0:00:05 > 0:00:09In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24what to see and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:31Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of the country,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54In the 19th century, trains transformed Britain fundamentally.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57In the early years of the railway revolution,
0:00:57 > 0:00:596,000 miles of track were laid.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02For the first time, people of modest means
0:01:02 > 0:01:07could explore their own country, and I'm following in their tracks.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Over the coming weeks, I'll be travelling to the western outposts of Scotland,
0:01:11 > 0:01:17to the rugged mountains of North Wales, and to the beautiful coastline of Kent.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22Using my 19th-century Bradshaw's Railway Handbook as my guide,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26I'll be following in the footsteps of Victorian railway tourists.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33For those first travellers, planning a rail journey wasn't easy.
0:01:33 > 0:01:39Train times were displayed only locally, on the pub wall or the station door.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42But in the 1840s cartographer George Bradshaw
0:01:42 > 0:01:45began publishing rail timetables covering the country.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50It helped the masses to travel across the British Isles.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Bradshaw published guide books too, like the one I'm using now, to make these journeys.
0:01:57 > 0:02:04The route that I begin today takes me on lines that were built not for coal or cotton, but for people.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Victorian carriages running on these tracks would have been crowded with
0:02:08 > 0:02:12shoppers and commuters and sports enthusiasts.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The railways put the middle classes on the move,
0:02:15 > 0:02:20the very people for whom George Bradshaw wrote his guidebooks.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24'Each day I'll cover another leg of the journey, stopping off
0:02:24 > 0:02:28'to see the towns and cities described in my Bradshaw's Guide.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33'Today is taking me to one of the very first seaside aquariums...'
0:02:33 > 0:02:38It was the sense of shock and awe that the Victorian public got coming in here,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41where they would see the denizens of the deep.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45'..showing me the conditions endured by Victorian miners...'
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Several times it occurred to me that if you weren't here I would probably get lost and die in here.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52- I'd never find my way out. - I don't think you would, no.
0:02:52 > 0:02:58'..and revealing that greatest wonder of the Victorian age, the Crystal Palace.'
0:02:58 > 0:03:01It really makes me very sad that the building no longer stands.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Yes, in November 1936 the building was totally destroyed by fire.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16On this route, I'll be heading from the south coast
0:03:16 > 0:03:19towards Crystal Palace and the capital itself.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21I'll follow the line out of London,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24sweeping through Suffolk into Cambridgeshire.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28From there I'll travel to Norfolk and King's Lynn,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32before arriving at my very final stop, Cromer.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Starting in Brighton today,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I'll travel the first 56 miles via Godstone,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41to the site of the Crystal Palace.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47When the first railways snaked towards the seafront in the 1840s,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51they changed the way that people lived.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Prosperous men of affairs
0:03:53 > 0:03:56could live far from their offices in the smoky city.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02I'm headed for Brighton.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08In 1844, the journey time from London was already just 90 minutes.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13By 1865, it was down to 75.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16That made long-distance commuting possible.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Bradshaw says, "Merchants who formerly made Dulwich or Dalston
0:04:20 > 0:04:24"the boundaries of their suburban residences
0:04:24 > 0:04:27"now have got their mansions on the south coast
0:04:27 > 0:04:31"and still get in less time, by a less expensive conveyance,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34"to the counting houses in the City."
0:04:34 > 0:04:41Well, the train I'm on takes 53 minutes, which is not such a big change in 150 years.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45The age of commuting had dawned.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Before my guide was published, Brighton was an aristocratic playground
0:04:49 > 0:04:56where the blue-blooded enjoyed the sea air, or took the steamer to begin a European tour.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02The railway brought the coast within easy reach, and those enriched by industry and trade
0:05:02 > 0:05:04now occupied Brighton's elegant streets.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16As I came into Brighton I was struck by how far the town's extended.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The houses sprawl across the neighbouring hills
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and this station is...is vast.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27This is why Bradshaw refers to Brighton as a marine metropolis,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32because it was a royal town, an international port, then it became a seaside resort,
0:05:32 > 0:05:37then it became a commuting town and it's a business centre in its own right.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47In the 1840s, the Victorian middle classes discovered Brighton and rushed to see it.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51The Brighton Pavilion, then a royal palace, was swamped with visitors,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to the disgust of Queen Victoria,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58who swiftly packed up and left town for good in 1845.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04Her Majesty may not have been amused by the day-trippers and holidaymakers pouring in by train,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07but Bradshaw was.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10"Scores of laughing, chubby, thoughtless children,
0:06:10 > 0:06:18"skilled manifestly in the art of ingeniously tormenting maids, tutors, governesses and mamas.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22"Whilst intent upon their customary constitutional walk,
0:06:22 > 0:06:27"the morning habitues of the promenade swing lustily past.
0:06:27 > 0:06:34"Let us mingle with the throng and obtain a closer intimacy of the principal features of this place."
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Well, the social hierarchy has changed, but people are
0:06:39 > 0:06:43still enjoying themselves here and I'm going to go a-mingling.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47The seafront bustles still.
0:06:47 > 0:06:54I'm meeting historian Geoff Mead to help me imagine the attractions of Victorian Brighton.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- Hello.- Hi.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57- Michael Portillo.- Geoffrey Mead.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03My Bradshaw says that at one time the chain pier was the item of first consideration for the visitor,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07in other words the highlight of Brighton. What did it look like?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It was basically a long suspension bridge that ran from here.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16Chains went through the wall here and the chains ran out to a tower down on the beach here.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Stretching over 1,000 feet out to sea, this was Brighton's first pier.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Constructed in 1823, it enabled the royal and rich
0:07:26 > 0:07:30to glide across the waves to their yachts and steamers.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Then there were four towers on timber supports
0:07:33 > 0:07:36with chains suspended from them,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39rods suspended from the chains, and the deck hung on the rods.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It was secured to the timber underneath.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47Then there was a square, stone-clad pier head where people could promenade to.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53By Bradshaw's time, piers such as the chain pier were no longer for the rich to board ships.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57They'd become a playground for the middle classes.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Once the railway arrives, it changes the social demographic of Brighton.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Whereas before you needed your own transport to get here, you needed to be rich,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09once the railway comes in, it allows the world and his wife to come to Brighton.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14So Brighton changes from being the resort literally of kings to being the working man's resort.
0:08:14 > 0:08:1950 miles from London, easily accessible, and it changes the nature of the resort.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Bradshaw says something very interesting and very clever.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26He talks about the levelling of the railways literally and metaphorically.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31So you had to create flat ground for the railways but you produced a levelling in society, too.
0:08:31 > 0:08:39Certainly it revolutionised the seaside, which had been exclusively for the very rich,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41down to the man in the street.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45That pier, alas, is no longer here.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49But one of the other Victorian attractions survives intact -
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the aquarium, designed by Eugenius Birch.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Before the railways, few people travelled to the coast.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Many might never have seen a live fish.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04So the Brighton aquarium opened up a submarine world that was entirely new.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08This was designed in 1869. It was such a colossal building project
0:09:08 > 0:09:10that it took three years to complete.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13It opened in 1872, as the wonder of the age.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16It was the largest aquarium anywhere in the world.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18And it felt like this, did it?
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It felt like this, but...
0:09:21 > 0:09:27it was the sense of awe, shock and awe, that the Victorian public got coming in here,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31where they would see the denizens of the deep at close hand.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36We have to think that today we're all very familiar with underwater photography,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38many people have been down, skin divers.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42In the 1870s, no-one had seen an octopus close to.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45No-one had seen tropical fish.
0:09:45 > 0:09:51Even common British species that lived in deeper water would only have been seen in a fishmonger's shop.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59Visitors could buy a train ticket from London that included entrance to the aquarium.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04At that time, prawns, lobsters and even salmon were star attractions,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07alongside more exotic displays of sea lions.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Building the aquarium, then, the Victorian seaside town reinvents itself?
0:10:13 > 0:10:17All seaside towns have to constantly reinvent themselves.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20The introduction of piers, the introduction of things like aquaria,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24the cinema is basically a south coast of England technology.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29A whole raft of ideas coming in to, as you say, reinvent the seaside.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Brighton goes on and on.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42Brighton developed pioneering seaside attractions.
0:10:42 > 0:10:49The aquarium was one of the first and now I'm going to go on one of the world's first electric railways.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Ian Gledhill is chairman of the Volk's Railway Association.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59- Hello, Ian.- Hello, Michael. Nice to meet you.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05Michael Portillo. Now, Volk's Electric Railway, 1883.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10- Who was Volk?- Magnus Volk was a local pioneer and inventor.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13He was born in Brighton, born in 1851.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16As a teenager he got absolutely passionate
0:11:16 > 0:11:19about electricity, at a time when most people didn't understand it.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22They didn't know what it was. He put electric light in the Royal Pavilion.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26It was the first public building in Sussex to be lit with electricity.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31And he wanted to show that people could travel by electricity, so he built the railway.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Volk copied the idea from Germany,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40where the first electric railway had opened in Berlin in 1879.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45He wanted to give the people of Brighton a taste of the future.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49We now think of this as a tourist attraction, but actually then
0:11:49 > 0:11:54- he built it as a kind of industrial demonstration project, to show what electricity could do.- Absolutely.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56That's what he wanted to show.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00He knew that electricity was the coming thing, so he wanted to show that it would work.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Once people got used to it - they were frightened of it at first -
0:12:04 > 0:12:06but once they got used to it, they flocked to it.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Before long, the line carried 19th-century tourists
0:12:10 > 0:12:14along the seafront, travelling at about six miles an hour.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18There were stops at the aquarium and the chain pier.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Some landmarks have changed, but the rolling stock hasn't.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25All our cars except one are over 100 years old.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28That is amazing. Is it a big task to keep them going?
0:12:28 > 0:12:31It is, because the electric motors are the originals,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34- so they are 100 years old as well. - That's amazing.
0:12:37 > 0:12:45Our national passion for historic railways is so great that it affects even celebrities.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48- So, driver.- Yes? - You're Nicholas Owen, aren't you?
0:12:48 > 0:12:53- I am, yes.- What are you doing here, then?- Well, I love railways.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I'm one of those very unusual railway enthusiasts, I like electric railways.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59So when I was asked a couple of years ago
0:12:59 > 0:13:02to declare this the 125th anniversary - I think it's on my chest there -
0:13:02 > 0:13:07I said, "I'll come as long as I can look at the railway properly, understand it."
0:13:07 > 0:13:11They said, "Well, would you like to be a volunteer? Would you like to perhaps drive?"
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I've driven a few trains in my life and this was just irresistible.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19- How fantastic. A schoolboy's dream come true.- Absolutely.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Your secret is safe with me.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Yes, I fear not.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Replenished by all that sea air,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34I'm heading towards my next destination, 35 miles away.
0:13:34 > 0:13:41Like so many visitors to Brighton in Victorian times and modern times as well, I have been a day-tripper
0:13:41 > 0:13:47and I'm on the mainline headed north towards London. But I won't go all the way to the capital.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52I'm going to seek Bradshaw's guide in finding a place to rest my head.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56My next stop is the village of Godstone in Surrey.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01Along the way, my guide book tells me to look out for an impressive Victorian landmark.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Now we're passing over the Ouse Viaduct,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09one of the finest works in the kingdom, according to Bradshaw's.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13"It commands extensive views over the surrounding countryside.
0:14:13 > 0:14:19"As we're whirled along it, the prospect presents us with an unbounded scene of beauty."
0:14:20 > 0:14:25And you do feel, heading towards Gatwick, heading towards London,
0:14:25 > 0:14:30that you want to breathe in the openness before you lose it altogether.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34This listed viaduct was built in 1841
0:14:34 > 0:14:40by railway engineer John Rastrick, and now carries 493 trains a day.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46Having changed trains, I'm on the last stretch of tracks before Godstone.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50After sampling the glamorous life in Brighton, I've checked Bradshaw's
0:14:50 > 0:14:54for somewhere suitable to stay the night.
0:14:54 > 0:15:02Under the entry for Godstone, Bradshaw's notes that the parks of this neighbourhood are much admired.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Then he has a whole list of what we would call stately homes
0:15:06 > 0:15:08that are within striking distance of the station.
0:15:08 > 0:15:15I've picked one which I'm managing to stay at tonight, Starborough Castle, eight miles.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18We are now approaching Godstone.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Bradshaw notes the distance by coach to Starborough Castle.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26It's now a smart B&B and I'll have to settle for a taxi to get there.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28- Hello.- How are you doing?
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- Can you take me to Starborough Castle?- Certainly.- Thank you.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40- Hello.- Welcome to Starborough Manor.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Now, Starborough Manor, you say? I'm looking for Starborough Castle.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45Is that it?
0:15:45 > 0:15:51Well, the whole area was Starborough Castle but in the '70s it was split up and became Starborough Manor.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56The castle itself was demolished in 1648 on the orders of Parliament
0:15:56 > 0:16:01because it could have been a place of resistance during the Civil War.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02'The stone from the castle
0:16:02 > 0:16:06'was re-used to construct the present manor house.'
0:16:06 > 0:16:08My Bradshaw's Guide, which was written in the 1860s, refers to
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Starborough Castle, so actually he's referring to the house.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Yes, exactly.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Well, very beautiful it is too.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I'm off to see if I can find my key.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22- Let me show you to your room. - All right, thank you.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'Having learned that the splendid castle was destroyed on the orders
0:16:26 > 0:16:30'of parliamentarians, I hope that my conscience won't stop me sleeping.'
0:16:39 > 0:16:45After splendid hospitality at Starborough Castle, I'm now pacing an old Roman road
0:16:45 > 0:16:51in search of a clue in my Bradshaw's Guide to the underground history of Godstone.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Bradshaw talks about the famous quarries at Godstone.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59I'm here to meet Peter Burgess, who's unearthing their past.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02- Hello, Peter. - Hello, Michael, welcome.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04I've come here because of my Bradshaw's Guide.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08He says that Godstone was named after "good stone".
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Yes, quite a few people have made this very same statement.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14If you look into it a bit deeper, you'll find that
0:17:14 > 0:17:19"stone" is a reference, as in many other place names, to the Roman road that runs through the village.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25And "Cod", we believe, is a Saxon family. So this is Cod's place on the Roman road.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28But nonetheless it is famous for stone here.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Oh, yes. There are very extensive quarries for the stone that can be found at Godstone, indeed.
0:17:34 > 0:17:35The stone was originally used as
0:17:35 > 0:17:40a building material in London, being the nearest source to the capital.
0:17:40 > 0:17:41It was called firestone
0:17:41 > 0:17:44because of its special heat-resistant properties,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and was later used in factories as a bed to roll out molten glass
0:17:49 > 0:17:51and for domestic hearth stones.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57After the late 1850s, the railway came to Caterham, which is about two miles up the road from here.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01One of the reasons for constructing that line,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05one of the things that persuaded people to put money into the line,
0:18:05 > 0:18:11was the fact that it would serve as a link for quarries to get the stone up into the national rail network.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17At the time, this quarry produced the best stone in the area, and the industry grew.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20But as the railways spread it became easy to bring in
0:18:20 > 0:18:24higher-quality building materials like Bath and Portland stone.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Godstone quarry declined and closed in the 1940s.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35The old tunnels are still here. They haven't changed much since Bradshaw's epoch.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42- Pretty cool in here, isn't it? - Absolutely.- You and I are having to squat down a bit in here.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45What were conditions like for the quarrymen, say, in the 19th century?
0:18:45 > 0:18:48We have it good because we've got good lights.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53They'd be working by candlelight but they would have had the same issues with the height and so on.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56They wouldn't have been wearing helmets, of course.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- Health and safety not a big thing? - Oh, no, no.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04'Miners dug over six miles of tunnels in the quarry.
0:19:04 > 0:19:12'As I follow in their footsteps, I gain some sense of what those Victorian workers endured.'
0:19:12 > 0:19:15We've come through such a labyrinth.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Several times it occurred to me that if you weren't here I would
0:19:18 > 0:19:21probably get lost and die in here, I'd never find my way out again.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23I don't think you would, no.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25What are these jottings here?
0:19:25 > 0:19:28These appear to be numbers.
0:19:28 > 0:19:29My guess is these are tally marks.
0:19:29 > 0:19:36The quarrymen would have been paid, my guess is, for the amount of stone taken out and they kept a record.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39In order to get this out, of course, they had to do it all by hand.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Picks and hammers and wedges were the tools they had.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45'Inside the mine, Peter and his colleagues are excavating
0:19:45 > 0:19:51'the tunnel floors, to reveal more about how the miners operated.'
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It just looks like rock, but persevere...
0:19:54 > 0:19:58and you will see it gets a bit rusty.
0:19:58 > 0:20:04'They've uncovered some very early rails which carried horse-drawn wagons of stone to the surface.'
0:20:04 > 0:20:10This rail here, this broken section, is in fact the same as you are uncovering here.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14- It's very different from what I recognise as a rail.- Indeed it is.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18First of all it's made of cast iron, so it's not particularly strong.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23That limited how much you could carry on a railway like this, because the rails would break, as this one has.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25What does this say?
0:20:25 > 0:20:30This was the name of the railway that they were made for. It says CM&G.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Croydon, Merstham and Godstone.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Where you were scraping here,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39there's of course a chance that that lettering might still be in place.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42- Must be worth another go. - Yes, indeed.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Peter's discovered that these rails were recycled from
0:20:49 > 0:20:53one of the earliest horse-drawn railways built in Surrey in 1803.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55They helped the mine to prosper,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59as larger amounts of stone could be hauled out more quickly.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Now it's time for me to leave Godstone for my next destination.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14I've emerged more or less intact from my dark, subterranean dungeon.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Now I'm back on the mainline,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20headed for a part of London.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27I'm travelling towards a place whose name, more than any other,
0:21:27 > 0:21:32recalls the triumphs of Victorian industry - Crystal Palace.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Here I have to use my imagination a bit,
0:21:35 > 0:21:42because Bradshaw describes the Crystal Palace, sitting on the summit of Penge Park,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46as being one of the outstanding sights in Europe.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50But of course now the Crystal Palace is gone.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54My guide is full of praise for the Crystal Palace.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57"With its marvellous transepts and wings and galleries,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"situated in the most exquisite and park-like grounds,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04"ornamented with a noble terrace,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"commanding one of the finest views in England."
0:22:07 > 0:22:09The extraordinary glass palace
0:22:09 > 0:22:13was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17By 1854, it had been moved to this suburban hill
0:22:17 > 0:22:21with a dedicated station of suitable grandeur.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Well, it's certainly a magnificent station.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30You can tell that this in its day was quite something.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36Maybe this is the kind of traditional London exhibition architecture.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40It reminds me a bit of South Kensington and the museums there.
0:22:48 > 0:22:55Just a few passengers today, but you have to imagine that these stairs, built on a colossal scale,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58once saw thousands of passengers a day
0:22:58 > 0:23:03surging through on their way to see the wonders of the Crystal Palace.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07On just one day in 1859,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11over 100,000 Victorians poured through the station.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15I'm meeting historian Ken Kiss to discover what they came to see.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17- Hello, Ken.- Hello, Michael.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- Pleased to meet you. - Very good to see you.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22This was one of the great wonders of the world in its day, wasn't it?
0:23:22 > 0:23:26This was an enormous building, a fantastic edifice of iron and glass.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28Absolutely. It was that period of optimism
0:23:28 > 0:23:31and interest in everything that was going on.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Inside the building you would have models of bridges,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36models of all sorts of structure.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40There was a whole series of courts that were given over to architecture.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45So you could go in there and the very first court you walked into was the Egyptian court.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49You had this remarkable court, nearly 100ft long, 60ft high,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52with a perfect reproduction of everything from Egypt.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56You just moved through an archway into the Greek court, then on to the Roman court.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59So you could really spend days in the building.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Bradshaw's continues to enthuse.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05"The sight of the Crystal Palace on the summit of Penge Park
0:24:05 > 0:24:09"is one of the most beautiful in the world."
0:24:09 > 0:24:11When the palace was rebuilt in south London,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15it was even larger than the one in Hyde Park.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19I'm guessing that that balustrade marks the footprint of the building.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22- It's absolutely huge, isn't it? - Yes, tremendous size.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24That's this thing running along here at the bottom
0:24:24 > 0:24:26in my Bradshaw's Guide.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29So, from one end to the other, how big would that have been?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32That's 1608ft from end to end of the building.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Huge. And how tall?
0:24:34 > 0:24:38About 208ft to the top of the centre transept.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41So give me an idea against this transmitter mast.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44About one, two, three-and-a-half lifts on there
0:24:44 > 0:24:47would give you the main part of the building.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51The Crystal Palace was built
0:24:51 > 0:24:54to celebrate Britain's technological achievements.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Railways epitomised that success,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01and appropriately they conveyed the visitors who came to admire.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Over six months, 6,200,000 people attended
0:25:05 > 0:25:09on special excursion trains from all over the country.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14It makes me very sad, being here, that the building no longer stands. It was destroyed by fire, wasn't it?
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Yes, in November 1936 the building was totally destroyed by fire.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23We have really no idea as to how it happened. We have some clues
0:25:23 > 0:25:26but we think it was probably a pipe underneath the floor.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29A lot of people stood there and said, "How can glass and iron burn?"
0:25:29 > 0:25:33But of course it was the timber floor that was burning.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38It had nearly eight acres of timber flooring and that was more than enough to destroy the whole building.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42The fire burned all night and was visible in six counties.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Later Churchill described it as the end of an age.
0:25:48 > 0:25:55Today, rare survivors of the Victorian exhibits are the Crystal Palace dinosaurs,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57described by Bradshaw's as
0:25:57 > 0:26:02"the models of the diluvian and antediluvian extinct animals".
0:26:02 > 0:26:07Fantastic that the Victorians constructed these things, isn't it?
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Quite remarkable, yes.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13- I mean, all this is done years before Darwin's Origin Of Species. - Oh, yes.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15These ones are absolutely massive.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21Apart from anything else, they're amazing works of sculpture and even engineering, aren't they?
0:26:21 > 0:26:23Yes, indeed. There's a tremendous amount of ironwork.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27The armature inside that creature amounts to several hundred bricks
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and five-inch pipes and all sorts of things
0:26:30 > 0:26:33to make sure that the final structure looks as it does.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It's amazing to recall that, at the time,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40no complete dinosaur skeletons had yet been found.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Although the models aren't 100% accurate, they're not far off.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50- The Victorians must have been stunned by it.- Absolutely.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53No-one had seen anything like this before.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57These creatures were millions of years old and here they were in three dimensions.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00And it's also very Victorian, isn't it?
0:27:00 > 0:27:05You come for a day out, you come for entertainment, a picnic, but at the same time you've got to be learning.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08- Absolutely. - They're very earnest about that.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13Father would ask the children, "Now, what is the name of that one?" Yes, that's the sort of thing.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16They would certainly have been very keen and they must have felt better
0:27:16 > 0:27:19to have been educated as well as just enjoying the surroundings.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Following my Bradshaw's, I'm stunned by the progress
0:27:24 > 0:27:28and the self-confidence of the Victorian age.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33From seaside attractions, to mines, monuments and even dinosaurs,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36it was an era of limitless creativity.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41Like a good Victorian tourist I've taken the train to the aquarium in Brighton
0:27:41 > 0:27:43and to the site of the Crystal Palace.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47And that's made me admire even more the engineering of the time.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51But when I was crammed inside that subterranean quarry
0:27:51 > 0:27:56I thought about the sweat and toil of thousands of men
0:27:56 > 0:28:02that was required to make a reality of each of those ideas of genius.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09On the next leg of the route, I'll be finding out how even the dead benefited from the railways...
0:28:09 > 0:28:12It was also the terminus of...
0:28:12 > 0:28:16what was rather irreverently known as the Stiffs' Express.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19..understanding how London became a great shopping destination...
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Part of what's changing is coming about through the railways.
0:28:23 > 0:28:29Suddenly you're getting suburbanites coming into the centre of London to walk the streets, to shop.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34..and trying my hand at one of the oldest trades on the river.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37- Would you like to have a little drive, Michael?- Left hand out a bit?
0:28:37 > 0:28:42It's not like tyres on the road. It's more like tyres on treacle.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:29:08 > 0:29:10E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk