In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
His name was George Bradshaw,
and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,
what to see and where to stay.
Now, 170 years later,
I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of the country
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
Ripped By mstoll
Although some of the branch lines in Kent
where I am now have since closed,
in the mid-19th century, the county was criss-crossed by railways
bearing commuters to the city and produce to market.
But amongst the sweat-beaded brows and the flying chicken feathers,
you might have found the occasional Victorian tourist
out discovering his or her country, clutching a Bradshaw's Guide.
Today, I'm following my guide along some of the earliest railways in Kent.
In Bradshaw's time, the lines passed through this county
to carry merchants and tourists to the Continent.
But the same tracks enabled Britain to fight for survival.
On this journey, I'll be hearing
how the railways helped win the First World War...
It made it possible to supply the troops with the equipment they needed
in a much greater quantity than they might have had. Simple as that.
...imagining how to fill some famous boots...
Ones actually worn by Wellington?
Yes. They're very much the icon of our collection here.
...and venturing into the very first railway tunnel under the sea.
It is absolutely unique. It's massive, yet it's invisible.
And it is, honestly, one of the wonders of our modern day.
- A renaissance in rail. - We hope so.
So far, I've travelled 140 miles from London through Kent,
visiting historic Canterbury and saucy Margate.
Now I'm continuing around the cliffs along our closest shore with France
on the way to my final stop, Hastings.
Starting in Sandwich today,
I'll explore Deal before reaching the port of Folkestone.
"Kent and the Kentish coast," says Bradshaw's, "have long been celebrated
for their delicious climate and exquisite pastoral scenery."
"And the railway passes through
a fine panorama of marine and picturesque views."
Kent is essentially English.
Yet it's also a border state because France is within striking distance
and this is the stopping-off place for visitors to the Continent.
It would have been the place where invaders were stopped.
In fact, this whole stretch of coast is dotted with military relics,
as my "Bradshaw's" points out.
"At this point, the memorable ruins of Richborough come fully into sight."
"This was a celebrated Roman station
which guarded the southern entrance of the great Roman haven."
It's thought that the Romans launched their first conquest of Britain
from Richborough in 43AD.
It became strategically important again 2,000 years later,
thanks to the railways.
To find out more, I'm getting off at the nearest station.
The River Stour and the tiny, charming harbour of Sandwich.
Difficult to believe that a few miles from here on the same river
a massive port on an industrial scale
was constructed in a few years for the purposes of war.
I'm heading to the ruins of Richborough Port,
one of the most important secret supply bases during World War One
to meet local historian, Dr Frank Andrews.
- Frank, good morning. - Good morning. Nice to meet you.
This derelict site was once Richborough Port.
- It was indeed. - When was that built?
It was begun in 1916 and finished in 1918,
built in a great hurry because the existing ports,
Newhaven, Dover, Folkestone,
were quite unable to cope with the volume of material
which was needed over in France.
It was necessary to find some other way of doing it.
This pop-up port was built to dispatch vital extra ammunition and guns
to France at the climax of the First World War.
The War Department chose Richborough
for its proximity to the mainline railway,
giving excellent freight access to the docks.
So, receiving here there would have been tanks and guns and munitions.
Stuff coming in off the main railways,
off a whole network of lines here.
Right away in front of us as we speak,
all this area here was covered with railway lines, with sheds,
with working parts.
Everything was thrown at it because it was so vital to get it done quickly
because, obviously, a soldier needs guns now. Not tomorrow, now.
Richborough introduced a revolutionary new system
to speed up the movement of supplies
which was copied at other ports on the south coast.
During its two-year period of operation up to the end of 1919,
trains conveyed almost 650,000 tons of supplies straight onto the boats.
You literally put a train onto a boat, a barge or whatever,
and you take it off the other end in France.
Exactly so. Exactly so.
- So rails running along the ship. - That's right. Yes.
Here you could stick it onto the train at the factory
and it turned up at the far end in France.
And we're talking here about really big bits of kit.
We are talking about enormous bits of kit.
Whopping great gun barrels. 15, 16 tons each.
Yes, it was remarkable and extraordinarily successful.
It made it possible to supply the troops with the equipment they needed
in a much greater quantity than they might have had.
It was as simple as that. It made it possible for them to work.
These were the first ocean-going roll-on, roll-off train ferries.
By moving huge quantities of weaponry quickly,
they revitalised the British army at a time when resupply was critical.
Strictly speaking, in 1918 we were on the losing end of the war.
The train ferries began their service
just when the British armies were in retreat.
It wasn't until August 1918 that the situation was reversed
and the German army started retreating.
This came into operation just at the very last moment.
Very, very vital time indeed.
Although the port was crucial in helping Britain to win the war,
within six years it was closed,
the harbour silted up and the tracks rusted.
Here we've got the remains
of a marvellous development put together at a great rate of knots
in the interests of our soldiers over in France in the First World War
and now it's all gone. But here it is. We're on it.
We're in the middle of it. It's marvellous, it really is.
It's almost time for me to leave this historic stretch of Kent coast behind.
But before I do, one of Bradshaw's more eloquent passages has caught my eye.
Brilliantly descriptive Bradshaw.
"The traveller gazes around him
and looks upon the streets and edifices of a bygone age."
"He stares up at the beetling storeys of the old pent-up buildings as he walks
and peers curiously through lattice windows
into the vast low-roofed heavy-beamed oak-panelled rooms."
"Sandwich is a town of very remote antiquity
and contains more old buildings than almost any town of our island."
And luckily, I would guess that's still true today.
But "Bradshaw's" doesn't mention the town's connection with sandwiches.
- Hello, ladies. - Hello there.
- Hello. How lovely to meet you. - Nice to see you.
What are you doing in Sandwich?
- Looking around. Are you from Sandwich? - Yes. We both live in this road.
What connection does the humble sandwich have with Sandwich?
- You don't know? - I'm asking you.
- The Earl. The Earl of Sandwich. - How did he invent it?
Because he was so busy playing gaming and gambling,
he didn't want to stop for dinner.
So he asked for a nice steak between two pieces of bread.
And he went on gambling.
I'm using this 19th-century guide, and Bradshaw says of Sandwich
that no other town or port in England
quite rivals the number of historic buildings
or the number of historic events that have occurred here.
Yes. We have an Open Sandwich weekend.
- Open Sandwich? - Yes.
When we open our houses and the Guildhall and Thomas Paine's house.
We have 200 people trooping through.
The great unwashed coming through?
Well, perhaps they're washed if they live in Sandwich.
I'm glad you're going around with the Bible.
- Yes. - My Bradshaw's Bible.
- Yes, it's fantastic. - Lovely to see you both.
- Thank you very much. Bye-bye. - Bye-bye.
Unfortunately, I need to be moving on.
This time, it's just a short hop.
I'm travelling four miles down the tracks
to another beautiful and historic coastal town.
Deal.
Thanks for the ride.
Deal was changing in Bradshaw's time.
My guide describes it as,
"Formerly a rough-looking irregular sailor-like place
full of narrow streets. "
"It is, however, being much improved."
"It now contains several handsome villas inhabited by a large body of gentry. "
When the railways arrived in 1847,
Deal attracted commuters and tourists
to mingle with its long-standing maritime community.
"The sea opposite the town," says Bradshaw's,
"between the shore and the Goodwin Sands,
forms a channel about eight miles long and is a safe anchorage."
"As many as 400 ships can ride at anchor here at any one time."
And those ships could set their chronometers
by observing the fall of the time ball here at Deal.
And the moment of its fall would be determined by a signal
sent along the telegraph wires running along the railways.
Deal's time ball was the first to be built outside London,
which suggests how important the place was to shipping.
The town was linked to an ancient confederation called the Cinque Ports.
These five ports, Dover, Sandwich, Hythe, New Romney and Hastings,
maintained a fleet of ships
that the monarch could call upon at any time to defend England from attack.
The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports presided at Walmer Castle at Deal.
"Walmer Castle," says Bradshaw's,
"is the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports."
"The apartments command a splendid view of the sea."
"They will always have a peculiar interest for the Englishman
as having been the residence of the Duke of Wellington
and at which he died in 1852."
It's almost as though it was a place of pilgrimage for Victorians.
With my interest in political and military history,
I too feel as though I'm at a shrine.
Impressive Walmer Castle
became a favourite with Victorian visitors arriving by train,
especially when the Duke of Wellington held the post of Lord Warden.
I'm meeting English Heritage curator, Rowena Willard-Wright, to discover more.
- Hello, Rowena. - Hello.
My Victorian guidebook talks about the place where Wellington died
being of peculiar interest to the Englishman.
So I imagine Victorian tourists poured in here, did they?
We certainly know that they visited because we have a lot of references
to the housekeeper, Mrs Allen, taking people on guided tours
and giving spurious anecdotes to them, as well,
about the history of Wellington while he was here.
She was his housekeeper so she had free rein, I think,
to make up what she wanted.
Actually, the Warden of the Cinque Ports
must be an extremely distinguished position for Wellington.
He was given the position while Prime Minister, wasn't he?
That's correct, he was.
Later on, for instance, during the Second World War,
it was Churchill who had it.
More recently, the Queen Mother held the post.
Then there's an odd one I noticed in the list.
Well, I say odd; WH Smith.
Because, of course, he was the first newsagent's in a railway station.
So there's another railway connection.
WH Smith was keen to collect and display relics of previous Lord Wardens,
especially the Duke of Wellington.
So he drafted a law preventing historic heirlooms from leaving the castle.
The all-important collection of Wellington furniture
had disappeared back to the Duke of Wellington's family.
So in setting up this heirloom act
which meant that the furniture had to stay here, it could not be sold,
it meant that Wellington's furniture came back.
Wellington was such a big draw
that Victorians snapped up souvenirs and trinkets
to remind them of their tour of the private rooms.
But these are the apartments that were occupied by Wellington?
Yes, that's right.
So this is the room where the Duke of Wellington died.
And as you can see, he was pretty much living in it by the end.
It's his bed, it's where he sat, it's where he read,
and where he would occasionally take his meals, as well.
I can't help noticing the famous boots.
Ones actually worn by Wellington?
Yes. They're very much the icon of our collection here.
Something people want to come and see. They're very special.
The welly I know is a rubber boot and these are clearly leather.
Yes, that's right.
What Wellington was after, you see, was something he could...
He was always a man for ease, as it were.
It was something he could wear both whilst riding his horse
and also whilst striding into the ballroom afterwards.
He didn't want to have to change his boots.
The Wellington boots we know today weren't copies of the Duke's.
Rubber footwear was needed in the mud of World War One
and was named after the famous general and boot wearer.
I've no invitation to stay at Walmer Castle tonight,
but in Deal, thanks to a tip from "Bradshaw's",
I shall rest my head in another place of great historic interest.
- Hello there. - Hello, Mr Portillo.
- One weary traveller checking in. - Welcome to the Royal Hotel.
- As recommended by Bradshaw's Guide. - Lovely. There's your room key.
- You're in the Wellington Room. - I thought I might have Nelson.
He stayed here too. You're staying in the Wellington tonight.
Up the stairs?
Just up the stairs and through the first door.
- Thank you very much. - Hope you enjoy your stay.
The hotel was built in the early 18th century
and has hosted a list of naval heroes.
What a glorious room. What a wonderful view.
And when you're no longer with me,
I shall be sitting in this bath and taking in the panorama.
Until now, the weather in Kent has been really kind
but today the heavens have opened.
It looks as if it's going to be Folkestone in the rain for me.
Well rested, I'm now heading around 16 miles down the tracks to my next stop.
The route takes me past one of the most famous ports on the south coast.
This is Dover. Bradshaw's says,
"It's been well said that scarcely any great man,
from King Arthur to Prince Albert,
has failed at some period or other to visit Dover."
Which might explain why I, merely a former future prime minister,
am not alighting here but continuing to Folkestone.
Morning. How are you?
- Do you want me to clip it as well? - Yes, please.
I'll get my antique one out.
- There we go. - Thank you very much.
Dover is meant to be a place where great men visit.
Yes, that's why I'm going straight through it.
That's my joke.
There you are. Spoilt it for you.
Jokes aside, my "Bradshaw's" also tells me
to look out for a series of special tunnels on this stretch of track.
So are we going to go through the Martello Tunnel?
Martello is the last one before Folkestone.
The Martello Tunnel is one of four great railway tunnels
that in 1844 were cut straight through the chalk headlands outside Dover.
As we pick our way around the cliffs, Bradshaw writes,
"The traveller will encounter the most wonderful portion of the line,
prepared by a shrill of the whistle, we plunge into the Martello Tunnel
and then enter the second, or Abbotscliffe Tunnel."
"Emerging from this, the line continues along a terrace
supported by a sea wall for nearly a mile,
presenting a delicious scenic contrast to the marine expanse that opens."
- Morning. - Oh, hello.
Bye-bye.
In the early 19th century,
my next stop was just a quiet fishing town until the railways arrived.
As "Bradshaw's" says,
"The opening of the South Eastern Railway
and the establishment of a line of packets
between this port and Boulogne
has been the means of rescuing Folkestone from its previous obscurity. "
But the creation of this line with those four long tunnels cut into the chalk
did more than transform Folkestone.
It inspired a daring and ambitious project
to dig a tunnel all the way to France.
- Hello, Paul. - Hello. How are you doing?
I'm meeting Countryside Ranger Paul Holt to hear the story.
The very first real attempt was in 1880 just the other side of Abbotscliffe.
They sunk a vertical shaft down and cut parallel to the shore
through the cliff but above the high-water mark.
That worked well. They were pleased with the boring machine.
In 1881, they actually moved all the workings to this,
that bit of land at the bottom of the cliff.
Again, they sunk a vertical shaft down.
They cut out towards the Admiralty Pier on the edge of Dover.
So 1881 was the next big major attempt.
Building the tunnels must have been just a huge logistical problem.
They must have had massive teams of people here.
I would think so. The numbers must have been huge.
If they were doing it by hand,
there's no other way round than having lots of people working on it.
How far did these Channel tunnellers get in 1882?
They got 897 yards, which is just over half a mile out.
So pretty good, really.
Worry that the French might use the tunnel to invade
caused the plans to be abandoned in the following year, 1882.
When was the next attempt to build a Channel Tunnel?
In the early 1970s. '70 to kind of '73, '74.
They sunk an adit down and they cut out towards France, basically.
So, yeah, it was another hive of industrial activity
on this little bit of cliff.
The second attempt had barely got a mile before it too was given up.
It took 113 years, but that Victorian vision was finally realised in 1994
when the Channel Tunnel opened for business.
The Channel Tunnel. When I was a junior minister,
I helped put through the legislation that made it all possible.
Very complicated; the engineering, the customs, the immigration,
the passport control, the policing, the fire services, and here it is.
It's all up and working.
John Keefe works for Eurotunnel.
- John. - Michael.
You're going to be my guide today.
I came down here when it was being built
but I haven't been in the tunnel except as a passenger since.
It's rather exciting for me.
Hopefully, it's going to be very exciting.
Instead of putting you on one of the trains like most of the passengers,
we're going to take a car and drive into the Channel Tunnel.
Drive through. Sounds good.
Before entering the tunnels,
we must spend a few moments in a safety airlock.
This is the airlock that leads into the service tunnel.
The reason it's there is because the service tunnel
serves as a safety lifeboat for the Channel Tunnel.
It means that we can manage evacuations from trains in complete safety
and through clean air.
We're so used to thinking of the Channel Tunnel as a rail tunnel,
it had never occurred to me that you can drive from England to France.
Absolutely.
John's taking me far into the tunnel
to see the traces of those first Victorian efforts.
So where have we got to?
Well, this section here is the 1882 tunnel crossing the 1974 workings.
So the 1974 workings actually follow the line of the current tunnel.
But in 1882, they were digging test tunnels
out towards Dover Harbour wall from Samphire Hoe.
This is where the two tunnels intersect.
If you look up here on the wall,
the segments actually still have the date clearly visible. 1974.
I had not realised that they had made so much progress in '74.
They came a long way.
So you've not had to replace this 1974 working.
No, this is as it was. We haven't touched it.
It's a little piece of history inside the history that's the Channel Tunnel.
And if I were to remove these, a dangerous thing to do,
but I would be able to peer into the 1882 tunnel, would I?
- Yes. - That's quite moving, isn't it?
We are in one of the engineering wonders of the world now.
But, 115 years before this tunnel opened,
they'd been down here digging with their Victorian technology.
And they were right, as well. They were going through the layer of chalk
that every successive attempt has been through.
Despite all the technological advances since those Victorian pioneers,
it eventually took eight years
to complete the 30-mile stretch of tunnel to France.
I should say, by the way, that I bear some of the scars
of trying to get this legislation through Parliament.
How do you think the people of Kent and the people of England
have settled down now to the Channel Tunnel?
I think it's always interesting to look back at those reactions.
The fact that the British didn't want it,
to today's situation where 85 to 90 percent of our customers are British
from the Southeast of England, the Midlands,
from as far north as Scotland.
It is absolutely unique. It's massive, yet it's invisible.
And it is, honestly, one of the wonders of our modern days.
- A renaissance in rail. - We hope so.
Using my "Bradshaw's Guide", I'm often impressed by the engineers of his day.
But still, it astonishes me that they began work on a Channel Tunnel
and were beaten back by strategic military considerations
more than by geology.
The Channel has traditionally been seen as our defence.
We've built castles, towers and even pop-up ports to keep invaders at bay.
But those engineers who built those fortifications
would be amazed and impressed that we've now built a permanent railway link
to join us to our former enemies under the Channel.
On my next journey, I'll be visiting Romney Marsh
where the railways helped to ensure the success
of a special breed of sheep...
It was quite an important route for my family.
It was the closest station from where they lived.
...finding out why my guidebook compared Kent to the French Champagne region...
The south-facing slopes that we see on the North Downs
that Bradshaw would have seen is perfect terroir for champagne.
...and discovering how the railways
led Victorian Britain into the grip of fern fever.
The nurseries would use the railways to send the plants to the customers.
So this amazing craze was helped on by the railways.
Oh, yes, definitely.
Ripped By mstoll