Browse content similar to Stowmarket to Harwich. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
For Victorian Britons, | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
George Bradshaw was a household name. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
At a time when railways were new, | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
Bradshaw's guide book inspired them to take to the tracks. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand how trains transformed Britain, | 0:00:15 | 0:00:21 | |
its landscape, its industry, society and leisure time. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:25 | |
As I crisscross the country, 150 years later, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
it helps me to discover the Britain of today. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
My rail journey that began in | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
Blackpool is now concluding in Suffolk and Essex. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
On this part of the journey I hope to discover how the Government tried | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
to stoke up a railway boom that was running out of steam, | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
why a Suffolk manufacturer built a cathedral, | 0:01:04 | 0:01:08 | |
what made Ipswich wet and how an Essex town hooked up with Holland. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:13 | |
My route has taken me south-east across the country to the southern edge of East Anglia. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:25 | |
I began in Lancashire and headed east to the mighty | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
northern conurbations of the industrial age. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
In Manchester, I joined the route of the North Country Continental Rail Service | 0:01:31 | 0:01:36 | |
and descended south-east-wards through the Peak District and the Fens. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
I'll finish in Harwich - gateway to the Continent. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
The final leg of my journey begins in Stowmarket. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
I'll head east to the home of the world's first purpose-built assembly line at Leiston. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:53 | |
I'll visit Ipswich and finish at the terminus of the North Country Continental. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
Along the way, I uncover an industrial pioneer in Suffolk... | 0:02:00 | 0:02:04 | |
I have never been in a building like this. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:06 | |
It is absolutely extraordinary. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
'Discover that train companies didn't always win their battles.' | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
The plans of the Great Eastern were so huge that the town council objected | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
to the idea of having half their town demolished. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
'And witness a railway renaissance.' | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
The Middy closed before I was born, and yet the Middy rides again. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:27 | |
My first stop today will be Stowmarket which Bradshaw's tells me | 0:02:38 | 0:02:42 | |
has a brick-built station in the Elizabethan style. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
Railway Mania had created many fortunes and many bankruptcies. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
I'm going to visit a line whose trains first tooted when the boom was out of puff. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
Stowmarket is a small town mid-way between Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:08 | |
It was granted a market charter by Edward III in 1347, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:13 | |
and a market still takes place there twice a week. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
Seven miles north-east lies Brockford, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
home to the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway Museum. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
I'm meeting volunteer and editor of the railway's magazine John Reeve. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
John, the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, what makes it light? | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
Well, this is going to sound terribly train spotter-ish, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
but the 1896 Light Railway Act meant that certain levels of railway could | 0:03:37 | 0:03:43 | |
be built without having to have their own | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
separate Act of Parliament, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:48 | |
which obviously used up enormous amounts of money and time. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
So, why would the government want to promote a new sort of railway? | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
In the 1880s, this was a fairly depressed area. | 0:03:55 | 0:04:00 | |
And, as you know, Michael, this is very much a rural and agricultural area, | 0:04:00 | 0:04:06 | |
and they were hoping, frankly, to bring a bit more economic recovery into the area. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:11 | |
The Act reduced legal costs and permitted cheaper construction methods in | 0:04:13 | 0:04:18 | |
return for a speed limit of 25mph. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
This was at a time when trains on the main line could travel at 80mph. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:27 | |
The plan was to link the Great Eastern Railway stations at Haughley and Halesworth, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:33 | |
but financial difficulties prevented the line from being completed beyond Laxfield. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:38 | |
So it extended for only 19 miles. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
The line became affectionately known as the Middy. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
From 1908, two passenger trains ran in each direction every weekday. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:52 | |
But passenger numbers were low. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
The stations were situated far from the communities that they were intended to serve. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
So, it opens, actually the beginning of the 20th century. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
Yes. It opened in receivership. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
When the first locomotives were delivered by Hudswell Clarke of Leeds, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:11 | |
