,900 --> 00:34:42,260 For these people, this was about as low as you could go. 650 00:34:42,860 --> 00:34:45,180 Once in, it was very difficult to get out. 651 00:34:45,220 --> 00:34:47,220 Men were separated from women, 652 00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:49,380 the able-bodied from those less fit. 653 00:34:49,860 --> 00:34:53,260 And all the jobs were intended to punish you for being poor. 654 00:34:54,540 --> 00:34:57,660 - So the first job is what? - First job is stone breaking. 655 00:34:57,700 --> 00:35:00,860 - Pretty nasty. - The archetypal punishment job. 656 00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:02,900 It really is, yes. 657 00:35:02,940 --> 00:35:05,780 I can't imagine that they would have had these 658 00:35:05,820 --> 00:35:07,900 in the workhouse. - They never had those. 659 00:35:07,940 --> 00:35:10,060 So what do I've to do? Just hit the stone? 660 00:35:10,100 --> 00:35:13,100 You've got to hit that and break it into really small pieces 661 00:35:13,140 --> 00:35:15,980 because the stone would have been used for mending roads. 662 00:35:18,340 --> 00:35:20,500 - Didn't do anything. Just smoked. - No, no. 663 00:35:20,540 --> 00:35:23,060 - Keep going. - Everybody had to do this job? 664 00:35:23,100 --> 00:35:25,940 No, not everybody. It was such an awful job. 665 00:35:26,980 --> 00:35:28,980 - Hey! Yes! - Well done! 666 00:35:29,020 --> 00:35:32,180 Only the casuals and the tramps were...were given that. 667 00:35:32,220 --> 00:35:35,460 I can understand that. They wouldn't have wanted to stay long. 668 00:35:35,500 --> 00:35:37,540 - No. - Aw! 669 00:35:37,580 --> 00:35:39,780 They would've done this for a day. 670 00:35:39,820 --> 00:35:42,060 - A day? - Just for one day's work. 671 00:35:42,460 --> 00:35:44,660 What would they get for having done it? 672 00:35:44,700 --> 00:35:48,100 They'd get a bed for the night and a meal. 673 00:35:54,940 --> 00:35:57,620 - They small enough? - You need to get them all 674 00:35:57,660 --> 00:35:59,660 about this size. - Why is that? 675 00:35:59,700 --> 00:36:02,660 You got to pass them through a mesh in the wall, 676 00:36:02,700 --> 00:36:05,300 a metal mesh in the wall of the stone-breaking cell. 677 00:36:05,340 --> 00:36:08,220 They've got to be small enough to be used in road building. 678 00:36:08,260 --> 00:36:11,500 If you couldn't get them through the mesh, you had to break it again. 679 00:36:11,540 --> 00:36:14,260 So, I've got to get all this lot that size. 680 00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:16,260 Yeah. 681 00:36:19,460 --> 00:36:21,620 Oooh! 682 00:36:22,860 --> 00:36:24,900 I think I've got the hang of this thing now. 683 00:36:25,460 --> 00:36:28,020 - What's next? - Next is oakum picking. 684 00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:30,060 - Where's that? - Over here. 685 00:36:36,260 --> 00:36:38,340 What's oakum, Des? And how do you pick it? 686 00:36:38,740 --> 00:36:42,460 Well, to start with, you've got a bit of rope or cable 687 00:36:42,500 --> 00:36:45,060 that you then have to break up right the way down. 688 00:36:45,100 --> 00:36:47,540 This is a piece of rope and you're breaking it down 689 00:36:47,580 --> 00:36:49,540 into the strands. - Yeah. 690 00:36:50,220 --> 00:36:52,220 And then having got a strand, 691 00:36:52,260 --> 00:36:54,260 you break it right down into the yarn. 692 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:56,300 And then you got to break that yarn 693 00:36:56,340 --> 00:36:59,020 down into the actual fibres of the hemp. 694 00:36:59,060 --> 00:37:01,060 So what's the oakum? 695 00:37:01,100 --> 00:37:03,460 The oakum is the raw fibre. 696 00:37:03,500 --> 00:37:06,340 It's, sort of, the unmaking of the old rope. 697 00:37:06,380 --> 00:37:08,660 What's the point? What happens to this? 698 00:37:08,700 --> 00:37:12,340 Because then it goes back to the shipyards and to the vessels, 699 00:37:12,380 --> 00:37:14,460 where it's rolled together 700 00:37:14,500 --> 00:37:17,620 to...form...a thin...sausage 701 00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:20,700 that is then banged into the...the joints 702 00:37:20,740 --> 00:37:23,740 in the...in the planking to stop it leaking. 703 00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:25,780 Who are the people who did this? 704 00:37:25,820 --> 00:37:28,220 FRANCES: Able-bodied inmates in the workhouse. 705 00:37:28,740 --> 00:37:32,380 But their fingers used to bleed at the end of a couple of hours. 706 00:37:34,860 --> 00:37:37,220 TONY: When you start doing this, it seems easy. 707 00:37:37,260 --> 00:37:39,420 It's money for old rope. 708 00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:43,260 But...the more that you have to get your fingers 709 00:37:43,300 --> 00:37:47,380 into these tiny clagged-up little threads, the harder it gets. 710 00:37:47,420 --> 00:37:49,420 And it just...get...cuts in 711 00:37:49,460 --> 00:37:51,580 to your fingers and your thumbs. 712 00:37:51,620 --> 00:37:54,940 A bit like that, which looks like you could do in no time at all. 713 00:37:54,980 --> 00:37:57,980 By the time you've pulled it out into its constituent parts, 714 00:37:58,020 --> 00:38:00,260 there's just loads and loads and loads of it. 715 00:38:00,300 --> 00:38:02,300 And if you'd have been having to produce 716 00:38:02,340 --> 00:38:04,340 POUNDS of this stuff a day, 717 00:38:04,380 --> 00:38:06,700 you'd have had to be going for hour after hour. 718 00:38:08,540 --> 00:38:10,540 I suppose the thing about this job 719 00:38:10,580 --> 00:38:13,020 is that if you were in a workhouse, you had to do it. 720 00:38:13,060 --> 00:38:15,380 Yes, you had to do whatever jobs they gave you. 721 00:38:15,420 --> 00:38:17,820 You had no choice in the matter. - So in a way, 722 00:38:18,460 --> 00:38:22,540 however awful the other jobs were, at least it was your choice. 723 00:38:22,660 --> 00:38:24,660 Here they took away your dignity. 724 00:38:24,700 --> 00:38:27,180 They did, indeed. And some of the jobs were so bad. 725 00:38:27,220 --> 00:38:29,340 Like, this was given to workhouse inmates 726 00:38:29,380 --> 00:38:32,100 but they didn't give it to prisoners in jails to do. 727 00:38:33,460 --> 00:38:36,380 DES: You're not picking very fast. - I was thinking. 728 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:39,540 (LAUGHTER) DES: No room for thinking. 729 00:38:39,580 --> 00:38:42,500 You don't come to the workhouse to think. You come to... 730 00:38:42,540 --> 00:38:44,500 TONY: ..work. DES: Yeah. 731 00:38:54,660 --> 00:38:57,500 Horses were a key part of Victorian life. 732 00:38:57,540 --> 00:38:59,860 For carriages, for heavy lifting, 733 00:38:59,900 --> 00:39:03,380 for travelling, for work, for pleasure, you name it. 734 00:39:03,780 --> 00:39:05,860 But wherever you've got horses, 735 00:39:05,900 --> 00:39:07,860 you've got lots of bits and pieces. 736 00:39:08,300 --> 00:39:10,340 Bags, saddles, stirrups. 737 00:39:10,980 --> 00:39:12,980 And they've all got one thing in common - 738 00:39:13,020 --> 00:39:15,020 leather. 739 00:39:15,060 --> 00:39:18,340 The problem with leather is that it took a long time to make 740 00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:20,380 and was a messy process. 741 00:39:20,420 --> 00:39:23,860 Beautiful polished leather like this used on these horses 742 00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:27,420 took 15 months' work by a whole factory worth of people 743 00:39:27,460 --> 00:39:29,660 working in pretty grim conditions. 744 00:39:34,460 --> 00:39:37,380 So far, I've tried cleaning out steam engines. 745 00:39:37,420 --> 00:39:40,500 That was pretty disgusting. 746 00:39:41,260 --> 00:39:44,220 The job of the navvy was hard, dangerous work. 747 00:39:44,260 --> 00:39:47,060 Oh, my legs, come off the duck board. Urgh! 748 00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:51,020 And the scavenging jobs really were horrible, 749 00:39:51,060 --> 00:39:54,020 though at least they kept you out of the workhouse. 750 00:39:54,060 --> 00:39:56,380 But there's one worst job 751 00:39:56,420 --> 00:39:59,900 that's head and shoulders worse than any job in Victorian times. 752 00:40:00,260 --> 00:40:03,020 A job so bad that if you wanted to do it, 753 00:40:03,060 --> 00:40:06,260 you had to live and work apart from everyone else in the village. 754 00:40:06,300 --> 00:40:08,620 The job of being a tanner. 755 00:40:08,660 --> 00:40:11,020 And I don't mean working in a beauty salon. 756 00:40:11,060 --> 00:40:13,860 If scraping the raw flesh off dead animals, 757 00:40:13,900 --> 00:40:17,900 then soaking them in pools of water and dog faeces, appeals, 758 00:40:18,540 --> 00:40:20,500 then this is the job for you. 759 00:40:22,860 --> 00:40:26,460 Every little town in Victorian Britain had its own tannery. 760 00:40:26,860 --> 00:40:29,060 Leather was an enormously important part 761 00:40:29,100 --> 00:40:31,060 of everyday life. 762 00:40:33,780 --> 00:40:36,180 This tannery is the last in the country 763 00:40:36,220 --> 00:40:38,700 to make leather in the same way as the Victorians. 764 00:40:39,460 --> 00:40:41,420 First you need a dead cow. 765 00:40:41,860 --> 00:40:43,860 To turn it into tooled leather, 766 00:40:43,900 --> 00:40:45,900 the work is heavy and smelly. 767 00:40:45,940 --> 00:40:47,900 Really smelly. 768 00:40:48,420 --> 00:40:51,560 769 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:53,360 770 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,960 - What do we call this place? - This is the lime yard. 771 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,680 - What happens here? - The first process. 772 00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:05,720 Once the hides have come to us, we are de-hairing the hides here. 773 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,320 So what we've done is, we've mixed up water and hydrated lime 774 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:13,360 and that lime is gonna loosen the hair by the roots. 