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 > 0:00:20Stop by stop, he told them where to travel.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23What to see and where to stay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Now, 170 years later, I am 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.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57In the days of Sherlock Holmes, you wouldn't have set out
0:00:57 > 0:00:59across Britain's private railways
0:00:59 > 0:01:04without first consulting the timetables compiled by George Bradshaw.
0:01:04 > 0:01:10I've embarked on four intriguing excursions up-and-down the country
0:01:10 > 0:01:14using one of his guide books, 150 years old.
0:01:17 > 0:01:23Halfway through this journey, it's lit up for me the Victorian world and set me to discover
0:01:23 > 0:01:31what happened to its industries and artisans and how the railways made the British people what we are.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39Today, I'll be travelling back in time in a Victorian railway carriage.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43In the age before Health and Safety, it doesn't say, "Do not lean out of the windows."
0:01:43 > 0:01:47- So, may I have a lean out of the window, please? - Yes.- Thank you.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:51 > 0:01:56I'll be finding out about the latest Roman discoveries in York.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01Well, this is part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago.
0:02:01 > 0:02:06And I'll be taking to the air in the Network Rail helicopter.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Victorians built it right along the cliff edge,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12it's one of the most spectacular bits of track I've seen.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16We're looking for anything, any damage or any debris
0:02:16 > 0:02:20or anything that's out of the ordinary that should not be there.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23I'm almost halfway through this week's journey,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26travelling from Liverpool, across the country.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32Having passed through Bradshaw's home town of Manchester, I'm headed east into Yorkshire.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Before continuing along the Humber estuary, past Hull,
0:02:35 > 0:02:41towards my final destination, Scarborough.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46Today, I'm leaving Bury and travelling to Todmorden and Skipton,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50ending up at the historic city of York.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59And this is my first stop.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Once a cotton milling town, today the people of Todmorden are on a mission.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09They're going back to a way of life rather similar to Bradshaw's day.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Todmorden.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14I'm meeting a lady called Pam.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16I've no idea what she looks like.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20So, I hope she's come to the station and not been put off by the wet weather.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26- Thank you. - Enjoy your day.- Thank you.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31- Hello.- Are you Pam?- I'm Pam.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Have you got room under that umbrella?
0:03:34 > 0:03:37- Nice to see you. Welcome to Todmorden.- What weather!
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Local cafe owner Pam Warhurst is encouraging her neighbours
0:03:43 > 0:03:47to grow vegetables and produce their own food.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Before the railways, growing your own food wasn't unusual.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57These days, we're more accustomed to going to the supermarket.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Pam wants to make Todmorden more self sufficient
0:04:02 > 0:04:06so she's even persuading people to keep chickens in their gardens.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08- Wow.- Hi, guys.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Lynne has a dozen hens and sells eggs directly to her neighbours.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15- Hello. Hi.- I'm Michael.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Hi, Michael. Nice to meet you.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20- What are the chickens? - They're bantams.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26- They're are a mixture of White Rock, Black Rock, Rhode Island Red and one Wyandotte.- Are they good layers?
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Yes, although the eggs are smaller than your average chicken egg.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32And how many do you normally get?
0:04:32 > 0:04:37We get three or four eggs a day. Five of those are just chicks at the moment so they're not laying.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41- Any eggs I could see?- Yes. They haven't laid very many that I found
0:04:41 > 0:04:44but there are some around the garden. We can have a hunt.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49- We have to go and look for them? - That's what WE do.- I suppose you do, yes!
0:04:56 > 0:04:57I found one.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Well done.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09- A nice mucky one.- We started a campaign, Every Egg Matters, and we've now got an egg map.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14We started off with four people keeping chickens in their gardens and we've got 30 now.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17And the egg map is on our website and people that live in any vicinity
0:05:17 > 0:05:21can look and see who's the nearest local person keeping chickens.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Phone them up and say, "Can I have half-a-dozen eggs?" And they say, "Yeah, OK".
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Chickens aren't the only thing in Lynn's garden. She also has a large vegetable patch.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36And her friends are digging up and planting the rest of Todmorden too.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42Anyone can help themselves to the carrots growing in the car parks
0:05:42 > 0:05:45and the herbs sprouting on the railway platform.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50In Bradshaw's time, the railways changed what we ate.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Suddenly, fresh food could move swiftly up and down the country.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00The railways carried milk to the cities, strawberries from Somerset, fish from the coast.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Food was no longer locally grown and locally eaten.
0:06:06 > 0:06:13Now Todmorden is trying to cut down on how far food travels.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Michael, let me introduce you to Jean.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17- Good morning, Jean.- Good morning.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22- Lovely to see you.- Pleased to meet you.- Are you telling me everything on that blackboard is local?
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Everything on that blackboard is within a 30-mile radius of Todmorden.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29- Lovely. - And we've even got our local cheese.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The first Todmorden organic cheese. Launched a couple of weeks ago.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36- Wonderful, and I've sold out. - Really?- Yes.- That's a good sign.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38As fast as it comes, it goes.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Yes, it is a good sign. It's a wonderful cheese. And it's just from down the valley.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45What is the nearest cheese that you've got to Todmorden?
0:06:45 > 0:06:48The nearest I have are the Lancashire ones.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Can I taste a bit of crumbly Lancashire?
0:06:51 > 0:06:53It is my favourite. It's wonderful.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04- Let me share this with you, Pam. - Thank you.- There we go.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06- It's my favourite as well. - You know this well?
0:07:06 > 0:07:10This is divine. We serve it in our cafe with local chutney.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Fantastic. Really popular.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15- Fabulous cheese.- It's heaven.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Jean, that was delicious.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20- Thank you.- Thank you. See you, Jean.- Bye-bye.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30I love it that now ever more people care passionately
0:07:30 > 0:07:34about the quality of what they eat and where it comes from.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41150 years ago, it was a breakthrough that fresh food could be brought from the countryside to cities
0:07:41 > 0:07:47and I suppose it's not surprising that soon, urban folk didn't know that eggs came from chickens.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50But we've reached the situation where even people
0:07:50 > 0:07:54living in towns and villages didn't know that milk came from cows.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59And there at Todmorden, they were doing something to put that right.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10The next leg of my journey takes me to Skipton, on the edge
0:08:10 > 0:08:15of the Yorkshire Dales where I'll be taking a step back in time.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I'm old enough to remember travelling by steam train.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34By comparison with nowadays, it was relatively uncomfortable and, certainly, much smellier.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40But now I'd like to discover what railway travel was like at the time of Bradshaw, 150 years ago.
0:08:42 > 0:08:49At the Embsay and Bolton steam railway, they have trains dating back to the Victoria era.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54- Hello, Stephen.- Hello, Michael.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57A lovely station! Absolutely fantastic.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02Thank you. We're trying to recreate the past here. I gather you've come to see some of my carriages?
0:09:02 > 0:09:08Yes, please. 'Stephen Middleton's passion is restoring these old railway carriages.'
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Which one will we be travelling in?
0:09:14 > 0:09:17We'll be travelling in this great North of Scotland coach.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20It's a first third and I think it's everyone's favourite.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22It's absolutely beautiful.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Do have a look in.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26- It had wood like this originally, did it?- Quite likely, yes.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28We've copied some of the gold detailing there.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34The lamps are rather splendid although they came from British Home Stores.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38- HE LAUGHS - But they would have been similar in design.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Very similar, yes.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Few people can recall how to operate these.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Oh, no, I recall.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47You position that there and then it stops it.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51You pull the strap and up it goes.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Oh, you pull the strap and up it goes. I wasn't remembering perfectly then.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00That's it. You can control your ventilation.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03The only problem was these used to get stolen, these straps.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I gather the old fashioned cut-throat razors could be sharpened on these.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Well, thank you very much. Lovely.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Fantastic sound, when you set off on a steam train.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33It is. It's not quite the same with an electric train, is it?
0:10:33 > 0:10:34No, it is not.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40This carriage is typical of the 1890s
0:10:40 > 0:10:45and has a luxuriously upholstered interior for first class passengers.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49But it wasn't always like this.
0:10:49 > 0:10:56Take me back to 1850s when Bradshaw's guide was written, the one I am following.
0:10:56 > 0:11:02I think the 1850s, the passengers then may have been grateful to have a shelter over their heads.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Because a lot of them would have experienced the 1840s riding in open wagons.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Open wagons.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Clearly, the railways thought, "We get more money transporting coal.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15"We get more money transporting cattle."
0:11:15 > 0:11:20So, they put as many third-class passengers into an open wagon as possible.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Parliament stepped in and decreed that they really ought to have better travelling conditions.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34In the age before Health and Safety, it doesn't say, "Do not to lean out of the window".
0:11:34 > 0:11:37So, may I have a lean out of the window, please?
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- Yes, of course.- Thank you.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54It's a great feeling, the smoke pouring down the line.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57TRAIN WHISTLES
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Magic.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05My next stop is Bolton Abbey.
0:12:08 > 0:12:14The station was built here in 1880 to accommodate day-trippers who flocked here to visit the ruin,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18which commands a vista unspoilt by time.
0:12:27 > 0:12:33My Bradshaw says it is "most charmingly situated on the banks of the River Wharfe.
0:12:33 > 0:12:40"Indeed the picturesque character of this and surrounding districts is peculiarly striking and impressive."
0:12:45 > 0:12:52The 30,000 acre estate has been owned by the Dukes of Devonshire since 1755.
0:12:54 > 0:13:02The Devonshire Arms, a 17th-century coaching inn on the estate, has been turned into a rather smart hotel.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04I think Bradshaw would have approved.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Fit for a duke.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And warm and dry.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34A new day and a new part of my adventure.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38But though I'm following the route from my trusty guide,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42I'm about to see it in a way George Bradshaw could barely have imagined.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46George Bradshaw loved progress.
0:13:46 > 0:13:53He couldn't see a viaduct or a railway tunnel without praising the engineering skill involved.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Nowadays, an important part of the maintenance of
0:13:56 > 0:14:00the railway infrastructure is carried out from the air.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04I'm sorry George Bradshaw isn't here to share the experience
0:14:04 > 0:14:09but at least with me today one of his guide books will go aloft.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Most of us travel by train without a second's thought for how the line's kept safe.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20- Can I get aboard?- You certainly can, sir.- Thank you.
0:14:20 > 0:14:27But ever since the railways were built, someone's had to look after almost 20,000 miles of track.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40A few moments ago, we took off from Leeds-Bradford airport,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44now we're flying at fairly high level towards York.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49When we get there, we'll pick up the East Coast mainline heading up towards Edinburgh
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and we're going to start to survey that bit of track.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07In Bradshaw's Victorian Britain, the linesmen would walk the tracks at night checking for problems.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14This helicopter helps do the job today, stuffed full of gadgets
0:15:14 > 0:15:19and gizmos in which Bradshaw would surely have taken delight.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24The camera on the bottom of the aircraft is following
0:15:24 > 0:15:30the track northwards and I can see it with the naked eye
0:15:30 > 0:15:33but also following here on the screen inside the aircraft
0:15:33 > 0:15:35and as I'm watching,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Howard is zooming in for me taking me into remarkable degrees of detail.
0:15:44 > 0:15:52One of the most important devices is an infrared camera used to inspect the points.
0:16:08 > 0:16:15The infrared camera checks whether the heating system on every set of points is working properly.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18A breakdown here could cause chaos.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Bradshaw's having a great day out.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25It's going to come down to the right.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28So, a 12 minute flight has brought us all the way to the east coast
0:16:28 > 0:16:33and we're looking at a little bit of track here that runs between Redcar and Whitby.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36And the Victorians built it right along the cliff edge.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40It's one of the most spectacular bits of track I've ever seen.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Nowadays, you just need to keep an eye on it to make sure that
0:16:44 > 0:16:47with the coastal erosion, it's not in any danger.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And the helicopter is making a video of this spot so that it can be
0:16:52 > 0:16:57examined by the engineers who need to know that everything is safe.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's an absolutely spectacular bit of track.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05I'd love to ride the train along there and see the view.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09That's given me an idea for a future railway journey.
0:17:16 > 0:17:23Whether you come to York by air, road or rail you discover a beautiful city.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The station itself is well worth a look.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39Built in 1877, and designed by architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42it was the largest station in the world.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48And with almost 400 trains passing through it every day, it's now one of the busiest.
0:17:52 > 0:17:58Not surprisingly, York attracts about four million visitors a year.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Some come to search out its Roman roots.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Some come to marvel at its medieval buildings.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07And others...
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Well, others come for the trains.
0:18:10 > 0:18:16Experience tells me that you'll always find trainspotters at the ends of platforms
0:18:16 > 0:18:24where they can jot down the numbers of locomotives or photograph them, or whatever.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33- Good evening.- Good evening. Pleased to meet you.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Very nice to see you. Would you by any chance be a trainspotter?
0:18:37 > 0:18:39No, railway photographer, please.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41You've got a camera.
0:18:41 > 0:18:48I don't know how to put this to you, but trainspotters do have a certain reputation.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Which reputation are you thinking of?
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Well... maybe for being a little bit dull?
0:18:53 > 0:18:59I think you become involved to an extent that you ignore the real world outside.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04You come into your own little world and you have many people who join you in that,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07whether they're interested in mechanics,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12interested in the actual observations, interested in the operations.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15They all have their own little interest.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17But it means that we're committed to what we enjoy.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20A little obsessive, then? You will admit to a little obsessive, would you?
0:19:20 > 0:19:22I think obsessive, possibly, yes.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25But certainly not dull.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31I wouldn't consider myself an obsessive about trains, but I do like them.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35I wonder whether there isn't a little bit of trainspotter in all of us?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43- What do you think of trainspotters? - Well, I think it's a good pastime.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Yeah? Have you ever been a trainspotter yourself?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50When I was a little lad but I'm 74 years of age now.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53There we are. There's an advertisement for trainspotting.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55- Keeps you young.- That's right.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59In my day, it was very much the thing to do.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04My mum used to say to me, "Don't you dare go trainspotting."
0:20:04 > 0:20:06But you know what lads are. It was wonderful.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10A wonderful era to see all the steam coming out, you know.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14And the engine drivers were all black with the coal and...
0:20:14 > 0:20:15What an era!
0:20:15 > 0:20:17It's all gone now, hasn't it?
0:20:17 > 0:20:19You are a poet of your age.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23- Am I?- Yes.- Well, that's very kind of you to say.- Beautifully said.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Do you have any views on trainspotters?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Yes, leave them to it.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37I think they're interesting and fastidious, probably.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41And, yeah, good on them.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Have you ever been one yourself?
0:20:43 > 0:20:47I've never had a camera but I like to see a freight train.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51- You like to see a freight train? - Yeah, I'm fascinated by freight trains.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54- Really?- Interesting trains, yeah...
0:20:54 > 0:20:58I don't get it immediately. What's the fascination with freight trains?
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Well, actually, I'll tell you what it is. When I was younger I was in America for a long time.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04The trains there are enormous.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07They're half a mile long. So I think that's what it is.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10- Wow, I've struck gold.- Yeah.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11- I mean in meeting you.- Thank you!
0:21:13 > 0:21:18I never expected to find a man in love with freight trains. Great.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26York is a largely medieval city built around the Minster.
0:21:28 > 0:21:36It started out in AD71 as a settlement besides a huge Roman fortress.
0:21:36 > 0:21:42And it was those Roman beginnings that impressed Bradshaw the most.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Bradshaw really knew his Roman history of York.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49"Having been an imperial city all the time the Romans kept possession
0:21:49 > 0:21:55"of Britain, there are of course many vestiges of antiquities. Here died Constantius Chlorus,
0:21:55 > 0:22:01"the father of Constantine the first Roman Christian Emperor."
0:22:01 > 0:22:07But I wonder whether Bradshaw is still a good guide to Roman archaeology in York?
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Fortunately, I'm meeting a man who knows.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Andrew Jones, from the York Archaeological Trust.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21- Andrew.- Hello and welcome to York.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Lovely to see. Thank you so much for your time.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27You're going to tell me something about Bradshaw's Roman history?
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Yes. Bradshaw did a lot to promote Roman York but it was actually known
0:22:31 > 0:22:36as an important place for at least 200 years before he wrote his book.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43First on the tour is what's left of the original Roman settlement.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49This is part of the Roman fortress wall, and if you
0:22:49 > 0:22:53look carefully at the wall, you can see how eroded the stones are.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58They're quite rounded and that's because of 1,700 years of rain and pollution and so forth.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02One of the things I'd like you to do is to squint along the wall
0:23:02 > 0:23:06and just appreciate how straight and how vertical this is.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Remember, this was built by Yorkshire lads 1,700 years ago.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12It's absolutely true, isn't it?
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's a fantastic piece of masonry.
0:23:18 > 0:23:26York was an important military base for the Romans with 6,000 soldiers based at the fort.
0:23:26 > 0:23:34For a short time, the whole Roman Empire was ruled from York when the Emperor Severus lived here in 209.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38The red line here that interrupts the wall, what's that?
0:23:38 > 0:23:39These are tiles.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43This is a characteristic of Roman military architecture.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47A lot of forts have these tile courses deliberately built into them.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49They're there for two reasons.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53One is they're a signature saying this piece of masonry is Roman.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58We are here claiming the landscape, beware all you native people.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02And it's also there as a practical thing to allow people to
0:24:02 > 0:24:06get a level surface and start building again straight up.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09You've told me that this has been weathered for 1,700 years so,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11clearly, Bradshaw must have known all about this?
0:24:11 > 0:24:16He did but what he didn't know is about the things we've discovered inside since his time.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17So let's go and see that next.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30This is the place here that I'd like to show you now, Michael.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And this demonstrates what, then?
0:24:33 > 0:24:38This is a part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago.
0:24:38 > 0:24:44- This?- Yes. This was formerly covered completely in a mound of earth,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49so this has not been exposed to 1,700 years of weathering and you can see the stones are
0:24:49 > 0:24:53beautifully cut and you can even see the little bits of tooling marks on them.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Looking further along, you can see the tile courses are actually projecting.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01So these were not just a practical thing, they were there
0:25:01 > 0:25:06to cast a shadow, to make a line, to be an architectural feature.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09A bit like a string course in today's buildings.
0:25:09 > 0:25:16It's a small detail but to me it brings the Roman achievement to another level.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21Given, then, that this was covered up during Bradshaw's time, it turns out, in your view, that
0:25:21 > 0:25:27the Romans were even more brilliant engineers than archaeologists of Bradshaw's era would have known.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28That's absolutely right.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34What's more, when the new railway station was built in the 1870s,
0:25:34 > 0:25:40even more fascinating Roman discoveries were made and I'd like to show you those as a final bit.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Lead on.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55These are some of the stone sarcophagi that were found
0:25:55 > 0:25:59when they rebuilt the railway station in the 1870s.
0:25:59 > 0:26:00In the old railway station, then?
0:26:00 > 0:26:06No, the first railway station was inside the city walls but the railways grew and expanded
0:26:06 > 0:26:14and the present day railway station, built in the 1870s, was built on the site of a Roman cemetery.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And these are some of the sarcophagi discovered there and brought here for safekeeping.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Very substantial bits of stone.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Massive pieces of stone. Weighing five or six tons, at least.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30And brought a long way, carved out for, obviously, people who were very highly regarded.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34And very substantial members of the community.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37I think Bradshaw would have been doubly pleased.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41York was getting a new and bigger railway station and new Roman discoveries came about as well.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45That's absolutely right. And we keep making new discoveries to this day.
0:26:50 > 0:26:57Seeing Roman York through the eyes of the Victorian Bradshaw makes me aware of some striking parallels.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02When the Romans invaded Britain,
0:27:02 > 0:27:08bringing with them fine architecture and fast roads, they made us part of
0:27:08 > 0:27:13the most advanced civilisation that the world had ever seen.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18The Victorians with their factories and steam engines were the new Romans.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21It's symbolic that when the railways reached York,
0:27:21 > 0:27:29the tracks punched their way through the ancient walls to reach the historic centre of the city.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34With our love today of steam engines and the obsession of trainspotters,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39it's clear that the railways still have us in a powerful grip.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53On my next journey, I'll be discovering how the railways
0:27:53 > 0:27:56made Hull one of the biggest white fish ports in the world.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00The railways make fish an article of cheap mass consumption.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04They create the trawling industry and it grows phenomenally.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08'I'll be searching for liquorice in Pontefract.' I'm guessing that is a liquorice plant.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10This is a liquorice plant.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12It's a Mediterranean plant.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13It came from Spain, originally.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17That's why in Pontefract we gave it the nickname "a stick of Spanish".
0:28:17 > 0:28:21And I'll be finding out why cod might soon be off the menu.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26We're starting to see a lot more warm-water species that we normally associate with the Mediterranean.
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