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 go, what to see and where to stay.
And now, 110 years later,
I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures across the United Kingdom
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
My journey that began in Norfolk continues through Kent.
Bradshaw's tells me that, "The railway's iron roads
intersect this beautiful county,
affording the inhabitants of the great metropolis
to become acquainted with picturesque scenery, cities and baronial halls."
They had set out in order to discover the essence of Britain, as I have today.
On this leg, I'll deliver beer with old-fashioned directness,“
Anyone in need of a drink?
...learn about some old balls...
Now, that is the oldest cricket ball known to exist anywhere in the world.
It was used at a match at Lord's in 1820.
...and ruffle some feathers in Dorking.
I quite like a wash and blow-dry myself, so we're birds of a feather.
My journey began in the cathedral city of Norwich.
I travelled south through East Anglia to Ipswich and Chelmsford
and crossed the Thames at Tilbury.
Now I'll continue through Kent to Dover.
After heading inland to Tonbridge, I'll return to the coast at Brighton
before ending my journey in another cathedral city, Chichester.
Today, I'll start in Faversham and travel on to Dover and the channel.
I'll continue my journey through western Kent,
detouring to Dorking in Surrey.
My next stop is Faversham.
The guide book tells me that, "lt's situated on a small stream,
running into the East Swale, which is navigable."
"There are some imports and a considerable coasting trade."
I think some of those boats were hopping to local ports
bearing the town's frothy product.
This part of Kent is famous for its distinctive oast houses,
which were used for drying hops.
Beer's been made here for centuries,
and Faversham has a distinguished brewing history.
At the time of my guide there were two breweries based here.
Today, one survives, Shepherd Neame. it claims to be the country's oldest.
I'm meeting local historian John Owen to find out more.
- Hello - Good morning.
- Welcome to Shepherd Neame. - Thank you so much.
Faversham is a beautiful town permeated by the gorgeous smell of hops,
and this is a very ancient brewery, by the look of it. You go back how far?
- We've been on the same site from 1573. - Extraordinary. Actually here?
Actually on this site. It is just a remarkable survival.
I assume that, originally,
beer production had to be for local consumption.
- Does beer travel well? - No, it doesn't.
And certainly beer made in the 16th century
would have travelled far worse than it does today.
What made the difference to all that?
I think the quality of the transport
and ultimately the coming of the railways
in the middle of the 19th century.
The railway arrived in Faversham in 1858
and this brewery in particular
was quick to see a new business opportunity.
It built a new malt house and invested heavily in the railways.
Did the brewery have its own rolling stock?
I think it had about a dozen trucks by the 1880s.
- In the brewery's livery? - Yes. Wonderful livery.
Pale cream and Oxford blue, which must have made quite a statement
going up and down the line.
And the expansion was quick.
Whereas, In 1865, the brewery had only five stores,
by 1900, it had nearly 20.
Thanks to the railways, they could now send their beer
all the way up to Camberwell in South London.
This brewery's association with steam engines goes back much further.
As early as 1189, it bought a sun and planet engine,
which revolutionised production, mechanising the grinding of malt
and pumping water and beer around the factory.
To find out how they make beer now,
I'm meeting chief brewer Richard Frost.
- Hello, Richard. - Hello, Michael. Good to see you.
It's an ancient brewery, and here I see some fairly ancient looking machinery.
What kind of vintage is this stuff?
- These mash tuns date back to 1914. - Hundred years old.
Yeah, 100 years old. Very traditional, made of oak.
So that's contributing part of the flavour.
Without a doubt.
Here, you have the most fantastic combination of the old and the new.
You've got digital controls for some fairly ancient looking machinery.
The machinery dates back to Victorian days.
Are you doing any mashing today?
We are, in fact. Ian is just going to kick the process off.
The brewing process hasn't changed much either.
The crushed malt from the hopper above is mixed with hot water
that has to be at exactly the right temperature.
What temperature are we going up to, Ian?
Between 63 and 63.4.
Just trying to get it levelled off in the middle area.
So just a little adjustment here to this wheel. 63.4 is about right
It's going up a bit there, so you need to open it up slightly.
Now I'm going upstairs to the coppers
to find out about the next step in the process.
The next part is to boil that up
with some hops, some Kentish locally grown hops.
So we'll go ahead and add some here, we have some behind you.
It has that magnificent aroma.
Oh, yeah, hops are rather like herbs and spices that a cook would use,
or a chef would use. They add aroma and flavour to beer.
And if you'd like to tip those in.
Look at all that Kent goodness going down the chute.
They're wonderful hops.
Having found out how to brew a traditional Kentish beer,
it's appropriate to make a local delivery
in one of the brewery's oldest vans.
Here we have a lovely Austin 20,
and I thought it would be really nice if we could recreate a journey
delivering some beer to the railway tavern in Faversham.
I believe they're very thirsty there. Let's get going.
Ah, what a magnificent car.
Ah, thank you very much.
Anyone in need of a drink?
Yes, please. Thank you.
It's now time to leave Faversham and head for the coast.
Bradshaw's makes Dover sound really inviting.
"The line of noble looking mansions spreading along the coast,
the pureness of the atmosphere, the bold and rocky scenery
give it an important position among our sea-loving citizens."
Ah, but Dover had an important position militarily and strategically
long before tourism.
Guarding the narrowest stretch of the English Channel,
Dover has been a strategic defensive town since Roman times.
Here, I'm little more than 20 miles from our historic enemy, the French.
"The castle," says my guidebook, "is the great lion of Dover."
"And as the first object that strikes the eye of the traveller,
it is sure to woo his footsteps thither."
Well, my footsteps are wooed by another military structure,
which is a bit less obvious.
According to Bradshaw, this is "the grand military shaft
leading to the heights and barracks above".
"Sufficiently capacious to contain many thousand troops."
For such a vast place, this must be Dover's best kept secret.
I'm meeting Mandy Whall of the Western Heights Preservation Society
to find out more.
- Mandy, hello - Hello, Michael.
I think this is the most extraordinary place I have ever seen.
Why was this built?
Above us on the cliff, we have the Grand Shaft Barracks,
where approximately 1,000 troops would have been housed.
The only way down to the sea front, had an enemy invaded,
would be to run down the side of the cliff, down there, miles away,
come back, it's about a mile and a half.
So they needed a way to move troops very quickly from the barracks
down to the sea front, which is about 300 yards that way.
So we've got the elegant solution of a triple helix spiral staircase,
so you can move your troops very quickly from the barracks site
down to the seafront.
- This is all about fear of invasion? - Yes.
And I suppose it's the French, as usual, that we're worried about?
Oh, yes. Napoleon. The initial building started in 1804
and it was completed by 1806, so a very quick build.
Was this a very secret operation?
We wouldn't have told the French, to be sure.
There are a lot of fortifications up here.
They are all very well concealed,
so they couldn't be observed from even the town of Dover itself.
And are we able to go up to the top these days?
You certainly are, yes.
It's 200 stairs and I've got a bit of a challenge for you.
In 1826, one soldier bet that he could run up these stairs in 30 seconds,
and I wondered if you'd like to have a go.
- 200 steps in 30 seconds? - Yes.
I don't think so, but I'll give it a go. See you in a minute!
See you in a minute.
OK, Michael, ready, steady... go.
- What's the score? - 46.6 seconds.
I was weighed down by my book!
- Did I come all that way? - Certainly did.
I think this now explains something in Bradshaw's Guide
which was puzzling me.
It says that there are three spiral staircases and I see there are.
Now, what was the point of having three?
It means you can move three times the troops in a third of the time.
And how did they decide which one to use?
When it was first built, there was no class distinction.
So anybody went down whatever staircase,
but by the time you get to the Victorian era,
there's a much bigger class distinction.
So what they did is they allocated staircases.
One for officers and their ladies,
one for sergeants and their wives
and the other for soldiers and their women.
It shows the class system gets into everything in Britain.
- Yes. - Oh, not another set of steps!
So, I think I get the idea now.
The fortress is sunk into the cliff,
so that in Napoleonic times, and actually even today,
- you have no clue that it's here. - That's right.
It's cunningly concealed within the contours
and topography of the landscape.
What went on here at the top?
This is the parade ground.
The late-19th century, they had the Easter reviews.
It was a huge spectacular.
The Easter Volunteers would stage elaborate military manoeuvres
that were important battlefield training exercises.
But they were also massive public spectacles
with thousands of people coming to watch from all over the country.
We have heard accounts of 30 trains between 6am and 9am
bringing down 25,000 troops, as well as any ammunition and all the horses
and everything else that they required on that day.
And then they all pack up at the end of the day and go home by train.
Absolute military precision. Mechanised warfare using the railways.
- Can we take a walk around? - Of course you can, yes.
Mandy, as we look out towards France, across the narrow moat
that has protected our realm over the centuries,
let me read to you from Bradshaw.
"Nowhere, perhaps in the whole circuit of the kingdom, is there another spot
so calculated to awaken in the bosom of an Englishman
feelings of pride and exultation,
as the objects around call up in succession
those martial and intellectual achievements
by which the inviolate island of the sage and the free
has attained her present unquestioned supremacy."
It's now time for me to continue my journey on through Kent.
My train has taken me into the interior of Kent.
Bradshaw's tells me that my next stop, Staplehurst,
"is near the remains of Sissinghurst Castle,
and that's well worth a visit".
If I could lay my head close to Sissinghurst Castle
that would be something.
Best known for its gardens, designed in the 1930s
by the poet Vita Sackville-West,
Sissinghurst Castle had been, in Victorian times, a medieval ruin.
But the estate had won fame for its progressive farming techniques
under the tenancy of George Neve.
Some of the farm buildings from the mid-19th century have survived,
and stand as a monument to the great Victorian farming revival
that began in the 1850s. Peter Mellor knows more.
- Hello, Peter. - Hello, Michael.
Good to see you.
Welcome to the Sissinghurst Castle Estate.
Well, thank you. So, this farmhouse on the castle estate
has a very Victorian look, to me. What's its history?
Built in 1855 by the Cornwallis family for a farm tenant, George Neve,
who was only 28 at the time the farmhouse was built.
It was a splendid house for a very progressive and energetic farm tenant
in the golden age of Victorian farming.
The farmhouse was the centre of a thriving and modern farm
of around 500 acres.
The railway was crucial to the farm's success,
allowing it to transport its produce far and wide.
Well, the house tells a very Victorian story.
I shall be very pleased indeed to stay here. Cheers.
Cheers, Michael.
It's a new day and I'm heading west, further into the Weald of Kent.
My first stop today will be Tonbridge.
Bradshaw's tells me that it's "situated on the Tun
and four branches of the Medway, all crossed by bridges".
"It's noted for the excellent grammar school."
I'm hoping to take a lesson in how the railways put the school on track.
At Tonbridge School, Fm hoping to find out more
from former deputy headteacher David Walsh.
- David. - Good morning, Michael.
- Welcome to Tonbridge School. - Thank you very much.
A very ancient foundation, dating back to?
1553. It was founded by Sir Andrew Judd, who was a city merchant.
I think of public schools as rather large institutions,
did it begin that way?
No, for the first 300 years of its existence,
really until the railways came in the mid-19th century,
it only had about 40 or 50 boys.
But by the time the Victorian age ended,
it had gone up to about 440 boys.
And the railways had something to do with that?
The railways had a lot to do with that.
The railways were, of course, one of the main drivers of Victorian prosperity,
which meant more and more people could afford to send their children
to schools where they had to pay fees.
They also widened people's geographical horizons considerably.
Tonbridge School was also fortunate to own a piece of land
next to the new St Pancras Station in London.
When that was sold profitably to the Midland Railway during the 1860s,
around the time of my "Bradshaw's",
the school was able to rebuild and enlarge its buildings.
The school also owned a sloping piece of land
near the new railway line in Tonbridge, which it levelled,
using the spoil from the line's construction,
to create The Head cricket ground.
David's taking me to have a look.
It's a lovely setting for a cricket match.
Cricket has always been an important part of Tonbridge School.
Partly because of the lovely ground that we have,
but also because of the presence in the school of old boys like Colin Cowdrey,
who was a boy here from 1946 until 1950.
Beginning with Colin Cowdrey,
many talented cricketers have emerged from this school,
including his sons, Chris and Graham Cowdrey,
and, more recently, Richard Ellison
and Ed Smith, the "Test Match Special" pundit.
The area's as noted for cricket balls as cricket stars.
And here's how it's made down in the garden of Kent.
While the hide strips for the cover are drying,
the core or quilt is being fashioned. The cover is cut into quarters
and these are sewn together into halves by a process known as closing.
So a powerful vice is used to press them together
and up into a slight ridge.
Now comes another lot of sewing, with threads of specially prepared flats.
And then the harvest. Ammunition for village greens and county pitches.
Nell Robinson from the MCC Museum will educate me, it seems.
What have you got here?
We've got a sample of three balls from various periods through history
and you'll notice immediately, simply from the size and design,
that they really haven't changed that much.
If you'd like to pop these gloves on,
you'll be able to weigh them in your hands.
Now that is the oldest cricket ball known to exist anywhere in the world.
It was used at a match at Lord's in 1820.
So this ball feels to me pretty much like a cricket ball of today.
It should do. The only notable difference is
obviously the leather has faded over the last two centuries.
And this newer ball?
The second ball we have here dates from 1902.
You'll see the leather has faded slightly,
but isn't quite as far gone as the 1820 ball.
This was used in a match at the Oval between England and Australia,
which England won by one wicket.
A very famous match, a very thrilling innings by Gilbert Jessop.
And it was actually made, this ball,
in the John Wisden & Co works on Baltic Road here in Tonbridge.
John Wisden. Now, that's a name I know, surely, for the cricket almanacs.
Well, yes, indeed. Wisden brought out his first cricket almanac in 1864,
and it's been going for 150 years now, rather like Bradshaw there.
- Yeah, this is 1864-ish as well. - Indeed.
- An important year for cricket? - It was, very much so.
WG Grace made his first appearance at Lord's,
over-arm bowling was legalised.
So you may say the modern world was making itself felt in cricket,
as it was through the railways and other areas.
Well, Neil, I don't believe I've touched a cricket ball for some decades,
but this has given me an idea.
This is where Bradshaw turns to Bradman.
Oh! YES!
My luck is in today.
Whoa, we're off again.
Even Bradman had his bad days.
Bowled over by the cricketing prowess of Tonbridge School,
I'm detouring further west into Surrey.
I'm changing trains at Redhill because something in my "Bradshaw's"
has piqued my interest.
I'm on my way to Dorking.
Bradshaw's tells me it's celebrated for its poultry.
"Particularly for a five-toed breed called Dorkings,"
supposed to have been introduced by the Romans.
Now, that's worth crossing the road for.
I'm going to visit Wymbleton farm,
where Lana Gazder is going to tell me all about this noble fowl.
- Hello, Lana. - Hello, Michael. Nice to meet you.
I'd never thought of counting the toes on a chicken before,
but Bradshaw's tells me that there's a special five-toed variety
- here in Dorking. - There is, and they are quite rare.
This is one of the oldest chickens in Britain, if not the oldest.
And the five toes is a bit of a mystery, where it came from.
People think that the Romans brought the Dorking in, but I don't believe that.
If that was so, there would still be Dorkings in Italy.
So I tend to think they were here already,
possibly brought in by the Phoenician traders.
They might have brought in the Houdan or the Ardennes,
they have five toes, and they may have mixed them with the Scots Dumpy,
so I reckon there was a five-toed bird in England.
And when the Romans came,
they recognised them as an excellent bird to feed their army,
and I do believe that they perfected them.
- Just show me the difference... - These are the front three toes,
which every chicken has, and they also have a fourth toe at the back.
But the Dorking has a fifth toe, so that is the unusual bit.
It's probably a deformity, but it was bred in, and it's a dominant feature.
OK, so they have more toes. What else makes them special?
What makes them important?
They're important for the fact that they are
probably the most excellent meat bird in Britain.
Also, the whole make and shape of them is a lengthy, rectangular bird.
Are Dorkings still sold for meat?
Sadly not. It's, economically, not really viable nowadays.
The Dorking 's eggs were particularly prized by Queen Victoria.
She insisted on their being sewed
because they were delicious and digestible.
I just have to find out what all the fuss is about.
Mmm. Lovely dark yellow hue.
Mm. It's bursting with flavour. Absolutely glorious.
And you can assure me that it's also easy on my digestion.
Absolutely. Queen Victoria couldn't have been wrong.
The humble chicken has put Dorking on the map.
There's a ten-foot statue of a Dorking,
which was installed on a roundabout in 2007.
It was modelled on one of Lana's exhibition chickens.
I'll now help her to prepare one for a show.
- This is a dark Dorking. - What are you going to do?
First of all, I will very carefully put her in the water,
then we very quietly apply the water without scaring her.
No brisk movements is the secret.
Just dab the sponge until she gets used to it.
We then have to, very carefully, scrub at her legs.
Well, Lana, I can absolutely tell you that I have never before
scrubbed the feet of a chicken with a toothbrush.
What a handsome beast you're going to be.
Quite enjoying it, I think.
Very well behaved indeed,
considering she's being groomed by an amateur.
Now, you've got one wet chicken.
I have. She'll have to be blow-dried.
You can't be serious.
No, they really enjoy it because if you think of a chicken on a tree,
the wind blowing through their feathers, that's a natural thing for them.
This I have to see.
Very handy having help.
Under the wing.
She'll be feeling nice and warm now, won't she?
I quite like a wash and blow-dry myself, so we're birds of a feather.
OK, I think she's virtually done now with the hairdryer.
Well, Lana, thank you so much. And just to think, I would never have discovered
a five-toed Dorking without my Bradshaw's Guide.
That's very good.
The Duke of Wellington remarked that the battle of Waterloo was won
on the playing fields of Eton.
You might also say that test matches have been won
on the cricket square of Tonbridge School.
Warm beer, cricket and public schools were parts of Victorian culture.
The white cliffs of Dover would be the front line
in which British customs and values would be defended against aggressors.
A sentiment expressed in patriotic language by my Bradshaw's Guide.
Next time, I'll pick up the scent underground in Brighton,"
I had no idea that sewage had such a sweet tinkle to it.
...visit a party palace fit for a queen...
"As the royal pair approached Castle Square,
the crowd pressed forward more closely
and some errand boys rudely peered beneath Her Majesty's bonnet."
How frightful!
...and pass the chequered flag in style.
Down the straight in the Revival, they're doing 180 miles an hour.
I can't believe it. I'm just over 60 now and enjoying it.
That was 70, come on.