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In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
His name was George Bradshaw and his railway guides | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
Stop by stop he told them where to go, what to see | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
and where to stay. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
Now, 170 years later, I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures | 0:00:23 | 0:00:28 | |
across the United Kingdom to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
I'm at the halfway point of my journey around north west England | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
that began with the historic grime of Manchester's mills | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
and will end with the natural beauty of Derbyshire's peaks. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:05 | |
Today, 19th century tracks will take me to an ancient tradition, | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
a medieval tower and Victorian tourism. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
On this leg, I hear about unscrupulous Victorian grocers. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
There was a lot of food adulteration that went on. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
Oatmeal was often mixed with gravel or sand. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
This appears to be about 90% gravel! | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
I have to hail a train at a request stop. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
Success! | 0:01:36 | 0:01:37 | |
And I learn of King James's beefiest knighting. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
He took his sword and dubbed this loin of beef, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:46 | |
"Arise, Sir Loin." | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
And everybody went "Whoa!" | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
My journey began in Manchester, headed west to sunlit Merseyside, | 0:01:56 | 0:02:01 | |
took the sea air in Southport | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
and will now traverse Lancashire toward Bradford, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
and turn south to steely South Yorkshire, ending in Derbyshire, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
where the father of the railway, George Stevenson, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
has his eternal rest. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
Today's leg starts in Preston, goes east to Pleasington, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:22 | |
takes in Church and Oswaldtwistle, | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
Hebden Bridge and Rochdale. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
My first stop is Preston, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:38 | |
whose pageantry scores a mention in Bradshaw's. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:42 | |
"One of its most peculiar institutions is its ancient guild | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
"held every 20 years, at which the aristocracy of the country | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
"have been wont to assemble as participants in the festivities." | 0:02:49 | 0:02:54 | |
Toffs and tradition - you can't beat it. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
Striding the River Ribble, Preston's Victorian port, the Albert Edward Dock, | 0:02:58 | 0:03:03 | |
shipped Lancashire coal | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
and the textiles produced by the town's 40 cotton mills. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
I'm heading to the market square to find out how the town's guilds, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
the associations of merchants, artisans and tradesmen, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
have come together for centuries to celebrate trade in Preston. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
Emma Heslewood is curator at the Harris Museum. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
-Hello. -Lovely to meet you. -And you. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
Bradshaw's tells me that a guild was held every 20 years. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
What is a guild? | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
Preston is the last surviving guild celebration and it dates back | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
to 1179, when Preston got its first Royal Charter from Henry II. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:44 | |
The guild was actually an organisation of merchants | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
who were parts of guild companies, like tanners and butchers, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
and they formed an organisation called a guild which was a right | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
that was given in the charter to have a guild. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:58 | |
It was a list of anyone who could live, work and trade | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
in a town, a market town, like Preston. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
Bradshaw's mentions festivities. What were they? | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
Processions. All the guild members would come to Preston | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
and they would process in their finery to the Guild Court. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
The guild membership also included the local landowners | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
and aristocracy who owned property in Preston. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
There are some great descriptions of guilds in 1762 and '82, | 0:04:20 | 0:04:25 | |
of all the diamonds and bling. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
What would the guild have been like at the time of my Bradshaw's guide, the 1862 Guild? | 0:04:27 | 0:04:31 | |
The 1862 Guild was an interesting one | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
because it was the first time after the real introduction of railways, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
so the railway companies started to do deals. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
This meant that people came to Preston, and Preston became extremely overcrowded. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
You actually had 100,000 visitors in 1862. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
'The Harris Museum is hosted within an impressive 19th century | 0:04:49 | 0:04:54 | |
'neoclassical building. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
'It holds the largest collection of Preston Guild memorabilia.' | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
One of the things that is really special about the Preston Guild | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
is that we have a full set of these guild books, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
which are the lists of all the guild members. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
The first one that survives is from 1397. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
But we actually have guild books from 1542, every 20 years. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
We actually have the guild book from 1862 | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
which records all the people who attended the Guild Court that year. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
Isn't that the most beautiful presentation. Lovely page. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
Yes, every single guild book follows the same sort of format | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
and has this decorative page which says, | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
"The Guild Merchant of the borough of Preston in the county of Lancaster, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
"holden here on Monday the first day of September, | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
"being the Monday after the feast of the Decollation of St John the Baptist," | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
which is the traditional point when the guild is held. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
So here, the first one is Peter Abbot of Preston, | 0:05:49 | 0:05:54 | |
son of William of Waltney Dale, formerly a Preston weaver, deceased | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
and all of his children. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
You have a really interesting document because it gives you an insight | 0:06:00 | 0:06:04 | |
into the jobs and occupations of people in the 19th century. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
And there's something even more interesting that I want to show you over here. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
We have this amazing advert which was for the highlight | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
of Preston Guild of 1862, which was the appearance of the great Blondin. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:19 | |
Blondin was the tightrope walker. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
"Blondin, the hero of Niagara, the wonder of his age | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
"has the honour to announce that he will appear in Preston | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
"on Monday evening of Guild Week | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
"and will make his wonderful night ascent on a high rope | 0:06:30 | 0:06:35 | |
"amidst the most gorgeous and magnificent display of fireworks." | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
So this was the spectacle that hundreds of thousands of people | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
came to Preston to see on the evening of the first of September. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
Tightropes and fireworks. Wonderful. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
Conjuring such images of high wire acts, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
fireworks and aristocrats, it might be easy to forget that | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
Preston Guild Week is primarily about merchants and tradespeople. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
To refocus, I'm on my way to Preston's marina | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
to meet businessman Chris Miller. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
Chris, yours is a family business, is it? What do you do? | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
We are into moving awkward loads. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
Transporting them and lifting them, that's what we do. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
And how far back does the family business go, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
-moving these awkward loads? -Well, we say 1837. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
My great-great grandfather came down from Nether Kellet in 1837 | 0:07:25 | 0:07:29 | |
with a horse and cart, and he made a start. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
Then my great-grandfather carried on through the late 1800s. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:35 | |
Then my grandfather carried on and then my father, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
and I'm still moving awkward loads. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
And what sort of loads were they moving in the old days? | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
Cotton weaving looms were very, very big in Lancashire | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
and we moved hundreds, thousands of those. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
My own career started with moving looms out of Lancashire | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
to India and Pakistan, from where we now import all the textiles | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
and the Lancashire cotton industry is no more. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
You or your family involved in the guild every 20 years? | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
Yes. The first mention of our family being connected with the guild | 0:08:07 | 0:08:12 | |
was in 1882, when my grandfather on my mother's side was in attendance. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:17 | |
Have you been involved in the guild? | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
Well, I've been involved in the last, personally, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
in the last three guilds, which is not a good thing to say | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
because they only happen every 20 years. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
I have a feeling you got a bit of an honour, didn't you? | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
I was fortunate enough to be nominated for a Guild Burgess | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
and I accepted. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:36 | |
It's not the honour you might imagine that it is. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:41 | |
Once upon a time you could drive your sheep up Fisher Gate | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
but I haven't any sheep and we don't do that anymore. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
So why have we met in the marina? | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
Because I thought it was an opportunity | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
to show you what we still do. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
This is what we've been doing for 175 years and we are still doing it. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
We're moving awkward loads and what could be more awkward, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
some would say, than a boat? OK, Jack, take it away. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
Making light work of that. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
Round she comes. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:16 | |
You can see they've got a lot of experience of doing this. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
It's all done by hand signals. Nothing left to chance. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
Touching the water. Hasn't even created a ripple. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
We don't like to make a splash. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
It's not good news when we make a splash. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
Chris, beautiful work. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
I think you've earned your place in the next guild. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
The next guild - 2032! | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
-See you there. -We'll see how we go on! | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
'Although I'm tempted to continue my journey by boat, | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
'I've backtracked to Preston Station | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
'from where I'll head east on Northern Rail toward Blackburn.' | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
I shall be getting off at Pleasington. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
There's a rather puzzling entry in my Bradshaw's. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
"Close at hand is Hoghton Tower, the old seat of the Hoghtons. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:17 | |
"Here, James I knighted the sirloin of beef." | 0:10:17 | 0:10:21 | |
A meaty story to crown this part of my journey. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
-Hello, there. -Excuse me, I'm getting off at Pleasington, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
-which, I think, is a request stop. -It is, yes. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
-Could we stop at Pleasington please? -I'll make the arrangements for you. -Thank you, very much indeed. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:47 | |
According to Bradshaw's, Hoghton has a daily arrival and departure | 0:10:56 | 0:11:02 | |
to and from London, but since those glory days, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
Hoghton Station has closed and so Pleasington it must be. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
Hoghton Tower is the ancestral home of the de Hoghton family | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
descended directly from Harvey de Walter, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
a companion to William the Conqueror. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
What a magnificent pile. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
A great looming castle, leering over the plain beneath. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
The manor, which was originally 12th century, | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
was rebuilt and redesigned in the 1500s. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
I'm hoping the current occupant, the 14th baronet, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
Sir Bernard de Hoghton, will know why. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
-Bernard. -Michael, good to see you. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
What a wonderful house. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
What happened to the old fortification? | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
Well, in 1560, Thomas de Hoghton decided that he really didn't want | 0:11:53 | 0:11:58 | |
to go on living in a cold, damp castle. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
He was a figure of the Renaissance | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
and wanted that style of life which really changed from the Middle Ages. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:08 | |
During the 18th and 19th centuries, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
the de Hoghtons were busy in Parliament | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
as prominent members of the Whig Party and decamped from the house. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
Eventually they would return, perhaps after some prompting by a popular author. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:23 | |
We think that the ninth baronet, Sir Henry de Hoghton, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
might have read Charles Dickens' novel, George Silverman's Explanation, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
which was based upon his visit to this house, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
describing how tragic this wonderful house had become. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:38 | |
-Dickens came here? -Dickens came here, yes. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
And in fact William Shakespeare, | 0:12:41 | 0:12:43 | |
it's considered, between 1579 and 1581, | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
also became part of the retinue of Alexander de Hoghton | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
and probably learned quite a lot of his stage craft here | 0:12:51 | 0:12:56 | |
from Faulke Gyllom, who was the Master of The Revels. | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
So, as I tread these stones, I'm walking in the footsteps | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
-of Shakespeare and Dickens. -Yes, you are. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
It's said that the fear of what it would cost to host the king, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:14 | |
his entourage and standing army on his journey back to London | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
from Scotland in 1611, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
led one Lancashire household to take the roof off its home | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
whilst another burnt down its house to avoid any royal visit. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
But the recently created Baronet Richard de Hoghton | 0:13:30 | 0:13:34 | |
welcomed King James I and committed to provide him | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
with lavish hospitality and the finest food. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
We actually have the original menu | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
of what the king was offered with his court. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:49 | |
It's the most wonderful menu, isn't it? | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
Haunch of venison, gibbets of mutton, plovers, turkeys. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:55 | |
How did the sirloin story come about? | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
The king noticed this wonderful loin of beef on this table | 0:13:57 | 0:14:03 | |
and said to his host, "Bring it to me." | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
The two pages immediately on their knees. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
He took his sword and drew it | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
and dubbed this loin of beef, | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
"Arise Sir Loin," and everybody went "Whoa!" | 0:14:17 | 0:14:22 | |
And that has remained in the English language ever since. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
You're seriously telling me that is the origin of sirloin? | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
Absolutely. Dated August 1617 in the very room we're both standing in. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:35 | |
'In more modern times, unlike so many of the landed aristocracy, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
'the de Hoghtons had no beef with the railways traversing their land.' | 0:14:40 | 0:14:46 | |
Presumably your family must have granted the land? | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
Yes, they did, in about 1840. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
They allowed it to move from Blackburn to Preston. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
There was a railway station at the bottom | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
but the thing that is really lovely around here is the Houghton viaduct, | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
about 110 foot tall and with about three arches, 65 feet wide. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:06 | |
It's a very splendid building. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:08 | |
This is the most perfect place to do train spotting, isn't it? | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
That reminds me, I'm afraid that I have a train to catch. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
-Thank you so much for your hospitality. -Michael, not at all. Nice to meet you. Bye-bye. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
'Back to Pleasington to continue my journey. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
'I'm used to flagging down a bus | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
'but is the etiquette with trains different?' | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
So, how do you flag the train? | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
Wave your arm if you see the train coming down the track. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
Just wave your arm, then step back away from the edge. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
-And that will do it, will it? -Should do, yes. I hope so! | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
-Thanks. Have a good journey. -Thank you. You too. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
Success! | 0:15:53 | 0:15:54 | |
'Safely on board, I'm off to spend the night | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
'in a worryingly infamous hotel across the Hoghton viaduct.' | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
As evening draws in, I'm going to alight at the delightfully named | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
Church and Oswaldtwistle. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
Bradshaw's mentions Dunkenhalgh Park. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
There's rumours of a ghost there and the spirit moves me to visit. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:24 | |
'The Dunkenhalgh phantom is Lucette, a French woman | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
'who took her own life here in the 18th century. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
'The ghost is reputed to take its seat on the end of a guest's bed | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
'but I hope it won't be tempted to read me a bedtime story.' | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Incredibly, the pale figure of a woman | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
came gliding down my corridor and tapped softly at my door. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
Yes, it was the hotel's complimentary bed turn-down service. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
'Not a ghost train for me this morning. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
'I'm travelling from Accrington station, heading east.' | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
TANNOY: Hebden Bridge, next stop. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
The beautiful station of Hebden Bridge. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
I'm hoping to be here later but for the moment I'm changing line, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
heading down to Rochdale, another boom town of the Industrial Revolution. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:48 | |
Rochdale. Bradshaw's comments that it's a modern borough, | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
returning one Member of Parliament. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
Most industrial towns and cities gained representation in Parliament | 0:18:00 | 0:18:04 | |
only in the 19th century, and even so, most working men were excluded | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
from politics because they didn't have the vote. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
They sought other ways of coming together | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
to improve the condition of their lives. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
A textile town with mills powered by the waters of the River Roch, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:36 | |
Rochdale was linked first by canal in 1804 | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
and then by railway in 1838 to Manchester, hub of the north west. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:45 | |
Rochdale's town hall, a fine piece of Victorian gothic, | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
opened in 1871 and is testament to the town's prosperity. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:55 | |
But not everyone was thriving. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
Overseeing Rochdale's historic collections is Gillian Lonergan. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
-Gillian, hello. -Welcome. -What a wonderful building. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
It reminds me of Parliament. It must be the same vintage. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
Yes, they were completed at about the same time. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
Why would Rochdale want such a grand town hall? | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
There was a lot of competition between local authorities | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
in building their town halls to make them that little bit more flamboyant. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
-And plenty of wealth. -Yes, plenty of wealth to run it. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
'But in the hands of the enterprising few, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
'Rochdale's wealth largely failed to trickle down to the men and women | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
'from whose toil the town had made its fortune. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
'In the years before what came to be known as the Hungry '40s, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
'north west MPs John Bright and Richard Cobden | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
'formed the Anti-Corn Law League.' | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
Now, the Corn Laws restricted imports of cheap wheat, didn't they, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:52 | |
and so drove up the price of bread, drove up the price of food? | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
How much did that affect the working man and woman in Rochdale? | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
A lot of them were starving, they couldn't afford to eat. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
Eventually, these two and others were successful in getting the Corn Laws | 0:20:02 | 0:20:06 | |
repealed in 1846, but before that there had been a lot of suffering. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
Yes. Rochdale had a really hard time with it. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
So what did working men and women attempt to do about their plight? | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
The Chartists were trying to campaign for working people | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
to get the vote but there were other organisations that were set up, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
like co-operative societies. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
Working people getting together to work together. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
It was no good waiting for the great and the good to come in | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
and improve things. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:35 | |
Over the next 170 years or so, the Co-operative movement has spread | 0:20:36 | 0:20:41 | |
so successfully, that the United Nations designated 2012 | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
The International Year of the Co-operative. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
The movement has come a long way since | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society was formed in 1844. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:54 | |
Now a common sight on many a British high street, | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
the first ever Co-op shop opened here, at 31 Toad Lane. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:03 | |
-So who were these Rochdale Pioneers? -They were ordinary working people. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
About half of them were involved in the textile industries. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
They would be working 14 hours a day in the mill | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
and they would get together in the evenings for meetings. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
They actually said that if they could change all of production, | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
distribution, education and government to co-operation, | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
that the world would be a better place. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
Well, let's start small with the shop. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
They had saved up £28, a pound per member. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
It doesn't sound like a lot now | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
but then it would take a skilled craftsman | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
a week-and-a half to two weeks to earn a pound. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
So it was a huge investment that they were making. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
And what were they trading in? | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
Butter, sugar, flour and oatmeal. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
Those were the basic staples of life. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
Was the point for setting up a shop really about prices? | 0:21:55 | 0:21:59 | |
It was partly prices, they wanted honest pricing, | 0:21:59 | 0:22:03 | |
but also there was a lot of food adulteration that went on. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:07 | |
For example, flour. When you bought flour, you were likely to find | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
it was half chalk, half flour. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:13 | |
And oatmeal, another one of the staples, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
was often mixed with gravel or sand. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
This appears to be about 90% gravel! | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
Food really wasn't very healthy at the time. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
Not only did they adulterate food but they also weighted the scales | 0:22:25 | 0:22:30 | |
so that you weren't buying as much as you thought you were. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
So the pioneers had their scales on open show. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
Everybody knew it was honest business. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
What state had the co-operative societies reached by the 1860s? | 0:22:39 | 0:22:44 | |
Co-operation was spreading across the country. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:46 | |
In 1863, the co-operative societies in the north of England | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
actually got together to form the North Of England Co-operative Wholesale Society, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
which is now known as the Co-operative Group. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
We have their original visitors book. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
In 1863, they had visitors from St Petersburg, Paris, Germany, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:05 | |
Belfast, as well as across the whole of the UK, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
coming here to see how they could operate their own co-op societies. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:14 | |
There's a lovely article in The Co-operator for 1860, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:18 | |
slightly before the Bradshaw's date. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
But it talks about them coming on a third class covered carriage, | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
very comfortably, and singing all the way. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
'In tune with my timetable, I'm heading to my final destination, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
'a place renowned for its natural beauty.' | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
Bradshaw's gives me much to look forward to at my next stop. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
"In the bottom of a deep dale is seen the little village of Hebden Bridge, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:57 | |
"surrounded by lofty ridges of moorland heights, | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
"partly clothed with woods | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
"and partly spotted with groups of cottages and farmhouses." | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
Absolutely enticing. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
Nowhere better represents the impact of the railways | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
on Victorian leisure than Hebden Bridge. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:17 | |
It had been no more than a few mills and some houses | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
dotted along the river. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
But in 1840 the railways brought swathes of working people | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
on day trips from industrial towns, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
keen to view the loveliness of the Calder Valley. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
'Diana Monahan is a local historian.' | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
-Diana. -How do you do, Michael? -Good to see you. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
What a beautiful station with its local stone, I suppose, | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
and the columns and the old signage. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
Is this what would have been here in Bradshaw's time? | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
No, this was actually built in about 1892 to replace the station | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
that was built in 1840 when the line opened. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
The problem was that the waiting rooms were far too small | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
and in those days the ladies had crinoline dresses | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
and you wouldn't get many crinoline-dressed ladies in one waiting room. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
We are in the most beautiful countryside. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
These people, even from 1840, | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
-were beginning to come for tourism, were they? -Yes, they were. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:11 | |
It was very popular, particularly on Whitsuntide, | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
to go into Hardcastle Crags and the countryside around Colden Clough, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
all the lovely valleys that we had coming down to the Calder. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
I can't help noticing you have got a lovely picnic basket. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
-May I carry that for you, perhaps? -It's a bit heavy, I'm afraid. -Let's set off. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
Is this beautiful bridge the one from which the town takes its name? | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
It is indeed, Michael. It's over 500 years old | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
and it had its birthday party in 2010. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
And what about the impact of the railways? | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
It must have been exponential on the number of visitors? | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
At the time of Bradshaw's in 1866, they had over 2,000 in one weekend. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:52 | |
And then in the 1890s, over 12,000 came in one weekend. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:58 | |
So, yes, it did have an effect. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
I can see the water down there | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
and there's quite a nice quote here in Bradshaw. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
"Through the dark recesses is heard the roar of the Calder | 0:26:20 | 0:26:24 | |
"and its various tributaries rushing, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
"occasionally in sheets of spray over the precipitous heights." | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
That's rather nice. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
This is one of the tributaries of the Calder, Hebden Water. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
People would have come here for the wonderful nature and scenery | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
and they might have to come to listen to the birds | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
and watch the animals, the otters. It's just lovely. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
Forward. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
All right, Michael, I've brought some Whitsuntide buns for our picnic. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:57 | |
-Did you bake those? -I did. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
Delicious. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:03 | |
Hebden Bridge is still very important for tourists today, isn't it, Diana? | 0:27:03 | 0:27:07 | |
It is, yes. It's one of the main industries really. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
Whilst the smoke has disappeared from the chimneys of the mills, | 0:27:10 | 0:27:15 | |
the natural beauty is the same as in Victorian times. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
Yes, and you can still go for the most beautiful walks | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
from Hebden Bridge up on the tops and look down on the town. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
Despite the jolly pageantry of the Preston Guild, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
life for Victorian workers in northern mill towns was pretty grim. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
It was during the so-called Hungry 1840s, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
that Rochdale men found founded the Co-operative Society. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
But standing here, it's a relief to recall that once the railways were built, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:51 | |
mill operatives could occasionally escape the grime and smoke | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
and fill their lungs with fresh air. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
On the next leg, I learn how Victorians marketed confectionery. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:09 | |
"On Saturday last, you were eating Mackintosh's toffee at our expense! | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
"Next Saturday pay us another visit and eat it at your own expense." | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
-That's brilliant, brilliant! -Which was an unusual way of advertising. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
I get a tailor-made fitting. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
Most people have got one shoulder lower than the other, and you have. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
-Where I've been writing over the years, yes. -All them cheques. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
And I help to revive a cinematic railway legend. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
Oakworth! Oakworth Station! | 0:28:32 | 0:28:36 | |
CHEERING | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
Oakworth! | 0:28:38 | 0:28:40 |