0:00:05 > 0:00:09In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11His name was George Bradshaw,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14and his railway guides inspired the Victorians
0:00:14 > 0:00:16to take to the tracks.
0:00:16 > 0:00:23Stop by stop, he told them where to go, what to see, and where to stay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28And now, 170 years later, I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures
0:00:28 > 0:00:33across the United Kingdom to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56I'm now on the last leg of a journey that began
0:00:56 > 0:00:58in a Victorian Manchester slum
0:00:58 > 0:01:00and will end at a stately home.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Today, I'll find out about a duke who changed his garden,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and about the son of an illiterate collier worker
0:01:07 > 0:01:09who changed the world.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15On this last leg, I'm given a Victorian music lesson.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18EUPHONIUM SQUEAKS
0:01:20 > 0:01:22LOUD NOTE SOUNDS
0:01:22 > 0:01:23Wow!
0:01:25 > 0:01:29I learn of a watery tragedy in the Peak District.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34The final death toll was about 81, of whom half were children.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37And I make a splash in Derbyshire.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Whoa!
0:01:39 > 0:01:41I never produced as big an impact as that!
0:01:51 > 0:01:56My journey began in Manchester, headed west to Merseyside,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59felt the sea breeze in Southport,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02crossed Lancashire towards Bradford and Huddersfield,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06and will finally head to steely south Yorkshire
0:02:06 > 0:02:08to end in Derbyshire,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11where the father of the railway, George Stephenson, is buried.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Today's leg tunes into Honley, surges into Holmfirth,
0:02:18 > 0:02:20takes a break in Sheffield,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and ends in the elegant surrounds of Chesterfield.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35My first stop will be Honley.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Bradshaw's tells me, "This place is the centre of the woollen trade
0:02:39 > 0:02:42"and has a population of 4626."
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Such wool towns had a strong sense of community,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49and such communities make music.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54To reach the musical mill town of Honley,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58my train crosses the magnificent Victorian Lockwood Viaduct.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13The houses in Honley cluster on the slopes of the Holme River Valley,
0:03:13 > 0:03:18peaking up above each other, facing each other across narrow alleyways,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20the washing spread across the street.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22You get the impression of a wool community
0:03:22 > 0:03:25set apart by its geography and closely knit.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29The brass bands of such small towns
0:03:29 > 0:03:32are a powerful metaphor for the harmonious communities
0:03:32 > 0:03:35that grew up in response to industrialisation.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38The invention of the piston valve made the notes on brass instruments
0:03:38 > 0:03:41more uniform and easier to play,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and mass production made them more affordable.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48By 1860, there were over 750 brass bands in England.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Often sponsored by a local employer,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54they were attached to collieries, foundries and textile mills.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Places like Honley still have them.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Peter Marshall is a local historian.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- Peter, hello.- Good morning, welcome. - What a lovely village.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04Thank you. It is. We like it very much.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08How did bands get going in villages like Honley?
0:04:08 > 0:04:10People needed to find a way of entertaining themselves
0:04:10 > 0:04:13in the few hours that they had when they weren't working in the mills
0:04:13 > 0:04:15or weaving and spinning.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17What was the music for, as it were?
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Methodism was quite strong in this valley.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22John Wesley preached here in the 1780s,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and they needed music to accompany themselves,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29both in the chapels and outside, because they had famous sings
0:04:29 > 0:04:31where they would sing in the open air -
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Easter time, Whitsunday and so forth.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36And the band playing became quite competitive, didn't it?
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Yes, it did. Honley was able to travel by train
0:04:39 > 0:04:42to a number of the competitions across the North,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44and including the British Open Championship
0:04:44 > 0:04:46which was held in Belle Vue in Manchester,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and in 1884 they became the British champions.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Hello, Honley Band. How are you all?
0:05:05 > 0:05:07- Who's been with the band the longest?- I have.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09When did you join the band?
0:05:09 > 0:05:121975. They turned me down in 1952.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Being a female, they said they'd only got big instruments like this one,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and that was no good for a girl.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- So, did it take them 23 years to change their minds?- Yeah.- Wow.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25You, sir, at the back, how long have you been in the band?
0:05:25 > 0:05:27I have been in the band two years.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- And what's your instrument? - The drums.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33I kind of guessed that! Give me a twirl.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39You've been playing for longer than two years, haven't you?
0:05:39 > 0:05:40I've been playing for five years.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And, you sir, you're in plain clothes,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46but are you an old bandsman?
0:05:46 > 0:05:51Yes, I've been involved with this band for 60 years.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54- 60 years. Were you born here in Honley?- Yes, I was.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56- What made you join the band? - A man called Arnold Booth,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58he said, "Would you like to join?"
0:05:58 > 0:06:02And he said those magic words that make it difficult
0:06:02 > 0:06:05for a Yorkshire lad to refuse.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08He said, "And it will all be free."
0:06:08 > 0:06:10MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:06:10 > 0:06:11What could I do?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Can I tell you about a memory?
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And I think it tells you about maybe the dedication to banding.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22On 18th May 1959, I got married.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24It was Whit Monday,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the busiest day of the year in the brass band calendar
0:06:28 > 0:06:33and after the ceremony we went to my new wife's mother
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and then I said goodbye to the guests, and, along with the best man
0:06:36 > 0:06:42and the groomsmen, we went and joined our brass band colleagues.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45I think she made a decision that day that it was,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47"If you can't beat them, join them,"
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and she's been a brass band enthusiast ever since.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Now, if I were to play, what would be the instrument that would,
0:06:55 > 0:06:56I don't know, suit me?
0:06:56 > 0:07:02To suit you? Well, I think a big lad like you would suit a euphonium.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05That fits you like a glove.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Now, then, doesn't he look smart, eh?
0:07:08 > 0:07:10- Do I look the part?- Yeah!
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Don't think I'm going to sound it, somehow! Right.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18To play on the instrument, you need to vibrate air,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20cos that's what makes sound.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22And the best way to do that is to buzz.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25THEY BUZZ
0:07:25 > 0:07:29That's right. And, at the same time, press on your tummy,
0:07:29 > 0:07:30make your tummy hard.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35EUPHONIUM SQUEAKS
0:07:35 > 0:07:38EUPHONIUM SOUNDS LOUDER
0:07:38 > 0:07:39Wow!
0:07:41 > 0:07:45I'm very sorry to have insulted your ears with that noise.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Can we now hear some real music, please?
0:07:48 > 0:07:49Maestro!
0:08:10 > 0:08:13What a glorious sound! Now I believe I'm in Yorkshire.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Staying in Yorkshire, I'm continuing my journey southeast
0:08:22 > 0:08:24on a branch line towards Sheffield.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I'll shortly be entering the Thurstonland tunnel
0:08:32 > 0:08:33where, reputedly,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37a Victorian film-maker made a film called Kiss In The Tunnel.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45In 1899, pioneer Victorian film-maker James Bamforth
0:08:45 > 0:08:49directed The Kiss in the Tunnel, an early example of narrative editing
0:08:49 > 0:08:53using three shots to tell the story of a furtive moment
0:08:53 > 0:08:58of passenger passion on a train in Thurstonland tunnel.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59No such luck for me.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06My next stop will be Stocksmoor.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I am interested by this reference in Bradshaw,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12"Holmfirth, where the Ribble and Diggle brooks join,
0:09:12 > 0:09:18"was dreadfully ravaged in 1852 by the bursting of the Bilberry Dam."
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Despite the general excellence of Victorian engineering,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25there were disasters, and this one was apparently appalling.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Holmfirth station was closed to passengers in 1959,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35so I shall make my own way there from Stocksmoor.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Now surrounded by reservoirs,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Holmfirth is celebrated as the location
0:09:41 > 0:09:44for Last of The Summer Wine.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48By contrast, in Victorian times, the village was notorious.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Bradshaw's remarks that the "valley is about six miles long
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"and only 100 yards broad at the widest,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00"and the immense volume of water set free in this narrow gutter
0:10:00 > 0:10:05"carried away 100 lives with houses and mills and other property.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08"The bridge was entirely destroyed,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11"and only the bare walls of the church left."
0:10:11 > 0:10:16And standing here seeing how the town is wedged into the crevasse,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20I begin to imagine that horrific wall of water
0:10:20 > 0:10:22advancing upon its people.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28In 1852, Bilberry Dam burst
0:10:28 > 0:10:31and an unforgiving torrent swept through Holmfirth.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37I'm meeting local historian David Cockman at the rebuilt dam.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Was the Victorian Bilberry Dam in this position?
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Near enough, I think. We are standing almost at the spot
0:10:44 > 0:10:49where at 1am on 5th February 1852,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52this collapsed with a pop, with a bang -
0:10:52 > 0:10:5580 million gallons, 400,000 tonnes
0:10:55 > 0:10:57swept down the valley towards Holmfirth.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Had there been an engineering failure?
0:11:00 > 0:11:03- This was a Victorian structure, wasn't it?- Very much so, Michael.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Coming out of this hillside there was a spring,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08it was described as being as big as a man's arm.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11And the water came down, flowed down through into the valley
0:11:11 > 0:11:14where they wanted to build the retaining wall.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16They should have put this spring into some kind of culvert
0:11:16 > 0:11:18or conduit leading it away.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21But they built the dam wall on top of the flowing spring
0:11:21 > 0:11:23and gradually, over the years,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26this water ate away at the base of the dam,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28weakening it all the time,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31until it began to leak and it just gave way.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35It was one of the most serious civilian disasters
0:11:35 > 0:11:37of Victorian England.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43300 feet across and 70 feet at its deepest,
0:11:43 > 0:11:49the reservoir's 86 million gallons of water weighed 300,000 tonnes.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The water rushed three and a half miles down the valley,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56reaching the village in around 15 minutes.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02And it was going so fast that even people who ran ahead to try
0:12:02 > 0:12:05to warn the citizens that something was about to happen,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07they were overtaken by the water.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Now, in one of these houses, there lived a weaver called
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Joseph Halliwell with his family - wife and five children.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The water rose in his house almost up to the second floor.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19He managed to get up to the second floor, into his weaving room,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and shout for help.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25And he was heard by his neighbours who lived above him in the top house,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and they hacked a hole in the floor and dragged him to safety.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33But unfortunately, his wife and the five children were drowned.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38- Appalling.- Yes. Up the valley, it had wrecked at least three mills,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and it had uprooted boilers weighing 15, 20 tonnes,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and the whole centre of Holmfirth was hit by a battering ram.
0:12:44 > 0:12:50The final death toll was about 81, of whom half were children.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Most, I think, were caught asleep in their beds
0:12:52 > 0:12:53and drowned in their sleep.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Was there Victorian ghoulishness?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00I think so. On the Sunday after the flood,
0:13:00 > 0:13:05the railway reported that 16,000 tickets were collected
0:13:05 > 0:13:06at Holmfirth station.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10But, in the fortnight or so after, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
0:13:10 > 0:13:13reported that they were selling 9,000 tickets a day
0:13:13 > 0:13:15for people to come to Holmfirth.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18I am sure it was just disaster tourism, basically.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Ghoulishness to come and walk through the rubble here.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22I can't think what else it would be.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I'm heading back to Stocksmoor to travel to Sheffield,
0:13:31 > 0:13:32where I shall break my journey.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Looking forward to the day ahead,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50I'm taking an East Midlands service south.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57My next stop will be Chesterfield, which, like so many places,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00is associated by Bradshaw's with coal.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04And there, I want to look at the career of one of my heroes,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08a man who did so much to convert coal to steam to locomotion
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and who made all of this possible.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Mr George Stephenson.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30George Stephenson, perfector of locomotives,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33builder of railways, whose inventions included
0:14:33 > 0:14:36new sorts of rail and bridge and a miner's lamp.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Endlessly inventive, but illiterate until he was 18.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45A man who dragged himself up by his bootstraps, the sort that I admire.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Having been born to a poor family near Newcastle upon Tyne,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55George Stephenson came to Chesterfield
0:14:55 > 0:14:57for the last ten years of his life.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Passionate about machines, back in 1804,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06George had walked to Scotland in order to work with steam engines.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10A decade later, Stephenson's locomotive,
0:15:10 > 0:15:15the Blucher, hauled coal wagons along a wagon way and in 1825,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Stephenson's locomotion Number 1, seen here on its centenary,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24ran between Stockton and Darlington, the first public railway on earth.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28To learn more of this hero,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31I'm visiting Chesterfield Borough Council Museum,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34adjacent to the town's famous crooked spire,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39to meet curator Anne-Marie Knowles by a Stephenson family portrait.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47There's George, centre stage in this rather strange looking outfit,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50which is what he used to wear as a younger man.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52We're used to seeing George in the frock coat,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54looking very Victorian and grand.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57But here he is as a much humbler man
0:15:57 > 0:16:01when he was the engine-wright at Killingworth colliery.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06So this is a picture that says quite a lot about George's life.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10The lady who's standing at the back with the churn on her head,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14this is Mabel Carr, who was George's mother.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17And standing next to her is her husband, George's father.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Then we've got George's first wife with a child,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24who actually died in infancy.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Then we have George's second wife,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28who is seated here in front of George.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32And is George clutching the miner's lamp he invented?