they actually chained them to the lines, because the cheque hadn't arrived. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
-How long does it run? -Just under 50 years. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
So it closes in the 1950s? | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
'52, yeah. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
-Long before Beeching. -Long before Beeching. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
'The Middy made its last run on 26 July 1952. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:30 | |
'Passengers crowded on to the platform at Haughley to say farewell. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:35 | |
'Some in Edwardian costume.' | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
What's the recent history, because evidently there are trains running on the tracks. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
Well, there was a gang of four who discovered under a great | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
mountain of brambles that there was a bit of this platform left. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:53 | |
And, with a great deal of effort and getting planning permissions and talking to the landlord, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:58 | |
they were able to reopen the station as you see it now, and we now have our track | 0:05:58 | 0:06:03 | |
and our engines and we're up and running again. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
Probably busier than when the railways actually operated first time round. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:11 | |
What sort of rolling stock, do you have, carriages? | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
Well, the carriages are deliberately what would've run on the original railway. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
So Victorian four-wheel coaches, both of which were found in relatively local fields. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:24 | |
One of which had been lived in for nearly 90 years, and when we took it | 0:06:24 | 0:06:29 | |
into our works, it'd still got the bedroom wallpaper on it and all that | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
sort of stuff, and they were both restored here. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
John, you may be railway train spotters, you may be veering on fanaticism, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
-but you do a huge public service actually. -Yes. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
Well, I'd like to think so, because this is the only standard | 0:06:43 | 0:06:48 | |
gauge railway museum in Suffolk, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
and we're now going for planning permission to extend our line. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
Absolutely fantastic. I feel the pressure rising in my boiler. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
I want to take to the tracks. JOHN LAUGHS | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
-Hello. -Hello, Michael. -I have the privilege of riding with you today. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
Tell me about this lovely locomotive. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
This locomotive was built in 1928 by the North Eastern Railway. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
Would similar locomotives have run on this line? | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
Very similar, yeah. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:20 | |
Does she behave well? | 0:07:20 | 0:07:21 | |
-She behaves quite well for her age. -THEY LAUGH | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
-I know the feeling. Can we give it a go? -Indeed. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
-Thank you. Hello. -Hi. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
First of all, check that we have brake. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
This gauge here. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
-Reading 20. -20, 21 inches of vacuum which is what we need. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
So we're safe to go. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:43 | |
Just open the regulator up now. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
If you bring it to about here before anything starts to happen. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
-And then something will start to happen? -Something will start to happen. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
What about a whistle? WHISTLE BLOWS | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
Now they know we're coming. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
Regulator. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
Open. That's it. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
And we're off! | 0:08:01 | 0:08:03 | |
LIGHT CHUGGING | 0:08:06 | 0:08:07 | |
-What incline is this? -One in 46. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
One in 46. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:13 | |
Which is quite steep by railway standards. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:16 | |
Because of the incline, we can keep | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
steam on right till the last minute. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
Excellent. Quite a nice rhythm to this locomotive. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
The Middy closed before I was born, and yet the Middy rides again | 0:08:30 | 0:08:34 | |
thanks to the enthusiasm of people like this. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
Coming into the station. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
-What do we do now? -Shut the regulator. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:44 | |
Shutting the regulator. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
-Put your brake on. -And brake... | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
Or be ready to brake rather than put it on. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
Brake about now. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:54 | |
TRAIN BRAKES HISS | 0:08:56 | 0:08:57 | |
That's it. | 0:08:57 | 0:08:59 | |
And pulley on. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
-We made it! -We made it. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
-Thank you, Paul. -Pleasure. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:05 | |
-Thank you, Ed. -Pleasure. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
Excellent. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:08 | |
-Bye. -Bye. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:10 | |
I'm picking up my next train at Halesworth, where the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway | 0:09:14 | 0:09:18 | |
was intended to finish. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
From there, I'll take a 14-mile journey south on the East Suffolk line. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:25 | |
I'll be leaving this train at Saxmundham headed for Leiston. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:40 | |
Bradshaw's remarks that Suffolk may be called almost exclusively a farming | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
county, agriculture being conducted on the most improved principles. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:50 | |
Improvements, because the feeding of the masses increasingly required mass production. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:56 | |
A ten-minute drive east from Saxmundham is Leiston. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
During the 19th century this rural Suffolk town became an unexpected | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
trailblazer for the Industrial Revolution. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
Until the age of steam, agriculture relied on human labour and horsepower. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
Richard Garrett & Sons was established in 1778, and the company | 0:10:20 | 0:10:26 | |
made sickles, scythes and other farm equipment. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
Steam revolutionised the production of the tools. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
I'm hoping to learn more from Anna Mercer, | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
curator at the Long Shop Museum. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
Anna, I have never been in a building like this. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
It is absolutely extraordinary and beautiful and so well-preserved. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
It's fantastic, isn't it? | 0:10:50 | 0:10:51 | |
The workers called it a cathedral. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
For reasons that you can see. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
It has these fantastic windows, lots of light. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
It's a magnificent building. | 0:10:58 | 0:10:59 | |
We believe it was the world's first purpose-built assembly line production building. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:05 | |
Richard Garrett had built steam engines at Leiston since the 1830s, and the | 0:11:06 | 0:11:11 | |
Long Shop enabled him greatly to increase his company's productivity. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
Inspiration came to Garrett at the Great Exhibition in 1851, where he | 0:11:16 | 0:11:22 | |
met American gun-maker Samuel Colt, who'd introduced assembly lines | 0:11:22 | 0:11:27 | |
to the workshops that produced his revolvers. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:29 | |
The meeting proved a breakthrough for Garrett, and on his return to | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
Leiston he built the Long Shop. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
The engines were actually moving through the building? | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
They were, yes. They came in at the door at the end there. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
Obviously with their wheels and with the boiler, and then they had parts | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
fitted to them as they moved along this central aisle, and there were | 0:11:48 | 0:11:53 | |
lathes and machinery all down either side, and parts being made in the upstairs floor as well, | 0:11:53 | 0:11:59 | |
the smaller parts, and lowered down using the crane. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
And engines like this one were produced? | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
-Yes. -"Choo-choo," but not quite? | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
No, this is a portable engine, it's not a traction engine, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
it doesn't move itself, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:11 | |
so you have to hitch it up to horses, and then it's got this big drive | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
belt wheel on here, which when the engine is moving, | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
it spins the wheel and then the belt can be used to drive all sorts of | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
-machinery. -Typically what? | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
Typically a threshing machine. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:25 | |
Steam transformed the productivity of agriculture, | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
increasing yields and helping to feed a growing population. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:37 | |
Around 15,000 portable steam engines were built at the Long Shop, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
95% of them sold abroad. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
With all these lovely steam engines, did they make use of the railways? | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
They did, indeed. In fact it was Richard Garrett's works here in Leiston | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
that helped bring the railway to this part of the country. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
In the 1850s, when they were increasing production here, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
it was obviously much more convenient to get them out by railway. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
Could you get from the factory to the railway by train? | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
Yes, Garrett's had sidings and they had a special little works railway | 0:13:10 | 0:13:15 | |
which was a sort of tramway which was pulled either by horses or by | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
cable-driven trucks, and after that they introduced their own little works locomotive, Sirapite, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
and that drove the trucks to and from the station and the station sidings. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:29 | |
The 20th century was less successful for Richard Garrett & Sons. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
After the First World War, the company failed to invest in the internal combustion engine and was | 0:13:37 | 0:13:44 | |
forced to write off bad debt from the sale of steam engines to revolutionary Russia. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:49 | |
And the company did in fact go into decline? | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
It did. It went into liquidation in 1931. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:55 | |
Richard Garrett & Sons was purchased in 1932. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
Business continued, but the long history of family control was over. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
The Leiston works finally closed in the 1980s, bringing a chapter of | 0:14:05 | 0:14:11 | |
British industrial history to a close. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
The end of my journey is approaching, and I'm rejoining the railway for my | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
final morning's travel. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
My next stop will be Ipswich. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
The guidebook tells me that it's favourably positioned for commerce. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
'Vessels of any burden can navigate the Orwell to the town itself, | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
'where a wet dock of considerable magnitude has been constructed.' | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
Another 19th-century mega-project, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
and possibly another Victorian engineering hero. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
Ipswich is one of the oldest continually inhabited towns in England. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:12 | |
Historic buildings such as the Ancient House stand in a network of streets | 0:15:12 | 0:15:17 | |
which is still recognisably medieval. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
The imposing Orwell Bridge just south of Ipswich carries vital freight traffic | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
from the Port of Felixstowe across the River Orwell. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
The river has been the source of the town's prosperity. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:34 | |
Stuart Grimwade is a director of the Ipswich Maritime Trust. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:39 | |
Stuart, Bradshaw's tells me that Ipswich is favourably positioned for | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
commerce. Has it been going on for a long time? | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
Absolutely, yes, since the seventh century. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
There's evidence of wine trade in those days. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
Ships were brought across the North Sea. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
After that, there was a period of Viking raids into Ipswich, so perhaps | 0:15:54 | 0:15:59 | |
that was not a growth period. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
Although the Vikings settled in this area immediately. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
They are famous for raping and pillaging, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
but in fact they realised the value of this place to trade, | 0:16:06 | 0:16:10 | |
and so this led to a very successful merchant business in wool to the Continent with | 0:16:10 | 0:16:15 | |
merchants' houses all along the quays here where we are now. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
The guidebook also mentions one of the virtues of the place, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
that you can get into the middle of the town on the river, but I assume the river is tidal. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
The river's tidal and the dock quay here was tidal. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
That was no problem in the Middle Ages when ships were smaller, | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
but in the 18th century ships were getting larger, | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
but the river was silting up, and ships got larger and couldn't get up | 0:16:35 | 0:16:39 | |
to the quays so easily. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:40 | |
By the 19th century, Ipswich had become a major industrial centre, | 0:16:41 | 0:16:46 | |
producing farm machinery and railway parts for Britain and abroad. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:51 | |
But the tidal port limited the town's trading potential. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
The river commissioners raised £25,000 to put towards the development of a wet dock, | 0:17:01 | 0:17:07 | |
which was to be the largest dock of its kind in Britain. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
In 1837, as Queen Victoria ascended the throne, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
an Act of Parliament authorised the Ipswich dock commissioners to begin work. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:20 | |
The water level in the wet dock was to be maintained at sufficient | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
depth to enable ships to float. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
-Well, the best way to see the dock is from the water. -Mmm. Thank you. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
A 16-year-old, Edward Caley, was commissioned to draw up detailed | 0:17:33 | 0:17:39 | |
plans and to survey the town. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
His exquisite sketch books survive today. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
When construction began, | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
the chief engineer Henry Palmer appointed Caley assistant engineer, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:54 | |
and this young prodigy took on sole responsibility for the building of the wet dock. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:59 | |
Edward Caley became the site engineer for the project aged 20. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
A remarkable achievement at that | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
age to be responsible for what was the | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
largest construction project of its kind in Britain. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
Give me an idea of how big a project it was to build the wet dock. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
Well, it was a massive project. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
There were 33 acres of mudflats to be excavated by hand. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:23 | |
There were 55 men employed to do the digging. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
It took three years to dredge out | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
the mud and create the start for the laying of | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
the foundation and the stone of the lock. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
So you make a big hole and then you edge it presumably in stone or rock, do you? | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
Well, yes, the engineer Henry Palmer specified the best quality brick, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:41 | |
the best quality stone and there was a lot of controversy about the cost, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
as always, but his specification was so good that the quay that you see | 0:18:45 | 0:18:49 | |
now is still there as he instructed, and as he built it. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:53 | |
The wet dock opened in 1842. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
It cost around £130,000, an expensive project, | 0:18:58 | 0:19:03 | |
but Ipswich was transformed. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
Immediately it had the effect of attracting industry. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
Prior to that, there'd been small warehouses and merchants' warehouses. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
The industrial age brought factories all around the dock. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
What other trades were here around the dock? | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
Lots of trades associated with shipping. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
Mills, warehouses of all kinds, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
importing everything you can think of. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
-And railways? -Railways came as soon as the dock was built. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
A railway all around the edge of the dock. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
Most goods were transported by rail in those days, and so the railway | 0:19:33 | 0:19:38 | |
system was integral to the success of the dock. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
Rail freight traffic to the Victorian wet dock ceased in 1992. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
Today there's a marina, and its mercantile past has given way to | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
modern housing and leisure developments. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
I'm on my way to Harwich, changing at Manningtree. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
I'm approaching my terminus. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
The final leg of my journey on the route of the North Country Continental | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
takes me to the end of what is known as the Mayflower line, which links | 0:20:21 | 0:20:26 | |
Manningtree in Essex with Harwich. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
I'll leave this train at Harwich Town. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
I'm told that it's a sea port and packet station with a number of maritime advantages. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:37 | |
'Built on a peninsula, | 0:20:38 | 0:20:39 | |
'close to where the Rivers Star and Orwell join the German Ocean.' | 0:20:39 | 0:20:44 | |
I want to see how Harwich used those advantages to become a major gateway | 0:20:44 | 0:20:50 | |
for the Continental explorer. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
Harwich received its charter in 1318, | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
and today the entire old town is a conservation area. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:06 | |
Seafaring is in its blood. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
Sir Francis Drake and his fleet took refuge at Harwich during the battle | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
against the Spanish Armada in 1588. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
And one of history's most famous vessels, the Mayflower, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
which transported the pilgrim | 0:21:22 | 0:21:23 | |
fathers to the new world, was built here. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
Author Stephen Brown has lived in Harwich for much of his life | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
and spent 18 years working at the port. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:36 | |
We're now walking down from Harwich Town station, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
where Victorian passengers would have made their way from the station down | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
to the pier front to catch their steamers to the Continent, and you | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
can imagine in the old days, with all the hat boxes and luggage and steamer trunks, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
it would have been quite a hike to have dragged all that with them, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
seeing as the journey's about a quarter of a mile. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
As the railway network expanded, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
the companies were keen to seize the opportunities offered by Continental | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
travel and ran services to Europe using their own vessels. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:17 | |
Harwich was one of the most successful examples. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:19 | |
So, Stephen, when did boat services begin between Harwich and the Continent? | 0:22:21 | 0:22:25 | |
In 1854. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:27 | |
The then-operator of the railway, the Eastern Counties Railway, | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
first set sail from along this pier here, which is commonly known as | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
Halfpenny Pier, when it was one old halfpenny to access the quay if you | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
weren't actually travelling by steamer. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
The Great Eastern Railway was created in 1862 and they were then given | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
Parliamentary permission in 1863 to actually own and run their own steam | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
ships. Prior to that, they had to use chartered vessels. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
The service was daily and they would sail to Rotterdam and obviously to | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
Antwerp as well. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:56 | |
These services were eventually marketed to people in the north of England, weren't they? | 0:22:56 | 0:23:01 | |
Yes, they were. Originally most of the market was for the people travelling out of London, | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
but when they built the north curve at Manningtree Station which links | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
on to the main line between London and Norwich, | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
they then could get access to the North Country Line and it was possible | 0:23:11 | 0:23:15 | |
for people in the very north to come by boat train down to Harwich. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
In 1874, an ambitious decision was taken to build a completely new deep water port | 0:23:21 | 0:23:27 | |
two miles upriver. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
It was named Harwich Parkeston Quay after Charles Parkes, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, and it opened in 1883. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:39 | |
Why was it necessary to build a new port upstream? | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
Well, basically the operations of the Great Eastern Railway had totally | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
outgrown facilities and the availability of land | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
in Harwich Town. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:50 | |
The plans of the Great Eastern were so huge that the town council objected | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
to the idea of having half their town demolished, and so the railway then | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
looked around for some other land, and they found an area of pretty much | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
marshland, tidal saltings and just rough grazing, and they set about | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
reclaiming about 600 acres of land, building a whole brand-new terminal, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
a huge place which was likened to the Liverpool of the east in its day. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
I'm retracing my steps along the Mayflower Line to the terminus of the old | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
North Country Continental. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
Harwich became Britain's most important passenger port. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
It endured heavy bombing in the Second World War and survives today | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
despite the competition from other ports, | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
the Channel Tunnel and air travel. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:54 | |
It plays host to cruise liners departing for Scandinavia and has | 0:24:56 | 0:25:01 | |
morning and evening ferry sailings each day | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
to Rotterdam and the Hook of Holland. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:06 | |
You could easily mistake this for a cruise liner. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
I've entered the ship at deck number nine, and below me | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
there are many decks of cars and lorries, and all the public spaces | 0:25:16 | 0:25:21 | |
here are simply vast. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
Those decks conceal close to 5km of roadway | 0:25:25 | 0:25:29 | |
and there's room for 1,200 passengers. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
It's like a very long, thin hotel and, indeed, | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
with corridors about 200 metres long, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
you don't want to forget where your room is. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:40 | |
-Hi. -Hello. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:43 | |
What an amazing cabin. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
With just over three hours to prepare the ship for its next voyage, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:50 | |
I've offered cabin attendant Marvin a helping hand. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
Tuck that in nice and firmly at the top. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
First you need to do this here, sir. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
Do the other side. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
-You take such care over it. -Thank you. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
Lovely sheets. How is that looking? | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
It is good. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:09 | |
Lovely soft pillows. MARVIN LAUGHS | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
MICHAEL LAUGHS | 0:26:23 | 0:26:24 | |
Not quite. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:26 | |
Captain Neil Rice is preparing for the morning crossing to Holland. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
Good to see you. I'm just amazed by how high we are here. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
A huge vessel. These ships actually fill up, do they? | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
Yes, about four times a week we get | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
full up on the night crossing from the Hoek van Holland. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
Do you get big seas between here and Holland? | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
If the wind's from the south, which is mainly is, | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
it's quite a comfortable crossing. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
If the wind's from the north, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:55 | |
then the swell can pick up and it can be a little bit more uncomfortable, | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
but we have stabilisers and it's not a bad crossing. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
I want to wish you a calm and prosperous voyage. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
-Thank you. -Thank you. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:06 | |
Travelling through Manchester and Sheffield to Harwich by train, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:20 | |
I've retraced the so-called North Country Continental route. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:25 | |
The Victorian boarding his steamer could be confident | 0:27:25 | 0:27:29 | |
of Britain's superiority. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
The Royal Navy was easily the largest in the world. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
Britain was the first to industrialise and to build railways. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
Men like the Stephensons and Charles Darwin had kept Britain at the | 0:27:40 | 0:27:45 | |
forefront of engineering and science. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
The Britons on this ferry today must venture forth with rather more humility. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:54 | |
'Next time, I take to the seas in a 100-year-old lifeboat...' | 0:27:59 | 0:28:04 | |
It's wonderful to feel the sense of teamwork | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
as I pull the oars with this wonderful crew. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
He deserves to be remembered as | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
someone who spoke up for Irish culture and | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
Irish political rights at a very, very dark time. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
'..and abandon the trains for a taste of the travelling life.' | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
Reigns in hand, and we're all ready. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 |