0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain and Ireland.
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 > 0:00:21..stop by stop he told them where to travel,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23what to see and where to stay...
0:00:25 > 0:00:29..now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys
0:00:29 > 0:00:32across the length and breadth of these islands
0:00:32 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56For this leg of my train journey, across the Irish Republic,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00I'm using an 1880s edition of my Bradshaw's guide
0:01:00 > 0:01:03to travel across tracks that were laid in the 19th century
0:01:03 > 0:01:07when Great Britain and Ireland were a single state under Queen Victoria.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11On this stretch I'll visit the Irish National Stud -
0:01:11 > 0:01:13a bucking experience...
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Oh, the horse is going very fast now. This is absolutely exhausting!
0:01:16 > 0:01:20..I'll discover that life was harsh for the Ireland's poor...
0:01:20 > 0:01:23When you came in here you gave up everything and you,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26you signed up to a life within the workhouse.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31..and I'll uncover an astronomical feat of Victorian engineering...
0:01:31 > 0:01:34- What a construction. - It was known locally as The Monster.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41Having sampled the rural charms of the south of the country,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I'm continuing my journey through the Irish Midlands
0:01:45 > 0:01:47before veering out west
0:01:47 > 0:01:50to end up on the impressive Atlantic coast, in Galway.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Starting out in County Kildare,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56I'm travelling on what was, in Bradshaw's day,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58the Great Southern and Western Railway,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02through County Laois and finishing in County Offaly.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14During Victoria's reign, the British Army made full use of the railways
0:02:14 > 0:02:18to maintain order in an increasingly rebellious Ireland.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21At my next stop, Newbridge, my Bradshaw's tells me,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24"There was an encampment on a large scale,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29"which was the temporary sojourn of the Prince Of Wales in 1861."
0:02:29 > 0:02:32I shall be interested to find out more about that royal visit.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42The encampment referred to is the Curragh Camp.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46The vast open flats of the Curragh plain
0:02:46 > 0:02:49had, for hundreds of years, provided the perfect terrain
0:02:49 > 0:02:52for military manoeuvres and cavalry training.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57At the outbreak of the Crimean War in the 1850s,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00the British Army made it a permanent training base.
0:03:00 > 0:03:01- Charlie!- Hello, Michael.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Sergeant Charlie Walsh is the Curator of the Military Museum.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11I see, here, you've got a display about the Prince Of Wales, 1861.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Now, this is referred to in my Bradshaw's guide -
0:03:13 > 0:03:14his "sojourn" here.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Now, why was the Prince of Wales sojourned on the Curragh?
0:03:17 > 0:03:19The Prince was to be based here for ten weeks,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22where he was inducted and be trained in military manoeuvres.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27He was also to be trained in how to conduct himself in social situations.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30The Prince, eldest son of Victoria and Albert,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34was considered, by his parents, something of a wild child
0:03:34 > 0:03:39and at 19, he was sent to the Curragh for his military training.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43His parents expected him to rise from ensign to Brigade Commander
0:03:43 > 0:03:44in just ten weeks.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Even so, this sociable prince found time for fun.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Now this actually says, "The Prince and the Showgirl,"
0:03:53 > 0:03:54what's this story?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58"The Prince and the Showgirl," well, what happened one night
0:03:58 > 0:04:02was that whilst the Prince was in the company of some senior officers,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04that were having a function,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06and when the senior officers went to bed
0:04:06 > 0:04:09the junior officers and the Prince were still up drinking,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and what happened is, apparently,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14that the junior officers then smuggled in an actress
0:04:14 > 0:04:15into the Prince's quarters.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19By the time news of the Prince's amorous adventures
0:04:19 > 0:04:22with the actress Nellie Clifden had broken,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26he was back in England and studying at Cambridge University.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Prince Albert was furious at his son's indiscretion.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Already unwell, on 25 November 1861,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36the Prince Consort travelled to Cambridge to confront his son.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Although they reached a reconciliation,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42just one month later Prince Albert died.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43Now Queen Victoria,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46has been said that she blamed the early death of her husband
0:04:46 > 0:04:49on what happened here in the Curragh, due to the Prince's activities.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53So this showgirl was a lady
0:04:53 > 0:04:55who was no better than she should be, as they say.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57I'll leave that uncommented!
0:04:59 > 0:05:01From the Crimean War through to the First World War,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06the Curragh was one of the British Army's most important training bases
0:05:06 > 0:05:10stationing up to 30,000 troops at any one time.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12That was all to change, however.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16In 1921, after years of conflict and bloodshed,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22which ended British rule in much of Ireland
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and, on 16th May 1922, the British handed over the camp
0:05:26 > 0:05:29to the Irish Free State Army.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Do you get the impression that the British Army
0:05:31 > 0:05:33left in a, kind of, careless hurry?
0:05:33 > 0:05:35No, we've actually found documents where the British Army
0:05:35 > 0:05:38were quite meticulous in the cleanliness of the camp
0:05:38 > 0:05:40before they handed it over to the new National Army.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43They went right down into the small detail,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45they actually blackened the fire grates,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48they ironed the billiard table cloths
0:05:48 > 0:05:51and also even went as far as sharpening the billiard table cues
0:05:51 > 0:05:54for the new National Army as they marched in.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56A sign of respect after all that bitterness?
0:05:56 > 0:05:57It is indeed, yes.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00It's a sign, as I said, the way things are moving on now, as well.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02On that momentous day,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05the Irish tricolour was hoisted up the flagpole
0:06:05 > 0:06:09and has flown over the camp ever since.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11The Curragh is still an active training base
0:06:11 > 0:06:12for the Irish Defence Forces,
0:06:12 > 0:06:18now deployed in UN, EU, and Nato peace enforcing missions.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I'm on my own Irishman manoeuvres, however,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23so it's back to Newbridge station.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28As I continue my journey my Bradshaw says,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31"A little to the side of the line is the Curragh racecourse,
0:06:31 > 0:06:36"the Newmarket of Ireland, on a fine down, six miles long.#
0:06:36 > 0:06:40So, it seems that the Curragh turf has not just be the home to armies,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43it also has a horsey pedigree.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54I'm not stopping to have a flutter, though,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57I'm bypassing the racecourse and crossing the plain
0:06:57 > 0:07:00to the next stop along - Kildare.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Because just a few furlongs from here is the Irish National Stud,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07the seed of Irish horseracing.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I'm hoping that Chief Executive John Osborne can tell me how geology,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14the military and the railways all combine
0:07:14 > 0:07:18to help the sport of kings to reign supreme here.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Well, now, how did Irish racing start here, at the Curragh?
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Well, racing is associated with the army officers, quite a bit,
0:07:27 > 0:07:28wherever you go.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The army officers, for fun, would entertain themselves
0:07:31 > 0:07:33by taking each other on at horse racing
0:07:33 > 0:07:35and then they formed The Turf Club
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and from The Turf Club they would challenge each other
0:07:38 > 0:07:40to match races and racing evolved in the same way
0:07:40 > 0:07:42it has done in other parts of the world.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45And the Curragh was the perfect place to locate horse racing
0:07:45 > 0:07:49as an open plain with plenty of areas to gallop your horse.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52HORSE WHINNYING
0:07:55 > 0:07:57There's a commentary on our conversation!
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Erm, the origins of the National Stud, where we are now?
0:08:01 > 0:08:06It was bought in 1900 by, er, a brewer, of Scots descent,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08called William Hall Walker,
0:08:08 > 0:08:13and he was a sportsman who won the 1896 Grand National,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and I think with the proceeds of that particular escapade
0:08:16 > 0:08:19he bought this farm and converted it into an elite stud farm.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23And he had some very eccentric ideas about how it should be done,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27and from the very start he used to mate his mares by horoscope,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and he was fascinated by astrology. MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:08:30 > 0:08:32And everybody laughed then too,
0:08:32 > 0:08:37until he became the champion breeder for ten years between 1905 and 1915.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40How important have the trains been in your history?
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Well, the train would have been the artery for horse racing, as well,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and a lot of the Irish racecourses, you know, not coincidently,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52evolved close to the mainline railways.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54We take for granted how easy it is to ship horses
0:08:54 > 0:08:56twice around the globe, nowadays,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00but back then the racehorses travelled by rail as well.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05In Bradshaw's day, so close was the relationship between the railway and racing,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07that the course had its own sidings
0:09:07 > 0:09:12and the Great Southern and Western Railway company sponsored an annual race,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16which is still run today - The Railway Stakes.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I'm just wondering about any famous equine names
0:09:19 > 0:09:22that would have been rail passengers over the years.
0:09:22 > 0:09:28Ambush was a famous raid, he was the winner of the 1900 Grand National
0:09:28 > 0:09:30for the Prince Of Wales, at the time.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34And also great champions like Pretty Polly, who was a great race mare,
0:09:34 > 0:09:35would have travelled by train,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38and Bahram, the Aga Khan's Triple Crown winner in the '30s
0:09:38 > 0:09:40would also have travelled by train.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44In 1917 William Hall Walker gifted his farm,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47lock, stock and saddle, to the Crown
0:09:47 > 0:09:51with the intention that it would become the first National Stud
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and Ireland has been rewarded with world class winners ever since.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Sinead Hyland, marketing coordinator,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03has agreed to fill me in on the more intricate workings of the stud.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Sinead, I think I understand the word "stud"
0:10:07 > 0:10:09but how does the business really work?
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Well, we're one of the only stud farms open to the public.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Stud, I suppose it encompasses all of the stallions here,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18they're our main source of income.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21We've six stallions this year
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and we're pretty much wrapping up our breeding season now.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29The horses have ladies that will visit them up to four times a day.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32- Four times a day? - Four times a day, yes.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34We have, we also have a teaser.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37- He has, probably, the worst job on the farm...- What's a teaser?
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Teaser is, erm, for ladies,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43it's their first time visiting one of our stallions
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and erm he gets them, he gets them ready basically.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49- But he's a horse? - He's a horse, a little pony stallion.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53- Right.- And this is actually our top stallion here, Invincible Spirit.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56- What a fantastic horse! - Yeah, he's beautiful.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Even to someone who doesn't know what to look for in a thoroughbred,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01I mean, he's a beautiful specimen.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06He stands at 60,000 euros and he covered 136 mares this year.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09So he is, erm, he's our top dog.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11Just take that a bit more slowly,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14your saying that every time he covers a mare it's 60,000 euros?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16Just like that.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18And he covered 134 in a year?
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Yep, up to, he would have about four,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24up to four ladies a day would visit him.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Impressive - that's over eight million euros a year.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32However, the stud aims to produce not just thoroughbred horses
0:11:32 > 0:11:34but also first class jockeys,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39as, for the last 40 years, it's been home to Ireland's Racing Academy.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45That is one of the most bizarre sights I ever saw,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49I had no idea that this went on. This is how you train jockeys?
0:11:49 > 0:11:52It is, this is Barry Walsh, here.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54OK, guys, let's turn them off, there, for a sec.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Turn them off there, now.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02He's raring to go!
0:12:02 > 0:12:03- Barry!- How are you?
0:12:03 > 0:12:06- Pleased to meet you.- I'm Michael. It's lovely to see you.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- So! - HE LAUGHS
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Would you like to have a go yourself?
0:12:11 > 0:12:12How could I refuse?
0:12:12 > 0:12:15So, if you just, sort of, swing your leg over then.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Good deal easier than getting on a real horse!
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Oh, yeah. Well, you say that now!
0:12:20 > 0:12:21THEY LAUGH
0:12:21 > 0:12:25OK, one, two, three, up you get. Keeping your hands down.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Bring your knee back a small bit.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Head up and always looking where you are going, OK?
0:12:30 > 0:12:33So you can just sit back down there and we're going to start her off.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38OK. One, two, three, up you go.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40Hands down. Knees back a small bit.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Don't crouch down too much now. Don't over exaggerate!
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Make it quicker.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Oh, my goodness! Now, I've got to relax, haven't I? I've got to relax.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Nice and relaxed. Just back and forwards.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Oh, it's so easy to relax in this position(!)
0:12:53 > 0:12:56- Keep that left hand quiet. - Enjoying the ride!
0:12:56 > 0:13:00- "Hands down, knees in..." - Stride quicker.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02"..stride quicker." Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"Look ahead!" Oh, the horse is going very fast now.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08It's absolutely exhausting! I'm running out of breath!
0:13:10 > 0:13:12I'm exhausted!
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Ah!
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Ah, a politician jockeying for position - unseated again!
0:13:22 > 0:13:26I'm returning to the iron horse to resume my journey west.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30I'll be crossing the border from County Kildare into County Laois.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36- Is this free?- It is.- Thank you.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45My next stop will be in Portarlington,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49which my Bradshaw's tells me was formally called Cooletoodera.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51William III gave it to General Ruvigny
0:13:51 > 0:13:55who settled it with French and Flemish Protestants,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and built the two churches.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59And I that the railway station also shows signs
0:13:59 > 0:14:01of this little town's heritage.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- My stop. Bye-bye.- Bye.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Opened in 1847,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Portarlington was and still is a focal point
0:14:22 > 0:14:25on the Irish Rail Network.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29On the Dublin to Cork mainline, today it's a busy junction
0:14:29 > 0:14:33where passengers can branch off to Galway, Ballina and Westport.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Back in Bradshaw's day, the lines weren't as numerous
0:14:36 > 0:14:39but this picturesque station provided a vital rest stop
0:14:39 > 0:14:41for early travellers.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Portarlington really is the finest looking station
0:14:46 > 0:14:47I've seen in the Irish Republic,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51with its gables and its Tudor chimneys, and its bell tower.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Apparently there used to be a bell in the tower
0:14:53 > 0:14:56because trains would make a special long stop here
0:14:56 > 0:14:59to allow passengers to get off and eat and drink in the dining room,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03and then the bell would ring to tell them that it was time to get aboard,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and the train was about to go.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Which makes Portarlington a pretty hospitable place
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and somewhere that I am happy to break my journey and end my day.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25It's a new day and I'm continuing through the Irish Midlands
0:15:25 > 0:15:28deeper into county Laois before ending in County Offaly.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38In Victorian Ireland third class tickets
0:15:38 > 0:15:42made it possible for millions to take the train.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43Even so, rail travel
0:15:43 > 0:15:47would have been beyond the wildest dreams of the poorest.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49I'm going to alight at Ballybrophy
0:15:49 > 0:15:53to find out how life was lived by those who had nothing.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55'We will shortly be arriving at Ballybrophy.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59'Thank you for travelling with Iarnrod Eireann.'
0:16:04 > 0:16:09Between 1720 and 1820 the population of Ireland exploded,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13doubling in size from three million to over six.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Unlike England, which was undergoing an industrial revolution,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20in rural Ireland employment was virtually non-existent
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and land, upon which the Irish labourer relied,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26was both costly to rent and overly sublet.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28By the end of the 18th century
0:16:28 > 0:16:32about one third of the country was near starvation level.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Poverty was endemic.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36State intervention became unavoidable.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39The Government's solution was the workhouse.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45I've come to Donaghmore Workhouse, now a museum,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48to meet its chairman, Trevor Stanley.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- Trevor.- Michael.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Phew! An extraordinary complex of buildings here.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00What were they originally?
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Buildings were structured in such a way
0:17:03 > 0:17:05that we had the girls and boys dormitories to the front,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09the men and the women's dormitories in the middle
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and the infirmary at the back.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13So, first of all, you've told me something I hadn't realised
0:17:13 > 0:17:17that the men and the women, and the boys and the girls were split up on arrival here.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Very much so, it was one of the strict rules
0:17:19 > 0:17:22that they had within the workhouse, in Ireland,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24was to divide the families.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28And that was, ultimately, not to encourage people into the workhouse.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31When you came in here you gave up everything
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and you signed up to a life within the workhouse.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40The 1838 Irish Poor Law Act decreed that poor relief
0:17:40 > 0:17:43was available in the workhouse only.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45It was this or nothing.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The country was divided into 130 administrative unions,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52each containing a workhouse.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55They were set up and run by an elected Board of Guardians,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59financed by a levy on local landowners -
0:17:59 > 0:18:02the principle being that property was to pay for poverty.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I know the law in Ireland,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08although it is slightly later than the law in England,
0:18:08 > 0:18:09was based on the same thing.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12And the idea was that you were going to have poor people
0:18:12 > 0:18:17but you had to absolutely discourage them from entering the workhouse.
0:18:17 > 0:18:18It had to be the worst possible thing
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and I think the expression was that the conditions in a workhouse
0:18:21 > 0:18:24had to be less eligible than life outside.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26They certainly had to be harsher,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29they had to give up whatever holdings they had outside
0:18:29 > 0:18:31and those holdings were divided up by,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34to other people within the landlord estates -
0:18:34 > 0:18:38when they came in here they, literally, lost their dignity.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42The ethos of the workhouse was that inmates should be worse clothed,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47worse lodged and worse fed than people outside.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49However, even the Poor Law Commissioners
0:18:49 > 0:18:52recognised that the standard of living for most Irish poor
0:18:52 > 0:18:54was so low that it would be difficult
0:18:54 > 0:18:57to establish one even lower.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01The workhouse system was so despised that, despite widespread poverty,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05in 1846 the number of inmates across the country's workhouses
0:19:05 > 0:19:10stood at just 43,000 - less than half their capacity.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Unchanged since Victorian times?
0:19:13 > 0:19:15I'm afraid so, Michael.
0:19:15 > 0:19:16This was the boys' dorm?
0:19:16 > 0:19:19You can see the whitewashed walls -
0:19:19 > 0:19:22whitewash was used to keep disease down
0:19:22 > 0:19:26because the lime would kill the bacterias and the bugs.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30This room, I always say, is built for ventilation and not for comfort
0:19:30 > 0:19:33because you have air vents between each window
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and you have air vents under the plinth as well, too.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It's terrible but it's interesting
0:19:39 > 0:19:44that the Victorians understood the connection between disease
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and lack of cleanliness, and they understood the need for ventilation.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50I mean, this is quite advanced in some ways.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54It is, er, and I suppose they learnt very quickly
0:19:54 > 0:19:59because when you put a group of 50, 60, 70 boys into any room,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04and they have a sniffle or a cold it spreads through, like wild fire.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07I imagine the death rate was pretty ghastly?
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Death rates would have been pretty high in workhouses, in general,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14because people were at such a low ebb in coming in.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19The food, the accommodation, was not designed to fatten them up,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23or to improve them, it was just basic maintenance
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and that obviously led to a lot of disease.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33Typhus, dysentery, cholera would have been the three main diseases.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Death inside the workhouse was common
0:20:38 > 0:20:42but by 1847 those outside became victims of famine
0:20:42 > 0:20:45as successive potato crops failed.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47The Workhouses were deluged.
0:20:47 > 0:20:53By 1851 their population stood at 217,000 -
0:20:53 > 0:20:55more than double their intended capacity.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Workhouses designed for hundreds were forced to house thousands.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07So, tell me how the system began to creak and crumble under the famine.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Well, I suppose the ultimate breakdown of the system
0:21:10 > 0:21:15was that the people that came in here had no way of getting back out.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19And emigration was a method of getting people out
0:21:19 > 0:21:21and to reduce numbers
0:21:21 > 0:21:24but, ultimately, that was only for families that were healthy.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27So, for other people, they had to stay here
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and, obviously, the whole system began to crumble after that.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35By the early 20th century it was clear the workhouse system
0:21:35 > 0:21:37needed radical reform.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42A Royal Commission in 1906 recommended that the system be abolished.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46The workhouses were designed to use public money to relieve poverty
0:21:46 > 0:21:50but to make it shameful so as not to discourage people from working
0:21:50 > 0:21:53if they could remain independent.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58The scale of misery unleashed by the famine overwhelmed the system,
0:21:58 > 0:22:00adding to resentment against landowners
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and the British establishment.
0:22:17 > 0:22:25My Bradshaw's enticingly tells me of, "The Roscrea and Parsontown line, 22 and a half miles long."
0:22:25 > 0:22:29"On arriving at the town of Roscrea it divides into two branches,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33"the one to the northwest to Parsontown or Birr.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35"Near Parsontown Castle,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39"seat of the Earl of Ross, with a famous telescope here."
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Unfortunately, the line no longer stretches so far
0:22:43 > 0:22:47and so my quest for that renowned astrological instrument
0:22:47 > 0:22:49means I must alight at Roscrea.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Victorians were as passionate about scientific exploration
0:22:58 > 0:23:00as they were about rail travel.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Whether professional or amateur,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05their thirst for knowledge was insatiable.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10And Birr Castle, an ancestral seat deep in the Irish bogs,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14became an unexpected centre of scientific discovery.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The current Earl of Rosse is going to enlighten me.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20Hello, you're welcome, Michael.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23- Thank you very much indeed. - Failte romhat, as we say in Ireland.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25That's a very nice welcome.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30The Parsons, family name of the Earls of Rosse,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34have been at Birr Castle since 1620.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It's one of the oldest inhabited homes in the county
0:23:38 > 0:23:41and one particular ancestor interests me.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43My Bradshaw's says that there is a famous telescope here,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45which ancestor was that?
0:23:45 > 0:23:50That was my great-great-grandfather, the 3rd Earl - I'm number seven.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53He was my great-great-grandfather,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58who built this telescope, that we are going to see, here, in the 1840s.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It was completed just before the famine really struck.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I read about this telescope in the book
0:24:05 > 0:24:10but it gave me no hint of how enormous it was going to be.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11What a construction!
0:24:11 > 0:24:15It was know locally as The Monster, His Lordship's Monster,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18and it certainly was the biggest in the world
0:24:18 > 0:24:20for three-quarters of a century.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23It enabled him to see further into space
0:24:23 > 0:24:26than anyone had ever been able to see before.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28William Parsons, the 3rd Earl,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30graduated from Oxford University
0:24:30 > 0:24:33with a first class honours degree in mathematics
0:24:33 > 0:24:37but he was simply an extraordinary and enthusiastic amateur,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42that makes this 16 tonne telescope, with its 72 inch mirror,
0:24:42 > 0:24:47an even more outstanding feat of engineering and architecture.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51With a new telescope of this power, what discoveries were enabled?
0:24:51 > 0:24:55I think the Whirlpool Galaxy
0:24:55 > 0:25:01was the most significant of the discoveries that he made here
0:25:01 > 0:25:04and, literally, during the first few months
0:25:04 > 0:25:08of the operation of the telescope, in 1845.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11The discovery, what, that galaxies
0:25:11 > 0:25:14had a, kind of, spiral shape, is this?
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Were spiral in shape, like the one that is called The Whirlpool,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22of which we have one of the most beautiful drawings
0:25:22 > 0:25:26in the galleries here because EVERYTHING he saw he drew.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31But it all had to be made here entirely by the people of Birr,
0:25:31 > 0:25:36mobilising the coopers to make the curved beams of the tube,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39the carpenters to make things like the galleries
0:25:39 > 0:25:42and, of course, the blacksmiths to make all the iron work.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45And, luckily, Birr, as a garrison town,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49then had a good supply of craftsmen to make everything.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52So all the coopers, blacksmiths and carpenters
0:25:52 > 0:25:54were mobilised to make this.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00The Earl's Leviathan telescope
0:26:00 > 0:26:03remained the world's largest for over 70 years
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and put Birr on the map.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Scientists, stargazers and engineers from all over the globe came to see it -
0:26:10 > 0:26:15their journeys much facilitated by the arrival of the railway in 1858.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20Now, Michael, this is what we call our Muniment Room,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23where we keep all the archives.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28These go back to more or less when we came here in the 1620s.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32There are about 18,000 historical documents in all these boxes.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36This must be a very considerable archive, by national standards.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39I think it's the largest private archive
0:26:39 > 0:26:42that is still useable in Ireland.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45And out of the archives I've got this old book,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49which is the visitors book of the observatory at Birr Castle,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54and maybe I'll just open the first page to show you the significance
0:26:54 > 0:27:00of the initial signature, which is that of Charles Babbage
0:27:00 > 0:27:04who the 3rd Earl invited to inaugurate this book
0:27:04 > 0:27:07on September the 9th 1850.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10And Babbage, what would you say was his place in history?
0:27:10 > 0:27:14He is the grandfather or now maybe even the great-grandfather
0:27:14 > 0:27:17- of the whole, of every computer in the world today.- Extraordinary.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23The story of science at Birr is far from over,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27as, even now, astrophysicists are using the grounds
0:27:27 > 0:27:30to measure solar flares, using a radio telescope.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34The 3rd Earl would be proud.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40In 19th century Ireland poverty stricken peasants
0:27:40 > 0:27:43were caught between starvation and the workhouse.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46The British army was here to keep them in order
0:27:46 > 0:27:50but also bequeathed to the Irish a love of horse racing.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Meanwhile aristocrats expanded our knowledge of science,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57the sort of progress so admired by George Bradshaw.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02On the final leg of this journey,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07I'll discover historic Irish jewellery with Royal connections...
0:28:07 > 0:28:09I'm ready for my patient!
0:28:09 > 0:28:10..meet an ancient people's king...
0:28:10 > 0:28:15- Happy and glorious, long to reign over us!- Oh, thank you. Thank you!
0:28:15 > 0:28:18..and get to grips with some aural history.
0:28:18 > 0:28:25# My old native land far away. #
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Well done, Michael. Well done.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd