0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide
0:00:17 > 0:00:21to understand how trains transformed Britain -
0:00:21 > 0:00:26its landscape, its industry, society and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30As I crisscross the country 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:53 > 0:00:59Britain's industrial heartland is far behind me as I travel south,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03discovering some of the great Victorian ideas and innovations
0:01:03 > 0:01:08that swept aside the old order and ushered in the modern age.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18My route, which began in Birmingham, now arrives in South West England,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23where I'll be visiting ancient ports and sacred sites
0:01:23 > 0:01:27before ending up in one of Britain's most glorious national parks.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33This fourth leg begins in Bristol, moves up to Avonmouth
0:01:33 > 0:01:35and turns south to Nailsea
0:01:35 > 0:01:39before ending up at Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41On this part of the journey,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44I enter the foul smelling world of a Victorian tannery.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I find myself well out of my comfort zone here.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49- Is it dangerous? - It's pretty dangerous.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50HE LAUGHS
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Soak up the splendour of one of Britain's finest Gothic mansions.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Ha, a gentleman's library indeed.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01And get in touch with my spiritual side in Glastonbury.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04- Stay bright. - Yeah, absolutely, and you.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Birmingham seems far behind me as I approach the county of Somerset.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20Bradshaw's tells me that,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23"The county, from its favourable climate and soil,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28"stands very high in reputation for agricultural and rural produce."
0:02:28 > 0:02:31And amongst those products were farm animals,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36of which we make use of every part, from heart to soul.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43Bristol, from the Middle Ages to the 18th century,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46was one of the three most prosperous cities in England
0:02:46 > 0:02:48thanks to its seafaring links,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52and my guidebook points out its fine historic buildings.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00By the 19th century, the population was expanding rapidly
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and Bristol, like any other Victorian city,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06was blighted by dirt and disease.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14A major contribution came from the 60 or so tanneries
0:03:14 > 0:03:16that surrounded the city.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Necessary providers of leather for the new industries
0:03:19 > 0:03:21but filthy and unhealthy.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Thomas Ware and Son was founded in 1840,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and I'm heading there to meet Barry Knight,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32who has 30 years of experience in the business.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37I find myself, Barry, well out of my comfort zone here.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40An extraordinary sight all these pits filled with goodness knows what
0:03:40 > 0:03:42and, I have to say, a terrible stench.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43What's going on here?
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Well, we're taking domestic cattle hides
0:03:45 > 0:03:47that have come from Somerset.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49They've come to us packed in salt,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51and then we need to remove the salt
0:03:51 > 0:03:53and put them through a series of pits...
0:03:53 > 0:03:56And I'm just smelling the natural smell of cow, am I?
0:03:56 > 0:04:00This is a fatty animal smell basically, but a lot of the smells
0:04:00 > 0:04:02are chemicals that are coming from the pits.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04What chemicals are you putting in those pits?
0:04:04 > 0:04:06It's largely lime, slaked lime,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08that have come out of lime kilns from close by in Somerset
0:04:08 > 0:04:12and the slaked lime turns into hydrated lime.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15It's going to loosen the hair and open the fibre structure
0:04:15 > 0:04:18in such a way that we can actually tan the leather in a later stage.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Is this process very different
0:04:20 > 0:04:22from what one would have seen 150 years ago?
0:04:22 > 0:04:27If a tanner was to come back from 150 years ago, 500 years ago,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30he would instantly recognise everything that's going off here.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33You're obviously doing something very traditional here.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34How rare is that?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Well, we've gone from about 6,000 heavy-leather tanners in the UK
0:04:38 > 0:04:40since World War II,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42but unfortunately, there's only three of us left
0:04:42 > 0:04:44doing traditional methods.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46What's the difference between traditional
0:04:46 > 0:04:47and whatever the modern method is then?
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Well, traditional, by that I mean it's vegetable-tanned leather.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And basically, it's a long, slow process -
0:04:55 > 0:04:57three to four months would be typical.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00The more commercial tanneries would be turning leather over
0:05:00 > 0:05:03in three, four, five, maybe ten days, start to finish.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07One natural ingredient that played a key role
0:05:07 > 0:05:10in traditional leather tanning was dog dirt,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12which was collected from the local hunt kennels
0:05:12 > 0:05:14and added in with the lime.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19The enzymes that it contained helped to flatten the hides
0:05:19 > 0:05:20and make them more pliable.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Do you yourself remember using dog dirt?