775 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,040 And also, it'll swell the fat on the inside 776 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,080 so that it's easy to cut off. 777 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,880 When they've been in there a fortnight, we pull them out 778 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,520 and they are ready for de-hairing and fleshing. 779 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,960 - How do I get it out? - Pick up the crook there. 780 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,000 And if you put it right into the far... 781 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,800 into the belly part of the hide...as far as you can go. 782 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:34,840 - That's about right. - Yeah. 783 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,920 It's a bit of a smell, isn't it? Cor! 784 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,520 It's like gone-off gravy? ANDREW: Possibly. 785 00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,680 You'll get used to it. - Cor! 786 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:46,280 It's heavy too, isn't it? ANDREW: It is heavy. 787 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:53,200 - So what do we do now, Andrew? - This has to go up over the beam. 788 00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:57,200 - We've got to get this onto that. - That's right. 789 00:41:57,240 --> 00:41:59,560 ANDREW: It's a nice, big, heavy hide. 790 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,040 TONY: It's pretty heavy. How much does it weigh? 791 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,960 - 100kg. - You've got plastic gloves on. 792 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,520 - And tights! - I haven't. 793 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,120 ANDREW: That's all right, it won't do you any harm. 794 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:20,320 Oh, it's all skidding under my fingers. 795 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,160 WORKER: Here, you get that corner there. We'll pull it up. 796 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:28,480 Look, bits of hair coming away on your hands all the time. 797 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,200 -Now we get the hair off? - You have to work it down 798 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:37,760 with the de-hairing tool. It's all yours! 799 00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:45,040 Oh, it comes away lovely, doesn't it? 800 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:47,040 WORKER: Not too bad at all, is it? 801 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,040 TONY: I think I'm even getting used to the smell. 802 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,560 - You will get used to it. - Do you even notice it? 803 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,000 I don't, but my wife do when I gets home night times. 804 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:58,880 I'm not surprised. I'm surprised she's still there! 805 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:01,480 How many of these would they do in a day? 806 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:04,680 ANDREW: Well, it depends. A good man would do 15-20. 807 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:06,720 This was pretty heavy work, wasn't it? 808 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,800 ANDREW: This is the heaviest work there was in the lime yard. 809 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,400 It was always the least popular job, lime yard work. 810 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:15,760 Funny that (!) How's that looking, Andrew? 811 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:18,640 Now, let's have a look, see how you're getting on. 812 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:23,080 You're leaving a few short hairs, you've got to get all these out. 813 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:26,160 Cos once it goes into the tan yard, the hair won't come out. 814 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:30,720 This was a bit gross but the swollen, fatty bit on the inside 815 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,400 took us into a whole new league, 816 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,800 and I'm talking Premier, not Nationwide Conference. 817 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:39,320 ANDREW: You want to keep the blade flat... 818 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,640 ..to the hide cos it's on an angle anyway. 819 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,800 The blade gets clogged up with the fat, doesn't it? 820 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:49,840 Yeah. 821 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:51,920 Have to keep clearing it off all the time. 822 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,360 WORKER: It's very sharp, so watch your fingers. 823 00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:59,320 - Right. Let's have... - You're welcome. 824 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,680 It's hard to keep the blade in your hands 825 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:04,600 because it's so wet and sticky. ANDREW: Hmm. 826 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,280 It keeps trying to run away from you, doesn't it? 827 00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:19,760 The old smell's coming up again. Dear, oh dear! 828 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:23,680 This is fatty but not so horrible. 829 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:26,640 WORKER: Your hands will stink after this. (LAUGHS) 830 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:29,720 OH, GOD! 831 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:31,720 (COUGHS) 832 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,160 Phwoar! Take over for a bit while I go and die in a corner. 833 00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,520 But so far, we haven't seen any dog poo, have we? 834 00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:46,960 You haven't. What happens is when the hide's being cleaned, 835 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,000 so it's been fleshed and de-haired. 836 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,560 It's then ready for de-liming or bating, 837 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,600 as they used to say in the old days. 838 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:55,640 The bating was a mixture 839 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,080 of dog dung and chicken dung 840 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,560 in a pit with water, and then warmed up. 841 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,640 And they used the bacteria from the dung. 842 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:07,000 It used to work on the hide or the fibres of the hide and soften it. 843 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,320 The idea was...you only had to put it in for a short time. 844 00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,640 But the old boys used to keep it for weeks 845 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,320 because the older it was, the more bacteria there was in there. 846 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,560 So you'd get this smell, 847 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:21,160 which is pretty difficult to work in, 848 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,160 and then, in addition to that, 849 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:28,000 there'd be this kinda chicken and dog poo gravy 850 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:30,440 that they heated up. - Yes. 851 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,960 Particularly in thundery weather, it used to work on its own. 852 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:36,040 If you kept it here for any length of time, 853 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:38,080 then the whole village used to smell it. 854 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,520 She's a long-suffering woman, your wife. 855 00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:42,520 WORKER: She must be, that's right. 856 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:47,320 'I've done some foul jobs in this series 857 00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:51,360 but being a tanner, has a claim to being the worst job of all.' 858 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,360 OH, GOD! 859 00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,680 When we think of history, we tend to think of places like this, 860 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:02,720 and the kings and the queens 861 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,440 and the great discoveries and the big battles. 862 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:10,040 But without the tanner and the fuller, 863 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,400 the men who looked after knights and kept their armour shining, 864 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,280 and the loblolly boys and the saltpetre men, 865 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:20,000 and the grooms of the stool, none of this would have happened. 866 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:22,360 We owe them a lot. 867 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,600 The people who did some of the worst jobs in history 868 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,320 shaped the world in which we live. 869 00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:47,600