0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in the British Isles.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw
0:00:12 > 0:00:16and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see
0:00:22 > 0:00:24and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys
0:00:29 > 0:00:31across the length and breadth of these isles
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02I'm continuing my journey through England's industrial heartland towards rural Wales.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Even before the Victorian period,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08the Midlands had experienced an intellectual enlightenment
0:01:08 > 0:01:11that put it at the core of Britain's Industrial Revolution.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14And by the time my guidebook was published,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18their ideas had turned Britain into the world's most advanced economy.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22On this stretch, I'll learn how the railways helped
0:01:22 > 0:01:25to make Birmingham the pen-making capital of the world...
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It was a trade that brought writing to the masses, really.
0:01:28 > 0:01:34..hear the chilling tale of one of 19th-century Britain's most notorious murderers...
0:01:34 > 0:01:3630,000 turned up for his execution.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40They had special trains laid on from Bristol, from Manchester
0:01:40 > 0:01:41and from London.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45..and sample the delicacies concocted in a Victorian kitchen.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49- Look at that! Wow! Did you make that?- I certainly did.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52That's got a real wobble factor on it, hasn't it?
0:01:58 > 0:02:01This journey began in the Chilterns and is now taking me
0:02:01 > 0:02:04towards the heart of the industrial Midlands.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08I'll then join the picturesque Severn Valley,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12before crossing into Wales, en route to my final stop at Aberystwyth.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Today, I'll begin in Birmingham, then explore the Staffordshire towns
0:02:20 > 0:02:24of Tamworth and Rugeley, finishing in the county town of Stafford.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29I'm on my way to Birmingham,
0:02:29 > 0:02:34which Bradshaw's tells me is "the great centre of the manufactured metal trades,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37"being situated in North Warwickshire on the borders
0:02:37 > 0:02:41"of the South Staffordshire iron and coal district."
0:02:41 > 0:02:42During Victorian times,
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Birmingham was known as the workshop of the world
0:02:46 > 0:02:49and "the city of a thousand trades," a place where the currencies
0:02:49 > 0:02:51were skill and invention.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03- ANNOUNCEMENT:- We are now approaching Birmingham Moor Street.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07To trace the vestiges of that hive of industry,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11I'm alighting at Birmingham Moor Street, the spectacular gateway
0:03:11 > 0:03:15from the Chiltern railway to Britain's second-largest conurbation.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Thank you. 'It's an uplifting way to enter this dynamic city.'
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Birmingham Moor Street station, what a joy.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34First opened in 1909, in Edwardian Britain.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Rebuilt in the 21st century, in 1930s style.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42It has the feel of a film set for a period costume drama.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44And I love it.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51From the start of Britain's Industrial Revolution,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Birmingham led the way,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57enthusiastically adopting the new technologies that would change the world.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00According to my guidebook,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04"scarcely a street is without its manufactory and steam engine.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07"At the same time, a considerable amount of the labour
0:04:07 > 0:04:09"is of a manual kind."
0:04:11 > 0:04:13By the middle of the 19th century,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Birmingham had a population of 500,000.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20And in the previous 100 years, its inhabitants had applied
0:04:20 > 0:04:24for three times as many patents as those of any other city.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27My Bradshaw's recommends that amongst the principal establishments
0:04:27 > 0:04:29worth visiting in Birmingham
0:04:29 > 0:04:32I should go to one for the manufacture of steel pens,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34here in the jewellery district.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40In Bradshaw's day, Birmingham was a global centre
0:04:40 > 0:04:43for the making of pen nibs and my guidebook singles out one producer,
0:04:43 > 0:04:48saying, "We should think that the reputation of Messrs Gillott and Son of Graham Street
0:04:48 > 0:04:50"has reached all parts of the world."
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Whilst the Graham Street factory is no longer in operation,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58just opposite the site is a pen museum,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01where I am meeting expert Larry Hanks.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03- Larry.- Good morning.
0:05:03 > 0:05:04Good to see you.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08I've got an advertisement in my Bradshaw's guide for Joseph Gillott.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10It's a fantastic advertisement.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13"Joseph Gillott, metallic pen maker to the Queen,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18"begs to inform the commercial world of his useful productions
0:05:18 > 0:05:21"which for excellence of temper, quality of material
0:05:21 > 0:05:25"and cheapness ensure universal approbation."
0:05:25 > 0:05:28- Very good.- Joseph Gillott was just across the street, wasn't he?
0:05:28 > 0:05:32His factory was built in 1839. He was a great entrepreneur.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36He made sure that anybody of any note who visited Birmingham
0:05:36 > 0:05:39in the tour went around his works.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45In Victorian times, factories like Gillott's were helping to transform society.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49The first steel nib was invented in Birmingham
0:05:49 > 0:05:51for a local doctor in 1780, but in those days,
0:05:51 > 0:05:56pens were a handcrafted luxury, so even the few who were literate
0:05:56 > 0:05:58couldn't afford to write.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Then, in the 1820s, the process was mechanised,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04with far-reaching consequences.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08When the steel pen nib was put into mass production,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10did it remain an expensive item?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13No, the price came down dramatically.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I mean to say, you could be paying 2 or 3 shillings each for a steel pen
0:06:17 > 0:06:18when they first came out.
0:06:18 > 0:06:202 or 3 shillings, that would've been a lot of money.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22It would have been in those days, yes.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26So it really made quite a difference to public literacy,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29- the availability of cheap pens. - Oh, yes, it did.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32It was a trade that brought writing to the masses, really.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37Suddenly schools could afford to buy pens in bulk
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and the means of writing were put within everybody's reach.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43The advent of the railways gave the industry a further boost.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Trains carried steel from Sheffield and by the mid-19th century,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Birmingham's pens were conveyed by rail for export around the globe.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55What scale did pen-nib manufacture reach in Birmingham?
0:06:55 > 0:06:59We say that three-quarters of the people writing in the world
0:06:59 > 0:07:03with a steel pen were writing with one made in Birmingham.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Nobody came anywhere near us, really.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Most of the workers were women,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11expected to produce tens of thousands of nibs everyday.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15- Why women?- Cheap labour, unfortunately.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Of course, women have got nimble fingers.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The other thing was that in the early days you could be fined for talking
0:07:22 > 0:07:26or even singing, but the bosses then didn't realise women can multitask.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28They can talk AND work,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31where, unfortunately, men can only talk OR work.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34So once the bosses realised this, the workplace became a lot happier
0:07:34 > 0:07:36and the production went on.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42The machinery worked by the women was simple but effective.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Each hand press completed one stage of the process,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48the first being to cut the outline of the nib.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52The first operation was blanking, which was done on a strip.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55The women were expected to do 36,000 in a day on this.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00That's in position, so if you'd like to pull that, a sharp snatch towards you.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02That's it. Push it back.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- I've just pressed out the shape of a pen nib, have I?- Yeah.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07I wouldn't want to do 36,000 of those in a day.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14There were machines for shaping, piercing and slitting the nibs.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19But discerning Victorian customers demanded more than just functionality from their pens.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24Right, on this last process here, this started from about the 1850s
0:08:24 > 0:08:27where they started to do more decorative pen nibs.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30And to decorate them, they embossed them.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32For VIPs and big companies,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35personalised nibs became a way of showing off
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and in Bradshaw's day, no business was bigger than the railways.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42All companies and people had their names
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and things embossed on pen nibs.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48They were supplying the railway companies - GWR, NER, LMS.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51It even went on into the British Rail era as well.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Sadly, Birmingham's Victorian domination of the global pen trade wasn't to last.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02In the 20th century, the invention of the ballpoint pen
0:09:02 > 0:09:04dealt the industry a devastating blow.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09'But one local firm continues the tradition.' Hello, Tim.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- Hi, nice to meet you. - Very good to see you.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14'Tim Tufnell's company makes traditional pens
0:09:14 > 0:09:16'for the luxury market.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:20And you're doing, I think, very intricate, high-end work.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23- Using modern machinery? - Not at all, no.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28A lot of the tooling we're using is this sort of thing,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30which goes back to Victorian times,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34exactly how they would have produced this product in the 1800s.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39- Is this what you start with?- Yes, this is a piece of silver tubing,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43so that's what we buy in from the manufacturer,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48and then, believe it or not, it ends up looking like that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51That is exquisite.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'A far cry from the usual mass production of today,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'these solid silver pens are reminiscent of Birmingham's past.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00'The techniques used would have been familiar
0:10:00 > 0:10:03'to the Jewellery Quarter's artisans in the 19th century.'
0:10:03 > 0:10:08How many hammer blows do you think you deliver to a single piece to build up the pattern?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10- About 2,000.- About 2,000?!- Yes.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15We're so used to admiring Victorian craftsmanship
0:10:15 > 0:10:19but it's wonderful to know that it's alive and thriving here today.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27I'm now leaving industrial Birmingham behind
0:10:27 > 0:10:30to continue my progress through the Midlands.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33In the past, I've been very rude
0:10:33 > 0:10:37about Birmingham's New Street station, which is truly hideous.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39But now they are completely rebuilding it
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and in the meanwhile, they are keeping all the trains running,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46which is an engineering achievement on a Victorian scale.
0:10:51 > 0:10:52From this busy railway hub,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55my next train takes me just 17 miles north-east,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58crossing from Warwickshire into Staffordshire.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07I'm on my way to Tamworth, which my Bradshaw's tells me
0:11:07 > 0:11:12is "a market town with a population of 8,650 who return two members."
0:11:12 > 0:11:15That means they elected two MPs to Westminster
0:11:15 > 0:11:20and in Tamworth, unusually for me, I'm in search of a politician.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28In the mid-1800s, Tamworth's Member of Parliament
0:11:28 > 0:11:31was the great 19th-century statesman, Sir Robert Peel.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Today, he's seen as one of the founding fathers of the Conservative Party,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39so I can't resist following my guidebook to the marketplace
0:11:39 > 0:11:43to meet vice-chairman of The Peel Society, Nigel Morris.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- Hello, Nigel.- Hello, Michael. Welcome to Tamworth.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52- Sir Robert Peel, I presume? - Yes, that's correct.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54My Bradshaw's says he's looking towards Bury,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56- the place of his birth. - That's correct.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59He was born there in 1788.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Peel entered Parliament in 1809 aged just 21.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09By the 1820s, he'd risen to the rank of Home Secretary,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12where he made a rather famous decision.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16Now Londoners have good reason to remember Sir Robert Peel too, don't they?
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Absolutely, because he passed through Parliament
0:12:20 > 0:12:23the Metropolitan Police Act in 1829,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27founding the police force as we know it today.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Originally, they were known as Peelers and they wore top hats
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and bright white trousers,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37but after that, it became, after his first name, Robert, bobbies.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Peel was to go on to be Prime Minister twice,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44where his achievements included Acts of Parliament
0:12:44 > 0:12:47curbing child labour in mines and factories.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49He was also a keen supporter of the railways,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54cutting the first sod for the Trent Valley line in 1845.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56But for me, it's another local event
0:12:56 > 0:12:59that is Peel's most important claim to fame.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02And it took place here in the town hall.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05This is a delightful and impressive council chamber.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07And here's his portrait.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10A copy of the one by Sir Thomas Lawrence,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15and it shows him as a relatively young man still, about the age of 30.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17And you can see his ginger hair.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Peel's first stint as Prime Minister came at a tumultuous time
0:13:23 > 0:13:25in British history.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29His political opponents, the Whigs, had recently instituted
0:13:29 > 0:13:33constitutional reform, bitterly contested by the Tories.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37When Peel came to power, he was determined to start afresh.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40He set out his political vision in a document read out
0:13:40 > 0:13:44to the people of Tamworth from the window of this town hall.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48And what was in it, what was significant about it?
0:13:48 > 0:13:53The main point about it was that he accepted the Reform Act of 1832.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Which had extended the franchise to many more voters?
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Exactly, yes, including the great industrial cities
0:13:58 > 0:14:00of Manchester and Birmingham.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'The Tamworth Manifesto, as it's become known,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07'is seen as the first example of the kind of party manifesto
0:14:07 > 0:14:11'that we know today. And it also set an important precedent.'
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Actually, we've seen that in politics again and again,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16that the party that's in opposition
0:14:16 > 0:14:19has opposed something that the government does,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21but then it finds that it becomes the norm,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23that it becomes something irreversible,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27and the party has to accept it if it's to have any chance of being re-elected.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Exactly, we see it time and time again
0:14:29 > 0:14:33and it's very interesting that it started, really, in this room.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38- Shall we go to the window and look down on the great man?- Exactly, yes.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I'm now joining the Victorian-built Trent Valley line
0:14:47 > 0:14:49to continue my journey north.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55On this stretch, I'm following in the footsteps of 19th-century thrill seekers.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I'm on my way to Rugeley, which my Bradshaw's tells me
0:15:00 > 0:15:04"will ever be memorable on account of its having been the residence
0:15:04 > 0:15:08"of the sporting Dr Palmer, who was accused of poisoning
0:15:08 > 0:15:13"his wife, his brother and friend, John Parsons Cook, by strychnine.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15"But at the post-mortem examinations,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19"not a particle of that poison was discovered."
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Very intriguing. And the Victorians had a taste for the macabre
0:15:23 > 0:15:28and the Victorian press was ever willing to feed their ghoulishness.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36'In the 19th century, urbanisation saw people living side-by-side
0:15:36 > 0:15:38'with strangers as never before.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41'And this, combined with increasingly professional policing,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44'fuelled a public obsession with crime.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48'Cheap penny dreadfuls enabled the masses to read the lurid details
0:15:48 > 0:15:50'of infamous murders.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55'And railway companies even ran special trains to crime scenes.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58'Dave Lewis has been researching the still-puzzling case
0:15:58 > 0:16:02- 'of Dr William Palmer.' David.- Good morning, Michael.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Welcome to Rugeley.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10Thank you very much indeed. Who was this Dr William Palmer?
0:16:10 > 0:16:15Well, he was the most infamous person ever, I think, to live in Rugeley.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18People were shocked because he was a respectable doctor.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21He was early 30s when he came to trial.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24And they were just shocked that somebody who had taken
0:16:24 > 0:16:27the Hippocratic Oath could be accused of so many murders.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31My Bradshaw's tells me that he poisoned his wife and his brother.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- Was he accused of that? - He was accused of that
0:16:34 > 0:16:38but he was never ever brought to trial for the murder of his wife
0:16:38 > 0:16:41and his brother. He was only ever accused and tried of one murder,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43that is the murder of John Parsons Cook.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45- Shall I show you the grave? - Let's go and have a look.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Cook was a friend of Dr Palmer
0:16:49 > 0:16:54and the events leading to his death began in 1855.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57By that time, the sporting doctor had all but given up medicine
0:16:57 > 0:16:59to indulge his passion for horseracing
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and had accumulated substantial gambling debts.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Well, they'd gone to the races at Shrewsbury
0:17:08 > 0:17:10and John Parsons Cook's horse, Polestar, had won,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12and he won a tidy sum.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Whereas poor old Palmer, his horse, Chicken, had fallen
0:17:16 > 0:17:17and he's lost quite a lot of money
0:17:17 > 0:17:20and was more heavily in debt than ever.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Palmer invited his friend to Rugeley,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27installed him in the local pub and visited him frequently.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Cook became increasingly unwell and on the seventh night,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35shortly after Dr Palmer had administered two pills,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38his patient took a dramatic turn for the worse.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Here we have on the left the famous room number 10
0:17:42 > 0:17:45where John Parsons Cook died.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- Was it a painful death? - It was a horrendously painful death.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53At one stage, he was described as resting on his heels
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and the back of his head, he was in so much agony.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59'At first, Cook's death was ascribed to natural causes,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03'but when Palmer claimed to have lost his friend's betting book,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06'suspicions were aroused. The accusation was
0:18:06 > 0:18:10'that Palmer had dosed Cook with the rat poison, strychnine.'
0:18:10 > 0:18:14But my Bradshaw's says that in the post-mortem examination
0:18:14 > 0:18:17no trace of strychnine was found.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20That was because of the incompetency of the people carrying out
0:18:20 > 0:18:22the post-mortem.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26The guy, the doctor in charge arrived from Stafford.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30He had no medical equipment. He didn't even bring a pencil and paper.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34The people who cut open the body, one was a medical student
0:18:34 > 0:18:37and one was an assistant at a local chemist's.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Despite the botched post-mortem, Palmer was charged
0:18:41 > 0:18:46and the case immediately captured the public imagination.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49It was probably THE trial of the century.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Three months before the trial,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55the London Illustrated Times produced a 15-page supplement,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59which talked about the Rugeley tragedies
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and all the suspicious deaths that occurred
0:19:02 > 0:19:05that were linked to Dr William Palmer.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Amongst the most shocking claims was the accusation that Palmer
0:19:09 > 0:19:11had killed his own wife and brother,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15both of whose lives he'd insured for large sums.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17He was never tried for those crimes,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21but the Cook case was heard at the Old Bailey in London.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24And, despite confused and contradictory evidence,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26the doctor was convicted and sentenced to death.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31The execution was back in Stafford in accordance with the sentence,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and at a time when Stafford had a population of 12,500,
0:19:35 > 0:19:3930,000 turned up for his execution.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41They had special trains laid on from Bristol, from Manchester
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and from London.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46And evidently his fame survived a long time after his death.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It did indeed. Being in Staffordshire,
0:19:49 > 0:19:50they produced pottery figurines.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55They have a figurine of William Palmer himself.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56Good Lord!
0:19:56 > 0:20:00And this is a photograph of his effigy
0:20:00 > 0:20:03that stood in Madame Tussaud's, London,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06in the Chamber of Horrors, for 127 years.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Labelled as a mass murderer.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Even though he was only ever tried for one murder.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Chilled to the marrow by grisly tales,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22it's time to seek the sunshine.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I'm hunting out the picturesque charms of the Staffordshire countryside.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I'm on my way to Stafford and my guidebook tells me
0:20:32 > 0:20:35that the line passes through "a country of single beauty,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40"having almost the appearance of one continued park."
0:20:40 > 0:20:43These were the estates of the great landed gentry,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47of Harrowbys, Shrewsburys and Dartmouths
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and of the Lichfields at their estate of Shugborough.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Most readers of my guidebook satisfied themselves
0:20:54 > 0:20:57with a glimpse of Shugborough Park from the train.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01But the upper crust of 19th-century society would arrive to stay.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07In 1832, one visitor was a young princess,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10destined to become one of our greatest monarchs.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I'm now following in her footsteps.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21As I walk across the estate, across the park towards Shugborough,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24the house appears in all its magnificence.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26And this, I think, is my guide.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29- Hello, Chris.- Hello, Michael. Welcome to Shugborough.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32'Chris Kopp is a local historian.'
0:21:32 > 0:21:33When Princess Victoria came here,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36would she have seen the house much as it is today?
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Yes, it's very little changed from October 1832.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42What had drawn her to the house?
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Well, she was 13 years old
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and she came with the Duchess of Kent on her first tour, really,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52around the country, the grand stately homes of England.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55The future Queen arrived at Shugborough by horse and carriage
0:21:55 > 0:21:56but just 13 years later,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59plans were drawn up to build the Trent Valley Railway through
0:21:59 > 0:22:03the heart of the estate. The Earl of Lichfield was horrified
0:22:03 > 0:22:07until he realised that there could be a silver lining.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13He'd come into financial difficulties in the 1840s.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16He basically negotiated with the railway company
0:22:16 > 0:22:21£30,000 in compensation, and that included £2,000 for the land
0:22:21 > 0:22:25the railway took up, and the rest of the money was to make good
0:22:25 > 0:22:26the look of the estate
0:22:26 > 0:22:30to avoid damaging the appearance of Shugborough.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32My Bradshaw's tells me that the railway passes through a tunnel
0:22:32 > 0:22:36in Shugborough Park, 779 yards in length.
0:22:36 > 0:22:37"The north face of the tunnel
0:22:37 > 0:22:40is a very striking architectural composition."
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Part of their attempts to make it a more ornamental look,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46to fit in with the other monuments,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48the north portal looks like a Norman castle.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51It's got turrets and this glorious Norman arch.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55And then this side is slightly less impressive but still ornamental.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57And it's meant to look like an Egyptian temple,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00but it takes a bit of a leap of imagination, really.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06'In its Victorian heyday,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10'Shugborough employed 120 indoor and outdoor staff, including gardeners,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'gamekeepers and farm labourers.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17'It's still run as a working estate and a look at the kitchen garden
0:23:17 > 0:23:19'brings home the scale of the operation.'
0:23:19 > 0:23:22A vast walled garden.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Yes, and this is only one of six compartments here.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Some of them are walled, four walled compartments,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and then the other two are hedged. But, yes, it is a large garden.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Were walled gardens quite an innovation?
0:23:37 > 0:23:41They were very fashionable in 1805 when this was built.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Estates at the time were trying to be much more self-sufficient,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46grow all their own produce.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51So as well as the garden here for fruit, vegetables, flowers etc,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55honey, you had the park farm built at the same time for meat,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57dairy products, cereals and so on.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03For illustrious visitors like the young Princess Victoria,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06the estate would pull out all the stops,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09offering the very best produce in lavish banquets.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'Above stairs, amid the splendour of this grand stately home,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19'it would all seem effortless, but all that luxury came at a price.'
0:24:19 > 0:24:21- Thank you. Bye-bye.- Bye-bye.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23'To get a sense of the graft involved,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25'I'm visiting the kitchens,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28'overseen today by resident cook Penny Locke.'
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Oh, this is the kitchen on the grand scale, isn't it?
0:24:33 > 0:24:37What equipment have you got here from Victorian times?
0:24:37 > 0:24:38We have all sorts of things.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41- We have a bottle jack there for spit-roasting meat on.- Oh!
0:24:41 > 0:24:44And it's actually clockwork, so we wind it up
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and it spit-roasts the meat for us. We have the lemon squeezer.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52- That is brilliant, isn't it? - Works very well.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55You put half a lemon in there and the idea is it turns it inside-out,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59- as you squeeze it, so there's no wastage.- Isn't that beautiful?
0:24:59 > 0:25:01- What a fine invention. - And even the squashed-out lemon
0:25:01 > 0:25:03is then given to the youngest girl
0:25:03 > 0:25:06to dip in salt and clean all the copper with.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09'The kitchens were a model of efficiency,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'but 19th-century entertaining was extravagant.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15'During Princess Victoria's three-day stay,
0:25:15 > 0:25:20'the guests got through 76 pheasants and 67 bottles of sherry.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24'But some Victorian delicacies have since disappeared into obscurity.'
0:25:24 > 0:25:28They would make cucumber soup. That's cucumber soup there,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31which actually tastes an awful lot better than it looks.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35- And also stewed cucumbers.- Look at that. What have they been stewed in?
0:25:35 > 0:25:39- What do they taste of? - Stewed in salted water to start with
0:25:39 > 0:25:41and then you make a stock up
0:25:41 > 0:25:44and put them into the stock and thicken the sauce from the stock.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46It's believed very bad to eat raw cucumber,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48it's very bad for your digestion.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51And this I don't need to have identified.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Look at that. Wow.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56- Did you make that?- I certainly did.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58That's got a real wobble factor on it, hasn't it?
0:25:58 > 0:26:01What's different from a Victorian jelly and a present-day jelly?
0:26:01 > 0:26:03It takes a long time to make a Victorian jelly.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05You're talking a good hour or so.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Obviously, you have fresh gelatine from the farm come up
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and all the ingredients are stewed and the gelatine's added.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12It's quite a skill.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14'With so many mouths to feed,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18'there was no space for idlers in a Victorian kitchen.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21'Time for me to get stuck in.' What's the recipe, Penny?
0:26:21 > 0:26:25- Fresh trout from the river out the back.- Mmm!
0:26:25 > 0:26:26You've got a couple of beauties.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29And can we have two glasses of beer in there, please?
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Beer was a big Victorian thing, wasn't it?
0:26:31 > 0:26:34This beer is made at the brewhouse on the estate here,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37where staff were allocated eight pints of beer a day each.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Eight pints?! They must have been paralytic!
0:26:40 > 0:26:44The brew is made to make the strong ale and the same mash
0:26:44 > 0:26:47is brewed six or seven more times and that's what the staff will be given.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49It's purely because it's safe to drink.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51'A little wine, a little lemon.'
0:26:51 > 0:26:55- Would you like a little thumb in there as well?- Preferably not, ha!
0:26:55 > 0:26:58'And my trout is ready for the coal-fired range.'
0:26:58 > 0:27:00It'll go across the middle section there.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06- And once it starts steaming, it'll take about 20 minutes.- Marvellous.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09- A delicacy fit for Princess Victoria.- Definitely.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14'Now for a taste of the kind of dish that George Bradshaw would have enjoyed.'
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Cook, this looks very fine.
0:27:20 > 0:27:21Excellent.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25From the kitchen maid to the Earl,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29every member of this grand household had a specific role to play.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Victorian Britain organised and stratified.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38As ever, I've been impressed by Birmingham.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Once the metal-bashing centre of the world,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45powered by the impersonal forces of capitalism and steam.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50But this leg of my journey has been rich in Midlands personalities too.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Prime Minister Peel, the landed Lichfields
0:27:53 > 0:27:55and the poisoner Palmer.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I encountered them all in the pages of my Bradshaw's guide.
0:28:02 > 0:28:08'Next time, I'll explore one of the greatest locomotive factories in railway history...'
0:28:08 > 0:28:11The records are sketchy but they talk about 20,000 people,
0:28:11 > 0:28:12so the size of it was immense.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16'..discover the dark side of the Industrial Revolution...'
0:28:16 > 0:28:18The place was very heavily spoiled by pollution
0:28:18 > 0:28:21and the stench of the sewage, it was like a large cesspit.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26'..and learn how the potteries brought their products to the masses in Victorian times.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:29This is incredibly difficult. This is fiendish!
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd