0:00:03 > 0:00:07This rather sad-looking railway viaduct behind me,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09it means a lot to me, you know,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12because right from being a very small boy,
0:00:12 > 0:00:18I used to go climbing in the iron girders when I were about eight years old,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21and when a locomotive came along with a load of coal wagons on,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24the whole lot used to shake about.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49As Fred Dibnah was growing up in Bolton,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54he was surrounded by canals, railway lines, bridges and tunnels.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58He was always fascinated by great civil engineering projects like this,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03and by the lives of the men who changed the landscape of Britain forever.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09But the navvies who built the canals and the railways
0:01:09 > 0:01:14were not the first engineers to leave their mark on our landscape.
0:01:14 > 0:01:20This is one of the oldest megalithic monuments in Europe, it's even older than Stonehenge.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22It were developed, so they say,
0:01:22 > 0:01:29somewhere round about 2500 to 2200 BC, and that's a long time ago.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32The whole site covers a vast area, you know,
0:01:32 > 0:01:37I mean, you can actually see some of the earliest examples of building and construction work
0:01:37 > 0:01:39in all of Great Britain,
0:01:39 > 0:01:45and this great trench covers three quarters of a mile and 15 feet deep and dug with antlers.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49He wasn't the only person doing the sort of thing he was doing,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51but he was looking at
0:01:51 > 0:01:53a whole range of things.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57I think that's what's impressive about him, he wasn't simply looking
0:01:57 > 0:02:02at the things which he himself had dealt with over many years,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04but he understood such a range of structures
0:02:04 > 0:02:08of engineering enterprises and what had brought them about.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14Its one heck of an achievement, innit, for 4,500 years old, eh?
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Its tremendous size and the depth of the ditch...
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Yeah, and it'll have lost a bit of depth, really, won't it,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23when you think of all the years and the erosion,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and the washing of the stuff back down the hole, as you might say.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31We know from early excavations, we're only looking at the top third,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34the rest is filled with material that's slumped in over the centuries.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Now, then, how did they do it? That's the thing, so long ago.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43Well, simple tools, Fred, but well-organised labour, I think, I mean, what have we got here?
0:02:43 > 0:02:50- Yeah.- The most important tool that survives is the red deer antler pick.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Of course, they could have had other tools -
0:02:53 > 0:02:56of wood and basketry and so on, that wouldn't survive to us,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00but this is the one that is so widely found on these early prehistoric sites.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05- It's important, Fred, not to think of it as a pickaxe. - Yeah, right, like that, yeah.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08It hasn't got the weight. Don't think of it the way we use a pickaxe.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10On prehistoric antlers, very often,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13the back of what's called the coronet,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16where the antler joins the skull, that's it,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18is heavily battered on worn examples,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22which suggests they use something like a maul or a mallet
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and drove the point in and then used it as a levering tool.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Then, of course, for shovelling,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34these ox shoulder blades are sometimes found on these sites,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38and they've always been cited as the equivalent of a shovel.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42It's actually a little questionable whether they would really shift
0:03:42 > 0:03:46enough material, and whether you have enough leverage.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Yeah, these stones, they were very similar material to Stonehenge.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56They are exactly the same - sarsen stone, it's called - as the outer trilithons at Stonehenge.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01How many stones do you think there were in the whole circle, altogether?
0:04:01 > 0:04:05We think there were 98 stones, 98 or 99 in the outer circle,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and of course there are the smaller features of the two inner circles inside.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13I think Fred made a lot of people keener to visit the past,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18because he had a particularly accessible way of talking about things.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Yeah, they wouldn't have been too hot on surveying in them days, would they?
0:04:22 > 0:04:27He didn't come to it from the point of view of an academic,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32or any other sort of middle class approach really.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34I mean, he is seen as sort of the common man,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38and I think that helped to make it more accessible.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Fred made connections between early engineering and the way Britain's landscape changed,
0:04:44 > 0:04:49and he did it in the voice of a man who knew all about the construction industry.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55When the Romans came to Britain, they brought with them far more sophisticated building techniques
0:04:55 > 0:04:57than what we'd ever had before.
0:04:57 > 0:05:03Hadrian's Wall, here, is the biggest monument that the Roman Empire left behind for us.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09Work started in the year of 122 AD, and it took six years to build, you know.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13I mean, they worked bloody hard, it's an amazing piece of work, you know.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18And for 300 years, it was the Roman Empire's northwest frontier.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Its purpose was to stop the marauding Scotsmen getting across the border,
0:05:25 > 0:05:30or as Hadrian put it, to stop the barbarians getting towards the Romans.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Of all the forts along Hadrian's Wall,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37Housesteads is one of the best preserved.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40You can see the remains of the governor's house,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45and a magnificent...drainage system that works its way all do the side of the hill.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The bathhouse and the latrines or the toilets, you know,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52it's all here and, you know, it's been like nicely uncovered,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55as you might say, so everybody can see just really what it were like.
0:05:55 > 0:06:01This really is one of the highlights of the whole fort, you know,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04the communal bath tub and the communal toilets,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09and it's got a rather ingenious water course system.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12They didn't have toilet paper then, they had sponges.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16When you were sat chatting with your mate on the old thunderbox,
0:06:16 > 0:06:23you reached over with your sponge and washed it in the groove, which, of course, is round here.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26This is the groove here that... it sort of ran,
0:06:26 > 0:06:31the overflow water ran and dripped into here and ran round here,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35it went all the way down there, round the end and back along here,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39and then into the main flow of water that - God knows where that come from -
0:06:39 > 0:06:43but it took all the effluent away, downhill, down there,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47round the corner, and back down, and down that tunnel there,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50that mysteriously disappears underneath the fields.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55But I suppose it all ran out down the hill there, where the sheep are,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and it must have been a bit stinky down there in them days,
0:06:58 > 0:07:03you know, it's all the... it's amazing how it's all survived.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Stretching right across the country, Hadrian's Wall was a great feat of civil engineering.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13But it was not until the first canals were built, in the 18th century,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17that anything else on quite the same scale was attempted.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23The canals were like the arteries of the Industrial Revolution.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26They helped to provide cheaper goods and raw materials.
0:07:26 > 0:07:33They also cut the travelling time down from London to Birmingham to a speedy four or five days,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37and it all started off round here at Worsley, near where I live.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Some say the Duke of Bridgewater was thwarted in love,
0:07:41 > 0:07:49so he channelled all his energies into a grand plan to build the canal from Worsley to Manchester
0:07:49 > 0:07:54to get coal there for all the spinning mills that were being built at the time,
0:07:54 > 0:08:00and of course, he engaged the services of a very clever engineer called James Brindley.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07This is Worsley Canal Basin, and 250 years ago,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10it were a hive of activity round here.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12Little boats - like that one over there -
0:08:12 > 0:08:16came through the remains of this here sluice gate here,
0:08:16 > 0:08:22and of course, out of this tunnel over here, loaded with coal,
0:08:22 > 0:08:29and when they got it in the basin, they offloaded it into bigger canal boats, and off it went to Manchester.
0:08:31 > 0:08:39This tunnel behind me here is the entrance to a labyrinth of 52 miles of underground canal workings,
0:08:39 > 0:08:45which of course, connected the Duke of Bridgewater's coal workings to the Bridgewater Canal.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Fred makes the past accessible,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and he does that through a very personal journey
0:08:51 > 0:08:53through objects and places.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57He constantly refers to his own experience,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00which means that we can then enjoy it through his eyes,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and we want to experience it alongside him.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07When I were a lad, me dad used to say, "Come on today, while we're out,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10"we'll go and look at the Eighth Wonder of the World, Barton Bridge."
0:09:10 > 0:09:15We used to bike all the way from Bolton to here just to watch it.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19In them days, it were quite busy, it moved with monotonous regularity.
0:09:20 > 0:09:26When the canal were first being built, WG Armstrong and Company got the contract for all the hydraulics,
0:09:26 > 0:09:33which all along the canal from Liverpool to Manchester, worked all the locks and the, the bridges,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38the swing bridges at Warrington, and all that, but this bit here is the most impressive bit...
0:09:39 > 0:09:44where 800 tons of water down there supported on a central pivot,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49and it's a slice of the Bridgewater Canal, which of course, also goes to Manchester,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52from the Duke of Bridgewater's mines, when he had any.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57The thing is, shortly, it's going to, it's going to turn through 90 degrees,
0:09:57 > 0:10:03and we'll see another boat sail across the top, and the Manchester Ship Canal.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05Fred's enthusiasm for the canal network,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07and the way that he was able to talk about it,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09and explain how things were built,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and go to places, which are very inspiring places,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and people seeing those on film,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18it did make people want to go out and know more about the canal network.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21It's not uncommon for someone to say, "I saw this on television".
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Often, it will be from one of Fred's programmes.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29I mean, really, I suppose the credit goes to the guys that actually built all of this, you know.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34The main canals they got people working that they called navvies or navigators,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37- cos they were building a...- Water.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40A waterway...and I suspect that when it came to the tunnels,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44they got the same guys maybe doing the actual mining work,
0:10:44 > 0:10:50but the actual construction and the brick work and the arches and everything in the tunnel,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53they probably got more skilled labour in to do that.
0:10:53 > 0:10:59Modern canal boats have got engines, but of course, in the olden days they had horses.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02What did they do with the horse when they come to a tunnel?
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Well, it was quite simple, really.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10They used to either let the horse wander over the top of the hill itself,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14or one of the boat crew would lead it over, one of the kids maybe,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18and then they'd have to use manpower to get the boat.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20What, 70 ton of tackle!
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Yeah, there'd probably be about 30 ton of goods in the boat,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26the boat would probably weigh about 10-15 tons.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30- Yeah, yeah.- One method was to use a boat shaft and push on the roof of the tunnel,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33but that used to wear the bricks away, as you see here.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Yeah, I noticed lot of pointing in the middle.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42That's it, so the canal company owners preferred them to use the art of legging.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45You could hire professional leggers to do the job.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51Back in the 1700s, it would have cost you one and sixpence to get your boat through the tunnel,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55- and it would take about four hours to get a loaded boat through. - Blooming heck.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59And they'd work seven days a week, including Christmas Day, for boats waiting to pass.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Does anybody ever do that now?
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Oh, yeah, all the visitors come along, and things have changed a bit.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09People used to get paid to do the legging, now people pay us to let them do the legging.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10Do you want to have a go?
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- Aye. If you want, yes.- Right, we've got a legging board here.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23Put the legging board across the middle of the boat, and this is where we have to get friendly, Fred.
0:12:23 > 0:12:29- Yes, right.- So we've got to lie flat on this, with our bottoms near the edge.- Yeah, our backs, yeah.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Feet up on the wall. If we're tall enough, though you and I might not be able to do it,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37put our heads on each other's shoulders and just walk along the tunnel.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38- We'll have a go.- So...
0:12:41 > 0:12:42How is that?
0:12:43 > 0:12:44Right.
0:12:46 > 0:12:47I'm going to enjoy this.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49- OK.- Yeah.- Drop down flat.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- Ooh, like that, yeah. Right.- OK.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Which way are we going? Towards the...?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Push your feet towards the stern of the boat, towards the cabin.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59- Are you all right?- Yeah, I'm fine.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04- You see why I get the visitors to do it, though.- Yeah!
0:13:04 > 0:13:08I don't fancy it for about two mile, though!
0:13:08 > 0:13:13- So, you don't want to do it for a living, then?- No, no, sooner be a traction engine driver.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16- Yeah, yeah. - You got to have bloody super legs.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21I think me cap's falling off.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29You're not doing bad though, Fred.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31No, no, no.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Pity you can't use your steam engine.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Either you or me losing some money there.
0:13:37 > 0:13:43They had to dig the construction shafts down, and they had to go in two directions,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46met up with a team digging from another construction site.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Yeah, same as the railway jobs.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49Light at the end of the tunnel!
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Fred has shown us the importance of the everyday,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56of the history all around us,
0:13:56 > 0:13:57of the history on our doorstep,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00that history isn't only something
0:14:00 > 0:14:02that you sort of pay to go and see
0:14:02 > 0:14:05in special heritage hotspots, it's something that's everywhere,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08and it's a way of looking at where you are.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Well...we're now about to go over
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Mr Telford's famous aqueduct.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20I've read a lot about it, and seen it on postcards and all.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Sorry I can't pay more attention, I'm steering the ship,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and the sides are very thin, made of cast iron,
0:14:28 > 0:14:33and number one - it probably would be better if I got it lined up right.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38- You're OK, yeah, yeah. - No doubt it has had a bash or two in its time, has it?
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- There we go, it has, yeah. - Yeah, yeah.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Right, we're just going on now.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48How much space have we got on each side?
0:14:48 > 0:14:53When the boat's on it, you got about three inches. Three or four inches.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Yeah. Yeah, well, we're going to bump into the side here.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01Are all the bolts, the nuts and bolts on the flanges outside?
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Yeah, they got plates with the nuts and bolts on.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10They did reckon that they used the ox blood and that when they did the...
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Oh, yeah, in the Welsh flannel and red lead.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20I wonder what the other set, these other holes were for, in top.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Don't know, it never had a rail, as far as we know.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26How long, roughly, did it take them to build the thing?
0:15:26 > 0:15:28It was ten years, started in 1795.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33- Fair amount of time. They didn't do it in a hurry, did they? - Oh no, no.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36- How high is it here? - 126 feet at the highest point.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Well, this is an interesting bit. Is this about the middle?
0:15:39 > 0:15:44Ah, we're roughly getting on for the middle now, yeah, yeah.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Yeah, there's a change of direction in the slabs, ain't there? Yeah.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54And it carries the Shropshire Union Canal over the waters in the River Dee.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Some winters, very hard winters...
0:15:56 > 0:16:03- Oh aye, frost.- You have to break the ice on it, push the sides out and they do break the ice on it.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Aye, that is an important thing, isn't it, that?
0:16:05 > 0:16:09- Yes.- That if it did freeze, it'd not do it any good.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13- No, well, we have had times when it's been a foot thick of ice. - Yeah.- On top.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15How, how deep is it?
0:16:15 > 0:16:19It's about five foot in the middle of the trough there.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23- So, you'd get an old-fashioned canal boat...- Oh, yeah.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Load of coal on, it'd come over easy, wouldn't it?
0:16:26 > 0:16:29So long as it's a 6'10" wide boat, you're OK.
0:16:29 > 0:16:30Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:16:30 > 0:16:37Now then, this bridge, this aqueduct, has a strange name that I can't pronounce,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40so I'm going to let you do it...
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Yeah, it's called the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47- The Pont...- Pontcysyllte. - Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48- Yes.- Told you I'd get it right.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51- Bit of practice.- Yeah.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56He was always pointing out the history of how the canal system had developed,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59and how it had been influenced by the railways and the roads beyond,
0:16:59 > 0:17:05so I think he was very effective at being able to tell the story of transport development in the UK.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12The aqueduct isn't the only great engineering feat of Thomas Telford that can be seen in North Wales.
0:17:12 > 0:17:19This historic suspension bridge near Conwy Castle was designed by Telford
0:17:19 > 0:17:23for the great highway from Chester to Holyhead.
0:17:23 > 0:17:31It was built at the same time as the one he built at the Menai Straits, and was opened in 1826.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37The first suspension bridge in Europe had been built over the River Tees in 1741,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41and it was revolutionary because it used chains,
0:17:41 > 0:17:46and the idea soon caught on all over Europe, you know.
0:17:46 > 0:17:53It was Telford and Captain Samuel Brown who perfected the manufacturing of wrought iron chains like these,
0:17:53 > 0:17:59and it enabled them to build this one and the one over the Menai Straits.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Telford surveyed quite a few places round Conwy for his bridge,
0:18:03 > 0:18:08but he selected this place here near the castle, because the rock for the anchors,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13the anchor chambers, was superior to anywhere else, and there were plenty of it.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17It started in 1822, when the first stones were laid,
0:18:17 > 0:18:22and then they got the chains across in rather an unconventional way.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28They built a rope, ordinary rope bridge first, and started from each end, advancing towards the centre.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33It must have been a bit nervy with all that tonnage resting on ordinary ropes,
0:18:33 > 0:18:39and then finally the middle pin went in and the things, once they'd got the chains across,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45it were quite a simple job putting the vertical bolts or bars down to the road surface,
0:18:45 > 0:18:53building the road on it, and in all, it took a little more than four years, I think, to construct.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56All the ironwork was made in a workshop in Shrewsbury,
0:18:56 > 0:19:01and basically, each chain consists of five bars about ten feet long,
0:19:01 > 0:19:07by about four by about an inch and a quarter thick, with an eye forged on each end,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12and they're all held together by fish plates that are spaced in between them,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17and then two great bolts slammed through the lot, about three inches in diameter.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22There's certainly a good bit of drilling and fixing, it's sort of... stood the test of time.
0:19:22 > 0:19:28Once Telford had got the great chains across, the rest of it were pretty simple, you know,
0:19:28 > 0:19:34the vertical tie rods and the deck, and by 1826, it were finished and open to traffic.
0:19:34 > 0:19:40And in 1849, Robert Stephenson came along and built this thing here,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44which were his railway to Holyhead,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49and of course, basically, it's just a great big iron box riveted together.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53I suppose there's more to it than that, really,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56but that's what, you know, it looks like to most people.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Another great feat of railway bridge building.
0:20:01 > 0:20:08Before Queen Victoria came to the throne, Great Britain had been still a largely agricultural land,
0:20:08 > 0:20:13even though the development of the steam engine, and the improvement in iron-making
0:20:13 > 0:20:16had fuelled the Industrial Revolution.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20A Georgian farmer looking out of his bedroom window
0:20:20 > 0:20:24would have seen a scene similar to that over there, even as late as 1820.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36The coming of the railways put the Industrial Revolution into top gear,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and it completely changed the face of the country,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and it made transport all over the show possible,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46moving much heavier weights than had been done before,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48and up till these things, you know,
0:20:48 > 0:20:54we were horse and carts on dirt roads and sinking in the mud in the winter.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58With the application of the new technology to transport,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02and the development of the world's first successful railway,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07from the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign to the end of it,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09she saw England change dramatically.
0:21:09 > 0:21:15Not only did she see the country covered by a vast network of railways,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19she saw sail give way to steam on the oceans,
0:21:19 > 0:21:24the great spread of industry and chimneys and pollution,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and the first electric trams, and even the motor car.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30TRAM BELL RINGS
0:21:30 > 0:21:34I think he opened people's eyes to this history all around them,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36particularly in industrial areas,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and after all, the Industrial Revolution changed every town in this country.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Every town in this country suddenly got, you know, a railway,
0:21:45 > 0:21:51it suddenly got water, it suddenly got, later on, gas and then electricity,
0:21:51 > 0:21:56and so on, all of which was a sort of all-pervading change,
0:21:56 > 0:22:03and people haven't tended to recognise just how significant that change was.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07During the early part of Queen Victoria's reign,
0:22:07 > 0:22:12most towns were quite small, you know,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17and the fact that we had this great wealth of coal and iron ore changed all that, you know.
0:22:17 > 0:22:23It turned us into a vast industrial society, the great empire, and we half ruled the world.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28The rise in manufacturing and mining and trade and industry brought us,
0:22:28 > 0:22:33of course, great wealth, and it completely changed the face of the countryside.
0:22:33 > 0:22:40Pit headgears and pit villages, like this one here at Beamish, began to appear all over the country,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44to fuel the great industrial expansion of the time.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Fred has been able to explain what motivated these people
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and really, on the level of knowledge and understanding
0:22:52 > 0:22:55which existed at the time, what gigantic leaps they were taking
0:22:55 > 0:23:01in transforming what was really an agricultural or an agrarian economy into an industrial economy,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05introducing new technologies and building new infrastructure for their nation.
0:23:05 > 0:23:12Railways became a great symbol of our industrial might and ingenuity,
0:23:12 > 0:23:18and of course, it were very important to us, I suppose, in early Victorian times I mean,
0:23:18 > 0:23:25this wonderful bridge behind me actually copied off a Roman viaduct somewhere in Spain,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30you know, so really, the technical stuff of the early days of railway building,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32they copied off the Romans.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Getting into his real passion,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37in the 19th century,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39of the extraordinary endeavours
0:23:39 > 0:23:45of engineers who are still much less well known than they ought to be,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48both for their world achievement and what their vision was,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52how they managed to carry things through, and I think bringing that out,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and putting to an audience who are quite unaccustomed to that sort of thing, was brilliant.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01It's made a lot of people think a great deal more about the bridges they go across,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03and the great structures they pass.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08By the end of Queen Victoria's reign, they were spanning much greater spans than this,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12like the Forth Bridge, and the bridge at Saltash.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Really, our engineers and our civil engineers,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21what made them heroes in the eyes of the Victorians, I think,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25were the way that they covered England, in a matter of a few years,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28with the biggest railway network in the world.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33A bit like motorways today, but there were twice as many railways.
0:24:34 > 0:24:41For Fred, the greatest of the Victorian engineers was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44His papers are kept at Bristol University Library.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48He was obviously a man of great ambition and drive.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54I mean, he spent lots of time away from home and his family and all that,
0:24:54 > 0:25:00but he did keep in touch, he wrote back home from time to time.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03There's a lovely letter here to his wife Mary,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06that shows what sort of a guy he were really, you know.
0:25:06 > 0:25:13He says "I have walked today 18 miles from Bathford Bridge and I'm not really tired", you know.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17It goes a bit further on and says that if he'd have got there a bit earlier,
0:25:17 > 0:25:22he'd have caught the train down to London and come back on the goods train early in the morning.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26What a fella, you know? It's harder than climbing chimneys, that.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30And here's a lovely letter from Stephenson to Brunel, and it says,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35"Dear Brunel, on the 11th, I shall be going down to Conwy and the Straits,
0:25:35 > 0:25:42"and I shall be delighted if you will come with me and give the aid of your thoughts about these tubes."
0:25:42 > 0:25:44There were big tubes on the bridge.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48"Both as to the riveting and hoisting, I think you will be pleased,"
0:25:48 > 0:25:51"and we could then discuss not only a mode of punching..." -
0:25:51 > 0:25:56that must have been like punching the rivet holes through the metal plates -
0:25:56 > 0:25:59but lots of other things. It's really nice.
0:25:59 > 0:26:06While Stephenson were building his railway from London to Birmingham, and his line to Holyhead,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Brunel were down here, doing his Great Western Railway,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14and of course, from London to Chippenham, it were quite flat,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17but when he got here, in between Chippenham and Bath,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20there were this great lump called Box Hill,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and he decided that he would drive a tunnel straight through it.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28It involved, of course, a lot of deep cuttings,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and of course, the Box Tunnel here behind me,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33which is over two miles long,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38and at the time of its building, was the longest railway tunnel ever attempted.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43It was a huge undertaking, apart from the steam pumps to keep back the water,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46the black powder for blasting the rock,
0:26:46 > 0:26:52literally hundreds of men and horses, and the whole proceedings lit by candle power.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I mean, when you think about it, what an achievement, you know.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57Often, we take engineering
0:26:57 > 0:27:00or industry for granted.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02We just pass through the great tunnels,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05across the great bridges of our railway systems,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08without really thinking about how they were made,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12and the sacrifices and the innovations that went into that,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and when he shows us something like the Forth Bridge,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19suddenly it makes it clear that this is a huge undertaking,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and something that we should still be proud of,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24that this is part of our heritage.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Really, this is the principle of the cantilever bridge,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33very similar to the Forth Bridge.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39As you can see, I mean, it's supporting the whole weight of my wife here,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42with not, you know, not too much effort.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47I mean if I were replaced by a girder, or one up and one down,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50it would be with struts supporting in the middle,
0:27:50 > 0:27:57it would be quite successful, you know, and it's creaking a bit, but it's holding the weight.
0:27:57 > 0:28:03Basically, this is the principle of the cantilever bridge, and it's rather a clever idea.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07This bit here in me sort of left hand is the cantilever,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11and of course, this other bit is the counterbalance,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15that you know, actually stops the thing from falling over.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18The bit in the middle is, on the Forth Bridge,
0:28:18 > 0:28:23I think it's about 200 and odd foot above the surface of the Forth,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26you know, its an interesting piece of iron work.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30But we've actually proved and, you know, shown you how it can actually be done,
0:28:30 > 0:28:36with a few sticks, and two chairs, and some big lumps of rock.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media 2006
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk