0:00:30 > 0:00:34We're in Yorkshire now, with well-known holiday destinations like Whitby,
0:00:34 > 0:00:39and Scarborough, which has been attracting visitors for over 350 years.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Nestled between these two holiday hotspots is Ravenscar.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Ravenscar is a resort like no other.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's known as the town that never was.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00The question is, where is it?
0:01:03 > 0:01:08I've programmed my sat nav for the main street of Ravenscar,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12the wonderfully named Marine Esplanade.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16'Turn left, then take the second right.'
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Whoopsy, we're going straight into a rutted road.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23There's some sort of curb running up the middle of the road here.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27'After 200 yards, turn right.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34'You have reached your destination.'
0:01:34 > 0:01:37That's it. Marine Esplanade.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45That's the strangest Marine Esplanade I've ever seen.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49According to sat nav, there should be roads here,
0:01:49 > 0:01:55and Marine Esplanade IS here, it's just covered in years of vegetation.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00But if you look hard enough there are clues left.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Look, drains, for no apparent reason.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11Look, it's some kind of base, a sort of octagonal concrete thing.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16The further afield you look, the more of Ravenscar you find.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18There's even an old railway platform.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27These are all that remain of a grand scheme hatched by Victorian entrepreneurs.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32They drew up detailed plans for a new resort on the Yorkshire coast, Ravenscar.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37Hundreds of workmen laid roads and sank drains.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42They even constructed a brickworks ready to build the new town.
0:02:42 > 0:02:49Ravenscar was to be an elegant seaside resort to rival its neighbours Whitby and Scarborough.
0:02:50 > 0:02:57A hundred years ago champagne-fuelled auctions were held at the Ravenhall Hotel.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02The estate company sold Ravenscar, plot by plot.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The plan was for the new owners
0:03:05 > 0:03:10to build their own houses, so a new seaside town would be born.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15But, in spite of roads being laid out, Ravenscar was never built.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Why?
0:03:17 > 0:03:23On the platform of the old station I'm meeting the grand-daughter of one of the original investors.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30So, Monica, your grandmother bought a plot here in this town, but WHAT town?
0:03:30 > 0:03:33My grand-mother bought a building plot here.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37- And this is the proof. - Indeed, this is the conveyance.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40- Does it give us the address? Because I've got a map here.- It does.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44It's in Loring Road, and Loring Road is just over there.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Can we find your grandmother's plot?
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Let's have a try.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- Presumably these gates must represent the old roads.- Indeed, yes.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00- So this gate must be St Hilda's Road. - Yes, it is.- There we go.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03- So where are we on your plot? - Right, we're on Loring Road,
0:04:03 > 0:04:08and the plot was the second one along, and it was 25 feet from here.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Which is what? That's going to be about six metres, so off we go.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17One, two, three, four, five, six.
0:04:17 > 0:04:23- So that is your plot, just a field. - Just a field.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28'Monica's grandparents paid £18 for their plot,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'and then waited for the town to grow around it.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33'And waited.'
0:04:33 > 0:04:37In fact, I have a letter here dated in 1937,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41after his wife's death, when he tried to sell it.
0:04:41 > 0:04:48"Unfortunately, sites on this estate have not turned out as happily as was first anticipated."
0:04:48 > 0:04:52- That's a wonderful lawyer's understatement, isn't it? - Indeed, yes.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58So just why didn't Ravenscar turn out quite as "happily as anticipated"?
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Well, one thing every resort needs is a beach,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05but the beach here looks a long way down.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08I've enlisted Mel Cunningham as my guide.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11So how high are we above sea level here?
0:05:11 > 0:05:14We're nearly 500 feet above sea level here.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17A completely mad place to build a resort.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Yeah, on a day like today it would be super, but this is quite unusual,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23normally the weather is much more inclement.
0:05:25 > 0:05:32'The going gets tougher from here, but I'm hoping after the scramble the beach will be worth it.'
0:05:38 > 0:05:40The last leg.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47Mel, now we've got all the way down, where's the sandy beach?!
0:05:47 > 0:05:51I'm afraid there isn't any sand as such, it's all rock and shale.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55The most inhospitable place ever, and we've come from all the way up there.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00But how did all those Victorian and Edwardian ladies expect to come down to the beach?
0:06:00 > 0:06:03There were some stone steps constructed which did take them
0:06:03 > 0:06:06right down to the beach, but they've since slipped away.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12The steps never did draw crowds down to the beach.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18Many prospective buyers were put off by Ravenscar's wind-swept location,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22and those who did buy were reluctant to build.
0:06:22 > 0:06:30Today this villa on Marine Esplanade stands alone, but could Ravenscar ever have worked?
0:06:30 > 0:06:36Well, the same entrepreneurs successfully established Lee-on-Solent on the South coast,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40and on a day like this you wonder whether a little bit more commitment
0:06:40 > 0:06:43was all it would have taken here in Yorkshire.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45But the chance has gone.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49The National Trust bought the land in 1977,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53so now Ravenscar, the town that never was, will never be.
0:06:59 > 0:07:06Spurn Point reaches out into the North Sea and marks our entrance to the Humber Estuary.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14We've arrived at our final destination, the port of Hull.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Because this seafaring city faces east, Hull has been a vital link
0:07:22 > 0:07:25in a chain connecting Europe with the rest of the world.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28In the 19th century,
0:07:28 > 0:07:34millions of people were desperate to escape Eastern Europe and make a fresh start.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38This great port of Hull became the unlikely gateway
0:07:38 > 0:07:41to a new life of freedom and opportunity in America.
0:07:41 > 0:07:48Howard Wolinsky's grandfather Henry was one of those migrants, en-route from Lithuania to Boston.
0:07:48 > 0:07:54Though he never met his grandfather, Howard has arrived in Hull to retrace his footsteps.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59- So is that a photograph of your grandfather?- That's right.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00And what age is he there?
0:08:00 > 0:08:03He's almost 70 years old, in Boston.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06What do you hope to find here in Hull?
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Well, more answers. I'd like to know more
0:08:09 > 0:08:12about what his life was like the brief time he was in Hull.
0:08:12 > 0:08:20My sister and one of my sons and my wife are here now, and the four of us went to Lithuania last year
0:08:20 > 0:08:25and actually went to the town he was from, and walked where he walked,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27and now we're sailing where he sailed.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Like many people migrating to the New World, Howard's grandfather
0:08:33 > 0:08:36was an Eastern European Jew, escaping Tsarist Russia.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40The Jews were confined to a region along Russia's Western border,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43which included much of present-day Lithuania.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Conditions were poor,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48and brutal repression set in motion a mass exodus.
0:08:48 > 0:08:56Between 1870 and 1914, for over two million European refugees, Hull was a lifeline.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02To get to America, Howard's grandfather brought a one-way ticket.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06The first stage was a train to Hamburg, and then on to Hull,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09a 32-hour voyage across the North Sea.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18We're meeting local historian, Nick Evans to retrace the next stage of Howard's grandfather's journey.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Having navigated a series of locks and docks,
0:09:22 > 0:09:28this is where on the 1st of August 1892 your ancestor would have landed.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31The vessel would have moored alongside this dockside here,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35and your ancestor would have disembarked here and then gone...
0:09:35 > 0:09:37- Right here?- This very spot.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43So this is where your grandfather would have taken his first steps on British soil.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44So I am walking the walk.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48You are walking the walk, and we know from documentation in the local archives
0:09:48 > 0:09:51that he arrived on Monday the 1st of August.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55You can see here the Sprite, a steamship from Hamburg,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59which actually arrived on the 1st of August at Prince's Dock.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Alongside the passengers there were all different commodities,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06including fruit, a piano and a variety of other commodities.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09These are some of the images he would have seen upon arrival.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11- So this is 19th-century Hull? - This is from 1890.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15- This is the sights he would have seen.- Is that that building there?
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Yes, this is the docks office at the time.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Was the port of Hull the equivalent then of an airport transit lounge,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22just for people passing through?
0:10:22 > 0:10:25It was a major transport artery,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28just like Heathrow or Schiphol or JFK Airport are now.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34That was the real hub of this transport movement, on which millions of migrants would come along.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38It must have been exciting to know you were on this journey to America.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Even though you put up with the seasickness and everything,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43I think you have to keep your eye on the prize.
0:10:44 > 0:10:4721-year-old Henry Wolinsky wasn't alone.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Along with oranges and pianos,
0:10:49 > 0:10:54millions of names record the people who, for a few brief hours,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56passed through the port of Hull en route west.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Immediately after disembarkation they would have walked along streets
0:11:02 > 0:11:05such as this, where they would have gone to nearby lodging houses...
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Just like being in transit in an airport today,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13people passing through Hull over 100 years ago on their way to the New World
0:11:13 > 0:11:16had time on their hands, and needs to be met.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23This was where most of the migrants would have enjoyed a much-needed meal.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Howard's grandfather would certainly have come in here,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29because it was the only one which was run by a Jewish housekeeper
0:11:29 > 0:11:31and provided kosher food.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Are there any records of what they ate, what was on the menu?
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Dry bread, herring, familiar foods for these migrants.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- No bagels? - No bagels, unfortunately, no.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48Once fed, Howard's grandfather was moved to the railway station to start his onward journey to America.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54The migrants were moved through Hull under escort, and kept increasingly apart from the locals.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Cholera was the big fear.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01There'd been outbreaks of the disease in ports across Europe, and cholera was a killer.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08Public concern over disease resulted in a purpose-built platform being added to the train station,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11along with a special waiting room for migrants.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15These days it's a pub.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I wonder what your grandfather would have thought, if he'd known that in 120 years' time
0:12:22 > 0:12:28one of his grandsons would be in the same building that he waited in before he went to the New World.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Well, I would hope he would find it ironic, and satisfying,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36that the generations continued.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Many of his other descendants...
0:12:38 > 0:12:43of his brothers were killed in the Holocaust, so we're survivors.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51After a rest, Howard's grandfather made his way to the platform.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Here he joined a long roll call of names who continued their journey westward.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06The train took them to Liverpool,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10where they boarded a steam ship bound for America.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16'Howard's family are joining him where his ancestor stood on the brink of this new beginning.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18'A successful American family,
0:13:18 > 0:13:24'here today thanks to one young man's journey from the Old World to the New.'
0:13:26 > 0:13:31This platform is completely overgrown, and this story is overlooked by history,
0:13:31 > 0:13:36but it's no surprise, because for the millions of people who passed through here
0:13:36 > 0:13:38this was just a stepping stone.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44The real story was going to happen somewhere else, somewhere far away.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd