Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 8 - Winchester to Isle of Wight - 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,
Pm making a series of journeys across
the length and breadth of the country
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.
Having used my Bradshaw's Guide
from Windsor to Winchester to Wight,
I'm now on the final leg of my journey
to Wareham and Weymouth
and the world beyond.
I'm voyaging into an area
blessed with valuable minerals,
which were ripe for exploitation
by Victorian industrialists.
On this stretch, Hi be uncovering a
hidden industry with Victorian roots...
- That is an oilfield?
- (woman) Yes.
Stretching all the way past Poole,
beneath Bournemouth, under the sea.
Admiring a historic castle
catapulted to fame by the railways...
Wow, that is fanta... That is fantastic.
The most romantic ruin.
...and discovering Weymouth's role
in the D-Day landings.
The day they left...
They left from Portland Harbour.
I went down and waved them bye-bye.
I knew them as friends.
I began my journey traveling tines
that Queen Victoria would have known,
as she moved between Windsor
and the Isle of Wight,
before crossing into
the county of Dorset,
transformed by 19th-century tourism.
This final section starts
on the Purbeck Peninsula,
and takes me west via Weymouth,
to the beautiful Isle of Portland.
The unspoilt countryside of Dorset
is a joy.
But in Bradshaw's day,
this was home to a Victorian enterprise
which foreshadowed
a massive modem industry.
The Industrial Revolution was founded
on power, on energy, on fuel.
And as we approach Wareham, my
Bradshaw's Guide comments that the area
"is rich in shells and saurian..."
reptilian, "..fossils,
beyond which are
the beds of Kimmeridge clay."
This Kimmeridge clay
is actually a type of rock,
and in Victorian times, people
around here found they could mine it
and extract oi! and gas.
For a short while it was used
extensively in street lamps.
The process was costly and dirty
and never flourished,
but this brief experiment
offered the first hint
of very much bigger things to come.
Another glorious day.
I'm leaving the train at Wareham,
and heading to a place
which has played a major role
in supplying Britain's
modern energy needs.
Environmental scientist Suzie Baverstock
knows the story.
- Hello, Suzie.
- Hello. Welcome to Wytch Farm.
Thank you very much.
And what is Wytch Farm?
Wytch Farm is the largest
onshore oilfield in western Europe.
(Michael) We're very close
to Wareham here.
You'd hardly suspect that it existed.
I know. It's well hidden away
in the landscape here.
A lot of care was taken to do just that,
actually.
From ground level, you'd barely know it,
but tucked amongst the trees
here on the Isle of Purbeck
is a vast gathering station.
17,000 barrels of oil are collected
each day from underground deposits.
(Suzie) That is the extent of the larger
of the three main reservoirs,
where we extract oil today.
- (Michael) That is an oilfield.
- Yes.
Stretching all the way past Poole,
beneath Bournemouth, under the sea.
What kind of distance is that?
It's about 20 kilometres,
or 12 miles, in distance.
And it's about a mile down.
The land which gave
the Victorian miners oil shale,
90 years later once again
rewarded lucky prospectors.
They suspected that below the shale oil
rock there might be more lucrative oil,
and they were right.
The first successful wells
were drilled in the 1950s.
(Suzie) This is one of the first
of the well sites here at Wytch Farm.
It's actually the well site
that has the discovery well on it.
- Where they first found the oil.
- Yes.
Although, in a way,
it wasn't first found in the 1950s.
It was first found by the Victorians.
They certainly were exploiting
the oil shale,
but they weren't actually able
to get this stuff out of the ground,
- which is at the lower strata.
- That's the crude.
This is the crude oil.
Still, I think we should be generous
to the Victorians
and say that they gave us the idea.
They could never have predicted
how much energy we would demand.
By the 1970s, the true extent of
the oilfield was becoming apparent.
Private sidings were built
and soon the railways
were being used to export the oil.
How busy was this in its heyday?
In the '70s and '80s
it was still quite a small oilfield.
This was the only way
that you could get oil to the refinery.
This was absolutely crucial
to the operation of the oilfield.
When the big development took place,
we then built a pipeline,
so the oil went out by pipeline.
But instead of using this for oil,
we used it to export
liquid petroleum gases by train.
But over all that long period,
we must have had about over 5,000 trains
go out of these sidings.
Absolutely enormous.
So the railway was fundamental
- to developing this field.
- Absolutely.
Today the oilfield produces
6.1 million barrels a year.
Sophisticated drilling technology
allows oil to be brought here
from deposits buried deep under the sea,
11 kilometres away,
with barely a scar on the landscape in
this area of outstanding natural beauty.
What precautions were taken
with environmental matters
when this was built?
A very much self-contained site, so...
Everything was built in a way that you
couldn't see it above the tree line.
If you see, it's down at a lower level.
It's also been painted
a nice dark brown colour
so that it's hidden amongst the trees.
(Michael) It's not gone rusty.
It's painted that colour.
- (Suzie) A special Van Dyke brown.
- Van Dyke brown.
It's amazing to think that such
a huge oilfield is so hard to glimpse,
especially as this is an area that gets
two and a half million visitors a year.
Pm now on my way to a historic spot
that's been pulling in the tourists
ever since Bradshaw's day.
- Hello there.
- (man) Good afternoon, sir.
- Just one stop for me, please.
- Thank you.
(Michael) Thank you very much.
For the next pan of my journey,
there's no regular public rail service,
so I'm forced to travel on
a heritage line with a steam engine,
and I'm not complaining.
This line was built in the 1880s
to link Wareham with the busy resort
of Swanage on the coast.
After it was closed in the 1970s,
all the track was lifted,
but enthusiasts
have painstakingly rebuilt it.
The joys of an old-fashioned carriage.
I'm heading a mile down the line
towards the 1,000-year-old ruins
of Corfe Castle.
And my first glimpse doesn't disappoint.
Wow, that is fanta... That is fantastic.
Sitting on this hill here...
are the most romantic ruins of a castle.
And this must be the best place
to see them from.
The railway line is absolutely
the place to see them from.
I've never seen that before.
Sitting on its mound.
Sitting on its hill. Fantastic.
(train whistle)
With the steam engine chugging away,
Bradshaw's, as ever, will be my guide.
"The surrounding country
is full of castellated remains
and interesting
historical associations."
"In the neighbouring Isle of Purbeck
are the ruins of Corfe Castle."
Definitely worth a closer look.
Corfe Castle sits on a mound far above
the village that takes its name.
Victorian readers of my "Bradshaw's
Guide" were among the first tourists
to climb to the summit
and admire the ruins.
As I get nearer the castle,
it's just as impressive,
because now I get a sense of scale.
The keep is absolutely massive.
The people who are visiting
look like little dots.
On a warm day climbing up this hill,
I have every sympathy with anybody
who tried to invade this castle.
Pm meeting historian Pam White
to hear how the Victorians fell in love
with this picturesque relic.
- Hello, Pam.
- Hello, Michael.
What wonderful ruins these are.
They're just spectacular,
they really are.
(Michael) How old is it?
(Pam) A little bit of Saxon work here,
but most of it's from 1100,
so it's about 900 years old.
- So just after the Norman conquest.
- Yes.
(Michael) It's been a ruin awhile.
(Pam) It's been a ruin since 1646,
so nearly 400 years.
Obviously it was more or less
in this condition in Victorian times.
It was. The Victorians really turned it
into a tourist attraction.
Trains started here in 1885.
The line from Waterloo to Weymouth
went in in the 1850s,
and then the branch line.
(Michael) I just got off
at the railway station at Corfe Castle,
- so it had its own railway station.
- (Pam) Yes. Very important.
That really was why
the tourism took off.
Roads didn't come till about the 1920s,
when cars started to get more popular.
So for a while,
the railway was the way to get here.
The only way, apart from
an occasional horse and carriage.
In the 19th century,
historical novels and popular paintings
fuelled a romantic view
of British history,
and visiting tumbledown ruins
became a fashionable pursuit.
To fire the imagination
of Victorian visitors,
my guidebook brings to life
a heroic story
from the castle's 17th-century past.
My Bradshaw's Guide says
during the English Civil War,
the castle became famous
"because of the gallant defence
made by the wife of Chief Justice Bankes
on behalf of the king."
"She was assisted by her daughters,
maids and only five soldiers."
"After a siege of ten weeks,
the Roundheads were obliged
to give up the siege."
- Quite an amazing bit of history.
- She was a fantastic woman.
Royal/st Lady Bankes was home alone
when the castle was besieged
by Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads.
She held firm.
Her courageous defence
earned her the name Brave Dame Mary.
But eventually she was felled, when
the Roundheads played a dastardly trick.
Just outside the castle, they simply
turned their coats inside out,
because the Cavalier soldiers
in the area had blue coats,
Roundheads had red coats
but with blue linings.
It's a really sneaky way
to get into the castle.
This is the origin of the expression
"turncoat", isn't it?
And it sounds as if she was sold out
for 20 pieces of silver.
I can see why the Victorians
were entranced by the tale,
which marked the end of Corfe Castle's
history as a fortification.
(Michael) How was it
the castle came to be destroyed?
Cromwell didn't want it.
To garrison it with soldiers
would have cost a lot of money.
So they simply blew it up
with gunpowder.
The destruction of Corfe Castle
underlined the defeat of King Charles.
But for the villagers,
it wasn't all bad news.
Apparently, stone taken from the ruins
can still be seen in local houses.
I'm oh the hunt for that looted booty.
Lovely house, lovely flowers.
Well, I should have watered them a lot.
- A lot... I beg your pardon.
- I don't mind getting wet.
Do you have any bits of castle
in your house?
No, I don't actually think I do.
I'm on the lookout
for bits of stone in houses.
Michael Bond may have,
I would imagine, in there.
Next house? I'll try there.
Forgive me asking, are these
from the castle, these mullions here?
(Bond) Probably not, actually.
We have got something which I think
might be from the castle.
- Quite low, isn't it'?
- Do duck.
What are we looking for?
We're looking at
that piece of panelling.
This is spectacular.
It's from the castle?
I like to pretend so,
let's put it that way.
People who know about joinery
tell me it's from about
late 16th, early 17th century.
It wasn't made for where it is now,
because it doesn't fit at either end.
When it was sacked,
it was a great quarry
and everybody helped themselves
to whatever they wanted.
One of my ancestors,
who was a crony of Cromwell's,
took some of the beams
from the great hall
and took them away for pan of a barn
that he had at a farm
about three miles west of here.
What was he, a colonel of Cromwell's,
a general?
No, he was a politician.
Oh, the worst son.
The destruction of Corfe Castle
during the English Civil War
seems like a tragedy.
But the distribution of its stones
has left us with a poignant ruin
and a charming village.
We retracted my steps to Wareham
to continue my journey
towards the coast.
(tannoy) This train is for Weymouth.
(Michael) Pm travelling
25 miles down the track
towards the final stop on the
South West Main Line from London.
Weymouth was one of Britain's
first seaside resorts,
and it gets a glowing review
in my 19th-century guide.
Weymouth.
And Bradshaw's says, "No place could be
more salubrious than Weymouth."
"The town is not only frequented
during the summer,
but has been selected by many opulent
families as a permanent residence."
"The beauty of its scenery
and the healthfulness of its climate
have contributed to raise it from
the low state into which it had fallen
to one of the most flourishing towns
in the kingdom."
"Weymouth reborn."
Weymouth first became popular
in Georgian times,
and initially was accessible
only for the well-to-do.
But after the railway arrived in 1857,
the town was transformed
into a destination for mass tourism.
By the 20th century,
thousands of visitors were coming here
for their annual hit
of sun, sea and sand.
We the perfect place
for me to break my journey.
My Bradshaw's Guide mentions
the beautiful view from the buildings
along the seafront here at Weymouth.
Luckily, there's a hotel
perfectly situated.
- Good evening.
- Good evening. Welcome to Royal Hotel.
Michael Portillo checking in, please.
The Royal Hotel
is one of the few Victorian buildings
on Weymouth's Georgian Esplanade.
Built in the year
of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee,
ifs an ideal spot to see the town
through 19th-century eyes.
My Bradshaw's says,
"From the windows of these buildings,
a most extensive and delightful view
is obtained,
comprehending on the left
a noble range of hills and cliffs,
and of the sea in front, with numerous
vessels, yachts and pleasure boats."
And when the sun finally sets
on this vista,
I shall go to sleep in this royal hotel.
Waking to Weymouth,
/can see why my "Bradshaw's Guide"
is so enthusiastic about its beauty.
But just 80 years
after my guidebook was published,
this picturesque seaside resort
was transformed beyond recognition.
In World War Two, with German-occupied
France so close across the Channel,
the whole of the south coast
was declared a war zone.
Nearby Portland
was an important naval base,
and Weymouth's railways
were targeted in air raids.
Beach huts and donkey rides
were replaced
with barbed wire and anti-aircraft guns.
And for the residents,
it was a dramatic change.
Pm meeting Ken Warren,
who grew up in wartime Weymouth.
Hello, Ken.
- How very good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Do you remember Weymouth
before the wartime?
No. My memory doesn't go back that far.
I can't remember much about it at all.
So your first memory
of this charming resort
is of barbed wire and warfare.
(Ken) And soldiers and guns
and bombs and aeroplanes
- and shooting and sirens.
- It doesn't sound like
- the normal description of Weymouth.
- No, it does not.
Astonishingly, Ken remembers
playing with this son of gun as a boy.
(Ken) I used to go to the troops
and I used to take them comics
and run errands for them.
They would let us have a go at the gun.
Me and my mate would get on either side.
Turn one handle
and the barrel would go up and down.
Turn the other handle
and it travels right round.
- How old were you?
- I was about ten years old.
By 1944, the Allies were planning to
storm the beaches of northern France.
Troops massed along the south coast,
including over a million
from the United States.
These exotic new arrivals
made a lasting impression on the locals.
What's your first memory
of American troops in Weymouth?
Smart-looking fellows
in these nice uniforms.
They were all smiling and happy,
whereas the British troops had had
enough of the war and didn't want it.
They came and it was so nice.
They had all these things
that we never had.
They would always shake our hands
and say, "Hiya, boy. Hiya, Mac."
What son of things did they have?
Mostly it was biscuits
and dried milk and dried egg
we used to take home to mother.
She loved it when I brought that home.
What Ken didn't know
was that the friendly Gls
were being secretly prepared
for one of the most ambitious operations
of the Second World War,
the D-Day landings.
(Ken) It was kept pretty quiet,
as a matter of fact.
We just thought it was an exercise.
We didn't know they were going.
- It was all hushed up.
- What did you actually see?
All these tanks rolling in the streets
and all the troops marching along,
getting ready.
On 6 June 1944,
6,000 ships and 2,500 planes
delivered 160, 000 Allied troops
to Normandy.
It was to prove a turning point
in the course of the war.
But thousands lost their lives.
(Ken) The day they left...
They left from Portland Harbour.
I went down and I waved them bye-bye.
I knew them as friends.
I knew one of them quite personally.
His name was Joe Royal.
I often wondered what happened to him.
I used to do his shopping for him
and my mother used to do his ironing.
We used to have him up for tea.
He was a great friend.
Growing up in
such a dangerous environment,
the railway held no fear
for Ken and his friends.
They often played nearby,
putting pennies on the line
to be squashed by the train.
Until Ken took things too far.
(Ken) One day,
the vvorkmen's hut was open.
I had a look round
and I saw some detonators.
I placed them on the line.
Along come the train,
run over these detonators,
bang, bang, bang, puff of smoke,
steel grinding, sparks everywhere.
I thought, "What have I done?
I've done something wrong."
"There's gonna be an accident.
I'm gonna get in awful trouble."
I went home and stayed indoors
for three days. I daren't come out
in case they associated me
with this train pulling up.
But luckily, no disaster.
It just made the train stop.
- (Ken) Yes, it made the train stop.
- Wow.
That railway line that Ken feared
he'd destroyed opened in 1865.
It linked Weymouth
to the Isle of Portland,
my last stop on this long journey.
Over there is Portland.
Bradshaw says, "About four miles south
from Weymouth is the island of Portland,
which, though thus called,
is in reality a peninsula,
connected with the mainland
by an extremely narrow isthmus
called Chesil Bank."
And this was once a railway track,
but discontinued in the 1960s,
so now you have to hoof it.
Portland is at one end of the stunning
18-mile-long Chest! Beach,
or Bank, as Bradshaw calls it,
which stretches up the Dorset coast
west of Weymouth.
We a remarkable natural phenomenon,
but a dangerous one, too.
This coastline is famous for shipwrecks.
Since the 18th century,
a lighthouse has stood on Portland Bill
to warn approaching sailors of the
danger that lurks beneath its beauty.
Bradshaw's comments,
"This picturesque coast is unrivalled."
"The sea view is agreeably diversified
with grand and striking objects
to break the monotony that usually
pervades a marine prospect."
I love those Bradshaw-isms.
There's certainly nothing monotonous
about the view from Portland.
Portland is part of
the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site,
a 95-mile stretch of Dorset coastline
which charts how the Earth has changed
over 185 million years.
We not only geologists who are
passionate about these rocks.
In the 19th century,
the coming of the railway
helped export unprecedented quantities
of stone from the island's quarries.
As I've toured Britain's cities,
Bradshaw's has told me
that many of our finest buildings
are made of Portland stone.
So I had to visit the cradle
of England's most handsome rock.
Portland stone is a type of limestone,
formed around 150 million years ago
on what was once the sea bed.
It's always been highly prized
as a building stone,
and in Victorian times
was much in demand
for the most prestigious projects,
from Nelson's Column to the
refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
For generations it's provided jobs
for quarrymen like Ralph Stone.
Hello, Michael.
- It's an impressive place.
- Certainly is. Welcome to Portland.
(Michael) When did you start
as a quarryman?
1959.
- That's a good long stretch.
- 50 years digging holes.
In the 19th century, as Britain's cities
developed at breakneck speed,
the quarries were booming.
My guidebook tells me
50,000 tons of stone
were exported yearly from Portland.
I suppose the railways
played an important pan
- in Portland stone's development.
- Very much so.
The merchant railway first of all
was first developed
to take the stone
down to the cast-iron pier,
where they used to unload it
on the steamers,
or the Thames barges
to take into London.
(Michael) That first railway,
was that steam?
(Ralph) No, that was horse-drawn.
The main railway, when that came here,
that was a revelation
for the stone trade.
They used to pull
right into the factory.
They'd load them straight
into the railway trucks.
Off they used to go wherever.
Removing this valuable stone
without damaging it
has always required immense skill.
In the 19th and 20th century,
workers relied on chisels, hammers
and a few explosives.
It was back-breaking work.
In Victorian times,
what would the scene have been
- and how would they have done it'?
- In Victorian times, a lot of men.
A lot of men.
All manpower. All manpower.
The quarry used to be worked according
to the natural joints in the ground.
It's like a giant three-dimensional
jigsaw, Portland stone is.
The quarrymen, through a lot
of experience, take the jigsaw apart.
Ralph's Victorian predecessors
received help from an unlikely quarter,
when in the mid 19th-century,
a prison was built on Portland.
(Michael) What was the history
of the convicts in the quarries?
Apparently, they were sent here
for hard labour
before they were deported
to the colonies.
So it was a double whammy for them.
You can imagine inexperienced people
being put in an environment like this,
with explosives.
There were a lot of fatalities
with the convicts in the quarries.
I think it was one of the reasons
why hard labour was stopped.
- (Michael) A grim history.
- (Ralph) A grim history.
Even into the 20th century,
the combination of explosives
and heavy machinery
made quarrying a dangerous occupation.
When I started work,
I went in the hut with the men,
I was taken there by the manager.
"That's your seat."
I sat down in the seat.
I didn't know until months afterwards,
underneath my seat was a tin box
with black powder and a fuse in.
Right by the side of me,
in between my knees,
there was a great big stove all lit.
It was enough to blow everybody
to kingdom come.
You're talking about the 1950s.
Imagine what it was like in the 1850s.
Well, there you are.
Recently, mines have been dug
to reach deeper deposits.
Such techniques may supersede
opencast quarries.
But while much has changed
since Bradshaw's day,
as I say goodbye to Portland, what
strikes me is how much remains the same.
My route from Windsor has taken me along
tracks familiar to Queen Victoria,
and helped me to understand how
the railways transformed her life,
and those of her subjects,
and the landscapes and industries
of her realm.
My Bradshaw's has given me
insights and experiences
that I could not have derived
from any modern guidebook.
It's led me now
to the Royal Manor of Portland,
and one of the most beautiful views
in England.
My next journey takes me west
from the rolling Cotswolds,
passing through the Malvern Hills
and on to travel the railways
that changed the fortunes
of industrial South Wales.
En route, I'll be sampling
a Victorian navvy's favourite brew...
Cheers. You could build a railway
once you've drunk that.
...learning how Worcestershire farming
has changed since Bradshaw's time...
This is the most unexpected sight.
Suddenly this riot of colour.
And seeing the modern face
of the 19th-century steel industry.
I can feel the heat of the blast
furnace. I see a stream of molten iron,
I can see sparks flying, smoke, and now
this fantastic train that's emerging.
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,
Pm making a series of journeys across
the length and breadth of the country
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.
Having used my Bradshaw's Guide
from Windsor to Winchester to Wight,
I'm now on the final leg of my journey
to Wareham and Weymouth
and the world beyond.
I'm voyaging into an area
blessed with valuable minerals,
which were ripe for exploitation
by Victorian industrialists.
On this stretch, Hi be uncovering a
hidden industry with Victorian roots...
- That is an oilfield?
- (woman) Yes.
Stretching all the way past Poole,
beneath Bournemouth, under the sea.
Admiring a historic castle
catapulted to fame by the railways...
Wow, that is fanta... That is fantastic.
The most romantic ruin.
...and discovering Weymouth's role
in the D-Day landings.
The day they left...
They left from Portland Harbour.
I went down and waved them bye-bye.
I knew them as friends.
I began my journey traveling tines
that Queen Victoria would have known,
as she moved between Windsor
and the Isle of Wight,
before crossing into
the county of Dorset,
transformed by 19th-century tourism.
This final section starts
on the Purbeck Peninsula,
and takes me west via Weymouth,
to the beautiful Isle of Portland.
The unspoilt countryside of Dorset
is a joy.
But in Bradshaw's day,
this was home to a Victorian enterprise
which foreshadowed
a massive modem industry.
The Industrial Revolution was founded
on power, on energy, on fuel.
And as we approach Wareham, my
Bradshaw's Guide comments that the area
"is rich in shells and saurian..."
reptilian, "..fossils,
beyond which are
the beds of Kimmeridge clay."
This Kimmeridge clay
is actually a type of rock,
and in Victorian times, people
around here found they could mine it
and extract oi! and gas.
For a short while it was used
extensively in street lamps.
The process was costly and dirty
and never flourished,
but this brief experiment
offered the first hint
of very much bigger things to come.
Another glorious day.
I'm leaving the train at Wareham,
and heading to a place
which has played a major role
in supplying Britain's
modern energy needs.
Environmental scientist Suzie Baverstock
knows the story.
- Hello, Suzie.
- Hello. Welcome to Wytch Farm.
Thank you very much.
And what is Wytch Farm?
Wytch Farm is the largest
onshore oilfield in western Europe.
(Michael) We're very close
to Wareham here.
You'd hardly suspect that it existed.
I know. It's well hidden away
in the landscape here.
A lot of care was taken to do just that,
actually.
From ground level, you'd barely know it,
but tucked amongst the trees
here on the Isle of Purbeck
is a vast gathering station.
17,000 barrels of oil are collected
each day from underground deposits.
(Suzie) That is the extent of the larger
of the three main reservoirs,
where we extract oil today.
- (Michael) That is an oilfield.
- Yes.
Stretching all the way past Poole,
beneath Bournemouth, under the sea.
What kind of distance is that?
It's about 20 kilometres,
or 12 miles, in distance.
And it's about a mile down.
The land which gave
the Victorian miners oil shale,
90 years later once again
rewarded lucky prospectors.
They suspected that below the shale oil
rock there might be more lucrative oil,
and they were right.
The first successful wells
were drilled in the 1950s.
(Suzie) This is one of the first
of the well sites here at Wytch Farm.
It's actually the well site
that has the discovery well on it.
- Where they first found the oil.
- Yes.
Although, in a way,
it wasn't first found in the 1950s.
It was first found by the Victorians.
They certainly were exploiting
the oil shale,
but they weren't actually able
to get this stuff out of the ground,
- which is at the lower strata.
- That's the crude.
This is the crude oil.
Still, I think we should be generous
to the Victorians
and say that they gave us the idea.
They could never have predicted
how much energy we would demand.
By the 1970s, the true extent of
the oilfield was becoming apparent.
Private sidings were built
and soon the railways
were being used to export the oil.
How busy was this in its heyday?
In the '70s and '80s
it was still quite a small oilfield.
This was the only way
that you could get oil to the refinery.
This was absolutely crucial
to the operation of the oilfield.
When the big development took place,
we then built a pipeline,
so the oil went out by pipeline.
But instead of using this for oil,
we used it to export
liquid petroleum gases by train.
But over all that long period,
we must have had about over 5,000 trains
go out of these sidings.
Absolutely enormous.
So the railway was fundamental
- to developing this field.
- Absolutely.
Today the oilfield produces
6.1 million barrels a year.
Sophisticated drilling technology
allows oil to be brought here
from deposits buried deep under the sea,
11 kilometres away,
with barely a scar on the landscape in
this area of outstanding natural beauty.
What precautions were taken
with environmental matters
when this was built?
A very much self-contained site, so...
Everything was built in a way that you
couldn't see it above the tree line.
If you see, it's down at a lower level.
It's also been painted
a nice dark brown colour
so that it's hidden amongst the trees.
(Michael) It's not gone rusty.
It's painted that colour.
- (Suzie) A special Van Dyke brown.
- Van Dyke brown.
It's amazing to think that such
a huge oilfield is so hard to glimpse,
especially as this is an area that gets
two and a half million visitors a year.
Pm now on my way to a historic spot
that's been pulling in the tourists
ever since Bradshaw's day.
- Hello there.
- (man) Good afternoon, sir.
- Just one stop for me, please.
- Thank you.
(Michael) Thank you very much.
For the next pan of my journey,
there's no regular public rail service,
so I'm forced to travel on
a heritage line with a steam engine,
and I'm not complaining.
This line was built in the 1880s
to link Wareham with the busy resort
of Swanage on the coast.
After it was closed in the 1970s,
all the track was lifted,
but enthusiasts
have painstakingly rebuilt it.
The joys of an old-fashioned carriage.
I'm heading a mile down the line
towards the 1,000-year-old ruins
of Corfe Castle.
And my first glimpse doesn't disappoint.
Wow, that is fanta... That is fantastic.
Sitting on this hill here...
are the most romantic ruins of a castle.
And this must be the best place
to see them from.
The railway line is absolutely
the place to see them from.
I've never seen that before.
Sitting on its mound.
Sitting on its hill. Fantastic.
(train whistle)
With the steam engine chugging away,
Bradshaw's, as ever, will be my guide.
"The surrounding country
is full of castellated remains
and interesting
historical associations."
"In the neighbouring Isle of Purbeck
are the ruins of Corfe Castle."
Definitely worth a closer look.
Corfe Castle sits on a mound far above
the village that takes its name.
Victorian readers of my "Bradshaw's
Guide" were among the first tourists
to climb to the summit
and admire the ruins.
As I get nearer the castle,
it's just as impressive,
because now I get a sense of scale.
The keep is absolutely massive.
The people who are visiting
look like little dots.
On a warm day climbing up this hill,
I have every sympathy with anybody
who tried to invade this castle.
Pm meeting historian Pam White
to hear how the Victorians fell in love
with this picturesque relic.
- Hello, Pam.
- Hello, Michael.
What wonderful ruins these are.
They're just spectacular,
they really are.
(Michael) How old is it?
(Pam) A little bit of Saxon work here,
but most of it's from 1100,
so it's about 900 years old.
- So just after the Norman conquest.
- Yes.
(Michael) It's been a ruin awhile.
(Pam) It's been a ruin since 1646,
so nearly 400 years.
Obviously it was more or less
in this condition in Victorian times.
It was. The Victorians really turned it
into a tourist attraction.
Trains started here in 1885.
The line from Waterloo to Weymouth
went in in the 1850s,
and then the branch line.
(Michael) I just got off
at the railway station at Corfe Castle,
- so it had its own railway station.
- (Pam) Yes. Very important.
That really was why
the tourism took off.
Roads didn't come till about the 1920s,
when cars started to get more popular.
So for a while,
the railway was the way to get here.
The only way, apart from
an occasional horse and carriage.
In the 19th century,
historical novels and popular paintings
fuelled a romantic view
of British history,
and visiting tumbledown ruins
became a fashionable pursuit.
To fire the imagination
of Victorian visitors,
my guidebook brings to life
a heroic story
from the castle's 17th-century past.
My Bradshaw's Guide says
during the English Civil War,
the castle became famous
"because of the gallant defence
made by the wife of Chief Justice Bankes
on behalf of the king."
"She was assisted by her daughters,
maids and only five soldiers."
"After a siege of ten weeks,
the Roundheads were obliged
to give up the siege."
- Quite an amazing bit of history.
- She was a fantastic woman.
Royal/st Lady Bankes was home alone
when the castle was besieged
by Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads.
She held firm.
Her courageous defence
earned her the name Brave Dame Mary.
But eventually she was felled, when
the Roundheads played a dastardly trick.
Just outside the castle, they simply
turned their coats inside out,
because the Cavalier soldiers
in the area had blue coats,
Roundheads had red coats
but with blue linings.
It's a really sneaky way
to get into the castle.
This is the origin of the expression
"turncoat", isn't it?
And it sounds as if she was sold out
for 20 pieces of silver.
I can see why the Victorians
were entranced by the tale,
which marked the end of Corfe Castle's
history as a fortification.
(Michael) How was it
the castle came to be destroyed?
Cromwell didn't want it.
To garrison it with soldiers
would have cost a lot of money.
So they simply blew it up
with gunpowder.
The destruction of Corfe Castle
underlined the defeat of King Charles.
But for the villagers,
it wasn't all bad news.
Apparently, stone taken from the ruins
can still be seen in local houses.
I'm oh the hunt for that looted booty.
Lovely house, lovely flowers.
Well, I should have watered them a lot.
- A lot... I beg your pardon.
- I don't mind getting wet.
Do you have any bits of castle
in your house?
No, I don't actually think I do.
I'm on the lookout
for bits of stone in houses.
Michael Bond may have,
I would imagine, in there.
Next house? I'll try there.
Forgive me asking, are these
from the castle, these mullions here?
(Bond) Probably not, actually.
We have got something which I think
might be from the castle.
- Quite low, isn't it'?
- Do duck.
What are we looking for?
We're looking at
that piece of panelling.
This is spectacular.
It's from the castle?
I like to pretend so,
let's put it that way.
People who know about joinery
tell me it's from about
late 16th, early 17th century.
It wasn't made for where it is now,
because it doesn't fit at either end.
When it was sacked,
it was a great quarry
and everybody helped themselves
to whatever they wanted.
One of my ancestors,
who was a crony of Cromwell's,
took some of the beams
from the great hall
and took them away for pan of a barn
that he had at a farm
about three miles west of here.
What was he, a colonel of Cromwell's,
a general?
No, he was a politician.
Oh, the worst son.
The destruction of Corfe Castle
during the English Civil War
seems like a tragedy.
But the distribution of its stones
has left us with a poignant ruin
and a charming village.
We retracted my steps to Wareham
to continue my journey
towards the coast.
(tannoy) This train is for Weymouth.
(Michael) Pm travelling
25 miles down the track
towards the final stop on the
South West Main Line from London.
Weymouth was one of Britain's
first seaside resorts,
and it gets a glowing review
in my 19th-century guide.
Weymouth.
And Bradshaw's says, "No place could be
more salubrious than Weymouth."
"The town is not only frequented
during the summer,
but has been selected by many opulent
families as a permanent residence."
"The beauty of its scenery
and the healthfulness of its climate
have contributed to raise it from
the low state into which it had fallen
to one of the most flourishing towns
in the kingdom."
"Weymouth reborn."
Weymouth first became popular
in Georgian times,
and initially was accessible
only for the well-to-do.
But after the railway arrived in 1857,
the town was transformed
into a destination for mass tourism.
By the 20th century,
thousands of visitors were coming here
for their annual hit
of sun, sea and sand.
We the perfect place
for me to break my journey.
My Bradshaw's Guide mentions
the beautiful view from the buildings
along the seafront here at Weymouth.
Luckily, there's a hotel
perfectly situated.
- Good evening.
- Good evening. Welcome to Royal Hotel.
Michael Portillo checking in, please.
The Royal Hotel
is one of the few Victorian buildings
on Weymouth's Georgian Esplanade.
Built in the year
of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee,
ifs an ideal spot to see the town
through 19th-century eyes.
My Bradshaw's says,
"From the windows of these buildings,
a most extensive and delightful view
is obtained,
comprehending on the left
a noble range of hills and cliffs,
and of the sea in front, with numerous
vessels, yachts and pleasure boats."
And when the sun finally sets
on this vista,
I shall go to sleep in this royal hotel.
Waking to Weymouth,
/can see why my "Bradshaw's Guide"
is so enthusiastic about its beauty.
But just 80 years
after my guidebook was published,
this picturesque seaside resort
was transformed beyond recognition.
In World War Two, with German-occupied
France so close across the Channel,
the whole of the south coast
was declared a war zone.
Nearby Portland
was an important naval base,
and Weymouth's railways
were targeted in air raids.
Beach huts and donkey rides
were replaced
with barbed wire and anti-aircraft guns.
And for the residents,
it was a dramatic change.
Pm meeting Ken Warren,
who grew up in wartime Weymouth.
Hello, Ken.
- How very good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Do you remember Weymouth
before the wartime?
No. My memory doesn't go back that far.
I can't remember much about it at all.
So your first memory
of this charming resort
is of barbed wire and warfare.
(Ken) And soldiers and guns
and bombs and aeroplanes
- and shooting and sirens.
- It doesn't sound like
- the normal description of Weymouth.
- No, it does not.
Astonishingly, Ken remembers
playing with this son of gun as a boy.
(Ken) I used to go to the troops
and I used to take them comics
and run errands for them.
They would let us have a go at the gun.
Me and my mate would get on either side.
Turn one handle
and the barrel would go up and down.
Turn the other handle
and it travels right round.
- How old were you?
- I was about ten years old.
By 1944, the Allies were planning to
storm the beaches of northern France.
Troops massed along the south coast,
including over a million
from the United States.
These exotic new arrivals
made a lasting impression on the locals.
What's your first memory
of American troops in Weymouth?
Smart-looking fellows
in these nice uniforms.
They were all smiling and happy,
whereas the British troops had had
enough of the war and didn't want it.
They came and it was so nice.
They had all these things
that we never had.
They would always shake our hands
and say, "Hiya, boy. Hiya, Mac."
What son of things did they have?
Mostly it was biscuits
and dried milk and dried egg
we used to take home to mother.
She loved it when I brought that home.
What Ken didn't know
was that the friendly Gls
were being secretly prepared
for one of the most ambitious operations
of the Second World War,
the D-Day landings.
(Ken) It was kept pretty quiet,
as a matter of fact.
We just thought it was an exercise.
We didn't know they were going.
- It was all hushed up.
- What did you actually see?
All these tanks rolling in the streets
and all the troops marching along,
getting ready.
On 6 June 1944,
6,000 ships and 2,500 planes
delivered 160, 000 Allied troops
to Normandy.
It was to prove a turning point
in the course of the war.
But thousands lost their lives.
(Ken) The day they left...
They left from Portland Harbour.
I went down and I waved them bye-bye.
I knew them as friends.
I knew one of them quite personally.
His name was Joe Royal.
I often wondered what happened to him.
I used to do his shopping for him
and my mother used to do his ironing.
We used to have him up for tea.
He was a great friend.
Growing up in
such a dangerous environment,
the railway held no fear
for Ken and his friends.
They often played nearby,
putting pennies on the line
to be squashed by the train.
Until Ken took things too far.
(Ken) One day,
the vvorkmen's hut was open.
I had a look round
and I saw some detonators.
I placed them on the line.
Along come the train,
run over these detonators,
bang, bang, bang, puff of smoke,
steel grinding, sparks everywhere.
I thought, "What have I done?
I've done something wrong."
"There's gonna be an accident.
I'm gonna get in awful trouble."
I went home and stayed indoors
for three days. I daren't come out
in case they associated me
with this train pulling up.
But luckily, no disaster.
It just made the train stop.
- (Ken) Yes, it made the train stop.
- Wow.
That railway line that Ken feared
he'd destroyed opened in 1865.
It linked Weymouth
to the Isle of Portland,
my last stop on this long journey.
Over there is Portland.
Bradshaw says, "About four miles south
from Weymouth is the island of Portland,
which, though thus called,
is in reality a peninsula,
connected with the mainland
by an extremely narrow isthmus
called Chesil Bank."
And this was once a railway track,
but discontinued in the 1960s,
so now you have to hoof it.
Portland is at one end of the stunning
18-mile-long Chest! Beach,
or Bank, as Bradshaw calls it,
which stretches up the Dorset coast
west of Weymouth.
We a remarkable natural phenomenon,
but a dangerous one, too.
This coastline is famous for shipwrecks.
Since the 18th century,
a lighthouse has stood on Portland Bill
to warn approaching sailors of the
danger that lurks beneath its beauty.
Bradshaw's comments,
"This picturesque coast is unrivalled."
"The sea view is agreeably diversified
with grand and striking objects
to break the monotony that usually
pervades a marine prospect."
I love those Bradshaw-isms.
There's certainly nothing monotonous
about the view from Portland.
Portland is part of
the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site,
a 95-mile stretch of Dorset coastline
which charts how the Earth has changed
over 185 million years.
We not only geologists who are
passionate about these rocks.
In the 19th century,
the coming of the railway
helped export unprecedented quantities
of stone from the island's quarries.
As I've toured Britain's cities,
Bradshaw's has told me
that many of our finest buildings
are made of Portland stone.
So I had to visit the cradle
of England's most handsome rock.
Portland stone is a type of limestone,
formed around 150 million years ago
on what was once the sea bed.
It's always been highly prized
as a building stone,
and in Victorian times
was much in demand
for the most prestigious projects,
from Nelson's Column to the
refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
For generations it's provided jobs
for quarrymen like Ralph Stone.
Hello, Michael.
- It's an impressive place.
- Certainly is. Welcome to Portland.
(Michael) When did you start
as a quarryman?
1959.
- That's a good long stretch.
- 50 years digging holes.
In the 19th century, as Britain's cities
developed at breakneck speed,
the quarries were booming.
My guidebook tells me
50,000 tons of stone
were exported yearly from Portland.
I suppose the railways
played an important pan
- in Portland stone's development.
- Very much so.
The merchant railway first of all
was first developed
to take the stone
down to the cast-iron pier,
where they used to unload it
on the steamers,
or the Thames barges
to take into London.
(Michael) That first railway,
was that steam?
(Ralph) No, that was horse-drawn.
The main railway, when that came here,
that was a revelation
for the stone trade.
They used to pull
right into the factory.
They'd load them straight
into the railway trucks.
Off they used to go wherever.
Removing this valuable stone
without damaging it
has always required immense skill.
In the 19th and 20th century,
workers relied on chisels, hammers
and a few explosives.
It was back-breaking work.
In Victorian times,
what would the scene have been
- and how would they have done it'?
- In Victorian times, a lot of men.
A lot of men.
All manpower. All manpower.
The quarry used to be worked according
to the natural joints in the ground.
It's like a giant three-dimensional
jigsaw, Portland stone is.
The quarrymen, through a lot
of experience, take the jigsaw apart.
Ralph's Victorian predecessors
received help from an unlikely quarter,
when in the mid 19th-century,
a prison was built on Portland.
(Michael) What was the history
of the convicts in the quarries?
Apparently, they were sent here
for hard labour
before they were deported
to the colonies.
So it was a double whammy for them.
You can imagine inexperienced people
being put in an environment like this,
with explosives.
There were a lot of fatalities
with the convicts in the quarries.
I think it was one of the reasons
why hard labour was stopped.
- (Michael) A grim history.
- (Ralph) A grim history.
Even into the 20th century,
the combination of explosives
and heavy machinery
made quarrying a dangerous occupation.
When I started work,
I went in the hut with the men,
I was taken there by the manager.
"That's your seat."
I sat down in the seat.
I didn't know until months afterwards,
underneath my seat was a tin box
with black powder and a fuse in.
Right by the side of me,
in between my knees,
there was a great big stove all lit.
It was enough to blow everybody
to kingdom come.
You're talking about the 1950s.
Imagine what it was like in the 1850s.
Well, there you are.
Recently, mines have been dug
to reach deeper deposits.
Such techniques may supersede
opencast quarries.
But while much has changed
since Bradshaw's day,
as I say goodbye to Portland, what
strikes me is how much remains the same.
My route from Windsor has taken me along
tracks familiar to Queen Victoria,
and helped me to understand how
the railways transformed her life,
and those of her subjects,
and the landscapes and industries
of her realm.
My Bradshaw's has given me
insights and experiences
that I could not have derived
from any modern guidebook.
It's led me now
to the Royal Manor of Portland,
and one of the most beautiful views
in England.
My next journey takes me west
from the rolling Cotswolds,
passing through the Malvern Hills
and on to travel the railways
that changed the fortunes
of industrial South Wales.
En route, I'll be sampling
a Victorian navvy's favourite brew...
Cheers. You could build a railway
once you've drunk that.
...learning how Worcestershire farming
has changed since Bradshaw's time...
This is the most unexpected sight.
Suddenly this riot of colour.
And seeing the modern face
of the 19th-century steel industry.
I can feel the heat of the blast
furnace. I see a stream of molten iron,
I can see sparks flying, smoke, and now
this fantastic train that's emerging.