0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17His name was George Bradshaw. And his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:24Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Now, 170 years later, I am making a series of journeys
0:00:28 > 0:00:31across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Today, my ancient Bradshaw's guide is going to steer me across London
0:01:02 > 0:01:06as I continue my journey from Brighton to north Norfolk.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I am astonished that by the 1860s, trains were already fast enough
0:01:09 > 0:01:13to enable people to do even long-distance commuting.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19So, city workers could live in rural or suburban greenery and then, each morning,
0:01:19 > 0:01:24they would arrive in the capital, the only city I have ever lived in.
0:01:24 > 0:01:30On this journey, I'm travelling along lines which were built to allow Britain's middle-classes
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to shuttle from the suburbs to the city and to travel beyond.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Each day, I will cover another stretch,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40searching for the people and places written about in my guide.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42On today's leg of the route,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46I'll be finding out how even the dead benefited from the railways.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50It was also the terminus of what was rather
0:01:50 > 0:01:53irreverently known as the Stiffs Express.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Understanding how London became a great shopping destination...
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Part of what's changing is coming about through the railways.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Suddenly, you are getting suburbanites
0:02:03 > 0:02:08coming into the centre of London to walk the streets, to shop.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13..and I'll be trying my hand at one of the oldest trades on the river.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Would you like to have a little drive, Michael?
0:02:16 > 0:02:17I would love to.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21- Left hand down a bit? - Left goes left. Right goes right.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23It's not like tyres on the road,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26it is more like tyres on treacle.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Having covered the first 56 miles from Brighton to Crystal Palace,
0:02:35 > 0:02:36I am now heading into London
0:02:36 > 0:02:41before following a major commuter line north into Cambridgeshire.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47From there, I will explore the Fens as I aim for King's Lynn.
0:02:47 > 0:02:54Then travel on through Norwich, on the way to my final stop, Cromer.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Today, I'm starting in Waterloo before weaving my way
0:02:58 > 0:03:02to Liverpool Street and onto the docks at Canary Wharf.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08I'm travelling into London from the south, on a line used by thousands
0:03:08 > 0:03:11of Victorians on their way to work,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14to shop or just enjoy the glories of the capital.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Bradshaw says of this approach to London,
0:03:16 > 0:03:23"The line passes over viaduct or arches through a part of the densely populated parish of Lambeth,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26"over the tops of houses, past the grounds of Lambeth Palace
0:03:26 > 0:03:32"and across the river may be seen the splendid towers of the new houses of parliament."
0:03:34 > 0:03:38When I was a kid, we used to take our annual holiday in the Isle of Wight
0:03:38 > 0:03:42and I remember coming back to Waterloo, generally late at night,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47and we would look across the river and would see the beaming face of the clock tower.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Maybe that is when my infatuation with that building,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53with that palace, began.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Waterloo station opened in 1848 and was designed to bring travellers
0:04:01 > 0:04:04close to the heart of London's West End.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13What I remember from coming here as a child is the vastness of Waterloo.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16This was the biggest building in which I had ever set foot and,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20even as a child, I learned that it is the biggest station
0:04:20 > 0:04:22in the United Kingdom with its 19 platforms.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28So that is not counting Waterloo East, or the four underground lines beneath us,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31it is not counting the now disused Eurostar terminal,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Waterloo is simply the big daddy of British railway stations.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44My guide says, "Omnibuses convey passengers to and from all parts of town.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47"The terminus is a spacious building."
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Today, Waterloo sees almost 90 million passengers pass through each year.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56That is more than any other station in Britain.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Good morning.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04I am using my 19th century guidebook to go round on the railways and I think, in days gone by,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07there would be many more people dressed as beautifully as you
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and not many dressed as scruffily as I am.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16Well, I remember my uncle saying, the trouble is the trains encourage the common people to travel.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Which probably is very politically incorrect but...
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- Have a wonderful trip. Are you travelling first class?- No!
0:05:22 > 0:05:25No, no, no! I do it cheaply.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Have a wonderful journey.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Thank you.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35I haven't come to Waterloo primarily to spot elegant ladies.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40I am here to find out about one of the station's lesser-known services from writer Andrew Martin.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Here you are, Andrew, beautifully positioned under the clock.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46- Nice to meet you. - Very good to see you.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50My Bradshaw's guide tells me that Waterloo had many railway offices and departments,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53and I think you're going to tell me about a rather unusual one?
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Yes. It was also the terminus of what was rather
0:05:58 > 0:06:01irreverently known as the Stiffs Express,
0:06:01 > 0:06:08the line that carried dead bodies to the largest cemetery in the British Empire at Brookwood in Surrey.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13And you could have a whole funeral service based around this railway line.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17The service could be conducted at this end or at the end of the cemetery.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Either way, you put your relative onto the train
0:06:21 > 0:06:25and they had a one-way ride to Brookwood.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28You, yourself, as the mourner, had a return ticket.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33The all-inclusive service was run by the London Necropolis Company
0:06:33 > 0:06:35which was set up in the 1850s.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40They had discreet offices and even their own funeral platform,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42just next door to the station.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Waterloo would have been a very railway haunted area,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51the constant rattle and clatter of the trains coming in and going out
0:06:51 > 0:06:55every minute over the viaducts, over the high level.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01And even in death, they were trying to fit you into a railway timetable.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07So this splendid facade is the Necropolis station, is it?
0:07:07 > 0:07:11This is what survives of the whole Necropolis complex.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Why were the sending all these bodies out of London?
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Well, they thought it was a good business proposition
0:07:17 > 0:07:20but it was also a response to a genuine crisis -
0:07:20 > 0:07:21the shortage of burial space.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26In the first half of the 19th century, the population of London about doubled
0:07:26 > 0:07:29and there were bits of skeletons lying about in churchyards,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31so they needed space to bury bodies.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36It would be discussed since the 1840s that there ought to be a big cemetery
0:07:36 > 0:07:41safely far away from London so that cholera would not be an issue
0:07:41 > 0:07:46and the bodies would be transported there on this new-fangled invention - the train.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51At its busiest, each train carried up to 48 bodies,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54along with the various funeral parties.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57At the cemetery, there were two purpose-built stations,
0:07:57 > 0:08:02one for Anglicans and one for other denominations.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04So you have brought me up quite a long staircase,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06to the level of the railway viaduct.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09We are now behind the office part of the Necropolis complex.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12And the hearses would come sweeping in through this archway
0:08:12 > 0:08:17and then the bodies would be lifted by an electrical lift
0:08:17 > 0:08:22up to the actual Necropolis station on the viaduct there.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25What sort of carriages did they travel in?
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The carriages were funeral carriages and passenger carriages.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Both were divided into first, second and third class.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38Sorry, I have to stop you. Are you telling me the bodies went first, second or third class?
0:08:38 > 0:08:42You might think why would you send your maiden aunt first class,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45you could easily save a bit of money sending her third,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47she would not know the difference,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51but I think they took more care with your coffin if you went first.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Whether you bought a first, second or third class ticket for the corpse,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58it would correspond to the type of funeral that you bought.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03So if you bought one of the fancier funeral packages, a first class ticket would go with that.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Before long, it was not just the dead who were taking advantage of the third class fares.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12A lot of people would kind of sneak onto the funeral service.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Even if they weren't burying anyone, especially golfers,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19because there was a good golf course near Brookwood Cemetery.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Now I have an idea in my mind of golfers dressed in black, pretending to be mourners.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I am assuming the golfers did not wear garish yellow checked jumpers in those days.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32If so, I don't think they could have masqueraded as being in mourning.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And what they did with the golf clubs, I do not know.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39The business ran successfully for almost a century.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43But today, just hints of the line remain.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48And so, when did the last Stiff Express puff out of here?
0:09:48 > 0:09:50April 1941.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55And then later in that month, there was a big bombing raid
0:09:55 > 0:10:00and not only was most of the Necropolis complex here destroyed,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04but the funeral train was blown up into the bargain.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07And that was, really, curtains.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15It is time for me to make my way from Waterloo across town
0:10:15 > 0:10:20to my next destination, Piccadilly, using London's famous Underground.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24It was in embryonic form when Bradshaw published my guide.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30The first line opened in 1863 and was eventually followed by 10 more.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35The Bakerloo Line was one of the first of the new generation of deep railway lines - tubes -
0:10:35 > 0:10:39because before that it had been cut and cover, close to the surface,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and you could hardly use steam engines
0:10:42 > 0:10:44with all the smoke deep underground.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49This railway had been first planned in the 1850s, but at last in 1906,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53powered by electricity, the Bakerloo Line opened.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00In the 19th century,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05the tubes and railways made it much easier to travel around the city.
0:11:07 > 0:11:14The middle classes flocked into town and London's famous cultural and commercial centre began to grow.
0:11:14 > 0:11:21I'm only going three stops, getting out at Piccadilly Circus, the gateway to London's West End.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Bradshaw's has pages about the West End.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34So I am following it on my tour, aware that many of the Victorians' favourite haunts are mine too.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38We're now at my place where, on the left, I buy my swimming trunks,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and on the right, I buy my macaroons and this is Burlington Arcade.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Bradshaw's says, "The prettiest gallery in London.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48"It is a facsimile of a portion of the Palais Royale
0:11:48 > 0:11:52"but the tradesmen who occupy these shops are of a less wealthy class
0:11:52 > 0:11:56"and the place is considered as the fashionable gentlemen's lounge."
0:11:56 > 0:11:58I had never thought of it that way,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01but in that spirit, I'm going to revisit it today.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Built by Lord Cavendish in 1819, this was Britain's first modern
0:12:10 > 0:12:15shopping arcade, complete with its own security force.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19They still patrol the 200 yard strip of shops today.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20- Excuse me.- Hello, sir.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23You are what is known as the head Beadle?
0:12:23 > 0:12:25I am, I am the head Beadle of the Burlington Arcade.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29- And you are on your patrol?- I am on patrol, making sure that everything's
0:12:29 > 0:12:32OK with the arcade, everybody who walks through is happy and safe.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35And here to enjoy the environment, really.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40This is pretty unusual, isn't it, to have a kind of police force in a way?
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Well, the Beadles in the arcade predate the Metropolitan Police by 10 years.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Because before you had police forces,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49you would have had Beadles patrolling certain parishes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52A Beadle would probably have been in charge of about 10 constables,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54they would have been night watchman,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58they would have collected little fines that were imposed by people.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03- Any special rules?- You mustn't sell smelly produce within the arcade.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06You must also not whistle within the arcade because in 1809,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10you could no longer be hung for pickpocketing.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14So therefore they had a big, big increase in pickpocketing in London at that time.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18And pickpockets would have whistled signals to one another.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24Lord Cavendish originally designed the arcade as an exclusive retreat where his wife could shop.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28By the 1860s, it had become a popular destination for a new generation
0:13:28 > 0:13:33of bourgeois shoppers arriving by train to enjoy a taste of the good life.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37When the arcade was built, Lord Cavendish made sure that
0:13:37 > 0:13:41where we are now, there is a slight incline, it is about 10 feet higher
0:13:41 > 0:13:43at Burlington Gardens than Piccadilly.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48He wanted his wife to be able to walk with her friends up and down
0:13:48 > 0:13:52and to shop in peace, without an interruption of having to walk up any steps.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56I have walked up here and I've noticed the slope but I've never thought about that,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59that you don't actually climb steps.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03It is one of the reasons why, when people come in from Piccadilly or Burlington Gardens,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08they just escape the hurly burly of London. It would have been the same in Regency or Victorian London.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Next, I am heading for Regent Street - an elegant sweep of terraced architecture
0:14:16 > 0:14:21which Bradshaw's describes as "one of the greatest thoroughfares in London.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26"On each side are a collection of brilliant shops filled with the most costly articles,
0:14:26 > 0:14:32"attesting at once to the wealth, luxury and refinement of the land."
0:14:32 > 0:14:34The description resonates, even today.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40I am meeting urban historian Professor David Gilbert to find out how Regent Street became
0:14:40 > 0:14:44one of the greater shopping enclaves in the world.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45- David, Michael.- Hi, Michael.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51Very good to see you. Who were there early shoppers and how did they change over time?
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Well, when it started in the 1820s, 1830s,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56this was very much for the elite.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59They would come up in their carriages, they would get out,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03be shown into the shops and shown the wares.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07It is very much in that kind of way but by the time of your guide book,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09this street is changing and part of what is changing
0:15:09 > 0:15:12is coming about through the railways.
0:15:12 > 0:15:19Suddenly, you're getting suburbanites coming into the centre of London to walk the streets, to shop.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Completed in the 1820s, architect John Nash, laid out Regent Street
0:15:23 > 0:15:25as a series of colonnades.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Like the Burlington Arcade, these covered walkways were
0:15:29 > 0:15:33designed to provide a safe haven to linger and shop out of the rain.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38- Was Regent Street safe?- It was safe during the day, that's part of it.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41You had public space that was safe during the shopping hours.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45After dark, Regent Street became a very different kind of place.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50One of the reasons for that is if we think about where it is in the geography of London.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53It's a great fault line, a dividing line between, to the west,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56you have the big aristocratic estates,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00to the east, you've got Soho which is going rapidly downmarket,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03has a reputation for vice, a reputation for violence.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Here's the place where those two worlds meet.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11At night, crime and prostitution sheltered in their shadows of the colonnades.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16In 1848, they were torn down and gradually replaced by a new kind
0:16:16 > 0:16:21of shop, with large glass windows facing directly onto the street.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Plate glass itself was quite new.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Plate glass was very new.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29This area we were in, there were tensions between the architects who
0:16:29 > 0:16:33wanted fine, architectural colonnades along there, and the shopkeepers
0:16:33 > 0:16:36who wanted to display their wares.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Increasingly, as the century goes on, they want people to window shop,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44to shop in what's identifiably a modern kind of way.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49We think of this as one of the great triumphs of town planning in London
0:16:49 > 0:16:54and it's also about profit, about making the most out of the way the street works.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Since Bradshaw's day,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03the West End has been geared to accommodate thousands of shoppers.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09Regent Street, cutting through its centre, remains globally recognised
0:17:09 > 0:17:12as an outstanding location for retail therapy.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18Now, I'm travelling from the West End to the East End,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22using the Central Line which travels due west-east
0:17:22 > 0:17:24along the lines of Oxford Street and Holborn.
0:17:24 > 0:17:30This line was opened in 1900 and it had a flat fare of two old pence per mile.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Because of the shape of the tunnels,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35it became known as the Tupenny Tube.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37The flat fare went long ago,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41but the word, tube, that's stuck with us to the present day.
0:17:46 > 0:17:53I'm travelling a couple of miles towards the city, to one of my favourite London stations.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55I do like Liverpool Street.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00When I was Minister of Transport, they completed a modernisation project here which involved bringing
0:18:00 > 0:18:03some of the lines that used to stop short, right up to the terminus.
0:18:03 > 0:18:10The result is very successful because it has the space of an air terminal inside Victorian cathedral
0:18:10 > 0:18:14windows and beneath a roof, suspended on beautiful columns.
0:18:18 > 0:18:25Just outside the station is the former Great Eastern Hotel, where I'll be spending the night.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30This Victorian landmark was built in 1884 by the Great Eastern Railway,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33which ran lines from East Anglia.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36A nightly goods train brought coal for the hotel
0:18:36 > 0:18:38and took away its rubbish.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Over the years, the hotel gradually declined, but in 1996,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47it was given an extensive makeover during which the builders discovered
0:18:47 > 0:18:50a secret room behind a false wall.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55After checking in, I'm heading deeper inside to find out more.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00My goodness.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Nigel, thank you for coming, I know you've come to explain this to me.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10- Yes, indeed.- Nigel Brown is the grand secretary of the Freemasons.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15I know it's a Masonic Temple but what on earth was the origin of such a splendid place?
0:19:15 > 0:19:19The key reason that this was built was because the railways were doing
0:19:19 > 0:19:23so well at that time and the Great Eastern Railways Company,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26chaired by a chap called Lord Claude Hamilton,
0:19:26 > 0:19:27who was also a mason,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31wanted to show to the world how successful they were.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Therefore, he produced an almost over the top opulent room.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39With 12 different types of Italian marble,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43the room cost the equivalent of £4 million to build.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47It was closed off in the 1990s when it became too expensive to maintain.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52After redevelopment, the magnificent room was open for hire to the public to earn its keep.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56The room was designed as a meeting room.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00It's extremely over the top in the sense that
0:20:00 > 0:20:03you won't find this as a typical Masonic meeting room,
0:20:03 > 0:20:04I can assure you of that.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09But here you'd have regular meetings and a lodge would meet
0:20:09 > 0:20:11three or four times a year.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Purely the business of the lodge would be conducted
0:20:14 > 0:20:16before they went on to have a jolly good dinner.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22That sounds like a fine idea for me before I turn in for the night.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33Next morning, my Bradshaw's leads me into the throng of London's rush-hour.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Never having worked in the City and now having to discarded the suit and tie of my previous employment,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42there's quite a satisfaction seeing all these commuters streaming by
0:20:42 > 0:20:45with deadlines to meet, while I have none.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Whilst they head for their offices, I'm on my way to Tower Gateway Station,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53to meet railway expert, Alex Werner.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Alex, morning.
0:20:55 > 0:21:02Today, Alex is taking me out of the City on the Docklands Light Railway built in the 1980s.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08It follows the route of the old London and Blackwall railway, which dates from early Victorian times.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Back then, the easiest place to build the line was up above the city streets.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17This railway is built on viaducts over arches, isn't it?
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Bradshaw's celebrates the fact that these arches soar above the houses.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It must have had a huge impact on London.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27The viaducts cut their way through the city.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30It was already a very densely-inhabited place
0:21:30 > 0:21:35and the viaduct was the solution to linking the railways in the inner-city area.
0:21:35 > 0:21:42If you had a causeway that you had to cut, there would be so much property that you'd need to acquire.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48So it was relatively cheap to build the viaduct in conjunction with
0:21:48 > 0:21:51the station building along the line.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56The trains travelling along these viaducts were part of an integrated transport system.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Ships brought their cargo and passengers
0:21:58 > 0:22:00up the Thames to the docks,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04to be whisked by train all around the country.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Bradshaw was impressed by the sheer scale of the docks writing,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10"Situated at the east end of London,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14"they're the store houses of the widest commerce of the world".
0:22:16 > 0:22:19We've come to West India Dock, now part of Canary Wharf,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22to understand what so captivated Bradshaw.
0:22:22 > 0:22:30Bradshaw's guide talks about this place in the 1860s, 204 acres of water, 600 ships can berth here,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32with cargoes of 200, 300 tons each.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- It must have been quite a scene. - It was an incredibly busy dock.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Ships coming from all over the world by the 1850s and '60s.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Traditionally it was the West India trade, so carrying sugar and rum from the Caribbean.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50But by the mid-19th century, goods were coming from all over the world.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Each of the docks specialised in particular cargoes.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58St Katharine's Dock took in marble, sugar and brandy,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01while the Surrey Dock dealt in timber.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05This was where all the cargoes of the world were being stored.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08This was London as the port of empire. Incredibly active space.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Where we're standing here, there would have been a transit shed, where
0:23:12 > 0:23:16the ships would moor, they would unload their cargo into transit,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19and they would be taken off into the warehouses.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24As well as describing each dock, Bradshaw writes about the people, too.
0:23:24 > 0:23:30"A busy army of 20,000 workmen are employed here, in loading, unloading and storing.".
0:23:32 > 0:23:35He was talking about watermen,
0:23:35 > 0:23:36who rowed passengers ashore
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and lightermen, who took cargo.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43There are no watermen left but the descendants of some
0:23:43 > 0:23:48of the lightermen remain, men like Cornelius Andrews and his grandson.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Do you remember the docks that were behind you?
0:23:51 > 0:23:55I've had a boat in every dock. In their heyday...marvellous.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Full up with ships and barges.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01It was like Piccadilly Circus.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03It was fantastic.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Was there a lot of comradeship on the river?
0:24:05 > 0:24:06Yes. Lovely.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Especially in the pub.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Cornelius, I'm going to go out with your grandson now on the river.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15You'll love him, he's a good kid.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20- Hello, James.- Hello, Michael.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23- Very good to see you. You're going to take me on the river? - Yes, certainly am.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29James Andrews has been a lighterman for 17 years and today hauls cargo
0:24:29 > 0:24:32with a tug boat, rather than with oars.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38The lightermen had a reputation of being aristocracy of the river.
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Is that true now?
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Up until maybe the '90s,
0:24:41 > 0:24:47I think the London watermen or lightermen was world renowned.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52A long time ago, Nelson himself insisted that every ship in the line
0:24:52 > 0:24:54had a London waterman on board.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58I've been following a 19th century guidebook and it talks about
0:24:58 > 0:25:0120,000 people working in the docks.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Have you any idea how many people are working on the river?
0:25:04 > 0:25:10I think at the last count, it was between 400 and 500 licence holders.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14When you're coming down from 20,000 men, it's a big drop.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Although there aren't many lightermen on the river,
0:25:19 > 0:25:25they still play a vital role, not least removing London's refuse on barges.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Today, we're carrying rubbish.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Where is it going to?
0:25:30 > 0:25:34It's going ultimately to a place in Essex called Mucking.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38- Mucking?- Mucking, yes, rather appropriately named.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Would you like to have a little drive, Michael?
0:25:41 > 0:25:43I'd love to.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46- Left hand down a bit? - Left goes left and right goes right.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48It's not like tyres on the road.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51It's more like tyres on treacle.
0:25:51 > 0:25:57It's definitely the longest vehicle I've ever steered and it's all delayed reaction.
0:25:57 > 0:26:03You push the wheel and nothing seems to happen and after about 30 seconds, a lot happens.
0:26:06 > 0:26:13Holding the wheel is one thing but I think I'll leave parking this 80ft convoy to the expert.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20That was the niftiest bit of steering I've ever seen.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24I think I might have to practise for quite a long time before I'm able to do that.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31This part of the river is no longer the busy thoroughfare it once was.
0:26:31 > 0:26:38In the 1970s, new docks were built further downstream to handle large container ships.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43East London docks lay unused for years until they were transformed
0:26:43 > 0:26:47into a new, financial district, called Canary Wharf,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50housing the tallest building in Britain.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The key to Canary Wharf's success was, of course, a railway,
0:26:59 > 0:27:04the Jubilee Line extension, for which as a minister, I fought tooth and nail.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06George Bradshaw would enjoy this statistic.
0:27:06 > 0:27:13The station is so vast that the box underground, underwater, in which it sits, will be big enough
0:27:13 > 0:27:17to accommodate the Canary Wharf Tower lying on its side.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27In Bradshaw's day, London was revitalised by the railways and that story continues today.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33The old tracks are constantly reused and extended as the city reinvents itself.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39The age of railway building began before the Victorian era, but it hasn't ceased yet.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43London is all business and bustle.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48From department stores in the west, to investment banks in the east.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Now, shopping is all the rage and shipping has ceased.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57But before the railways came to town, the river was the permanent way
0:27:57 > 0:28:03and the speed of travel was limited to how fast a man could row.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12On the next leg of the journey,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15I'll be seeing how the trains changed the fortunes of Newmarket.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19It's a sign of a smart town to have one station for people in the north,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22one for people in the south and another one for the horses.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25- Oh, absolutely. - Looking back on my student days...
0:28:25 > 0:28:29That's where my all-important cocktail bar was.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32I probably had a desk as well but I don't remember.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37..and finding out that Cambridge has a surprising claim to fame.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40One could say it was the birthplace of the modern game of football.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk