0:00:18 > 0:00:25Me great interest in the mechanics of the past stems from when I were like our Jack - quite a small boy -
0:00:25 > 0:00:29going along the canal from Bolton to Bury,
0:00:29 > 0:00:35and seeing the remains of old coal mines and cotton mill engine houses. Some were still working.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40That's really why I've created all this lot here in me back yard.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45It's sort of a vain attempt to hang onto childhood memories, I suppose.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17This is the Bancroft Mill Engine Trust,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22and up until 1978, there was a big weaving shed out the back.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25This is all that remains of it -
0:01:25 > 0:01:29the engine, the chimney and the boiler.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35And it's situated at Barnoldswick, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41They've turned it now into an industrial heritage centre where everybody can come
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and see the original mill engine in steam.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49There used to be loads of engines like this, where I come from.
0:01:49 > 0:01:55Every coal mine and spinning mill had one. Alas, they've all gone now.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59This is the Bolton to Bury canal,
0:01:59 > 0:02:06and, as a small boy, I used to come along here with me father on me bicycle.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10And, to me, it were quite an exciting world, you know.
0:02:10 > 0:02:17There were coal mines and cotton mills, and wonderful things like inclined railways.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22Really interesting stuff, if you like industrial archaeology.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27Like this crane. The first time I saw it, it were almost complete,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31and now, of course, there's hardly anything left of it.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37The boats used to pull up here and they had boxes in, full of coal.
0:02:37 > 0:02:44And the crane used to lift one out and swing round and drop it down into the paper mill.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Britain was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54and although machinery like this is now sadly decaying,
0:02:54 > 0:03:02for more than 200 years, we led the world in harnessing the power of coal, water and steam,
0:03:02 > 0:03:07to drive the heavy machinery that made mass production possible.
0:03:07 > 0:03:14It's an era that I only saw the end of, but I wish I'd have seen more of it.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18It's only within the last 40-odd years
0:03:18 > 0:03:22that our great industries have disappeared.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28In the '60s, the skylines of Lancashire mill towns
0:03:28 > 0:03:31still bristled with chimneys.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34And the view of Sheffield by night
0:03:34 > 0:03:37was something like Dante's Inferno,
0:03:37 > 0:03:42with the glow of the furnaces lighting the sky
0:03:42 > 0:03:47and rivers of glowing white-hot molten steel flowing through the smoke.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53As the mines, the mills, the factories and the steelworks
0:03:53 > 0:03:58and the engineering works closed, the demolition men moved in,
0:03:58 > 0:04:04and machinery that had made Britain the workshop of the world came under the wrecker's hammer.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10Scrap merchants became wealthy, as they stripped brass, etc, from the engines.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Most people didn't care about what was going on,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19but a few realised that if something wasn't done about it,
0:04:19 > 0:04:25there'd be nothing left to show for an important part of our history.
0:04:25 > 0:04:33People started to restore old engines, and steam locomotive preservation societies appeared.
0:04:33 > 0:04:3530mph. Ha-ha!
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Thanks to the interest and dedication of these people,
0:04:41 > 0:04:48a small part of our industrial story has been preserved for future generations.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57I'm off now on a tour of Britain, in search of our industrial past,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02and the people who've restored a great deal of it,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04to save it from the scrap man.
0:05:04 > 0:05:11And so future generations can see what a wonderful race Britain was in the engineering field.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14My interest is mainly in steam,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19but the earliest form of power is one that's still with us.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I went to Shropshire to meet a man
0:05:22 > 0:05:27who's taken on a job in his garden, bigger than anything in mine.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31- It was in a sad way. No machinery left.- No.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35That had fallen down, some years ago, and been sold for scrap.
0:05:35 > 0:05:43Peter Lewis has spent the last 16 years restoring this windmill, round the back of his house.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48The windmill that Peter's restoring is a tower mill.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52The sails are attached to the cap at the top.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57- This bit makes it face into the wind?- 24 hours a day it goes round.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02- Keeps it facing the wind.- Really carpentry on a grand scale, this.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Great lumps a foot square and two foot square...
0:06:06 > 0:06:12I believe you can disconnect it here and make it go round by hand.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18- That's right.- In case of disaster. - You need a means of coping if the fan goes wrong.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- High technology(!)- Well, it works.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25- Necessity is the mother of invention.- Put the handle on...
0:06:25 > 0:06:28- And off we go.- Roundabout job.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Free tour.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37You can see the jolly miller up here in his smock.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42- Thunder and lightning and a force 10 gale.- Aye. Yeah.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Tower mills aren't the only kind of windmill.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53My travels took me to East Anglia where I found the post mill.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57If you wanna see a good example of a post mill
0:06:57 > 0:06:59East Suffolk is the place to come.
0:06:59 > 0:07:05East Suffolk post mills were said to be amongst the best in the world.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Saxtead Green has a wonderful example of one.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12The fan tail on the post mill is much lower
0:07:12 > 0:07:20because it's not just the top that turns to face the sails into the wind, but the whole windmill.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23So you can turn the building round.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27If you've no wind, the corn grinding comes to a halt.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31- Hello, Jonathan.- Hello, Fred. Nice to see you.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34What operation are you performing?
0:07:34 > 0:07:39- The old mill has got tail-winded. - Yeah.- Which it very rarely does.
0:07:39 > 0:07:46- That means it wasn't facing the wind properly.- Yeah. - So we give it a helping hand.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52- To get it into the wind.- Yeah. How many tonnes are you turning? - About 18 tonnes.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59There's about 6 tonnes of sails and 2 tonnes of stones in the superstructure.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02- D'you want to have a go?- Yeah.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05It's quite easy, innit?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Oh, yes. Yes.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12We'll be all right when we get to the next parish.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15You'd never get 10mph out it.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35This has gotta be, really, one of the finest examples
0:08:35 > 0:08:38of corn grinding windmill technology.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44But, of course, for windmills you need wind.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Water was a more reliable power source.
0:08:51 > 0:08:57You can see plenty of examples of working watermills around the country.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Muncaster mill is near Ravenglass.
0:09:00 > 0:09:07The miller's wife, Pam, gave me a tour. It has a 13 foot overshot water wheel -
0:09:07 > 0:09:11one where the water comes in over the top.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16It's connected to cogs in the mill which drive the milling machinery.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21- It's amazing how nice and quiet it is.- Because of the wooden cogs.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25This is the pit wheel that's attached to the water wheel.
0:09:25 > 0:09:32- But the wooden cogs are there so that there won't be any sparks from any metal bits.- Cause fires.
0:09:32 > 0:09:38The cogs that drive the millstones are connected to the floor above
0:09:38 > 0:09:42where we're actually grinding corn at the moment.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48The grain goes in a hopper and that falls into the wooden piece underneath that moves about - a shoe.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52- This is the boat-shaped thing underneath.- Yeah.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58The grain is slowly drizzled into the centre of the stone, the eye,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03by the spindle that's splayed out of it. It's called the damsel.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08- Anything that goes down is gravity. Anything that comes up, we need mechanical help.- I know.
0:10:08 > 0:10:18- This is the rope from the sack hoist. - Does it work?- It certainly does. Give it a pull. See the sack hoist?
0:10:18 > 0:10:21..There it goes.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25- Oh.- See it coming up through the trap door?- Yeah, yeah.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32Everything you see in a watermill like this is similar to what you find in a windmill.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Up until the 18th century, all we had were these things,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39water wheels and windmills.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41And then...
0:10:41 > 0:10:44this came along.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47HORN BLASTS
0:10:51 > 0:10:54< Crack a light, Fred!
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Not exactly steam railways - they came a bit later.
0:10:58 > 0:11:05But the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway runs right past Muncaster mill.
0:11:05 > 0:11:12I wasn't gonna let this beautiful little steam train go past without having a ride on it.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16..You can keep dry in this engine.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19How old is this one?
0:11:19 > 0:11:23- Seventy-five this year. - Seventy-five?
0:11:23 > 0:11:27ENGINE DROWNS CONVERSATION
0:11:35 > 0:11:43Got all the W & J Kirkham's magical lubricators on, that is.
0:11:43 > 0:11:49- Made in Bolton, them. Where are they?- Well, they've gone now, but the works is still there.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- Well, there we are, then.- Yes.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00- I really enjoyed that.- Good. - Thank you very much.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07A lot smoother than a steamroller, that, I can tell you!
0:12:07 > 0:12:12The very first steam engines weren't very smooth, either!
0:12:12 > 0:12:17They weren't polished, shiny things like this, and didn't go anywhere.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21They were much more primitive at first than this.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34This wonderful thing behind us
0:12:34 > 0:12:39is a working example of the world's first steam engine.
0:12:39 > 0:12:45And this is Ian, who is the curator of the Black Country museum,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49- who is going to tell me how it works. You are, aren't you?- Yeah.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54It's the world's very first recorded steam engine,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59built by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, though he didn't build this one.
0:12:59 > 0:13:06- He built the original in Dudley. We built this replica 15 years ago to see whether it worked.- Yes.
0:13:06 > 0:13:13The original worked for nearly 60 years. We've had this about 15 and it works most of the time.
0:13:13 > 0:13:20- This was called a "fire engine" because it doesn't actually use steam pressure.- No.- It uses vacuum.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23So you put the steam in the cylinder,
0:13:23 > 0:13:28put in the cold water - it creates a vacuum - sucks the piston down.
0:13:28 > 0:13:35Get to the bottom, let the steam back in...up and down she goes, pumping water from the coal mines.
0:13:35 > 0:13:44It was built for the Dudley estates, to drain water from the mine. Horses and wind power weren't good enough.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50The trouble was that the first engines weren't very efficient.
0:13:52 > 0:13:59After Mr Newcomen's atmospheric engine, which was basically made of wood,
0:13:59 > 0:14:06it weren't until 1765 when a famous Scottish engineer, James Watt, came along,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and did a lot of important things.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14He invented the parallel motion at the other end of the beam,
0:14:14 > 0:14:19and then he stuck the crank on the other end of the connecting rod
0:14:19 > 0:14:26and made a wheel go round. That were the prototype for all the steam engines up till 1860.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31The beam engine was the workhorse of the Industrial Revolution.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36In its most crude form, it pumped water from mines.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40It developed into a reciprocating steam engine,
0:14:40 > 0:14:47to power ironworks, textile mills and any sort of factory that needed power.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02These days, the only steam engines you come across that actually work
0:15:02 > 0:15:07are the ones that have been preserved for posterity to look at.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12And here at Llyn Cwellyn near Caernarfon in North Wales,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16there's a beautiful steam engine built in 1854.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20I initially came here to do up the chimney stack.
0:15:20 > 0:15:28And it was such a sad sight - the buildings here. The chimney covered in ivy like a Cornish tin mine.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Holes in the roof, trees growing through windows...
0:15:32 > 0:15:36And the steam engine were in a really sad state.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41I managed to secure the contract for doing up the steam engine.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47I spent roughly 18 months, with two other lads, hard at it.
0:15:48 > 0:15:55When I first come through that door, somewhere around 1988, and looked at this thing,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00it were in a terrible state - rusted solid.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05And it had been vandalised - all the brass bits were gone.
0:16:05 > 0:16:12I took it all back home to Bolton and took a shaving off everything and brought it back to reassemble.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15This shiny bit here -
0:16:15 > 0:16:22we made the fly wheel go round by using an oil engine borrowed from the agricultural college.
0:16:22 > 0:16:28And we took a shaving off here. And I shined the big... The crank here.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33I don't really know how I did that now! It were like corrugated iron!
0:16:33 > 0:16:39And, of course, THIS was the problem, like, the Cornish boiler.
0:16:39 > 0:16:46Part of the contract was to jack the thing up and have a look at the bottom.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51You could have put your boot through the bottom!
0:16:51 > 0:16:56Lovely old thing made in 1854 by Mr D Winton at Caernarfon,
0:16:56 > 0:17:02and no doubt brought up the road on horses and cart, back in 1850.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04Er... No good.
0:17:04 > 0:17:11And down the pub where we stayed, there were a fine body of lads who worked for the Coastguard.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16And one of them said, "I know where there's a boiler,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20"belonging to Mr Roberts, a pork pie manufacturer."
0:17:20 > 0:17:26And to cut a long story short, he gave us the boiler - or gave it to Caernarfon Council,
0:17:26 > 0:17:31and we got it up here and tested it and installed it next door.
0:17:31 > 0:17:38It's a vertical, cross-tube boiler with 12 cross-tubes, so it's a good steamer.
0:17:44 > 0:17:51It's a bit like being on top of a 200-foot chimney up here - the Dorothea quarry in North Wales.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54When I came here, a gentleman said,
0:17:54 > 0:18:01"I'll show you a wonderful place with all sorts of things waiting to be restored."
0:18:01 > 0:18:06Just down there, there's a beautiful Cornish beam engine,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and a shaft 700 feet deep
0:18:09 > 0:18:13that pumped the water out of this big hole behind me.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20There were once 500 men working down that hole.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26In this area alone, up and down the valley, within a mile or so, 2,000 and odd people worked.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Now there's nothing. Just lovely, ruined buildings.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57This is the beam engine here that's been here since 1906.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02Made by Holman Brothers, Cornwall - a famous engineering company.
0:19:02 > 0:19:09It was made initially to pump the water out of the quarry next door, which is 600 feet deep.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14It gave up, finally, in 1956, and was replaced by two electric pumps,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18which did the job for a quarter of the price.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22And now it's patiently waiting for restoration money
0:19:22 > 0:19:26to perhaps make it go again some day.
0:19:30 > 0:19:37When it's fully restored and working, a beam engine like this is a magnificent sight.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42In the days of Queen Victoria, as well as providing industrial power,
0:19:42 > 0:19:47these engines started to bring improvements to domestic life.
0:19:47 > 0:19:54As the Industrial Revolution progressed and the population grew, the demand for clean water grew too.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Because it was so efficient at pumping water,
0:19:58 > 0:20:04the beam engine became the basic working machine of the water industry.
0:20:04 > 0:20:12With the building of pumping stations in the 19th century, beam engine technology reached its peak.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17Tees Cottage pumping station is on the River Tees at Darlington.
0:20:19 > 0:20:26My little balancing act demonstrates the smoothness of the precision engineering.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34- Superglue. A bit of kidology. - I don't think it's stuck on!- No?
0:20:34 > 0:20:40- There you go!- The thing is, getting it back on! Here goes...
0:20:42 > 0:20:46- Hurray! - First time! How about that, then?
0:20:46 > 0:20:52At Tees Cottage you can see the beginning of the demise of the beam engine
0:20:52 > 0:20:59because just next door there's a gas pumping engine that worked alongside the beam engine
0:20:59 > 0:21:04from 1914, before replacing it completely in 1926.
0:21:04 > 0:21:11- Quite a rare engine.- I must say I've never seen a gas engine as big as this!
0:21:11 > 0:21:16- One of the bigger ones in the country.- Yeah...
0:21:16 > 0:21:21- We got this running 10-12 years ago. - Yeah?- Quite a risky business.
0:21:21 > 0:21:29- We thought we'd put everyone's gas heating out!- All cooking their turkeys?- And no gas in the cookers!
0:21:34 > 0:21:41In spite of new types of engines like this one being introduced, the steam engine didn't just disappear.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Smaller engines were used for the manufacture of all sorts of domestic products.
0:21:47 > 0:21:53I found an interesting example on a restoration job near Penrith.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02This is Wetheriggs Country Pottery in Cumbria
0:22:02 > 0:22:06and this wonderful thing is a blunger!
0:22:06 > 0:22:11I thought they were kidding me when they mentioned, like, "blunger"!
0:22:11 > 0:22:16Believe it or not, this is the last steam-driven one in existence.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21And when I came here five years ago it was ready to fall into the pit.
0:22:21 > 0:22:30Its function is... Over the road there were a big clay pit, in the olden days.
0:22:30 > 0:22:37The clay contained a lot of pebbles, and they put it in this pit, added water,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40and the machinery stirred it up
0:22:40 > 0:22:45till it were like milk chocolate and the stones fell to the bottom.
0:22:45 > 0:22:52then they pumped the liquid clay off the top into a lagoon over the back here.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58And when the clay settled on the bottom and the water became fairly clear,
0:22:58 > 0:23:03they pumped the water up the top, back up the hill again.
0:23:03 > 0:23:10When the clay had set, they dug it out in big blocks, and brought it up here to make pots out of it.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Really, it's like a big cake mixer,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17all driven by a little steam engine in this engine house.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23- HISSING - This is Josephine, the engine that drives the blunger outside.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26And it took me and my assistants
0:23:26 > 0:23:31about six months, seven months, to restore it. We took it to bits...
0:23:31 > 0:23:36carted it back to Bolton, restored it all and brought it back here,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41and here it is, driving all the machinery in the pottery!
0:23:41 > 0:23:49That noise next door is the boiler. They've put a bit too much coal on and it's blowing off!
0:23:52 > 0:23:59As far as we know, this is the only example of a steam-driven potter's wheel in existence.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05In some industries, steam power never replaced water power.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10Wheal Martyn China Clay Heritage Centre is in St Austell.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15Here at Wheal Martyn, this really is one of the best examples
0:24:15 > 0:24:20of a water wheel moving things around on an industrial site.
0:24:20 > 0:24:27- I mean, how long has it been here, Terry, doing this?- This 18-foot wheel has been here since 1902,
0:24:27 > 0:24:33and it was pumping slurry around the site right up until 1962.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39It picked up slurry from the pit, and using those pumps down there,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42pumped slurry to where it was required.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47This is it! Technology from a long time ago.
0:24:47 > 0:24:54- This is the core of the business here.- Yeah.- The tail-end of that waterwheel power supply.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59It gives a bit of a shudder when it goes into reverse!
0:24:59 > 0:25:04The thing to remember is that none of these sources of power
0:25:04 > 0:25:07have ever really gone away.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11Take water. We still use it to generate electricity.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Here at Ffestiniog hydroelectric power station,
0:25:15 > 0:25:22this lake is 1,000 foot deep, a 14-foot diameter shaft under that building there.
0:25:22 > 0:25:29When they pull the plug out, down goes the water and works a water turbine
0:25:29 > 0:25:321,000 feet down the mountain.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40This thing down here is the main sort of bowel
0:25:40 > 0:25:45that holds back the pressure 1,000 feet up the mountain.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47A nifty piece of engineering.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52I don't know what they do when they want to change a washer!
0:25:52 > 0:26:00When it opens, the water comes down, through to the water turbine, and generates electricity.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11All very clean and environmentally friendly.
0:26:11 > 0:26:18We've come full circle - these wonderful windmills, looking like aeroplane propellers.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23Somehow or other, I don't think they'll ever beat the steam turbine.
0:26:30 > 0:26:37This lot here - it all works. You could drill a 2.5-inch hole for an iron bar.
0:26:37 > 0:26:44You could forge a big lump of iron two inches square, or saw a piece of stone in half, a foot thick.
0:26:44 > 0:26:52So I don't think I've done so bad with all the junk that would have gone to scrap yards, but for me.
0:26:55 > 0:27:02This weird and wonderful machine is for making iron bands to go around factory chimneys.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07All the bands at Barnoldswick were made with this machine.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13In fact, really, everything here works with the power of steam.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18All the work on my engines, both at Caernarfon and Wetheriggs Pottery,
0:27:18 > 0:27:23has all been done here with this steam-driven machinery.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Even renovating my tractor. It's all been done by steam power.