1 00:00:37,374 --> 00:00:40,366 (CLOCK STRIKES) 2 00:00:54,054 --> 00:00:59,287 The British government calls it Londonderry. Most who live here call it Derry. 3 00:00:59,454 --> 00:01:05,290 This is the first sign of the deep divisions that have shaped the city's history. 4 00:01:15,294 --> 00:01:17,728 Reminders of war dominate. 5 00:01:17,894 --> 00:01:23,287 The great stone walls were built round a town called Derry nearly 400 years ago 6 00:01:23,454 --> 00:01:27,163 to protect colonists from England and Scotland 7 00:01:27,334 --> 00:01:31,373 to whose settlement James I gave the name of Londonderry. 8 00:01:35,214 --> 00:01:39,093 Today's fortifications are the legacy of that decision. 9 00:01:43,414 --> 00:01:48,204 The present Troubles began down here in the Bogside 25 years ago. 10 00:01:49,374 --> 00:01:51,365 But Ireland never had it easy. 11 00:01:51,534 --> 00:01:55,004 150 years ago, my great-grandmother fled the country 12 00:01:55,174 --> 00:01:58,484 from the potato famines that claimed so many lives. 13 00:01:58,654 --> 00:02:04,411 My railway journey, which begins here in Derry, is, in a sense, two journeys. 14 00:02:04,574 --> 00:02:09,523 One tracing that best-kept of transport secrets - the Irish Railway system - 15 00:02:09,694 --> 00:02:15,052 and the other an attempt to trace the Palin line back to my own Irish ancestor. 16 00:02:17,614 --> 00:02:22,005 I begin this journey into the past by trying to catch up with the present, 17 00:02:22,174 --> 00:02:26,292 to find out what it feels like to live in the middle of conflict. 18 00:02:26,454 --> 00:02:30,333 Well, Derry seems to be undergoing something of a revival. 19 00:02:30,494 --> 00:02:33,566 There's investment in housing and tourism. 20 00:02:33,734 --> 00:02:39,331 They've restored a stretch of the Donegal Railway as a link line to the main station. 21 00:02:40,814 --> 00:02:44,284 It's here, on a 60-year-old rail bus by the River Foyle, 22 00:02:44,454 --> 00:02:47,764 I met Kate Bond, born and bred in the city. 23 00:02:47,934 --> 00:02:52,644 Derry, to most outsiders - or Londonderry, I'm never sure which - 24 00:02:52,814 --> 00:02:58,810 is synonymous with the present Troubles which began here 25 years ago. 25 00:02:58,974 --> 00:03:02,171 - That's right. - How did that affect your childhood? 26 00:03:02,334 --> 00:03:06,612 - How aware were you of it? - You are aware of it. 27 00:03:06,774 --> 00:03:11,689 I have a lot of memories of coming home from school and being caught up in riots. 28 00:03:11,854 --> 00:03:15,893 Tear gas. I can remember getting stoned a few times 29 00:03:16,054 --> 00:03:20,172 because your uniform denotes what school you're from. 30 00:03:20,334 --> 00:03:23,724 Also the checkpoints and the security presence, 31 00:03:23,894 --> 00:03:26,362 but that has lessened over the years. 32 00:03:26,534 --> 00:03:29,287 What do you feel about the city now? 33 00:03:29,454 --> 00:03:34,528 It looks to be rather a fine city undergoing a bit of a regeneration. 34 00:03:34,694 --> 00:03:38,403 It looks pretty good. How do you feel about it now? 35 00:03:38,574 --> 00:03:43,648 I feel very positive about it. A lot of money has come into Derry recently 36 00:03:43,814 --> 00:03:48,444 and there is a great optimism, a great spirit about Derry now. 37 00:03:48,614 --> 00:03:53,642 - What are the bad sides? - That the violence is continuing. 38 00:03:53,814 --> 00:03:58,171 25 years down the line over 3,000 people have been killed. 39 00:03:58,334 --> 00:04:04,170 There's a lot of hurt, a lot of mistrust and that's going to have to be worked through. 40 00:04:04,334 --> 00:04:09,328 You're very calm and sane about it all. How do you keep so calm and sane? 41 00:04:09,494 --> 00:04:11,883 I've been living here for 25 years! 42 00:04:14,054 --> 00:04:18,889 25 years ago the railways were fighting a rearguard action 43 00:04:19,054 --> 00:04:21,443 in the face of savage service cuts. 44 00:04:21,614 --> 00:04:26,165 In the Republic, the west of Ireland was virtually abandoned by rail. 45 00:04:26,334 --> 00:04:30,964 A line from one end of the railway system to the other - Derry to Kerry - 46 00:04:31,134 --> 00:04:36,254 is 250 miles on the map, but 650 miles on the ground - 47 00:04:36,414 --> 00:04:39,167 snaking round the coast where the big cities lie. 48 00:04:39,334 --> 00:04:41,894 If you're not in a hurry, this can be good. 49 00:05:03,054 --> 00:05:07,525 The Irish love their history and won't let their railways die. 50 00:05:07,694 --> 00:05:13,052 Special excursions, like this one behind a veteran of the Great Northern Railway, 51 00:05:13,214 --> 00:05:17,412 is full of those who, like Tom McDevitte, refuse to forget. 52 00:05:17,574 --> 00:05:23,365 I was a relief clerk on the railway, but before that I was an ordinary clerk 53 00:05:23,534 --> 00:05:26,128 in a little town called Strabane, 54 00:05:26,294 --> 00:05:29,730 which was the junction for the Donegal Railway. 55 00:05:29,894 --> 00:05:34,172 - How many years were you on the railway? - About 40. 56 00:05:34,334 --> 00:05:38,168 - Do you remember this engine? - Oh, I remember this engine. 57 00:05:38,334 --> 00:05:44,728 This engine is the same age as myself. It was built in 1900... and something. 58 00:05:46,094 --> 00:05:50,326 - And it's still going very well. - So am I, for that matter! 59 00:05:50,494 --> 00:05:54,248 It's a lovely engine. They call it Slieve Gullion. 60 00:05:54,414 --> 00:05:56,928 It's called after one of the mountains. 61 00:05:57,094 --> 00:06:02,009 You'll see it between Belfast to Dublin on your right side. Slieve Gullion. 62 00:06:02,174 --> 00:06:06,725 There's a photograph I want to show you of the Clogher Valley Railway, 63 00:06:06,894 --> 00:06:10,489 which ran alongside the road - it didn't run, it crawled. 64 00:06:10,654 --> 00:06:15,444 There was one place it stopped because it was held up by a goat. 65 00:06:15,614 --> 00:06:22,008 A big goat. And the goat belonged to a woman called Maggie Colter, you see. 66 00:06:22,174 --> 00:06:27,965 The goat used to stay there and the fireman used to pelt the goat with lumps of coal 67 00:06:28,134 --> 00:06:32,207 and when Maggie thought there was enough coal to light the fire, 68 00:06:32,374 --> 00:06:35,207 she'd call the goat in and the train would go on! 69 00:06:59,094 --> 00:07:05,647 - What are you doing here? Is it numbers? - No. Timing. Timing. 70 00:07:05,814 --> 00:07:12,253 Timing the train, seeing what sort of performance the engine's putting up today. 71 00:07:12,414 --> 00:07:15,133 Up to now she's been doing very well. 72 00:07:15,294 --> 00:07:20,084 What do you time it by? Your friend's concentrating hard on what? 73 00:07:20,254 --> 00:07:23,530 - On mileposts. - Mileposts. 74 00:07:23,694 --> 00:07:26,686 There's a milepost every quarter of a mile 75 00:07:26,854 --> 00:07:33,009 and we can decipher with our times and the stopwatches what speed we're actually doing. 76 00:07:33,174 --> 00:07:36,086 - How are we going? - Very good. 77 00:07:36,254 --> 00:07:41,123 So are train enthusiasts sort of pan-Irish, non-sectarian? 78 00:07:41,294 --> 00:07:44,445 I would say that all right, Michael, yes. 79 00:07:44,614 --> 00:07:49,688 - A united front? - A united front for steam. 80 00:07:56,054 --> 00:08:01,048 In a land where so much language is dedicated to division and confrontation, 81 00:08:01,214 --> 00:08:03,045 this is a fair point. 82 00:08:03,214 --> 00:08:07,332 They belong to the Railway Preservation Society of All Ireland 83 00:08:07,494 --> 00:08:13,091 and the engine they restored first ran in the days when Ireland was one country. 84 00:08:22,374 --> 00:08:25,730 There is something about railways that unites 85 00:08:25,894 --> 00:08:30,206 and also something that makes life seem tantalisingly simple. 86 00:08:30,374 --> 00:08:35,653 It's a world in which choices are made for you, courses mapped out, paths plotted 87 00:08:35,814 --> 00:08:38,612 and the direction is always forward. 88 00:08:53,934 --> 00:08:56,607 The north Irish coast is good to look at. 89 00:08:56,774 --> 00:09:01,165 Big skies, wide bays, broad beaches and chunky limestone cliffs 90 00:09:01,334 --> 00:09:03,643 frame the line dramatically. 91 00:09:03,814 --> 00:09:06,282 And it only gets better. 92 00:09:31,174 --> 00:09:35,213 This is Dunluce Castle - perched so precariously on its cliff top 93 00:09:35,374 --> 00:09:40,494 that the kitchen once slipped into the sea while a meal was being prepared. 94 00:09:44,334 --> 00:09:47,326 The Giant's Causeway is already in the sea. 95 00:09:47,494 --> 00:09:52,693 It's a basalt rock split into 37,000 polygonal columns or, if you prefer it, 96 00:09:52,854 --> 00:09:57,644 built by the giant Finn MacCool to bring his loved one over from Scotland. 97 00:10:00,814 --> 00:10:04,363 And this is the 10. 15 to Belfast. 98 00:10:04,534 --> 00:10:08,573 You couldn't have chosen a better season for travelling. 99 00:10:08,734 --> 00:10:13,046 The greenery is so unsullied. The traffic hasn't dirtied it. 100 00:10:13,214 --> 00:10:16,729 - I love this time of the year. - All I can see is drizzle. 101 00:10:16,894 --> 00:10:22,332 Oh, no. I see beautiful green shoots and little white hawthorn blossoms. 102 00:10:22,494 --> 00:10:26,328 - Do you use the train very often? - Very seldom. 103 00:10:26,494 --> 00:10:29,804 I nearly had a heart attack when I bought my ticket. 104 00:10:29,974 --> 00:10:34,206 It was £8.90, I think, and the last time I travelled it was £3.00! 105 00:10:34,374 --> 00:10:39,243 - How long ago was that? - Longer than I care to remember! 10 years? 106 00:10:39,414 --> 00:10:43,487 Do people use the train - your friends and acquaintances? 107 00:10:43,654 --> 00:10:46,452 No. Northern Ireland is very car conscious. 108 00:10:46,614 --> 00:10:51,051 Because of remoteness of living accommodation and so forth, 109 00:10:51,214 --> 00:10:55,412 if you can afford it, you've an old banger and you use it. 110 00:10:55,574 --> 00:10:59,965 - Have you an old banger? - No. I've a Renault 5, two years old! 111 00:11:02,774 --> 00:11:08,132 Single track and stately speeds show where the transport priorities lie. 112 00:11:08,294 --> 00:11:10,364 But it stops you from rushing. 113 00:11:14,894 --> 00:11:18,887 I'd probably have missed this if I'd been on a Euro-express. 114 00:11:19,054 --> 00:11:23,730 Shane's Castle - ancient home of the 0'Neills on the banks of Lough Neagh - 115 00:11:23,894 --> 00:11:27,807 was destroyed by fire 170 years ago. 116 00:11:27,974 --> 00:11:30,966 (TRAIN WHISTLE) 117 00:11:45,574 --> 00:11:49,044 Here, amongst the fields and woods of County Antrim, 118 00:11:49,214 --> 00:11:54,971 Lord 0'Neill has rescued some of Ireland's rich heritage of narrow-gauge locos. 119 00:11:55,134 --> 00:11:58,604 I'm afraid it's fairly noisy. 120 00:11:58,774 --> 00:12:02,972 - The track is not dead smooth. - Steam engines should be noisy. 121 00:12:03,134 --> 00:12:08,208 What I want to know is how you became Lord O'Neill, the engine driver. 122 00:12:08,374 --> 00:12:13,084 Well, I think I probably was almost born like that. 123 00:12:14,094 --> 00:12:20,613 I kept my model railway going until I was getting on a bit, shall we say? 124 00:12:20,774 --> 00:12:25,973 I put it away and then as soon as we started having children we got it out again. 125 00:12:26,134 --> 00:12:29,012 I've always had a deep interest in railways. 126 00:12:29,174 --> 00:12:34,487 This is an extension of, really, playing with railways as a boy? 127 00:12:35,494 --> 00:12:41,603 Yes. It's a bit more than that in that it's a tourist attraction. 128 00:12:41,774 --> 00:12:48,122 Unfortunately, in the context of Northern Ireland, where tourists are a bit scarce, 129 00:12:48,294 --> 00:12:51,047 it's not as good as it ought to be. 130 00:12:51,214 --> 00:12:54,206 (WHISTLE BLOWS) 131 00:12:56,414 --> 00:13:02,933 Are you the only lord who's also an engine driver or are there other driving peers? 132 00:13:04,254 --> 00:13:07,371 Um... Well, there are one or two. 133 00:13:07,534 --> 00:13:10,970 I think we're a fairly small group, yes. 134 00:13:12,294 --> 00:13:15,843 Tourism in Northern Ireland may never be an easy ride, 135 00:13:16,014 --> 00:13:21,452 but I can thoroughly recommend the Shane's Castle Railway 136 00:13:21,614 --> 00:13:25,971 as one of the slowest but happiest ways to cross the province. 137 00:13:30,094 --> 00:13:33,086 (CLOCK STRIKES) 138 00:13:38,214 --> 00:13:42,844 Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, is one of my favourite cities. 139 00:13:43,014 --> 00:13:45,687 No contender in an urban beauty contest, 140 00:13:45,854 --> 00:13:51,212 what she lacks in looks she makes up for in energy, courage and determination. 141 00:13:53,134 --> 00:13:58,731 Belfast not only lives with the problems caused by its fiercely divided communities, 142 00:13:58,894 --> 00:14:02,204 it contrives to try and live well. 143 00:14:02,374 --> 00:14:06,845 There's not an ounce of self-pity here or a hint of self-apology. 144 00:14:08,734 --> 00:14:13,205 This soldier is a Belfast boy. For him it's the best city in the world. 145 00:14:13,374 --> 00:14:17,003 Then why do some of its citizens still want to destroy it? 146 00:14:20,974 --> 00:14:24,091 I take a trip along Falls Road with Ivor 0swald, 147 00:14:24,254 --> 00:14:27,405 a local businessman who refuses to take sides. 148 00:14:27,574 --> 00:14:30,611 This is a totally Nationalist part of Belfast. 149 00:14:30,774 --> 00:14:34,813 - 100%? - 100% Nationalist and Catholic. 150 00:14:34,974 --> 00:14:40,332 This developed in the latter end of the last century, based on some of the linen mills, 151 00:14:40,494 --> 00:14:44,373 as the Catholic population came in from outer north of Ireland. 152 00:14:44,534 --> 00:14:49,528 - What's on the right here? - That depicts Bobby Sands. 153 00:14:49,694 --> 00:14:53,243 - The hunger striker. - Who starved himself to death. 154 00:14:53,414 --> 00:14:56,724 Yes. But would be a hero of a section of the community. 155 00:14:56,894 --> 00:15:01,604 One has to recognise this is a community that is entirely Nationalist, 156 00:15:01,774 --> 00:15:03,890 has its own traditions and culture, 157 00:15:04,054 --> 00:15:08,809 which hasn't been respected over the years and has led to alienation. 158 00:15:12,654 --> 00:15:18,012 The Falls Road really isn't what I expected. It doesn't look like a war zone. 159 00:15:18,174 --> 00:15:21,450 There's schoolchildren coming home from school, 160 00:15:21,614 --> 00:15:24,606 little front gardens, hospitals and all that. 161 00:15:24,774 --> 00:15:29,609 It's a normality of its own. If you look around the streets of the Falls and the Shankill, 162 00:15:29,774 --> 00:15:33,244 people go about their business, as you and I would, 163 00:15:33,414 --> 00:15:36,724 in what is predominantly working-class territory. 164 00:15:36,894 --> 00:15:42,332 But you don't have to look far behind the normality of shops, schools and churches 165 00:15:42,494 --> 00:15:45,691 to see the signs of something peculiarly Irish. 166 00:15:45,854 --> 00:15:52,168 The myths and legends of military defiance, history, politics and religion entwined. 167 00:15:56,294 --> 00:15:58,762 The root of the problems is the fact 168 00:15:58,934 --> 00:16:03,724 that the Protestant Unionists of Northern Ireland are a minority in all Ireland, 169 00:16:03,894 --> 00:16:08,570 whereas the Catholic Nationalists are the minority in the north. 170 00:16:08,734 --> 00:16:11,089 Each, in fact, fears the other. 171 00:16:14,374 --> 00:16:18,890 We're now entering Loyalist, Protestant, Unionist Shankill, 172 00:16:19,054 --> 00:16:23,093 which takes its name from the Irish for "all church". 173 00:16:23,254 --> 00:16:28,248 We've come from a district which will speak Irish to a district that doesn't speak Irish. 174 00:16:28,414 --> 00:16:31,884 (PALIN) But the two of them back against each other? 175 00:16:32,054 --> 00:16:37,890 (IVOR) Cheek by jowl, totally juxtaposed and now separated by peace lines. 176 00:16:41,454 --> 00:16:44,207 We're now going to confront a peace line. 177 00:16:44,374 --> 00:16:49,812 For some three miles, this separates the Shankill from the Falls Road. 178 00:16:49,974 --> 00:16:54,172 You're looking at no-man's-land between the two communities, 179 00:16:54,334 --> 00:17:00,569 which was, in fact, the very seat of the Troubles in the early part of the 1970s. 180 00:17:00,734 --> 00:17:07,082 To a stranger to Belfast, you would look at this and say, "This is desolate wasteland." 181 00:17:07,254 --> 00:17:12,453 It's more reminiscent of Berlin than anything we'd expect in our own country. 182 00:17:12,614 --> 00:17:15,174 - Is there anything positive? - Yes. 183 00:17:15,334 --> 00:17:19,247 Each side has its own culture, its own tradition 184 00:17:19,414 --> 00:17:24,249 and no one should travesty the fact that they have a vibrancy of their own. 185 00:17:24,414 --> 00:17:29,363 But you're looking at two traditions, two cultures, two nationalities, 186 00:17:29,534 --> 00:17:31,923 and that is the essence of the problem. 187 00:17:33,174 --> 00:17:37,372 They tried to find a solution to the problem at Stormont Castle - 188 00:17:37,534 --> 00:17:40,128 once the seat of government. 189 00:17:40,294 --> 00:17:44,765 They failed and now it stands helpless and redundant. 190 00:17:46,294 --> 00:17:48,285 But it's not all bad news. 191 00:17:48,454 --> 00:17:52,811 A stone's throw from Stormont, the film industry is alive and well - 192 00:17:52,974 --> 00:17:55,727 the film industry of the 1950s, that is. 193 00:17:55,894 --> 00:18:02,003 Noel Spence built the Tudor Cinema from a chicken shed in the garden of his bungalow. 194 00:18:02,174 --> 00:18:06,486 His brother Roy, another Holywood tycoon, explains. 195 00:18:06,654 --> 00:18:10,647 Within a radius of a very few miles of where we're standing, 196 00:18:10,814 --> 00:18:14,727 I would say there must be 15 to 20 home cinemas. 197 00:18:14,894 --> 00:18:18,807 - There's an epidemic of them in this area. - Why? 198 00:18:18,974 --> 00:18:24,606 That's a difficult question. I've tried to analyse this myself and it's difficult. 199 00:18:24,774 --> 00:18:30,053 About the 1970s when cinemas in general were having a bad time 200 00:18:30,214 --> 00:18:34,332 and cinemas in Belfast were worse because of the Troubles... 201 00:18:34,494 --> 00:18:39,522 In central Belfast there must have been about two or three cinemas to go to 202 00:18:39,694 --> 00:18:44,165 and people started to develop their own home cinemas. 203 00:18:44,334 --> 00:18:48,452 Noel, manager and projectionist, explains his programme policy. 204 00:18:48,614 --> 00:18:52,243 Fringe films, you would call them, not mainstream. 205 00:18:52,414 --> 00:18:57,852 Esoteric stuff like '50s JD movies - juvenile delinquency films from the '50s 206 00:18:58,014 --> 00:19:01,643 or science horror films from the '50s. 207 00:19:01,814 --> 00:19:05,887 - Is that your particular taste? - Yes. Which I inflict upon others. 208 00:19:06,054 --> 00:19:09,012 - They don't seem to object. - There's an audience tonight? 209 00:19:09,174 --> 00:19:11,608 Yes. There's an audience tonight. 210 00:19:11,774 --> 00:19:17,167 The other cinemas in people's back gardens, do they all show different kinds of films? 211 00:19:17,334 --> 00:19:19,928 - Are you in competition? - Absolutely not. 212 00:19:20,094 --> 00:19:25,851 Some people like to show musicals, some show Westerns, film noir from the '40s. 213 00:19:26,014 --> 00:19:31,372 I just happen to like the '50s and specialise in those particular B movies. 214 00:19:31,534 --> 00:19:36,085 - How do you rate the film tonight? - I think the audience will enjoy it. 215 00:20:11,894 --> 00:20:14,886 I enjoyed the audience more than the film. 216 00:20:15,054 --> 00:20:17,170 Where else but in Holywood, County Down, 217 00:20:17,334 --> 00:20:20,326 would people turn up in costumes from the movie? 218 00:20:23,534 --> 00:20:27,163 I can't wait to see the audience for "Jurassic Park". 219 00:20:33,054 --> 00:20:36,410 In Belfast, another day begins at the Europa Hotel - 220 00:20:36,574 --> 00:20:40,567 proud holder of the title of "most bombed hotel in Europe". 221 00:20:40,734 --> 00:20:43,567 It's a short walk to the Royal 0pera House 222 00:20:43,734 --> 00:20:47,807 to meet its administrator - my old friend, Michael Barnes. 223 00:20:47,974 --> 00:20:51,125 He's responsible for my affection for Belfast 224 00:20:51,294 --> 00:20:54,172 and it is a cruel irony that three weeks after this, 225 00:20:54,334 --> 00:20:57,132 a 1,000 lb bomb went off at this very spot, 226 00:20:57,294 --> 00:21:02,129 blasting away the wall of his theatre for the second time in three years. 227 00:21:04,774 --> 00:21:09,165 Today our destination is the new Ulster Transport Museum. 228 00:21:09,334 --> 00:21:11,894 0ur fondness for Belfast is matched only 229 00:21:12,054 --> 00:21:15,364 by an excessive fondness for all things railway. 230 00:21:15,534 --> 00:21:19,368 - What sort of vintage would this be? - Early 20th century. 231 00:21:19,534 --> 00:21:25,211 It would have been chugging around in the outskirts of Belfast taking commuters in. 232 00:21:25,374 --> 00:21:30,164 What I like about Ireland is there are so many different railway companies. 233 00:21:30,334 --> 00:21:32,643 - Yes. - What's GNR? 234 00:21:32,814 --> 00:21:37,729 It is Great Northern. Of course, there was a Great Northern in England. 235 00:21:37,894 --> 00:21:41,125 - And over here. - Wonderful coaches. 236 00:21:41,294 --> 00:21:45,367 This is the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway Company. 237 00:21:45,534 --> 00:21:49,891 Britannia shaking hands with Hibernia. 238 00:21:50,054 --> 00:21:52,648 Yes. Greenore was a cross-channel port. 239 00:21:52,814 --> 00:21:56,443 Look at the variety of places that there are on there. 240 00:21:56,614 --> 00:22:01,244 Yes. Strabane, alas, has no railway any more. All gone. 241 00:22:01,414 --> 00:22:04,850 (PALIN) It's the biggest sign I've ever seen. 242 00:22:05,014 --> 00:22:07,608 Build the station just to fit it. 243 00:22:07,774 --> 00:22:11,562 Ireland once had 200 separate railway companies. 244 00:22:11,734 --> 00:22:16,762 Mostly they used small engines for short distances, but they had giants as well. 245 00:22:16,934 --> 00:22:21,166 This was the biggest engine to run in Ireland? 246 00:22:21,334 --> 00:22:27,682 Yes. And largely from Dublin to Cork. There were three of these. 247 00:22:27,854 --> 00:22:34,566 The touching thing is that this magnificent locomotive - it really is magnificent - 248 00:22:34,734 --> 00:22:38,932 was actually a present from the South to the North. 249 00:22:39,094 --> 00:22:42,370 - A friendly gesture. - So trains cross borders. 250 00:22:42,534 --> 00:22:46,322 Absolutely. They do. It's in beautiful condition. 251 00:22:46,494 --> 00:22:51,249 I think it could one day steam again. 252 00:22:53,534 --> 00:22:58,324 Today's cross-border services leave Belfast for Dublin four times daily 253 00:22:58,494 --> 00:23:00,485 and they're set to improve. 254 00:23:00,654 --> 00:23:04,442 £80 million is to be spent upgrading the Enterprise service, 255 00:23:04,614 --> 00:23:07,128 which is run jointly by North and South. 256 00:23:07,294 --> 00:23:11,685 0nly four years ago the terrorists tried to kill it off all together. 257 00:23:13,814 --> 00:23:18,171 The response from both sides was the creation of the Peace Train 258 00:23:18,334 --> 00:23:22,009 by Chris Hudson from Dublin and Sam McAughtry from Belfast. 259 00:23:22,174 --> 00:23:28,522 It began in October 1989 when a group of people decided that the policy of the IRA 260 00:23:28,694 --> 00:23:32,846 of bombing the line between Belfast and Dublin didn't make sense 261 00:23:33,014 --> 00:23:35,767 and it was time someone challenged it. 262 00:23:35,934 --> 00:23:39,927 The way they were challenged was that a train was chartered, 263 00:23:40,094 --> 00:23:43,769 a big notice was put across the front of it - "Peace Train". 264 00:23:43,934 --> 00:23:47,324 It was filled with people from right across the divide. 265 00:23:47,494 --> 00:23:50,611 Academics, politicians, ordinary folk. 266 00:23:50,774 --> 00:23:54,653 We made the journey from Dublin to Belfast, brought the Dubliners north 267 00:23:54,814 --> 00:23:58,807 and then we all went back down again to make a point. 268 00:23:58,974 --> 00:24:01,442 One of the nice things I had happen 269 00:24:01,614 --> 00:24:06,005 was there was a football match between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland 270 00:24:06,174 --> 00:24:11,043 and a gang of lads from the Shankill Road, which is in the heart of Loyalist Belfast, 271 00:24:11,214 --> 00:24:15,605 called the Shankill Defenders Club, phoned me and said, "Will you come to the match?" 272 00:24:15,774 --> 00:24:20,290 I went to the match with them - they had Union Jacks and Loyalist flags, 273 00:24:20,454 --> 00:24:22,570 but they had a Peace Train banner. 274 00:24:22,734 --> 00:24:25,123 Every time they held up a Union Jack, 275 00:24:25,294 --> 00:24:30,971 some of the Dublin supporters had apoplexy, screaming abuse at this Union Jack, 276 00:24:31,134 --> 00:24:35,571 but when they put up the Peace Train banner, there'd be cheers. 277 00:24:35,734 --> 00:24:38,487 In that sense, we claim that it's working. 278 00:24:43,494 --> 00:24:45,564 We're running through south Armagh. 279 00:24:45,734 --> 00:24:50,250 Rolling hills and meadows quilted with dry-stone walls. 280 00:24:50,414 --> 00:24:54,646 It's also bandit country and beauty can be deadly. 281 00:24:54,814 --> 00:24:58,853 As we cross the border, I'm left with two images of the North - 282 00:24:59,014 --> 00:25:03,883 the military digging in on one side and a wedding on the other. 283 00:25:04,054 --> 00:25:06,124 Life goes on. 284 00:25:12,134 --> 00:25:15,444 (GAELIC FIDDLE PLAYS) 285 00:25:20,854 --> 00:25:26,053 113 miles south of Belfast, and twice its size, is Dublin. 286 00:25:26,214 --> 00:25:30,810 0nce the second city of the British Empire, now the capital of the Irish Republic. 287 00:25:30,974 --> 00:25:35,604 British buildings like the Post 0ffice are now shrines of independent Ireland 288 00:25:35,774 --> 00:25:38,334 and though the streets feel familiar, 289 00:25:38,494 --> 00:25:42,089 there are characters here who could only be found in Ireland. 290 00:25:42,254 --> 00:25:45,326 Like Molly Malones, ancient and modern. 291 00:25:46,814 --> 00:25:50,807 - Anyone for tobacco? - Anyone for tobacco? 292 00:25:55,614 --> 00:25:58,606 Only a pound! 293 00:25:58,774 --> 00:26:03,529 In 0'Connell Street, the Irish show that they can be grand with their past. 294 00:26:03,694 --> 00:26:08,131 Their national heroes range from the local - Jim Larkin, the trades union leader, 295 00:26:08,294 --> 00:26:10,728 William Dargan, the railway builder - 296 00:26:10,894 --> 00:26:15,172 to the world-renowned - Bernard Shaw, James Joyce. 297 00:26:17,334 --> 00:26:20,326 For a country of only 3.5 million people, 298 00:26:20,494 --> 00:26:25,204 Ireland continues to produce more than her fair share of world beaters. 299 00:26:25,374 --> 00:26:30,402 I rode the train around Dublin Bay with one of them, The Edge from U2 - 300 00:26:30,574 --> 00:26:33,407 the most successful rock band of our time. 301 00:26:33,574 --> 00:26:39,171 A combination of healthy disrespect for authority and traditions within the Irish 302 00:26:39,334 --> 00:26:46,092 attracts them to things like music... rock and roll, and writing. 303 00:26:46,254 --> 00:26:53,171 All the great Irish writers tended to really take liberties with the form. 304 00:26:53,334 --> 00:26:56,326 James Joyce being the obvious example. 305 00:26:56,494 --> 00:27:01,249 He almost created his own language out of the English language. 306 00:27:01,414 --> 00:27:04,247 Oscar Wilde with his aphorisms and... 307 00:27:04,414 --> 00:27:10,762 His whole way of looking at things was very... very much his own. 308 00:27:10,934 --> 00:27:15,530 And um... I think that spirit of questioning, 309 00:27:15,694 --> 00:27:21,451 of not taking things at face value, of being a little bit suspicious... 310 00:27:21,614 --> 00:27:27,644 has given the Irish a very particular way of looking at the world 311 00:27:27,814 --> 00:27:31,568 and of things that most people take for granted. 312 00:27:39,894 --> 00:27:45,014 There's something deeply personal about the way people relate to you in Ireland 313 00:27:45,174 --> 00:27:49,645 that deflates the whole... personality of being a star, 314 00:27:49,814 --> 00:27:54,012 which we find really helpful and healthy and we like that. 315 00:27:58,054 --> 00:28:03,651 The whole idea of us being ambassadors, of people looking to us for leadership 316 00:28:03,814 --> 00:28:08,934 or some clue to the way they should act or think completely terrifies us. 317 00:28:10,574 --> 00:28:17,127 We much prefer that we're perceived as we are, which is just a rock-and-roll band. 318 00:28:20,334 --> 00:28:25,647 More than half Dublin's million-strong population is under 25 319 00:28:25,814 --> 00:28:27,611 and growing every year. 320 00:28:27,774 --> 00:28:31,005 It's a far cry from the dark days of the 19th century 321 00:28:31,174 --> 00:28:35,292 when Irish men and women couldn't wait to get out of the country. 322 00:28:40,094 --> 00:28:45,805 In the National Library, I begin my search for one of them - my great-grandmother. 323 00:28:45,974 --> 00:28:48,283 Her name was Brita Gallagher. 324 00:28:48,454 --> 00:28:53,164 I know she went to America, but I want to know where she came from. 325 00:28:53,334 --> 00:28:57,964 I've enlisted the help of Tom Lindert, a professional genealogist. 326 00:28:58,134 --> 00:29:04,323 The "Index of Surnames" basically delineates all the names throughout Ireland by county. 327 00:29:04,494 --> 00:29:08,328 Was there a family tradition as to where she came from? 328 00:29:08,494 --> 00:29:14,842 - Well, sort of Tipperary and the west. - OK. That's understandable. 329 00:29:15,014 --> 00:29:19,929 All I know is that she left some time between '44 and '50 for America 330 00:29:20,094 --> 00:29:22,164 from, I think, Tralee. 331 00:29:22,334 --> 00:29:26,771 There's a place called Blenneville where a lot of people left from. 332 00:29:26,934 --> 00:29:30,210 She could have left from Blenneville. 333 00:29:30,374 --> 00:29:33,764 She also could have left from Cork or possibly Limerick. 334 00:29:33,934 --> 00:29:38,530 There's avenues open. It all depends on what happened in her village. 335 00:29:38,694 --> 00:29:43,484 - There's the name Gallagher. - Is everyone in Ireland in here? 336 00:29:43,654 --> 00:29:47,090 - Every family is indexed by county. - However humble? 337 00:29:47,254 --> 00:29:51,247 However humble. These are just tithe payers or rent payers. 338 00:29:51,414 --> 00:29:55,453 It's like a census, only you don't get biographical information. 339 00:29:55,614 --> 00:30:00,324 Do you know any other information to narrow this down a bit more? 340 00:30:00,494 --> 00:30:05,568 Um... I know that she went to the States and she was adopted... 341 00:30:05,734 --> 00:30:12,492 I assume, by a lady called Caroline Watson, who she sometimes referred to as her aunt. 342 00:30:12,654 --> 00:30:16,363 She was Caroline Watson of Burlington, New Jersey. 343 00:30:16,534 --> 00:30:21,050 Watson is also an Irish name, so right there we have a clue. 344 00:30:21,214 --> 00:30:23,603 It happened on the American side, 345 00:30:23,774 --> 00:30:30,168 but often people who left Ireland went to people who they knew in America. 346 00:30:30,334 --> 00:30:33,326 - So she could have been... - She could have been related. 347 00:30:33,494 --> 00:30:35,485 The aunt thing maybe was right. 348 00:30:35,654 --> 00:30:39,647 It gives us an opportunity to cross-reference the two names. 349 00:30:39,814 --> 00:30:45,411 That way we can look for a place that has the surname Gallagher and Watson. 350 00:30:45,574 --> 00:30:48,213 So we're narrowing it down. 351 00:30:48,374 --> 00:30:52,765 - Is this ancestor tracing big business? - Actually, it is. 352 00:30:52,934 --> 00:30:58,884 When I started genealogy about 15 years ago, I was the only one who was interested, 353 00:30:59,054 --> 00:31:03,650 but as we started doing more research, it was amazing to see the growth. 354 00:31:03,814 --> 00:31:09,252 One of the things that helped our company was we did Ronald Reagan's ancestry. 355 00:31:09,414 --> 00:31:12,212 He was brought up by a cowboy family. 356 00:31:12,374 --> 00:31:17,767 Actually, his ancestors were dirt farmers generations earlier. 357 00:31:17,934 --> 00:31:22,962 - How do you farm dirt? - They moved with the work. 358 00:31:23,134 --> 00:31:25,602 Moved where there was a demand for dirt. 359 00:31:27,814 --> 00:31:30,282 This is Trinity College, Dublin, 360 00:31:30,454 --> 00:31:35,164 founded at the time of Elizabeth I as a bastion of Protestant Anglo-Ireland. 361 00:31:35,334 --> 00:31:38,690 The people's religion was always Catholicism 362 00:31:38,854 --> 00:31:42,164 and the local priest is still at the centre of things. 363 00:31:42,334 --> 00:31:46,293 (ROCK MUSIC: "BLUE SUEDE SHOES") 364 00:31:48,374 --> 00:31:51,571 # Blue suede shoes Blue, blue, blue suede shoes... # 365 00:31:51,734 --> 00:31:54,487 This is the All Priest Show. 366 00:31:54,654 --> 00:31:57,805 A highly successful charity fundraiser with a fan club. 367 00:31:57,974 --> 00:32:01,603 They play up to three shows a week and have even toured. 368 00:32:01,774 --> 00:32:03,810 # But lay off my blue suede shoes... # 369 00:32:03,974 --> 00:32:08,172 Father Gary Sullivan learnt guitar at the same school as U2. 370 00:32:15,094 --> 00:32:16,652 Thank you! 371 00:32:23,174 --> 00:32:27,884 Ladies and gentlemen, some of you have seen the All Priests Show before. 372 00:32:28,054 --> 00:32:31,729 You're going to meet all sorts of priests. 373 00:32:31,894 --> 00:32:37,730 We've got fat priests, skinny priests, hairy priests, baldy priests, all sorts. 374 00:32:37,894 --> 00:32:43,651 We usually start by singing a hymn. You can remain seated for this one, Sister. 375 00:32:43,814 --> 00:32:46,282 (LIVELY IRISH MUSIC) 376 00:32:48,254 --> 00:32:52,452 Not all the women of Ireland are happy with the Catholic Church. 377 00:32:52,614 --> 00:32:54,684 Abortion remains illegal here 378 00:32:54,854 --> 00:33:00,372 and, until recently, contraceptives could only be bought on a doctor's prescription. 379 00:33:00,534 --> 00:33:03,253 Tonight is for entertainment, not politics, 380 00:33:03,414 --> 00:33:08,124 and the Church displays an impressive determination to let its hair down. 381 00:33:08,294 --> 00:33:10,967 The doctor says, "Murphy! 382 00:33:11,134 --> 00:33:17,289 "Murphy, I can't diagnose what's wrong with you. It must be the drink." 383 00:33:18,294 --> 00:33:22,572 Murphy says, "All right, Doctor, I'll come back when you're sober." 384 00:33:25,014 --> 00:33:29,087 As a matter of fact, I was born in England. 385 00:33:29,254 --> 00:33:33,042 Went to school in Scotland. Very tired when I got home. 386 00:33:35,054 --> 00:33:37,284 Last time. Let's hear you. 387 00:33:37,454 --> 00:33:39,843 # Sweet Caroline... # 388 00:33:40,014 --> 00:33:43,643 It might have been the Guinness or Sister Eileen, 389 00:33:43,814 --> 00:33:47,602 but I found myself won over with shameful ease. 390 00:33:49,174 --> 00:33:51,642 # I paid the price 391 00:33:53,294 --> 00:33:56,809 # To believe they never would 392 00:33:56,974 --> 00:34:01,729 # Sweet Caroline! # Goodnight, everybody. 393 00:34:01,894 --> 00:34:04,966 # Sweet Caroline! # Have a nice time. 394 00:34:05,134 --> 00:34:07,443 You've been a lovely audience. 395 00:34:09,614 --> 00:34:15,166 # Sweet Caroline! # 396 00:34:24,814 --> 00:34:30,491 Leaving Dublin along the first stretch of public railway to be opened outside England, 397 00:34:30,654 --> 00:34:34,567 William Dargan's Dublin to Kingstown line of 1834. 398 00:34:34,734 --> 00:34:37,931 And by a stroke of luck, on a steam run down to Rosslare - 399 00:34:38,094 --> 00:34:41,211 only this time I have to earn the ride. 400 00:34:46,334 --> 00:34:50,486 There's a knack to this that Fred Astaire would have been proud of. 401 00:34:53,734 --> 00:34:57,283 I can't tell you how old the driver is, but the engine's 71. 402 00:35:02,934 --> 00:35:08,133 For several years she suffered the indignity of being used as a stationary boiler. 403 00:35:08,294 --> 00:35:13,448 Recently rebuilt at a cost of more than £30,000... punts as they have in Ireland, 404 00:35:13,614 --> 00:35:17,402 she was relaunched last year by Mary Robinson, the President. 405 00:35:17,574 --> 00:35:20,771 Nowadays there's no retirement age for steam. 406 00:35:30,534 --> 00:35:33,207 How did you get into doing this? 407 00:35:33,374 --> 00:35:38,846 0ne of the trainee drivers is having second thoughts about his new vocation. 408 00:35:39,014 --> 00:35:43,849 They trained eight of us last year as firemen. Eight young drivers. 409 00:35:44,014 --> 00:35:46,528 So we're fully qualified diesel drivers. 410 00:35:46,694 --> 00:35:51,085 So you're one of the few to survive the course and you hate doing it? 411 00:35:51,254 --> 00:35:55,566 - I hate it. - There's no hope for steam, is there? 412 00:36:14,414 --> 00:36:20,603 After a run along unspoilt coastline through the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains, 413 00:36:20,774 --> 00:36:25,768 we make a slow, triumphant progress through the town of Wexford. 414 00:36:27,174 --> 00:36:31,565 After which our arrival at the Rosslare ferry terminal is a sad anticlimax. 415 00:36:32,574 --> 00:36:37,204 What's more, it's Sunday and from here on Irish Rail is closed. 416 00:36:40,894 --> 00:36:44,933 There's nothing for it but to seek alternative transport. 417 00:36:47,014 --> 00:36:49,482 These boys look privatised. 418 00:36:55,174 --> 00:36:57,290 - Excuse me. - How're you doing? 419 00:36:57,454 --> 00:36:59,604 I'm fine, except... 420 00:36:59,774 --> 00:37:02,368 My plight seems to touch them deeply 421 00:37:02,534 --> 00:37:07,528 and I find myself co-opted to the Harley-Davidson 0wner's Club of Ireland. 422 00:37:22,734 --> 00:37:27,125 As the only Sunday rail service in these parts heads back to Dublin, 423 00:37:27,294 --> 00:37:30,809 I hit the two-lane blacktop heading for Waterford. 424 00:37:32,174 --> 00:37:34,972 (ROCK/IRISH MUSIC) 425 00:37:44,814 --> 00:37:49,092 For some reason, south-east Ireland is a Mecca for bikers. 426 00:37:49,254 --> 00:37:54,487 Though most of my escorts soon get bored, Swifty, Eamon and Mike stay with me. 427 00:37:54,654 --> 00:37:58,442 Under the leather, they seem more Rotary Club than Hell's Angels. 428 00:37:58,614 --> 00:38:02,607 - We're all family men. - Really? What do you do? 429 00:38:02,774 --> 00:38:07,006 I'm a bus driver. I drive for the local bus company here. 430 00:38:07,174 --> 00:38:11,247 So this is a hobby or more serious than that? 431 00:38:11,414 --> 00:38:13,484 It's a way of life. 432 00:38:13,654 --> 00:38:18,728 The Harleys get into your blood and that's it, they're there for good. 433 00:38:18,894 --> 00:38:21,362 And these are no ordinary Hogs. 434 00:38:21,534 --> 00:38:27,086 The one Eamon's riding is an Electraglide in blue, once owned by Sid Vicious. 435 00:38:27,254 --> 00:38:30,212 How much would that be worth now? 436 00:38:30,374 --> 00:38:32,490 About £8,000. 437 00:38:33,494 --> 00:38:36,725 - An investment for the future. - Sure, yes. 438 00:38:36,894 --> 00:38:40,967 - Are you coming with us to Waterford? - Yes. All the way. 439 00:38:41,134 --> 00:38:46,766 True to his name, Swifty's rail replacement service delivers me well ahead of schedule 440 00:38:46,934 --> 00:38:51,962 on the outskirts of Waterford, where the pace changes quite dramatically. 441 00:39:10,134 --> 00:39:14,412 An old chain ferry conveys me at deliciously unfrenzied speed 442 00:39:14,574 --> 00:39:17,008 across the River Blackwater 443 00:39:17,174 --> 00:39:21,725 to an island where the weary traveller can find a modest little B&B. 444 00:39:27,614 --> 00:39:31,084 Waterford Castle, with its layers of history, 445 00:39:31,254 --> 00:39:34,451 seems the place to learn from my genealogist 446 00:39:34,614 --> 00:39:37,287 of his latest piece of detective work. 447 00:39:44,734 --> 00:39:48,613 He's found Brita Gallagher's marriage certificate in Paris. 448 00:39:48,774 --> 00:39:52,164 Neither of her parents were mentioned in it, which is unusual. 449 00:39:52,334 --> 00:39:56,043 He's also located a nest of mid-19th century Gallaghers 450 00:39:56,214 --> 00:40:00,685 recorded as living near the village of Buttevant in north Cork. 451 00:40:06,454 --> 00:40:10,447 It isn't far away and the journey can be done by train. 452 00:40:10,614 --> 00:40:15,529 Going west along the Blackwater valley through Clonmel and Tipperary 453 00:40:15,694 --> 00:40:17,525 to Limerick Junction. 454 00:40:17,694 --> 00:40:21,653 Then south on the Dublin-Cork mainline to Buttevant? 455 00:40:21,814 --> 00:40:25,727 No. No station. It'll have to be Mallow. 456 00:40:26,734 --> 00:40:33,048 There being no train until tomorrow, I have time to visit one of my favourite authors. 457 00:40:33,214 --> 00:40:37,969 For 60 years she's written wickedly comic books about the Anglo-Irish aristocracy 458 00:40:38,134 --> 00:40:40,011 among whom she was brought up. 459 00:40:40,174 --> 00:40:42,972 But things weren't always easy for Molly Keane. 460 00:40:43,134 --> 00:40:46,604 When she started, she had to use a male pseudonym. 461 00:40:46,774 --> 00:40:52,690 In my generation you got a row if you were talking like a servant, sort of thing. 462 00:40:52,854 --> 00:40:55,971 Which has really died out now, but still... 463 00:40:56,134 --> 00:40:57,772 Still... 464 00:40:57,934 --> 00:41:04,328 Most of the boys... Most of the boys of those families 465 00:41:04,494 --> 00:41:09,443 were all sent to public schools in England - Eton if they could afford it, and Harrow. 466 00:41:09,614 --> 00:41:14,290 - The boys got a good education. - The girls got damn all. 467 00:41:14,454 --> 00:41:17,526 - Yes. - There was nothing. 468 00:41:17,694 --> 00:41:21,369 Everything was strictly... There was always the heir. 469 00:41:21,534 --> 00:41:24,890 The girls didn't matter as long as he was all right. 470 00:41:25,054 --> 00:41:27,932 That was very much the way of it. 471 00:41:28,094 --> 00:41:30,483 What sort of things did you write? 472 00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:33,088 I wrote... 473 00:41:34,094 --> 00:41:39,612 I'm sure very sentimental little pieces 474 00:41:39,774 --> 00:41:44,484 about the beauty of the great outdoors and about horses 475 00:41:44,654 --> 00:41:46,645 and about... 476 00:41:47,854 --> 00:41:50,846 Anything. No sex, no love. 477 00:41:51,014 --> 00:41:57,249 Then I discovered my sister having a love affair, I was very jealous aged 17, 478 00:41:57,414 --> 00:42:01,327 and then got shut up in my bed in a state of jealousy, 479 00:42:01,494 --> 00:42:07,763 and thought, "I'll write about life as I know it'll be when I'm a little bit older." 480 00:42:07,934 --> 00:42:10,892 But I never read my books again. 481 00:42:11,054 --> 00:42:16,048 I have a sort of a feeling that it's like that terrible verse in the Bible. 482 00:42:16,214 --> 00:42:21,732 Do you know the verse I mean? It talks about the dog returning to its vomit. 483 00:42:21,894 --> 00:42:24,692 Oh, really? That's always on my mind. 484 00:42:27,694 --> 00:42:30,162 Monday morning on the Tipperary line 485 00:42:30,334 --> 00:42:33,132 and ancestor hunting begins in earnest. 486 00:42:40,974 --> 00:42:43,647 All change here for Mallow and Cork. 487 00:42:45,694 --> 00:42:48,572 This is the longest platform in Ireland. 488 00:42:49,574 --> 00:42:52,042 Not many people know that. 489 00:42:53,494 --> 00:42:57,282 A chap who looked not unlike me said, "My great-granny left from Tralee." 490 00:42:57,454 --> 00:43:01,811 He made his prediction with so much conviction, the BBC paid him to see. 491 00:43:04,854 --> 00:43:08,051 (ANN0UNCER) Train now arriving on platform one 492 00:43:08,214 --> 00:43:11,331 serves Charleville, Mallow and Cork 493 00:43:11,494 --> 00:43:16,090 with a connection at Mallow for Banteer, Millstreet, Rathmore, Killarney... 494 00:43:16,254 --> 00:43:19,052 (PALIN) This is the fastest service on Irish Rail, 495 00:43:19,214 --> 00:43:23,412 connecting Dublin with the second biggest city, Cork, in 2.5 hours. 496 00:43:24,854 --> 00:43:29,928 Unlike most things in Ireland, it's marketed not for its past, but its future. 497 00:43:30,094 --> 00:43:32,085 - Afternoon. - Hello, sir. 498 00:43:32,254 --> 00:43:37,886 - Would you like a set of headphones? - I'll have everything you've got, yes! 499 00:43:38,054 --> 00:43:41,808 OK. First, I'd like to tell you about the seat. 500 00:43:41,974 --> 00:43:44,807 These seats are adjustable for your comfort. 501 00:43:44,974 --> 00:43:49,252 Also here at the table console we have a light. 502 00:43:50,974 --> 00:43:56,332 - And there's a light up above here. - I came to Ireland to get away from this. 503 00:43:57,974 --> 00:44:03,128 She even offered me a fax machine, but I don't know... I suppose I'm old fashioned. 504 00:44:03,294 --> 00:44:09,927 Hello, Tom? Yes. I'm speeding into the heart of Gallagher territory. 505 00:44:10,094 --> 00:44:14,531 Thanks for sending the material. I got it in the hotel in Waterford. 506 00:44:14,694 --> 00:44:17,162 Yeah. The Palin-Gallagher stuff. 507 00:44:17,334 --> 00:44:19,609 We're going down to Mallow 508 00:44:19,774 --> 00:44:23,733 and then I'm going to check Buttevant out and villages round there 509 00:44:23,894 --> 00:44:29,014 because north Cork seems good hunting ground for the Gallagher connection. 510 00:44:46,374 --> 00:44:50,970 This is not a tourist-board film or a street in Disneyland. 511 00:44:51,134 --> 00:44:56,447 It's Buttevant, and it proves that everything you heard about Ireland is true. 512 00:44:59,334 --> 00:45:04,806 I've been told I can't miss the local historian - he runs the filling station. 513 00:45:11,654 --> 00:45:13,645 And the local shop. 514 00:45:13,814 --> 00:45:17,602 - I'm looking for Tony O'Neill's bar. - Just through there. 515 00:45:17,774 --> 00:45:20,129 Thanks. 516 00:45:20,294 --> 00:45:21,693 And the pub. 517 00:45:21,854 --> 00:45:25,130 - Tony O'Neill? - That's right. You're in the right place. 518 00:45:25,294 --> 00:45:30,368 Good. You've got a bit of everything here. Filling station, grocery store, bar. 519 00:45:30,534 --> 00:45:37,292 (TONY) In the old days we did better than that because outside there was a bakery. 520 00:45:37,454 --> 00:45:40,526 Was this the bakery for the whole village? 521 00:45:40,694 --> 00:45:44,972 No. There were several more small bakers at that time. 522 00:45:45,134 --> 00:45:48,604 There were no major bakers around the area. 523 00:45:48,774 --> 00:45:52,323 Each town had its own self-contained bakeries. 524 00:45:52,494 --> 00:45:58,330 - How far are we going back here? - We're going back to 1901-1902. 525 00:45:58,494 --> 00:46:03,363 Actually, I need your help because I'm looking for the local graveyard. 526 00:46:03,534 --> 00:46:07,368 I'll be delighted to show you the way. I'll take you there. 527 00:46:07,534 --> 00:46:10,173 - Thank you very much. - But first... 528 00:46:10,334 --> 00:46:13,849 - Can I send you up a lovely pint? - First things first. 529 00:46:14,014 --> 00:46:17,609 - Look after the living. - Slàinte. 530 00:46:19,414 --> 00:46:20,972 Slàinte. 531 00:46:27,694 --> 00:46:30,686 Buttevant churchyard yielded no Gallaghers. 532 00:46:30,854 --> 00:46:37,612 They were either buried elsewhere or were too poor to afford a decent tombstone. 533 00:46:40,774 --> 00:46:42,810 It's a fine church. 534 00:46:42,974 --> 00:46:46,728 It is. There's a very interesting thing about the church. 535 00:46:46,894 --> 00:46:51,012 As you see that steeple in the background, 536 00:46:51,174 --> 00:46:57,363 it is actually the steeple that created the word "steeplechase". 537 00:46:57,534 --> 00:47:00,606 Two gentlemen named O'Callaghan and Blake, 538 00:47:00,774 --> 00:47:05,484 believing to have the two best hunters in the country, had a wager 539 00:47:05,654 --> 00:47:13,129 as to who would reach the steeple of the St Leger church in Doneraile first. 540 00:47:13,294 --> 00:47:17,651 And from just outside the fence here 541 00:47:17,814 --> 00:47:21,329 they took off over 4.5 miles of very rough country. 542 00:47:21,494 --> 00:47:25,567 First obstacle the old river flowing fast, ravine down and up, 543 00:47:25,734 --> 00:47:31,491 but they were prepared for this challenge... and they made the trip. 544 00:47:31,654 --> 00:47:37,206 They both survived and O'Callaghan won the challenge. 545 00:47:37,374 --> 00:47:42,653 And, as you can now see, the famous word "steeplechase" - 546 00:47:42,814 --> 00:47:46,204 a chase from the steeple of St John's in Buttevant 547 00:47:46,374 --> 00:47:50,003 to the St Leger Church in Doneraile - was born. 548 00:47:50,174 --> 00:47:53,610 Tony's comprehensive knowledge of... everything 549 00:47:53,774 --> 00:47:57,369 points me to a village called Glanworth, 20 miles away. 550 00:47:57,534 --> 00:48:00,253 Here I found the name I was looking for. 551 00:48:01,574 --> 00:48:04,247 Gallaghers who died in the 1820s. 552 00:48:04,414 --> 00:48:09,124 They could have been Brita's family, but there's no way of knowing. 553 00:48:12,814 --> 00:48:15,692 My ancestor remains frustratingly elusive. 554 00:48:16,694 --> 00:48:21,006 In fact, the closer I get, the more the options widen. 555 00:48:21,174 --> 00:48:25,964 Back at Buttevant, the shadows lengthen and the evening's sport begins. 556 00:48:26,134 --> 00:48:30,127 This is the ancient and lethal game of road bowling. 557 00:48:33,014 --> 00:48:37,166 Basically, all you need is banknotes, bowlers... 558 00:48:38,414 --> 00:48:42,202 a 28-ounce cast-iron ball and a road. 559 00:48:43,454 --> 00:48:48,767 Bets are laid as to which team can get their ball three miles up the road quickest. 560 00:48:53,454 --> 00:48:55,649 That's a grand ball! 561 00:48:57,654 --> 00:48:59,804 It's not quite the Royal & Ancient, 562 00:48:59,974 --> 00:49:04,331 but an appreciative gallery of bar-room bowlers follows the action. 563 00:49:04,494 --> 00:49:08,965 They even have stewards in crested blazers. This is serious stuff. 564 00:49:09,974 --> 00:49:14,729 That's one of the marks now and his partner is throwing from this mark. 565 00:49:14,894 --> 00:49:20,207 - That's where the first throw came to rest. - It would be a relatively poor throw. 566 00:49:20,374 --> 00:49:25,004 - It's not a great throw. - What's the distance to the other throw? 567 00:49:25,174 --> 00:49:29,406 - 100 yards or so. - No, no. It's only about 50 metres or so. 568 00:49:29,574 --> 00:49:32,805 No one seems to be worried about closing the road. 569 00:49:32,974 --> 00:49:36,444 It's like holding Wimbledon in Piccadilly Circus. 570 00:49:42,614 --> 00:49:45,606 (EXCITED SHOUTING) 571 00:49:50,934 --> 00:49:53,926 With the right technique and use of the camber, 572 00:49:54,094 --> 00:49:58,053 bowlers like Christy can throw 250 metres or more. 573 00:50:00,734 --> 00:50:03,885 - What's the skill needed? - A flick of the wrist. 574 00:50:04,054 --> 00:50:10,573 Not necessarily the swing of the arm. It's just a flick of the wrist, really. 575 00:50:10,734 --> 00:50:12,929 - Do you spin it? - Exactly, yeah. 576 00:50:13,094 --> 00:50:17,167 From the palm of your hand, you spin the ball. 577 00:50:17,334 --> 00:50:20,929 - How did you learn? - At a very young age. 578 00:50:21,094 --> 00:50:24,530 - Did your father play? - He did, yes. 579 00:50:24,694 --> 00:50:31,008 It was always in the family. That's the whole thing, to start when you're young. 580 00:50:31,174 --> 00:50:33,165 We'd better get out of the way. 581 00:50:45,054 --> 00:50:48,285 As I follow the crowd on this long summer evening, 582 00:50:48,454 --> 00:50:51,651 I have the oddest sensation that no time has passed 583 00:50:51,814 --> 00:50:54,612 and it could be Brita Gallagher beside me. 584 00:50:59,734 --> 00:51:04,330 This is all that remains of the old Tralee & Dingle Light Railway. 585 00:51:04,494 --> 00:51:09,090 It runs across two miles of reclaimed marshland to Blenneville, 586 00:51:09,254 --> 00:51:11,290 where stands a windmill - 587 00:51:11,454 --> 00:51:15,242 the last thing that millions of emigrants saw of their country. 588 00:51:20,654 --> 00:51:24,249 Blenneville is the most westerly station in Ireland. 589 00:51:24,414 --> 00:51:26,928 Truly the end of the line. 590 00:51:31,814 --> 00:51:36,205 Today, parties of schoolchildren descend on the Heritage Centre 591 00:51:36,374 --> 00:51:42,609 where a wholesome present tries vainly to recapture the grim realities of the past. 592 00:51:46,774 --> 00:51:50,323 Between 1845 and 1851, 593 00:51:50,494 --> 00:51:53,247 1.5 million people left Ireland. 594 00:51:53,414 --> 00:51:56,247 18% of the population. 595 00:51:56,414 --> 00:52:02,125 From a land devastated by famine, they took to the oceans in conditions so filthy 596 00:52:02,294 --> 00:52:06,253 that the vessels were often known as "coffin ships". 597 00:52:06,414 --> 00:52:10,248 My great-grandmother was among them. 598 00:52:10,414 --> 00:52:13,963 I looked through the Blenneville passenger lists in vain. 599 00:52:14,134 --> 00:52:18,685 They're not all complete - some are in Cork or Derry or Limerick. 600 00:52:18,854 --> 00:52:21,652 Many more are held in the ports of entry. 601 00:52:23,214 --> 00:52:26,172 And she may never have been recorded. 602 00:52:27,174 --> 00:52:30,610 At least by coming to Buttevant and Blenneville, 603 00:52:30,774 --> 00:52:33,004 I can imagine how it might have been 604 00:52:33,174 --> 00:52:38,373 and what she might have seen as she left her homeland 140 years ago. 605 00:53:18,854 --> 00:53:21,971 For now, it's back to Tralee and home. 606 00:53:22,134 --> 00:53:25,888 I've found what remains of the railways of Ireland, 607 00:53:26,054 --> 00:53:28,887 but I've still to find Brita Gallagher. 608 00:53:29,054 --> 00:53:31,522 That journey's only just beginning.