Isle of Wight to Stonehenge Britain's First Photo Album

In the Victorian era, Britain changed as never before.

It was the time of great inventors, great engineers,

but above all, great business men, entrepreneurs.

One of the best examples was the pioneer photographer, Francis Frith.

It was in the 1860s that

Francis Frith embarked upon a monumental mission

using the newly invented photographic camera.

He wanted to document every city, every town

and every village in the land.

I'm tracing the footsteps of this remarkable man

and his team of photographers.

Using their pictures as my guide,

I'll be travelling the length and breadth of the country

finding out what has altered and what has stayed the same.

And along the way, I'll be taking my own photos to try and capture

the mood of the place as it is now.

Welcome to Britain's First Photo Album.

Tourism in Victorian times boomed with the railways.

People would go to places which before, they'd just heard of.

And Frith was quick to make sure that his photographers

went right across the country, to all the popular resorts.

So, the Frith archive really is a treasure trove.

And today, I'll be picking out some of the highlights of Frith's work.

I'm starting at the most southerly pointed my travels,

on the coast of the Isle of Wight.

Then it's back to the mainland, to the Hampshire town of Romsey,

before I take in the mystical Wiltshire landmark of Stonehenge.

And using my camera,

I'll be trying to update Frith.

Cars, the moment you to start taking a photograph, cars.

I'll be organising something in a brewery.

And I'll be enjoying an ancient, pagan ritual.

Well done.

The Isle of Wight exploded into life as a tourist destination

during the 19th century.

Frith came in 1883, by which time a trendsetting Queen Victoria

had established a holiday home here.

The coming of the railways meant

the public could travel here easily from London.

They came for the sunshine, fresh air, sea views,

and for the first time, attractions,

designed especially for tourists.

My first Frith photograph today is unusual,

because on the face of it, it doesn't look very interesting.

It's a group of buildings by the seashore,

not clear what they're doing,

where this path is going to.

But it was a major Victorian tourist attraction, and it

still is a tourist attraction, owned by the same family.

It's got a splendid name, Blackgang Chine.

The name originally referred to

a nearby gorge that led to the seashore,

this was known locally as a chine.

Blackgang was the name of the dark path, or gangway,

the twisted its way down the gorge's length.

Today, Blackgang Chine is one of the Isle of Wight's

biggest and oldest attractions.

The owners delight in the name,

which conjures up images of smugglers and pirates,

it's something they've been trading on for 160 years.

Well, my ancestors started the business in 1843

as a theme park, a very early theme park.

That's what it is today.

My great-great grandfather was a shopkeeper by trade,

and he said, "I'm going to make most money here by opening a shop.

"The fact that I'm in a scenic location is good idea".

But he also then said, "I need a museum",

and just by luck, in 1844, the year after he opened his shop,

and entrance to the chine,

a whale was found floating in the Solent -

the piece of water between the Isle of Wight and the mainland.

And this was towed ashore, and the Admiralty were going to blow it up,

and he stepped in, and said, "Could I buy it from you?"

And he sold the blubber at auction,

had the bones bleached, had them carted by horse and cart

over to this location,

and then had them re-erected as a full skeleton on show.

The Blackgang whale has been a feature here from beginning.

Originally, it was housed in a tin shed,

highlighted here in the Frith picture.

The shed has long since gone, but the whale survives,

or at least, 13 tonnes of its bleached bones.

So, for the Victorians, they just wanted to get really close

-to the whale, didn't they?

-They did indeed, in fact,

in the Victorian times there was an actual wishing chair,

you could actually make a wish inside the belly of the whale.

So, very Victorian.

And of course, they had a shop here,

and served tea actually with the bones of the whales around you.

So, you couldn't get closer?

No, you couldn't closer, absolutely.

And you also had, you had Royal visitors here, didn't you?

We did, Royalty came, Queen Victoria visited the park,

also, Queen Mary, with her husband sailing round the island.

She would very often come wandering

through the Chine building to look at the view.

On one occasion, her hat was knocked off by the bone from the whale,

and within a few minutes, we're told, the story is,

a workman came rushing up and actually sawed

the offending piece of bone off.

-So it wouldn't knock other hats off.

-What would it have looked like?

This bit here, you can see the bit that it missing,

over this side, you can see the bit that's still in place.

Oh, so, right, so a great chunk?

Yes, was just cut off, absolutely.

Apart from the shop, and of course the museum with the whale skeleton,

it was actually the walks down

through the gorge, looking at the sea,

which is probably as important to the visitors.

And why did they like it so much?

Well, we've got to remember, in the Victorian age,

the Isle of Wight, and lots of resorts across the country,

are being discovered for the first time, and it's the sea.

The fact they're so close to the sea

and they've got wonderful sea vistas that are so important to them.

They've come from cities,

they're looking that openness, and that wide-open space,

and sea vistas, that's what they want.

Now, given the chance and encouraged by Queen Victoria,

the people of Britain fell in love with the seaside.

It was the place to go on holiday.

They could lose a few inhibitions, enjoy the fresh air,

and escape the smoke-filled cities.

The idea of the great outdoors became a 19th-century obsession.

Frith and his team were there,

able, for the first time, to capture this new mood.

Although they might not have known it then,

they were creating a stunning record of how life was changing.

Where are these buildings? Where would they be now?

Well, we'll turn around right now, turn round here,

and if you look straight ahead of you here, they're in midair.

They're in midair?

Yes, we've actually got a cliff edge here,

which is falling away every year.

And those buildings in that particular view

were about 40 metres out into where you currently see the deep, blue sea.

Since the 1883 photo was taken,

Simon's family have lost a large amount of land.

It has simply fallen into the sea.

In part, as a result of the strong winds along this coast.

And sadly, it means that the very top of the gorge path

is all that's left of the original Blackgang Chine.

And then of course, when they got the top of the gorge,

they were greeted with this stunning view down the coast.

In those days the gorge was three quarters of a mile long,

and went much further out to sea.

So, if you look at it from the point of view of the old photo,

we would have been, somehow, out there?

Probably about 30 metres out that way, on the edge of the gorge,

looking back into the buildings there, yes.

So, every year you've got to be conscious of the fact

that your land is getting smaller?

-Yes.

-So, how do you cope with that?

It's a bit like a crab, we move

sideways and backwards with our developments and ideas,

and, of course, take down attractions

and move them as and when the cliff gets close.

We call that managed retreat, it's a nice word, isn't it?

Well, the retreat is the hardest manoeuvre.

-It is indeed, yes.

-In the military, isn't it, an organised one.

We've managed to be doing it for some years,

so we know what we're doing, I think.

Each of the five generations of the Dabell family

have had to deal with a different coastline.

So, for my first photo of the day I want to do what Frith did,

and capture a particular moment in this ever-changing scene.

Simon's concern is for the children of today,

I can't help but feel rather sad to think of the seaside days

enjoyed by children here in the past.

It's got a, kind of, Victorian feel to it, yes.

I wonder how long it'll be before this is gone for ever.

The Victorians loved a story, and they like a bit of melodrama,

and they like entitling their pictures,

so, how about The Lost Childhood?

I'm moving east,

along the southern coast of the Isle of Wight towards Ventnor.

The town that Charles Dickens described

as the prettiest place he'd ever seen.

I'm here to investigate our second Frith photo today.

It's all about health.

This incredible building stretched along a hillside

was Ventnor's Royal Hospital,

an institute famous for its treatment of tuberculosis.

It opened in the late 1860s, with Queen Victoria as its patron.

And it became renowned across Europe.

The building was knocked down 50 years ago,

but the grounds which once grew medicinal plants

are today the home of Ventnor's glorious botanical Gardens.

I meeting historian and garden volunteer, Jonyth Hill.

I have a personal connection

because my father convalesced in this hospital

in the 1960s, when it was just convalescence

and not tuberculosis and more.

So, you got an affection for the old hospital?

Oh, yes, a deep affection.

And this is why I'm delighted to work here now.

What was the reaction when it was announced the hospital would close?

That must have been a blow for lots of people.

By that time, tuberculosis was, virtually, under treatment,

and you need hospitals of this size to continue to treat it.

Therefore, the patients could be treated at home.

So, although this would be a wonderful hospital,

-if it were still here...

-Look what we have now.

When this hospital closed in 1964,

TB was still responsible for 2,000 deaths a year.

But in Frith's day, the annual death rate was about 80,000.

The Royal Hospital was at the forefront of moves

to combat the disease.

Each patient would have a separate room,

and they would all be facing south

in this lovely temperature, and the climate here.

So, it was fresh air, just as they used to do with patients,

sending them abroad.

And did it work?

On the whole, it did seem to work, I think,

away from the grub and the dirt of the cities,

to come down here and live with all this fresh air

obviously benefited them greatly.

And only here for about three to six months,

and could go home and be completely cured.

Pity we can't see the building now, isn't it?

It is indeed, but there is just one remnant,

this, in fact, was used as a ward.

Because the thing with tuberculosis

was that they should be out in the fresh air as much as possible,

so they certainly came down here by day,

and the ward would have been open,

and sometimes even by night they would be left,

if the conditions were not too cold,

which they hardly ever were down here.

-Now it's a potting shed?

-Now it's a potting shed.

But anyway, you can imagine, you can imagine the wards there, can't you?

Yes, you can indeed.

There is one part of the modern botanical gardens

that's been preserved since the time of Frith's photo.

Chris Kidd is the head gardener.

So, these palms were here when the hospital was here?

They were donated to the island and given to Queen Victoria,

who was a patron of the hospital.

She visited the hospital several times

and recommended this was where the plants should go.

-She may have been here for the planting, we don't know.

-Could be.

-How old are they, then?

-They were planted in the 1850s.

Right, so I'm actually pressing against a plant

that was, well, certainly alive when Queen Victoria was alive?

-May even have been planted by her.

-Maybe! Well, that's wonderful.

It's time to start thinking about MY photo.

So many flowers, so many colours, so many angles.

But what about the spot where the Frith photo was taken?

The picture, the Frith picture, was taken obviously from this hill.

It's looking back on the hospital in the 1890s.

You can see, well, you can see the wall, there,

which is now this wall.

And you can see the cricket pavilion, so that's there.

Although I was thinking of taking a picture here,

I think it would be more interesting inside the garden.

I can't follow Frith's lead, because the building's gone.

I'm going to have to do something completely different.

And this could be it.

So, here it is.

My second photo for the album.

The oldest, and the best, of the Ventnor botanical gardens.

And reminder of the Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest.

And just think what Queen Victoria would think,

there it is, she gives the seed,

it's still going in the next century,

and it's also still going in the century after.

So, that is a link, a direct link, with Queen Victoria,

and that's why I like that picture.

I'm tracing the footsteps of pioneer photographer,

Francis Frith and his team.

Using the photographs they took

in order to find out exactly how our country has changed.

Having toured the Isle of Wight,

it's back to the mainland to look at two very different Frith photos.

Just north of Southampton on the bank of the River Test,

is the small market town of Romsey.

And it was here, in 1898 that the Frith photographic team

captured this beautifully composed image of the marketplace.

Frith took several pictures of Romsey's town centre,

but it's the Market Square I need to find.

Can you help me with this photograph?

Where do you think that is?

-Is this a trick question?

-Ha-ha, no, it's not,

I'm trying to find out where it is.

-That's a beautiful picture.

-Yeah.

-Can I ask where you got it from?

It's a Victorian picture, a very famous photographer, called Frith.

Right, OK.

He took this and my job is to find out exactly where it was from.

Oh, that's easy, it's just round the corner there, my dear,

and you'll see the statue.

The star of the show here is Lord Palmerston,

who was Britain's Prime Minister

not once, but twice, in the 1850s and '60s.

He's very much the local lad made good.

But, when you took the photo closely,

it contains clues to one of Romsey's traditional industries.

And that's something I want to discuss with local historian,

'Phoebe Merrick.'

Even today, looking around the modern town,

there's no getting away from the fact that this town

seems to enjoy its beer.

Two references to breweries here, here, with the off-licence,

and here, with the old pub.

Romsey was famous for pubs, wasn't it?

Oh, very much so, when we were looking to do

the history of pubs in Romsey, we found 84 of them.

84? It's a small town though, how many people here?

About 5,000 people.

So, a pub for every family, not quite, but it's amazing, isn't it?

Yes, mind you, I think many of them were no more than beer houses

and often, it was wrapped up in the front room,

and the wife ran it as an additional source of income,

not like now, when, if you run a pub, it's a full-time job.

But why should Romsey need so many pubs?

Because you're on a main road from Winchester to the West of England,

you're on the road between Salisbury and Southampton,

all those travellers need refreshment,

as do their horses, of course.

People sometimes, in those days,

would think of Romsey as a place to get drunk, is that right?

Oh, yes, the old saying was, "So drunk he must have been to Romsey."

The alternative is,

"It's a straight road to Romsey and a zigzag back from there".

It's time to turn attention to Frith, though,

and what he was trying to do with this particular photo of Romsey.

Right, I suppose what surprising is that the Frith photograph

does not show the abbey church.

It's extraordinary, isn't it?

Because that is so much the dominant feature of the whole of Romsey,

almost everywhere you stand, you get a glimpse of that church.

Frith managed to find somewhere that didn't have it.

He got a good photograph though, because the way it comes to a point

with the Lord Palmerston's statue is the central focus.

But nonetheless, to get a photograph from anywhere in Romsey

without a glimpse of the abbey church is quite hard work.

The 12th century abbey, once a house for Benedictine nuns,

is the most famous sight in Romsey.

I want to give it a proper place in my photo.

Come on, cars, this way, sir.

Cars, the moment you start taking photographs, cars.

Thank you very much.

OK, now we can go.

Right, this is it, I don't want cars in the picture.

So, there it is, different from the Frith photo.

Mine is of the best feature of Romsey,

this splendid building was already

600 years old when Lord Palmerston was around.

And I think this is a worthy addition to our album.

Before I leave town, there's just time for a short, um, pitstop.

I hope you understand, this is purely for research purposes.

A taste of Romsey, now fully updated.

In 2008 it looked like the local tradition of beer making

might have disappeared.

But 18 months ago, with the arrival of a brand-new brewery,

the captivating smell of hops is back in the air.

The owner, Nigel Welsh,

is going to introduce me to the mysteries of the process.

You're going to come out to the mash tun,

and hopefully regulate the flow of the sparge.

The mash tun and regulate the flow of the sparge?

What it is he talking about?

Still, it certainly smells interesting.

-So, this is the water, hot water?

-Hot liquor.

And what's liquor?

Liquor is water, we don't use the word water, it's dirty stuff.

Going over, what's down there?

-That's the malted barley.

-And what do I do?

Well, you're going to check this dial over here.

-Right.

-And make sure the regulated flow

of 30 litres a minute is going through.

Well, that says 35.4.

Oh, if you want to just adjust this lever here,

and close it down a bit.

Right, there we are.

How does it compare with an old brewery,

in Victorian times, what would that have been like?

In Victorian times this would have been a traditional tower brewery,

very few pumps involved, and a lot more manpower.

The whole process, brewing the day, will take eight hours,

and in seven days' time you'll have beer ready to drink.

That's all very well, but I haven't got a week to wait for the good bit.

Fortunately, though, Nigel has one he made earlier.

It's not bad, it's rather good.

And whilst I'm here, it would be foolish not to have a quick sip of

the bottle conditioned house special. That's OK.

Oh, and there's the deceptively strong local porter.

Would you like another?

-Have another three, I think.

-THEY LAUGH

After a good night's rest,

it's a sunny drive 20 miles or so to my final, Frith photo.

The location is world-famous.

Surely, Stonehenge hasn't changed for thousands of years?

Those magnificent stones wrapped in mystery seem almost eternal.

But it's not true, the stones have been moved,

and the change over the past hundred years or so has been quite radical.

Our Frith photograph proves that point.

The great value of Frith's photo,

is that it has taken just before

a period when a number of alterations were made.

And before anyone suspects that

Britain's greatest prehistoric treasure

may be something of a sham, let me assure you,

that any changes have been part of some careful,

and expert, conservation.

Dave Batchelor from English Heritage has agreed to meet me to reveal all.

Now, in Victorian times, when people start to travel around,

this would already be a great attraction.

Yes, it was a place that scientists looked at,

architects looked at right the way through the period.

It was first put into a guidebook, in some respects,

when Geoffrey of Monmouth, who was working in the 12th century

-did a collection of places to visit.

-That's going back!

In that sense, it's been known since that time.

Right, so when we get Frith and his photographers, this is obvious,

go to Stonehenge and take a picture, because we can sell those pictures.

So, here's our picture, and where do you think that's,

where do think this is from?

It's just about where were standing.

It doesn't look at all like that, does it?

No, it doesn't, this is taken at the very end of the 19th century.

What were looking at is this trilathon here,

it was collapsed, it fell down in 1797.

This is the upright on its end, as its top surface was here.

And we're also looking at the big, great trilathon, stone 56 here,

which was leaning over at that angle.

-So, where's that?

-That's now been straightened up.

But as with most things in life,

prevention is usually better than cure.

And if you look closely, you can see

where some of Dave's predecessors have taken radical action

to halt any further collapses around the ancient monument.

Now, look, that, that's your concrete, isn't it?

That is a piece of concrete.

This is an ancient piece of concrete,

all of, what, 50 years old?

About 50 years old, yes.

-So, we're not trying to make it fake in any way?

-No.

It's just quite obvious that's the modern bit,

and here we are with these stones.

That's right.

Stonehenge has changed a lot, and that's why, in photographic terms,

you need a regular record of it, to take on board those changes.

But, however much Stonehenge has been patched up, glued,

and realigned,

the mystical aura of the grand stones is still unchanged.

And there's one group of people who are mightily relieved about that.

I'm meeting one of them, Frank, Frank the Druid.

Well, it is wonderful to be here.

Today, meeting you, and being in this sacred space,

chosen as a special place by the ancestors.

What goes through my mind is the peace, the sanctity,

and the very special energy that Stonehenge has when you visit,

and you're fortunate enough to come inside.

It's a place blessed, it's very, very special.

But, you don't have to be a druid

-to appreciate that side of it?

-Absolutely not.

That's good, so, I can speak to you on the same level,

even though I'm not much of a druid?

-Yes.

-That's good.

And, for you, are you worried about the fact that people

think of you as, kind of, made up or lunatic?

Or new-age, or all those images of Druids, they're not exactly,

"Oh, here's a sensible person, here's a druid".

It's, "Here's a druid, bit of a laugh, you know, a nutter.

What you think about that?

Well, Stonehenge has a attracted a lot of eccentrics,

both in the field of science, and mysticism, and druidry.

So, you don't mind that?

Well, I do mind, because the Druid tradition is very ancient,

it has a great deal to offer to the modern world,

especially as we go into this transition of climate change.

We as the people of earth have to find a new way forward,

and there's nothing new-age about that.

I'm not sure I've got the right clothes to be a Druid.

No problem, we'll dress you in the robes of a bard.

So, that would be, a bard would be a, sort of, poet?

Essentially, the bard's manifested in society as poets and artists

who would travel and share the news, early journalists, in fact,

Passing news between the tribes.

I'd have thought I'm a shoe in for that, aren't I?

Come on, John.

How do I look?

You look good. Follow me.

Right, so, we're taking part in a ceremony, are we?

Is that the idea?

-Well, I'd like to walk you through what happens in a ceremony.

-OK.

Firstly, we've entered a great place that belongs to the ancestors.

Yes.

So, a silent pause, hello, ancestors.

Hello, ancestors.

Do I have to say it or just think it?

You can think it or say it out loud.

-Can I bang the drum?

-Absolutely, if you want to.

Right, give me a bit more of a sense that I'm taking part.

We're loud and proud, and slightly crazy at Stonehenge.

So we do it for real, but we don't do it with great reverence.

We're loud and have fun.

Right, OK, you shout out welcome and I'll do the drum.

-OK.

-Yeah, go on.

Welcome to Stonehenge, everybody.

We are here this day to celebrate

being in the presence of the ancestors.

Shortly after the turning of the year of autumn equinox.

-Well done.

-OK, is that all right?

-Absolutely.

And what do you do when you're not a druid?

When I'm not a druid, I work full-time as an IT consultant.

Oh, right, so, behind every IT consultant is a possible Druid?

Quite likely.

That's great.

Oh, well, back to work.

Time for my photo.

Ordinary tourists, if I can say that,

can't get as close to the stones as I can -

special permission.

So, I'm going to take advantage of that and take my iconic photo.

And there it is,

the great, immovable monument of Neolithic Britain,

that's not quite as immovable as you might think.

Next time, my journey continues west along the coast,

to Dorset and Devon.

I'll be fossil hunting and milling my own flour in Lyme Regis,

and trying my hand at a spot of heavy horse farming near Barnstaple.

I think I'm a natural.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd