0:00:17 > 0:00:20This massive horn of rock and cut granite
0:00:20 > 0:00:23thrusts more than a mile into the Irish Sea.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26We're on the very edge of Ireland
0:00:26 > 0:00:30at the gateway to Dublin, one of the world's great coastal cities.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35And Dublin's just the start.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Not one but three great cities will be our stepping stones
0:00:38 > 0:00:43on this journey, as we get a uniquely Irish perspective on the coast.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49Miranda Krestovnikoff has a day at the races,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51and gambles on the tide.
0:00:51 > 0:00:58Alice Roberts unearths the source of the salt we put on our winter roads.
0:00:58 > 0:01:04Mark Horton investigates a lost year in the life of the SS Great Britain.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Absolutely ginormous!
0:01:09 > 0:01:13While I'll discover how the sea has shaped the island of Ireland,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16North and South.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Welcome to the capital coast of Ireland.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49This journey takes us 300 miles through Ireland's two capitals,
0:01:49 > 0:01:50Dublin and Belfast,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55and on to Londonderry, the most ancient city of them all.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Sprawling out from the River Liffey,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Dublin is home to more than a million people.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08That's over a quarter of the Republic's total population.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14It was the Liffey and its link to the open sea that brought Dublin its prosperity.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19This is Dublin's Great South Wall,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21built nearly 300 years ago
0:02:21 > 0:02:24to protect ships sailing into the River Liffey.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29On the far side of the estuary is the Bull Wall, added a century later
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and designed to stop the sands of Dublin Bay choking the river.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40Almost two-thirds of the Republic of Ireland's sea trade moves through Dublin.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45These two massive walls are still vital in keeping the seaway open.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Between them, the deep shipping channel remains open at all tides,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55while the beaches on either side are dried out twice a day.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00The sands stretch the full sweep of Dublin Bay.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I'd never been here before,
0:03:12 > 0:03:17but Dublin writer Fionn Davenport revels in his city's secret riviera.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23I never pictured Dublin like this, with a great huge beach.
0:03:23 > 0:03:2715 miles of beaches stretching from the north, down to the very south.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29It's great, isn't it?
0:03:29 > 0:03:34I'm ashamed to say that when I hear the word "Dublin", I just think, you know, pubs and pints and Guinness.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39It's exactly how we sell ourselves. This is the great secret of Dublin - our beaches.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42We don't talk about them, we don't tell anybody about them,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47and we keep them exactly the way we want them - empty.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53The Irish are known for their hospitality, whether their visitors are invited or not.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Nowhere more so than Dublin.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03In fact, historically, this city has scarcely been Irish at all.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08The history of Dublin is the history of invaders.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12I mean, right from the very, very start, it was created by invaders,
0:04:12 > 0:04:18- populated by invaders, so in a sense, Dublin is an invader city.- Who were the first people to settle here?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Oh, the Vikings, in the 9th century.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24They came here on their raping, pillaging, warring ways,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and they settled, and built this trading port.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32The name Dublin comes from the Irish "Dubh Linn",
0:04:32 > 0:04:36and the original Viking settlement was built around this black pool.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40- That's where the word comes from - "dubh" meaning black, "linn", the pool.- Blackpool?- Yes.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45- I was hoping for something Gaelic and lyrical like "shining city by the sea."- I know.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48A Viking Blackpool - that's a scary thought.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Then, in the 1100s,
0:04:55 > 0:05:01another wave of invaders flooded up the Liffey - the Normans.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04They and their English successors would stick around for 800 years,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07long enough to make a mark.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Dublin's best-known brewery,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Guinness, was founded by an Anglo-Norman family,
0:05:16 > 0:05:23and Dublin architecture still reflects the longstanding link across the water.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27- In Ireland's capital city, though, what is Britannia doing on top of that building?- Ah, Neil,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32because secretly, Dublin is still a little bit British. It's a very English city.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35800-odd years of English rule -
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Dublin was created, conceived of, developed and built by the English,
0:05:39 > 0:05:44and this building behind us is the Custom House, which was built during the time
0:05:44 > 0:05:48- when this was the second city of the Empire.- I would have to dispute that as a Scot.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- We were always told that Glasgow was the second city of the Empire. - But the Scots, you see,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54the tragedy of the Scots is they were lied to for so long,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59because in fact it was Dublin that was the second city of the Empire.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07Today, Dublin takes second place to no-one.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Glass and steel has transformed the old waterfront.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It's Dubliners who are flooding to the Liffey now.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23The quickest way out of Dublin isn't by boat
0:06:23 > 0:06:28but by DART, the fast rail corridor that hugs the shoreline of Dublin Bay.
0:06:36 > 0:06:42The DART has made these once sleepy coastal suburbs much more accessible
0:06:42 > 0:06:43to commuters, but ironically,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47locals will tell you that today owning a seafront property
0:06:47 > 0:06:49is beyond the reach of most Dubliners.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03Unlike Britain, Ireland gives artists and entertainers generous tax breaks.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08For these glitterati, Howth Head has become an exclusive address,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12with properties changing hands for over £5m.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19I'm Dave Kelly, and I sell spectacular seaside homes to the rich and famous.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Welcome to one of Ireland's most exclusive residential addresses - Sutton Castle.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30This house was commissioned in the 1890s by the grandson of John Jameson
0:07:30 > 0:07:32of the famous Irish whiskey brand,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36and it's recently been converted into luxury apartments.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40It's as close to the sea as you can get without getting your feet wet.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47A sea view can easily add tens of thousands of Euros to the value of a property.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52And for an apartment in this particular complex, it can set you back
0:07:52 > 0:07:54anything up to 3m euros, or £2m.
0:08:00 > 0:08:06And like the froth from a Celtic Jacuzzi, new-build ventures
0:08:06 > 0:08:09are spilling out well beyond Dublin Bay.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15Security gates, a private yacht and a slice of the seashore.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Everything for the wannabe beach bum with deep pockets.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39But no matter how secluded the setting, how idyllic the beaches,
0:08:39 > 0:08:45there's one thing you can't buy for love nor money on this coast - warm water.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Oh!
0:08:50 > 0:08:52In the name of the wee man!
0:08:52 > 0:08:57The Gulf Stream today never gets this far into the Irish Sea,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59believe me, making this water
0:08:59 > 0:09:02some of the coldest anywhere around the British coast.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06And if you'll excuse me, I have to go and cry.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13No wonder these huge beaches seem so empty.
0:09:13 > 0:09:20And yet once a year this coast witnesses an event that brings thousands flocking to Laytown.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Miranda Krestovnikoff has come prepared.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28No diving gear, just a pair of binoculars.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35Racing horses on the beach is a tradition that goes back centuries in Ireland,
0:09:35 > 0:09:40but today, Laytown hosts the last remaining race on the seashore
0:09:40 > 0:09:43that's held under Jockey Club rules.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Laytown is the only beach race in the whole of Europe.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The jockeys are here training in preparation for the big day,
0:09:50 > 0:09:56and I'm here to find out exactly what it takes for a horse to win on the sand.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Marcus Callaghan is a local trainer and regular racer at Laytown.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Last year his six-year-old, Paris Sue, was a winner.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10For him, the secret of winning starts with training on the beach.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I generally walk all me horses here.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16During the summer, the ground's too hard to walk them on grass at home.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19And it's just to walk them in a straight line,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22it takes the pressure off their legs.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27So that's why we come up to the beach, plus they enjoy it.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31- What's Paris Sue like? Does she like it?- Oh, she loves it.- Yeah?
0:10:31 > 0:10:34You won last year. Do you reckon you're gonna do it again this year?
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Well, she'd have a very good chance if she gets in, so my main concern
0:10:37 > 0:10:41is if she gets in, then I'd be happy, and then she'll take all the beating.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50The Laytown Races happen just once a year when the tides are lowest.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Each time, the course is built from scratch,
0:10:52 > 0:10:59and each time the organisers have their own race to get through the programme before the tide turns.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05There's been racing here since 1867, and there's nothing else like it.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09It's the only strand racecourse left.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13There used to be quite a number of them here from Dundalk,
0:11:13 > 0:11:14Laytown, down to Skerries,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and one by one, they fell by the wayside.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22Erosion played a part - you know, if stones come on the track, you can't race.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28This is the only one that's left, and it's a unique spectacle,
0:11:28 > 0:11:30and it attracts huge numbers of people.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Racing here is so popular the organisers have to hold a ballot
0:11:37 > 0:11:39to select which horses will run.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- Paris Sue has been drawn in the first race.- I'd just like to have it over and done with.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Hopefully she'll win - I mean, there's no certainties, but she'll be the one to beat.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53- Is she in pretty good condition? - She's jumping out of her skin. - She looked frisky earlier, actually.
0:11:53 > 0:12:00It's keeping her fresh. Yeah, she's jumping out of her skin. All you can do is keep your fingers crossed.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11Things are really hotting up here. The tension's building, people are placing their bets.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15People have travelled hundreds of miles for this annual spectacle.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20But the fact that the race is on sand makes the odds hard to calculate.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22These horses have form on turf,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and now they're performing on sand,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29so you have to take it on trust that the horse will run on sand.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33They always used to say that training a horse on sand shortens its stride,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38and they also said that a horse couldn't quicken on sand, so a front-runner had an advantage.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43- So it is quite unpredictable, so you could get a real outsider that would come and win.- Oh, yes, indeed.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47- Fantastic.- Which is part of the fun, because they're a holiday crowd, and they back outsiders.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Well, we're very interested in Paris Sue.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54- She's at 7/2 at the moment - can I put a bet of 10 euros on Paris Sue? - 10?- We want her to come in.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59It's a six-furlong race and the going is...well, as good as it gets
0:12:59 > 0:13:01when the tide's just gone out.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09Just come forward - now just wait until everybody's ready, just wait! Come on!
0:13:27 > 0:13:30With just two furlongs to go,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Paris Sue is struggling to quicken her stride.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38My 10 euros could be running into the sand.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Come on, Paris Sue!
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Come on, Paris Sue!
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Close but not close enough. Paris Sue came in second.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56Blocked in behind the front runner, she never found her true pace.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- So how was it?- Yeah, everything went according to plan, except...
0:13:59 > 0:14:04we didn't get the front run because they all know her by now and...
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Was that at the beginning of the race? Because you say she likes being ahead.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Yeah, but they were all going that fast to keep her, though. No excuses,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14we were beaten fair and square by a better horse on the day.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Oh, well, no winnings for me.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23The organisers did win their race against the run of the tide,
0:14:23 > 0:14:29but not for long, as every year at Laytown it's the sea that has the last word.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31And there's always next year.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49We've reached the River Boyne -
0:14:49 > 0:14:54not just a waterway, more an artery leading to the ancient heart of Ireland.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03It's so peaceful here today.
0:15:03 > 0:15:09There's just me and some day-trippers, and the only sounds are from the sea.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15It's hard to believe that so much of Ireland's history has happened around this one river.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19For 5,000 years, since the first Neolithic farmers,
0:15:19 > 0:15:25the mouth of the Boyne has been the gateway to Ireland's fertile heartland.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31It's been navigated by Celtic traders, Viking raiders and Norman invaders.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Striding north, the flat coastal plains of the Irish midlands
0:15:42 > 0:15:45give way to the mountains of Northern Ireland.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53But in this border country,
0:15:53 > 0:15:58a landscape much older than any national frontier divides Ireland.
0:15:59 > 0:16:0360 million years ago, as the dinosaurs were dying out,
0:16:03 > 0:16:08the Earth's crust stretched and fractured here.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Explosive volcanoes erupted, and mountains were thrown skywards.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17Its legacy is the rugged shoreline around Carlingford Lough.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25On the far side of the lough is Northern Ireland,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28but I'm still in the south, and it's a Euro zone.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32But this close to the border, the Euro and sterling co-exist,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and for a few, that presents a lucrative opportunity
0:16:35 > 0:16:37to exploit the difference.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Why's it so busy?
0:16:42 > 0:16:46- Well, I suppose because it's cheaper. - How much cheaper?
0:16:46 > 0:16:52Er... Approximately 20% cheaper on both petrol and diesel.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54So if you were filling up a typical car, what's the saving?
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Approximately £12 sterling.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59- That's a brilliant saving.- Yep.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Where exactly is the border?
0:17:01 > 0:17:05- I challenge you to find it. - You're on!
0:17:05 > 0:17:11And he was right - despite having different capitals, different laws and different currencies,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15the border between North and South has vanished altogether.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19The first sign that you're in the North is the one in miles per hour.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Nature makes a better fist of a frontier.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32The massive granite buttress of the Mourne Mountains is a formidable obstacle.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The mountains seem to push the coastline further and further to the east.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Wherever the landscape does soften,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48like Dundrum Bay, it seems that all the sand in the Irish Sea
0:17:48 > 0:17:51has suddenly washed ashore.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Few vessels survive an encounter with these treacherous sands,
0:17:55 > 0:18:00but one ship that did manage an astonishing escape was the SS Great Britain.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Mark Horton investigates how Isambard Kingdom Brunel
0:18:06 > 0:18:11turned a potential disaster into a marketing triumph.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14I adore the SS Great Britain.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19She's a great survivor, and now rests proudly in Bristol,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22where she was built, 160 years ago.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27She was the world's first propeller-driven steam ship, has an iron hull
0:18:27 > 0:18:32and was the brainchild of the great engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36But in 1846, Brunel's reputation
0:18:36 > 0:18:42was threatened when the Great Britain ran aground in Dundrum Bay.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50I've come to find out how the Great Britain
0:18:50 > 0:18:55was stranded on this beautiful bay, and to work out how she was rescued.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06Under the command of Captain Hoskins, the Great Britain left Liverpool bound for New York.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12She was to sail past the Chicken Rock lighthouse on the Isle of Man,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15then turn north. In fact, she sailed straight on
0:19:15 > 0:19:18towards St John's Point on the Irish coast.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25A very dangerous part of the coast indeed. There was probably an average of one ship a year wrecked
0:19:25 > 0:19:30- before the famous wreck of the Great Britain.- What, coming onto these jagged rocks?
0:19:30 > 0:19:35And onto the sand - a treacherous place. The ship would break up in the breakers very, very quickly.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38And presumably that's why the lighthouse was built here.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It was indeed. There was a lot of pressure on the government
0:19:41 > 0:19:47- over many years to make Dundrum Bay safer for sailing ships. - But what I can't understand
0:19:47 > 0:19:50is how somebody could confuse that lighthouse for one 50 miles away
0:19:50 > 0:19:53on the south end of the Isle of Man.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58- But surely this lighthouse was also shown on the charts.- Captain Hoskins maintained it wasn't.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01That lighthouse was built in 1844,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05and the incident was September, 1846.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07He said his chart was out of date.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09So he had this chart - there was one lighthouse -
0:20:09 > 0:20:13it must be the Isle of Man, therefore he had to sail round it.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17That's what he thought he was doing, and sailed straight up on the beach.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32When daylight came, the SS Great Britain was stuck fast,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36and resisted all attempts to refloat her.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39For Brunel of all men, this would not do.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45He came to Dundrum himself to work out a solution.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51If we're really going to understand how difficult it was to rescue the Great Britain from this beach,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55we're first going to have to work out exactly where she lay.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Hi, Shane.
0:20:57 > 0:21:04Maritime archaeologist Shane Casey has been researching the official report into the grounding.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Today the sands are empty.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Our only reference point is the watch house from where local coastguards
0:21:12 > 0:21:15made their observations of the stranded ship.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20The Tyrella coastguard watch house is north-easterly 527 yards
0:21:20 > 0:21:24from the ship. That's about 480 metres.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28And northeast is 45 degrees, so we need the back bearing of of 45 degrees, that's what?
0:21:28 > 0:21:32225, which is in that direction,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35- towards those mountains over there. - OK.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39And 480 metres, we're already 200 metres from the watch house.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42- Right, that leaves 280.- 280 to go.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44475...
0:21:44 > 0:21:47476... 477...
0:21:47 > 0:21:51478... 479...
0:21:51 > 0:21:53- 480!- Right.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55X marks the spot.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58And how did the ship lie?
0:21:58 > 0:22:00"The ship's head lies northwest by west."
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Which is in...that direction there.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10While we don't know the Great Britain's exact position,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13we can be sure of her dimensions.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14Go slightly to the left, can you?
0:22:14 > 0:22:16That's about right!
0:22:16 > 0:22:22The ship was 322 feet long by 50 feet broad.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24That's almost 100 metres by 16.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Are you not there yet?!
0:22:27 > 0:22:2997 metres!
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Gosh!
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Absolutely ginormous!
0:22:38 > 0:22:43Seven metres in this direction, so the stern is about here.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48So we now walk round the curve of this great ship.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Brunel's Great Britain weighed more than 3,000 tons,
0:22:52 > 0:22:58and her keel was buried six feet into the sand.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02The extraordinary thing is how anyone could even have conceived
0:23:02 > 0:23:04- of getting it off here.- Yes, yes.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08- Most engineers would have left her here, abandoned.- Yeah, yeah.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13That wasn't Brunel's style.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18With the winter gales upon him, he had to find a way to protect the Great Britain
0:23:18 > 0:23:23from the pounding seas that were threatening to break her up.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26This is Brunel's original letter, where he sent instructions.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31That's right, and Brunel conceived a plan for protecting the ship
0:23:31 > 0:23:33with an immense latticework framework.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- We've got a latticework there. - It's very bendy and feeble, isn't it?
0:23:36 > 0:23:41- I mean, how can this protect a ship? - He wanted to create a barrier that would stop the waves.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- Acting like a bit of a breakwater. - Right.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Much of the power of the waves would pass through the latticework,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52- dissipating itself on the framework. - The whole thing is held with flexible poles.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57That's right. These were beech trees that were unseasoned
0:23:57 > 0:24:03- so that they had sufficient spring in them to bounce back. - It all looks a bit makeshift -
0:24:03 > 0:24:08- more Heath Robinson than Brunel. - What do you reckon?- Fantastic - there's the latticework there.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Yeah, I think our model pretty closely resembles it. Will it work?
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Well, it really does work, doesn't it? Because the water comes up
0:24:24 > 0:24:27and smashes against the side here - it's like a pond inside.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31- And the ship's perfectly protected, isn't it?- What about the other one?
0:24:31 > 0:24:35- There it goes! - Wow, oh, dear.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Smashed to pieces in a few minutes!
0:24:39 > 0:24:45Brunel's ingenious latticework bought him precious time.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50For nine months, he oversaw repairs to make her seaworthy.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Finally, at the end of August, 1847,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58on the highest tide of the year, she was re-floated.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Brunel was vindicated,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03his design for the SS Great Britain
0:25:03 > 0:25:05fully proven.
0:25:16 > 0:25:23If you know where to look, there's actually quite a lot left from the grounding of the Great Britain here,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26bits of wine bottle and coal that were jettisoned
0:25:26 > 0:25:29when they had to lighten the ship.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34But actually, the real legacy of the incident is that it convinced
0:25:34 > 0:25:36a sceptical Victorian public
0:25:36 > 0:25:39that iron ships were practically indestructible,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43and that opened up the way
0:25:43 > 0:25:46for reliable long-distance passenger travel.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00Strangford Lough is the largest tidal lough in the British Isles.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05It has 150 miles of its own twisting shoreline and more than 120 islands.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12The coast near here draws many visitors, but,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17as Miranda Krestovnikoff has found, some are more vulnerable than others.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27You can tell a harbour seal by his short, round head.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32They're also known as common seals, which isn't really fair, because
0:26:32 > 0:26:37these endearing mammals aren't at all common around the Irish coast.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Every year, the harbour seals
0:26:39 > 0:26:43come back to the same rocks to give birth.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46It's really great to see them just behind me
0:26:46 > 0:26:49in this sort of family setting - the mothers there, with their pups.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55But out of the water, their natural environment, they're really vulnerable.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59And that's the problem.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03With Belfast only 30 minutes' drive away, humans are encroaching
0:27:03 > 0:27:06on the seals' traditional habitat more and more.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20For seals, any disturbance by boats or jet skis at pupping time can result
0:27:20 > 0:27:25in mothers panicking and leaving their new-born alone on the rocks.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31More and more pups are being abandoned like this.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33There's a good chap...
0:27:34 > 0:27:39But though they don't know it, these seals are rather lucky,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42because one of the world's leading seal experts, Sue Wilson,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47- has also chosen to make her home here.- You'll be taking over this in a few minutes.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53She's determined to make sure as many new-borns as possible survive.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58I sometimes see a pup that's on its own that isn't attended by a mother,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02and if I don't take it, it will die.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06And because I know I can take it and save it,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09it will survive, so we can't...
0:28:09 > 0:28:14I don't think we can stand back, especially if it means seeing a young animal suffer.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20For Sue Wilson, taking a pup like this one home
0:28:20 > 0:28:23is the least worst option.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28Each season, she's faced with rescuing two or three pups.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31She has to care for them till they can feed themselves.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42The rescued seal pup's now just ten days old, and Sue's looking after it at home.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Last year, I completed a sea mammal rescue course,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48so I'm really interested to find out how she's getting on
0:28:48 > 0:28:52and how Sue's coping with looking after such a small pup.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57The pup has been given the name Laura,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01but Sue has no intention of getting too fond of her while they're together.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06'The point is to get Laura back as quickly as possible.'
0:29:06 > 0:29:09I wish she'd suckle on a bottle, but she won't.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12'It usually takes more than three months to get a pup back to the wild,
0:29:12 > 0:29:17'but Sue believes that's just too long away from their natural habitat.'
0:29:17 > 0:29:21- She's not going to bite me, is she? - Probably not.
0:29:21 > 0:29:28'She's developed a fast-track approach to nurturing them, using a special substitute seal milk.'
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Now, what you have to do is, when the tube goes down,
0:29:31 > 0:29:37- watch it here to make sure it's not going down into the run. - Oh, right, here.- Yeah.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40So we will see it in just a moment. There it goes.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45So now we know it's in the right tube, and then we just make sure she's breathing.
0:29:45 > 0:29:52- Yeah.- And then we put the funnel on and then put a tiny...
0:29:52 > 0:29:56just to make absolutely sure, just a tiny wee bit first of all.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I'm very aware that if she's been brought up by you and fed by you,
0:29:59 > 0:30:04she's not seeing other seals, she's not learning about fishing or anything like that.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07How is that going to affect her in the future?
0:30:07 > 0:30:14Well, in the wild, they don't seem to learn anything about fishing from their mother.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18And a mother feeds them milk, and she'll swim round the shallows
0:30:18 > 0:30:21with them and explore, but so far as we know, they take no...
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Beg your pardon!
0:30:24 > 0:30:27- LAUGHTER - Was that a burp?!
0:30:27 > 0:30:32As I was just saying, she doesn't, in the wild, learn to feed with her mother,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36and she doesn't take any solid food until after she's weaned,
0:30:36 > 0:30:39at about three to four weeks of age, so I try to simulate that.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56'It's just five weeks since Laura was removed from this beach.
0:30:56 > 0:31:03'For Sue, it's time to get her back to the environment where she belongs.'
0:31:03 > 0:31:07She will go in and start, we hope, to feed
0:31:07 > 0:31:12on little tiny fish with other pups, just like all the others do.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It's like a mum letting her child go away to university.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Well, the great hope is that she wants to go.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21'In the short time that she's been looking after Laura,
0:31:21 > 0:31:26'Sue has learned that six harbour seal pups have been found dead on this coast.'
0:31:28 > 0:31:30There she goes!
0:31:30 > 0:31:33'Sue knows that she may never see Laura again,
0:31:33 > 0:31:39'but she's convinced the pup now has a fighting chance of surviving in the wild.'
0:31:47 > 0:31:53If Strangford Lough is for the seals, there's no dispute about its neighbour to the north.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Belfast Lough has been claimed by people.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04A 12-mile long natural inlet, it was re-fashioned into
0:32:04 > 0:32:08a commanding thoroughfare for Belfast's shipping industry.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16This is the perfect view of Belfast.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22And you know, it's amazing how small she looks just nestled so naturally between the shores of the lough.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Those two yellow cranes are towering over Harland & Wolff shipyard.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29They're still the most dominant structures in the city.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Last time, we came here to discover how Belfast built Titanic.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38This time, we're on a mission to uncover who built Belfast.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Belfast is the most industrial city in Ireland.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50It defies nature that it's here at all.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Like Dublin, Belfast grew up around a tidal river -
0:32:59 > 0:33:01the Lagan.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06The original site was a ford, just where the river is spanned by these bridges.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Close by, they're building a 29-storey skyscraper.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18Drilling for the foundations reveals just how much of Belfast
0:33:18 > 0:33:20is built on mud and salt water.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24That's the stuff they call sleetch!
0:33:24 > 0:33:27I think you and I would call it filthy stinking muck.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30In a funny way, it smells a bit like the sea.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33It's got that pungent smell about it, like seaweed,
0:33:33 > 0:33:37but seaweed that's been trapped underground for a long, long time.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42But the point is, all of Belfast is built on top of that.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48Kerry Greeves, the project engineer, is tackling the same problems as Belfast's original builders.
0:33:49 > 0:33:54- The bedrock, which is sandstone, is about 50 metres down.- 50?- Yes.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56We have to use piles, which are going down on this side
0:33:56 > 0:34:00approximately 28 metres, and that's what will hold up the building.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03So the piles don't reach the rock?
0:34:03 > 0:34:07- No.- So the building is just floating on...mud?
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Well, you could say that.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13As an engineer, it's slightly more technical than that, but effectively yes.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18Belfast's founding fathers floated their dream here on the shoreline.
0:34:18 > 0:34:25Local author Glenn Patterson has summed up their achievement with these lines.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29"Belfast is a triumph over mud and water,
0:34:29 > 0:34:35"the dream of successive generations of merchants, engineers and entrepreneurs,
0:34:35 > 0:34:40"their names driven like screw piles into the city's sense of itself.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44"Dargan, Dunbar, Workman, Harland..."
0:34:48 > 0:34:53The thing is, they're all Scottish or English names, Protestant merchants attracted here
0:34:53 > 0:34:58from the beginning of the 17th century by the promise of land at the water's edge.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02I wanted to hear more from the man who celebrated these entrepreneurs.
0:35:04 > 0:35:10A lot of people came here with ideas about settling this place, developing this place.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Some bloody-minded people, you would have to say.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15This isn't a promising place to make a city.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Belfast has no business being here at all.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19So what was behind the stubbornness?
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Something must have attracted them and made them stay.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27Belfast, although it's very unpromising, it's got all that muck, that sleetch,
0:35:27 > 0:35:31you had to dig right down and sink your foundations if you wanted to build here,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34you could actually make bricks out of the clay of the city,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38so, in a sense, Belfast is a city that's made of itself.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48Every inch of Belfast's industrial heartland is man-made,
0:35:48 > 0:35:55dredged and reclaimed from the salt-water shore in the 19th century to underpin its expansion.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00But to build on that growth, Belfast had to look seawards again - to trade.
0:36:03 > 0:36:10When you look at this vast port, it's almost as though this water matters more than the land.
0:36:10 > 0:36:16Well, certainly without this, without the trade - I mean we're sailing past these container ships here -
0:36:16 > 0:36:20without that, Belfast wouldn't have developed in the way that it did,
0:36:20 > 0:36:25and without the port, there wouldn't have been any of those great industries of the 19th century.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28So this city really is defined by this water.
0:36:30 > 0:36:37Belfast, the floating city, two thirds of our way from Dublin to Derry.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40We're travelling in style again.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Spare a thought for anyone stuck in their car.
0:36:42 > 0:36:49But we're about to pass a well-kept secret that keeps traffic moving whatever the weather.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52It's still the middle of summer, but just beyond Carrickfergus
0:36:52 > 0:36:56a year-round industry is busy stockpiling for the winter.
0:36:58 > 0:37:05Alice Roberts is about to venture into an underground world that's never been filmed before.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07If you're driving along on an icy winter's night
0:37:07 > 0:37:11and your car's not skidding, it's probably because
0:37:11 > 0:37:12the gritter lorries have been out,
0:37:12 > 0:37:17and the rock salt could have come from here, on the coast of Northern Ireland.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22Half a million tons of rock salt are shipped from this little jetty every year.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26This corner of Ireland sits on top of huge deposits of subterranean salt
0:37:26 > 0:37:31that stretch all the way across Europe to Russia's infamous salt mines.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35These strata were laid down over 250 million years ago
0:37:35 > 0:37:40by successive seas advancing and retreating across the continent.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54'I don't know quite what I expected from a salt mine,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58'but what I never imagined was being able to drive all the way underground.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05'Our guide is Jason Hopps, the mine surveyor and, yes, salt of the earth.'
0:38:05 > 0:38:10- So how deep does this go down? - The maximum depth in the mine
0:38:10 > 0:38:13is 1,150 feet. This is us just entering the salt now.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Here's all the salt crystals.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Yeah.
0:38:19 > 0:38:25- We're coming into quite a big cavern.- Yes, this is where the main workings first started.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28So this has all been excavated out?
0:38:28 > 0:38:30Yes. It's all blasted.
0:38:30 > 0:38:36Yeah. It's a real labyrinth of tunnels down here, isn't it?
0:38:36 > 0:38:42'There's over 30 miles of tunnels, yet only 40% of the rock salt in any area is extracted.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46'The rest is left as pillars to shore up the workings.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51'The scale of these man-made caverns is amazing.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55'Even the largest of the excavation vehicles seem dwarfed.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58'Some of the trucks are up to 40 years old,
0:38:58 > 0:39:05'but although the atmosphere is salty, it's also extremely dry, so they hardly rust at all.'
0:39:05 > 0:39:11It's really strange, it's like walking onto the set of a James Bond movie, isn't it?
0:39:11 > 0:39:15It's bizarre. How is rock salt actually formed to begin with?
0:39:15 > 0:39:20Why is there this seam of salt 800 feet under the surface?
0:39:20 > 0:39:26It's basically an old landlocked sea that has evaporated and left the salt behind.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29It's happened in total five times in this particular area.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32We've got a full succession of five salt beds.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36At the minute, we're in the fourth deepest, so there's three above us.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41- So there have been several sort of evaporated sea beds laid down one on top of another.- Yeah.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46Although we call it rock salt, it is sea salt, it's just sea salt that's got trapped in rock?
0:39:46 > 0:39:49It's sea salt with certain other trace elements.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Yeah. It's weird cos there's quite a lot of dust in the air
0:39:52 > 0:39:56- and you just taste the air, you can taste the saltiness. - Oh, it is salt.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58- It's sodium chloride.- Yeah.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07'We still have to drive down another 300 feet to reach the faces that are
0:40:07 > 0:40:11'currently being worked - a full 1,150 feet below ground.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14'I've been wondering where everyone is!
0:40:16 > 0:40:20'The rock salt is attacked from two directions.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28'First, it's undermined with a gigantic cutting blade that takes a ten foot deep slice from underneath.
0:40:31 > 0:40:38'Then holes are drilled above, ready for explosive charges to be inserted deep inside the rock.'
0:40:39 > 0:40:41- Can we go a bit closer? - Yes, we can go down and see.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47- So this is an undercut.- Right.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52That advances in ten feet, which is the same length as your drill hole.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54So this is one of the drill holes?
0:40:54 > 0:40:58- Where you put the explosives in?- Yes. We pack the explosives in there.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03That drill hole's ten feet deep by 50 feet wide by 20 feet high
0:41:03 > 0:41:06gives us a full face of 600 tons.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10- Really?- Yeah.- So when the explosives are stuck in here and they go off,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14- we've got 600 tons of rock salt fall to the ground.- 600 tons, yes.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17ALARM BLARES
0:41:17 > 0:41:20'Time to withdraw to a safe distance, I think.'
0:41:23 > 0:41:26EXPLOSION
0:41:34 > 0:41:37So this is the last stage of the process?
0:41:37 > 0:41:40That's been blasted off, hasn't it, that rock?
0:41:40 > 0:41:43- Yeah. That will have been blasted last night.- Right.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47And then, it'll be taken up to the crusher or an underground stockpile.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Right.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And where does most of the rock salt from this mine end up?
0:41:52 > 0:41:5720% of it or so will end up on the Northern Ireland and Ireland roads.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01- Right.- 50 or 60 then would go to either England or Scotland
0:42:01 > 0:42:06- and then maybe 20% to the East Coast of the United States. - Oh, really?- Yeah.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12'A little salt can go a long way.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16'Next time you're snowed in, take a good look at that gritter up ahead.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19'Chances are that's not any old salt.
0:42:19 > 0:42:26'It's actually 250 million years old and comes from 1,000 feet under the Northern Irish coast.'
0:42:51 > 0:42:56The coastline of Antrim is a switch-back journey through space and time.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Black basalt from ancient volcanoes is spewed over white limestone.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06The layers twisted by earthquakes and worn down by wind and ice.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11It's taken almost 2 billion years to create this undulating landscape
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and its glens roll down to the sea in great, green waves.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25Until the 19th century, the peoples of these glens were all but cut off by land.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29The easiest way to travel was by the small boats known as gigs.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34The traditional rivalry between these villages re-emerges
0:43:34 > 0:43:37with a vengeance during the annual gig racing season.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Break, fly by. Break, fly. That's it.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45I'm Arnold Stewart, secretary of Carnlough Rowing Club.
0:43:52 > 0:43:58'You get like a real buzz and it's a lot of excitement and the adrenalin starts to run.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08'You're listening to the oars as you're rowing along, there's a clunk every time.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10'Everybody's really pulling together.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20'Its origins maybe started about the 1800s
0:44:20 > 0:44:24'and it really was quite along the whole of the Antrim coast.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29'All the villages along the shoreline had a crew or crews.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36'Inter-club rivalry and inter-village rivalry is very much a key part of the rowing.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39'We've been doing this for so long and everybody'
0:44:39 > 0:44:43is out to win, and that's where you get the the competitive edge.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Go on, boy. Go on. Go on.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04'Because the Black Rock sits out to the end of the bay,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08'it was decided at one time that they would create a race out of this,
0:45:08 > 0:45:13'so it was a challenge from rowing from the harbour, out round to the Black Rock and back in again.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16'A distance of 1.2 nautical miles.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23'Every year, we have this challenge to see how well we can do
0:45:23 > 0:45:27'and if anyone can get close to the time of 15.45 seconds,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31'which no-one else has beat since 1926.'
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Keep it going. Come on.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Go on.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45And relax.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51'Today, the best time in the gig is in 17 minutes plus,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54'so it's a bit off the record.'
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Fair Head frames the north-east corner of Ireland.
0:46:21 > 0:46:27Stretching for three miles, with vertical columns of basalt rising 600 feet above the sea.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44Here, the hexagonal stones of the Giant's Causeway stretch out into the North Atlantic.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55And there's one little challenge I can't resist - to take my chance on a bridge over the Atlantic.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03I wasn't too keen to do this, but there's lots of little old ladies
0:47:03 > 0:47:06on the other side, so I thought I'd better crack on.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16It's 96 feet to the water below me.
0:47:16 > 0:47:22The rope bridge is thrown across to the island of Carrick-a-Rede every summer
0:47:22 > 0:47:25and it's not just a tourist trap.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31For the last 500 years, local fishermen have used it to reach their salmon nets.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42The further west you go, the wilder this coast gets.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47This is a landscape that encourages mavericks.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51But it's not an Irishman who stands out from the pack, it's a Cornishman -
0:47:51 > 0:47:56an eccentric artist who built his fantasy home out of what he found all around him.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Alice Roberts is on his trail.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Well, this is what I've come to see - Bendhu House.
0:48:05 > 0:48:12And perched on the cliff top, it looks like a Second World War fort, but it is somebody's house.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20'It was in 1936 that Newton Penprase, a Cornish artist,
0:48:20 > 0:48:26'first had his dream to build a house to match his vision of this coastline.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31'For the next 40 years, he worked almost single-handedly to achieve it.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34'Michael and Lorna Ferguson live here now,
0:48:34 > 0:48:38'but their first impressions were rather like mine.'
0:48:38 > 0:48:44- It's a very strange house. - Yes, this is how I remember it whenever I would pass as a child.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Coming down, fascinated by, "What's going on?
0:48:47 > 0:48:49"What is this man building?"
0:48:49 > 0:48:53So you'd seen this house as a child and you ended up living in it?
0:48:53 > 0:48:55Well, I didn't dream I would ever be living in it.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Nor, I must say, at a time had any wish to live in it.
0:49:01 > 0:49:07Many people loathed Penprase's unconventional design, not least the planning authorities.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12But he persevered using whatever materials came to hand, all picked from the seashore.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17- In the drawings he got approved, it says, "all in concrete".- Right.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21So everything was from the beach initially. He washed the sand
0:49:21 > 0:49:23from the water that came down the cliff
0:49:23 > 0:49:28and most of the cement was carried down on his shoulder from the harbour road.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31The bricks were made out of gravel and sand
0:49:31 > 0:49:35and I think he put a lot of extra windows probably in the process as well.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39'In all, Penprase put in no fewer than 50 windows,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42'making the most of Bendhu's panoramic views
0:49:42 > 0:49:45'from Scotland in the East to Donegal in the West.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49'When the artist died in 1978, the house was still unfinished,
0:49:49 > 0:49:52'but Michael and Lorna have completed his dream.'
0:49:52 > 0:49:55That really is a fantastic view, isn't it?
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Well, Alice, this is the room that we added on.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01The rest is Penprase, but this is what we interpreted
0:50:01 > 0:50:04he would have liked us to do with this part of the house.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07So if you want to come on through with us.
0:50:07 > 0:50:08Right, let's head down below.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Alice, this is the Zodiac room and you'll see why when you look up at the ceiling.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19That's amazing.
0:50:19 > 0:50:25These are canvases that Penprase painted and he always invited the ladies to lie down in the bed,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28to look up and he would explain all the Zodiac signs.
0:50:28 > 0:50:29Really, right, I see!
0:50:29 > 0:50:33It's almost like you're living in an art installation.
0:50:33 > 0:50:39Yes, I think that it is. Hopefully, whatever we've added, Penprase would approve of.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44- Would you ever sell it on?- Oh, no, it's become part of our life.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49- What do you think, Michael? - I'd have to finish it, but I don't think we'd ever move.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Bendhu House is now a listed building.
0:50:56 > 0:51:02Proof that true individuals like Newton Penprase can still have the last laugh.
0:51:16 > 0:51:21If artists and fishermen can do their own thing on this coast, why not clergymen?
0:51:24 > 0:51:27These are the remains of an 18th-century palace no less.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32Home to Frederick Hervey, Bishop of Londonderry and Earl of Bristol.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34An unassuming man(!)
0:51:34 > 0:51:36A little pile perched on the cliff edge
0:51:36 > 0:51:38was the Earl-Bishop's personal library.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46And our last great coastal city was his seat -
0:51:46 > 0:51:48Londonderry.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Of the three cities, Derry has the longest recorded history,
0:51:56 > 0:52:00but we're going to revisit events that unfolded at the end of World War II.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02It's a story that's intrigued me for years.
0:52:04 > 0:52:10Like Dublin and Belfast, Derry sits where a river meets the sea - the River Foyle.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Until recently, Derry was a key naval base.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20The most westerly deep-water port in Europe.
0:52:22 > 0:52:28But Derry's history goes way back - more than 4,000 years.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31ANNOUNCEMENT: The next station is Londonderry.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35Time enough, you'd think, to settle on a name.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Some folk call this place Derry.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41Others call it Londonderry.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44It's even been called Derry/Londonderry.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But simplest of all is Stroke City.
0:52:48 > 0:52:54Stroke City - Irish humour trying to soothe a centuries-old Irish headache.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01And it's Stroke City's strategic position on the coast that's behind it.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06Easily defended, and with access to the sea, Derry was - like Dublin -
0:53:06 > 0:53:10a key prize for the English settlers of Ireland.
0:53:10 > 0:53:16It became the personal fiefdom of London merchants who fortified the city and renamed it.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20Derry became Londonderry at a stroke.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28Unlike Dublin, Derry has never assimilated its differing traditions.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31The bitterness is plain for all to see.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Yet within living memory, Derry's position on the coast
0:53:35 > 0:53:38pitted its people against a common enemy.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44During World War Two, Derry's docks were packed with warships.
0:53:44 > 0:53:50As the key base for the North Atlantic, it played a vital role in defending Allied convoys.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55'These were unprecedented times.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59'No matter what their background, many Derry people joined the war effort.'
0:53:59 > 0:54:04- It's quite a haunting scene to me. - It surely is, and to me. - 'Maeve Kelly was among them.'
0:54:04 > 0:54:07When I think of all those years.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12- This is me on the first day in the Wrens.- A good looking lassie.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14Now, was I not?
0:54:14 > 0:54:18"Maeve Boyle, who served with the Wrens in her native Derry,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21"photographed on her first day in the service."
0:54:21 > 0:54:24And why did you join up?
0:54:24 > 0:54:28Because everybody else was doing it and it was a job.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34'German submarines surrendered in satisfactory numbers...'
0:54:34 > 0:54:39In May 1945, German U-Boat commanders finally accepted the war was over.
0:54:39 > 0:54:45And it was to Londonderry that the North Atlantic fleet came to surrender.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54Almost by chance, Maeve found herself witnessing history.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59My boss at the time said, "There's submarines coming up the Foyle.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03"Would anybody like to go down and see them coming in and surrendering?"
0:55:03 > 0:55:07And anything for a couple of hours out of the office, I said, "I'll go."
0:55:07 > 0:55:14And there I stood and watched this long line of about 13 submarines.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17I've got photographs of the event.
0:55:17 > 0:55:22See this has only ever been about photographs for me until today.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26That's the captain there, and that's Sir Max Horton,
0:55:26 > 0:55:31representing the British Navy, taking the surrender - is that what you do?
0:55:31 > 0:55:33- Take surrenders. - Did you see that happen?
0:55:33 > 0:55:38Yes, yes. This man came forward, took his cap off
0:55:38 > 0:55:44and walked forward with his hand outstretched to shake this man's hand.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46He completely ignored it.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48- He wouldn't shake his hand? - He wouldn't.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Admiral Horton, who was one of our submarine aces in the last war,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55went on board as soon as the U-boats tied up.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57The war in the Atlantic had been bitter.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02German U-boats had sunk over 2,000 Allied merchant ships
0:56:02 > 0:56:06and killed over 30,000 of their seamen.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09As a former submariner himself, Horton found it hard
0:56:09 > 0:56:14to shake his enemy's hand, even in the moment of victory.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18At the time, did you realise the significance of what you were seeing?
0:56:18 > 0:56:19Oh, not at all, not at all.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22No, no, I mean I was only out for the afternoon.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27I was just glad to get a couple of hours off from the office.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31No, I hadn't the wit to know that I was looking at history.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39What Maeve had witnessed was the final act of World War Two in Europe.
0:56:39 > 0:56:45From Lough Foyle, the surrendered U-boats were towed into deep water and sunk.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49They still lie off the coast of Londonderry.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02We're at the end of a remarkable Irish journey
0:57:02 > 0:57:06through Dublin, Belfast and Londonderry.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11Three great cities shaped over centuries by the sea.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13Each one different.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17Each reflecting a distinctive facet of this often fractured island.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22What connects them all is the coastline itself,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25that fragile margin where the sea meets the land.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Endlessly captivating, occasionally turbulent,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32constantly open to change.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:41 > 0:57:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk