0:00:03 > 0:00:09In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:11 > 0:00:17His name was George Bradshaw, and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Now, 170 years later, I'm making four long journeys across the length
0:00:28 > 0:00:34and breadth of the country to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52From the early days of Britain's railways,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56you couldn't contemplate a journey without first consulting
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Bradshaw's - a comprehensive guide to train timetables.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08Over the coming weeks, using an ancient Bradshaw's guide, I will criss-cross Britain,
0:01:08 > 0:01:15on four fascinating routes to view the places and achievements that delighted the Victorians,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18to see how the railways changed the British people
0:01:18 > 0:01:22and to understand how much we've changed since.
0:01:24 > 0:01:31Along today's route, I'll be discovering how Manchester came to be known as Cottonopolis...
0:01:31 > 0:01:38By the end of the century, the Indians were getting Indian designs sent back from Manchester
0:01:38 > 0:01:42to India that maybe came from cotton that they had grown originally. It was crazy.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46..finding out how Bradshaw helped unify time across the UK...
0:01:46 > 0:01:52Each provincial city, like Birmingham, Manchester and so on, had their own time, and of course,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56this was liable to create great confusion with railway timetables.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00..and how the railways brought fish and chips to British plates.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Thank you very much indeed. Lovely.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06It was the onset of the railways that allowed all this population,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10this inland population, for the first time to experience sea fish.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14On this journey, I'm travelling
0:02:14 > 0:02:17from Liverpool along the world's first
0:02:17 > 0:02:20passenger railway to Manchester.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Then, I'll continue on across the country,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26from west to east through Yorkshire,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29along the Humber estuary to Hull,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31and eventually, up the coast
0:02:31 > 0:02:34to my final destination at Scarborough.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39My first train is from Eccles to the centre of Manchester.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40Then, I'll head to Denton
0:02:40 > 0:02:42and travel north to Bury.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55Manchester has a rich railway history, so I'm going to spend some time exploring it and its suburbs.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03The city helped to build the first modern train line from Liverpool in 1830.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09In turn, the railway transformed Manchester into a powerful global hub,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and it was here that the first railway timetables were published and sold.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20So to start off, I'm heading right for the centre, where it all began.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Manchester Victoria. Manchester - one of the hugely important cities
0:03:27 > 0:03:33in the development of our railways, and also the birthplace of one George Bradshaw.
0:03:38 > 0:03:39Thank you.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Bradshaw, being from Manchester, must have written about this city
0:03:45 > 0:03:47with particular pride,
0:03:47 > 0:03:53and his guide book contains this page of illustrations of
0:03:53 > 0:03:55the buildings that the Victorians were so proud of -
0:03:55 > 0:03:58the Free Trade Hall, the Exchange building, fantastic achievements
0:03:58 > 0:04:01that I'm really looking forward to seeing again.
0:04:06 > 0:04:12Many of these grand buildings so familiar to Bradshaw were built
0:04:12 > 0:04:16with the wealth generated by the cotton trade in the early 19th century,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and it was around that time that Manchester was nicknamed Cottonopolis.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I'm hoping to get a tour of Cottonopolis from local guide
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Jonathan Schofield, starting at the Royal Exchange building.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Hi, I'm Michael. Great to see you.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Nice to meet you, Michael. Welcome to Manchester.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41It's lovely to be here. Why have you brought me to the Exchange building first?
0:04:41 > 0:04:47Well, I suppose the Royal Exchange is the spiritual heart of Manchester. What really gave Manchester
0:04:47 > 0:04:52its dynamism was trade, was business, and the Royal Exchange is the heart of that business.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Well, I'm carrying this 150-year-old guide book, Bradshaw's, and Bradshaw describes this building...
0:04:57 > 0:05:00He was very impressed by this rounded Doric front,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- and he describes the "cotton lords" meeting here on a Tuesday. - Yes, well,
0:05:04 > 0:05:05they were cotton lords.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Manchester was Cottonopolis and these were the cotton barons,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11or the Cottontots they were often called as well,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and they would come here and they would do business.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16And by the way, it was so crowded in there that you had a grid reference.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19On the columns on the inside, you had letters and numbers,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23so I'll meet you at J2, because you would not find the trader otherwise.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Describe the trade to me.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Where is the cotton coming from before it reaches Manchester?
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Where is it going to after it has been in Manchester?
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It's coming from the hotter parts of the world, in some respects.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36It's coming from the southern states of the USA or Egypt - places where they can grow raw cotton.
0:05:36 > 0:05:43We cannot grow raw cotton around here, and so therefore, it would have come at least a thousand miles.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The new railway gave Manchester a competitive edge over
0:05:46 > 0:05:52the rest of the world and sent the cotton industry into overdrive.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Textiles, spinning, weaving and dyeing dominated
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Victorian Manchester and the small mill towns that surrounded it.
0:05:59 > 0:06:07By 1913, 65 per cent of the world's cotton was processed in the area.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13By the end of the century, we were selling printed fabric back to...
0:06:13 > 0:06:15tribes people in Africa.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21The Indians were getting Indian designs sent back from Manchester
0:06:21 > 0:06:23to India, that maybe came from cotton that they had grown originally.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28It was crazy, but it just builds up that classic competitive advantage.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32So, what's going to be the next stop on Jonathan's tour of Cottonopolis?
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Now, we're here at the cotton cathedral, I suppose, with the Royal Exchange.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39- Let's go to the civic cathedral, which is Manchester town hall.- OK.
0:06:43 > 0:06:50All around the city, you get these little gems that tell a story about Manchester and its cotton heyday.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Sometimes, they're on the buildings. Sometimes, they're literally on city streets,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00and just here, you can see iron kerbs, which are very distinctive.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I've come across them in other cities, but not with
0:07:03 > 0:07:06the regularity you see them in Manchester, and that's because these
0:07:06 > 0:07:12vast cotton trucks, covered in cotton bales, over-laden with cotton bales, would crack and smash stone kerbs.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16So what they thought to do - we'll put iron kerbs. It didn't actually work.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20They just got pushed into the ground, but they didn't crack at least. And you can see these
0:07:20 > 0:07:24certainly in the warehouse districts, but also in other areas of the city, and it's just a little reminder.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27We still rattle around in the bones of the cotton industry in Manchester.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29A vein of history written into the streets.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Exactly.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39This is a wonderful way to approach the town hall, isn't it?
0:07:39 > 0:07:44It is. It's the best way - face on to Manchester's civic cathedral that
0:07:44 > 0:07:49tried to embody all those virtues of independence of spirit and mind.
0:07:50 > 0:07:58This grand Neo-Gothic pile cost a million pounds to complete in 1887.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00That's about £48 million in today's money,
0:08:00 > 0:08:05which shows just how wealthy Manchester had become.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10What it is really, I suppose, is a complete encapsulation of that
0:08:10 > 0:08:16high Victorian utter confidence, and I think the golden ball with spikes on the top there is a classic one.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Most town halls might have had a crown, or a cross, or something like that. We've got...
0:08:21 > 0:08:27a symbol of the cotton industry, the cotton bud about to burst and give us the raw material itself.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But also - and I love this particular one - is the sun,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and it's saying, "Wherever the sun shines, Manchester has business."
0:08:34 > 0:08:38We are international. We don't look local, we don't even look national.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43We look across the world to our trade, and we feel we have influence on the world as well.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50George Bradshaw was extremely proud of his home city and its monopoly of the cotton industry.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53He wrote, "Watt's steam engine,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56"Arkwright's power loom and the factory system and
0:08:56 > 0:09:02"inexhaustible supplies of coal have given superiority to Manchester."
0:09:05 > 0:09:10But when India gained independence, it began to process its own cotton much more cheaply.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Manchester's cotton scene slowed and, by the 1950s,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17the mills began to close. Today,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21the mill buildings are surrounded by a different Manchester -
0:09:21 > 0:09:27a city of glass and steel. And that's partly due to
0:09:27 > 0:09:31one recent event that profoundly changed the skyline.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40In the 1990s, a massive bomb destroyed the Arndale Centre,
0:09:40 > 0:09:45during that dark period for Ireland and the United Kingdom of which I have many poignant memories myself.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48But in Manchester today, you sense that it wasn't just the
0:09:48 > 0:09:52unhappy chance of a bomb that's led to the city's transformation.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57There is today an appetite for architecture as provocative and
0:09:57 > 0:10:02outstanding as that that Bradshaw admired a century and a half ago.
0:10:05 > 0:10:12Mancunians, it seems, have always been looking ahead, ready to embrace the future.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16- Good morning.- Good morning. - How are you?- Fine, how are you?
0:10:16 > 0:10:20So, Manchester now is full of modern buildings, skyscrapers and so on.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22- What do you think of those? - I like it, cos it's like...
0:10:22 > 0:10:27a diverse mix of old buildings and new buildings, and some of them, like,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31you can see how Manchester's changing over the years. Like, you've got cobbled streets
0:10:31 > 0:10:36in Market Street and then next to it, you've got the Hilton Hotel and everything, so it's really different.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40You can see the timeline of how everything's changed.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41What do you think of Manchester now?
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Oh, I always liked Manchester.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- It's a changing city, isn't it? - Yeah, but I still like it.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50So what's better - the old Manchester or the new Manchester?
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Well, you've got to go with the times, haven't you?
0:10:55 > 0:11:00Manchester's busiest station, Piccadilly, certainly did move with the times.
0:11:04 > 0:11:11Manchester Piccadilly has none of the Victorian old-world charm of Manchester Victoria.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15This has been made to look like an airline terminal.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19This says, "I'm classy, I'm glassy and brand new."
0:11:21 > 0:11:29I'm heading south, to find out about another textile success story for Manchester driven by the railways.
0:11:32 > 0:11:39Bradshaw's guide tells me that Denton, towards which I'm headed now, has several "hat manufacturies"
0:11:39 > 0:11:44as he puts it. Denton then was a village of about 3,500 people.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48I think now, I'm going to discover it's pretty much been absorbed into Greater Manchester.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Thank you.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09In the 1800s, there were 90 hat factories around here,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13employing almost 40 per cent of the population.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18It's claimed the trilby hat was born here,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22but the hat industry was all but killed off with the arrival of
0:12:22 > 0:12:25the motor car. It provided shelter from the elements,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28so hats were no longer needed.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Failsworth Hats is one of the few hat factories left,
0:12:34 > 0:12:39and manager Karen Turner is going to make me my very own Denton trilby.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Are you Karen?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Oh, I am, yes. Hi! Nice to meet you, Michael.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Lovely to see you. I keep hearing about the history of hats.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49So we'll just measure round your head, just above the ears at the
0:12:49 > 0:12:55widest point, which is 58cm, which is a seven and one eighth in imperial.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- Oh, seven and one eighth. Useful to know. I'm often being asked that, yeah.- That's it.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01This is what we start off with.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04This is what we call a hood, and it's made from rabbit hair,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06felted rabbit hair. Nothing else, just felt and...
0:13:06 > 0:13:08- It's nice and soft.- Yeah.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Ancient-looking machinery.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15I suppose this hasn't changed very much in many decades.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18No, not at all. This machinery's probably, what...?
0:13:18 > 0:13:21How old do you think? 80 years old perhaps.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Some of it's even older, yeah.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Now, you seem to have put that into a steam chamber. Is that right?
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Yeah, steam is really important.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33The steam is softening it now.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Abracadabra... I've been following a guide book
0:13:38 > 0:13:44150 years old that talks about the hatters around Manchester.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Would the process be very different 150 years ago?
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Probably not, no. The only difference might have been that, whereas
0:13:51 > 0:13:54we start off now with a hood, they will have
0:13:54 > 0:13:58actually bought in rabbit hair and made the hoods themselves,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00which was even more labour-intensive.
0:14:03 > 0:14:10In Bradshaw's time, mercury was used to separate the rabbit hair from the hide to make the felted hoods.
0:14:10 > 0:14:16Many hat workers suffered from mercury poisoning, with symptoms like erratic behaviour and dementia.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21It's said that the expression "mad as a hatter" came from that.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Back to my hat. After much more steaming, stretching
0:14:32 > 0:14:36and setting of its shape and size, it's almost complete.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44So, now we're going to line the hat in,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and perhaps you'd like to have a go at this to finish the hat off?
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I'd be worried to have a go, because when I make construction kits,
0:14:51 > 0:14:52I always manage to get the glue everywhere.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00- Er, not bad, Michael!- But this is very nearly a completed hat.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02It is very nearly, yeah, yeah.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Pull the brim down your nose.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17And at a jaunty angle.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19That's it, yeah, yeah. Very good.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21- Is that it?- Yeah, very nice.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Thank you very much.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Over many decades, thousands of workers making headwear for the world
0:15:29 > 0:15:35helped put Manchester on the map and I lift my hat to them.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50- Do you ever wear a hat? - No, not any more. I used to.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- Did you?- Yes.- And what made you give up wearing a hat?
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Er, well, none of them fit me now!
0:15:55 > 0:15:58They're all too big!
0:15:58 > 0:16:01But do you think it's a pity that people don't wear hats any more?
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Oh, the young ones do, don't they?
0:16:02 > 0:16:06- They seem to wear these trilby things that are in fashion. - Oh, do you think so?- Yeah.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11So, maybe there's still hope for the hat industry.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20Now, it's back into Manchester for my bed for the night.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27And my trusty edition of Bradshaw
0:16:27 > 0:16:31has brought me to one of the most impressive buildings in Manchester.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33In Victorian times,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37even the most utilitarian of buildings were magnificent.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41As Bradshaw's guide says, "For style of architecture and beauty,
0:16:41 > 0:16:49"perhaps Watts's new warehouses in Portland Street excel all others and ought by all means to be seen."
0:16:49 > 0:16:53When it opened in 1858, it was the world's first cash and carry.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Now, it's a listed building and, luckily for me, my hotel for the night.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01This building was designed to look like
0:17:01 > 0:17:06a highly decorated Venetian palazzo from the 15th century.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12It was a way of saying, "The cotton barons of Manchester are as powerful and wealthy
0:17:12 > 0:17:17"as the merchants of Venice were when they dominated trade in Europe."
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Bright new morning in Manchester, and the interior of the warehouse
0:17:34 > 0:17:39that is now my hotel is just as magnificent as the exterior.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43It's incredible that the Victorians built warehouses to this quality, but even so, I can't believe that
0:17:43 > 0:17:47the original warehouse had that chandelier.
0:17:49 > 0:17:56These days, there's not much sign of the cotton industry left, but I'm told that the sweeping,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59cantilevered iron staircase and balconied stairwell
0:17:59 > 0:18:02are part of the original warehouse.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Bradshaw's home city has changed dramatically since he set up
0:18:16 > 0:18:21his company here in the 1830s, publishing railway timetables.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27In this short street, George Bradshaw had his office once,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29but it's perfectly clear there's no trace of it left now.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34But I'm interested to find out more about this son of Manchester and how it was that he came to bring
0:18:34 > 0:18:38order to that chaotic world in which the many railway companies
0:18:38 > 0:18:43had uncoordinated and largely unknowable timetables.
0:18:43 > 0:18:49I know that he was born in Salford, just outside Manchester, in 1801.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54As a Quaker, he was involved in charity work and would have been a well-known figure amongst
0:18:54 > 0:18:58the Manchester radicals. A political animal perhaps,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02which makes him even more interesting to me.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Historian Trevor Thomas is an expert on Bradshaw and his railway guides,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12many of which have ended up here, at the John Rylands Library.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17- Nice to meet you.- I feel as if I've come to Bradshaw's shrine here.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Yes, I think you're right. This is the city he was born in and lived in all his life.
0:19:21 > 0:19:29'Bradshaw's big idea was to gather all the railway timetables for the whole country into one handy guide.'
0:19:31 > 0:19:35And here is the Bradshaw collection.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Wow. It's all Bradshaw. Bradshaw, Bradshaw, Bradshaw...
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Bradshaw, Bradshaw, Bradshaw... And Bradshaw is up here. It's huge.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48- Yes, it's one of the...probably the best collection of Bradshaw material that there is in the country.- Yes.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53Trevor's picked out one of the earliest editions
0:19:53 > 0:19:55so that we can take a closer look.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02So, this is very small, clearly intended to go in a pocket.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04I think it's a waistcoat guide,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08which you could stick easily in your coat pocket,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and this is actually the first edition of 1839.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16And this was the first time these timetables had been brought together in one place, is that right?
0:20:16 > 0:20:22Er, it's... A number of people were trying to produce timetables in 1839
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and Bradshaw was the one that won the race
0:20:24 > 0:20:27to produce the first unified national timetable.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And the interesting thing about this particular copy is that it's
0:20:30 > 0:20:35an association copy which a previous owner had bought from Mrs Bradshaw.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40And the note says that the coloured lines of the railways were done by
0:20:40 > 0:20:44George Bradshaw's son and granddaughter,
0:20:44 > 0:20:49so it's a historical connection with George Bradshaw, this particular map.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53This tells us about Bradshaw's origin, doesn't it? Because he started as a map-maker.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57He was an engraver, and he set up an engraving shop in Manchester that
0:20:57 > 0:21:04first produced canal maps. And he was very quick to spot the commercial potential of the new railways
0:21:04 > 0:21:09and the need for a unified timetable to make sense of them for the user.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13So, by the time that he's producing timetables,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17has time been standardised across Britain?
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Not at this stage, no. Each provincial city,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24like Birmingham, Manchester and so on, had their own time,
0:21:24 > 0:21:29and of course, this was liable to create great confusion with railway timetables.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34So each city is setting its own time, according to when the sun sets in that particular place.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37That's right. There's no GMT, there's no pips, nothing of that kind.
0:21:37 > 0:21:45And the early trains - the guard used to carry a fob watch - which was London time - with him on the train,
0:21:45 > 0:21:50so that there was at least one established sort of rule of time.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53And the railway manufacturers, or the railway companies,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56did start political pressure to standardise time,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01so they were responsible for pressure to actually produce what we now know as GMT, I suppose.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06The first time I ever heard of Bradshaw I think was in Sherlock Holmes.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11Whenever there's a new case and they have to travel somewhere, Holmes says to Watson, "Get the Bradshaw!"
0:22:11 > 0:22:16There are many, many literary references, including Jules Verne - Around The World In Eighty Days,
0:22:16 > 0:22:21where the first thing they do is to consult Bradshaw, so it was universally known.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Bradshaw got as far as India and China.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28One of the most interesting ones is an overland guide, in which
0:22:28 > 0:22:34he describes the railway journey from London to India in some detail,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37so they did extend very, very widely.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39You're giving me a very good idea for the next series.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42I did wonder about that.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Despite the enormous changes in Manchester since Bradshaw's time,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53with its iron kerbs and grand public buildings,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57the city's history is still evident for all to admire.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Hello. Castleton, single, please.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12- Single to Castleton... £2.90, please. - Thank you very much.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17There you go.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20- Thanks a lot.- Thank you.
0:23:24 > 0:23:31Easy enough to buy a ticket, and just as well, because nothing drives me mad like bureaucracy.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36When Bradshaw first travelled by rail, you had to buy your ticket a day ahead, you had to give
0:23:36 > 0:23:43your purpose for travel, your place of birth, your age, your name, your address -
0:23:43 > 0:23:46a bit like buying an airline ticket today, really.
0:23:50 > 0:23:56For the last leg of my journey, I'm heading north, to the hills and valleys around Bury.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08I don't know what I did with my ticket...
0:24:13 > 0:24:16In Bradshaw's day, this area was alive with industry.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Thank you.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24He writes, "Stone, coal, slate are quarried in great plenty in the neighbouring moorlands,
0:24:24 > 0:24:30"and cotton, woollen and flannel are the staple articles of manufacture."
0:24:30 > 0:24:33There's little evidence of any of this today.
0:24:37 > 0:24:43But one thing that the railways brought here is still going strong...
0:24:45 > 0:24:46..fish and chips.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Hello, I've come to see Tony.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52- Tony Rogers?- That's the one.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Tony Rogers and his family have been supplying fish
0:24:55 > 0:25:00to fish and chip shops in the area for over 100 years.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08I'm following a 19th-century guide book to Britain's railways, and I assume
0:25:08 > 0:25:11the railways made a big difference to the availability of fish.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13They made a tremendous difference.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18Prior to the rail, people living in inland towns and cities could only
0:25:18 > 0:25:23eat fresh-water fish caught in the local ponds and rivers and streams.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26It was the onset of the railways that allowed all this population,
0:25:26 > 0:25:32this inland population, for the first time to experience sea fish.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36The railway was a revolution. For the first time,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38it meant that fish could be caught, transported
0:25:38 > 0:25:44and sold in a city like Manchester, all in the space of a few hours.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50Soon, the popular dish - fish and chips - was born, although it's not clear where.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55It's a source of great rivalry between where the origins were -
0:25:55 > 0:26:00in the East End of London, or Ashton-under-Lyne - Mossley.
0:26:00 > 0:26:07Mr Lees, in Mossley, claims to be the originator of bringing over French fries and the chip potatoes.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Now, as a Northerner, I stake my claim!
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Well, all this talk of food is making me hungry.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Rock salmon was a favourite in the 19th century,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24but at Caroline Thomson's chip shop, the menu is always changing.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- Hello!- Hiya. How are you?- Hello.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Hi, Caroline. Fine, thanks.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32- Oh, thank you very much indeed. Lovely.- Smashing. Thanks, Caroline.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34- You're Caroline, aren't you?- I am.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38- Tony's been telling me all about you. Come and join us.- I will.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40I'm eating traditional cod.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Are tastes changing very much?
0:26:42 > 0:26:48- I think cod is our best seller, although we do such a variety of fish.- Any new developments?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Yes, there are, actually. We've got these.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55They're called ocean pearls, which is a mussel deep-fried.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00- In batter?- In batter, yes, yes. And then this is scampi,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02but you know what scampi is.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Very hot.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Everything has to be hot. If it's dipped in the chilli, it's nice.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11It's nice, very nice. And should I be worried about calories?
0:27:11 > 0:27:13You just have to say no to the cream cake afterwards!
0:27:16 > 0:27:21In Bradshaw's time, the railways reached into every corner
0:27:21 > 0:27:26of people's lives, in ways that no-one could have predicted.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28You can scarcely overstate
0:27:28 > 0:27:31how much change the railways brought to Britain.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33They made Manchester not only big,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38they put it at the heart of a global trading empire, and they altered
0:27:38 > 0:27:41ordinary people's lives too, including the food that they could eat.
0:27:41 > 0:27:48Few people understood, and certainly no-one recorded, the transformation better than George Bradshaw.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Tomorrow, I'll be travelling back in time in a Victorian railway carriage.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04In the age before health and safety, it doesn't say, "Do not lean out of the window". So, may I have a lean
0:28:04 > 0:28:07- out of the window, please? - Yes, of course.- Thank you.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16I'll be finding out about the latest Roman discoveries in York.
0:28:16 > 0:28:22This is a part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27And I'll be taking to the air in the Network Rail helicopter.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30The Victorians built it right along the cliff edge.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33It is one of the most spectacular bits of track I have ever seen.
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