Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 4, Episode 23 - Kilkenny to Athy - full transcript
In 1840, one man transformed travel
in Britain and Ireland.
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
these islands
to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.
With the help of my guidebook,
I'm discovering how small places often
made a big splash in Bradshaw's day.
I'm reaching the mid point of my train
journey across the Republic of Ireland
steered by my Bradshaw's Guide
to Great Britain & Ireland,
which, in Victorian times,
formed a single state.
I'm hoping to discover more about
how rural Ireland
adapted to the technological
and social changes of the 19th century.
On today's stretch, I'll try my hand
at cutting marble, Victorian-style, ..
(gasps I laughs)
It just suddenly fell away!
uncover 19th-century Ireland's
surprising industrial heritage...
(Michael) It's a monumental mill.
Looks like a fortress.
And learn how the railways helped
to bring motorsport to the masses.
They estimated that there would have
been almost a million people spectating.
You're not serious.
First time there was
a gathering of that amount.
Having sampled the pastoral
charms of the Irish Republic's south,
I'm now continuing along some of
its most important Victorian tracks.
I'm heading north
towards the heart of Ireland,
before veering west to
the spectacular Galway coast.
Today's stretch takes me through
counties Carlow and Kildare,
finishing up in the market town of Athy.
My first stop is Kilkenny,
where this region's rich
and complex history has left its mark.
My Bradshaw's recommends
Kilkenny Castle,
"the seat of the Marquis of Ormonde,
finely situated on a rock
above the river".
"It contains much old tapestry,
as well as a gallery of
the butler portraits by Lely
and other portraits of Charles I,
Charles ll and James ll."
it was evidently a magnet
for Victorian tourists,
and I feel attracted, too.
According to my 19th-century guide,
Kilkenny is the old capital of the Pale,
or limit, of English authority.
The Ormonde or Butler family have held
possession of the town since 1400.
I'm going in search of
their ancestral seat.
- Are you from Kilkenny by any chance?
- Yes.
Well, I'm here for the first time.
What should I see while I'm here?
- What should you see?
- Yeah.
The castle.
- Are you from Kilkenny?
- Yes, I am.
- You must be very proud of the castle?
- Oh, I love the castle.
It's the first place I send tourists.
You do get an unbelievable
number of tourists here.
We depend a lot on tourism.
- How would I say "Welcome to Kilkenny"?
- Fáilte go dtí Off! Chainnigh.
- That's in Irish.
- Well, I guessed that.
That's very, very nice.
And how do I say "thank you"?
- Go raibh maith agar.
- Lovely to see you. Thank you so much.
I'll say back to you,
Ni ar chor ar bith.
- Does that mean "come back again"?
- That means "not at all".
(laughs) I was hoping
you were asking me to come back.
- Teacht ar ais aris.
- I will.
- God bless.
- Bye-bye.
After such a warm welcome,
it's high time I saw Kilkenny's
famous fortress for myself.
Bradshaw's tells me that
one of the best views of the town
is from John's Bridge,
and certainly the castle
on its mount above the river
is imposing and impressive.
In Bradshaws day, the noble
Butler family still lived here,
and tours were strictly for only
upper class visitors by appointment.
My guide today is Frank Kavanagh.
- You're very welcome, sir.
- Thank you very much.
- What a glorious castle you have here.
- Magnificent.
- The Windsor of Ireland.
- I believe it, I believe it.
There's been a castle
on this site for 700 years,
but following my guidebook,
I'm heading straight for the gallery,
added as part of a major refurbishment
in the 19th century.
Absolutely magnificent.
Wonderful long gallery.
- How long is it, Frank'?
- It's 45m long, 150ft long.
Ten metres high, 30ft high,
and nine metres wide.
It's everything you expect in a castle.
(Michael)
And this wonderful hammer beam ceiling.
(Frank) It was the work of
John Pollen in 1858.
So just before my Bradshaw's Guide,
a Victorian masterpiece.
There must have been
a flow of tourists coming here'?
Yes, there would be.
You had many visitors coming by train
as it was the most
convenient way of travel.
(Michael) The railway reached
Kilkenny in which year?
The railway reached Kilkenny
in 1848 to 1850.
So perfectly timed
for the whole thing.
In the 1800s, a fashion for
historical novels and paintings
offered a romantic view of
Britain's past.
The Civil War of the 17th century
was a popular topic,
and the castle's collection of portraits
would have fired Victorian imaginations.
Following my Bradshaw's, I'm looking
for Charles I, Charles ll, James ll.
- Where would they be?
- Behind us looking upon us.
King Charles I and King Charles ll.
The Butlers were staunch supporters
of the Stuart cause,
hence you have, of course,
James Frances Stuart,
father of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
While the British isles
were torn apart by civil war,
the Butters or Ormondes stayed
staunchly loyal to the British crown.
Here in the long gallery,
Victorian visitors could
steep themselves in the story.
All around you
there are members of the family.
James Butler, first Duke of Ormonde.
The most eminent member of the family,
buried at Westminster Abbey,
right close to his arch enemy Cromwell.
As we" as admiring the paintings,
tourists could marvel at
the lavish 19th-century restoration,
which included
a rather unusual material.
(Frank) This is the essence of our city,
black marble.
(Michael) Bradshaw's talks about
"good stone and dark marble
are abundant in this locality".
"Most of the houses
are of this material."
- This is what he's referring to?
- Exactly.
The entire city of Kilkenny
is built upon its marble.
I'd love to linger in the long gallery,
but this remarkable stone
has sparked my curiosity.
A Victorian favourite,
it found fame around the world.
And the story starts
just east from Kilkenny.
My search for the Irish black stuff,
I refer, of course, to Kilkenny marble,
has led me to Butlers Grove Quarry.