0:16:32 > 0:16:33He most certainly is.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Now, there was some controversy about this, wasn't there,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40because he invented a miner's safety lamp and Davy invented one,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42and there was a bit of argy-bargy
0:16:42 > 0:16:47about whether there'd been some piracy of copyright, wasn't there?
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Yes, certainly, and Davy actually accused George Stephenson
0:16:51 > 0:16:54of stealing the idea from him.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57And Stephenson went to a lot of trouble to prove
0:16:57 > 0:17:01that he'd actually developed the miners' lamp prior to Davy.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03I've heard it said that miners in the North East
0:17:03 > 0:17:05used the George Stephenson miners' lamp,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08miners elsewhere tended to use the Davy lamp?
0:17:08 > 0:17:10- That's right.- I've even heard it said
0:17:10 > 0:17:12that is why people in the North East are called Geordies,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14I don't know whether that's true?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Well, I don't think anybody is very sure about that,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20but certainly the lamp was referred to as the Geordie lamp
0:17:20 > 0:17:23because it was made by Geordie, George.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28One of George's lesser-known inventions
0:17:28 > 0:17:30grew from his passion for gardening.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33OK, so here it is, one of the famous cucumber straightening tubes
0:17:33 > 0:17:36that was developed by George Stephenson.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Well...that looks like a fairly simple glass tube,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46what's so special about it?
0:17:46 > 0:17:47Well, when the fruit is very small
0:17:47 > 0:17:49it is inserted at this end of the tube
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and then it grows straight down the tube,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55rather than curling as it grows, because this was always the problem
0:17:55 > 0:17:59before modern hybrids, that cucumbers have this tendency to curl.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01So that's how he did it.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03It actually became a standard piece of kit
0:18:03 > 0:18:06for all Victorian kitchen gardeners.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Since George Stephenson took such care to straighten cucumbers,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I wonder why he didn't apply his attention
0:18:12 > 0:18:14to the twisted spire of Chesterfield?
0:18:14 > 0:18:17That's a very good question, I have absolutely no idea.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20Anne-Marie has brought me
0:18:20 > 0:18:23to Chesterfield's Holy Trinity Church,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25where George Stephenson is buried.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29- So no Westminster Abbey for George Stephenson?- No.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Why was he buried in this church, particularly?
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Holy Trinity was the church that his wife attended
0:18:35 > 0:18:37and she too is buried here.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Is that the only memorial to George Stephenson in this church?
0:18:40 > 0:18:42No, actually, it isn't.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45If you look above, you can see that there's a rather magnificent
0:18:45 > 0:18:48stained glass window which was donated to the church
0:18:48 > 0:18:51by Robert Stephenson in memory of his father.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53And if you look carefully,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56you can see the "S" for Stephenson quite clearly.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00It's very touching that it was given by the son.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Robert and George Stephenson are comparable geniuses,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07but George Stephenson began without the benefit of any education.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Bradshaw's devotes a lot of space to Chatsworth, which it describes as
0:19:16 > 0:19:22"the splendid seat of the Duke of Devonshire, ten miles from Chesterfield station."
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Since there's no station closer,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27for once, I'm going to have to take a taxi.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Having begun my journey investigating the squalid existence
0:19:33 > 0:19:36of Manchester's 19th-century mill workers,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41I'm concluding it at the other end of the Victorian social spectrum.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Chatsworth has been passed down through 16 generations
0:19:50 > 0:19:52of the Cavendish family.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57Its architecture and collection of art have developed over 500 years.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Bradshaw's has led me to this point,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05says "The best view of the house is from a point near the bridge
0:20:05 > 0:20:12"and Queen Mary's Bower, where the old hunting tower is seen on the hill."
0:20:12 > 0:20:18And yes, this is a fantastic vista. One of the finest houses ever built.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21Magnificent and beautiful.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29The first Duke completed this Baroque palace in 1707.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It stands in the wilds of Derbyshire
0:20:32 > 0:20:35and glows in its warm, buff-coloured stone.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39In the 19th century, the sixth Duke built the north wing
0:20:39 > 0:20:41and a sculpture gallery.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45He added priceless works
0:20:45 > 0:20:48to the family's already glorious collection of great masters.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Today it's curated by Matthew Hirst.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56- Matthew, hello.- Hello, Michael.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59My Bradshaw's is from the middle 1860s.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02What recent changes would there have been to the house
0:21:02 > 0:21:04just before the guide was written?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Well, quite substantial changes, actually,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10because in the 19th century, the sixth Duke of Devonshire
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and the Bachelor Duke, as we call him,
0:21:14 > 0:21:15kept the Baroque house,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19but built an enormous wing to the north, really for two reasons.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22He was a great art collector and a great bibliophile,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26so he needed space for his ever-growing library,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28his new collection of sculpture.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31He was a man of many different interests
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and was very much at the apex of the social scene at the time.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38He entertained Princess Victoria
0:21:38 > 0:21:42in 1832 and then she came back again in 1846.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47So it was a constant scene of high society and lavish entertaining.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Bradshaw's tells me
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"The house may be seen daily from 11 to 5.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57"Parties are let in by turns. Apply early if you want to save time."
0:21:57 > 0:22:00So, apparently even by the middle 19th century,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02this was a magnet for tourists?
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Definitely. With the arrival of the railways,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07that was made considerably easier.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09By 1849 in the summer
0:22:09 > 0:22:12we were getting 80,000 visitors a year,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16which is staggering when you think about what that means
0:22:16 > 0:22:18in the 19th century.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Was this superb dining room created by the sixth Duke?
0:22:34 > 0:22:37It was, this was finished in 1832,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41just in time for Princess Victoria's visit,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46and she dined at this table for the first time in adult company.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48And this is the room the sixth Duke referred to
0:22:48 > 0:22:51as being like dining in a great treasure chest.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I think you can see that with the vaults,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57as if it were about to be opened like a lid.
0:22:57 > 0:22:58Magnificent barrel ceiling.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05As well as portraits by old masters like Thomas Gainsborough,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10Chatsworth's art collection includes the exceptional sculpture gallery,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13augmented by the sixth Duke's acquisition of pieces
0:23:13 > 0:23:17by the 19th century Venetian sculpture, Antonio Canova.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24This sculpture gallery really is beautiful, isn't it? Bradshaw's says
0:23:24 > 0:23:28"It's extremely rich in original works, cast busts, marble tables."
0:23:28 > 0:23:32"Amongst others are Napoleon's mother, Madame Mere, as she was called,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35"and Canova's large bust of Napoleon."
0:23:35 > 0:23:39We know the sixth Duke was very passionate about Canova's work,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43so much so that the giant bust of Napoleon,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47when Candover died, the sixth Duke was so desperate to acquire it
0:23:47 > 0:23:51that he immediately started to organise its acquisition.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Napoleon looking...almost like a Roman emperor.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00The sixth Duke also played close attention
0:24:00 > 0:24:01to the grounds of the house.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06In 1826, the work of a young gardener near his property in Chiswick
0:24:06 > 0:24:08impressed the Duke of Devonshire
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and he appointed Joseph Paxton head gardener at Chatsworth
0:24:12 > 0:24:13at the age of 23.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19As soon as you set foot outside Chatsworth, it becomes clear
0:24:19 > 0:24:21that the house is one of two wonders,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23the other being the gardens.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Bradshaw's tells me of the work of Sir Joseph Paxton,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29the late duke's celebrated gardener.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32And I suspect these wonderful glasshouses
0:24:32 > 0:24:33are just part of his work.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38The present incumbent of Paxton's post
0:24:38 > 0:24:42is head of gardens and landscape, Steve Porter.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44What kind of man was Joseph Paxton?
0:24:44 > 0:24:47He was an amazing guy, amazingly driven.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49The story of his first day here just describes it perfectly.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53He caught the coach from London to Chesterfield, arriving at 4.30am.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55He then walked the 12 miles to Chatsworth,
0:24:55 > 0:24:57climbing over the garden wall when he arrived
0:24:57 > 0:24:59to be able to look round the garden
0:24:59 > 0:25:00and see exactly what he was taking on
0:25:00 > 0:25:02before coming back to the main house
0:25:02 > 0:25:05to meet the housekeeper and have breakfast with the housekeeper.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08He also met the housekeeper's niece, who he fell in love with
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and she fell in love with him and they got married a year later.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13That is an amazing story.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16So, was the transformation of the garden as thorough
0:25:16 > 0:25:18as the transformation of the house under the sixth Duke?
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Yeah, absolutely. Paxton came along
0:25:20 > 0:25:22and really laid out the garden as you see it today,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24so most of the paths, most of the features,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26certainly the glasshouses are all from that period.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29So, a very important time for the garden.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35Paxton achieved fame when his grand Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park
0:25:35 > 0:25:38housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40It took 2000 men eight months
0:25:40 > 0:25:44to build the innovative design in glass and cast iron.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48And it was based upon his grand conservatory at Chatsworth.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51So, Steve, it was here that the grand conservatory stood.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Bradshaw's says "It was 300 foot long and 65 foot high."
0:25:54 > 0:25:57- It must have been astonishing? - Absolutely.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00It was the biggest freestanding glasshouse in the world at the time
0:26:00 > 0:26:01when it was built in 1836,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04so before the Palm House at Kew and those sort of buildings.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06He'd been playing with smaller glass houses,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08trying out different systems of glazing and construction,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and designed this amazing spectacle full of exotic plants
0:26:11 > 0:26:13most people wouldn't have seen before.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16- I can't help noticing it's not here any more?- Sadly not.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19No, during the First World War, it fell into disrepair.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It was a constant case of painting it as well.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24So sadly, in 1920, it was actually blown up.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Leaving us with a maze.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Now, in a moment, you're going to need this.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42LAUGHTER
0:26:42 > 0:26:43What for?
0:26:43 > 0:26:47This is the key to Paxton's greatest engineering feat at Chatsworth,
0:26:47 > 0:26:48the Emperor Fountain.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Designed for a visit by Tzar Nicholas I.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55When they turned it on in the early 1840s it went up to 296 feet high,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57which was the tallest gravity-fed fountain in the world.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Unfortunately, Tsar Nicholas I never made it to Chatsworth,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03so he never saw his fountain that they created for him.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05I just need to locate this.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08This is the biggest key I've ever turned.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Whoa!
0:27:13 > 0:27:15For all my years in politics,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18I never produced as big an impact as that!
0:27:24 > 0:27:26No journey could be longer
0:27:26 > 0:27:30than from the Victorian Manchester slum where I began
0:27:30 > 0:27:33to the grandeur of Chatsworth, where I end.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Victorian society was characterised by extremes of poverty and wealth,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40but also by social mobility.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45The self-made man could win as much respect as a duke,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49and there was no finer example of that than George Stephenson,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51the Father of the Railways.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56On my next adventure, I discover an underground warehouse
0:27:56 > 0:27:58that once served the Empire.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01So this was for the storage of beer, was it?
0:28:01 > 0:28:05It's an amazing labyrinth, it goes on and on and on.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07I hear about the millionaire eccentric
0:28:07 > 0:28:09whose home was an exotic museum.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12He would be seen driving around with his four zebras?
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Both here and also Piccadilly in London.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20And I visit the line where the railway's age of innocence ended.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23There's quite a big gang, 15 guys, and they formed a human chain
0:28:23 > 0:28:26down this embankment and passed the mailbag stand.
0:28:26 > 0:28:282.6 million in 120 mailbags.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd