0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10At a time when railways were new,
0:00:10 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to
0:00:17 > 0:00:20understand how trains transformed Britain,
0:00:20 > 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 > 0:00:59My journey from the Irish Sea to the North Sea continues by tram through
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Manchester. The city shared with
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Liverpool the world's first intercity
0:01:05 > 0:01:08passenger railway and, with its cotton mills,
0:01:08 > 0:01:13it was at the heart of the world's first Industrial Revolution.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15But, today, I hope to discover that
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Manchester was also a city of science.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Was, and still is.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32My journey would take me across England towards East Anglia.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36I started in the north-west and headed to Manchester,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39the world's first industrial city and,
0:01:39 > 0:01:40using the historic route of the
0:01:40 > 0:01:43North Country Continental rail service,
0:01:43 > 0:01:49I'll cross the Fens and finish in Essex at the port of Harwich.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54'This second leg of my journey
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'starts in Manchester and takes me to nearby Fairfield.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'From there, I'll head north-east,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03'marvelling at Britain's longest canal tunnel in Marsden,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07'before finishing at a triumph of Victorian manufacturing
0:02:07 > 0:02:09'near Silkstone Common.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11'On this journey, I discover
0:02:11 > 0:02:14'Victorian grandeur deep underground...'
0:02:14 > 0:02:16This is known as the Cathedral,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18which has this vaulted cast iron arch.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'..find my travels lit by starlight...'
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Lift it, please! Let there be light.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Bravo!
0:02:26 > 0:02:28'..and take a miniature detour.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:43Bradshaw's tells me that John Dalton here developed his great discovery
0:02:43 > 0:02:49of atomic theory, which has done so much to give precision to science.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52The revelation in Manchester of the
0:02:52 > 0:02:55tiniest thing has had, for the world,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57the most enormous consequences.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01In the hundred years before my guidebook was published,
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Manchester had grown from a market town of 10,000 people to become the
0:03:06 > 0:03:11world's first industrial city, with a population of 300,000.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Technology drove that unprecedented expansion.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19I'm meeting historian of technology Dr James Sumner
0:03:19 > 0:03:21at Manchester Town Hall to learn
0:03:21 > 0:03:25about the impact of John Dalton's work.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- James, hello.- Michael, pleased to meet you.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30We meet in Manchester's famously magnificent town hall,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and you have a statue here of John Dalton?
0:03:33 > 0:03:34We do indeed.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37It's the first thing that people see as they come into the town hall.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39It's right in the main entrance.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42- Here he is.- Well, a massive statue of John Dalton.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44James, what was it that he did?
0:03:44 > 0:03:47John Dalton came up with the idea of the modern atomic theory.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49He didn't come up with the idea of atoms,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52these tiny unbreakable particles that make up all of matter,
0:03:52 > 0:03:53that's an ancient idea.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56What he did come up with was a very simple system
0:03:56 > 0:03:58to use the atomic idea to help us understand the world.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01So he knew about the elements that we're familiar with - hydrogen,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03oxygen and so forth.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Dalton's system was all hydrogen atoms weigh the same or oxygen atoms
0:04:06 > 0:04:07weigh the same and,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10when you bring hydrogen and oxygen together, and combine them to make
0:04:10 > 0:04:12water, what's happening is that
0:04:12 > 0:04:15exactly one atom of oxygen is somehow
0:04:15 > 0:04:18combining with exactly one atom of hydrogen or, possibly, two.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20It took a while to work out the details.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Dalton created the periodic table,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27showing the relative weights of atoms of different elements.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31He has been hailed as the father of modern chemistry.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Chemists of Dalton's time really started to take notice because they
0:04:35 > 0:04:37were getting very good at making
0:04:37 > 0:04:40exact measurements of various chemical and physical processes,
0:04:40 > 0:04:41and Dalton's system of simple
0:04:41 > 0:04:43proportions allowed them to understand a lot
0:04:43 > 0:04:44of the results that they were getting.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46How was he regarded here in Manchester?
0:04:46 > 0:04:47John Dalton was not only
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Manchester's most important scientific hero,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54he was its only scientific hero in the first half of the 19th century.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56And so there was so much effort to commemorate Dalton,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58even during his own lifetime.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02What's really unusual about this statue is that it was produced while
0:05:02 > 0:05:03Dalton was still alive,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06so Dalton actually went down to London and modelled for this.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09The civic leaders of Manchester were keen to establish it's not just a
0:05:09 > 0:05:11place where people manufactured things,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14it's a place that has culture and art and science,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17so they needed a scientific hero.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22When Dalton died, Manchester honoured him with a civic funeral.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25He lay in state in the town hall for
0:05:25 > 0:05:29four days as 40,000 people filed past his coffin.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33His ideas transformed 19th-century science and remain
0:05:33 > 0:05:35important for today's research.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41I'm heading to the National Graphene Institute to meet Professor of
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Material Science Ian Kinloch.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47- Hello, Ian.- Hi. Welcome to Manchester.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Thank you very much indeed. What an almost James Bondian scene this is!
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Manchester has the National Graphene Institute,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57which raises the question, what is graphene?
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Graphene is a lattice of carbon atoms where the atoms are
0:06:00 > 0:06:03arranged in a hexagon, but the interest in graphene is because,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05when it gets down to one atom thick,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07it has excellent conductive properties,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10the electrons are moving as if they're close to the speed of light,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12it has excellent stiffness,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14excellent strength, and a really high surface area,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16which opens up a whole range of applications.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18It is mind-boggling, to me, to
0:06:18 > 0:06:21imagine a substance that is one atom thick.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27Graphene was isolated in 2004 by physicists Konstantin Novoselov
0:06:27 > 0:06:28and Andre Geim,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32who received the Nobel Prize and were knighted.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35They used a piece of sticky tape to isolate graphite by peeling it
0:06:35 > 0:06:39backwards again and again and again until it got thinner and thinner and
0:06:39 > 0:06:41thinner. They just had one atom thick of material left.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46That is an extraordinary image!
0:06:46 > 0:06:47It's the world's first
0:06:47 > 0:06:52two-dimensional material as well as its most electro conductive.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55It's 200 times stronger than steel
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and a million times thinner than a human hair.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02What uses have you found so far for graphene?
0:07:02 > 0:07:05We are looking at putting graphene into energy storage devices such as
0:07:05 > 0:07:09batteries to make them last longer, for them to store more power,
0:07:09 > 0:07:10applications in aerospace.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Why are the people behind us wearing such a lot of protective clothing?
0:07:14 > 0:07:16When you are working down on the atomic scale,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18bits of dust can interfere with experiments,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20and the biggest source of dust is ourselves,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22so all these protective gowns you
0:07:22 > 0:07:25can see here is actually to protect the samples from the scientists.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Though graphene is a substance that works at an atomic level,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32it's possible to see it being created.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35So what we have is we have a beaker with two graphite electrodes in it.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39The idea is that we put a potential across this and drive ions into the
0:07:39 > 0:07:43graphite lattice, and we expand it so the graphene falls apart.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46So it's all set up and all we need to do is just switch on the switch.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Off we go and make some graphene.
0:07:49 > 0:07:50Power on!
0:07:50 > 0:07:53I can see that the clear solution is now being clouded with black,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and that is the graphene been pushed off the graphite, is it?
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Yes, so the ions are going into the graphite and pushing the graphene
0:07:59 > 0:08:01layers away from that graphite electrode,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and what we end up with this a solution such as this.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06We end up with a nice black solution.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Then we can dry it even further and make a powder.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Can you demonstrate an application to me?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Of course. So we have just over here a brick,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16which has been covered in graphene paint.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19We've got this side is uncoated and this side you can see is coated with
0:08:19 > 0:08:21the graphene. If we put water on here,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25you can see the water on the brick fairly quickly goes into the brick.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Or if we put it over on the graphene surface here,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32you can see how it rises up and it's hydrophobic and the water droplets
0:08:32 > 0:08:33stay on the surface.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36So Manchester is not any more the city of horny-handed toil,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38but actually of science?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Yes, and, in fact, we are the 2016 City of Science.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49I'm returning to Piccadilly station and taking the short hop four miles
0:08:49 > 0:08:50west on the line which connects
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Manchester to Leeds, via Huddersfield.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05My next stop will be Fairfield.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Bradshaw's tells me that it's
0:09:07 > 0:09:10celebrated for its extensive Moravian settlement.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13It shows there's nothing new about immigration.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Moravians were, I think, a fleeing,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19persecuted religious minority at a time when most people thought that
0:09:19 > 0:09:22their immortal souls depended not
0:09:22 > 0:09:24only upon being godly but on adhering
0:09:24 > 0:09:28to a single religion which they regarded as true.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Today, the Moravians are still part of the Fairfield community.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40I'm eager to learn more about the settlement from Fairfield community
0:09:40 > 0:09:42guide Janet Waugh.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Janet, where is the Moravia from which Moravians come?
0:09:47 > 0:09:49It's from the Czech Republic.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It has two provinces there, or did have, called Moravia and Bohemia,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and that's where they got their sort of nickname, if you like.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Why did they move out of Moravia and Bohemia?
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Because they were being persecuted.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03They were a Protestant church,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06and the ruling king and queen were Catholics
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and they couldn't freely worship as they wanted to,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11so they decided it was best to move on.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13The Moravians objected to many
0:10:13 > 0:10:16doctrines and practices within the Catholic Church.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19They criticised the behaviour of priests and the Pope,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22in particular, the sale by the church of indulgences,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25which amounted to selling forgiveness for one's sins.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Moravians also believed that
0:10:27 > 0:10:32ordinary people should receive wine, as well as bread at Mass.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34So are Moravians part of a
0:10:34 > 0:10:38Protestant movement around the time of Luther and Calvin?
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Yeah, they were actually about 50 years before Martin Luther.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44The main person in the Czech Republic was Jan Hus.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46He was around 1400.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49He was asked to go and meet the Pope and he was martyred there,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53- killed for heresy.- When did the Moravians first come to Britain?
0:10:53 > 0:10:54About 1740.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56They'd come from Germany.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59They decided they wanted to go out into the world and be missionaries.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02This extraordinary and wonderful place,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04they built this as we see it today?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Yes, they started in 1783.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11They set up kilns on-site in 1783 and used the clay that was here so
0:11:11 > 0:11:14that all the bricks are handmade and, by 1785,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16they'd managed to build the main Church Terrace,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19the brethren's house and the sisters house and 13 dwellings.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22And the rest of it was finished about 1796.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Though it's now been engulfed by the city of Manchester,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30the Fairfield settlement was originally built in open fields.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35When inaugurated in 1785, it had 110 inhabitants.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38How many Moravians would there be, for example, in Britain?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41There's about 2,000. 30 churches.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44And what does it mean to you to be a Moravian and to live in a Moravian
0:11:44 > 0:11:48- community?- I feel very privileged to live in this community because it is
0:11:48 > 0:11:50a community, we do look after one another.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53It is a very equal church,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57so there's no hierarchy in at all and everybody
0:11:57 > 0:12:00calls each other still brother and sister.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Well, thank you for your welcome, sister.- Thank you, brother.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Though they ordain ministers,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Moravians believe in a personal relationship with God,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11not one that's mediated by priests.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15The settlement's Chapel is still in use.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19We're just in the process here of making and assembling a star.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21And what's that for?
0:12:21 > 0:12:25We put these up in Advent, until the 12th night.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27So how do you make this thing?
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Well, we have the three different sizes of points.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Would you like to have a go at making one?
0:12:32 > 0:12:33HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY
0:12:33 > 0:12:35I'll give it a go.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Hello. I'm Michael.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Hi. I'm Carol. How are you?
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I'll put my spectacles on for this one.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Now, I imagine you've got to draw lines, haven't you?
0:12:47 > 0:12:49What I have to remember from childhood days is to get my finger
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and thumb out the way when I come past.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55How long have you been doing this, Carol?
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Well, this is the first time that the star's been done for quite a few
0:12:58 > 0:13:04years so, hopefully, this will last us for over 25 years.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07If I make a mess, I've got to remember that I'm in church.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09- Yes.- No rude words!
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Did you get it right first time or were you a bit clumsy like me?
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Well, we had a few spare, so that's always good!
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Absolutely brill. We'll get you back in another 25 years(!)
0:13:21 > 0:13:23- Yes.- Hello, Sarah.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25- Hello.- Here is my poor offering.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27And that appears to be the slot.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Yeah, one last slot there.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33- So what happens now?- It needs to go up.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36I need to shout. Lift it, please!
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Let there be light.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Bravo!
0:13:41 > 0:13:44A star is borne aloft!
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Leaving Fairfield, I'm re-joining the railway at Ashton-under-Lyne.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05My next stop will be Stalybridge.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Bradshaw's tells me that it's part in Lancashire and part in Cheshire,
0:14:10 > 0:14:15the two being joined by an old bridge, the rugged limestone bridge,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18forming the backbone of England.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22But my interest is not in the skeleton of the country.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26I'm here for the buffet bar at Stalybridge station,
0:14:26 > 0:14:31where travellers have slaked their thirst since 1885.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Good evening to you. Hello.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Hello.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Can I have a pint of Stalybridge's best, please?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51There you go. Can I get you anything else?
0:14:51 > 0:14:54You wouldn't have anything to eat at this time, would you?
0:14:54 > 0:14:57What we've got, which is a kind of local speciality to this pub,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59is something called black peas.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Black peas, you're on!
0:15:01 > 0:15:03- Excellent. Portion of black peas. - Please.- Magic.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07The buffet at Stalybridge is one of a handful of surviving
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Victorian station bars.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13I'm pleased to see that the walls are adorned with memorabilia from
0:15:13 > 0:15:16the halcyon days of the railways.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19In truth, I've never seen anything like these black peas.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22They are about the same colour as my Bradshaw's and they look as though
0:15:22 > 0:15:23they're about as old!
0:15:30 > 0:15:33And yet, of course, they're delicious.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Ready for the day ahead,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51I resume my journey east on the Huddersfield line,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56skirting around the northern edge of the Peak District National Park.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08The first stop of my new day will be Marston.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11My guidebook directs me to the entrances,
0:16:11 > 0:16:16to the railway and canal tunnels which run parallel with each other
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and are the longest in the world.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23George Bradshaw's first job was mapping canals, and he developed a
0:16:23 > 0:16:27tremendous admiration for their brilliant civil engineers,
0:16:27 > 0:16:32an enthusiasm which I find infectious.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37I cross the Saddleworth viaduct, completed in 1849.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Its 23 arches carry the railway in a gentle curve
0:16:40 > 0:16:43above the Huddersfield narrow canal.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Surrounded by the Pennines,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Marsden grew rich from the wool trade in the 19th century.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Bank Bottom Mill was one of the largest in the country,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59and closed only in 2003.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Fred Carter from the Canal and River Trust
0:17:06 > 0:17:08is my guide to the Standedge Tunnel.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Fred, this canal tunnel dates from
0:17:10 > 0:17:12long before the railway age finished,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14I think, in 1811.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17It must've been a prodigious achievement in those days.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18Well, you're quite right.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22As I say, the fourth of April, 1811, when this tunnel was opened and,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27originally, they said it would take six years to build or complete.
0:17:27 > 0:17:3016 years later, they were still at it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34It's the highest, longest, deepest canal tunnel in this country.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38So you're now 645 feet above sea-level.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42The tunnel itself is three and a quarter miles long
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and there's about 680 feet of Hillside above us.
0:17:45 > 0:17:4716 years to build.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51- What went wrong?- Unfortunately, the hit a band of millstone grit,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and it's one of the hardest rocks.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Also, when they did actually dig from both ends,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00they actually quite managed to miss one another and, believe it or not,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03the two tunnels were actually 50 feet out of line.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05And, to make life interesting,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07we've got a lovely S-bend right in the middle.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13The engineer for the Huddersfield narrow canal was Benjamin Outram.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15He mistakenly thought that they
0:18:15 > 0:18:17would be tunnelling through soft rock and
0:18:17 > 0:18:19left most of the work under the
0:18:19 > 0:18:21control of a less experienced engineer.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26In 1801, with costs and schedules spiralling out of control,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Outram resigned.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32It wasn't until six years later that renowned engineer Thomas Telford was
0:18:32 > 0:18:34called in to advise on the canal's completion.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41What is so striking about it, Fred, is just how incredibly narrow it is.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Well, that's why they call it a narrow canal,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47and it stays about this width all the way through, would you believe?
0:18:47 > 0:18:48How did they build it?
0:18:48 > 0:18:50I'll just show you some of the tools.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53This is what we call a star drill.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55One of the navvies would hold this against the wall.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Either one or two of his colleagues
0:18:57 > 0:19:00would strike at it with sledgehammers.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Strike, turn, strike, turn until, eventually, this would drill a hole.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10They'd then fill the hole with gunpowder and fire that charge.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11Many deaths during the construction?
0:19:11 > 0:19:15They say 50, but we think there are more.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19The tunnel cost around £125,000,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23one of the most expensive canal tunnels built at the time.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27To cut costs, the engineers dispensed with a tow path.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31No room here for an animal.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33- What was the propulsion?- They used
0:19:33 > 0:19:35to bring the barges through here by a method called legging.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Two gentleman would lie on the backs of the boats here,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40feet out to either side.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43They'd begin to take this sideways step like a crab.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45For more than three miles?
0:19:45 > 0:19:47Yeah, this took them about three to
0:19:47 > 0:19:50three and a half hours to leg a boat through the tunnel here.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53They must have been absolutely exhausted.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Absolutely shattered.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58How they did not break their ankles or their legs in some of it,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03- it's a wonder.- The tunnel is an awe inspiring relic of the tenacity and
0:20:03 > 0:20:07grit of the industrial age but its heyday was brief.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13With their vastly superior speed and power, railways superseded canals.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18The London and North Western Railway built a bore or tunnel parallel to
0:20:18 > 0:20:22the canal, to carry trains between Manchester and Huddersfield.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Network Rail's Ian Wilson has been
0:20:24 > 0:20:28responsible for maintenance at Standedge for over 20 years.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33My guidebook, which is about 1864,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36refers to the longest railway tunnel in the world.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38- Which one is that?- That would have been this one,
0:20:38 > 0:20:39which is the Standedge Centre Bore.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42It's just over three miles long and that was open at the time of the
0:20:42 > 0:20:44guidebook, 1849.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Since then, the south bore was built, when rail traffic increased,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50and then the twin track live bore,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52which is this one that's still running.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55What happened to the two tunnels that are now closed?
0:20:55 > 0:20:59They were closed in around 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01- Can we go inside?- Yes, let's go.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06The closed tunnels are carefully maintained to allow servicing of the
0:21:06 > 0:21:10operating bore. They also preserve the opportunity to increase rail
0:21:10 > 0:21:13capacity, should it ever be required.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The 1894 tunnel is the fifth longest on the National Rail network,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20running for just over three miles.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Well, this is the midpoint of the tunnels.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26This is known as the Cathedral,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28which has this vaulted cast iron arch,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and it's the widest connecting point between the two tunnels.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34This tunnel was built, what, more
0:21:34 > 0:21:37than 30 years after the canal tunnel.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Was it of any use to these tunnel builders that the canal tunnel was
0:21:40 > 0:21:41- already there?- Having the canal
0:21:41 > 0:21:43meant they could create short passages
0:21:43 > 0:21:45across from this tunnel to the canal
0:21:45 > 0:21:47and they could take the spoil out and bring materials in,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49which would have speeded the
0:21:49 > 0:21:51building of the tunnel up by possibly years.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53And, by comparison with the canal
0:21:53 > 0:21:54tunnel, of course, this is much bigger.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56I mean, this is a monumental piece of work.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58It's huge. I think there's 50
0:21:58 > 0:22:00million bricks used to build one of these tunnels.
0:22:00 > 0:22:0250 million bricks!
0:22:02 > 0:22:03- 50 million bricks.- And how do you
0:22:03 > 0:22:05feel about these tunnels where you work every day?
0:22:05 > 0:22:08I do get quite attached to them and I have been known to refer
0:22:08 > 0:22:12to them as my babies, because every one has its own character and little
0:22:12 > 0:22:13traits and things.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15- So, yeah.- Your babies?
0:22:15 > 0:22:16They're my babies, yes!
0:22:18 > 0:22:22With my subterranean exploration at an end,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I'm completing my journey across the Pennines to Huddersfield.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29From there, the railway takes me 17 miles south.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39'The important rank,'
0:22:39 > 0:22:43which the manufacturers of Yorkshire have long maintained in the
0:22:43 > 0:22:47estimation of the world, the amount of patient thought,
0:22:47 > 0:22:52of repeated experiment and happy exertion of genius,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54by which our various manufacturers
0:22:54 > 0:22:57have been carried to their present excellence,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00is scarcely to be imagined.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03When I leave this train at Silkstone Common,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07I'm going to investigate the life of a man who added mightily to the
0:23:07 > 0:23:11reputation of his county and his country.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Four miles south of Silkstone Common lies Wortley Top Forge.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20It's the oldest surviving
0:23:20 > 0:23:23water-powered iron forge in the country,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25dating back to 1640.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30It's now a museum, and I'm meeting guide Ted Young.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33So was the history of the forge?
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Early in the 1600s, it was set up by the Lord of the Manor,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Sir Francis Wortley, because he was using water power.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47And around a third of a mile up that way, he put the weir in,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and that holds the water at a level,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53giving a difference that allows you to run the water wheels.
0:23:53 > 0:23:54During the 1870s,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56the metallurgist Thomas Andrews
0:23:56 > 0:23:59began to conduct experiments at the forge.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01He focused on the strength of
0:24:01 > 0:24:04railway axles that were used on early
0:24:04 > 0:24:07rolling stock, whose failure could cause a catastrophe.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Ted, do you think that Thomas Andrews was a man who used thought
0:24:12 > 0:24:15and experiment, and indeed genius?
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Oh, absolutely so.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22He was a man who committed his life to looking into the properties of
0:24:22 > 0:24:24various metals.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26And is it possible to see the place where he did his work?
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Certainly. Shall we go into the forge?
0:24:28 > 0:24:32- Thank you.- At the time Andrews conducted his experiments,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34he was a pioneer.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38The forge seems to be very kind of rustic, almost homely.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Did they have serious production going on in here?
0:24:40 > 0:24:41Absolutely so.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45It is, essentially, a preindustrial revolution site but,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47by the railway era,
0:24:47 > 0:24:53it was bringing in wrought iron bars and making 200 to 300 axles a week.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Extraordinary!
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Andrews created wrought iron and subjected it to a variety
0:24:59 > 0:25:02of strength and temperature experiments.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04This is a bar of wrought iron.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08This is the result of a process of taking pig iron,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10which came from the blast furnaces.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The wonderful thing about this
0:25:12 > 0:25:15material is that it has great strength.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18So how'd you get from this to a railway axle?
0:25:18 > 0:25:21You have to overcome one of its weaknesses,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and that is it can only be produced in bars of that size.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31They got round that by fixing together 16 bars
0:25:31 > 0:25:34in what they called a faggot.
0:25:34 > 0:25:41The faggot is heated in the furnace up until it's white heat,
0:25:41 > 0:25:46hung from a crane, and then swung across under the hammer.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50And then this has begun to acquire the round shape of an axle?
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Yes, this one is nearly complete,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57and we can gauge it up to see that we've reached the correct diameter.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02And I can swing it into position on this chain
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and I can rotate it comme ca.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07And how does the hammer get its power?
0:26:07 > 0:26:12- From the water wheel.- Between 1840 and 1910,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16railway axles from Wortley were exported all over the world.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21It's said that none ever failed, a legacy to be proud of.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Ted, that's beautiful. A working water wheel.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29The power of these things is extraordinary, isn't it?
0:26:29 > 0:26:31It's producing 8-10 horsepower.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35This was really advanced engineering.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37A real gem from the Industrial Revolution.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43As though to remind us of the train axles that were manufactured here,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45the forge has its own railway.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Hello, Chris. What a beautiful miniature locomotive.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54- Tell me about it.- Well, it's a quarter scale model of a locomotive,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58- typically used in the North Wales quarries.- And it runs?
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Strong enough to carry someone like me?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03- Hopefully.- Shall we give it a whirl? - We'll give it a good whirl.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13There might not seem to be much
0:27:13 > 0:27:16connection between the arrival of Moravian
0:27:16 > 0:27:18immigrants in the 18th century and
0:27:18 > 0:27:21the much later development of tunnels
0:27:21 > 0:27:25and iron forges during the Industrial Revolution.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28But the fact that nonconformists
0:27:28 > 0:27:30were welcome in England points to
0:27:30 > 0:27:36the fact that the British enjoyed relative freedom of speech
0:27:36 > 0:27:38and thought at that time.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41People who were educated, and those who were not,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43felt at liberty to enquire
0:27:43 > 0:27:49into the nature and origin of things and to experiment.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54And that led to an extraordinary British contribution to engineering,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56science and thought.
0:28:01 > 0:28:02Next time...
0:28:02 > 0:28:04- Up there?- That's the one.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06'I climb beyond my comfort zone...'
0:28:06 > 0:28:09- Just put your other foot on the next hold.- All the way over there?
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Yeah, you'll be fine. I've got you nice and safe.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'..uncover a museum of curiosities...'
0:28:14 > 0:28:16If a predator tries to grab them,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20they will ooze out all this slime and the predator will literally kind
0:28:20 > 0:28:23of spit the hagfish out in disgust.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26'..and embrace a new language with open arms.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:28This is 'have to'.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30- Oh, that's 'have to'?- Yeah.
0:28:30 > 0:28:31- Yeah.- That's good, yeah.