In Victorian times, this was a thriving
source of marble and building stone.
However, when concrete increased in
popularity in the early 20th century,
the quarry was forced to close.
It was resurrected in the 1970s
by Jim Harding's father.
- Hello, Jim.
- (Jim) How are you?
(Michael) Good to see you.
I've come in search of Kilkenny marble,
I guess I've come to the right place?
You've come to one of two
old Kilkenny marble quarries.
This is the only one that's left open.
Marble was first quarried
commercially in Kilkenny in the 1730s,
and when the rails arrived
a century later,
they quickly became
vital to the industry.
(Jim) The railways were
extremely important.
It was actually quite difficult
to transport heavy blocks anywhere
other than by rail, so they would have
been brought from here to a station
and transported
quite literally everywhere.
Most of the big blocks
that came out of here
would have been shipped to Liverpool
then delivered by rail out of Liverpool.
The Victorians used the stone
for everything from
fireplaces to gravestones,
and it was even employed
to build railway stations.
In geological terms, this particular
marble is a sedimentary limestone,
formed from a fine black mud
370 million years ago.
And what is the quality of this stone
that makes it so special?
It's a really, really dense
black material.
That's actually quite scarce.
There's not that many markings in it
and it's really good quality.
Jim discovered a fresh seam of
this rare stone a few years ago,
allowing production,
paused since the 1900s, to begin again.
Methods have moved on
since Bradshaw's day,
but he's going to show me
an old-fashioned technique
used by Victorian quarrymen
to split the blocks of stone.
- Drop the two side ones in, do we?
- One at a time.
(Jim) One down. Second one in.
And now, the actual wedge itself
goes between them.
This cunning system of pins and wedges
should mean that a gentle tap
is all that's required.
Now we move on to the back of the stone
and start to tap them.
(gasps I laughs)
It just suddenly fell away.
That's it, you hear it cracking first.
I heard a little sound
and then off it went.
So, what have we done there?
- We've made quite a clean break
- You've cleaned it all the way across.
(Michael) Look at that!
These days, machines do much of
the work that was once done by hand,
but the real magic occurs
at the polishing stage.
What you do is go up
and down it along here,
and get as much of that heat
and wax into that as possible.
- Let's give it a go.
- (tool whirrs loudly)
Isn't it lovely how the black
appears through the blue wax there.
It is, yes.
That's what brings up the black.
- (Michael) Such a lovely stone.
- It is fabulous.
The best marble is still
highly prized for fireplaces,
just as it was in Bradshaws day.
- Well...
- You're really getting into that.
I think that's got it.
Isn't that
the most beautiful piece of stone.
- Lovely, isn't it?
- That would grace any castle.
It would, and does.
Sadly I can't stay and hone my skills,
as ifs time for me
to continue my journey.
My next destination
is something of a riddle.
As I travel north from Kilkenny,
according to my Bradshaw's Guide,
we soon reach Bagenalstown,
but there's no trace of it on the map,
so I'm going to alight at Muine Bheag
and investigate further.
With no Bagenalstown mentioned
on the railway map,
I'm going to have to dig deeper
to find the spot described in my guide.
- Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- I'm looking for Bagenalstown.
- You're in it.
- Doesn't say so.
- Muine Bheag.
- Ah. That's the Irish.
- It's Bagenalstown.
And what does that mean?
Is that a translation?
Small wood.
- Small wood, OK.
- Yes.
Do you know who Bagenal was
who had the town?
- No.
- Well, OK.
So I'm in the right place,
I just have to find Bagenal now.
- That's it.
- Thank you.
No problem. All the best.
It seems that the locals are
as much in the dark as I am.
I'm hoping historian Pat Nolan
can unravel the mystery.
- Pat.
- Hello, Michael.
- Welcome to Bagenalstown
- Now, you call it Bagenalstown.
- I thought it was Muine Bheag.
- It depends who you talk to, really,
It was Bagenalstown because
the Bagenals were here since 1585,
and they built a lot of this town.
By the 1920s, the idea of naming a town
after the local landed gentry
had begun to seem outdated.
I imagine the name was changed
after Irish independence?
Yes. Well, the attempt was made
after the Irish independence
in the middle 1920s.
A chap called Cleary got
quite heated about the whole thing
and he wanted it to be changed
from Bagenalstown,
which he felt had
the wrong connotations,
and call it Muine Bheag
from a very old Irish name.
Nothing happened because people who
called it Bagenalstown continued to,
and people who called it Muine Bheag
continued to do so.
In the 1950s, there was even
a public vote on the matter,
and the locals opted
to stick with Bagenalstown.
But surprisingly, a few years later,
the station was officially named
Muine Bheag.
(Pat) No one is sure why that is,
but there is a tradition that
our Irish national rail system
tend to use the Irish forms of names
quite considerably.
It's the use of the Irish language
rather than anything else.
And Muine Bheag is accepted
as the name, in Irish, of this town.
We not just the name of this place
that confuses visitors.
Back in the 1700s, one of the Bagenal
clan left behind an incongruous legacy.
To see it, you have to
walk through the public library.
(Michael) What a transformation
from one side to the other!
- (Pat laughs)
- (Pat) It's quite something.
- (Michael) it is amazing.
- (Pat) This was pan of his grand plan.
Bagenal had an idea of creating
another Versailles here in Ireland,
and he had terrific ideas,
and indeed he created some of them,
but then, guess what, the money ran out.
Doesn't look
anything like Versailles.
(Pat) No, it doesn't.
It's modelled on the Athens Parthenon.
So he was somewhat
geographically confused, you might say.
(Michael) And so here,
this mini Parthenon sits
amongst the suburban houses
and the municipal buildings
and the sheds with their tin roofs.
- Quite a contrast really.
- It is,
but at least it's now serving
a practical, current present day use
as the library,
so, you know,
some good came out of it.
The curiosities that I uncover
with my "Bradshaw's Guide"
never cease to amaze.
And just up the road from
this charming town,
We found the perfect place
to break my journey.
Walter Bagenal never succeeded
in completing his new Versailles,
but many people think that their town
still bears his name,
and certainly... this inn does,
and this is where
I shall spend the night.
I'm now rejoining my route
along the Waterford branch
of the famous Great Southern
and Western Railway,
built to connect
the rural hinterland with Dublin.
Its engineer was the Irish Brunei,
William Dargan,
born and bred in these parts.
I find myself on a very busy train
and I'm just going one stop to Carlow,
which my Bradshaw's tells me
"is the capital town of the county
with a population of about 9,900,
who return one member..."
Bradshaw's loves to tell us
how many Members of Parliament
are sent to Westminster.
"And are employed in
the grain and butter trade."
It's built on the east bank of
the River Barrow.
Now, where you get grain
and where you get a river,
you normally get mills, and mills
were a source of wealth and of jobs.
I'm bound for a mill
which was once so important
it had its own station, Mitford.
Sadly, the stop
went out of service in 1969
so I'm leaving the train at Carlow.
- (Michael) How are you?
- (man) How was your trip?
(Michael) Very nice. Thank you.
And We spotted
some important work going on.
Wow, you're putting in the signs saying
you've got to stand behind this line.
- In Irish.
- Only doing them in Irish today?
No, Irish and English,
Now, I've often seen this sign in Irish.
How do you pronounce it?
(man) Fan taobh den line.
- (chuckles) We've just put it down.
- (they laugh)
My Irish lesson over,
I'm heading up the road
to the banks of the River Barrow.
In the early days of
the Industrial Revolution,
forward-thinking landowners
sought to make the most of
this Valley's fertile countryside.
Here at Milford Mills,
their legacy is unmissable.
- Hello, Shay.
- Welcome to Milford.
Thank you. It's a monumental mill,
really impressive.
- Looks like a fortress.
- Absolutely
You wouldn't expect to find
a major industrial site
in this quiet rural setting,
but at its peak, it was
the largest mill complex in Ireland.
Historian Shay Kinsella
has been researching the story.
Well, this is an enormous
and impressive building,
but am I right thinking there was
even more than this originally?
This is the only building of three
that has survived.
This was the oatmeal mill,
there was also a massive flour mill
and a huge malt house as well.
The mills were
the brainchild of John Alexander,
a Belfast man who, by 1790, had
brought together the power of the river
and the area's agricultural riches.
By the time the railways came
half a century later,
his son was running the thriving mill.
The second John Alexander was
a believer in the power of the railways.
When the mill started to become
extremely successful here,
he decided that a railway would be
the best access up to Dublin
and down to Waterford for
transporting the goods from here.
And that railway station was named
Milford Railway Station.
John Alexander II invested £6, 000
in the Great Southern
and Western Railway,
and soon the trains were taking
his business to ever greater heights.
Mr and Mrs Samuel Carter Hall,
the travel commentators,
visited here in the early 1840s.
They said these mills were fitted
to astonish Englishmen,
that Milford was laying down
the gauntlet
even for the mills of Manchester,
and the capacity of the river
and the hydro power
should be harnessed across the UK.
From the early 1800s,
British and Irish producers got
a further boost from the Com Laws,
which protected them
from international competition.
Then, in the 1840s,
famine struck Ireland,
and the government's response
marked the beginning of the end
of Milford's heyday.
The idea was to flood the market
with cheap accessible flour
so that bread could be produced
for the population in distress,
but at the same time, it put huge
pressure on the milling industry here
to compete with foreign imports,
and unfortunately, the Milford Mills
here went into decline from that date.
What happened after that?
From the 1860s up to 1890,
this building was left idle.
The building started showing
signs of decay,
until another John Alexander decided
it was time to give this building
a new lease of life and
make history for Carlow and Ireland.
Towards the end of the 19th century,
the best minds
in science and engineering
discovered how to harness the power
of a new technology, electricity.
The world's first power station
was built in 1882,
and just nine years later, the
invention gripped even this sleepy town.
In 1890,
John Ill was approached with an idea,
to install a dynamo here
which would have generated
electricity by hydro power,
which was a very pioneering idea
at the time.
John ill himself was a bit of
an innovator, a pioneer,
a very progressive thinker, so he
latched on to this with both hands.
Carlow was the first inland town
in Ireland and Britain
to be lit throughout
by hydro electricity.
The plant ran for a decade,
but closed when a new generator
was built closer to the town centre.
But that wasn't the end of
Milford's energy story.
- Hello, Michael. Come on in.
- Lovely to see you. Thank you.
The latest in this line of
remarkable men is John Alexander V,
who still lives in the ancestral home.
So, John, I imagine this is
a display of your ancestors, is it?
(John) Yes,
the ones who lived in Milford, yes.
Which one first put
an electricity turbine in the mill?
My grandfather, who I remember well.
He was born in 1850
but I can remember him well growing up.
This house, I suppose,
being very close to the mill,
- must have benefited from electricity.
- Yes, it did.
Was this one of the early houses?
I think it's one of the first houses,
certainly in rural Ireland, yes,
to be electrified, yes.
In the 1980s, John built
a new turbine in the old mill hall
which still generates enough electricity
to power nearly
200 light bulbs continuously.
You're still putting electricity
into the grid?
Absolutely. Right now, quite a lot
because we've had a lot of rain today.
It's an amazing history, isn't it?
Five of you here in Milford
called John Alexander,
five of you wedded
in various ways to the mill?
Absolutely, yeah.
Well, you're a very worthy
John Alexander.
- A great pleasure to meet you.
- Well, thank you.
I'm now embarking on
the last leg of today's journey,
and there's just time to see how
Carlow's sprucing up is coming along.
Smell of fresh paint.
They've done the line,
but they haven't yet re-done the words.
My next stop is just 20 miles north.
I'm now heading for Athy,
which my Bradshaw's tells me
is on the Barrow,
where there is an old castle
built by Lord Kildare in 1506.
In fact, he gave his name to the county.
But I'm attracted to Athy for
something that happened there
long after my Bradshaw's was published
which made it internationally famous.
In the last decades of Victories reign,
a new rival to the railways emerged
from the workshops of
the Industrial Revolution.
The automobile.
The age of mass motor travel
was still a long way off,
but for the elite,
this new machine opened up a fresh world
of pleasure and excitement.
Veteran car enthusiast Laurence Roe
can tell me how this small Irish town
played a big part in the story.
- Laurence!
- Oh. Michael, nice to meet you.
- Welcome to Athy.
- Thank you very much.
What a beautiful collection of
vintage cars.
What is the connection
between Athy and cars?
Well, Amy's connection
dates back to 1903
when the first closed circuit race
ever to take place took place here.
Prior to that,
the previous races were on open roads
where there was other traffic,
little control of spectators,
and this was really
the first closed circuit ever.
Subsequently became known as
a grand Prix really.
The groundbreaking event was the fourth
in a series of international races
sponsored by newspaper baron
James Gordon Bennett Jr.
Famous for his passion for adventure,
he backed everything from
polar expeditions to balloon races.
- Ls this the Gordon Bennett?
- It is the Gordon Bennett.
So when one says "Gordon Bennett",
one refers to this gentleman.
Bennett was known for
his playboy lifestyle,
and the story goes that it was
a New York party
that saw his name become
an expression of incredulity.
He arrived at the party
slightly inebriated
because Gordon Bennett lived on
lamb chops and Champagne,
and when he arrived in the house,
he decided he wanted
to use the facilities
and the facilities in these old houses
were usually down a dark corridor,
so he decided to do what he had to do
in the front room into the fireplace,
so his friends said,
"Oh, Gordon Bennett!"
I've often used the exclamation myself
with no idea
what I was getting myself into.
The first Gordon Bennett races were held
on the continent on the open road,
but in 1902, the event was won
by Selwyn Edge representing England.
So it was down to the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland
to host the next event,
but with strict speed limits
on the British mainland,
it was decided to hold it
across the Irish Sea,
where restrictions
were temporarily relaxed.
The area around Athy was chosen
for its convenient location.
The railways were important to bring in
the drivers or the spectators?
The spectators, because
they estimated there would have been
almost a million people
spectating on that event.
You're not serious.
First time there was
a gathering of that amount in Ireland
and the railways played a big pan
in bringing people
to see this amazing scene.
- I had no idea it was on that scale.
- Absolutely.
For safety,
the roads were closed to other traffic,
setting the template for the Grand Prix,
which began in 1906.
And the race also gave birth
to another tradition.
Each country had a colour.
America was red, Germany was white,
France was blue,
and the British chose emerald green,
partially as a gesture to Ireland
for hosting the race,
and this subsequently became,
I understand, British racing green.
So it was a tribute to
the Emerald Isle.
Sadly, racing green failed to triumph
as the trophy was won by a German car.
(Laurence) The '03 Gordon Bennett race
was won by Camille Jenatzy
driving a 60 horsepower Mercedes
at an average speed of 49.2mph,
which was a remarkable speed
at that time,
over a circuit which was 327.5 miles.
I can't believe they were
averaging nearly 50mph
over a 300-and-something-mile circuit
in 1903.
It's absolutely amazing.
And to get those speeds,
they would have had to do over 70mph
in some of the straight stretches
to try and achieve that.
Much of the original course
can still be driven on
the roads around Athy,
and the race is commemorated every year
by members of
the Irish Veteran and Vintage Car Club.
And they're out for a drive today.
(Laurence) First thing we do
is pump up the fuel.
- (Michael) Here?
- Yes.
These days,
a tum of the key is all that's needed
to send fuel
from the tank to the engine,
but in the 1900s
it was rather harder work.
OK.
(engine starts)
Laurence takes the wheel of
his 1906 Wolseley
to give me a taste of the race
that attracted
a million awe-struck spectators.
I guess the population of Ireland
can't have been more than six million.
It's impossible to think of
any sporting event now
that would gather
a fifth or sixth of the population.
(Laurence) When you think about it,
most people hadn't seen a motor car,
and didn't know what it looked like.
To have this piece of machinery
travelling at amazing speeds
would have been spectacular.
On the open road with Laurence,
you begin to realise now extraordinary
the sight of a speeding car
must once have been.
First locomotion,
then the internal combustion engine,
the 19th century truly brought
transport revolutions.
This pan of my journey
has made me think about
the role of great men in history.
The dukes of Ormonde of Kilkenny,
Walter Bagenal of Bagenalstown,
five generations of John Alexander
and Gordon Bennett.
And I'd like to add one more name.
The railway engineer
who built this line and many others,
a native of Carlow, William Dargan.
On my next journey,
I'll visit the Irish National Stud,
a bucking experience...
The horse is going very fast now!
It's absolutely exhausting!
I'll discover that life was harsh
for the Irish poor...
When you came in here,
you gave up everything
and you signed up to a life
within the workhouse.
and I'll uncover an astronomical feat
of Victorian engineering.
(Michael) What a construction.
(man) It was known locally
as "the monster".
in Britain and Ireland.
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
these islands
to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.
With the help of my guidebook,
I'm discovering how small places often
made a big splash in Bradshaw's day.
I'm reaching the mid point of my train
journey across the Republic of Ireland
steered by my Bradshaw's Guide
to Great Britain & Ireland,
which, in Victorian times,
formed a single state.
I'm hoping to discover more about
how rural Ireland
adapted to the technological
and social changes of the 19th century.
On today's stretch, I'll try my hand
at cutting marble, Victorian-style, ..
(gasps I laughs)
It just suddenly fell away!
uncover 19th-century Ireland's
surprising industrial heritage...
(Michael) It's a monumental mill.
Looks like a fortress.
And learn how the railways helped
to bring motorsport to the masses.
They estimated that there would have
been almost a million people spectating.
You're not serious.
First time there was
a gathering of that amount.
Having sampled the pastoral
charms of the Irish Republic's south,
I'm now continuing along some of
its most important Victorian tracks.
I'm heading north
towards the heart of Ireland,
before veering west to
the spectacular Galway coast.
Today's stretch takes me through
counties Carlow and Kildare,
finishing up in the market town of Athy.
My first stop is Kilkenny,
where this region's rich
and complex history has left its mark.
My Bradshaw's recommends
Kilkenny Castle,
"the seat of the Marquis of Ormonde,
finely situated on a rock
above the river".
"It contains much old tapestry,
as well as a gallery of
the butler portraits by Lely
and other portraits of Charles I,
Charles ll and James ll."
it was evidently a magnet
for Victorian tourists,
and I feel attracted, too.
According to my 19th-century guide,
Kilkenny is the old capital of the Pale,
or limit, of English authority.
The Ormonde or Butler family have held
possession of the town since 1400.
I'm going in search of
their ancestral seat.
- Are you from Kilkenny by any chance?
- Yes.
Well, I'm here for the first time.
What should I see while I'm here?
- What should you see?
- Yeah.
The castle.
- Are you from Kilkenny?
- Yes, I am.
- You must be very proud of the castle?
- Oh, I love the castle.
It's the first place I send tourists.
You do get an unbelievable
number of tourists here.
We depend a lot on tourism.
- How would I say "Welcome to Kilkenny"?
- Fáilte go dtí Off! Chainnigh.
- That's in Irish.
- Well, I guessed that.
That's very, very nice.
And how do I say "thank you"?
- Go raibh maith agar.
- Lovely to see you. Thank you so much.
I'll say back to you,
Ni ar chor ar bith.
- Does that mean "come back again"?
- That means "not at all".
(laughs) I was hoping
you were asking me to come back.
- Teacht ar ais aris.
- I will.
- God bless.
- Bye-bye.
After such a warm welcome,
it's high time I saw Kilkenny's
famous fortress for myself.
Bradshaw's tells me that
one of the best views of the town
is from John's Bridge,
and certainly the castle
on its mount above the river
is imposing and impressive.
In Bradshaws day, the noble
Butler family still lived here,
and tours were strictly for only
upper class visitors by appointment.
My guide today is Frank Kavanagh.
- You're very welcome, sir.
- Thank you very much.
- What a glorious castle you have here.
- Magnificent.
- The Windsor of Ireland.
- I believe it, I believe it.
There's been a castle
on this site for 700 years,
but following my guidebook,
I'm heading straight for the gallery,
added as part of a major refurbishment
in the 19th century.
Absolutely magnificent.
Wonderful long gallery.
- How long is it, Frank'?
- It's 45m long, 150ft long.
Ten metres high, 30ft high,
and nine metres wide.
It's everything you expect in a castle.
(Michael)
And this wonderful hammer beam ceiling.
(Frank) It was the work of
John Pollen in 1858.
So just before my Bradshaw's Guide,
a Victorian masterpiece.
There must have been
a flow of tourists coming here'?
Yes, there would be.
You had many visitors coming by train
as it was the most
convenient way of travel.
(Michael) The railway reached
Kilkenny in which year?
The railway reached Kilkenny
in 1848 to 1850.
So perfectly timed
for the whole thing.
In the 1800s, a fashion for
historical novels and paintings
offered a romantic view of
Britain's past.
The Civil War of the 17th century
was a popular topic,
and the castle's collection of portraits
would have fired Victorian imaginations.
Following my Bradshaw's, I'm looking
for Charles I, Charles ll, James ll.
- Where would they be?
- Behind us looking upon us.
King Charles I and King Charles ll.
The Butlers were staunch supporters
of the Stuart cause,
hence you have, of course,
James Frances Stuart,
father of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
While the British isles
were torn apart by civil war,
the Butters or Ormondes stayed
staunchly loyal to the British crown.
Here in the long gallery,
Victorian visitors could
steep themselves in the story.
All around you
there are members of the family.
James Butler, first Duke of Ormonde.
The most eminent member of the family,
buried at Westminster Abbey,
right close to his arch enemy Cromwell.
As we" as admiring the paintings,
tourists could marvel at
the lavish 19th-century restoration,
which included
a rather unusual material.
(Frank) This is the essence of our city,
black marble.
(Michael) Bradshaw's talks about
"good stone and dark marble
are abundant in this locality".
"Most of the houses
are of this material."
- This is what he's referring to?
- Exactly.
The entire city of Kilkenny
is built upon its marble.
I'd love to linger in the long gallery,
but this remarkable stone
has sparked my curiosity.
A Victorian favourite,
it found fame around the world.
And the story starts
just east from Kilkenny.
My search for the Irish black stuff,
I refer, of course, to Kilkenny marble,
has led me to Butlers Grove Quarry.
In Victorian times, this was a thriving
source of marble and building stone.
However, when concrete increased in
popularity in the early 20th century,
the quarry was forced to close.
It was resurrected in the 1970s
by Jim Harding's father.
- Hello, Jim.
- (Jim) How are you?
(Michael) Good to see you.
I've come in search of Kilkenny marble,
I guess I've come to the right place?
You've come to one of two
old Kilkenny marble quarries.
This is the only one that's left open.
Marble was first quarried
commercially in Kilkenny in the 1730s,
and when the rails arrived
a century later,
they quickly became
vital to the industry.
(Jim) The railways were
extremely important.
It was actually quite difficult
to transport heavy blocks anywhere
other than by rail, so they would have
been brought from here to a station
and transported
quite literally everywhere.
Most of the big blocks
that came out of here
would have been shipped to Liverpool
then delivered by rail out of Liverpool.
The Victorians used the stone
for everything from
fireplaces to gravestones,
and it was even employed
to build railway stations.
In geological terms, this particular
marble is a sedimentary limestone,
formed from a fine black mud
370 million years ago.
And what is the quality of this stone
that makes it so special?
It's a really, really dense
black material.
That's actually quite scarce.
There's not that many markings in it
and it's really good quality.
Jim discovered a fresh seam of
this rare stone a few years ago,
allowing production,
paused since the 1900s, to begin again.
Methods have moved on
since Bradshaw's day,
but he's going to show me
an old-fashioned technique
used by Victorian quarrymen
to split the blocks of stone.
- Drop the two side ones in, do we?
- One at a time.
(Jim) One down. Second one in.
And now, the actual wedge itself
goes between them.
This cunning system of pins and wedges
should mean that a gentle tap
is all that's required.
Now we move on to the back of the stone
and start to tap them.
(gasps I laughs)
It just suddenly fell away.
That's it, you hear it cracking first.
I heard a little sound
and then off it went.
So, what have we done there?
- We've made quite a clean break
- You've cleaned it all the way across.
(Michael) Look at that!
These days, machines do much of
the work that was once done by hand,
but the real magic occurs
at the polishing stage.
What you do is go up
and down it along here,
and get as much of that heat
and wax into that as possible.
- Let's give it a go.
- (tool whirrs loudly)
Isn't it lovely how the black
appears through the blue wax there.
It is, yes.
That's what brings up the black.
- (Michael) Such a lovely stone.
- It is fabulous.
The best marble is still
highly prized for fireplaces,
just as it was in Bradshaws day.
- Well...
- You're really getting into that.
I think that's got it.
Isn't that
the most beautiful piece of stone.
- Lovely, isn't it?
- That would grace any castle.
It would, and does.
Sadly I can't stay and hone my skills,
as ifs time for me
to continue my journey.
My next destination
is something of a riddle.
As I travel north from Kilkenny,
according to my Bradshaw's Guide,
we soon reach Bagenalstown,
but there's no trace of it on the map,
so I'm going to alight at Muine Bheag
and investigate further.
With no Bagenalstown mentioned
on the railway map,
I'm going to have to dig deeper
to find the spot described in my guide.
- Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- I'm looking for Bagenalstown.
- You're in it.
- Doesn't say so.
- Muine Bheag.
- Ah. That's the Irish.
- It's Bagenalstown.
And what does that mean?
Is that a translation?
Small wood.
- Small wood, OK.
- Yes.
Do you know who Bagenal was
who had the town?
- No.
- Well, OK.
So I'm in the right place,
I just have to find Bagenal now.
- That's it.
- Thank you.
No problem. All the best.
It seems that the locals are
as much in the dark as I am.
I'm hoping historian Pat Nolan
can unravel the mystery.
- Pat.
- Hello, Michael.
- Welcome to Bagenalstown
- Now, you call it Bagenalstown.
- I thought it was Muine Bheag.
- It depends who you talk to, really,
It was Bagenalstown because
the Bagenals were here since 1585,
and they built a lot of this town.
By the 1920s, the idea of naming a town
after the local landed gentry
had begun to seem outdated.
I imagine the name was changed
after Irish independence?
Yes. Well, the attempt was made
after the Irish independence
in the middle 1920s.
A chap called Cleary got
quite heated about the whole thing
and he wanted it to be changed
from Bagenalstown,
which he felt had
the wrong connotations,
and call it Muine Bheag
from a very old Irish name.
Nothing happened because people who
called it Bagenalstown continued to,
and people who called it Muine Bheag
continued to do so.
In the 1950s, there was even
a public vote on the matter,
and the locals opted
to stick with Bagenalstown.
But surprisingly, a few years later,
the station was officially named
Muine Bheag.
(Pat) No one is sure why that is,
but there is a tradition that
our Irish national rail system
tend to use the Irish forms of names
quite considerably.
It's the use of the Irish language
rather than anything else.
And Muine Bheag is accepted
as the name, in Irish, of this town.
We not just the name of this place
that confuses visitors.
Back in the 1700s, one of the Bagenal
clan left behind an incongruous legacy.
To see it, you have to
walk through the public library.
(Michael) What a transformation
from one side to the other!
- (Pat laughs)
- (Pat) It's quite something.
- (Michael) it is amazing.
- (Pat) This was pan of his grand plan.
Bagenal had an idea of creating
another Versailles here in Ireland,
and he had terrific ideas,
and indeed he created some of them,
but then, guess what, the money ran out.
Doesn't look
anything like Versailles.
(Pat) No, it doesn't.
It's modelled on the Athens Parthenon.
So he was somewhat
geographically confused, you might say.
(Michael) And so here,
this mini Parthenon sits
amongst the suburban houses
and the municipal buildings
and the sheds with their tin roofs.
- Quite a contrast really.
- It is,
but at least it's now serving
a practical, current present day use
as the library,
so, you know,
some good came out of it.
The curiosities that I uncover
with my "Bradshaw's Guide"
never cease to amaze.
And just up the road from
this charming town,
We found the perfect place
to break my journey.
Walter Bagenal never succeeded
in completing his new Versailles,
but many people think that their town
still bears his name,
and certainly... this inn does,
and this is where
I shall spend the night.
I'm now rejoining my route
along the Waterford branch
of the famous Great Southern
and Western Railway,
built to connect
the rural hinterland with Dublin.
Its engineer was the Irish Brunei,
William Dargan,
born and bred in these parts.
I find myself on a very busy train
and I'm just going one stop to Carlow,
which my Bradshaw's tells me
"is the capital town of the county
with a population of about 9,900,
who return one member..."
Bradshaw's loves to tell us
how many Members of Parliament
are sent to Westminster.
"And are employed in
the grain and butter trade."
It's built on the east bank of
the River Barrow.
Now, where you get grain
and where you get a river,
you normally get mills, and mills
were a source of wealth and of jobs.
I'm bound for a mill
which was once so important
it had its own station, Mitford.
Sadly, the stop
went out of service in 1969
so I'm leaving the train at Carlow.
- (Michael) How are you?
- (man) How was your trip?
(Michael) Very nice. Thank you.
And We spotted
some important work going on.
Wow, you're putting in the signs saying
you've got to stand behind this line.
- In Irish.
- Only doing them in Irish today?
No, Irish and English,
Now, I've often seen this sign in Irish.
How do you pronounce it?
(man) Fan taobh den line.
- (chuckles) We've just put it down.
- (they laugh)
My Irish lesson over,
I'm heading up the road
to the banks of the River Barrow.
In the early days of
the Industrial Revolution,
forward-thinking landowners
sought to make the most of
this Valley's fertile countryside.
Here at Milford Mills,
their legacy is unmissable.
- Hello, Shay.
- Welcome to Milford.
Thank you. It's a monumental mill,
really impressive.
- Looks like a fortress.
- Absolutely
You wouldn't expect to find
a major industrial site
in this quiet rural setting,
but at its peak, it was
the largest mill complex in Ireland.
Historian Shay Kinsella
has been researching the story.
Well, this is an enormous
and impressive building,
but am I right thinking there was
even more than this originally?
This is the only building of three
that has survived.
This was the oatmeal mill,
there was also a massive flour mill
and a huge malt house as well.
The mills were
the brainchild of John Alexander,
a Belfast man who, by 1790, had
brought together the power of the river
and the area's agricultural riches.
By the time the railways came
half a century later,
his son was running the thriving mill.
The second John Alexander was
a believer in the power of the railways.
When the mill started to become
extremely successful here,
he decided that a railway would be
the best access up to Dublin
and down to Waterford for
transporting the goods from here.
And that railway station was named
Milford Railway Station.
John Alexander II invested £6, 000
in the Great Southern
and Western Railway,
and soon the trains were taking
his business to ever greater heights.
Mr and Mrs Samuel Carter Hall,
the travel commentators,
visited here in the early 1840s.
They said these mills were fitted
to astonish Englishmen,
that Milford was laying down
the gauntlet
even for the mills of Manchester,
and the capacity of the river
and the hydro power
should be harnessed across the UK.
From the early 1800s,
British and Irish producers got
a further boost from the Com Laws,
which protected them
from international competition.
Then, in the 1840s,
famine struck Ireland,
and the government's response
marked the beginning of the end
of Milford's heyday.
The idea was to flood the market
with cheap accessible flour
so that bread could be produced
for the population in distress,
but at the same time, it put huge
pressure on the milling industry here
to compete with foreign imports,
and unfortunately, the Milford Mills
here went into decline from that date.
What happened after that?
From the 1860s up to 1890,
this building was left idle.
The building started showing
signs of decay,
until another John Alexander decided
it was time to give this building
a new lease of life and
make history for Carlow and Ireland.
Towards the end of the 19th century,
the best minds
in science and engineering
discovered how to harness the power
of a new technology, electricity.
The world's first power station
was built in 1882,
and just nine years later, the
invention gripped even this sleepy town.
In 1890,
John Ill was approached with an idea,
to install a dynamo here
which would have generated
electricity by hydro power,
which was a very pioneering idea
at the time.
John ill himself was a bit of
an innovator, a pioneer,
a very progressive thinker, so he
latched on to this with both hands.
Carlow was the first inland town
in Ireland and Britain
to be lit throughout
by hydro electricity.
The plant ran for a decade,
but closed when a new generator
was built closer to the town centre.
But that wasn't the end of
Milford's energy story.
- Hello, Michael. Come on in.
- Lovely to see you. Thank you.
The latest in this line of
remarkable men is John Alexander V,
who still lives in the ancestral home.
So, John, I imagine this is
a display of your ancestors, is it?
(John) Yes,
the ones who lived in Milford, yes.
Which one first put
an electricity turbine in the mill?
My grandfather, who I remember well.
He was born in 1850
but I can remember him well growing up.
This house, I suppose,
being very close to the mill,
- must have benefited from electricity.
- Yes, it did.
Was this one of the early houses?
I think it's one of the first houses,
certainly in rural Ireland, yes,
to be electrified, yes.
In the 1980s, John built
a new turbine in the old mill hall
which still generates enough electricity
to power nearly
200 light bulbs continuously.
You're still putting electricity
into the grid?
Absolutely. Right now, quite a lot
because we've had a lot of rain today.
It's an amazing history, isn't it?
Five of you here in Milford
called John Alexander,
five of you wedded
in various ways to the mill?
Absolutely, yeah.
Well, you're a very worthy
John Alexander.
- A great pleasure to meet you.
- Well, thank you.
I'm now embarking on
the last leg of today's journey,
and there's just time to see how
Carlow's sprucing up is coming along.
Smell of fresh paint.
They've done the line,
but they haven't yet re-done the words.
My next stop is just 20 miles north.
I'm now heading for Athy,
which my Bradshaw's tells me
is on the Barrow,
where there is an old castle
built by Lord Kildare in 1506.
In fact, he gave his name to the county.
But I'm attracted to Athy for
something that happened there
long after my Bradshaw's was published
which made it internationally famous.
In the last decades of Victories reign,
a new rival to the railways emerged
from the workshops of
the Industrial Revolution.
The automobile.
The age of mass motor travel
was still a long way off,
but for the elite,
this new machine opened up a fresh world
of pleasure and excitement.
Veteran car enthusiast Laurence Roe
can tell me how this small Irish town
played a big part in the story.
- Laurence!
- Oh. Michael, nice to meet you.
- Welcome to Athy.
- Thank you very much.
What a beautiful collection of
vintage cars.
What is the connection
between Athy and cars?
Well, Amy's connection
dates back to 1903
when the first closed circuit race
ever to take place took place here.
Prior to that,
the previous races were on open roads
where there was other traffic,
little control of spectators,
and this was really
the first closed circuit ever.
Subsequently became known as
a grand Prix really.
The groundbreaking event was the fourth
in a series of international races
sponsored by newspaper baron
James Gordon Bennett Jr.
Famous for his passion for adventure,
he backed everything from
polar expeditions to balloon races.
- Ls this the Gordon Bennett?
- It is the Gordon Bennett.
So when one says "Gordon Bennett",
one refers to this gentleman.
Bennett was known for
his playboy lifestyle,
and the story goes that it was
a New York party
that saw his name become
an expression of incredulity.
He arrived at the party
slightly inebriated
because Gordon Bennett lived on
lamb chops and Champagne,
and when he arrived in the house,
he decided he wanted
to use the facilities
and the facilities in these old houses
were usually down a dark corridor,
so he decided to do what he had to do
in the front room into the fireplace,
so his friends said,
"Oh, Gordon Bennett!"
I've often used the exclamation myself
with no idea
what I was getting myself into.
The first Gordon Bennett races were held
on the continent on the open road,
but in 1902, the event was won
by Selwyn Edge representing England.
So it was down to the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland
to host the next event,
but with strict speed limits
on the British mainland,
it was decided to hold it
across the Irish Sea,
where restrictions
were temporarily relaxed.
The area around Athy was chosen
for its convenient location.
The railways were important to bring in
the drivers or the spectators?
The spectators, because
they estimated there would have been
almost a million people
spectating on that event.
You're not serious.
First time there was
a gathering of that amount in Ireland
and the railways played a big pan
in bringing people
to see this amazing scene.
- I had no idea it was on that scale.
- Absolutely.
For safety,
the roads were closed to other traffic,
setting the template for the Grand Prix,
which began in 1906.
And the race also gave birth
to another tradition.
Each country had a colour.
America was red, Germany was white,
France was blue,
and the British chose emerald green,
partially as a gesture to Ireland
for hosting the race,
and this subsequently became,
I understand, British racing green.
So it was a tribute to
the Emerald Isle.
Sadly, racing green failed to triumph
as the trophy was won by a German car.
(Laurence) The '03 Gordon Bennett race
was won by Camille Jenatzy
driving a 60 horsepower Mercedes
at an average speed of 49.2mph,
which was a remarkable speed
at that time,
over a circuit which was 327.5 miles.
I can't believe they were
averaging nearly 50mph
over a 300-and-something-mile circuit
in 1903.
It's absolutely amazing.
And to get those speeds,
they would have had to do over 70mph
in some of the straight stretches
to try and achieve that.
Much of the original course
can still be driven on
the roads around Athy,
and the race is commemorated every year
by members of
the Irish Veteran and Vintage Car Club.
And they're out for a drive today.
(Laurence) First thing we do
is pump up the fuel.
- (Michael) Here?
- Yes.
These days,
a tum of the key is all that's needed
to send fuel
from the tank to the engine,
but in the 1900s
it was rather harder work.
OK.
(engine starts)
Laurence takes the wheel of
his 1906 Wolseley
to give me a taste of the race
that attracted
a million awe-struck spectators.
I guess the population of Ireland
can't have been more than six million.
It's impossible to think of
any sporting event now
that would gather
a fifth or sixth of the population.
(Laurence) When you think about it,
most people hadn't seen a motor car,
and didn't know what it looked like.
To have this piece of machinery
travelling at amazing speeds
would have been spectacular.
On the open road with Laurence,
you begin to realise now extraordinary
the sight of a speeding car
must once have been.
First locomotion,
then the internal combustion engine,
the 19th century truly brought
transport revolutions.
This pan of my journey
has made me think about
the role of great men in history.
The dukes of Ormonde of Kilkenny,
Walter Bagenal of Bagenalstown,
five generations of John Alexander
and Gordon Bennett.
And I'd like to add one more name.
The railway engineer
who built this line and many others,
a native of Carlow, William Dargan.
On my next journey,
I'll visit the Irish National Stud,
a bucking experience...
The horse is going very fast now!
It's absolutely exhausting!
I'll discover that life was harsh
for the Irish poor...
When you came in here,
you gave up everything
and you signed up to a life
within the workhouse.
and I'll uncover an astronomical feat
of Victorian engineering.
(Michael) What a construction.
(man) It was known locally
as "the monster".