Ashford to Sevenoaks Great British Railway Journeys

For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.

At a time when railways were new,

Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.

I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide to understand how trains

transformed Britain, its landscape, its industries,

society and leisure time.

As I crisscross the country 150 years later,

it helps me to discover the Britain of today.

I'm embarking on a new rail journey which will take me

in a semi-circular sweep through the Home Counties, skirting London,

which, at the time of my Bradshaw's Guide,

was the world's greatest city at a time of extraordinary innovation.

As we know from our own times, technological progress goes

hand in hand with changes in social behaviour.

And I'm looking forward to seeing how customs and manners

were altered in a newly mechanised age.

Following my Bradshaw's Guide, I'll be travelling from

the county of Kent, winding my way through Surrey,

discovering Victorians of great talent,

daredevil pioneers and a royal residence or two.

Journey's end will be riverside in Oxfordshire at Henley-on-Thames.

Today, my journey begins in the railway town of Ashford,

before moving on through the Kentish Weald to call in at Marden.

I'll finish this leg in the leafy town of Sevenoaks.

I discover the secrets of the Victorian beauty business...

Eurgh!

That is a Princess Alexandra-style false fringe.

Real human hair from the 1880s.

..fine-tune my piano skills...

-Sounding better?

-That's pretty impressive,

-considering it's your first attempt!

-Got it in one!

THEY LAUGH

..and hear of a violent mob in Sevenoaks.

1,500, townspeople threatened that if Mortimer

was brought out to them, they would hang him.

-I imagine you Sackvilles have been fairly cautious about public opinion ever since?

-Extremely!

My first stop will be Ashford, which Bradshaw's tells me was

"a quiet, agricultural town in East Kent until

"the Southeastern Railway Company made it

"the chief station for their works,

"since which time the population has greatly increased.

"There's a carriage house, repairing shop,

"an engine room, factories for wheels and boilers etc".

And I might say that today,

Ashford has the unique claim amongst British towns of being

connected by high-speed rail to London in 34 minutes

and Paris in well under two hours.

Ashford is one of just five stations in the United Kingdom

to offer both domestic and international services.

In 1996, it became Ashford International,

with Eurostar trains stopping here en route to and from the Continent.

The railway works, described in my Bradshaw's Guide,

stood here for around 150 years.

Now, a new engineering operation is based here.

In 2007, the vast Hitachi maintenance plant was built

to support a fleet of high-speed trains which

run on the Southeastern network.

It has both old and new railway lines,

so these trains have to run on both.

I'm meeting Nigel King, the fleet manager.

Nigel, a most impressive, spanking-new facility.

What is it that you have to do here?

What we do is we maintain 29 high-speed trains

for our customer, Southeastern.

It's different levels of maintenance we do. The smallest is an overnight check,

which we do every evening to ensure the trains are

fit and available for service, all the way through to the heavy overhaul,

which you see here today, which is done at a frequency of 600,000 miles.

That, for us, in terms of time, is around three and a half years to accumulate that mileage.

What are the vital statistics to these trains, what speed can they do?

The maximum speed is 225kph, which is 140mph.

One of the complications is that you have to have two sources

of electric power for these trains.

Yep, so when they're on the high-speed line, which is between Ashford and London,

they're on the AC 25,000 volts and they pick that up from the overhead line.

Then when we get Ashford and we go on to the classic network,

the older network, we change over to 750-volt DC and the driver

changes to collecter shoes that go down and pick up the power.

And does that make the train much more complicated to deal with?

It does make it more complicated. However,

we knew that from the outset and built that into the design.

So, train over there...

-bogey, wheels, over here...

-Yeah.

How'd you get the two to meet?

Human power.

-No!

-All of this technology and we still have to use human power for this.

Nigel, if I may say so, you're lucky that I'm here today.

Once serviced, each of the 12 bogeys per train

is reattached to the carriages.

Nigel, how many tonnes are we pushing here?

These are around 8.5 tonnes, each bogey.

OK, well, let's go to it then.

Eurrrgh!

That's amazing. It's under way!

There's a total of 29 trains in the system,

and during weekday peak periods

26 must be available for use,

making the maintenance schedule a challenge.

It's crucial to get the trains back into service without delay.

-James, hello.

-Hello, Michael.

-Good to see you.

-And you.

I understand this train has been serviced,

and is now going back into the network.

Yes, it's had a 29-day exam, it's fit to run

and we'll be taking it out on to the stabling area.

The complication of these trains is that they have to pick up power

-from two places, both from a third rail and from an overhead wire.

-Yes.

So presumably, both those systems have to be tested before you go out?

Yes, we have to make sure that both the pantographs are working

correctly, and also the shoe gear we test before it leaves the shed.

The pantograph goes up, and then the shoes go down.

Can I help with that?

Basically, if you push the CTRL button...

And then you push the "Pan Up Shoes Down" button

and that will raise the pantograph.

That's it.

Having checked the pantograph, the train is then positioned so that the

shoes below it can be deployed to take power from the third rail.

Yeah, I can confirm we've got lined volts and all ready to move

when you are, over.

RADIO: All received, James, yes, you are clear to exit the shed when ready.

I imagine we will not be travelling at 140mph?

Er, no, no. Only 3mph out of the shed.

3mph. What's the fastest you've ever driven one of these?

Up to 10mph on certain parts of the yard, which we're allowed to.

MICHAEL CHUCKLES

I feel rather sad about this. It's a bit like taxiing in a 747, isn't it?

All that pent-up power that we're not using.

Well, thank you, James.

I believe that was one of the slowest train rides I've ever taken, but also one of the most interesting.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Thank you very much.

As I leave the hi-tech, high-speed train to make its way

back into the network,

I'm struck by how advances in railways

have changed the face of Ashford.

Their arrival in the Victorian era started a population boom

and today, the fast journey times have made it into a commuter town.

Its transport links to the Continent have attracted major businesses

and I'm off to see one of them.

While in Ashford, I thought I'd brush up on the history of cosmetics.

I BLUSH to say that I know very little about it,

but I think it has a Victorian FOUNDATION.

I'm visiting British make-up brand Rimmel,

which was founded in the 19th century.

It moved to the current site when its previous factory was demolished

to make way for the international railway station.

Before taking a tour of the production line,

I'm meeting make-up historian Madeleine Marsh to find out

more about the potions and powders of Bradshaw's day.

Madeline, who was wearing make-up in the middle of the 19th century?

People wearing cosmetics are maybe actresses,

prostitutes and the French.

If you were an English lady, you wanted a pale, refined

and unblemished complexion.

Soaps, cold creams and powders

were permissible as long as you used a tiny bit.

So you had to look as though you did nothing to your face,

but in fact you're putting all these things on it.

The language on these is particularly fascinating.

This one "used by refined ladies and perfectly harmless".

Now what did they mean by that?

That implies that something had been harmFUL.

Yeah, and what had been harmful was face paints.

Enamelling, as they called it.

As used in the 18th century, ladies died from lead poisoning.

There was arsenic, there was mercury included.

So all these manufacturers are desperate to say this was safe.

Now, what we've left out is hair.

Hair was very important.

And the less you did to your face,

the more you wanted to do to your hair.

Big hair, huge pompadour hairstyles, everything had to be frizzed.

Now think, what would that crimper have done to your hair?

Terrible stories of ladies burning themselves and losing their hair.

And because of that, we needed this,

and you would have worn this as well, Michael, this is bear's grease.

-You're not serious?

-Oh, you would. Everybody wore this.

It was made from the fat of bears.

Brown bears were particularly preferred.

Later on in the 19th century, they turned to vegetable oils

like Rowlands' Macassar Oil, which might be palm,

it might be olive oil, and that's why on chairs and in trains today,

even so, you get the anti-macassar on the back of the seat to stop

a gentlemen's greasy head from leaving a nasty trail.

What's in the box?

Be my guest.

-Eurgh!

-Mmm!

What is that?

Well, what with curling your hair, dyeing your hair,

female baldness was quite a problem

and that is a Princess Alexandra-style false fringe.

-A fringe?

-Yes. Real human hair from the 1880s.

In this period, an important new name in the cosmetic industry emerged.

In 1880, Eugene Rimmel, a perfumer to the court of Queen Victoria

invented what's believed to be the world's first non-toxic mascara.

So popular was this product that it made him a household name

and today the word for "mascara" in several languages is "Rimmel".

I'm meeting Mary Brady,

the Ashford plant manager, to take a look at today's operations.

Mary, you have really a vast facility here.

How many products are coming out of this factory?

We end up manufacturing about 160 million units a year.

I get the impression that Eugene was the great innovator.

What was it about the man that made him a success, do you think?

He was brilliant. He was a brilliant marketeer, he was a pioneer.

He took advantage of some of the things that were

going on in the Victorian era. For example,

Valentine's Day cards were really popular, so he started sending

the first Valentine's Day cards that were scented!

MICHAEL LAUGHS

It wasn't until the early 20th century that make-up

became widely accepted in society.

Here on the high-speed production line,

two mascaras are made every second.

I'm sure the Eugene Rimmel would be impressed that his invention,

now applied on an industrial scale, has changed the face of beauty.

From Ashford International station,

I'm taking a short trip westwards along the line towards Tonbridge.

My next stop will be Headcorn.

Bradshaw's rather dismissively says that the village possesses

"no feature of particular or general interest beyond the splendid

"old oak tree in the churchyard".

But with evening drawing on, there is a cryptic mention of a hotel.

I plan to finish my day at the George, if I can locate it.

Several miles later and I find myself in the next town.

Looking for the George Inn at Headcorn,

mentioned in my Bradshaw's, I've had to come as far as Cranbrook,

but this could well be the one mentioned in the guidebook,

because it's old enough.

Queen Elizabeth I stayed here in 1573.

Now she, poor lady, was probably slowly poisoned by

the white face paint that she applied.

So I'd like to drink her health.

Not that that will MAKE UP for it.

It's the start of my second day

and at Headcorn, I'm rejoining the Southeastern network

that serves this beautiful part of Kent to make another short journey.

I shall be leaving this train at Marden.

Before the wireless or television,

music provided entertainment for many a home.

And thanks to technological development

throughout the 19th century,

one instrument in particular

contributed mightily to family harmony.

PIANO PLAYS A SEDATE MELODY

On the Southeastern main line,

Marden is my alighting point for Finchcocks Musical Museum.

Housed in a glorious Georgian mansion,

it's an outstanding collection of over 100 keyboard instruments,

with chamber organs, harpsichords, as well as around 70 pianos.

From the original grands to the more compact squares,

right through to modern uprights.

I want to find out more about this instrument,

which became ubiquitous in the Victorian era.

Gary Branch is both pianist and piano historian.

Gary, a lovely welcome. What was that piece?

Well, that was a piece called The Lake by William Sterndale Bennett

and it was very typical of the type of music that would have been

played on square pianos just like this one.

What sorts of families would be able to afford pianos during the 19th century?

And did they spread, as it were, down the social scale?

Absolutely. When you go back to the 18th century,

they would have only been affordable by the wealthiest people in society.

As the Industrial Revolution came along, mechanisation

and changes in industrial skills and technology made it easier and cheaper

to make pianos, so you have more people who could afford and also you

were able to make the instruments much cheaper,

so it became hugely popular.

The piano was sort of the centre of the home.

It was the home entertainment system.

So it was really put upon, often, young ladies of the house to learn

to play the instruments and then other members of the family sing along.

This is a very handsome instrument.

-Do we know its origin, do we know who owned it?

-We do.

And it's interesting story, because this particular one was

hired by a very, very special person indeed and that was Queen Victoria.

-Queen Victoria hired this piano?

-She did indeed, yes.

On three or four occasions in the 1860s

and then permanently from 1870 to 1901.

-And she played?

-She played, she was a good pianist.

She was not as good, of course, as her husband Prince Albert.

He'd had lessons with Felix Mendelssohn,

Queen Victoria was a wonderful singer.

So they would sit and play and sing together to the family.

So they were doing very much what people in the rest

of the country were doing in their own homes

and sort of leading the way, as it were, in music at that time.

The instrument that Queen Victoria hired was a square piano

by Broadwood, one of the pre-eminent makers of the day.

In the late 19th century,

it started to produce a model designed for the masses.

The upright piano.

Compact and cheaper, it suited smaller houses and wallets.

The company still exists today as John Broadwood and Sons.

And alongside manufacturing, they conserve and restore pianos.

Hilary Martin is one of the restorers.

-Hello, Hillary.

-Hello.

-Sorry to disturb you.

What is this piano you're working on?

This is a 1870s Broadwood Cottage upright.

It came in in a very sorry state.

-Looks like you're pretty much finished and you're just tuning it up now, are you?

-Yes.

This will give you the first note, C.

We put that C into that fork note

and then we work out from there the intervals within the scale

and then work out in octaves going to the top and going to the bottom.

We've pretty much done this one, but...

PLAYS OUT-OF-TUNE NOTE

There's one note that's not quite right.

-We've put the crank on the right string...

-Mm-hm.

So if you care to have a hold of the...

-..the lever there.

-Yes.

And then play that octave, F to F.

And just see if you can bring up that note.

PLAYS NOTE IN TUNE

-Oh!

-Sounding better?

That's pretty impressive, considering it's your first attempt!

Got it in one! THEY LAUGH

Beginner's luck, I think.

Yes, not bad.

This piano, it's about 145 years old. Will it last another 145?

Oh, yes, easily.

I'm sure the people who made it would never have guessed that this

was going to last well into 21st century.

-The Victorians built to last.

-They certainly did.

I'm heading back to the station at Marden.

And for the next part of my journey, I'll remain in the gentle, rural

scenery of the Kentish Weald as I travel westwards along the tracks.

My next stop will be in what Bradshaw's calls

"the beautiful village of Sevenoaks,

"which contains Knole Park, the seat of the Sackvilles.

"The mansion is in the old English style,

"castellated with square towers, one of the most splendid

"seats in the kingdom, and the collection of paintings is very fine".

I look forward to hearing the family history from a Sackville.

The Southeastern Railway came to Sevenoaks relatively late, in 1868.

And within just a few years,

it was already an attractive commuter town for London,

with access to beautiful green spaces.

Located close to the town centre is Knole Park, a vast 1,000-acre

medieval deer park, which is also the setting for the imposing Knole House.

Originally built in the mid 15th century,

since 1604, it's been the seat of the Sackvilles, an aristocratic family

which over the years has been in and out of the public eye.

Michael, welcome to Knole.

To find more about this intriguing family,

I'm meeting the current Baron, Robert Sackville-West.

It is a stunning house, as my Bradshaw's had promised me.

How did it come into the Sackville family?

Well, it began life as a small manor house. It was then

acquired by the archbishops of Canterbury, as their sort of

personal residence, and then was confiscated from them

by King Henry VIII, who used it as a royal residence, and then

Thomas Sackville, the first member of my family to live at Knole,

who was Lord Treasurer - that's sort of the equivalent of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

And in those days, if you are Lord Treasurer,

you could award or sell to whoever you liked,

royal freeholds, and so he did decide to sell

a royal freehold to himself at a reasonable price.

And, well, he got a very nice property

and I dare say a good bargain too.

What somewhat surprises me is it's so close to Sevenoaks.

It's not removed at all. That's quite unusual, isn't it?

Well, it is unusual

and it was the temporary closure of the park in the 19th century

that sparked what can only be described as riots in Sevenoaks in 1884.

One of my ancestors, Mortimer,

decided for his own reasons to close the park to the public.

And 1,500 townspeople tore down the posts

he'd erected across the gate, shouted abuse at Mortimer,

broke a few windows and threatened that

if Mortimer was brought out to them, they would hang him.

A compromise was reached within about a year

and it's been open without interruption ever since.

-I imagine you Sackvilles have been fairly cautious about public opinion ever since?

-Extremely!

THEY LAUGH

Knole House is enormous.

Built on a magnificent scale.

Its interior reveals one opulent chamber after another,

housing priceless artworks and tapestries

collected over the centuries.

It's also home to the most complete set of royal Stuart furniture

in the world, which came from the royal palaces

of Kensington, Whitehall and Hampton Court.

So who was it that succeeded Mortimer?

Well, he was succeeded by his rather feckless younger brother,

Lionel Sackville-West, in 1888.

But he brought with him to Knole an encumbrance, really.

And that encumbrance was the fact that he had five illegitimate children.

Lionel Sackville-West had a 19-year relationship

with a Spanish dancer known as "Papita",

which produced the five children.

One of them, Victoria, managed to inherit the estate by marrying

her first cousin, also called Lionel, who was the heir.

Such a prize didn't go unchallenged.

There was a moment in 1910 where they were probably the most

notorious family in the country,

because one of the five illegitimate children brought a claim

that he was in fact the legitimate heir to the title and to Knole.

The succession case in which they were embroiled was on the front

pages of newspapers both in America and in England.

And did he succeed in that?

He didn't succeed and, tragically, about four years later,

he committed suicide.

The best known member of your family is probably Vita Sackville-West.

Now, where did she derive from?

She was the daughter of Victoria and Victoria's first cousin, Lionel,

and she was born and brought up at Knole

and she absolutely loved her lonely childhood,

wandering around the house, looking in drawers, finding things out.

She adored the place.

Born in 1892, Vita Sackville-West was a successful poet and novelist.

She's remembered for her works of literature

and for her same-sex affairs, notably with Virginia Woolf,

whose famous novel Orlando celebrates their friendship.

On the death of Vita's father in 1928, Knole passed not to her,

but to the next male heir, Robert's great-uncle, Charles Sackville-West.

You're the 14th generation of your family to live at Knole.

What is it about the place that captures you?

I think most people, the first thing that strikes you about Knole

is its sheer size.

And that you can wander around it and still make discoveries here.

But the other thing, from my perspective,

is that it is very unusual for one house to have been inhabited

continuously, really, for 400 years by members of one family.

And though at times that sense of history can be a little oppressive,

at other times, it's wonderful experience.

Whilst one family has lived here for hundreds of years,

the 19th century was a time of change.

Advances in piano-making enabled the middle-classes to enjoy

home-made music and the sight of mothers and daughters playing

and singing together is a Victorian cliche.

Elsewhere, technological advances produced non-toxic make-up

and the change was more than cosmetic.

It transformed what was considered proper and decent

and the New Woman, in her lipstick and mascara, was unlikely to

believe that her proper place in life was on the piano stool.

Next time...

TRAIN WHISTLES

..I volunteer at a heritage railway...

Wah!

..and feel the pressure.

I discover a 19th-century painter who, 100 years later,

changed the course of history...

President Obama talks about being converted to a life

of political activity through a sermon on Watts's painting of Hope.

..and I have a blast with a formidable Victorian invention.

Three, two, one...

Whoa!