0:00:03 > 0:00:08'For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10'At a time when railways were new,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14'Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.'
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand
0:00:18 > 0:00:20how trains transformed Britain.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Its landscape, its industries,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25society and leisure time.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29As I crisscross the country 150 years later,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I'm in the historic county of East Yorkshire,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01continuing my journey towards Lindisfarne.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Building a bridge or tunnel across the mighty Humber estuary
0:01:04 > 0:01:07defied even Victorian engineers.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09But on this part of my journey,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14I hope to learn about 19th-century figures of religious conviction
0:01:14 > 0:01:17who toiled to tear down injustices
0:01:17 > 0:01:19and to construct the rights of man.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29My journey started in a significant centre of the Industrial Revolution,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31continued on to Nottinghamshire
0:01:31 > 0:01:33and wended its way to Wakefield.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37It will now bear east to skirt a vast estuary
0:01:37 > 0:01:41and turn back inland to be tempted in Yorkshire's county town.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Then it will then head up the coast
0:01:43 > 0:01:45to the industrial cities of the north,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47to end on Northumberland's Holy Island.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Today's leg begins in Hessle, on the north bank of the Humber,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54makes a short hop to Hull,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57learns the tale of a bandit in Beverley,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59then takes in the sea air at Scarborough
0:01:59 > 0:02:01and finishes with the sweet treats of York.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06On this stretch, I step inside
0:02:06 > 0:02:09a record-breaking feat of engineering.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Douglas, you people built a bridge on an extraordinary scale.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15This is a massive chamber.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Learn of the conditions endured by a prisoner of conscience.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The soldiers stole his bread and his water.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23He was treated something like an animal in a zoo.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26And brew up a Quaker-approved Victorian cuppa.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Well, it looks as appetising as mud.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40Bradshaw's tells me that,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43"the River Humber, the main estuary into which the Ouse
0:02:43 > 0:02:46"and the Yorkshire streams with the Trent flow,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50"is here two-miles broad and widens to five or six miles
0:02:50 > 0:02:53"before it joins the sea.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56"The eastern portion of this elevated district
0:02:56 > 0:03:00"commands a magnificent view of that vast estuary."
0:03:00 > 0:03:04I wonder why it was that the Victorians, who conquered the Dee,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07the Firth of Forth and the Severn,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09were unable to master the Humber?
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Covering an area of over 75,000 acres,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19this is a tidal estuary on an epic scale.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22For the Victorians, it formed a barrier
0:03:22 > 0:03:25to effective trade and communication
0:03:25 > 0:03:28and they campaigned hard to have something done about it.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34But it wasn't until over 100 years later in 1973
0:03:34 > 0:03:37that construction began on the extraordinary structure
0:03:37 > 0:03:40that was finally to span the Humber's huge expanse.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46'I'm hopping out at Hessle,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49'which is a small town on the north bank of the estuary,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51'and the closest stop to the magnificent bridge.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57'With a dramatic view of it at the water's edge,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00'I'm joining regional historian, Richard Clarke.'
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Now, if I know my Victorians, they must have been itching
0:04:05 > 0:04:08to build a crossing, either a bridge or a tunnel across the Humber.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10There were schemes being talked about
0:04:10 > 0:04:14from the railway-mania age of the 1840s onwards.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17And so, by the late 19th century,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20the idea was to build a cantilever bridge
0:04:20 > 0:04:23and on the principle of the Forth Bridge, a rail bridge,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26but the cantilever bridge would've needed
0:04:26 > 0:04:29a lot of pillars into the bed of the estuary.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33And, of course, we have to remember that the time we're talking about,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37100 years ago, or so, this estuary would've had many,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41many more craft on it crisscrossing out to the North Sea.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45And so these pillars were always perceived
0:04:45 > 0:04:48to be a potential hazard to navigation.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Now, evidently, you did eventually get a bridge.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53- Yes.- How did that come about?
0:04:53 > 0:04:58Once you had the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
0:04:58 > 0:05:03and examples like that of a very wide-span suspension bridge,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05it was realised that it was physically possible
0:05:05 > 0:05:09to bridge the Humber without having all these pillars.
0:05:12 > 0:05:13By the time work began
0:05:13 > 0:05:16on the long-awaited bridge in the early 1970s,
0:05:16 > 0:05:21the ascendancy of the car had put pay to Victorian dreams
0:05:21 > 0:05:24of a bridge for both railway and road.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29In 1981, when finally opened by Queen Elizabeth II,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33it was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35And remained so for 17 years,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40until surpassed by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Douglas Strachan spent seven years as resident engineer
0:05:48 > 0:05:49during the bridge's construction.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52And today he's giving me the privilege
0:05:52 > 0:05:55of accessing parts that very few get to see.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Douglas, I take it from the noise
0:06:00 > 0:06:02that we are underneath the traffic crossing the bridge.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Yes. We're in the box girders.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08There are 124 of these boxes,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10and so you can walk from anchorage to anchorage
0:06:10 > 0:06:13through this tunnel of steel boxes.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17The anchorages at either end of a suspension bridge
0:06:17 > 0:06:21secure vast cables slung between the two towers
0:06:21 > 0:06:24to support the load-bearing deck below.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28Although the Victorians did build suspension bridges
0:06:28 > 0:06:29like Brunel's at Clifton,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33they didn't have the technology to span the daunting distance
0:06:33 > 0:06:36between the banks of the Humber.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Later ingenuity unravelled the solution.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Tell me about cable-spinning, which is the essence of this technology.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48We're taking thousands of wires
0:06:48 > 0:06:50five millimetres in diameter
0:06:50 > 0:06:52across the river, back and forward,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55and building up 15,000 parallel wires
0:06:55 > 0:07:00and then compacting them into one round cable.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03To see these cable-spun wires close up,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Douglas is taking me to the anchorage on the north bank,
0:07:06 > 0:07:12constructed from a staggering 160,000 tonnes of concrete.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Douglas, you people built a bridge on an extraordinary scale.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18This is a massive chamber.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20And if I understand it, these are the wires that support
0:07:20 > 0:07:23- the bridge arriving at their anchorage.- Yes.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28And you can see behind me where the round cable is then split up
0:07:28 > 0:07:32into the strands that I've been talking about earlier.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And these wires, what sort of weight are they?
0:07:35 > 0:07:42Well, the cables themselves are about 15,000 tonnes of wire
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and it's 70,000 kilometres in length.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49And that's about one-and-a-half times around the world.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52And so, what is the innovation since Victorian times?
0:07:52 > 0:07:55I suppose it's the stronger materials
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and using the wires are a major step forward.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02And so, cable-spinning was the technology
0:08:02 > 0:08:04that enabled 20th-century engineers
0:08:04 > 0:08:07to do what Victorians had not been able to achieve?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Exactly.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15'Continuing my journey, I'm going to make a short trip
0:08:15 > 0:08:16'further east along the Humber
0:08:16 > 0:08:18'by re-boarding the train at Hessle.'
0:08:22 > 0:08:25My next stop is Kingston upon Hull.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Bradshaw says that it's, "on the Yorkshire side of the Humber
0:08:28 > 0:08:32"in a very flat and uninviting spot.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35"But it is admirably fitted for trade."
0:08:35 > 0:08:39To our national disgrace, well into the 19th century,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42part of British trade involved a triangle
0:08:42 > 0:08:45that carried rum and sugar from the Caribbean to Europe,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48brandy and guns from Europe to Africa
0:08:48 > 0:08:52and cargoes of slaves from Africa to the Caribbean.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Situated 25 miles from the North Sea,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01where the River Hull meets the Humber,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Kingston upon Hull, from the 12th century,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07grew as a significant trading and seafaring hub.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14I love the station at Kingston upon Hull
0:09:14 > 0:09:16with its massive spans of glass.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18It's the end of the line
0:09:18 > 0:09:20and the station has a way of saying to you,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22"Why would you want to go any further, anyway?"
0:09:25 > 0:09:30'One man with firmly-rooted local loyalties was William Wilberforce.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34'Fervent social reformer and perhaps the city's most famous son.'
0:09:38 > 0:09:40"The African slave trade is contrary
0:09:40 > 0:09:45"to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy."
0:09:45 > 0:09:47So begins the Act of Parliament
0:09:47 > 0:09:50carried by William Wilberforce in 1807.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53And here stands his column, which, according to Bradshaw's,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"was erected on 1st August, 1834,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"the day of Negro emancipation.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04"Wilberforce was born in Hull and died in 1833.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07"But not until he had the happiness
0:10:07 > 0:10:11"of knowing that the great work of his useful life was achieved."
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The abolition of the slave trade and then of slavery itself
0:10:15 > 0:10:18was the work of many decades
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and I'm here in Hull to meet an old colleague
0:10:21 > 0:10:25who well understands the tribulations of fighting
0:10:25 > 0:10:26a reluctant parliament.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34Born here in 1759 to a wealthy merchant family,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Wilberforce was just 20 when he entered politics.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44His childhood home was opened as a museum in 1906
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and that's where I'm meeting one of his successors as a Hull MP,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Alan Johnson, who also happens to be
0:10:50 > 0:10:54a regular on-screen political sparring partner of mine.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59- Alan.- Michael.- Good to see you. - Welcome to Hull.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Thank you very much and here we are with the great man.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03The great man himself.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04Is he a hero of yours?
0:11:04 > 0:11:07He is and he's a hero to the city.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12The reason that not a single slave was traded through the port of Hull
0:11:12 > 0:11:14was because of Wilberforce.
0:11:14 > 0:11:20He is probably the greatest person ever born in this city.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Now, the abolition of the slave trade was a long old process,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28so Wilberforce had to show a lot of commitment to it.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Yes, and from a very young age.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Everyone was against opposition to the slave trade, virtually.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It was a crucial part of the British economy,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41so it was like trying to abolish the automotive industry today.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44I read that at the height of the slave trade,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46it was 80% of Britain's foreign earnings
0:11:46 > 0:11:48and that's what Wilberforce was fighting against.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51We all like to have done something, made a difference.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Wilberforce, above any other person sitting on the back benches
0:11:54 > 0:11:56of Parliament over these hundreds of years,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58can truly say he did that.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00I think he had a moment of conversion, didn't he?
0:12:00 > 0:12:03He did. He was a bit of a lad, was William. He liked his drinking,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06he liked his gambling and then had this moment of conversion
0:12:06 > 0:12:10when he decided that he would dedicate his life to greater,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12more Christian, more moral purposes
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and he did that for the rest of his life
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and brought all the different religions together in this city.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22For 30 years before Queen Victoria ascended the throne,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24the Royal Navy patrolled the Atlantic,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28stopping any ships suspected of what Parliament had decreed
0:12:28 > 0:12:30an illegal trade.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Does the spirit of Wilberforce live on in Kingston upon Hull today?
0:12:36 > 0:12:39It does. We have the Wilberforce Institute,
0:12:39 > 0:12:44which is probably the world's leading expert in modern-day slavery.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Desmond Tutu is its patron and one of its founders
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and Hull is in the lead in monitoring
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and trying to do something about modern-day slavery,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59because there are still 20-26 million people being traded for slavery,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02for prostitution, children being traded for mining
0:13:02 > 0:13:07all kinds of dangerous substances - it still goes on to this day.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Might William Wilberforce be dismayed that 200 years
0:13:10 > 0:13:12after his achievement, we're discussing slavery again.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13He would be dismayed,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17but it doesn't detract one iota from his great achievement.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21We need the spirit of Wilberforce to reawaken to actually deal
0:13:21 > 0:13:26with modern slavery and I think if we do that, we do the great man justice.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34After a long but very inspiring day,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37I'm getting back on the train at the beautiful Hull Station
0:13:37 > 0:13:40to find a handy place to rest
0:13:40 > 0:13:43by wending my way north through the Yorkshire Wolds.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52My next stop, Beverley, has, according to my guide book,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54"a noble minster,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58"built on the spot where St John of Beverley was buried,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00"whose standard was carried by King Edward I
0:14:00 > 0:14:05"in his invasion of Scotland to encourage his soldiers."
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Those men stood and delivered,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11which was the command given in a different context by highwaymen.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Intriguingly,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19the establishment where I'm planning to rest my head for the night
0:14:19 > 0:14:22has a connection to those infamous outlaws.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27This former coaching inn played host
0:14:27 > 0:14:30to one particularly notorious 18th-century bandit.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I'm meeting up with manager Mark Coubrough to find out more.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Well, now, the Beverley Arms is the only place
0:14:38 > 0:14:43in my Bradshaw's Guide that is recommended, so here I am.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46But I think it has a story to do with highwaymen, doesn't it?
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Yes, I believe Dick Turpin stayed here at the hotel
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and apparently checked in under an alias of the name Mr Palmer.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55During the course of his stay,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57there was an altercation with the landlord,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59due to the landlord's cockerel making all these noises
0:14:59 > 0:15:01in the early hours of the morning,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04at which point, our Mr Palmer turns around
0:15:04 > 0:15:06and shoots the landlord's cockerel,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09so the landlord gets the constabulary involved,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12who come and promptly arrest our Mr Palmer.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Mr Palmer, while sat in the Beverley jails,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17decides he'll write to his brother
0:15:17 > 0:15:19and ask for a sixpence to be able to get him out of prison.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Unfortunately, the postmaster is his headmaster from school,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25recognises his handwriting,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29then gets in touch with the Beverley constabulary and says,
0:15:29 > 0:15:30"You've not arrested a Mr Palmer.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33"You've actually arrested THE Dick Turpin."
0:15:33 > 0:15:37So when they did realise they had the famous highwayman Dick Turpin,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39what was his fate?
0:15:39 > 0:15:42At that point, I think the magistrates got together
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and said, "You know what, we'll get a much bigger audience
0:15:45 > 0:15:46"if we send him to York,"
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and that's where they eventually hung him
0:15:49 > 0:15:52and did all the ghastly things that they needed to do to him.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Well, I hope it's not the fate of everyone
0:15:55 > 0:15:57- who hangs out at The Beverley Arms. - I hope not! No.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Well, after a thankfully uneventful night
0:16:09 > 0:16:13without even so much as a cockerel to interrupt my sleep,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I've just enough time before I depart on my journey
0:16:16 > 0:16:19to take in the town's most famous landmark.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25According to my guide book, Beverley Minister is 333 feet long
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and I can well believe it.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31On this trip, I have seen some superb ecclesiastical buildings
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and it's a reminder that for most of the last 2,000 years,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39religion mattered to us much more than anything else.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45To reach my first destination of the day,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49I'm continuing north from Beverley and heading for the coast.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57I'll be leaving the train at Scarborough,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00about which Bradshaw's is enthusiastic.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04"Its situation is extremely beautiful and romantic,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07"being on the recess of a fine, open bay
0:17:07 > 0:17:10"and the town consists of several spacious streets
0:17:10 > 0:17:15"of handsome, well-built houses rising in successive tiers
0:17:15 > 0:17:19"from the shore in the form of an amphitheatre."
0:17:19 > 0:17:23But I'm going there to hear about one who was a prisoner of conscience
0:17:23 > 0:17:25and who might be forgiven, therefore,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29for not having very happy memories of Scarborough.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Tickets and passes, please.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Thank you very much, love.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36I'm on my way to Scarborough.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39- Does Scarborough still attract a lot of holidaymakers?- Yes.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42They go off into Scarborough for day trips and everything.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44- And they're carrying picnic baskets? - Yeah, everything.
0:17:44 > 0:17:45We're always busy.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48It's always nice to see all the kids being energetic and excited.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51When they're coming back, they're great, cos they're tired,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and they're quiet on the train. Going there, they're loud.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The immense popularity of this buoyant beachside town
0:18:00 > 0:18:05really took hold in 1845 when the Scarborough to York railway opened
0:18:05 > 0:18:09and brought with it waves of Victorian tourists.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12One of the attractions they flocked to
0:18:12 > 0:18:15was the town's evocative 12th-century castle.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Built by a succession of medieval kings,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24this royal fortress endured countless attacks.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28In the middle of the 17th century,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30it served briefly as a prison
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and it's that period of the castle's history that interests me.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38What a wonderful view.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Bradshaw's tells me that,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42"Scarborough Castle crowns a precipitous rock
0:18:42 > 0:18:45"about 300 feet above the waters.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50"As this old feudal stronghold looks down upon the sea on one side,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53"it has the town of Scarborough stretched below it.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58"In 1666 George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"was imprisoned in the castle,"
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and so here we find the beauty of nature
0:19:04 > 0:19:09and the ugliness of the conflicts of man in the name of God.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Born in 1624,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15George Fox had a radical approach to Christianity
0:19:15 > 0:19:20that gained him popularity and persecution in equal measure.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Society of Friends members, known as Quakers,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26relied on conscience as the basis of morality
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and believed in the equality of men and women.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Many of the slave trade abolitionists
0:19:33 > 0:19:37who joined William Wilberforce's campaign were Quakers.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So was George Bradshaw, so I can imagine this Scarborough site
0:19:41 > 0:19:43would have been significant for him.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Rachael Holland is an historic properties steward,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51who I'm hoping will offer some more details
0:19:51 > 0:19:55on how George Fox came to be incarcerated here.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57What, as far as you know, was his crime?
0:19:57 > 0:19:59As far as I'm aware, his main crime was refusing to swear
0:19:59 > 0:20:01an oath of allegiance to Charles II.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05At this point, we've just finished the Civil War, Cromwell's just died,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09and we now have the Restoration. Charles II is now in power,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12but this is a time when religion and politics
0:20:12 > 0:20:13were very closely intertwined
0:20:13 > 0:20:16so for George Fox to be refusing to swear allegiance to the king
0:20:16 > 0:20:20and refusing to swear any allegiance to any sort of physical church,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22it was seen as being very subversive.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25What was Fox's objection to swearing an oath?
0:20:25 > 0:20:30Basically, he says in his diaries that any hypocrite can swear an oath.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33He says that loyalty is proven by deeds, not by words
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and at that time, when everybody has already sworn one oath,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38saying that they would uphold Cromwell's rule
0:20:38 > 0:20:39and then to turn around and say,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"No, actually we are going to swear an oath to Charles,"
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I can see where George Fox was coming from.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Their unconventional views
0:20:47 > 0:20:50enraged the religious and political establishment
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and between 1662 and 1670,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57as many as 6,000 Quakers found themselves in jail.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Fox's spell at Scarborough Castle
0:20:59 > 0:21:04was just one of eight prison sentences that he endured.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Rachael, I am trying to imagine the conditions of Fox's imprisonment.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Bradshaw's tells me that Fox speaks
0:21:12 > 0:21:15of three different rooms that he successively occupied,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19and "one of them faced the sea, and laying much open,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22"the wind drove in the rain forcibly,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25"so that water came over his head and ran about the room
0:21:25 > 0:21:29"so that he was fain to skim it up with a platter."
0:21:29 > 0:21:31Terrible conditions.
0:21:31 > 0:21:32Very terrible conditions.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I believe as well that that was the last room that he was held in,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38which many sources believe to be Cockhill Tower,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40which he called "Purgatory".
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Prolonged exposure to the elements caused Fox's fingers to swell
0:21:45 > 0:21:49to double their size and his health suffered greatly,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51but his faith never faltered.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55In 1666, he was released from Scarborough Castle
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and by the time of his death in 1691,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01the Quaker movement had more than 50,000 followers.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04How was he treated by those who were given charge of him?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06It was atrocious.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08The soldiers stole his bread and his water,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10but worse was the fact that he was treated
0:22:10 > 0:22:12something like an animal in a zoo.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14They gawked at him, he says in his diaries,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and they tried to convert him back to the standard faith at the time,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19but it seems that he converted more of them than they did of him.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22I'd never thought of 16 months in Scarborough
0:22:22 > 0:22:24as being the ultimate test of faith
0:22:27 > 0:22:29My time here is measured in minutes,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31because I have a train to catch,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35taking me west to the final destination of today's journey,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38which also has a Quaker connection.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40SHE BLOWS WHISTLE
0:22:47 > 0:22:49My next stop is what Bradshaw's calls
0:22:49 > 0:22:53"the ancient capital of York and seat of the Primate of England.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56"Situated at the junction of the three Ridings of Yorkshire
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"on the River Ouse.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01"Boots, shoes, combs and confectionary
0:23:01 > 0:23:03"are the chief articles made here."
0:23:03 > 0:23:05The men of chocolate, Joseph Rowntree -
0:23:05 > 0:23:07who was a Quaker like George Bradshaw -
0:23:07 > 0:23:11and Joseph Terry, have left sweet memories in York.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Its prime position on the rivers Ouse and Foss gave York easy access
0:23:19 > 0:23:23to imported goods, including sugar and cocoa beans,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25while the fertile Vale of York
0:23:25 > 0:23:28provided many other essential confectionery ingredients.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34When York also became a railway hub in the 19th century,
0:23:34 > 0:23:39it had the perfect recipe for a lucrative sweet-making industry.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47I'm here to meet Alex Hutchinson, who's the historian and archivist
0:23:47 > 0:23:50for one of the companies that took full advantage.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Here we are surveying the vast estate that was Rowntree's.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57How did this enormous business begin?
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Well, in 1862, Henry Isaac Rowntree took over a local cocoa business
0:24:01 > 0:24:04and he didn't do a very good job. His brother Joseph came to help him
0:24:04 > 0:24:06and he turned it from a drinking cocoa business
0:24:06 > 0:24:09into the huge sweet factory we know today.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12That drinking cocoa, what was it like? Was it a good product?
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Their first cocoa would have been quite unpalatable.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17It was seen as a health food.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20They were using very, very primitive manufacturing methods,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22so it would have been quite astringent and gritty.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Quakers are strongly associated with chocolate making.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29- Why?- In 1860, we passed a law, the Food and Drugs Act,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32which prevented people from putting anything poisonous
0:24:32 > 0:24:33or hazardous into food.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Before that you could put in anything you liked
0:24:35 > 0:24:37and so people tended to trust Quakers
0:24:37 > 0:24:40if they were buying food. and with chocolate you would sometimes get
0:24:40 > 0:24:44unscrupulous chocolate makers adding wax or paint. But a Quaker? Never.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50At its peak, Rowntree's employed 14,000 people.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54As Quakers given to philanthropy and social reform,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58they built a public library, park and theatre for their workers,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00and also created a model village,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03providing affordable and decent homes
0:25:03 > 0:25:05as an alternative to inner-city slums.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Known as New Earswick,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14the village was built to include plenty of green space,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16its own village hall...
0:25:16 > 0:25:20but no pub, and it remains dry to this day.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23There were three things that the Rowntrees really objected to,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26which they called "concrete forms of sin"
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and that was alcoholism, priestcraft and Toryism.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32- Ah, in ascending order.- Yes.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36When the entrepreneurial Joseph stepped in to help his brother,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40he set about expanding and modernising the company's output.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43He developed a range of chocolate products
0:25:43 > 0:25:47and his masterstroke was hiring a Frenchman to make fruit pastilles,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50a trade dominated by the French.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Today, in the factory's development kitchen,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I'm going back to where it all began...
0:25:55 > 0:25:57So we have the cocoa beans,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00which are roasted and ground down into cocoa nibs.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02..by helping head confectioner Vicky Geal
0:26:02 > 0:26:06to try to replicate that original 1860s cocoa recipe.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07Start grinding.
0:26:07 > 0:26:08I'm just grinding these down,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11- trying to get them into a powder, am I?- Yep.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13This takes quite a lot of effort, doesn't it?
0:26:13 > 0:26:16It does, it's very labour intensive, which is why we're glad now
0:26:16 > 0:26:18we've got the machinery to be able to do this
0:26:18 > 0:26:19instead of doing it by hand.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20You didn't tell me that!
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Right, whoa!
0:26:25 > 0:26:29What we need to do now is add your Icelandic moss.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30Icelandic moss?
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Why would you add moss?
0:26:32 > 0:26:37In the 1860s, the Rowntrees added a kind of lichen called Icelandic moss
0:26:37 > 0:26:40to their cocoa to improve the health benefits, also to absorb the fat.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Er...eurgh!
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Bitter aftertaste.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47For teetotal Quakers like the Rowntrees,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50cocoa was a wholesome alternative to the alcoholic drinks
0:26:50 > 0:26:54which they blamed for many of society's ills.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Well, it looks as appetising as mud.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00How does it taste?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03It's full of bits, but I don't know.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05If you were a Victorian, it'd be new.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07You'd probably be willing to pay for that.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09If you thought it was doing you some good...
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Yeah, well, it tastes bad enough
0:27:11 > 0:27:13that you would think it was doing you some good.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Finishing today's journey with a nourishing Victorian elixir
0:27:17 > 0:27:22seems rather fitting...even if it was a little lumpy and bitter.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25During the course of my travels with Bradshaw's,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28I've discovered how much we owe the Victorians
0:27:28 > 0:27:30for our physical environment -
0:27:30 > 0:27:34our railway network, our sewers, even our parliament in London,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39but we also inherited many of their values.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42By degrees, they built our parliamentary democracy,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46abolished slavery and child labour, universalised education,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50hugely enlarging the rights of man.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52The rights of women, however,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54in particular the right to vote,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57were left over to be dealt with in the 20th century.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Next time, I'll feel the heat of a Victorian furnace...
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Look at that, a nice little flambe for us.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14..learn how investigative journalism was born...
0:28:14 > 0:28:17He built the devil up, and just like any good newspaper man,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20he took great delight in knocking the devil down.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25..and hear how a remarkable Bible survived down the centuries.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29- It's quite a large book to lose, actually.- It certainly is!