0:00:05 > 0:00:08The age of steam shaped how we live today.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:00:12 > 0:00:16The Victorians laid over 20,000 miles of lines
0:00:16 > 0:00:20in the biggest engineering project the country has ever seen,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23connecting our towns with high-speed links,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26revolutionising trade and transportation,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28communication and recreation.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32It was the greatest transformation in our history,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34but how did it happen?
0:00:34 > 0:00:37To find out, historians Ruth Goodman...
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Flat out!
0:00:38 > 0:00:41- ..Alex Langlands...- Shovelling coal is something I'm going to get
0:00:41 > 0:00:43very, very familiar with.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44..and Peter Ginn...
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It is tough work.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48..are bringing the railways back to life
0:00:48 > 0:00:51as they would have been during the golden age of steam.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56I feel like I'm in a Western.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is very definitely the best steam engine I've ever been on.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Oh, no! He's gaining on us!
0:01:05 > 0:01:06A brave new world.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09They will be helped by armies of enthusiasts
0:01:09 > 0:01:12who keep the age of steam alive... SHE GROANS
0:01:14 > 0:01:17..on Britain's 500 miles of preserved railway.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20- This is the way to experience train travel, isn't it?- It is.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25They'll follow in the footsteps of the world's finest engineers...
0:01:25 > 0:01:29These are the men that built Britain's railways.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31..those who ran it...
0:01:31 > 0:01:34This is brutal. This is savage industrialism.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37..and those for who life would never be the same again.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Internet? Pah!
0:01:39 > 0:01:42It had nothing like the impact of the railways.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50This is the story of how the railways created modern Britain.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Nowhere was the effect of the railways felt more acutely
0:02:08 > 0:02:09than in the British countryside,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12where the nation's food was produced.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Scour the history books and you'll struggle to find any information
0:02:15 > 0:02:17on farming and the railways,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20so I'm really interested in exploring the profound impact
0:02:20 > 0:02:22that the ability to move bulk goods through a landscape
0:02:22 > 0:02:25would have had on agriculture.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28The story of steam didn't only play out on rails,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32but in Britain's farmyards, fields and factories,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36sparking both an agricultural and culinary revolution.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40The railways were really good at moving a lot of produce
0:02:40 > 0:02:43quickly and cheaply.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47But what effect did that have on the food that we eat?
0:02:48 > 0:02:53The arrival of steam power changed how we fed ourselves as a nation
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and I'm interested in seeing just how that effected
0:02:56 > 0:02:58the ebb and flow of rural life.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10- This is lovely the way they all move together, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11The way they flock together.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16- It's nice to be back on a farm, isn't it?- It is.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Before the arrival of the railways, in areas like rural Dorset,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24the only way of transporting livestock to market
0:03:24 > 0:03:26was to walk it there
0:03:26 > 0:03:29along ancient droving roads that connected Britain.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33In these rural areas, people are poor
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and they're using very, very traditional methods
0:03:36 > 0:03:39with which to get their stock to market.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Ancient means of moving livestock across the isles.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Currently, our stock are on the other side of that valley!
0:03:48 > 0:03:50- How did that happen?- Come on. - THEY LAUGH
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Quick, come back here!
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Livestock driven on long journeys lose precious meat and fat.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05This old and inefficient method of distributing food across the country
0:04:05 > 0:04:08was no longer up to the task of feeding a population
0:04:08 > 0:04:11that rose from eight to 30 million over the 19th century.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18In overcrowded industrial cities of factories and mills,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20fresh food had to be grown locally
0:04:20 > 0:04:23and, increasingly, there wasn't enough to go around.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The 1840s became the hungry '40s
0:04:27 > 0:04:32with millions malnourished and facing genuine starvation.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Way back in the 16th century, we had just about sorted out a system
0:04:36 > 0:04:41of markets, carts and roads that allowed us to even out food supply,
0:04:41 > 0:04:46but 200 years on, we were once again reaching crisis point.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Yes, we had increased our agricultural production,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55but if we couldn't move that food fast enough and efficiently enough,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57we were in trouble.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01The Industrial Revolution could well, without the railways,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03have just fizzled out.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Originally built to transport industrial materials,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16it was the railways' ability to take fresh produce in bulk
0:05:16 > 0:05:20from the countryside to the cities that rescued a nation on the brink,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23transforming the way that Britain fed itself.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Sheep no longer had to be driven to market,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30losing weight and condition on the way.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Now they could be taken there in hours rather than days
0:05:35 > 0:05:37using the new rail network.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43So long as they could be loaded safely, that is.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Having to be really careful here with these sheep
0:05:46 > 0:05:49because they're spooked.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51They're looking around, they're not sure
0:05:51 > 0:05:53and they're big old animals.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57And these hurdles are pretty sturdy, but if they went, they really went,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00they could push them over the edge, so we're just going to be nice,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02just let them chill out for a bit...
0:06:04 > 0:06:05..get used to us.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I mean, the acid test here is going to be how they react
0:06:12 > 0:06:15to an enormous great big steam locomotive
0:06:15 > 0:06:18coming right up alongside them, isn't it?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20What's a sheep ticket on a train these days?
0:06:20 > 0:06:22THEY LAUGH
0:06:22 > 0:06:24They all use the same railcard.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Right, here it is.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Using rural stations on the existing passenger and freight network,
0:06:34 > 0:06:39in 1845, over 100,000 animals were transported by rail.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42That's it. That's fine, isn't it, for us?
0:06:42 > 0:06:44- That is...- That's on the nail.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49At its peak a century later,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53over one and a half million cattle and three and a half million sheep
0:06:53 > 0:06:55were travelling in livestock wagons every year.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58- Here they go.- Good girls.
0:07:06 > 0:07:07That's it.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Come on. That's it. Up you go.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17That went too easily.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20THEY LAUGH
0:07:25 > 0:07:27- Good to see you. Come on up.- Cheers.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- That went extremely well. - That went very well, didn't it?
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Large-scale transportation of livestock on trains
0:07:37 > 0:07:39hasn't been seen since the 1960s
0:07:39 > 0:07:41when roads took over from the railways.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45- We're off.- And there we go.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59And there we have it -
0:07:59 > 0:08:02sheep moving by the power of steam for the first time
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- in at least a generation, John. - Possibly even several generations.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12John Martin, a professor of agricultural history
0:08:12 > 0:08:16at De Montfort University, has come to see this practice,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20which had such a profound impact on both farmers and consumers.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24And what must it have meant for farmers in the 19th century
0:08:24 > 0:08:26to have had access to steam transportation?
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Well, certainly widen the markets for all types of livestock products.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Meat production and distribution was revolutionised
0:08:34 > 0:08:36by the development of the railway system.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38It enabled farmers to market their fat stock,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41it enabled urban centres to grow
0:08:41 > 0:08:44as the result of the way in which meat could now be easily transported
0:08:44 > 0:08:47- into these growing centres. - So, they want more and more meat.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50They've got a taste for meat and the railways can deliver that.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52The railway certainly delivered it.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Rising, expanding middle classes in terms of numbers,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58growing population and the railways played a key role
0:08:58 > 0:09:01in enabling commercial meat to be produced.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Meat consumption in Britain tripled over the 19th century,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11but as much as the railways benefited farmers,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15for many, the physical impact of these iron roads was less welcome.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I look to my left and I look to my right and I see a field there
0:09:19 > 0:09:22and a field there, but before this railway was here,
0:09:22 > 0:09:23that was one field.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26They're left with essentially two farms.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Crossing from one field to the other was a perilous task.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36A collision with a farmer's cart in 1833
0:09:36 > 0:09:39is said to have inspired the first locomotive whistle
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and drivers like Steve Barker have to give good warning
0:09:43 > 0:09:45on their approach to unmanned crossings
0:09:45 > 0:09:46at whistle points along the track.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48When we go past the W, give it a blast.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50- Yeah, OK.- So, we're coming up.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53I can see the W.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56WHISTLE BLOWS
0:09:56 > 0:09:58We've got a bend there.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- That way.- They can't see us,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02- but that gives enough warning that we're there.- Yes.- OK.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09In 1883, stray livestock on the line
0:10:09 > 0:10:14accounted for collisions with 110 sheep, 59 cows, 40 horses,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17four donkeys and one deer.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21And you were saying that depending on the crossing
0:10:21 > 0:10:24depends on how far ahead you whistle?
0:10:24 > 0:10:28- Yes, you might have a footpath where people can see in time.- Yeah.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31- Obviously, for a pedestrian to walk across doesn't take long.- Yeah.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35But a farmer with a couple of cattle or a trailer of some sort,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- it takes longer...- Yeah.- ..so they need to be able to see further.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40If they can't see, that's why we have a whistle -
0:10:40 > 0:10:42to warn them we're coming.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46I don't know how our sheep are doing.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48This is quite a ride for them.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52A brave new world.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54This is our destination.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57- And those sheep look perfectly fine, don't they?- Yeah, looking excellent.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59- Just another day at the office for them.- Yeah.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Good job it's not another day at the abattoir.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14From a growing nation struggling to feed itself in the 1840s,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16the consumer now had access to produce
0:11:16 > 0:11:18from all over the British Isles.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Cities no longer had to rely on fresh food grown locally.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32Spreading deep into the countryside, connecting people and places,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35the railway network created a national market,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38changing the way food was produced, what was produced
0:11:38 > 0:11:40and where it was produced.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42WHISTLE BLOWS
0:11:54 > 0:11:57So, this line was built in order to gain access
0:11:57 > 0:11:59to a really quite remote part of the countryside.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01We're in the North York Moors
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and because of the nature of the ground - it's very high -
0:12:04 > 0:12:07the roads really weren't up to much.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10They were difficult to get over, there was large bog areas,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13wagons and carts got bogged down, they had very steep inclines,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16so it meant that this area was really quite cut off.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19The railway was deliberately put here
0:12:19 > 0:12:22to open up this part of the countryside
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and, in particular, to gain access - easy access -
0:12:26 > 0:12:31for people and goods to the last station along the line, Whitby.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The Whitby and Pickering line revived the fortunes of Whitby,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43then a declining and isolated whaling port on the North Sea coast,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46allowing it easy access to the rest of the country.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59The project was a great success,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02turning Whitby into a thriving fishing town.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Photographs collected by local historian Glenn Kilpatrick
0:13:07 > 0:13:11show the extent of Whitby's once booming herring industry.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14These are the herring boats leaving port.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- Oh, my goodness.- We're actually stood right here at the moment...
0:13:17 > 0:13:20- Oh, so we are.- ..on towards the east pier lighthouse.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Gosh, there's loads of them. Look at their little lights.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24Right out to the horizon.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27As children, we were told you could basically walk one side
0:13:27 > 0:13:29of the harbour to the other, across them.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Oh, yes, I see what you mean about being able to walk right out.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- It's an awful lot of boats. - This was herring fishing.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37- Herring fishing.- Yeah.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39Just look at the sheer number of fish.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40Yeah, shovelling 'em up.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44That many, just using a shovel to get them in the barrel.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46- Oh, wow.- And this one here.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Now, that's a lot of fish.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50That really illustrates the amount of fish.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52And they're hauling this sort of catch out of the sea
0:13:52 > 0:13:55again and again and again and again and again.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Yeah. Over a long period of time, yes.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06By the 1880s, almost 5,000 people were employed
0:14:06 > 0:14:09in Whitby's herring industry.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11Transported in bulk by the railway,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15it became a relatively cheap staple of the Victorian diet,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17eaten in working-class households
0:14:17 > 0:14:20that had never been able to afford fresh fish before.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24They became known as the poor man's friend,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and although overfishing would eventually lead
0:14:26 > 0:14:29to the herring industry's demise in Whitby,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31some local traditions have survived.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35- Barry, hello.- Hello.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38- Cor, they look good. - Still smoking traditionally,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40the way we've always been smoking these.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44- Still using the Victorian methods? - Yes. Nothing's changed.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Barry Brown is the fifth generation of his family
0:14:48 > 0:14:49to run Fortune's of Whitby.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54The firm has been producing kippers for 144 years.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58What's the approved method?
0:14:59 > 0:15:01- In with your knife just above the fin.- OK.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06- So, you run it down its backbone, through the head...- Jeepers.
0:15:06 > 0:15:07..back down the backbone to the tail.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Don't go through the tail if you can help it.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12I would flick it. That bit...the gills come up.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15- It's more or less ready for washing.- OK.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Right, well, you made that look simple.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Fish, hand on, pointed knife...
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Herring fishing was seasonal as the shoals moved south.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Travelling down with them on the east coast rail lines
0:15:27 > 0:15:29were migrant workers from Scotland,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32employed to gut the fish for low wages.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35It's quite tough through the head, isn't it?
0:15:35 > 0:15:37It helps if you just push against it...
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Push against it and do a little... OK, I'll try that next one.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44All were women.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46They were known as the herring girls.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50So, I have read the herring girls could do up to 16 of these a minute.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56- Probably.- I might do one in a minute if I'm lucky.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59The fish guts weren't left to waste.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01They were sent by train to factories,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04where they were processed into fertiliser.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07But if I went back to the beginning of the 20th century,
0:16:07 > 0:16:08I'd find myself down that railway
0:16:08 > 0:16:11not just surrounded by boxes of kippers,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15but also by great big barrels full of fish guts
0:16:15 > 0:16:19that were heading off inland to be used as fertiliser.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Yes, it was used as fertiliser, yeah.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26I'm making a mess of them, aren't I? You can be honest.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28You're making a mess of them. Your first one was your best one.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31SHE LAUGHS
0:16:33 > 0:16:35The herring will be cold smoked,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38meaning that the fish remains uncooked.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41This is not only for taste but to preserve the herring.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43- This process is to keep the fish longer.- Yeah.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48It also colours and flavours it, but it is for keeping purposes.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Cold smoking the herring is a delicate and skilful art
0:16:53 > 0:16:56requiring just the right quantity and combination of wood
0:16:56 > 0:16:58to cure and flavour the fish.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03So, these shavings, it's quite critical what sort of woods
0:17:03 > 0:17:07- you're using?- This is hardwood. It's oak.- Oak.- Oak shavings.- Right.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09So, we want this to burn and smoke,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12but when we put the dust on top of that, that'll calm it right down.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14- So, it's about oxygen control?- Yes.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16So, you're wanting oxygen in at the base,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19- but not too much near the surface? - Yeah, cos we get flames then.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20We don't want too many flames.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23It's just a calming down thing with the oak here.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27So, they're just supposed to be small, low, smoky,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29- not much heat, lots of smoke? - That's right.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36It must be utterly second nature to you.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It is, to be fair, yeah. We sort of light fires.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42- We don't put them out. - SHE LAUGHS
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The herring will be smoked for over 24 hours.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Only at the end of the process can they be called kippers.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Cheap and easily transported without the need for ice-packed wagons,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00the railways and kippers were an ideal match.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04They could be posted to any destination on the network,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06using either freight or passenger services.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- Morning!- Good morning.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Even modest-sized firms like Fortune's of Whitby
0:18:12 > 0:18:16could now send their products by rail to all corners of the country.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23The smaller consignments would just be popped into the guard's van
0:18:23 > 0:18:28and this mixture of freight and passenger all in one train
0:18:28 > 0:18:32meant that small businesses with smaller loads
0:18:32 > 0:18:37could take advantage of the railway network
0:18:37 > 0:18:39using all the trains that ran.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44It gave it a real flexibility as a freight system.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47- Lovely, thank you.- Fabulous.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59As food on the dinner plates of Victorian households
0:18:59 > 0:19:01was sourced from further and further afield,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05the new rail distribution network created greater competition
0:19:05 > 0:19:07amongst the nation's producers and farmers...
0:19:10 > 0:19:11..both in business...
0:19:12 > 0:19:14..and in the show ring.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22This was when agricultural shows caught on -
0:19:22 > 0:19:25a chance for livestock breeders to check out their rivals
0:19:25 > 0:19:28from across the British Isles.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I am always amazed, when I come to a show like this
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and you can see all the different breeds of sheep together
0:19:34 > 0:19:37in one place, just how much they're different.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40- Yeah, it's remarkable, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44The first Devon County Show took place in 1872
0:19:44 > 0:19:46when the railway brought together farmers and their animals
0:19:46 > 0:19:48from the county and beyond.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Back in the 18th century, before the railways,
0:19:52 > 0:19:53you'd only ever know about breeds
0:19:53 > 0:19:56by looking at those wonderful colour plates that were produced.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59But the problem with those colour plates is they're idealised.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02- Artistic licence. - There was a lot of artistic licence.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05The railways come along and all of a sudden, a farmer from Suffolk
0:20:05 > 0:20:07can get on the train, come all the way down to Devon
0:20:07 > 0:20:09and for the first time, he can actually clap his eyes
0:20:09 > 0:20:13on a different breed and weigh up its characteristics.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17- See if the actual animal lived up to the hype.- Yeah.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24Not only could farmers come face-to-face with rivals' livestock,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26but using the rail network,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28breeders could now travel across the country
0:20:28 > 0:20:31with their prize rams and bulls,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34selling their unique qualities to the highest bidder.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37What about this? This thing crashed out here?
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Well, there's a big lad, isn't it?
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Chief livestock steward Edward Dark
0:20:42 > 0:20:44has been breeding sheep for over 60 years.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46These are the Exmoor Horns.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- They come from Exmoor, so they're bred on top of the hills...- Yeah.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54- ..and they have to be very, very hardy to exist up there.- Right.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57So, going back, in an age before the railways, really,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59as a sheep farmer, you weren't choosing what breed
0:20:59 > 0:21:02- you could use or specialise in. - No, that's right.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06- You very much worked with what was local to the area.- That is so.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12As the railways enabled livestock to be moved more easily
0:21:12 > 0:21:13over long distances,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17giving rise to a threefold increase in meat consumption,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Victorian farmers increasingly began to either experiment
0:21:20 > 0:21:23with other breeds or crossbreed their own stock
0:21:23 > 0:21:25with bigger animals from different regions,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28better suited to changing demands.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29Look at that one.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32- I mean, that is a monster. - He is a big lad, isn't it?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35But the key thing about introducing the Suffolk
0:21:35 > 0:21:37- is about getting the meat. - It's putting more meat back.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41They've got the size and they've got the extra flesh over the top
0:21:41 > 0:21:42and over the loin.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47- The leg of lamb was expensive. You know, joints are.- Yeah.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Victorian farmers not only wanted the meatiest breeds,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54but the most productive.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Why were sheep farmers looking to cross their breeds
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- with a Border Leicester?- Well, yes.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05They're more prolific and they put more milk into their progeny.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07So, when you say prolific, what do you mean by that?
0:22:07 > 0:22:09- They had more lambs. - They had more lambs?
0:22:09 > 0:22:14That's right, yeah. And produce more milk into that female, you see.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Because if you didn't have that extra milk, you know,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19the extra lambs, she wouldn't be able to rear them, would she?
0:22:19 > 0:22:20Right, I get it.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Well, it's great to have been talked through some of these breeds.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- You know what the old saying is, don't you?- No, go on.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29I must hurry up and go along steady.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32- Right. I must hurry up and go along steady?- Yeah.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- You remember that one. - I must hurry up and go along steady.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- OK, then.- All right.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40As selective breeding grew in popularity
0:22:40 > 0:22:43among a society that valued social rank,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47so did competing to see who could breed the most impressive animals.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Prize-winning bulls became celebrities
0:22:50 > 0:22:53with people travelling from far and wide to see them.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57- He seems quite docile for a bull. - Yeah. Well, he is, yeah.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00If you've got to go in the field and watch out for the bull chasing you,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03I'm too fat and old now to run too much,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06so I'd rather have a nice bull like this.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08This year, Mike Cowell's Red Ruby Devon
0:23:08 > 0:23:11won the top prize in its class.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13With a bull that you're showing,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15what characteristics are you looking for?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17- When he walks in the ring, you look at his head...- Yeah.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19..make sure it's a nice Devon head.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Then you'd walk round him, stand off him a little bit,
0:23:22 > 0:23:24have a look at the length of the bull.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26And this is a particularly long bull.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28It's almost got an extra rib.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30And then look at him from the back.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Checking his legs and just making sure he's good for the job.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37His job, obviously, is serving cows,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40- so he's going to be on those legs quite a bit...- Right.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42..so he's got to have good legs.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45If you're judging for a show,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48is that akin to also if you were going to purchase to breed?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50- Yeah.- You'd look for the same things?
0:23:50 > 0:23:52- I would look at it exactly the same way.- OK.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54So, breeders like you are giving animals like this
0:23:54 > 0:23:57the best life possible, so we can essentially have the best meat.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59He lives fantastically well, this bull.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04I go on holiday and he comes with me and it's all right, it's good.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08I'd do the same, but I don't think he'd fit in the caravan.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20- Well, Peter, it's been a great show, hasn't it?- It has.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22I think it's time for us to hurry up and go along steady.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25- Did you say cider tent? - Well, maybe on the way.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Driving all these changes in farming were the consumers
0:24:39 > 0:24:42in the expanding Victorian cities.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46At the epicentre of the rail network was London itself -
0:24:46 > 0:24:51by 1871, a metropolis of over 4 million people,
0:24:51 > 0:24:55drawing fresh produce from all over the country to its main markets.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Smithfield, Covent Garden, Spitalfields
0:25:01 > 0:25:02and for fish...
0:25:04 > 0:25:05..Billingsgate.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Billingsgate became, very rapidly,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the biggest fish market in the world.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18And this vast expansion was due to the new transport, the railways,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22that were able to bring produce from all those east coast fishing ports,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26places like Great Yarmouth, Whitby, Grimsby,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29all concentrating down to one market.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33All of Britain's fish in one place - Billingsgate.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39By the mid-19th century,
0:25:39 > 0:25:44120,000 tonnes of fish were traded through Billingsgate each year.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48The market had a reputation for foul language and lively characters.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54"Arrive in a good coat," one Victorian warns,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56"and you'll leave in scale armour."
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Good morning. Welcome to Billingsgate.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01This looks fabulous.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Yes, a grand variety of products we're proud of.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Don Tyler is one of the few current wholesalers
0:26:08 > 0:26:10who has worked in both the original building
0:26:10 > 0:26:13and the new site, opened over 30 years ago.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16I have a list here that I just wanted to ask you.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22It's a list of quantities being sold in Billingsgate in about 1850,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25so just after the railways really get going,
0:26:25 > 0:26:31and it's talking about herrings - 250,000 barrels at 150 per barrel.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Is that comparable to modern?
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Well, it isn't comparable because very, very sadly,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39we don't see that quantity of herrings now on a regular basis.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42So, in the 1850s, there was more herring coming through Billingsgate
0:26:42 > 0:26:44- than there is now? - Oh, very much so, yes.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49Unfortunately, now, with quotas and tonnage restrictions,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53we go several weeks of the year now where herrings are not available.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57- Right.- I think we've missed a generation out of the public
0:26:57 > 0:27:01who have learnt or been taught how to eat a herring, quite frankly...
0:27:01 > 0:27:03- I know what you mean.- ..cos they're missing so many weeks of the year.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Yeah. I mean, the list is just enormous.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11Cod is talking about 400,000, averaging ten-pound weight each.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16- Whiting - 17,920,000. - Scary, isn't it?
0:27:16 > 0:27:18They're staggering figures, even for me,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20and I've been in the trade many years,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and they would be even more staggering to people
0:27:22 > 0:27:24coming into the trade newly now.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28They think, "Well, no, those sort of tonnages aren't feasible,"
0:27:28 > 0:27:29but they were.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36In 1830, at the dawn of the railway age,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38a clerk at Billingsgate had told a reporter
0:27:38 > 0:27:42that the working classes would never eat fish.
0:27:42 > 0:27:4720 years later, they were seen as the main ingredient in their diet.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55- Oh, wow!- Well, hello. Fish and chips, is it, Ruth?
0:27:55 > 0:27:58The son of fish and chip shop owners,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Daniel Dixon works at Beamish in County Durham,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04where they've recreated a coal-fired chippie
0:28:04 > 0:28:07as it would have been at the turn of the 20th century
0:28:07 > 0:28:12when this institution had become firmly rooted in British life.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16I mean, it's just like a modern chip shop, isn't it?
0:28:16 > 0:28:18- It is.- It's like everything you would expect to see.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And it's in miniature cos this sort of thing would have been found
0:28:21 > 0:28:23in someone's back room on the end of a terrace.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25- Really?- Yeah. - It was that sort of...?
0:28:25 > 0:28:28The people of the street would come with their own bowls and plates
0:28:28 > 0:28:29to be filled.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32- So, really quite makeshift? - Oh, yes. Look at the size of this.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34You could easily fit that in front of your fire breast
0:28:34 > 0:28:36- in your front room. - You could, actually.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38This would be quite easy to just install
0:28:38 > 0:28:40- and turn your front room into a little shop.- Exactly.- Yeah.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47We call it a rumbler. It's a potato-peeling machine.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Demand was so great that selling fish from living rooms
0:28:50 > 0:28:53was soon replaced by purpose-built chippies
0:28:53 > 0:28:56that used the latest technology to satisfy the nation's appetite
0:28:56 > 0:28:58for convenience food.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Oh, yes!
0:29:00 > 0:29:03So, this really is about the whole commercial
0:29:03 > 0:29:05- stepping up of production.- Oh, yeah.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Because we have customers to be fed...
0:29:07 > 0:29:11- Yeah.- ..and we've got to do it quickly enough to supply that range.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18You always have one troublesome potato.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25- Yay!- There we are.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Shove a potato in and press.
0:29:30 > 0:29:31Yeah, I'm liking this already.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33You'll need to go a lot faster than that, though, Ruth.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36- SHE LAUGHS - There are customers to be served!
0:29:37 > 0:29:40- And you don't stop until that bucket is full.- Right. Okey doke.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Whoo!
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Despite becoming a quintessentially British combination,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57the chip came from the French and the battered fish
0:29:57 > 0:30:00arrived on these shores with Jewish refugees.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02How do you tell if these are hot enough, then?
0:30:02 > 0:30:05There's no thermostat, there's no temperature control.
0:30:05 > 0:30:06So, it's traditional experience?
0:30:06 > 0:30:09- Traditionally, they would have spat into the pan...- No!
0:30:09 > 0:30:13..and if the fat spits back, it's all right to fry.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Fish and chips were invariably fried in beef fat,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19a readily-available by-product of the meat trade.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23I think we could just about get this fish in.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25- I'll let most of it drip into the pan...- Right.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27..so that you get all of your batter bits.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30- Is that enough?- Yeah. Lay it in because if you drop it,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32you'll cover your hands in hot dripping.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34There you are. You're now a fish fryer.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37- That's another feather in your hat. - SHE LAUGHS
0:30:40 > 0:30:44I can't think of anywhere in Britain that hasn't got a fish and chip shop
0:30:44 > 0:30:47- somewhere within easy distance. - Exactly.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50- Well, it's a national dish. Everyone loves it.- It is a national dish.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52And that's weird, too, isn't it?
0:30:52 > 0:30:56I mean, in a world before railways, there weren't any national dishes.
0:30:56 > 0:30:57Everything was local.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01You know, every area had its own specialities, its own regional...
0:31:01 > 0:31:08This is the first time you have a pan-Britain speciality dish.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It must have been a revelation, though, mustn't it?
0:31:15 > 0:31:19To just go to a shop and buy a hot dinner instantly
0:31:19 > 0:31:21- at affordable prices.- Exactly.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23It must have made such a difference to people.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25And this is the first instance of that.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Like, nowadays, our culture is fast food.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Your local village chippie was the first example of that.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35From the cod to the potato,
0:31:35 > 0:31:40from the coal to heat the ranges to the newspaper wrapping...
0:31:40 > 0:31:42- Good spot.- Looks good.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44..fish and chips was a railway dish,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48giving rise to a new takeaway style of dining.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51This is proper fish and chips, this is.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54- Yeah.- Yeah, beef dripping.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56- That's what it is.- Cooked over coal.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00That is delicious.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02And here we are eating it outside in public.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06- That's a big deal.- It's a funny thing to think, isn't it?
0:32:06 > 0:32:08You know, that the whole eating in public,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11eating takeaways is such a new idea,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13that people didn't eat in public.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18I mean, modern culture is just so completely...
0:32:19 > 0:32:22..almost centred around takeaway food.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24- Everywhere you go... - There's no taboo.
0:32:24 > 0:32:31No, people eat everywhere and yet, before the railways, nobody did.
0:32:31 > 0:32:32Absolutely nobody.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36It's fish and chips that start off this outdoor eating.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38- Well, the railways are changing the diet...- Yeah.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43- ..but they're also changing social mores.- Yeah, they are, absolutely.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45And I think if I eat any more of these fish and chips,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47- I'm going to have a heart attack. - THEY LAUGH
0:32:57 > 0:33:00Via the railways, people in Victorian Britain
0:33:00 > 0:33:02were getting used to fresher,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05better quality and cheaper food in the shops.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Seeking to keep pace with the growing demand,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12the nation's biggest landowners looked for ways
0:33:12 > 0:33:15to bring their increasingly antiquated farms
0:33:15 > 0:33:17up to speed with the industrial age.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22In the 18th century, landowners were investing vast sums of money
0:33:22 > 0:33:25in brand spanking new buildings like this.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32The problem was, by the time we got to the middle of the 19th century,
0:33:32 > 0:33:34these buildings just weren't up to scratch.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37They weren't designed to meet with the challenges
0:33:37 > 0:33:40that the railways presented farmers with in the 1850s.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46Capturing the aspirations of the day,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, a model farm was constructed -
0:33:50 > 0:33:53a purpose-built set of buildings that more closely resembled
0:33:53 > 0:33:56a Victorian factory than Georgian barns.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Here, the aim was to produce more and produce it cheaper
0:34:01 > 0:34:04by incorporating the latest technology
0:34:04 > 0:34:06from manufacturing and industry.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12And this really is the business end of this model farm - a steam engine.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17And I could just as well be sat on the footplate of a locomotive,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19although this is a static engine.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23And this is the thing that effectively changes British farming
0:34:23 > 0:34:26in the 19th century because this steam engine,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28via a flywheel and a drive wheel over there,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31would be actually powering a drive bar
0:34:31 > 0:34:33that runs all the way along the back of this farm,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37and it would power all sorts of tools in workshops in a row.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39So, you'd have a sawmill, saw benches,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42bellows, plate hammers,
0:34:42 > 0:34:44effectively a series of craft workshops,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47which were designed to service this farm.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52A new age powered by steam.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Faced with the challenges of increasing productivity,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Victorians recognised the potential of steam power
0:35:02 > 0:35:05to be harnessed on land as well as in workshops.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11In 1854, the Royal Agricultural Society of England
0:35:11 > 0:35:13even offered a prize of £500
0:35:13 > 0:35:16for anyone who could find an efficient steam substitute
0:35:16 > 0:35:18for the horse-drawn plough.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27The winner, John Fowler, had himself witnessed the horrors
0:35:27 > 0:35:29of the Irish potato famine a decade earlier
0:35:29 > 0:35:32and had resolved to devote his time and resources
0:35:32 > 0:35:34to cheapen food production,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38inventing engines and a plough that would be exported around the world.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43- How are you getting on, then, George?- Yeah, not too bad.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45- Good morning, gentlemen. - ALL:- Morning.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47When I think of steam ploughing,
0:35:47 > 0:35:52you sort of tend to imagine a steam engine actually pulling a plough,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55but that isn't the case, is it, with these engines?
0:35:55 > 0:35:57- No, not at all, no. - What's the set-up here?
0:35:57 > 0:36:00- So, we'll have one engine either end of the field...- Yeah.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03- ..and we'll pull the plough backwards and forwards.- Right.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10The plough will be pulled on a steel rope
0:36:10 > 0:36:13between Mark Farwell's two engines,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16but first, they must be perfectly lined up.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20How are we doing? Are we broadly parallel, do you think?
0:36:20 > 0:36:22No, I think we're a bit...
0:36:22 > 0:36:25I haven't quite got to grips with this steering, have I, yet?
0:36:25 > 0:36:27- We'd better back up a bit. - Let's back up again.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34There we go.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Although much faster than the horse-drawn plough,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42the steam method still required a team of workers
0:36:42 > 0:36:44to operate the engines and plough.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46WHISTLE BLOWS
0:36:54 > 0:36:57And tractors would work in teams
0:36:57 > 0:37:00travelling from farm to farm and paid by the acre.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04The standard Victorian horse-drawn plough
0:37:04 > 0:37:07had just one share making a single furrow.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Under steam power, a plough with five shares could be used.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Just amazing to think of the power in this cable.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23And, in fact, this steam engine isn't using all of its power
0:37:23 > 0:37:25to pull this plough.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28If it did use all of its power, it would actually start pulling
0:37:28 > 0:37:30these two steam engines closer together.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32That's how powerful it is.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34It's amazing for me to see it today,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37but just cast yourself back to the 1850s
0:37:37 > 0:37:41and think about a farmer seeing this power for the first time.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46I mean, the ambitions they must've had for these machines -
0:37:46 > 0:37:49the ability to plough 20 to 30 acres in a day
0:37:49 > 0:37:51rather than your standard one acre a day,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53which you would have done with horses.
0:37:53 > 0:37:54It's just phenomenal.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57It must have been a really revolutionary moment
0:37:57 > 0:37:58in British farming.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Ploughmen like George Willie would be judged
0:38:03 > 0:38:06on their speed and accuracy to produce straight furrows.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11I think it's time for you to earn your keep, isn't it?
0:38:11 > 0:38:12Really? Let's go for it.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19- Right.- When you're holding on to it...- Yeah.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21..try not to put your thumb like that
0:38:21 > 0:38:24cos if we get steam, it'll break your thumb.
0:38:24 > 0:38:25- So, I'm sort of like this?- Yeah.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28- So, it's not power-assisted, then? - No, no, no.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31- I need my thumbs. - HE LAUGHS
0:38:31 > 0:38:33- OK, driver. - WHISTLE BLOWS
0:38:35 > 0:38:36Goodness me.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Up against that. Ooh, blimey.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44That'll be a stone.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47- Right, there we are. We're in. - Yeah, you're spot on.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55My word, the power of this thing is absolutely incredible, isn't it?
0:38:55 > 0:38:58This is great. Ooh, a bit more speed now.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01- You've got a bit of confidence now you've done a bit.- Yeah.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11When we get to the end, you want to pull full lock towards this way.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13- Right, OK. Full lock. - Yeah, full lock.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16- Full lock.- Yeah, go on. - Full lock. That's full lock.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Go back the other way a little bit.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20- There we are.- That's it.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25And you're ready to go back down then.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27- Did you enjoy that? - Did you enjoy it?
0:39:27 > 0:39:31That was good fun. I just want to look back, look at the work.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34- Oh, my goodness, that's not too bad. - It's not too bad, actually.
0:39:34 > 0:39:35I must admit, I haven't told you something
0:39:35 > 0:39:38- about going back the other way. - What's that?
0:39:38 > 0:39:40- Left is right and right is left. - So, it's reverse steering.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42- It's reverse steering.- OK.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44Don't ask me why.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46It could've been quite easily rectified, but...
0:39:46 > 0:39:48They just thought they'd throw that in.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51- You've got to remember these blokes drunk a lot of cider.- Yeah.- So...
0:39:52 > 0:39:56..maybe that was something to do with it, I don't know.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59OK, then. So, I think I'm ready for this.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01WHISTLE BLOWS
0:40:02 > 0:40:04Here we go. Reverse steering.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Ooh.
0:40:16 > 0:40:17Not too bad.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I've never concentrated so hard in all my life, George.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35- You can start coming this way now. - Start coming this way now.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38So, it's this way, isn't it? Down to pull me out.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Now just go back the other way a little bit.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44- Not bad.- Yeah, that isn't bad.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- You're all right? You're happy with it?- Yeah.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48There's a little kink in it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- Let's have a look. - Not bad at all, really.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53If you get any kinks in it,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55- all you have to say then is there was a bird's nest...- Yeah.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58- ..and we were going round the bird's nest.- Oh, that's what you say?
0:40:58 > 0:41:00- That's a skylark.- Yeah, that's it.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Cos obviously we don't want to damage it because, you know...
0:41:02 > 0:41:04So, if we get any kinks,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06"There's a little bit of a bird's nest up there.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08"I think that's what we'll put it down to, OK?"
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Yeah, I'm happy with that.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Keeping up with the supply of food that the railway
0:41:15 > 0:41:19could now distribute in greater quantities than ever before,
0:41:19 > 0:41:21steam power provided the answer.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26In agriculture, increased mechanisation radically altered
0:41:26 > 0:41:28the way in which we grew cereal crops
0:41:28 > 0:41:31and chief amongst those cereal crops was barley,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34which, as we all know, is the main ingredient in beer.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Traditionally, beer had been produced locally
0:41:39 > 0:41:42by thousands of small, independent breweries.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Many were put out of business as the railway network paved the way
0:41:47 > 0:41:50for the emergence of national brewing centres.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54By embracing the steam revolution, against bigger competition,
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Britain's oldest brewery, Shepherd Neame, grew and prospered.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01The brewhouse was always on this site
0:42:01 > 0:42:06- drawing water from the source every day since 1573.- Wow.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13Its success and subsequent expansion from a small-town brewery
0:42:13 > 0:42:16to a major regional player in the south-east
0:42:16 > 0:42:18owed much to both the arrival of a rail link
0:42:18 > 0:42:20to London and the Kent coast
0:42:20 > 0:42:23and the foresight of Jonathan Neame's Victorian ancestors
0:42:23 > 0:42:26to swap horsepower for steam power.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31- Pretty special, isn't it? - Yeah. This is fantastic.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39Installed in 1860 to pump water from a natural spring,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41three storeys up to the top of the building,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45the combined efforts of steam on rail, and in the brewery,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47had a dramatic impact.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50This was put in only two years after the railway came in,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54so the brewery could see that there was a great opportunity
0:42:54 > 0:42:57- for expanding. - So, it's freeing up manpower
0:42:57 > 0:43:00- and it's making everything more efficient.- Absolutely right.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Between 1858 and the early 1870s,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07the production of this brewery multiplied four times.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11By 1900, we had 18 railway depots
0:43:11 > 0:43:16from Harwich through to Brighton and South London,
0:43:16 > 0:43:20so we were putting quite a lot of beer on the railways
0:43:20 > 0:43:23and transporting it around the south-east of England
0:43:23 > 0:43:25on a sort of distance - an economic distance -
0:43:25 > 0:43:29- that we still cover today. - My goodness.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33- Beautiful, isn't it? - Absolutely remarkable.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36I think I could watch this for hours.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Milling, stirring and pumping,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42four separate engines powered the brewery,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46mass-producing beer on a scale unimaginable before.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55The railways were able to transport the beer over long distances,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58but barrels still had to be moved from breweries to stations
0:43:58 > 0:44:00and from warehouses to pubs
0:44:00 > 0:44:02and once again, steam power provided a faster
0:44:02 > 0:44:05and more efficient alternative to the horse.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10- Hi, Guy, are you all right? - Are we all loaded?- Yeah, I think so.
0:44:12 > 0:44:13- You ready?- I'm ready.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17- You're driving?- Yeah, I'm driving.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19You're in charge of all things to do with steering.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21Right, I'm steering? OK.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Guy Debes has brought along this traction engine,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36which evolved from the portable engines used in agriculture,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39transporting goods faster and in greater quantities
0:44:39 > 0:44:41than any horse and cart.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45These are really strong, as well.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49- A little engine, really powerful.- Yeah.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51It was designed to pull a load of ten tonnes.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55- Quite small, as well.- Yeah, small. It was built to do a job.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58These were the sort of engines you'd use in a town centre,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01city centre, for delivering goods.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04They'd turn up at a railway mainly with two trailers on,
0:45:04 > 0:45:05load the goods onto the trailers
0:45:05 > 0:45:09and it would deliver them either to the shops or the end user.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11And what's the advantage of this over the horse?
0:45:11 > 0:45:16You'd simply need an enormous team of horses to do what it can do.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20- Right.- And, of course, it doesn't need feeding
0:45:20 > 0:45:23other than coal, a bit of maintenance.
0:45:24 > 0:45:25Its working life span...
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Once you got over the initial investment, which was pretty huge...
0:45:29 > 0:45:31- Yeah.- ..this particular engine
0:45:31 > 0:45:34worked for over 50 years for one company.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39- You'd have needed five generations of horses.- Yeah.
0:45:42 > 0:45:43It's quite fast, isn't it?
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Oh, you wait until we see it in top gear.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49- Oh, we're not in top gear yet? - Oh, no.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01For a short golden period in the middle of the 19th century,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04steam power had rejuvenated British farming.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06But by the 1870s,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10this wonder technology had itself become the farmer's worst enemy.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20The ambitions of these early, pioneering,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23industrial agriculturalists were never realised
0:46:23 > 0:46:26and this is because the same steam technology
0:46:26 > 0:46:28that was being used to power forward
0:46:28 > 0:46:30the Industrial Revolution here in Britain
0:46:30 > 0:46:33was also being exported to other parts of the world.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35In places like North America, for example,
0:46:35 > 0:46:39they were setting out railway lines that were connecting up the ports
0:46:39 > 0:46:43on the East Coast with vast acreages of virgin prairie
0:46:43 > 0:46:45in the central heartlands of America.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48And it was on this prairie that farmers were growing wheat
0:46:48 > 0:46:49in huge quantities.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52The railway lines could then ship it back to the ports,
0:46:52 > 0:46:54it could be steam-shipped across the Atlantic
0:46:54 > 0:46:56and then the railway network here
0:46:56 > 0:46:58could transport it throughout the country.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01As a consequence of this, British farmers just couldn't compete
0:47:01 > 0:47:03and British agriculture in general suffered
0:47:03 > 0:47:07arguably the greatest depression it had ever seen in its history.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14Reacting to the sharp fall in wheat prices,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17many Victorian farmers moved away from arable farming,
0:47:17 > 0:47:19either turning to livestock
0:47:19 > 0:47:21or making best use of the railway network
0:47:21 > 0:47:24by supplying specialist perishable produce
0:47:24 > 0:47:27that their global competitors couldn't provide.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Railways permitted a real nationalisation,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35indeed, a globalisation of markets,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37but at the same time, and perhaps a bit ironically,
0:47:37 > 0:47:42they also created the possibility for true local specialisation.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46No longer did you have to do a bit of this and a bit of that
0:47:46 > 0:47:49and a bit of the other that you could sell locally.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51You could now put all your efforts
0:47:51 > 0:47:56and really concentrate on the one thing that your soils, your climate,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00your skills and expertise were particularly good at.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Take this line here running through Methley in Yorkshire.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06Now, it was originally built to move coal. It was a colliery line.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12However, what it meant, in the end, was that the farmers in this region
0:48:12 > 0:48:16could turn all their attention to one special product.
0:48:23 > 0:48:24Oh, my goodness.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31In dark, giant sheds, Yorkshire farmers grew rhubarb.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33What a strange place.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Just a decade before the first railways,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41a new method of growing rhubarb had been discovered.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Shielded from the light in the final stages of growth,
0:48:44 > 0:48:48rhubarb was found to yield a more flavoursome and succulent crop.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52And these plants are actually growing in the dark.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55They are. They are simply growing looking for light,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58but they've got all the energy they need in the roots.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03Janet Oldroyd, whose family has been producing rhubarb since the 1930s,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06is the latest in a Yorkshire rhubarb dynasty.
0:49:06 > 0:49:07We know today rhubarb is a vegetable,
0:49:07 > 0:49:09but we eat it as a fruit.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13- What fruit did they have? Home-grown.- Absolutely.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17- In the coldest, darkest moments of the winter.- Yeah.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20So, it was perfect. It was a treasure, basically.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25So, this became a major industry for this small area?
0:49:25 > 0:49:27It did. It became known as the Rhubarb Triangle,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29and within that triangle,
0:49:29 > 0:49:33over 200 producers became established.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36Why did rhubarb growing become concentrated
0:49:36 > 0:49:38in this little triangle of Yorkshire?
0:49:38 > 0:49:44The location, the climate was perfect for rhubarb root production.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Everywhere else they tried, they couldn't get as early
0:49:47 > 0:49:50and they couldn't get the yields.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52With the ideal soil and climate,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57and ample supply of cheap local coal to heat the sheds, and shoddy -
0:49:57 > 0:50:01a by-product of the wool industry - to fertilise the ground,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04the quality of the Yorkshire crop became renowned.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06By the late 19th century,
0:50:06 > 0:50:1095% of the nation's rhubarb were grown by Yorkshire farmers
0:50:10 > 0:50:13and distributed from one rail line.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15So, how much rhubarb was being produced?
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Over 200 tonnes nightly when it was at its peak.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22- 200 tonnes of rhubarb a night?- Yeah.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Destined for the London markets and then on into Europe.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28- Out of this one small area? - Unbelievable.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32So, the trains became nicknamed the rhubarb express trains
0:50:32 > 0:50:37because all they carried was carriage after carriage of rhubarb.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40- Entire trains full of rhubarb? - Entire trains.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45A railway industry. Who'd have thought? Rhubarb.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:50:58 > 0:51:02As the railways facilitated the rise of regional specialisation,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05so specific areas of the country became famous
0:51:05 > 0:51:08for their agricultural production.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Clotted cream from Devon,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Scottish Highland beef,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Jersey potatoes and Somerset cider
0:51:14 > 0:51:17all grew in reputation during the steam age.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20This revolutionised their industries and their economy,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23but it also changed the landscape, as well.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26But, arguably, the most significant development
0:51:26 > 0:51:28was not here in the countryside,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32it was in the cities because access to all of this new produce
0:51:32 > 0:51:35effectively changed the nation's diet forever.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44At the heart of this revolution was the Mid-Hants line.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49- Cheers, then, chaps. - Thank you very much.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53Originally opened in 1865
0:51:53 > 0:51:56as an alternative route between London and Southampton,
0:51:56 > 0:52:00the Mid-Hants line became best known for providing Victorian Londoners
0:52:00 > 0:52:03with their latest superfood, watercress.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09Still produced by grower James Harper
0:52:09 > 0:52:13in the same mineral-rich spring waters as its Victorian heyday,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16watercress could only be eaten close to where it was grown.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23- Well, here we are. - Lovely.- A spot ready to go.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26- All ready to be picked. - Absolutely.- OK.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29Getting watercress from field to mouth relied on speed,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31something the railways made possible.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33So, what are we doing here, then, James?
0:52:33 > 0:52:36Well, we're actually pulling the watercress with its roots.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39- We pull and clear.- OK.- So, you pull it with the roots...- With the roots.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42- ..and then we're packing it into this wicker flat.- OK.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Right, I've got a bunch of...
0:52:45 > 0:52:48a poorly-picked bunch of watercress here.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50But how quickly is that going to deteriorate?
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Well, the reason why they used to send it with roots
0:52:52 > 0:52:54is because it kept the plant going a lot longer.
0:52:54 > 0:52:55When it got to market,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57it was sold in what was called hands of watercress,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59so it's physically as much as you can get in your hands.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02It was cut and cleaned, so you'd chop away the roots
0:53:02 > 0:53:04and that would be a hand of watercress.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07And then that was made into smaller bunches and then sold as -
0:53:07 > 0:53:10you know, with raffia round them - sold as little food on the go,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12- food on the move.- So, I could buy that off you now
0:53:12 > 0:53:15for a day in the factory and then I...?
0:53:15 > 0:53:18- Mm.- That's right. And your hands would often be covered in...
0:53:18 > 0:53:20If you were in a factory working all day,
0:53:20 > 0:53:21you'd want something you could hold.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23You'd eat the leaves and the tops of the stems
0:53:23 > 0:53:25and then you'd discard the leftovers.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31And what would it have meant to late-Victorian London, for example,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33to have something quite as healthy as this
0:53:33 > 0:53:36- being served up on a daily basis? - Well, I think it's safe to say
0:53:36 > 0:53:37it was revolutionary. It was.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40You know, it's a really good, cheap, affordable,
0:53:40 > 0:53:42available to the masses source of nutrition.
0:53:42 > 0:53:43And in terms of gram for gram,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47there is no vegetable that is more nutrient-dense than watercress.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Wow. That is delicious.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52- That's about as fresh as it gets, that is.- Absolutely.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56The development of the Hampshire line
0:53:56 > 0:53:59meant that watercress could be picked in the afternoon,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01taken by horse and cart to the station that evening
0:54:01 > 0:54:03and be on sale in London markets
0:54:03 > 0:54:05by the early hours of the following morning.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13Keith Chambers worked in the line's parcel office in the 1970s.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15And as a product,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18how much would it have cost to send punnets like this up to London?
0:54:18 > 0:54:21- Well, it was what was called a perishable rate.- Right.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25So, it was about double what a standard parcel would be.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28Is that because it's this perishable good?
0:54:28 > 0:54:31- You know, it's quite a high-maintenance good.- Exactly.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34- It's because it had to be looked after.- Yeah.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37- It had to be got onto the platform quickly...- Yeah.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39- ..and onto the first train possible...- Right.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41..and unloaded quickly at the other end.
0:54:41 > 0:54:42Did you eat this sort of stuff?
0:54:42 > 0:54:45Did the staff indulge themselves in this sort of stuff?
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Well, interestingly, some of the staff just wouldn't eat it
0:54:48 > 0:54:52because the rumour was that when they wanted to relieve themselves
0:54:52 > 0:54:55in the watercress beds, they didn't walk right to the edge, of course.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59- OK.- You can guess what...- Oh, OK. - HE LAUGHS
0:54:59 > 0:55:02Well, I can assure you this has been picked
0:55:02 > 0:55:06from the cleanest watercress beds there are in Hampshire.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11From a world before the railway,
0:55:11 > 0:55:13when the only fresh food on the dinner plate
0:55:13 > 0:55:15had to be grown locally...
0:55:19 > 0:55:22..when livestock still had to be driven to market on foot...
0:55:25 > 0:55:28..by the end of the century, the way Britain fed itself
0:55:28 > 0:55:32and what people ate had changed beyond recognition.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43WHISTLE BLOWS
0:55:43 > 0:55:46The rail network and the national market that it created
0:55:46 > 0:55:49provided the consumer with more choice,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53more variety and a more nutritious diet than ever before.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55You've got some English lamb here?
0:55:55 > 0:55:57- Yeah, all the lamb is English.- OK.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Well, I think I'll have the two small ones and a big one for Peter.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05All this at a time when the population had more than tripled
0:56:05 > 0:56:08and most people had moved away from the countryside
0:56:08 > 0:56:10to live and work in towns and cities.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15How are you doing? All right? You've got the asparagus.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18- Straw-bangers.- We trusted you to get the strawberries?
0:56:18 > 0:56:21- What did you get, then? - I've got some lamb chops.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23Lamb chops, strawberries - classic combination.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Imagine being in late-Victorian London
0:56:30 > 0:56:32and seeing all this food coming into the city.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Vast urban populations creating this huge demand for more food
0:56:36 > 0:56:38and for more specialised food.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41It's that exchange between the countryside and the city
0:56:41 > 0:56:44that is vital to allow the city to industrialise
0:56:44 > 0:56:48and the countryside to focus on producing produce such as this.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51And the change in both, isn't it? You can't separate the two.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56The countryside is utterly changed by this new distribution system,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58this new specialisation.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06I love the fact that this is a market built in the arches
0:57:06 > 0:57:09of not one, not two, but three railways.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12- They're all over here.- It's quite an amazing space, isn't it?
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Well, I'll tell you what. Spice -
0:57:19 > 0:57:22that's the one thing we don't have for our wonderful lamb, asparagus
0:57:22 > 0:57:24and what is rapidly turning into strawberry jam meal.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26- OK.- Jersey potatoes, as well.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29OK, two things. Maybe a bottle of cider, as well.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33- That's three things we don't have. - OK, three things.
0:57:36 > 0:57:42Next time, we see how the railways connected people as never before,
0:57:42 > 0:57:44revolutionising the postal system...
0:57:45 > 0:57:49It's remarkably physical for something as light as a letter.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52..delivering up-to-date news...
0:57:52 > 0:57:53News today...
0:57:54 > 0:57:55..is chip paper tomorrow,
0:57:55 > 0:57:59and that was only possible because of the railways.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03..radically speeding up the pace of life.
0:58:03 > 0:58:04Wow.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08It's amazing to be able to have this kind of food on a train.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10THEY LAUGH
0:58:10 > 0:58:13A bit of a hot potato, that one, wasn't it?