0:00:02 > 0:00:05For over two centuries, tourists have been
0:00:05 > 0:00:08tempted across the Scottish border by the country's
0:00:08 > 0:00:14unique blend of stunning scenery, romantic ruins, myths and legends.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18From the earliest days of Scottish tourism, canny publishers
0:00:18 > 0:00:21began producing guide books for these new arrivals.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26And this is one of them - Black's Picturesque Guide To Scotland.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33In this series, I'm setting out to explore Scotland according to Black's -
0:00:33 > 0:00:37the most influential Victorian guide book of all.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41I have to confess a personal interest in taking this
0:00:41 > 0:00:43battered old guide with me.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47When I was a boy, it was always kept in the glove compartment
0:00:47 > 0:00:50of my father's car when we went on holiday.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Inspired by the routes it suggested, by father took us
0:00:54 > 0:00:58all over the country, searching for Scotland's special places.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Now, four decades on, I'm letting Black's guide me again
0:01:03 > 0:01:06as I follow in the footsteps of the first tourists.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12On the road, I'll also discover some early travellers whose notes
0:01:12 > 0:01:17and jottings will help pave the way on my six grand tours of Scotland.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33My first grand tour crosses the border from Berwick-Upon-Tweed,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36visits the romantic ruins of a Border abbey,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41before heading to South Lanarkshire and finally on to Glasgow.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48Of all the towns and cities mentioned by Black's, Berwick-Upon-Tweed is unique.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50It's the only one in England.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Berwick's ancient city walls are a reminder of its turbulent past.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00It changed hands 13 times between England and Scotland
0:02:00 > 0:02:04and was besieged more often, they say, than Jerusalem.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07If you're looking for another comparison with the ancient world,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Berwick was once known as the Alexandria of the North -
0:02:11 > 0:02:14though, I have to say, I think the people who gave it that name
0:02:14 > 0:02:16were not the best travelled.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Historically, Berwick's strategic position made it an important
0:02:23 > 0:02:26bridgehead for invading English armies.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27By Victorian times,
0:02:27 > 0:02:33tourists had replaced the soldiers who once poured across the border.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37And these new invaders came in all manner of conveyance - train,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41carriage, bicycle, tricycle and caravan, my preferred
0:02:41 > 0:02:47mode of transport for the first leg of my grand tour.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51It was a Scot who popularised the somewhat peculiar
0:02:51 > 0:02:53pastime of caravanning.
0:02:53 > 0:02:59In 1886, the moustachioed plaid-clad Doctor William Gordon Stables
0:02:59 > 0:03:03left his English exile to explore the land of his birth
0:03:03 > 0:03:06in a horse-drawn caravan called the Wanderer.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12A luxury bespoke land yacht which boasted every convenience.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18WG, as Stables like to call himself, travelled 1,400 miles
0:03:18 > 0:03:23in the Wanderer, pulled by two horses - his beloved Pea Blossom and Cornflower.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Now, in the spirit of WG, who was a truly adventurous pioneer
0:03:28 > 0:03:32of the open road, I've got my own rather more modest caravan pulled by
0:03:32 > 0:03:38a single horsepower unit, called Jack, who's being led by his owner, Wendy.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43What a wonderfully sedate way to appreciate the countryside.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48This was WG's passionate belief, too.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Caravanning put you in touch with nature,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54and was a positive boon to health.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58But he warned that the travelling life took some getting used to.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04"The constant hum of the wagon wheels and the jolting shakes the system and it's like a living mill,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08"but after a fortnight, you harden up to it".
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Following the course of the River Tweed
0:04:16 > 0:04:20west from Berwick, I stay in England until I get to the Union Bridge,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25which Black's describes as, "A beautiful structure and, we believe,
0:04:25 > 0:04:30"the first suspension bridge ever constructed in the United Kingdom".
0:04:33 > 0:04:37When it opened in 1820, it was the longest wrought-iron
0:04:37 > 0:04:42suspension bridge in the world - with a span of a 137 metres.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44But it's not for any record-breaking novelty
0:04:44 > 0:04:47that I find this bridge fascinating.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52For centuries, England and Scotland were at one another's throats,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54and the River Tweed flowing beneath us
0:04:54 > 0:04:58was an international frontier that was much fought over.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01But, of course, all that changed in 1707
0:05:01 > 0:05:05with the Union of Parliaments, and this bridge is the physical embodiment
0:05:05 > 0:05:08of the hopes and aspirations of the newly-formed state.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16On the tower are the united emblems of England and Scotland -
0:05:16 > 0:05:20the thistle and the rose - along with a Latin inscription.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Vis Unita Fortior. Unity and strength.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26But despite this marriage of nations,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31crossing the border remained an adventure for English tourists.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34To cross the bridge into Scotland
0:05:34 > 0:05:36was to pass into a world of novelty and adventure.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42To find out about the allure of Scotland as an exotic
0:05:42 > 0:05:45destination for early tourists,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49I'm meeting up with the very well-travelled writer, Jennifer Cox.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52So exactly how exotic do you think the Victorian
0:05:52 > 0:05:54tourists from England found life here in Scotland?
0:05:54 > 0:05:58I think that everybody coming was amazed.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59When you go back
0:05:59 > 0:06:01and look at Victorian accounts
0:06:01 > 0:06:04of visitors to Scotland, I mean, Queen Victoria herself,
0:06:04 > 0:06:10when she visited Edinburgh for the first time in 1842,
0:06:10 > 0:06:17she writes with astonishment about how the city is built of stones, not bricks.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22And Prince Albert says that it's like... I think he describes a modern Athens.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24A modern Acropolis.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28I think it's interesting that Prince Albert made the comparison between
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Edinburgh and Athens. That's something I've noticed
0:06:31 > 0:06:34a lot about Victorian writers and travel writers coming to Scotland.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37They have this tendency to compare Scottish towns
0:06:37 > 0:06:39with places in France, Germany and Italy.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Why would they do that?
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Well, I think it's because if you had been on these grand tours
0:06:46 > 0:06:51and you were then going to Scotland, you wanted a point of comparison.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53It was different - but how was it different?
0:06:53 > 0:06:55So you wanted to be able to say to people,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59"Oh, it was like that place that's really popular in France."
0:06:59 > 0:07:02"Oh, it was like that place we went to in Italy."
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And so it was drawing a common point between it all.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08But I think, most importantly,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11to travel was for the privileged classes.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15And so to be able to describe somewhere in words,
0:07:15 > 0:07:22to be able to say, "This is a classic site, an exciting destination,"
0:07:22 > 0:07:25People were just agog.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31I mean, it literally made Scotland sound like some kind of romantic idyll.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40My journey into exotic Scotland continues
0:07:40 > 0:07:43to the old town of Kelso, which, Black's says,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48"Occupies a beautiful situation on the margin of the River Tweed".
0:07:48 > 0:07:54Other guide books effuse over the spacious square or market place,
0:07:54 > 0:07:55but they can't agree
0:07:55 > 0:08:00if it looks more Italian than French, more French than German.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01It's all Dutch to me.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Just outside the town is the ancestral home
0:08:06 > 0:08:08of the Dukes of Roxburghe,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11the enormous stately pile of Floors Castle.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Now, Black's says that admission to the grounds
0:08:15 > 0:08:18and gardens of Floors on Wednesdays
0:08:18 > 0:08:23can be made by application at the National Bank of Scotland in Kelso.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30Luckily you no longer have to apply for admission to Floors,
0:08:30 > 0:08:35where I'm struck by a continuity with Victorian times and our own.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Black's constantly draws attention
0:08:38 > 0:08:44to the grand country houses of an area, the gentlemen's seats, as they were called,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47and refers to them almost as breathlessly
0:08:47 > 0:08:53as Grazia or Hello! magazine might do today when speaking about modern celebrities.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59Well, the fact is, that in Victorian times nob-watching, for want of a better term,
0:08:59 > 0:09:06was an equivalent pastime but carried out under the guise of being educational and civilising.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14To visit a stately home was to cross a class border into another world.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Just by going to a grand house like Floors Castle,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22some of the aristocratic refinement might rub off like fairy dust
0:09:22 > 0:09:27and transform you into something grander than you really were.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31'My guide to these educational and civilising interiors
0:09:31 > 0:09:36'is Marie Campbell, who's been working at the castle for 13 years.'
0:09:36 > 0:09:38What a wonderful room.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Oh, yes, this is the drawing room,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44and the family often use this room in the evenings
0:09:44 > 0:09:45when we're all gone, of course.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49The ropes and boards go away and the butler lights the fire.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Right, so the family use this room, then?
0:09:51 > 0:09:52They do indeed.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54This is their home.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58'There are rooms here for every conceivable purpose
0:09:58 > 0:10:00'and occasion, and of course,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05'no self-respecting castle would be without its very own ballroom.'
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Now, tell me, Marie, what kind of tourists are attracted to Floors?
0:10:09 > 0:10:12What do you think they're looking for when they come here?
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I think they're just mainly struck with the atmosphere.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18They come with quite a blank canvas
0:10:18 > 0:10:22and they come in and they've seen so many other castles
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and they think it's all going to be the same,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28but of course it isn't, because this one is lived in all the year round.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31So do you think they feel as if they're getting a glimpse
0:10:31 > 0:10:34of what it is to live a privileged lifestyle,
0:10:34 > 0:10:35to cross into another world?
0:10:35 > 0:10:38That's exactly right. They do and they love it.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45Grand houses were seen as repositories of art and culture,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47beacons of civilisation.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51And their owners felt it was their civic duty to allow deserving
0:10:51 > 0:10:56members of the public limited access to see their treasures.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01And anyway, why have treasures if you can't flaunt them?
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Excursions and guided tours, either inside the house
0:11:04 > 0:11:09or around the grounds, were not only a respectable and educationally
0:11:09 > 0:11:15improving way of spending your time, they were also safe for the ladies.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17There were no nasty surprises.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20No dirt to stain the crinoline frocks.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26No undainty and unfeminine exercise to make a lady of refinement
0:11:26 > 0:11:28break out in a sweat.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33I think it's only fair to say that the gentleman gypsy, WG Stables,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38would have found nothing to impress him at Floors.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40He had little time for confinement.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44He was a man of action and longed for the adventure of the open road.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48'To discover more about the eccentric founder of
0:11:48 > 0:11:52'the art of caravanning, I stop for a while and share a cup of tea
0:11:52 > 0:11:56'with his great-grandson, Alan Gordon Stables.'
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Now, your great grandfather, WG, called himself a gentleman gypsy
0:12:00 > 0:12:02and that says a lot about the way he saw himself.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04I think that's correct, yes.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06The reason he called himself the gentleman gypsy,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09as far as we can work out, is that he was inspired to have
0:12:09 > 0:12:13the caravan built as a result of having been invited to look
0:12:13 > 0:12:17into a gypsy caravan when he was in Pangbourne in Berkshire.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21He was having his trap repaired, a running repair was required,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25and a lady gypsy invited him into her caravan
0:12:25 > 0:12:27to have a look and see the inside of it.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Now, the caravan that he had built, can you describe it for me?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34It was a large mahogany-built vehicle, coach-built,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38well fitted out with, sort of, plush velvet inside etc,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and provided all that the gentleman could require on the road.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43So it wasn't just a bed on wheels, you know.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46He had his bed. He had his writing desk.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50He had an oil stove and he had running water, even.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And he took his valet with him to look after him.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53His valet?! Right.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57Yes, yes. Foley was the name of his valet
0:12:57 > 0:13:00and his job was to ride a tricycle ahead
0:13:00 > 0:13:02to look for stabling for the horses.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Now, he produced, of course, this beautiful book,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09and this is a first edition so I've got to be very careful,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12of the Cruise Of The Land Yacht Wanderer,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16and I suppose, in many ways, you know, this lovingly produced tome
0:13:16 > 0:13:20indicates just how precious this way of life was to him.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Oh, yes. Yes.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28'WG's ripping yarn details his adventures with a pet cockatoo
0:13:28 > 0:13:31'called Polly, and his faithful hound, Hurricane Bob.'
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Oh, and he clearly was very eccentric.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36There's no doubt about that.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38For entertainment, he took his fiddle and er,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42he also had a squeeze box and so it really was, you know,
0:13:42 > 0:13:43high living on the road.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52What I love about William Gordon Stables, are his little homilies
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and aphorisms about life on the road and about life in general.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"Make an early start and all will go well.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03"On the other hand, if you laze and dawdle in the morning,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05"the day will be spoiled, luncheon will be hurried
0:14:05 > 0:14:07"and dinner too late".
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Which is why I have to bash on with Jack to my next destination -
0:14:12 > 0:14:15a place that, for centuries, has been bound up with myth,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17legend and romance.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The ancient town of Melrose was a favourite haunt
0:14:24 > 0:14:28of Victorian tourists, who were inspired by the ruined abbey.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Black's rhapsodises over its crumbling masonry.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35"Beautiful, even in ruins,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"the grace and affluence of its style entitles it to be
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"classed among the most perfect works of the last age
0:14:41 > 0:14:43"of ecclesiastical architecture."
0:14:45 > 0:14:49But my guide book was following, not leading the tourist.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53The abbey had already been made famous by Sir Walter Scott,
0:14:53 > 0:14:58the prolific author and general wordsmith wizard of the nation.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02It seems to me that just about anywhere famous on the Scottish
0:15:02 > 0:15:06tourist trail, was made famous by Sir Walter,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10and Melrose Abbey was one of the first places to be transformed
0:15:10 > 0:15:13by the power of his magic pen.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20"If thou woudst view fair Melrose a right
0:15:20 > 0:15:23"Go visit it by the pale moonlight
0:15:23 > 0:15:26"When the broken arches are black in night
0:15:26 > 0:15:28"And each shafted oriole glimmers white
0:15:28 > 0:15:32"When distant Tweed is heard to rave
0:15:32 > 0:15:36"And the owlet to hoot o'r the dead man's grave."
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Spooky.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Scott's image of Scotland encouraged an appetite for the supernatural,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45which Victorians loved.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Joining me to discuss their predilection for the macabre
0:15:49 > 0:15:51is tourism historian Eric Zuelow.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Now, Eric, when you read a book like Black's Picturesque Guide
0:15:57 > 0:16:00you get the distinct impression that the Victorian tourist was,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04well, pretty fascinated with ruins and death.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Was there a death cult going on cos of their interest in graveyards?
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Well, they didn't look at death in the same way that we do.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15They didn't make death something that was entirely separate
0:16:15 > 0:16:16from their existence.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20Trying to take something that's scary and final,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22and put it off in some box someplace.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24They didn't do that the way we do.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28They would write about this kind of an emotional response
0:16:28 > 0:16:29that they wanted to have.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34They would er, write about the sort of sublime melancholy
0:16:34 > 0:16:37that they were going to experience,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39but I don't think that's the same thing as horror.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42It's more that, again, that kind of an emotional feeling
0:16:42 > 0:16:43that the place evokes.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45But at the same time...
0:16:46 > 0:16:50..what is a ruin, if not a human-built construction
0:16:50 > 0:16:55that has been affected by time, and been affected by nature,
0:16:55 > 0:17:02and the elements and that's changed and been eroded in compelling ways?
0:17:02 > 0:17:07So you could come and you could look at this and you could see time.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09So you could contemplate eternity?
0:17:09 > 0:17:10You could.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12A fantastic idea.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16'Interestingly, the man whose poems
0:17:16 > 0:17:19'started what we now call dark tourism,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23'is supposed never to have seen Melrose by moonlight.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27'I suspect that Sir Walter preferred his bed to traipsing
0:17:27 > 0:17:29'around graveyards at night.'
0:17:31 > 0:17:34The following day, it's time to exchange one form of horse power
0:17:34 > 0:17:40for another, and to reacquaint myself with a dear old friend.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44I've just said a fond farewell to Jack and the gypsy caravan,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48to take possession of a vehicle that's very dear to my own heart.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50A VW camper.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Years ago, I had one of these and there's nothing that puts me
0:17:54 > 0:17:58more in the holiday mood than the sound of the original
0:17:58 > 0:18:01flat-4 air-cooled engine.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03ENGINE STARTS UP
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Actually, that's not quite what I was expecting.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09This is, in fact, a modern version of a much-loved favourite.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Still, it'll do.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17This camper van has a Polo engine
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and I have to say, I miss the rasping, wheezing,
0:18:19 > 0:18:24rattling roar of the old camper I bought as a young father.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Painted a vibrant orange,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31the "happy carrot" was the perfect vehicle for a growing family.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33We travelled everywhere in it,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36spending the night in all manner of unlikely locations.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Once in the middle of an army live firing range,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42which was a little distressing for the children.
0:18:42 > 0:18:49In the 1960s and '70s, the VW Camper became an icon of freedom,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53painted in rainbow colours of the flower power era,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55it was the apotheosis of hippy chic.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Strictly speaking, of course,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04the VW Camper isn't a caravan because it isn't towed,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07unless it breaks down, which mine frequently did.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10But as a groovier version of the Wanderer,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13the camper van is definitely part of the tradition established
0:19:13 > 0:19:16by the pioneering WG Stables.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22By the 1950s, caravans were clogging the highways,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25taking all the comforts of suburban living
0:19:25 > 0:19:27into the depths of the countryside.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Likeminded enthusiasts held rallies,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33where thrilling caravanning contests were held.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36I'm told such things still go on.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43The route of my grand tour now takes me
0:19:43 > 0:19:45from the Borders to South Lanarkshire
0:19:45 > 0:19:49and a must-see destination for early tourists.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53The Corra Linn on the Falls of Clyde
0:19:53 > 0:19:57was visited by just about everyone who came to Scotland as a tourist
0:19:57 > 0:20:02in the 19th century, and they all wrote home ecstatically about
0:20:02 > 0:20:08the wild, powerful force of nature they encountered in the cataract.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15It was a spectacle that inspired the poet, William Wordsworth, to verse.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19"Lord of the Vale! astounding Flood!
0:20:19 > 0:20:22"The dullest leaf in this thick wood
0:20:22 > 0:20:25"Quakes - conscious of thy power."
0:20:25 > 0:20:30But, as you can see, today the Corra Linn is less of a cataract
0:20:30 > 0:20:34and more of a trickle, and there's a reason for that.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39'Since the 1930s, the power and drama of the Corra Linn has been
0:20:39 > 0:20:43'tamed by a hydroelectric scheme, making them much less dramatic.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Even in Wordsworth's day, the industrial potential of the falls
0:20:47 > 0:20:50had been realised by enterprising capitalists.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54The cotton mills and workers village here at New Lanark, were already
0:20:54 > 0:20:57harnessing the rushing waters of the Clyde
0:20:57 > 0:21:00to power the machinery of manufacture.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Although the mill wheels still turn,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Lanark is now a museum to the Industrial Revolution
0:21:09 > 0:21:15that transformed Scotland and created a new form of tourism.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17In the 19th and 20th centuries,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Lanarkshire was the heart of industrial Scotland.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24And nowhere symbolises more the progress that had been made
0:21:24 > 0:21:27in science and engineering than Glasgow,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29which is where I'm heading next.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36When the English novelist Daniel Defoe visited Glasgow in 1707,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38he was impressed.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41"Glasgow is indeed a very fine city. The four principal streets
0:21:41 > 0:21:45"are the fairest for breadth and the finest built I have ever seen.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48"In a word, tis the cleanest,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53"beautifulest and best-built city in Britain, London excepted."
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Now, coming from an extremely biased and partisan Englishman like Defoe,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01this is praise indeed, though I suspect it's a loyalty
0:22:01 > 0:22:06to their home city that blinkers a lot of modern Glaswegians
0:22:06 > 0:22:11to the very obvious fact that, well, a lot's changed since Defoe's time.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Defoe visited the city before Glasgow was transformed
0:22:17 > 0:22:21by the Industrial Revolution.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Then, it made sense to talk about the dear, green place.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Only 12,000 people lived here back then
0:22:27 > 0:22:31so there was plenty of space to enjoy the sunshine.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33But as the 19th century progressed,
0:22:33 > 0:22:37industry and innovation turned Glasgow
0:22:37 > 0:22:38into the second city of empire.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Its new-found status was celebrated by guide books,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44and tourists flocked to gape
0:22:44 > 0:22:48at the new industrial powerhouse of Britain.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Unlike the rest of Scotland, which was steeped in the romance
0:22:52 > 0:22:55of the past, Glasgow offered the Victorian tourist
0:22:55 > 0:22:58a completely different experience.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01To come to the second city of empire was to cross
0:23:01 > 0:23:03a border into another world.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06It was to see the future being forged in the furnaces
0:23:06 > 0:23:09of the Industrial Revolution.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13Here, the landscape of the industrial city was just as exciting
0:23:13 > 0:23:18and sublime as the wild and romantic landscapes of the Highlands.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22In celebration of this brave new world,
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Glasgow held an international exhibition in Kelvingrove Park.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31'To find out more, I've come to Kelvingrove Museum to meet
0:23:31 > 0:23:32'curator Hugh Stevenson.'
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Well, Glasgow at that time, was calling itself the second city
0:23:36 > 0:23:40of the empire, largely because of the huge amount of heavy engineering
0:23:40 > 0:23:43that was going on round about the Clyde - ship building,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45locomotive building, etc.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49And it was at the forefront of innovation and invention.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51So people were all obviously very excited by this.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55So, in a sense, this was an exhibition of the modern world
0:23:55 > 0:23:57as it was in Victorian times,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59and visitors would have been able to glimpse,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02to some extent, the idea of a Victorian future.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Yes, indeed, and of course, it was also a great chance
0:24:05 > 0:24:09for the producers to find new markets the world over.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12So, how would they display their wares, then?
0:24:12 > 0:24:14I mean, if you've got a... I don't know, a huge engine
0:24:14 > 0:24:15or you've got a steam ship,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18how would you bring that to an exhibition?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Well, they could show them in the Machinery Hall,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23the great big Machinery Hall of the exhibition.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26They could show full-size objects there
0:24:26 > 0:24:31but they could also show beautiful models, like the one in front of us in the showcase just now,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35which is made by Denny & Company, the shipbuilders of Dumbarton.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38One of their marine engines.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Of course, it wasn't just heavy industry that was on display here.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46There were arts and crafts exhibited,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and available for the first time in Glasgow, hot cocoa
0:24:50 > 0:24:52from the Dutch firm Van Houten.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54There were early fairground attractions
0:24:54 > 0:24:59and beside the dome of the main building, which Glaswegians dubbed Baghdad On Kelvin,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03a very exotic form of transport was available.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07That's a really fascinating picture there, Hugh.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Is that a view of Baghdad On Kelvin?
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Yes, indeed. That's the main industrial hall with the dome and in front of you,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18you can see the River Kelvin, and, of course, if you look closely
0:25:18 > 0:25:23you see a gondola, a real gondola brought in from Venice and you could
0:25:23 > 0:25:27have had a ride on the River Kelvin in that gondola.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34'Of course, a festival dedicated to so much Victorian entrepreneurship
0:25:34 > 0:25:37'could hardly miss out on a trick familiar to us all today -
0:25:37 > 0:25:39'merchandising.'
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Where would these items have been manufactured? Hopefully they would have been manufactured
0:25:44 > 0:25:47here in Glasgow, but I don't think that's the full story, is it?
0:25:47 > 0:25:52That's true. Some were no doubt manufactured here but quite a lot were manufactured abroad.
0:25:52 > 0:25:59The lovely porcelain plate, for example, with the view of the grounds of the exhibition on it, is German.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02And the earthenware jugs there were possibly made in England.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04We're not quite sure where they came from.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Er, other souvenirs were made all over Europe.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Ah, well. A taste of things to come, perhaps.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15But crowds came here in their millions,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and such was the success of the exhibition that enough money
0:26:19 > 0:26:24was raised to build the museum that stands here today.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Having experienced the thrill of a Victorian future,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31many tourists would continue their grand tour with a visit to
0:26:31 > 0:26:34a location with a much darker feel.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45'Rising about the smoke and stoor of Glasgow's crowded streets,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48'is a hill that was once sacred to the Druids.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51'A place where Victorians went for peace and quiet.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52'For repose and reflection.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56'The Necropolis - the city of the dead.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00'This is where the industrialists, entrepreneurs
0:27:00 > 0:27:05'and scientists of Victorian Glasgow were laid to rest.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08'In life, they had believed in their greatness
0:27:08 > 0:27:10'and the greatness of their city.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14'In death, memorials of cold stone and marble would remind future
0:27:14 > 0:27:18'generations of their brilliance, if you could read their names
0:27:18 > 0:27:22'through the grime of industrial pollution.'
0:27:22 > 0:27:26There can be few places in Scotland where there's such grandiloquence
0:27:26 > 0:27:29in death as here at the Necropolis.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31And if graveyards do it for you,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34then they don't get much better than this.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Black's thought so too, urging the tourist to pass over
0:27:39 > 0:27:43the Bridge Of Sighs and to climb the hill which is
0:27:43 > 0:27:48"Rich with shrubberies, bristling with every variety of monumental
0:27:48 > 0:27:52"erection, some of them very beautiful and chaste in design."
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Amongst the graves, the Victorian tourist was invited to reflect
0:27:59 > 0:28:02upon mortality and to contemplate the works of man.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10From up here, you also get a wonderful panorama of the city,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12at least when it's not raining.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15But for the Victorian tourist who crossed the border from England,
0:28:15 > 0:28:20this represented a view across a different kind of border.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Walking in the shadow of past greatness,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26the Victorian visitor could look down from the Necropolis
0:28:26 > 0:28:32and into the future - an industrial future and one that's been and gone.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Which is a kind of Back To The Future way for me
0:28:35 > 0:28:38to end my first Grand Tour Of Scotland.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Join me on my next Grand Tour,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46when I go in search of elemental beauty.