Goes to Ireland - Charleville to Waterford Great British Railway Journeys

In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain and Ireland.

His name was George Bradshaw

and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.

Stop by stop he told them where to travel,

what to see and where to stay.

Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys

across the length and breadth of these islands

to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.

For this journey I've crossed the Irish Sea

using my Bradshaw's Guide to Great Britain and Ireland.

When my descriptive railway handbook was published in the 1860s

the two formed a United Kingdom under the reign of Queen Victoria.

Although industrialisation was more pronounced

in England, Wales and Scotland,

there was an extensive railway network in the Emerald Isle.

Today I'll learn the ancient art of butter-making.

It's exquisite, Eamon. It's a taste of the Irish rain.

Thank you very, very, very much.

I'll tackle the basics of Ireland's oldest game.

So, what's the first thing I have to learn?

-Just...

-Is to bounce it on my...hurley.

-Hurley. Yeah.

-Oops!

And I'll ride the Duke of Devonshire's

Victorian Irish railway.

In case the Duke of Devonshire is watching,

I want to thank your ancestor, sir,

for giving us this lovely railway.

Using my Bradshaw's guide, I'm following tracks

which opened up the rich resources of the south of Ireland

to tourists and trade.

I'll then travel north to discover Ireland's 19th century heart,

before turning west to finish in beautiful Galway.

Today's leg begins in Charleville, on the northern tip of County Cork,

takes in County Tipperary and ends in the city of Waterford.

My Bradshaw's is rather unfair.

The constant drizzle is the chief drawback,

but this gives Ireland its emerald green.

It's said that the rain never leaves off

but on the 30th of February.

Well, the rain may be inconvenient to the tourist

but it's given Ireland an industry that is the envy of the world.

Dairy farming.

Founded in 1661, Charleville, in County Cork,

was named after King Charles II.

Linen and wool were its first staples

but after the railways arrived in 1849,

dairy farmers, and butter-makers in particular took full advantage.

I'm meeting Eamon O'Sullivan,

who can trace his butter-making and railway roots

all the way back to Bradshaw's day.

Ha-ha! Eamon!

Not many people have a railway signal in their garden.

-Why do you have it?

-Because you see a signal,

I see a monument, a monument to thousands of employees

that built the railways, that laid the track,

that controlled the signals, that worked in the station,

like my own dad and my granddad.

I was actually born under a signal.

-Were you?

-And my mother, the day I was born,

on February 8, 1953,

there was a big noise and she said, "Don't worry, luvvie," she said.

I was two hours old. "That's the 1730 going down to Cork."

-The first sound you heard was a train.

-A steam train.

I've come to talk to you about butter. What is the connection between railways and butter?

If you were a farmer in West Limerick

and you had 50 miles to travel to the marketplace, which was Cork,

it took 12 hours. When the train stopped in Charleville, Michael,

it took one hour. So you had your product

efficiently gone to the marketplace in Cork.

And all that because of the train, so I take double pride

in being a railway child and also being on my mother's side

descended from great dairy people who knew about making butter.

Replacing the 'butter roads' that once connected

County Cork's rural areas with its towns,

railways sped up the delivery of dairy products,

like the butter Eamon and his daughters produce traditionally

from its raw material - cream.

Now, Michael, if you entered a house in the past,

it was very good manners to take part in the churning,

so I'm going to ask you to wish the butter good luck

and a good yield and good flavour

that you would operate the churning for a few minutes.

-Just like this?

-Just like this.

Eamon, what is it I'm doing here, what am I achieving?

Michael, you're doing something that people did 400 years ago.

That's the oldest form of butter churning.

Now, what happens next, after that?

Now, what you have now is buttermilk and butter grains.

You took one product and you made two.

You took one product and, like Paul Daniels, you did magic.

You did magic! And look now, you've two products.

You've buttermilk and butter grains.

So, Edwina is working the moisture out now and the air.

Now, I see why you get the water out, of course

but why do you need to get the air out as well?

Very important you take the air out, because bacteria need three things,

they need heat, food and moisture,

so, we reduce the temperature, which takes out the heat.

We take out the air, which takes out the oxygen

and we take out the moisture, which takes out the food source

and we salt it as well, which shouldn't allow

or encourage bacteria to grow. So, you get good flavour

-and long keeping.

-Ah, that's why you put salt in it as well, is it?

-Exactly.

-Edwina, may I have a little go at that?

-Most definitely.

-So, what do I have to do?

Just squeeze to get the water and the air out.

Yeah. Now, if you take the heel of your hand and go like that.

Yeah, OK. Like this.

-I can see water still coming out.

-That's right.

-And you can fold it in like this.

-Uh-huh.

It's rather satisfying.

I can show you the shaping into the block, if you'd like?

Ooh, that will be difficult, I should think. OK, show me how you do that.

Now, mind the splashes. It's just...

Mmm, beautiful.

Now, Michael, Louise is actually going to wrap the pound of butter.

Just like doing Christmas presents, isn't it?

A little block of gold.

In a world dominated by technology,

it's heartening that traditions dating back to Bradshaw

and beyond still thrive.

Michael, this is the fruit of our labour

and it was a labour of love, but, Michael, we have done justice

to the memory of thousands and thousands of people

going back 4,000 years.

And I'm going to ask you to taste that.

And that colour, Michael, is pure natural,

that's the beta-carotene that comes from the grass.

-Thank you, Eamon.

-And I'm going to ask you to wash it down, Michael,

with real, real, buttermilk.

Now, there is little grains of butter in it,

that's to be expected, and I think, Michael,

you're going to leave here with a taste that you will not forget.

-Enjoy.

-Your great good health, Eamon.

And thank you so much, Michael.

Mmm.

Gosh, that is the richest thing

-with all those little pearls of butter.

-Gorgeous. Beautiful.

I thank you so much for recognising that.

And followed now by dollops of butter.

Very good, very good, very good.

It's exquisite, Eamon, it's the taste of the country,

it's the taste of the Irish rain.

Please, Michael, take it away in your heart.

and take it away in your mind. Thank you very, very, very much.

Leaving County Cork behind, I'm making a detour north east

into County Tipperary on the intercity mainline.

The arrival of the railways in Victorian times

massively increased mobility, enabling people

to broaden their horizons beyond the limits of their village or community

and that new ability to travel to other towns and cities

stimulated the development of sport,

particularly one that became so important in Irish history

and culture, as I hope to discover at my next stop, Thurles.

In the 12th century, at least 1,700 Norman invaders

were slain in battle here, but in the late 19th century,

Thurles became a symbol of pursuits of a gentler nature

when the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed.

It's the governing body of Ireland's national sports -

Gaelic football and hurling.

And with the advent of the railways, crowds from all over the country

were able to travel to watch these games.

Today, this rural town has an incongruously large sports stadium.

And I'm meeting Pat Bracken,

a PhD student of Victorian sport to find out why.

Pat, this is an enormous stadium.

I thought Thurles was quite a small town, how do you have such a large stadium?

Thurles had a sports field here for many years

and it developed from 1910 as a sports field

solely for Gaelic sports and pastimes.

And it's a terrific gem for the game,

not alone in Thurles, but throughout the country.

What's the population of Thurles and what's the capacity of the stadium?

Thurles has a population of just around 7,000 persons

and the stadium has a capacity of 53,000

so it's a big jump, but on match days,

particularly the Munster final day, it's absolutely jam-packed

and there's a great buzz around the town and the square.

No-one knows the precise origins of the sport.

But perhaps the earliest surviving reference to hurling in this island,

is found in 7th century Irish laws,

which describe sporting injury compensation.

Not for the faint hearted, hurling is played with sticks

called hurleys, a ball called a sliotar,

and by two teams of 15 trying to outscore each other

by hitting the ball between the posts or into the goals.

So, when did the sports that are played here

become official and organised?

They became official and organised for the want of a better word,

codified even, in 1884 at a meeting

in one of the hotels in Thurles, Lizzie Hayes' Commercial Hotel,

that was on the 1st November in 1884.

So, I'm at the very heart, I'm at the place where it all began.

You're at the official birth of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

How important are these sports and these events

to the Irish character, Irish culture, Irish calendar?

I don't think in the history of anything in relation to sport in Ireland

is there two games more important to the Irish psyche

than hurling and Gaelic football.

So, is there any way I can learn the basics today?

I think you could indeed.

Even though hurling's an amateur sport,

its top players, like Noel McGrath and Joanne Ryan,

who plays the women's version called camogie, are well-known faces.

I have never dressed like this in my life!

Time for my ritual humiliation.

-Hi, guys. So, how do I play it? Can I borrow your hurley?

-No bother.

So what's the first thing I have to learn?

-I suppose it's...

-Is to bounce it on my hurley...

-Yeah.

-Oops!

-Yeah!

I suppose the first thing to do

is teaching youngsters just how to how to hold the hurley right

and then just to raise the ball and get it into the hand like that.

What's the point of getting it in your hand, you're going to throw it?

You have to get into your hand, so you can hit it with the hurley again.

-Nearly!

-Nearly there, yeah.

Just that six inches adrift...

-Yay...I'm off!

-That's it, yeah.

What's this business about bashing it round the field? How do you do that?

I suppose you just, once you get it into your hand

you just throw it up and you just strike it, like.

I suppose it comes natural after a while, like.

So how do you do that neat thing,

you just swing your bat around... Two hands on the hurley...

Ooh! Sorry, a bit hard. Too good for you, Joanne!

I'm playing a cricket stroke there... so...

-Yeah.

-Ah, that's getting better! Hooray!

Noel, I'll get your autograph later.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-No problem.

It's probably best that I abandon my stick and journey on.

In Bradshaw's day and indeed well into the 20th century,

there was a direct rail connection from Thurles to my next destination,

but Ireland suffered cutbacks in its rail network

every bit as radical as those in the UK

and so now I have to go back south to Limerick Junction

and then eastward to Clonmel.

I'm changing train at Limerick Junction,

an important crossing point that, in Bradshaw's day,

opened up Ireland's most southerly rail routes

and one of its most famous towns.

The song, It's A Long Way To Tipperary, was written in Manchester in 1912

and being a lament for a girl left far behind at home,

it became popular with the soldiers in World War One marching to the front

and became globally famous.

With its reputation for being so distant,

I never dreamt that I'd set foot there myself

but right now, I'm arriving in Tipperary.

I'm not alighting.

But my next destination is not a long way from Tipperary,

it's just 27 miles down the track.

In the mid-18th century, the ancient town of Clonmel

demolished part of its city wall and built a deepwater quay

on the River Suir,

becoming one of the most important freight hubs for Irish corn.

The railway arrived in 1852, but some years earlier,

Ireland's first ever public transport service

commenced here and I'm hoping that Fergal O'Keefe, the owner of Hearns,

my hotel for the night, can tell me all about it.

-Great to see you.

-Thank you very much.

I see outside that it says that this was the headquarters

of the Charles Bianconi stage coach system from 1815.

Tell me about that.

He actually set up the headquarters here

for the first public transport system in Ireland in 1815.

He actually came from Italy. He actually was a peddler.

He walked up to 30 miles a day around the country

and obviously when you're doing that,

he noticed how bad the public transport system was.

He had a great opportunity, actually, at the Battle of Waterloo.

After that, that's when he had his big chance,

because basically there was a glut of cheap horses and cheap grain

that went on the market and he used that opportunity

to set up his business, but actually, when he started first,

the demand wasn't great. It didn't really take off.

Bianconi had arrived in Ireland as a penniless 15-year-old,

and he wasn't about to let his business fail.

To drum up custom, he set up a rival service in another name,

and developed a fierce, but fake, rivalry between the two.

Word quickly spread and passengers bought tickets

simply to experience the thrill of the race from Clonmel to Cahir.

His stagecoach network quickly spread nationwide and,

embracing the railways' rapid expansion,

it included many feeder routes to stations.

I have to say, the town is so proud of him.

He was a great visionary.

He also set up the first Catholic university in Dublin.

He was an investor in that. He also set up the national bank.

He was also the mayor of Clonmel for a couple of years

and he didn't take a salary during that time.

-So Ireland was very happy to borrow this Italian.

-Exactly, yeah.

Revived and ready for a new day of discovery,

my first destination is in Clonmel.

This is the courthouse in Clonmel, where my Bradshaw's tells me

"the O'Brien pronunciamento was knocked on the head in 1848,

"the leader of which has returned to his native land

"a wiser and better man

"having been pardoned by Her Majesty Queen Victoria."

Now what's interesting to me is that a guide book published

in the 1860s is still recalling a political event from 1848,

so it must have been pretty important

and worthy of further investigation.

With no train link, to find out more, I need to travel

22 miles north by road to the townland of Farrenrory,

close to the village of Ballingarry,

where I'm meeting author Willie Nolan at the Famine Warhouse.

-Willie, hello.

-Oh, hello, Michael.

William Smith O'Brien, who was he?

Well, William Smith O'Brien was a member of an aristocratic family,

the O'Briens of Inshikren, but he was also a member from 1843

of the Repeal Association which was meant to repeal the act of union.

To give Ireland home rule.

To give Ireland a form of home rule.

So how does he become involved in events in 1848?

O'Brien was going around the country to organise the Irish league

and to actually establish military clubs.

It was a twofold, pronged attack on the British system -

your military organisation and your political organisation.

But of course what happened is,

the British government was moving pretty quick to sort out the affair

and they brought in a number of acts in Parliament,

and the one which really started all the problems here

in some respects was the suspension of habeas corpus.

So people could be put in prison without charge?

It was basically internment without trial.

And because they knew that the young Irelanders, Irish confederation,

had publicised all their efforts in the newspapers -

they had their own newspaper called The Nation -

they knew who was involved.

A proclamation put a £500 price on O'Brien's arrest

and a troop of 46 policemen

under the leadership of a Sub-Inspector named Trant,

set out for the pursuit.

But these were dangerous times for the authorities in Ireland,

and it was Trant and his policemen who were pursued

as O'Brien's pro-independence Young Irelanders

forced the police to take refuge in this widow's house in Farrenrory.

O'Brien comes to this window here, and he says to the police inside,

"I'm Smith O'Brien, I'm as good as an Irish as any of you

"and I want to make peace."

Sub-Inspector Thomas Trant ordered the police to fire,

and in doing so, one man was shot dead,

one man was badly injured and died a couple of days later

and a few more people were wounded.

How was the siege eventually resolved?

The siege was resolved by the intervention

of Father Philip Fitzgerald, the local Catholic curate.

Father Fitzgerald rides up to the front window here

and attempts to negotiate with Trant, who appears at the window.

Now, there are various kinds of aspects

of what Father Fitzgerald said and didn't say,

but what I think he said is that if they surrendered their arms,

they would be allowed to go free.

But that didn't appeal to Trant and he said no,

we're quite pleased to be where we are.

We're very secure, we've a very solid house,

and he was all the time expecting re-enforcements

from the other police stations, and this is actually what happened.

What happened to O'Brien after the siege?

O'Brien was in safe hiding for a week after the siege,

and just nearly exactly a week later,

he turned up at Thurles railway station,

and a railway guard named Hulme came up to him and said,

"You are Smith O'Brien and I arrest you in the name of the Queen."

It says here, "Remember '48".

Now, how important is it in Irish history, do you think?

It's very important, because you could say the schedule of title

to Irish nationalism, there are references to six occasions

in which The Irish took up arms to secure independence

and this is one of them.

Well, Willie, you've really brought to life for me

a very substantial part of Irish history. Thank you.

Thank you.

Back to Clonmel, to take the train to my last destination of the day.

Beautiful though it is to watch

Ireland's green fields race past the carriage window,

it's more exciting to see the railway lines

stretching out ahead of the train,

and for the brief run from Clonmel to Waterford,

I'm going to ride in the cab.

So, Raymond, how long a run is it into Waterford?

-40 minutes.

-And is it quite nice countryside?

It's lovely, yes. It's a nice, scenic line.

TRAIN HORN SOUNDS

Of my next stop, Waterford, Bradshaw says,

"It has a thriving provision trade with Bristol and Liverpool

"and is provided with excellent quay room,

"and water deep enough for ships of a thousand tonnes."

With its ready access to the sea,

Waterford has been a substantial port since Viking times.

But its railway heritage most interests me.

One of the things that impresses me about railways

is that even though steam engines have been replaced,

the basic engineering concept of metal wheels on metal rails

is unchanged in 200 years. Here at Waterford,

I'm going to see some other aspects of current railway technology

that even George Bradshaw would recognise.

-Stephen, hello, I'm Michael.

-Hello, Michael.

This really is a signal box built for railway enthusiasts,

built across the line like this over a bridge. That's quite unusual.

Yes, I haven't seen any others like that in this country, anyway.

How old do you think it is?

-50 or 100 years old, maybe more.

-Yeah.

-Before my time anyway.

HE LAUGHS

Now, you've got here a variety of signal levers.

These control semaphore signals of the old-fashioned sort, yes?

Most of the signals there are semaphore signals.

The first railway semaphore signal in Britain and Ireland

was installed on the London to Croydon line in the 1840s.

A horizontal signal always means stop,

but whether "proceed" is indicated by an up or down arm

depends on which system each railway employs.

The trackside signals are worked manually by the signalman

who pulls a lever, which also moves a red or green glass

in front of the lamp, so the signal can be identified in darkness.

-Do you mind if I give it a pull for you?

-Yeah.

How many weeks' practice did this take?

You didn't have your Weetabix this morning.

-I'll let you do it, Stephen.

-OK.

In Waterford, I come across another example

of Victorian railway heritage at Kilmeadan Station.

In the United Kingdom, we have heritage railway fever.

There are fewer lines in Ireland,

but I am about to go on the longest stretch now open

which is on the Waterford, Dungarven and Lismore railway,

which was originally opened in 1878, after my Bradshaw's was published.

And today there are families, festivities and balloons.

-Hello, Maria.

-Hello, Michael. You're very welcome.

Congratulations on your railway, because this really has been

quite an effort, hasn't it, to get it open again?

It has indeed, yes. It was a long effort,

but I tell you, it's well worth it.

We've been operating now for 10 years and it's kind of gone

-from strength to strength ever since.

-How long a track is it?

We've actually got 10km of track. We only operate on 8.5km.

I've heard this line called the Duke's railway line.

Why would that be?

It was actually the Waterford- Dungarven-Lismore railway line,

and the Duke of Devonshire was the main shareholder in this line,

hence it was called the Duke's line.

This new line terminated at Lismore,

the Irish seat of William Cavendish, the 7th Duke of Devonshire.

As the chairman and main shareholder of his railway,

the duke ensured that visitors travelling by rail to his castle

would be impressed by his local station,

which he had built from expensive Portland stone.

What are your future hopes for the railway?

Our future hopes are to extend the track

from Bilberry right to Waterford City,

so that people can get on in the city and come out

and experience some of the beauty of County Waterford

while they're staying in the city. And at that time,

I would hope we'd be operating with a steam engine.

Can you imagine a steam engine going from Kilmeadan

all the way into the city, down the quays

and picking up in Waterford city? I think it would be unique.

It'd be the only Irish city with a steam engine.

That'll be the day I come back.

In case the Duke of Devonshire is watching,

I want to thank your ancestor, sir, for giving us this lovely railway.

There are plans to re-extend it to the city of Waterford.

For the moment it only goes as far as Bilberry

to the south of the city centre, so that's where I'll be getting off.

In Britain, the railways are closely associated

with the Industrial Revolution,

but even in rural Ireland, the trains made as big an impact

on things like agriculture and sport.

On this leg of my journey, I've encountered things

that most evoke Ireland -

Tipperary, butter, Gaelic football,

and of course, rebellion against the British.

On the next leg of my journey,

I'll try my hand at cutting marble, Victorian style...

It just suddenly fell away!

..uncover 19th century Ireland's surprising industrial heritage...

It's a monumental mill, isn't it?

Really impressive. Looks like a fortress.

..and learn how the railways helped to bring motorsport to the masses.

They estimated that there would have been almost a million people

-spectating on that event.

-You're not serious.

The first time there was ever a gathering

of that amount of people in Ireland.

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