0:05:24 > 0:05:27No, I don't, but when I first came into the industry,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32I was working alongside some of the old guys who were using dog dirt.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34They told me it stopped them from biting their fingernails.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40After the hides were removed from this noxious cocktail,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45they were scraped clean of hair, a job which is now done by machine.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Next, it's through to the tanning area,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50where the preservation of the leather takes place.
0:05:52 > 0:05:53What a vast space, Barry.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55What part of the process have we reached now?
0:05:55 > 0:05:57What are you doing to the pelts?
0:05:57 > 0:06:00All of the pits have got vegetable matter inside them.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The vegetable matter will actually penetrate into the hide structure
0:06:04 > 0:06:06and it'll change the chemical composition.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08And once it's tanned through,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11it's almost impossible for the leather to rot or decay.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13So it's a permanent means of preservation.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17What is going on in all of these pits?
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Well, there's 320 pits.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22There's two separate parts of the yard
0:06:22 > 0:06:24but each has got a slight slope,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26so the hides will come into the first bit for one day
0:06:26 > 0:06:28and we pull the hide into the next bit on the second day
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and so on and so on as it goes down.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33It's a countercurrent system, so the hide will travel one way
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and the liquors, fed by gravity, travel the other way.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38And what are the liquors?
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The liquors, basically it's extract from the vegetable matter.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45So, the main tanning ingredients are mimosa, which is an acacia tree.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48We have chestnut, obviously you know what a chestnut tree is.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51There's quebracho, which is a South American hardwood
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and myrobalan, which is a nut that comes from India.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And is the liquor changing as it goes through these pits?
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Yeah, it becomes weaker
0:07:00 > 0:07:03because the hide is actually drawing up all of the nutrients.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06What do you think conditions would have been like in tanneries,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08say, 150 years ago?
0:07:08 > 0:07:10It must have been grim.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13In winter, it's absolutely freezing cold here.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15In summer, it gets roasting hot.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18The chemicals that we use now, the guys are protected,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20but back then, there were no health and safety.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The hides when they come, they're packed with bacteria,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26it would have been a horrible place.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33In the 19th century, leather was more in demand than ever.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36In a pre-plastic world, it was needed for everything,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41from drive belts for machinery to ladies' shoes and corsetry.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43The railways were big consumers.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46The seats had leather upholstery
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and a thin strip inserted in the window frames
0:07:48 > 0:07:50prevented them from rattling.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54These days, Barry's high-quality product
0:07:54 > 0:07:59goes to make luxury items like saddlery and ladies' handbags.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02And there's nothing to rival leather in a shoe.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Les, can I introduce you to Michael?
0:08:05 > 0:08:07- Hello, Les.- Hello, mate.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08So, obviously, you're cutting out...
0:08:08 > 0:08:10What, these are half soles are they?
0:08:10 > 0:08:13These are half soles for the shoe pair, yeah.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14Any chance I could have a go at that?
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Yes, you can have a go, by all means.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- Is it dangerous? - It's pretty dangerous.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20HE LAUGHS Thank you.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23So, this is obviously a very sharp thing.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Yes, a very sharp knife.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29- And the idea is to maximise the space, yeah?- That's correct.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- Is that looking good? - Yeah, it's fine.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Let's have a go at that.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35- Press here and...- That's it. - ..there we go.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40Have a go at another one.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Put them in tighter, a little bit.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44You don't want to waste anything do you, Les?
0:08:44 > 0:08:46- No, not to waste anything. - There we go.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Upon my soul, I didn't know I was capable of that.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55- Les, thank you very much.- Thank you.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Leaving behind the distinctive Victorian whiff of the tannery,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07I'm heading for the purer air of the old port.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10In the 15th century, the Italian explorer John Cabot
0:09:10 > 0:09:14set sail from here to become the first European to make landfall
0:09:14 > 0:09:16on mainland America.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19During the 18th century,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Bristol was the second busiest harbour in England, after London.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28These days, much of the traffic is made up of tourists
0:09:28 > 0:09:32coming to visit Brunel's mighty iron passenger ship, SS Great Britain.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38"Bristol has from the earliest times been an important seaport
0:09:38 > 0:09:42"from whence old navigators used to start."
0:09:42 > 0:09:45But even by the time of my Bradshaw's Guide,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47the winding river in the centre of the city
0:09:47 > 0:09:51was becoming too small for modern ships that were larger,
0:09:51 > 0:09:56and the solution was new docks closer to the mouth of the Avon.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01'For 2,000 years, give or take a few,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04'ships have been coming to the mouth of the Avon from abroad
0:10:04 > 0:10:09'but not until a mere century ago, to Avonmouth docks.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11'That is the name of the Port of Bristol's front door,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13'the great dock system
0:10:13 > 0:10:16'where the Avon flows into the Bristol Channel.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19'That is where the big ships go, carrying the cargoes of the world.'
0:10:23 > 0:10:26To take a closer look at these docks,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28I've caught the train out to Avonmouth.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34All tickets and passes, please.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37- There we go.- That's great.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Will I get much of a view of the river as I go down?
0:10:39 > 0:10:42For Avonmouth, this side, you will do, yes.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44- Oh, good, good, good. Thanks very much.- OK.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53This six-mile stretch of line was built in 1862
0:10:53 > 0:10:58by the newly-created Bristol Port Railway and Pier Company
0:10:58 > 0:11:01to ferry goods and passengers out to the new docks.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12The man in charge today is Simon Bird.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14- Simon, very good to see you. - Welcome to Avonmouth.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17What were the sorts of changes in ships
0:11:17 > 0:11:19in the middle of the 19th century
0:11:19 > 0:11:23that made it necessary to move them out of the centre of Bristol?
0:11:23 > 0:11:25We saw ships getting larger and as those vessels got larger
0:11:25 > 0:11:28the vessels are unable to go up into Bristol docks.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31As the rise and fall of the tide here between high and low water
0:11:31 > 0:11:32is 15m,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35the vessels needed somewhere safe to berth and secure.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38At low water, the Avon largely dries out.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40And there's a lovely picture, which shows the SS Gypsy,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42which broke her back on a bend in the River Avon
0:11:42 > 0:11:43called Horseshoe Bend.
0:11:43 > 0:11:44She just lost the water,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46she blocked the river entrance for weeks on end,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49which meant ships couldn't go up or come out of Bristol docks
0:11:49 > 0:11:51at that time.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54When the port first opened in 1877,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57much of the cargo arriving at Avonmouth
0:11:57 > 0:12:01came from the West Indies, including sugar, cocoa and tobacco,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03as well as tea.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09By the 1930s, it was also a busy passenger terminal
0:12:09 > 0:12:14for pleasure cruisers to the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Meanwhile, British manufactured goods bound for export
0:12:22 > 0:12:24arrived by rail from all over the country
0:12:24 > 0:12:27within feet of where the ships were tied up.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Well, here, evidently, are some railway tracks
0:12:34 > 0:12:35but no trains, of course.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Sadly, in the 20th century, rail seemed to fall out of fashion,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I think in the country generally, let alone in the port.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43The humble truck is far more flexible,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46has been flexible in moving cargoes around.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49But here we are today, rail is going back into ports.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50And you'll see lots of the major ports,
0:12:50 > 0:12:51Bristol are no exception,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54is increasing its rail infrastructure and links.
0:12:54 > 0:12:55For which trades?
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Our containers are a big user of the rail sector,
0:12:58 > 0:12:59cars will use more and more rail
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and then you look at steel - steel slabs, steel coil.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Now, the Victorians had to take account
0:13:05 > 0:13:08of increasing sizes of vessels and move their port.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Will you, like the Victorians, have to build a new dock, a new port?
0:13:11 > 0:13:12Yes, we are.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Ships just keep getting larger,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16that's been the constant theme in the maritime world.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The current container vessels,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20which are operating from Asia to Europe,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23are 400m long and are 60m wide,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27so we here in Bristol have a project to build a new port facility
0:13:27 > 0:13:29into the estuary, outside the lock entrances.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32By going into the deep water, we're able to accommodate those vessels
0:13:32 > 0:13:33at all states of the tide.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35And so just like the Victorians,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38- the answer is to go further and further out to sea?- Absolutely.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Ingenious and ambitious Victorian engineers
0:13:44 > 0:13:46battled nature and the elements
0:13:46 > 0:13:50to maintain Bristol's position as a major West Coast seaport.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I've arrived back in the city centre, where I'll spend the night.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02But first, I'm heading to the old docks
0:14:02 > 0:14:06to find out about a much earlier and less admirable period
0:14:06 > 0:14:08in Bristol's maritime history.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14The 7 Stars pub, down by the old port,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17is famous thanks to its connections with Thomas Clarkson,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20leading campaigner against the slave trade,
0:14:20 > 0:14:26who between 1787 and 1793 - with the help of the pub landlord -
0:14:26 > 0:14:31risked his life to expose the true horrors of the trade in human beings.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Present-day landlord Steve Smith is well versed in the story.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Now, slaves weren't actually passing through the city of Bristol,
0:14:41 > 0:14:42were they?
0:14:42 > 0:14:47No. It was a triangle, a trading triangle, if you like.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51So, the ships would leave here, go to West Africa,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53and they'd pick the slaves up to the Caribbean
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and later on, the eastern seaboard of the States,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and then they would bring back to Bristol
0:14:59 > 0:15:04the cargo they picked up there - sugar, molasses, tobacco.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07So, the vessels, the crews, the captains that were in Bristol,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09they were part of the slave trade?
0:15:09 > 0:15:12And the merchants that ran it were the merchants of Bristol.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16What role did the landlord here, Thompson, play in all of this?
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Thompson befriended Clarkson,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Clarkson stayed here on some 13 occasions.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24And those two together would go out late at night...
0:15:26 > 0:15:29..and seek out the captains and members of the crew
0:15:29 > 0:15:30that were willing to talk.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Many weren't, but over a period of time,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35that's when the evidence was put together.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38And the evidence that he put together on the mistreatment of the slaves,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41do you think this was quite important in the abolition campaign?
0:15:41 > 0:15:42Incredibly so.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46It was, you know, he was trying to break down a wall of silence,
0:15:46 > 0:15:47in a way.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50You know, huge sums were made through the brokerage of slaves,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52and the city has done very well on it,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and nobody wants to kill the goose.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Steve, the abolition of the slave trade
0:16:01 > 0:16:03is something we can be quite proud of as Brits.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Shall we raise our glasses to Thomas Clarkson?
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Thomas Clarkson and the abolition of slavery.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19The next day, I'm up early to return to Bristol Temple Meads station
0:16:19 > 0:16:22to pick up the First Great Western service
0:16:22 > 0:16:24heading towards the coast.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27My word of the day is guano.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It's posh speak for bird droppings.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33But with the Midas touch of a Victorian entrepreneur,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36it could be converted into gold.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38I shall be leaving the train at Nailsea,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42which Bradshaw's tells me "is a place of no importance,"
0:16:42 > 0:16:44but it's of great interest to me.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51Nailsea and Backwell is the nearest station to Tyntesfield,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55a Gothic mansion, one of the most extravagant in the country,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58built on the proceeds of one of the greatest fortunes
0:16:58 > 0:17:01made in the Victorian age.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03It was the family home of William Gibbs,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07an entrepreneur whose business transporting and selling
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Peruvian guano to the farmers of Europe,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13capitalised on the recent discovery
0:17:13 > 0:17:17that its high nitrogen, potassium and phosphate content
0:17:17 > 0:17:19made it a potent fertiliser.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Eric Evans, one of Tyntesfield's tour guides, is showing me around.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Tyntesfield really is quite a pile, isn't it?
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Tell me about William Gibbs, who built it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33He was a very successful wool and cloth trader
0:17:33 > 0:17:36across the whole of Europe, in fact beyond, into South America.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40And at some point, he makes the discovery that guano is useful.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Well, this was sort of accidental.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45His junior partner in Peru sent a message back.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48He said he had the opportunity to sign this contract
0:17:48 > 0:17:50with the Peruvian government to bring the guano back
0:17:50 > 0:17:52to Europe and to England.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And William was, I think, reluctant
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and sent back the message accordingly.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59However, by the time the message had got back
0:17:59 > 0:18:01to the junior partner in South America,
0:18:01 > 0:18:02he had actually signed up the contract,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06so William had to then make the best of it, which he of course did.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Gibbs' great wealth made Tyntesfield
0:18:14 > 0:18:17a most luxuriously-appointed country house.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23It's regarded as a masterpiece of the Gothic Revival style,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27inspired by mediaeval design but unusually full of light
0:18:27 > 0:18:30thanks to its multitude of large arched windows.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36The staircase is really a gem, isn't it? Absolutely magnificent.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38No expense was spared.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42The slate bed of the billiard table was heated
0:18:42 > 0:18:45to prevent the cloth from getting damp.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50The redevelopment bill came to £70,000 in 1865,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53the equivalent to the profit that he made in just one year.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Ha, a gentleman's library indeed.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03What was it about the guano that made it so valuable?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Really, it was so high in nitrates,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08which is the product that actually gives you the fertiliser.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Now, I kind of imagine them down in Peru, on those islands,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14scraping the bird droppings off the rock,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16- but it didn't really look like that, did it?- No, no.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18It was on a massive scale.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21You were talking about mountains of the stuff.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Over centuries, the birds had dropped the guano.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26And what sort of quantities are we talking about?
0:19:26 > 0:19:27Well, we're not sure exactly,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31but we think that something in the region of 60,000 tonnes.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33And in the harbour in South America,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35it was just full of ships of the stuff,
0:19:35 > 0:19:37waiting to be brought back to Europe.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40And who was it that extracted the guano?
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Well, it was the Peruvian government who were doing the mining,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47and they had had indented Chinese labour,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49probably slaves, effectively, in those days.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51And then the Gibbs family
0:19:51 > 0:19:54shipped the stuff back to Europe and to England.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57And what were conditions like for these labourers?
0:19:57 > 0:19:58They were pretty grim.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01You know, the sort of dust of the stuff would have been awful
0:20:01 > 0:20:04in terms of breathing and that sort of thing.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Like many new Victorian millionaires,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10William Gibbs was known as a pillar of the establishment
0:20:10 > 0:20:12and a religious man.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17He was an adherent of the Tractarian movement of High Church Anglicans
0:20:17 > 0:20:20and his family motto, translated from the Spanish, reads,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22"God is my shelter and my hope."
0:20:24 > 0:20:26In later life, he paid for the construction
0:20:26 > 0:20:30of several churches and chapels all over the country,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33including his private chapel at Tyntesfield,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38which was completed only in 1875, the year that he died.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40He was a religious man,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43did that mean that he lived an austere sort of life?
0:20:43 > 0:20:48Yes, he was teetotal, he believed in prayer twice a day,
0:20:48 > 0:20:49morning and evening.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54In fact, all the staff were expected to attend as well.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Before we had the chapel, they had an oratory within the house
0:20:58 > 0:21:00with pews for 50 people,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03so that the staff could come together with the family.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05And how would you describe William Gibbs' legacy?
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Well, there's Tyntesfield for a start.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12But he also contributed to the building and restoration
0:21:12 > 0:21:14of 19 churches and chapels.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- That's a lot of building on a foundation of guano.- Yes.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Leaving the splendour of Tyntesfield behind,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26I'm rejoining the train at Nailsea
0:21:26 > 0:21:30en route to my final destination of the day.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32How are we all enjoying the English summer then?
0:21:32 > 0:21:34We're waiting for it.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41There we are. At least he's stopped near the shelter, which is nice.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I shall be leaving this crowded train at Highbridge and Burnham,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55headed for Glastonbury.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56Bradshaw's says,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59"Here are considerable ruins of a famous abbey,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03"which occupied an area of 60 acres."
0:22:03 > 0:22:06For the Victorians, ruins were romantic,
0:22:06 > 0:22:12and ancient vestiges were shrouded in myth and legend.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25The town of Glastonbury is situated on the low-lying Somerset Levels
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and has been inhabited since Neolithic times.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34The area that surrounds it is known as the Vale of Avalon,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38which lays claim to be Britain's most spiritual site
0:22:38 > 0:22:42thanks to its early Christian, pagan and Arthurian connections.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Something for everyone, it seems.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47What's attracted you to Glastonbury today?
0:22:47 > 0:22:49I really like the history.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Oh, which part of it?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53The ancient history, all the legends.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57They say the tor was Merlin's Tower. I just like all that magic.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00What attracted you to Glastonbury?
0:23:00 > 0:23:05I'm just trying to get away from the matrix of society, really.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06What made you come here today?
0:23:06 > 0:23:09- I've come here today cos I'm part of a hen party.- No!
0:23:09 > 0:23:12So, we're having a cream tea down near the abbey.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- Hello.- Hello.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I don't often meet someone more brightly dressed than I am.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20- I know who you are.- Yes.
0:23:20 > 0:23:21- Michael.- Is this your shop?
0:23:21 > 0:23:23- It is.- What do you do in this shop?
0:23:23 > 0:23:26We offer cosmic wares of the universe.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29- Stay bright.- Yeah, absolutely, and you.- Bye.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Just to the south of the town stand the ruins
0:23:34 > 0:23:36of the 7th-century Glastonbury Abbey,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39which was destroyed when King Henry VIII
0:23:39 > 0:23:43ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48I'm meeting tour guide Tor Webster,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51a Glastonbury resident of some 14 years,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53who's going to show me around.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Bradshaw's tells me about Glastonbury Abbey covering 60 acres,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02it must have been enormous.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Give me an idea of the dimensions of the buildings that arose here.
0:24:05 > 0:24:11Yeah, well, the height was 580ft, which is enormous.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16This was the second largest and most affluent abbey after Westminster,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18sometimes even greater than Westminster
0:24:18 > 0:24:21in historical references. So it was pretty big, yeah.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Benedictine, I think?
0:24:23 > 0:24:24Benedictine monks, yeah.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27There was about 50 or 60 monks living here,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29and then you had a lot of lay brothers
0:24:29 > 0:24:30that were doing the farming and such.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32They were completely self- sustainable.
0:24:32 > 0:24:33And what were they engaged in?
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Glastonbury was a major scriptorium
0:24:35 > 0:24:38where they were writing and copying religious text.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42They had what was known as the perpetual choir here,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44one of the perpetual choirs of England,
0:24:44 > 0:24:45where a monk was singing all the time.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48So, they had services going through the night.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50So, it was a very important place, you know.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56In amongst the swirling mists of myth and legend that surround this place,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00the most potent is that Christ himself travelled here
0:25:00 > 0:25:03from the Holy Land as a young man.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Another popular theory is that his uncle
0:25:06 > 0:25:09brought the Holy Grail here after the crucifixion,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12which in turn leads to the Arthurian legends,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16which have at their heart the quest for the Grail.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Whatever we think about them,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21these stories have been around for 1,000 years,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23which might go to explain why many people
0:25:23 > 0:25:27have come to treat them as historical fact.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31In 1191, the monks dug to find the tombs of Arthur and Guinevere.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Do you think they were successful?
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Yeah, they found the plaque saying
0:25:35 > 0:25:38"Here lies King Arthur and Guinevere,"
0:25:38 > 0:25:40so it was pretty conclusive.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43But excuse me, aren't these people legends?
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Well, I personally believe that it was King Arthur,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51who was more of a, kind of, archetypal character.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55To me, he's a hero, you know? And everybody loves a hero.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00And he is an ancient hero connected to the histories of...
0:26:00 > 0:26:03the spiritual history of England and the Celtic Christian church.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07I think in Victorian times, there was quite a resurgence of interest
0:26:07 > 0:26:10in Arthur and Guinevere, whether a myth or not.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Why do you think that would be?
0:26:12 > 0:26:17Well, there was a resurgence of mystic spirituality
0:26:17 > 0:26:19and I think that people were getting a bit disillusioned
0:26:19 > 0:26:23by the church at the time and were looking for new ways,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26new connections, and Glastonbury definitely offered that.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Glastonbury, and particularly the abbey,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31is clearly a place of great spirituality
0:26:31 > 0:26:32that attracts many different religions.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Yeah. We have over 70 practising faiths and traditions
0:26:36 > 0:26:37in Glastonbury,
0:26:37 > 0:26:38and we all pretty much get along.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41You know, we can get along because there's a thread of love.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- Love is all you need. - Love is all you need.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47HE CHUCKLES
0:26:50 > 0:26:53With that very modern sentiment echoing in my ears,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56it's time to take leave of this Victorian place of pilgrimage
0:26:56 > 0:27:00and reflect on the huge social changes witnessed by that age.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04You wouldn't want to enquire too closely
0:27:04 > 0:27:08into how some Victorian fortunes were made.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Conditions for tanners were appalling
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and the chemicals that they used, damaging to health,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18as was the guano to those Chinese workers
0:27:18 > 0:27:20who mined it for William Gibbs.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23But when Victoria was still a girl,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27thanks to abolitionists like Thomas Clarkson of Bristol,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Britain had set an example to the world
0:27:30 > 0:27:34by abolishing slavery throughout the Empire.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40That great reform invoked the idealism of a legendary age
0:27:40 > 0:27:42when Arthur reigned at Camelot.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Next time, I get to grips with a miracle of Victorian engineering...
0:27:53 > 0:27:56I've never felt so much power.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59- ALL:- Traitor! Traitor!
0:27:59 > 0:28:04..stand trial in Taunton and suffer the full weight of the law.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08I plead guilty and throw myself upon the mercy of this court.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And go looking for hidden treasure on Dartmoor.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- I've found it!- Whey!