Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 2, Episode 19 - Sandwich to Folkestone - 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 a series of journeys across
the length and breadth of the country
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.
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.
(man) 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.
(Frank) 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.
- (Frank) 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.
(Frank) 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.
(Frank) 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 { 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.
(woman) 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.
(Michael) 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?
(Rowena) 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.
(Michael) The welly I know is a rubber
boot and these are clearly leather.
(Rowena) 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",
1 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.
- (both laugh)
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 18827
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, 1682.
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.
(John) 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 1?
- 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.
- (Michael) A renaissance in rail.
- (John) 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...
(man) 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.
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.
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.
(man) 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.
(Frank) 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.
- (Frank) 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.
(Frank) 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.
(Frank) 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 { 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.
(woman) 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.
(Michael) 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?
(Rowena) 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.
(Michael) The welly I know is a rubber
boot and these are clearly leather.
(Rowena) 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",
1 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.
- (both laugh)
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 18827
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, 1682.
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.
(John) 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 1?
- 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.
- (Michael) A renaissance in rail.
- (John) 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...
(man) 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.