Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 1, Episode 17 - Cromford to Burton-on-Trent - full transcript
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 four long journeys
across the length and breadth of the country
to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.
Today I'm leaving the green peaks
of Derbyshire
for the county's industrial heartland,
travelling to the very origins
of the Industrial Revolution
to towns and cities
that were transformed by manufacturing,
many of them created by the railways.
Along the way, I'll be visiting
the oldest working factory in the world.
- Made in England! Does that make you proud?
- Oh, yes. That's what we like to see.
I'll be escaping from busy city life.
Well, we think it's Britain's first public park,
laid out in 1840.
And I'll be discovering
why Burton's beer is said to be the best.
Two weeks conditioning in the cask,
a week in the pub...
- And ten minutes to drink.
- You're a slow drinker.
Piva Burtonski.
BOTH: Piva Burtonski!
All this week, I'm travelling from Buxton along
one of the earliest railway routes in England.
Each day I'll be stopping at towns and cities
recommended in my Bradshaw's Guide...
...until ! reach the end of the fine,
in London.
Having started from Matlock Bath,
today I'll be covering the next 30 miles
along the track via Derby
and onwards to Burton on Trent.
But my first stop is Cromford.
Nowadays the beautiful Grade II listed station
is set in a rural idyll.
- Good morning.
- Hi.
Can you tell me anything
about that beautiful house on the platform here?
It's the old station house that used to be
the waiting room for the station.
- And what is it now?
- It's a guest house now, I think.
It's a beautiful station.
There are just two trains an hour.
But in Bradshaw's day this was one of the
Industrial Revolution's most important towns.
This beautifully restored railway station
at Cromford
has a very important part in history.
As Bradshaw says,
“Here, Arkwright set up his first mill in 1771
Really, never was so much important history
crammed into
such a small half-sentence as that.
Richard Arkwright built several mills
at Cromford,
in which he developed
the modern factory system.
It was a new way of working,
that was soon copied an over Britain.
The first was a water powered
cotton-spinning mm.
And this is it, the first factory in the world.
Before this, people in the cotton industry did
their spinning and weaving in their own houses,
the cottage industries.
Now Arkwright brings it all together
under one roof,
powered by water, in a factory.
It's quite incredible to think that 240 years ago,
there were no factories.
This is the beginning of industrialisation,
right here.
In his new factories, Arkwright could process
huge quantities of cloth very quickly,
and the River Derwent
provided a cheap power supply.
The village of Cromford is not what I expected.
It's much prettier.
It doesn't seem like a place that would be
the very heart of the industrial revolution.
But now I think about it, Richard Arkwright
of course established his mill here,
partly because he needed the water,
and partly because his family lived
at the local castle, Willersley.
And actually I can see an example
of water power still operating,
a water mill at the far end
of this stretch of water.
Arkwright's factory is now a museum.
But nearby
is the world's oldest factory stilt in use.
It was set up in 1784
by Arkwright's finance director Peter Nightingale,
a relative of Florence Nightingale.
His business partner was a Mr John Smedley.
Good morning.
Ooh, a historic room, by the look...
- Hello. I'm Michael Portillo.
- Hello. Very nice to meet you.
- Thanks for joining us.
- It's great to see you.
Ian Maclean is one of his descendants.
The Smedley family has been producing
knitwear here for over two centuries.
- I mean, this is incredibly historic, isn't it?
- It is.
- What's the date outside?
- 1784.
- So you're just 13 years after Arkwright.
- That's right.
Arkwright was the first mill to be built, then
there were two others, and we were the fourth.
Now the others are long since out of business,
and we're now...
That makes us the oldest
manufacturing business in the world.
Of course, the factory's been added to
so many times over years,
it makes it almost like a rabbit warren.
It's quite difficult
to find your way around sometimes.
Parliament's just the same.
I was there 20 years,
and I think by the end of it,
I only knew about a tenth of it.
- This looks pretty ancient through here.
- Yes.
I'll show you the original 1784 mi” building,
which is a little bit hidden
within the structure of the factory.
1784. That is incredible, isn't it?
That's right. That's right back at the beginning
of the Industrial Revolution.
- The railways weren't here in 1784.
- No, that's right.
So the railways weren't fundamental
to development?
Well, firstly the canals came first in 1776,
and then the first railway came in 1831.
- To where?
- To High Peak Junction at Cromford.
I think it was integral, really,
to the growth of the business.
The arrival of the railway in the 18303
transformed industry here.
The High Peak line allowed local factories
to transport goods an over the country.
So this is history, and this is modernity.
If we look in the historic part...
Do you mean literally
you keep this as a museum?
- You don't use...
- No, no, not at all!
These are very much working machines
which make the garments that we sell.
What they do is
they make individual pieces of the garments.
So one machine will make the collar,
another machine will make the front,
another machine the back,
and another machine
the rib that goes round the arm.
And then very skilled hand workers
will then link, by hand,
those pieces of the garment together.
But it really does look as if we are looking from...
well, we are...from one century to another.
That's right. Absolutely.
These machines through here
are the very latest technology.
When the newest machines
were introduced in 2006,
it became possible to make garments
in one whole piece.
These seamless clothes
are meant to be exceptionally comfortable.
I think what's important is that
whenever a new technology comes along,
we're one of the first people to use it.
And you're not tempted to go off
and do it all in China?
Absolutely not. No no no.
We see the value of manufacturing in England.
The quality of the clothing is in pan
thanks to being washed in local spring water.
It's unusually soft in this area,
and gives the cotton a silky feel.
- So here are sweaters and tops and so on...
- Yeah.
- But you're also famous for long johns.
- That's right, yes!
It's said that this is where long johns
were invented...
- Morning.
- Morning. Hiya.
How are you? Good morning.
...named after Ian's ancestor, John Smedley.
Is there a special feel
to being in a family business?
Yes, of course. It's not just my family,
being the owners,
but there are many, many generations
of people who've worked in the factory for us.
- Good morning!
- Good morning.
- How are you all? Which one's Julie?
- I am.
- I'm Michael. How do you do?
- I'm fine, thank you.
Have you been long in the business?
Julie is one such employee,
whose family has made its living
around this factory for four generations.
My grandma worked here,
my sister worked here for a while,
my daughter, and my son,
who does still actually work here as well.
Are there other ladies who also have family
going back, like yours?
Yeah. I don't know about grandparents,
but actually in this room alone,
we've got a mother and her daughter,
we've got three sisters,
and another set of two sisters,
that's just in this room.
So it is quite a family-orientated business,
definitely.
What is it that you're actually doing?
My job is to put the back neck labels in,
which is the
"John Smedley. Made in England.“
- Made in England! Does that make you proud?
- Oh, yes. That's what we like to see.
- Thank you. Bye.
- Bye.
It's incredibly rare to find a business like this.
Not only has the same family run the company
for over 200 years,
but the employees stay,
generation after generation.
A family supported by one industry,
decade after decade,
is a way of fife which has a“ but died out.
- All right, gentlemen.
- All right.
I'm now leaving Cromford and travelling another
15 miles down the railway line to Derby.
- Good afternoon. Tickets, please.
- Thank you very much.
- What time into Derby?
- Should be in Derby at 14:22.
- Thank you very much indeed. Bye-bye.
- Thank you.
I don't know Derby very well,
but I associate it with heavy industry,
with aero engines
and manufacturers of railway rolling stock.
But I am looking forward to it,
because Bradshaw raves
about the hotel where I'm going to stay.
Normally he gives a hotel one line,
but here, he says,
"It's gratifying to be able to refer
to an establishment like this,
which deservedly enjoys
the highest reputation.
It possesses all the comforts of a home,
and there is no lack of the spirit necessary
to provide to the fullest extent
everything which can recommend it
to its patrons."
You have to wonder
what was going on here,
because he goes on to say,
“It is conducted in the most able manner
by Mrs Chatfield,
and it may claim to rank amongst the first hotels
of England.“
Well, I'm afraid Mrs Chatfield won't be there
any more,
but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.
Bye. Thanks.
There's Mrs Chatfield's hotel right there.
Which is not surprising, really,
because it's a railway hotel,
actually the second one ever built in Britain,
so convenient for the passengers
that they even built a tunnel underneath
so baggage could be taken directly
to the hotel from the station.
And I'm in very distinguished company,
because Queen Victoria once stayed here.
Opened in 1841, the Midland Hotel was one
of the first railway hotels outside London
and was reserved exclusively
for first-class passengers.
Thankfully, today you don't need
an expensive ticket or blue blood to stay here.
- Hello.
- Hello.
I'm checking in, please. Michael Portillo.
Would you just like to sign there?
Thank you very much.
Um, I'm going to go off
and see some of the sights,
so I'm not going up to the room at the moment,
but you know that I'm here, anyway.
Only the railway companies
could afford to build luxury hotels.
As we“ as catering for exhausted travellers,
they generated a tot of extra income,
so railway hotels were soon springing up
at the ends of lines.
The railways brought wealth and investment
to small rural towns like Derby.
transforming them into industrial centres.
In Derby, Bradshaw mentions
the railway sheds.
But he also mentions an older industry,
the silk mill,
the first in England, built here in 1718.
It has the look of an Italian bell tower,
and there could be a reason for that.
The English weren't very good at making silk
until John Lombe stole the secret
from northern Italy,
and then an Italian worker, in revenge,
murdered him in 1722.
Lombe's newly acquired spinning technology
was soon copied throughout the region.
By the 18603,
the Derby silk industry was booming.
Bradshaw's guide says:
"There are about 25 silk mills at present "
That was one mill
for just over every thousand residents.
The wealth they generated led to some
extraordinary acts of civic generosity,
including a new park for the city of Derby.
And Bradshaw notes that in Derby,
not far from the station,
"..is the new Arboretum, of 16 acres,
laid out in 1840 by Loudon,
and given to the town by Joseph Strutt esquire,
a noble gift, estimated at £10,000,
with a couple of Elizabethan lodges and
entry gratis on Wednesdays and Saturdays."
A noble gift indeed.
Having made their fortune in textiles,
the Strutt family wanted to give something back.
At first, entry was free two days a week.
But from 1882
there were no charges on any day.
For the first time, the working classes
could enjoy landscaped open spaces
previously the realm of the nobility.
It's a lovely park.
It's got beautiful topography,
he's shaped the land,
he's put in terrific trees.
It's decorated with urns, fountains, follies,
very Victorian and very, very lovely.
(Birds sing)
- Is that a black walnut?
- It is a black walnut.
- You must be Jonathan.
- You must be Michael.
- Hello.
- Hello. Good to see you.
Jonathan Oakes, a tree specialist,
plays a key rote
in the continued restoration of the Arboretum.
This park is pretty historic.
How important is it in history?
We think it's Britain's first public park,
laid out in 1840, and given to the people
of Derby in 1840.
Laid out by Loudon. Who was he?
Loudon was a prolific author and a gardener,
a landscape architect.
He wrote a book, Arboretum Britannicum,
which explained all the trees and shrubs
that were available in the world at that time.
By the way, why is it landscaped
in the way that it is? That's unusual.
The mounds are there
to give a sense of privacy,
so that people on the other side of the mound
don't necessarily know you're there.
It makes the place look bigger
and feel bigger.
Ah. I mean, it really is strikingly unusual, isn't it?
Today, we're used to landscaped gardens.
But Loudon's design was revolutionary
at the time.
The winding paths, ornamental flowerbeds
and isolated trees
were designed to educate people
about plant specimens.
He even labelled them,
an idea later copied by Kew.
I mean, was this meant to be a place of leisure
or a place of education?
Well, this is the interesting thing.
The benefactor, Strutt, wanted a place
where people could relax and enjoy themselves,
but Loudon, a scientist,
wanted a garden, a collection,
somewhere that was scientific and educational.
So inevitably there was some
kind of compromise between the two.
Thank you so much, and bye-bye.
In an age when religion and a sense of duty
were powerful influences,
many entrepreneurs like the Strutts
spent part of their massive new fortunes
for the public good.
During the second half of the 19th century,
trusts, charities, foundations
and volunteering programmes all sprang up.
R was a golden age of philanthropy.
Having shared a roof with Queen Victoria,
I'm leaving Derby now
and going to Burton, the home of brewing.
And Bradshaw says,
"The great seat of Sir John Barleycorn
is on the Staffordshire side of the Trent.
Bass, Allsopp and Worthington
are the chief ale kings here,
and acres covered with barrels and casks
may be seen.
Vast quantities of pale ale are exported
to tropical climates,
and drunk by thirsty souls at home as a tonic.“
So there's something to look forward to.
Platform 1b. On time.
The last leg of my journey today takes me
from Derby another 11 miles south to Burton.
Tickets and passes from Derby station
to your destination.
(American accent)
Harlem town, go right on down.
(Laughs)
You're on good form today.
Tous les jours, monsieur. Tous les jours.
Tous les jours! Merci, monsieur.
Merci bien.
The railway tines were critical
to the growth of industry,
but water was also instrumental
in the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Used to power mills and factories,
it also helped put Burton on the industrial map.
The full name for Burton, of course,
is Burton on Trent.
And the water of the Trent was very important,
also, to Bradshaw.
He notes that the brewers, "contrary to
common usage, use hard water, not soft water."
Sol shall be intrigued to find out about that.
Burton on Trent, gateway to the National Forest.
As soon as you come out of Burton station,
you can tell
that this town is dedicated
to a single industry - to beer.
In place of the casks and barrels
referred to in Bradshaw,
these enormous steel vats of beer,
stretching to the horizon.
Here, the brewing industry is still big business.
I'm meeting Geoff Mumford, who apparently
knows everything about beer in Burton.
I don't know what he looks like,
but he says I'll know him when I see him.
(Laughs)
Mr Mumford, I assume!
Mr Portillo, I presume!
Geoff co-owns Burton Bridge Breweries,
the largest independent brewer in town.
- Can we go and see your brewery?
- You certainly can.
- In this thing?
- Yep.
Before the railways,
there were only ten breweries in Burton.
But the number tripled
after the station was built.
- No seatbelts.
- No.
25 ale trains left Burton every day,
with breweries even building their own tracks
to connect with the railway companies.
Has this always been a brewery, Geoff?
It was part of a brewery... not totally a brewery,
pan of Joseph Nunnelly's Brewery.
This was actually a small maltings, built in 1823.
Oh, there we are - 1823.
- And the MH stands for...
- Malt house.
- Good morning.
- This is Bruce, the brewer of the partnership.
Michael Portillo.
(Inhales) A lovely stench!
No, I think 'aroma' sounds so much better,
if you don't mind.
What you're actually smelling is the aroma
from the hops, which makes the beer bitter.
The aroma will go up and improve
the general aroma of Burton on Trent,
and we put some hops in later
at the end of the process
to get the aroma of the hop in the beer.
How much beer will this thing make?
This thing will make 3,500 pints,
which in terms of Burton's production
is pretty small,
because of every gallon of beer
drunk in Britain, one pint is brewed in Burton.
One eighth of all the beer drunk in Britain?
That's correct, yes.
And ours is a small proportion of that
at the moment,
but it's growing all the time.
How long does all that process take?
It takes a day to convert the melt and hops
into beer for the fermenting vessel,
a week in the fermenting vessel,
two weeks conditioning in the cask,
a week in the pub...
- And ten minutes to drink.
- You're a slow drinker.
Today, Burton produces less of the country's
beer than it did in Victorian times,
when it brewed a quarter
of the pints sold in Britain.
For once the English climate was helpful,
for beer at least,
being neither too hot nor too cold,
but just right to allow fermentation
throughout the winter.
By 1890 there were over 30 breweries here,
all exploiting a special local ingredient.
Now, in my Bradshaw's guide,
he says that contrary to what is normal,
here in Burton you use hard water in the beer.
Is that true?
Oh, yeah. That's a unique characteristic
of the Burton water.
It gives better hop utilisation,
crisper, clearer flavours
and lighter-coloured beers.
It's mainly suitable for brewing ales.
Down the road, where they produce lagers,
they take all the salts out of the water,
and brew lagers
with very soft, Pilsen-style water.
Burton beer was so popular
during the 19th century
that it was in demand at! over the world.
This was the stuff that, according to Bradshaw,
was shipped out to India, this sort of beer?
Yes, very much so.
And why was Burton able to do that?
The purity of the water
made the beer very sterile
and just ideal for travelling along distance.
- It must have taken a long time to get to India.
- Yes, took about six months.
And you're still making a kind of India pale ale,
even though it's not going to India?
Yeah. The closest we can get is,
it sits there for six months.
- Oh, I see. Like the voyage.
- Yeah.
Short of putting it on a pontoon in the Trent,
that's the closest we can get.
Of course it was the railways
that enabled Burton brewers
to send their beer around the globe.
And Burton had plenty of them.
GEOFF: It was the biggest
private rail network in the country.
It was said
that no-one could rob a bank in Burton
because they would never get through
all the crossing gates in time.
- The level crossings?
- Yeah.
- Traffic jams everywhere?
- Well, there were.
I came in '64, and said I'd never come back
to this place,
but I've lived here for 28 years now.
I think that's enough talking about it.
Can we sample some?
- I think that's a good idea. Come this way.
- All right. Thank you.
- The finished article! Cheers.
- Cheers.
But there is a more appropriate toast that was
used in the courts of Russia, with Burton beer.
A lot of beer went out to the Baltic and to Russia,
and it was very popular in the Russian courts.
And that toast was, Piva Burtonski!
BOTH: Piva Burtonski!
Although the beer industry is still going strong,
there's been a cost.
The natural resources around Burton
were squeezed like a sponge.
Goal to heat the brewing liquor,
wood for the millions of barrels
in which it was stored.
Centuries of intense brewing
have scarred the surrounding landscape.
But that's being remedied.
Burton is in the middle of an area
being planted with millions of trees
as part of the new National Forest.
Set up in 1990, eventually
it will cover 200 square miles.
As We travelled through the Midlands,
We noticed how the landscape bears the signs
of the massive changes
between Bradshaw's time and today.
But We been struck by how many people
and businesses
can trace their roots directly back
to Victorian times.
When Bradshaw was writing, the East Midlands
was at the height of Industrial Revolution.
Now, as you pass through the region,
you're aware of the decline of mining
and some de-industrialisation.
But here in Burton, at least,
brewing is an example
of one British industry
that's still very much in business.
Next time I'll be heading
to the centre of the leather-making world.
Walsall had a very distinctive stink,
did it?
It had a...you can say it had a tinge.
It had its own...aroma.
I'll be travelling to Birmingham's
Balti Triangle.
Pakistan is like my motherland.
I call England my adoptive mother.
I'll try and make this quite elegant...
(Laughs)
Very good, sir. Very good for a first try.
And I'll be visiting Bournville,
which some say is the happiest piece in Britain.
Very pleasant. Very nice.
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
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 four long journeys
across the length and breadth of the country
to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.
Today I'm leaving the green peaks
of Derbyshire
for the county's industrial heartland,
travelling to the very origins
of the Industrial Revolution
to towns and cities
that were transformed by manufacturing,
many of them created by the railways.
Along the way, I'll be visiting
the oldest working factory in the world.
- Made in England! Does that make you proud?
- Oh, yes. That's what we like to see.
I'll be escaping from busy city life.
Well, we think it's Britain's first public park,
laid out in 1840.
And I'll be discovering
why Burton's beer is said to be the best.
Two weeks conditioning in the cask,
a week in the pub...
- And ten minutes to drink.
- You're a slow drinker.
Piva Burtonski.
BOTH: Piva Burtonski!
All this week, I'm travelling from Buxton along
one of the earliest railway routes in England.
Each day I'll be stopping at towns and cities
recommended in my Bradshaw's Guide...
...until ! reach the end of the fine,
in London.
Having started from Matlock Bath,
today I'll be covering the next 30 miles
along the track via Derby
and onwards to Burton on Trent.
But my first stop is Cromford.
Nowadays the beautiful Grade II listed station
is set in a rural idyll.
- Good morning.
- Hi.
Can you tell me anything
about that beautiful house on the platform here?
It's the old station house that used to be
the waiting room for the station.
- And what is it now?
- It's a guest house now, I think.
It's a beautiful station.
There are just two trains an hour.
But in Bradshaw's day this was one of the
Industrial Revolution's most important towns.
This beautifully restored railway station
at Cromford
has a very important part in history.
As Bradshaw says,
“Here, Arkwright set up his first mill in 1771
Really, never was so much important history
crammed into
such a small half-sentence as that.
Richard Arkwright built several mills
at Cromford,
in which he developed
the modern factory system.
It was a new way of working,
that was soon copied an over Britain.
The first was a water powered
cotton-spinning mm.
And this is it, the first factory in the world.
Before this, people in the cotton industry did
their spinning and weaving in their own houses,
the cottage industries.
Now Arkwright brings it all together
under one roof,
powered by water, in a factory.
It's quite incredible to think that 240 years ago,
there were no factories.
This is the beginning of industrialisation,
right here.
In his new factories, Arkwright could process
huge quantities of cloth very quickly,
and the River Derwent
provided a cheap power supply.
The village of Cromford is not what I expected.
It's much prettier.
It doesn't seem like a place that would be
the very heart of the industrial revolution.
But now I think about it, Richard Arkwright
of course established his mill here,
partly because he needed the water,
and partly because his family lived
at the local castle, Willersley.
And actually I can see an example
of water power still operating,
a water mill at the far end
of this stretch of water.
Arkwright's factory is now a museum.
But nearby
is the world's oldest factory stilt in use.
It was set up in 1784
by Arkwright's finance director Peter Nightingale,
a relative of Florence Nightingale.
His business partner was a Mr John Smedley.
Good morning.
Ooh, a historic room, by the look...
- Hello. I'm Michael Portillo.
- Hello. Very nice to meet you.
- Thanks for joining us.
- It's great to see you.
Ian Maclean is one of his descendants.
The Smedley family has been producing
knitwear here for over two centuries.
- I mean, this is incredibly historic, isn't it?
- It is.
- What's the date outside?
- 1784.
- So you're just 13 years after Arkwright.
- That's right.
Arkwright was the first mill to be built, then
there were two others, and we were the fourth.
Now the others are long since out of business,
and we're now...
That makes us the oldest
manufacturing business in the world.
Of course, the factory's been added to
so many times over years,
it makes it almost like a rabbit warren.
It's quite difficult
to find your way around sometimes.
Parliament's just the same.
I was there 20 years,
and I think by the end of it,
I only knew about a tenth of it.
- This looks pretty ancient through here.
- Yes.
I'll show you the original 1784 mi” building,
which is a little bit hidden
within the structure of the factory.
1784. That is incredible, isn't it?
That's right. That's right back at the beginning
of the Industrial Revolution.
- The railways weren't here in 1784.
- No, that's right.
So the railways weren't fundamental
to development?
Well, firstly the canals came first in 1776,
and then the first railway came in 1831.
- To where?
- To High Peak Junction at Cromford.
I think it was integral, really,
to the growth of the business.
The arrival of the railway in the 18303
transformed industry here.
The High Peak line allowed local factories
to transport goods an over the country.
So this is history, and this is modernity.
If we look in the historic part...
Do you mean literally
you keep this as a museum?
- You don't use...
- No, no, not at all!
These are very much working machines
which make the garments that we sell.
What they do is
they make individual pieces of the garments.
So one machine will make the collar,
another machine will make the front,
another machine the back,
and another machine
the rib that goes round the arm.
And then very skilled hand workers
will then link, by hand,
those pieces of the garment together.
But it really does look as if we are looking from...
well, we are...from one century to another.
That's right. Absolutely.
These machines through here
are the very latest technology.
When the newest machines
were introduced in 2006,
it became possible to make garments
in one whole piece.
These seamless clothes
are meant to be exceptionally comfortable.
I think what's important is that
whenever a new technology comes along,
we're one of the first people to use it.
And you're not tempted to go off
and do it all in China?
Absolutely not. No no no.
We see the value of manufacturing in England.
The quality of the clothing is in pan
thanks to being washed in local spring water.
It's unusually soft in this area,
and gives the cotton a silky feel.
- So here are sweaters and tops and so on...
- Yeah.
- But you're also famous for long johns.
- That's right, yes!
It's said that this is where long johns
were invented...
- Morning.
- Morning. Hiya.
How are you? Good morning.
...named after Ian's ancestor, John Smedley.
Is there a special feel
to being in a family business?
Yes, of course. It's not just my family,
being the owners,
but there are many, many generations
of people who've worked in the factory for us.
- Good morning!
- Good morning.
- How are you all? Which one's Julie?
- I am.
- I'm Michael. How do you do?
- I'm fine, thank you.
Have you been long in the business?
Julie is one such employee,
whose family has made its living
around this factory for four generations.
My grandma worked here,
my sister worked here for a while,
my daughter, and my son,
who does still actually work here as well.
Are there other ladies who also have family
going back, like yours?
Yeah. I don't know about grandparents,
but actually in this room alone,
we've got a mother and her daughter,
we've got three sisters,
and another set of two sisters,
that's just in this room.
So it is quite a family-orientated business,
definitely.
What is it that you're actually doing?
My job is to put the back neck labels in,
which is the
"John Smedley. Made in England.“
- Made in England! Does that make you proud?
- Oh, yes. That's what we like to see.
- Thank you. Bye.
- Bye.
It's incredibly rare to find a business like this.
Not only has the same family run the company
for over 200 years,
but the employees stay,
generation after generation.
A family supported by one industry,
decade after decade,
is a way of fife which has a“ but died out.
- All right, gentlemen.
- All right.
I'm now leaving Cromford and travelling another
15 miles down the railway line to Derby.
- Good afternoon. Tickets, please.
- Thank you very much.
- What time into Derby?
- Should be in Derby at 14:22.
- Thank you very much indeed. Bye-bye.
- Thank you.
I don't know Derby very well,
but I associate it with heavy industry,
with aero engines
and manufacturers of railway rolling stock.
But I am looking forward to it,
because Bradshaw raves
about the hotel where I'm going to stay.
Normally he gives a hotel one line,
but here, he says,
"It's gratifying to be able to refer
to an establishment like this,
which deservedly enjoys
the highest reputation.
It possesses all the comforts of a home,
and there is no lack of the spirit necessary
to provide to the fullest extent
everything which can recommend it
to its patrons."
You have to wonder
what was going on here,
because he goes on to say,
“It is conducted in the most able manner
by Mrs Chatfield,
and it may claim to rank amongst the first hotels
of England.“
Well, I'm afraid Mrs Chatfield won't be there
any more,
but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.
Bye. Thanks.
There's Mrs Chatfield's hotel right there.
Which is not surprising, really,
because it's a railway hotel,
actually the second one ever built in Britain,
so convenient for the passengers
that they even built a tunnel underneath
so baggage could be taken directly
to the hotel from the station.
And I'm in very distinguished company,
because Queen Victoria once stayed here.
Opened in 1841, the Midland Hotel was one
of the first railway hotels outside London
and was reserved exclusively
for first-class passengers.
Thankfully, today you don't need
an expensive ticket or blue blood to stay here.
- Hello.
- Hello.
I'm checking in, please. Michael Portillo.
Would you just like to sign there?
Thank you very much.
Um, I'm going to go off
and see some of the sights,
so I'm not going up to the room at the moment,
but you know that I'm here, anyway.
Only the railway companies
could afford to build luxury hotels.
As we“ as catering for exhausted travellers,
they generated a tot of extra income,
so railway hotels were soon springing up
at the ends of lines.
The railways brought wealth and investment
to small rural towns like Derby.
transforming them into industrial centres.
In Derby, Bradshaw mentions
the railway sheds.
But he also mentions an older industry,
the silk mill,
the first in England, built here in 1718.
It has the look of an Italian bell tower,
and there could be a reason for that.
The English weren't very good at making silk
until John Lombe stole the secret
from northern Italy,
and then an Italian worker, in revenge,
murdered him in 1722.
Lombe's newly acquired spinning technology
was soon copied throughout the region.
By the 18603,
the Derby silk industry was booming.
Bradshaw's guide says:
"There are about 25 silk mills at present "
That was one mill
for just over every thousand residents.
The wealth they generated led to some
extraordinary acts of civic generosity,
including a new park for the city of Derby.
And Bradshaw notes that in Derby,
not far from the station,
"..is the new Arboretum, of 16 acres,
laid out in 1840 by Loudon,
and given to the town by Joseph Strutt esquire,
a noble gift, estimated at £10,000,
with a couple of Elizabethan lodges and
entry gratis on Wednesdays and Saturdays."
A noble gift indeed.
Having made their fortune in textiles,
the Strutt family wanted to give something back.
At first, entry was free two days a week.
But from 1882
there were no charges on any day.
For the first time, the working classes
could enjoy landscaped open spaces
previously the realm of the nobility.
It's a lovely park.
It's got beautiful topography,
he's shaped the land,
he's put in terrific trees.
It's decorated with urns, fountains, follies,
very Victorian and very, very lovely.
(Birds sing)
- Is that a black walnut?
- It is a black walnut.
- You must be Jonathan.
- You must be Michael.
- Hello.
- Hello. Good to see you.
Jonathan Oakes, a tree specialist,
plays a key rote
in the continued restoration of the Arboretum.
This park is pretty historic.
How important is it in history?
We think it's Britain's first public park,
laid out in 1840, and given to the people
of Derby in 1840.
Laid out by Loudon. Who was he?
Loudon was a prolific author and a gardener,
a landscape architect.
He wrote a book, Arboretum Britannicum,
which explained all the trees and shrubs
that were available in the world at that time.
By the way, why is it landscaped
in the way that it is? That's unusual.
The mounds are there
to give a sense of privacy,
so that people on the other side of the mound
don't necessarily know you're there.
It makes the place look bigger
and feel bigger.
Ah. I mean, it really is strikingly unusual, isn't it?
Today, we're used to landscaped gardens.
But Loudon's design was revolutionary
at the time.
The winding paths, ornamental flowerbeds
and isolated trees
were designed to educate people
about plant specimens.
He even labelled them,
an idea later copied by Kew.
I mean, was this meant to be a place of leisure
or a place of education?
Well, this is the interesting thing.
The benefactor, Strutt, wanted a place
where people could relax and enjoy themselves,
but Loudon, a scientist,
wanted a garden, a collection,
somewhere that was scientific and educational.
So inevitably there was some
kind of compromise between the two.
Thank you so much, and bye-bye.
In an age when religion and a sense of duty
were powerful influences,
many entrepreneurs like the Strutts
spent part of their massive new fortunes
for the public good.
During the second half of the 19th century,
trusts, charities, foundations
and volunteering programmes all sprang up.
R was a golden age of philanthropy.
Having shared a roof with Queen Victoria,
I'm leaving Derby now
and going to Burton, the home of brewing.
And Bradshaw says,
"The great seat of Sir John Barleycorn
is on the Staffordshire side of the Trent.
Bass, Allsopp and Worthington
are the chief ale kings here,
and acres covered with barrels and casks
may be seen.
Vast quantities of pale ale are exported
to tropical climates,
and drunk by thirsty souls at home as a tonic.“
So there's something to look forward to.
Platform 1b. On time.
The last leg of my journey today takes me
from Derby another 11 miles south to Burton.
Tickets and passes from Derby station
to your destination.
(American accent)
Harlem town, go right on down.
(Laughs)
You're on good form today.
Tous les jours, monsieur. Tous les jours.
Tous les jours! Merci, monsieur.
Merci bien.
The railway tines were critical
to the growth of industry,
but water was also instrumental
in the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Used to power mills and factories,
it also helped put Burton on the industrial map.
The full name for Burton, of course,
is Burton on Trent.
And the water of the Trent was very important,
also, to Bradshaw.
He notes that the brewers, "contrary to
common usage, use hard water, not soft water."
Sol shall be intrigued to find out about that.
Burton on Trent, gateway to the National Forest.
As soon as you come out of Burton station,
you can tell
that this town is dedicated
to a single industry - to beer.
In place of the casks and barrels
referred to in Bradshaw,
these enormous steel vats of beer,
stretching to the horizon.
Here, the brewing industry is still big business.
I'm meeting Geoff Mumford, who apparently
knows everything about beer in Burton.
I don't know what he looks like,
but he says I'll know him when I see him.
(Laughs)
Mr Mumford, I assume!
Mr Portillo, I presume!
Geoff co-owns Burton Bridge Breweries,
the largest independent brewer in town.
- Can we go and see your brewery?
- You certainly can.
- In this thing?
- Yep.
Before the railways,
there were only ten breweries in Burton.
But the number tripled
after the station was built.
- No seatbelts.
- No.
25 ale trains left Burton every day,
with breweries even building their own tracks
to connect with the railway companies.
Has this always been a brewery, Geoff?
It was part of a brewery... not totally a brewery,
pan of Joseph Nunnelly's Brewery.
This was actually a small maltings, built in 1823.
Oh, there we are - 1823.
- And the MH stands for...
- Malt house.
- Good morning.
- This is Bruce, the brewer of the partnership.
Michael Portillo.
(Inhales) A lovely stench!
No, I think 'aroma' sounds so much better,
if you don't mind.
What you're actually smelling is the aroma
from the hops, which makes the beer bitter.
The aroma will go up and improve
the general aroma of Burton on Trent,
and we put some hops in later
at the end of the process
to get the aroma of the hop in the beer.
How much beer will this thing make?
This thing will make 3,500 pints,
which in terms of Burton's production
is pretty small,
because of every gallon of beer
drunk in Britain, one pint is brewed in Burton.
One eighth of all the beer drunk in Britain?
That's correct, yes.
And ours is a small proportion of that
at the moment,
but it's growing all the time.
How long does all that process take?
It takes a day to convert the melt and hops
into beer for the fermenting vessel,
a week in the fermenting vessel,
two weeks conditioning in the cask,
a week in the pub...
- And ten minutes to drink.
- You're a slow drinker.
Today, Burton produces less of the country's
beer than it did in Victorian times,
when it brewed a quarter
of the pints sold in Britain.
For once the English climate was helpful,
for beer at least,
being neither too hot nor too cold,
but just right to allow fermentation
throughout the winter.
By 1890 there were over 30 breweries here,
all exploiting a special local ingredient.
Now, in my Bradshaw's guide,
he says that contrary to what is normal,
here in Burton you use hard water in the beer.
Is that true?
Oh, yeah. That's a unique characteristic
of the Burton water.
It gives better hop utilisation,
crisper, clearer flavours
and lighter-coloured beers.
It's mainly suitable for brewing ales.
Down the road, where they produce lagers,
they take all the salts out of the water,
and brew lagers
with very soft, Pilsen-style water.
Burton beer was so popular
during the 19th century
that it was in demand at! over the world.
This was the stuff that, according to Bradshaw,
was shipped out to India, this sort of beer?
Yes, very much so.
And why was Burton able to do that?
The purity of the water
made the beer very sterile
and just ideal for travelling along distance.
- It must have taken a long time to get to India.
- Yes, took about six months.
And you're still making a kind of India pale ale,
even though it's not going to India?
Yeah. The closest we can get is,
it sits there for six months.
- Oh, I see. Like the voyage.
- Yeah.
Short of putting it on a pontoon in the Trent,
that's the closest we can get.
Of course it was the railways
that enabled Burton brewers
to send their beer around the globe.
And Burton had plenty of them.
GEOFF: It was the biggest
private rail network in the country.
It was said
that no-one could rob a bank in Burton
because they would never get through
all the crossing gates in time.
- The level crossings?
- Yeah.
- Traffic jams everywhere?
- Well, there were.
I came in '64, and said I'd never come back
to this place,
but I've lived here for 28 years now.
I think that's enough talking about it.
Can we sample some?
- I think that's a good idea. Come this way.
- All right. Thank you.
- The finished article! Cheers.
- Cheers.
But there is a more appropriate toast that was
used in the courts of Russia, with Burton beer.
A lot of beer went out to the Baltic and to Russia,
and it was very popular in the Russian courts.
And that toast was, Piva Burtonski!
BOTH: Piva Burtonski!
Although the beer industry is still going strong,
there's been a cost.
The natural resources around Burton
were squeezed like a sponge.
Goal to heat the brewing liquor,
wood for the millions of barrels
in which it was stored.
Centuries of intense brewing
have scarred the surrounding landscape.
But that's being remedied.
Burton is in the middle of an area
being planted with millions of trees
as part of the new National Forest.
Set up in 1990, eventually
it will cover 200 square miles.
As We travelled through the Midlands,
We noticed how the landscape bears the signs
of the massive changes
between Bradshaw's time and today.
But We been struck by how many people
and businesses
can trace their roots directly back
to Victorian times.
When Bradshaw was writing, the East Midlands
was at the height of Industrial Revolution.
Now, as you pass through the region,
you're aware of the decline of mining
and some de-industrialisation.
But here in Burton, at least,
brewing is an example
of one British industry
that's still very much in business.
Next time I'll be heading
to the centre of the leather-making world.
Walsall had a very distinctive stink,
did it?
It had a...you can say it had a tinge.
It had its own...aroma.
I'll be travelling to Birmingham's
Balti Triangle.
Pakistan is like my motherland.
I call England my adoptive mother.
I'll try and make this quite elegant...
(Laughs)
Very good, sir. Very good for a first try.
And I'll be visiting Bournville,
which some say is the happiest piece in Britain.
Very pleasant. Very nice.
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.