Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 5, Episode 3 - Preston to Rochdale - 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 go,
what to see and where to stay.
And now, 170 years later,
I'm aboard for a series of rail
adventures across the United Kingdom
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.
I'm at the halfway point of my journey
around northwest England
that began with the historic grime
of Manchester's mills
and will end with the natural beauty
of Derbyshire's peaks.
Today, 19th-century tracks will take me
to an ancient tradition,
a medieval tower
and Victorian tourism.
On this leg, I hear about
unscrupulous Victorian grocers, “
There was a lot of food adulteration
that went on.
Oatmeal was often mixed
with gravel or sand.
This appears to be
about 90 per cent gravel.
I have to hail a train
at a request stop...
Success!
And I learn of King James's
beefiest knighting.
He took his sword
and dubbed this loin of beef.
"Arise, Sir Loin!“
and everybody went... (roars)
My journey began in Manchester,
headed west to sunlit Merseyside,
took the sea air in Southport,
and will now traverse Lancashire
towards Bradford
and tum south
to steely South Yorkshire,
ending in Derbyshire,
where the father of the railway,
George Stephenson,
has his eternal rest.
Today's leg starts in Preston,
goes east to Pleasington,
takes in Church and Oswaldtwisfle,
Hebden Bridge and Rochdale.
My first stop is Preston,
whose pageantry scores
a mention in Bradshaw's.
"One of its most peculiar institutions
is its ancient guild
held every 20 years,
at which the aristocracy of the country
have been wont to assemble
as participants in the festivities."
Toffs and tradition. You can't beat it.
Striding the River Ribble, Preston's
Victorian port, the Albert Edward Dock,
shipped Lancashire coal
and the textiles produced
by the town's 40 cotton mills.
I'm heading to the market square
to find out how the town's guilds,
the associations oi merchants,
artisans and tradesmen,
have come together {or centuries
to celebrate trade in Preston.
Emma Heslewood is curator
at the Harris Museum.
- Hello.
- Lovely to meet you.
And you. Bradshaw's tells me
that a guild was held every 20 years.
What is a guild?
Preston is the last surviving
guild celebration,
and it dates back to 1179
when Preston got
its first Royal Charter from Henry II.
The guild was actually
an organisation of merchants
who were pans of guild companies
like tanners and butchers.
They formed an organisation
called a guild,
which was a right that was given
in the charter to have a guild.
It was a list of anyone
who could live, work and trade
in a market town like Preston.
(Michael) Bradshaw's mentions
festivities. What were they?
(Emma) Processions. All the guild
members would come to Preston
and they would process in their finery
to the Guild Court.
The guild membership also included
the local landowners
and aristocracy who owned property
in Preston.
There's some great descriptions
of guilds in 1762 and '82,
of all of the diamonds and bling.
What would the guild have been like
at the time of my Bradshaw's Guide,
the 1862 guild?
The 1862 guild was an interesting one
because it was the first time
after the real introduction of railways,
so the railway companies started
to do deals.
People came to Preston and Preston
became extremely overcrowded.
You actually had 100,000 visitors
in 1862.
The Harris Museum is hosted
within an impressive
19th-century neoclassical building.
It holds the largest collection
of Preston Guild memorabilia.
One of the things that's really special
about the Preston Guild
is that we have a full set
of these guild books,
which are the lists
of all the guild members.
The first one that survives
is from 1397,
but we actually have guild books
from 1542, every 20 years,
and we actually have
the guild book from 1862
which records all the people who
attended the Guild Court of that year.
Isn't that the most beautiful
presentation? Lovely page.
(Emma) Yes. Every guild book
follows the same sort of format
and has this decorative page which says,
"The Guild Merchant of the Borough
of Preston in the county of Lancaster,
holden here on Monday,
the first day of September,
being the Monday after the feast of
the Decollation of St John the Baptist,"
which is the traditional point
when the guild is held.
So, here, the first one
is Peter Abbot of Preston,
son of William of Waltney Dale,
formerly of Preston,
weaver, deceased,
and all of his children.
So you have
a really interesting document
because it gives you an insight
into the different jobs and occupations
of people in the 19th century.
And there's something even more
interesting to show you over here.
We have this amazing advert
which was for the highlight
of Preston Guild of 1862,
which was the appearance
of the great Blondin.
Now, Blondin was the tightrope walker.
"Blondin, the hero of Niagara,
the wonder of his age,
has the honour to announce
that he will appear in Preston
on Monday evening of Guild Week,
and will make his wonderful night ascent
on a high rope amidst the most gorgeous
and magnificent display of fireworks."
So this was the spectacle
that hundreds of thousands of people
came to Preston to see
on the evening of 1st September.
- Tightropes and fireworks. Wonderful.
- Yes.
Conjuring such images
of high-wire acts,
fireworks and aristocrats,
it might be easy to forget
that Preston Guild Week
'rs primarily
about merchants and tradespeople.
To refocus, I'm on my way
to Preston's marina
to meet businessman Chris Miller.
Chris, yours is a family business,
is it? What do you do?
We're into moving awkward loads.
Transporting them and lifting them.
That's what we do.
And how far back does the family
business go, moving these awkward loads?
Well, we say 1837.
My great-great-grandfather
came down from Nether Kellet in 1831
with a horse and cart
and he made a start,
and then my great-grandfather
carried on through the late 1800s.
Then my grandfather carried on,
and then my father,
and I'm still moving awkward loads.
And what sort of loads
were they moving in the old days?
Cotton-weaving looms
were very, very big in Lancashire
and we moved hundreds,
thousands of those.
My own career started with moving looms
out of Lancashire to India and Pakistan
from where we now import
all the textiles, of course,
and the Lancashire cotton industry
is no more.
Are you or your family involved
in the guild every 20 years?
Yes.
The first mention of our family being
connected with the guild was in 1882
when my grandfather on my mother's side
was in attendance.
(Michael) Have you been involved
in the guild?
Well, I've been involved, personally,
in the last three guilds.
It's not a very good thing to say that.
They only happen every 20 years.
(Michael) I have a feeling
you've got a bit of an honour.
I was fortunate enough to be nominated
for a Guild Burgess and I accepted.
It's not the honour
that you might imagine that it is.
Once upon a time, you could
drive your sheep up Fisher Gale,
but I haven't any sheep
and we don't do that any more.
So why have we met in the marina?
Because I thought it was an opportunity
to show you what we still do.
This is what we've been doing
for 175 years, and we're still doing it.
We're moving awkward loads.
And what could be more awkward,
some would say, than a boat?
OK, Jack. Take it away.
- Making light work of that.
- Yes.
Round she comes.
You can see they've got a lot
of experience of doing this.
It's done by hand signals.
Nothing left to chance.
Touching the water.
Hasn't even created a ripple.
(Chris) No.
We don't like to make a splash.
It's not good news
when we make a splash.
Chris, beautiful work.
I think you've earned your place
in the next guild.
The next guild, 2032.
- See you there.
- We'll see how we go on.
Although I'm tempted
to continue my journey by boat,
I've backtracked to Preston Station,
from where I'll head east
on Northern Rail toward Blackburn.
I shall be getting off at Pleasington.
There's a rather puzzling entry
in my Bradshaw's.
"Close at hand is Hoghton Tower,
the old seat of the Hoghtons."
"Here, James I knighted
the sirloin of beef."
A meaty story to crown
this part of my journey.
- Hello there.
- Excuse me.
I'm getting off at Pleasington,
which I think is a request stop.
- It is, yes.
- Could we stop at Pleasington?
- I'll make the arrangements for you.
- Thank you very much indeed.
According to Bradshaw's,
Hoghton has a daily arrival
and departure to and from London,
but since those glory days,
Hoghton Station has closed,
and so Pleasington it must be.
Hoghton Tower is the ancestral home
of the de Hoghton family,
descended directly
from Harvey de Walter,
a companion to William the Conqueror.
What a magnificent pile.
A great looming castle
leering over the plain beneath.
The manor,
which was originally 12th century,
was rebuilt and redesigned in the 1500s
and I'm hoping the current occupant,
the 14th baronet,
Sir Bernard de Hoghton, will know why.
- Bernard.
- Michael, good to see you.
- Welcome to Hoghton.
- What a wonderful house.
What happened to the old fortification?
Well, in 1560 Thomas de Hoghton decided
that he really didn't want to go on
living in a cold, damp castle.
He was a figure of the Renaissance
and wanted that style of life which
really changed from the Middle Ages.
During the Nth and 19th centuries,
the de Hoghtons were busy in Parliament
as prominent members of the Whig Party
and decamped from the house.
Eventually they would return,
perhaps after some prompting
by a popular author.
We think that the ninth baronet,
Sir Henry de Hoghton,
might have read Charles Dickens's novel
George Silverman's Explanation,
which was based upon his visit
to this house,
describing how tragic
this wonderful house had become.
- Dickens came here?
- Dickens came here, yes.
And in fact, William Shakespeare,
it's considered,
between 1519 and 1581 also became part
of the retinue of Alexander de Hoghton
and probably learned quite a lot of
his stagecraft here from Fulke Gillam,
who was the Master of the Revels.
So as I tread these stones,
I'm walking in the footsteps
of Shakespeare and Dickens.
Yes, you are.
It's said that the fear
of what it would cost
to host the king, his entourage
and standing army
on the journey back to London
from Scotland in 1611
led one Lancashire household
to take the roof off its home,
whilst another burnt down
its house
to avoid any royal visit.
But the recently created
Baronet Richard de Hoghton
welcomed King James I
and committed to provide him with
lavish hospitality and the finest food.
We actually have the original menu
of what the King was offered
with his court.
It's the most wonderful menu, isn't it?
Haunch of venison,
gigots of mutton, plovers, turkeys.
How did the sirloin story come about?
The King noticed this wonderful loin
of beef on this table
and said to his host,
"Bring it to me."
And the two pages,
immediately on their knees.
And he took his sword and drew it
and dubbed this loin of beef.
"Arise, Sir Loin,"
and everybody went... (roars)
And that has remained
in the English language ever since.
You're seriously telling me
that is the origin of "sirloin"?
Absolutely. Dated August 1617
in the very room we're both standing in.
In more modern times, unlike
so many of the landed aristocracy,
the de Hoghtons had no beef with
the railways traversing their land.
Presumably your family must have
granted the land.
(Bernard) Yes, they did. In about 1840,
they allowed it
to move from Blackburn to Preston.
There was a railway station
at the bottom,
but the thing that really is very lovely
around here is the Hoghton Viaduct.
About 110 foot tall
and with about three arches.
65 feet wide.
It's a very splendid building.
This is the most perfect place
to do trainspotting, isn't ii?
And that reminds me.
I'm afraid that I have a train to catch.
- Thank you for your hospitality.
- Not at all.
Nice to meet you. Bye-bye.
Back to Pleasington
to continue my journey.
I'm used to flagging down a bus, but is
the etiquette with trains different?
How do you flag the train down?
What do you do?
Wave your arm as you see the train
coming down the track.
Just wave your arm
then step back away from the edge.
- And that will do it, will it?
- Should do, yes. I hope so.
- Thanks.
- OK.
- Have a good journey.
- Thank you. You too.
Success!
Safely on board,
I'm off to spend the night
in a worryingly infamous hotel
across the Hoghton Viaduct.
As evening draws in,
I'm going to alight at the delightfully
named Church and Oswaldtwistle.
Bradshaw's mentions Dunkenhalgh Park.
There's rumours of a ghost there,
and the spirit moves me to visit.
The Dunkenhalgh phantom is Lucette,
a French woman who took her own life
here in the 18th century.
The ghost is reputed to take its seat
on the end of a guest's bed,
but I hope it went be tempted
to read me a bedtime story.
Incredibly, the pale figure of a woman
came gliding down my corridor
and tapped softly at my door.
Yes, it was the hotel's complimentary
bed turndown service.
No! a ghost train for me this morning.
I'm travelling
from Accrington Station, heading east.
(tannoy) Hebden Bridge, next stop.
The beautiful station of Hebden Bridge.
I'm hoping to be here later,
but for the moment, I'm changing line,
heading down to Rochdale, another
boom town of the Industrial Revolution.
Rochdale. Bradshaw's comments
that it's a "modern borough
returning one member of Parliament".
Most industrial towns and cities
gained representation in Parliament
only in the 19th century.
And even so, most working men
were excluded from politics
because they didn't have the vote
and they sought
other ways of coming together
to improve the condition of their lives.
A textile town, with mills powered
by the waters of the River Roch,
Rochdale was linked first by canal
in 1804 and then by railway in 1838
to Manchester, huh oi the Northwest.
Rochdale's town hail,
a fine piece of Victorian gothic,
opened in 1871 and is testament
to the town's prosperity.
Bu! not everyone was thriving.
Overseeing Rochdale's historic
collections is Gillian Lonergan.
- Gillian, hello.
- Welcome.
What a wonderful building.
It reminds me of Parliament.
- It must be the same vintage.
- Yes.
They were completed
at about the same time.
Why would Rochdale
want such a grand town hall?
There was a lot of competition
between local authorities
in building their town halls to make
them that little bit more flamboyant.
- And plenty of wealth.
- Yes, plenty of wealth to run it.
But in the hands
of the enterprising few,
Rochdale's wealth largely failed
to trickle down
to the men and women from whose toil
the town had made its fortune.
In the years before what came
to be known as the Hungry '40s,
Northwest MPs John Bright and Richard
Cobden formed the Anti-Com Law League.
Now, the corn laws restricted imports
of cheap wheat, didn't they,
and so drove up the price of bread,
drove up the price of food?
How much did that affect
the working man and woman in Rochdale?
A lot of them were starving.
They couldn't afford to eat.
Now, eventually these two and others
were successful in getting
the corn laws repealed in 1846.
But before that,
there'd been a lot of suffering.
Yes. And Rochdale
had a really hard time with it.
So what did working men and women
attempt to do about their plight?
The Chartists were trying to campaign
for working people to get the vote,
but there were other organisations
that were setup,
like co-operative societies.
Working people getting together
to work together.
It was no good waiting for the great and
the good to come in and improve things.
Over the next 170 years or so,
the co-operative movement
has spread so successfully
that the United Nations designated 2012
the International Year
of the Co-operative.
The movement's come a long way
since the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society was formed in 1844.
Now a common sight
on many a British high street,
the first ever Co-op shop opened here
at 31 Toad Lane.
- Who were these Rochdale Pioneers?
- They were ordinary working people.
About half of them were involved
in the textile industries.
They would be working 14 hours a day
in the mill
and get together
in the evenings for meetings.
They actually said that if they
could change all of production,
distribution, education and government
to co-operation,
that the world would be a better place.
Well, let's start small with the shop.
They had saved up £28; £1 per member.
It doesn't sound like a lot now, but
then it would take a skilled craftsman
a week and a half to two weeks
to earn a pound.
It was a huge investment
that they were making.
- And what were they trading in?
- Butter, sugar, flour and oatmeal.
Those were the basic staples of life.
Was the point of setting up the shop
really about prices?
It was partly prices.
They wanted honest pricing.
But also there was a lot
of food adulteration that went on.
For example, flour.
When you bought flour,
you were likely to find
that it was half chalk, half flour.
Oatmeal, another one of the staples,
was often mixed with gravel or sand.
This appears to be
about 90 per cent gravel.
(laughs) Food really
wasn't very healthy at the time.
Not only did they adulterate food,
but they also weighted the scales
so that you weren't buying as much
as you thought you were.
So the Pioneers had their scales
on open show.
Everybody knew
it was honest business.
What state have the co-operative
societies reached by the 1860s?
(Io-operation was spreading
across the country.
In 1863, the co-operative societies
in the North of England
actually got together
to form the North of England
Co-operative Wholesale Society,
which is now known
as the Co-operative Group.
We have their original visitors' book.
In 1863 they had visitors from
St Petersburg, Paris, Germany, Belfast,
as well as across the whole of the UK,
coming here
to see how they could operate
their own co-operative societies.
There's a lovely article
in The Cooperate! for 1860,
slightly before the Bradshaw's date.
But it talks about them
coming on a third-class covered carriage
very comfortably
and singing all the way.
In tune with my timetable,
I'm heading to my final destination,
a place renowned
for its natural beauty.
Bradshaw's gives me much
to look forward to at my next stop.
"In the bottom of a deep dale is seen
the little village of Hebden Bridge,
surrounded by lofty ridges of moorland
heights, partly clothed with woods
and partly spotted with groups
of cottages and farmhouses."
Absolutely enticing.
Nowhere better represents the impact
of the railways on Victorian leisure
than Hebden Bridge.
It had been no more than a few mills
and some houses dotted along the river,
but in 1840, the railways brought
swathes oi working people
on day trips from industrial towns
keen to view the loveliness
of the Calder Valley.
Diana Monahan is a local historian.
- Diana.
- How do you do, Michael?
Good to see you.
What a beautiful station
with its local stone, I suppose,
and the columns and the old signage.
Is this what would have been here
in Bradshaw's time?
No, this was actually built
in about 1892
to replace the station that was built
in 1840 when the line opened.
The problem was that the waiting rooms
were far too small.
In those days,
the ladies had crinoline dresses
and you wouldn't gel
many crinoline-dressed ladies
in one wailing room.
We are in
the most beautiful countryside.
These people, even from 1840,
were beginning to come for tourism,
were they?
Yes, they were. It was very popular,
particularly on Whitsuntide,
logo into Hardcastle Crags
and the countryside
around Golden Clough,
all the lovely valleys that we have
coming down to the Calder.
(Michael) I've noticed
your lovely picnic basket.
- May I carry that for you?
- It's a bit heavy, I'm afraid.
Let's set off.
Is this beautiful bridge the one
from which the town takes its name?
It is indeed, Michael.
It's over 500 years old
and it had its birthday party in 2010.
And what about the impact
of the railways?
It must have been exponential
on the number of visitors.
Al the time of Bradshaw's, in 1866,
they had over 2,000 in one weekend.
And then in the 1890s,
over 12,000 came in one weekend,
so yes, it did have an effect.
I can see the water down there.
There's quite a nice quote here
in Bradshaw's.
"Through the dark recesses is heard
the roar of the Calder
and its various tributaries
rushing occasionally in sheets of spray
over the precipitous heights."
That's rather nice.
This is one of the tributaries
of the Calder, Hebden Water.
People would have come here
for the wonderful nature and scenery.
They might have come to listen
to the birds
and watch the animals, the otters.
It's just lovely.
Forward.
Right, Michael, I've brought
some Whitsuntide buns for our picnic.
- (Michael) Did you bake those?
- I did.
Delicious.
Hebden Bridge is still very important
for tourists today, isn't it, Diana?
It is, yes.
It's one of the main industries, really.
Because whilst the smoke has disappeared
from the chimneys of the mills,
the natural beauty
is the same as in Victorian times.
Yes, and you can still go for the most
beautiful walks from Hebden Bridge
up on the tops
and look down on the town.
Despite the jolly pageantry
of the Preston Guild,
life for Victorian workers
in northern mill towns was pretty grim.
It was during the so-called Hungry 1840s
that Rochdale men founded
the Co-operative Society.
But standing here,
it's a relief to recall
that once the railways were built,
mill operatives could occasionally
escape the grime and smoke
and fill their lungs with fresh air.
On the next leg, Hearn how
Victorians marketed confectionery, “
"On Saturday last, you were eating
Mackintosh's toffee at our expense."
"Next Saturday pay us another visit
eat it at your own expense."
- That's brilliant.
- A very unusual way of advertising.
I get a tailor-made fining...
Most people have got one shoulder
lower than the other, and you have.
Where I've been writing over the years.
- All them cheques.
- (Laughs)
and I help to revive
a cinematic railway legend.
Oakworth! Oakworth Station!
(all cheer)
Oakworth!
transformed travel in Britain.
His name was George Bradshaw
and his railway guides inspired
the Victorians to take to the tracks.
Stop by stop, he told them where to go,
what to see and where to stay.
And now, 170 years later,
I'm aboard for a series of rail
adventures across the United Kingdom
to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.
I'm at the halfway point of my journey
around northwest England
that began with the historic grime
of Manchester's mills
and will end with the natural beauty
of Derbyshire's peaks.
Today, 19th-century tracks will take me
to an ancient tradition,
a medieval tower
and Victorian tourism.
On this leg, I hear about
unscrupulous Victorian grocers, “
There was a lot of food adulteration
that went on.
Oatmeal was often mixed
with gravel or sand.
This appears to be
about 90 per cent gravel.
I have to hail a train
at a request stop...
Success!
And I learn of King James's
beefiest knighting.
He took his sword
and dubbed this loin of beef.
"Arise, Sir Loin!“
and everybody went... (roars)
My journey began in Manchester,
headed west to sunlit Merseyside,
took the sea air in Southport,
and will now traverse Lancashire
towards Bradford
and tum south
to steely South Yorkshire,
ending in Derbyshire,
where the father of the railway,
George Stephenson,
has his eternal rest.
Today's leg starts in Preston,
goes east to Pleasington,
takes in Church and Oswaldtwisfle,
Hebden Bridge and Rochdale.
My first stop is Preston,
whose pageantry scores
a mention in Bradshaw's.
"One of its most peculiar institutions
is its ancient guild
held every 20 years,
at which the aristocracy of the country
have been wont to assemble
as participants in the festivities."
Toffs and tradition. You can't beat it.
Striding the River Ribble, Preston's
Victorian port, the Albert Edward Dock,
shipped Lancashire coal
and the textiles produced
by the town's 40 cotton mills.
I'm heading to the market square
to find out how the town's guilds,
the associations oi merchants,
artisans and tradesmen,
have come together {or centuries
to celebrate trade in Preston.
Emma Heslewood is curator
at the Harris Museum.
- Hello.
- Lovely to meet you.
And you. Bradshaw's tells me
that a guild was held every 20 years.
What is a guild?
Preston is the last surviving
guild celebration,
and it dates back to 1179
when Preston got
its first Royal Charter from Henry II.
The guild was actually
an organisation of merchants
who were pans of guild companies
like tanners and butchers.
They formed an organisation
called a guild,
which was a right that was given
in the charter to have a guild.
It was a list of anyone
who could live, work and trade
in a market town like Preston.
(Michael) Bradshaw's mentions
festivities. What were they?
(Emma) Processions. All the guild
members would come to Preston
and they would process in their finery
to the Guild Court.
The guild membership also included
the local landowners
and aristocracy who owned property
in Preston.
There's some great descriptions
of guilds in 1762 and '82,
of all of the diamonds and bling.
What would the guild have been like
at the time of my Bradshaw's Guide,
the 1862 guild?
The 1862 guild was an interesting one
because it was the first time
after the real introduction of railways,
so the railway companies started
to do deals.
People came to Preston and Preston
became extremely overcrowded.
You actually had 100,000 visitors
in 1862.
The Harris Museum is hosted
within an impressive
19th-century neoclassical building.
It holds the largest collection
of Preston Guild memorabilia.
One of the things that's really special
about the Preston Guild
is that we have a full set
of these guild books,
which are the lists
of all the guild members.
The first one that survives
is from 1397,
but we actually have guild books
from 1542, every 20 years,
and we actually have
the guild book from 1862
which records all the people who
attended the Guild Court of that year.
Isn't that the most beautiful
presentation? Lovely page.
(Emma) Yes. Every guild book
follows the same sort of format
and has this decorative page which says,
"The Guild Merchant of the Borough
of Preston in the county of Lancaster,
holden here on Monday,
the first day of September,
being the Monday after the feast of
the Decollation of St John the Baptist,"
which is the traditional point
when the guild is held.
So, here, the first one
is Peter Abbot of Preston,
son of William of Waltney Dale,
formerly of Preston,
weaver, deceased,
and all of his children.
So you have
a really interesting document
because it gives you an insight
into the different jobs and occupations
of people in the 19th century.
And there's something even more
interesting to show you over here.
We have this amazing advert
which was for the highlight
of Preston Guild of 1862,
which was the appearance
of the great Blondin.
Now, Blondin was the tightrope walker.
"Blondin, the hero of Niagara,
the wonder of his age,
has the honour to announce
that he will appear in Preston
on Monday evening of Guild Week,
and will make his wonderful night ascent
on a high rope amidst the most gorgeous
and magnificent display of fireworks."
So this was the spectacle
that hundreds of thousands of people
came to Preston to see
on the evening of 1st September.
- Tightropes and fireworks. Wonderful.
- Yes.
Conjuring such images
of high-wire acts,
fireworks and aristocrats,
it might be easy to forget
that Preston Guild Week
'rs primarily
about merchants and tradespeople.
To refocus, I'm on my way
to Preston's marina
to meet businessman Chris Miller.
Chris, yours is a family business,
is it? What do you do?
We're into moving awkward loads.
Transporting them and lifting them.
That's what we do.
And how far back does the family
business go, moving these awkward loads?
Well, we say 1837.
My great-great-grandfather
came down from Nether Kellet in 1831
with a horse and cart
and he made a start,
and then my great-grandfather
carried on through the late 1800s.
Then my grandfather carried on,
and then my father,
and I'm still moving awkward loads.
And what sort of loads
were they moving in the old days?
Cotton-weaving looms
were very, very big in Lancashire
and we moved hundreds,
thousands of those.
My own career started with moving looms
out of Lancashire to India and Pakistan
from where we now import
all the textiles, of course,
and the Lancashire cotton industry
is no more.
Are you or your family involved
in the guild every 20 years?
Yes.
The first mention of our family being
connected with the guild was in 1882
when my grandfather on my mother's side
was in attendance.
(Michael) Have you been involved
in the guild?
Well, I've been involved, personally,
in the last three guilds.
It's not a very good thing to say that.
They only happen every 20 years.
(Michael) I have a feeling
you've got a bit of an honour.
I was fortunate enough to be nominated
for a Guild Burgess and I accepted.
It's not the honour
that you might imagine that it is.
Once upon a time, you could
drive your sheep up Fisher Gale,
but I haven't any sheep
and we don't do that any more.
So why have we met in the marina?
Because I thought it was an opportunity
to show you what we still do.
This is what we've been doing
for 175 years, and we're still doing it.
We're moving awkward loads.
And what could be more awkward,
some would say, than a boat?
OK, Jack. Take it away.
- Making light work of that.
- Yes.
Round she comes.
You can see they've got a lot
of experience of doing this.
It's done by hand signals.
Nothing left to chance.
Touching the water.
Hasn't even created a ripple.
(Chris) No.
We don't like to make a splash.
It's not good news
when we make a splash.
Chris, beautiful work.
I think you've earned your place
in the next guild.
The next guild, 2032.
- See you there.
- We'll see how we go on.
Although I'm tempted
to continue my journey by boat,
I've backtracked to Preston Station,
from where I'll head east
on Northern Rail toward Blackburn.
I shall be getting off at Pleasington.
There's a rather puzzling entry
in my Bradshaw's.
"Close at hand is Hoghton Tower,
the old seat of the Hoghtons."
"Here, James I knighted
the sirloin of beef."
A meaty story to crown
this part of my journey.
- Hello there.
- Excuse me.
I'm getting off at Pleasington,
which I think is a request stop.
- It is, yes.
- Could we stop at Pleasington?
- I'll make the arrangements for you.
- Thank you very much indeed.
According to Bradshaw's,
Hoghton has a daily arrival
and departure to and from London,
but since those glory days,
Hoghton Station has closed,
and so Pleasington it must be.
Hoghton Tower is the ancestral home
of the de Hoghton family,
descended directly
from Harvey de Walter,
a companion to William the Conqueror.
What a magnificent pile.
A great looming castle
leering over the plain beneath.
The manor,
which was originally 12th century,
was rebuilt and redesigned in the 1500s
and I'm hoping the current occupant,
the 14th baronet,
Sir Bernard de Hoghton, will know why.
- Bernard.
- Michael, good to see you.
- Welcome to Hoghton.
- What a wonderful house.
What happened to the old fortification?
Well, in 1560 Thomas de Hoghton decided
that he really didn't want to go on
living in a cold, damp castle.
He was a figure of the Renaissance
and wanted that style of life which
really changed from the Middle Ages.
During the Nth and 19th centuries,
the de Hoghtons were busy in Parliament
as prominent members of the Whig Party
and decamped from the house.
Eventually they would return,
perhaps after some prompting
by a popular author.
We think that the ninth baronet,
Sir Henry de Hoghton,
might have read Charles Dickens's novel
George Silverman's Explanation,
which was based upon his visit
to this house,
describing how tragic
this wonderful house had become.
- Dickens came here?
- Dickens came here, yes.
And in fact, William Shakespeare,
it's considered,
between 1519 and 1581 also became part
of the retinue of Alexander de Hoghton
and probably learned quite a lot of
his stagecraft here from Fulke Gillam,
who was the Master of the Revels.
So as I tread these stones,
I'm walking in the footsteps
of Shakespeare and Dickens.
Yes, you are.
It's said that the fear
of what it would cost
to host the king, his entourage
and standing army
on the journey back to London
from Scotland in 1611
led one Lancashire household
to take the roof off its home,
whilst another burnt down
its house
to avoid any royal visit.
But the recently created
Baronet Richard de Hoghton
welcomed King James I
and committed to provide him with
lavish hospitality and the finest food.
We actually have the original menu
of what the King was offered
with his court.
It's the most wonderful menu, isn't it?
Haunch of venison,
gigots of mutton, plovers, turkeys.
How did the sirloin story come about?
The King noticed this wonderful loin
of beef on this table
and said to his host,
"Bring it to me."
And the two pages,
immediately on their knees.
And he took his sword and drew it
and dubbed this loin of beef.
"Arise, Sir Loin,"
and everybody went... (roars)
And that has remained
in the English language ever since.
You're seriously telling me
that is the origin of "sirloin"?
Absolutely. Dated August 1617
in the very room we're both standing in.
In more modern times, unlike
so many of the landed aristocracy,
the de Hoghtons had no beef with
the railways traversing their land.
Presumably your family must have
granted the land.
(Bernard) Yes, they did. In about 1840,
they allowed it
to move from Blackburn to Preston.
There was a railway station
at the bottom,
but the thing that really is very lovely
around here is the Hoghton Viaduct.
About 110 foot tall
and with about three arches.
65 feet wide.
It's a very splendid building.
This is the most perfect place
to do trainspotting, isn't ii?
And that reminds me.
I'm afraid that I have a train to catch.
- Thank you for your hospitality.
- Not at all.
Nice to meet you. Bye-bye.
Back to Pleasington
to continue my journey.
I'm used to flagging down a bus, but is
the etiquette with trains different?
How do you flag the train down?
What do you do?
Wave your arm as you see the train
coming down the track.
Just wave your arm
then step back away from the edge.
- And that will do it, will it?
- Should do, yes. I hope so.
- Thanks.
- OK.
- Have a good journey.
- Thank you. You too.
Success!
Safely on board,
I'm off to spend the night
in a worryingly infamous hotel
across the Hoghton Viaduct.
As evening draws in,
I'm going to alight at the delightfully
named Church and Oswaldtwistle.
Bradshaw's mentions Dunkenhalgh Park.
There's rumours of a ghost there,
and the spirit moves me to visit.
The Dunkenhalgh phantom is Lucette,
a French woman who took her own life
here in the 18th century.
The ghost is reputed to take its seat
on the end of a guest's bed,
but I hope it went be tempted
to read me a bedtime story.
Incredibly, the pale figure of a woman
came gliding down my corridor
and tapped softly at my door.
Yes, it was the hotel's complimentary
bed turndown service.
No! a ghost train for me this morning.
I'm travelling
from Accrington Station, heading east.
(tannoy) Hebden Bridge, next stop.
The beautiful station of Hebden Bridge.
I'm hoping to be here later,
but for the moment, I'm changing line,
heading down to Rochdale, another
boom town of the Industrial Revolution.
Rochdale. Bradshaw's comments
that it's a "modern borough
returning one member of Parliament".
Most industrial towns and cities
gained representation in Parliament
only in the 19th century.
And even so, most working men
were excluded from politics
because they didn't have the vote
and they sought
other ways of coming together
to improve the condition of their lives.
A textile town, with mills powered
by the waters of the River Roch,
Rochdale was linked first by canal
in 1804 and then by railway in 1838
to Manchester, huh oi the Northwest.
Rochdale's town hail,
a fine piece of Victorian gothic,
opened in 1871 and is testament
to the town's prosperity.
Bu! not everyone was thriving.
Overseeing Rochdale's historic
collections is Gillian Lonergan.
- Gillian, hello.
- Welcome.
What a wonderful building.
It reminds me of Parliament.
- It must be the same vintage.
- Yes.
They were completed
at about the same time.
Why would Rochdale
want such a grand town hall?
There was a lot of competition
between local authorities
in building their town halls to make
them that little bit more flamboyant.
- And plenty of wealth.
- Yes, plenty of wealth to run it.
But in the hands
of the enterprising few,
Rochdale's wealth largely failed
to trickle down
to the men and women from whose toil
the town had made its fortune.
In the years before what came
to be known as the Hungry '40s,
Northwest MPs John Bright and Richard
Cobden formed the Anti-Com Law League.
Now, the corn laws restricted imports
of cheap wheat, didn't they,
and so drove up the price of bread,
drove up the price of food?
How much did that affect
the working man and woman in Rochdale?
A lot of them were starving.
They couldn't afford to eat.
Now, eventually these two and others
were successful in getting
the corn laws repealed in 1846.
But before that,
there'd been a lot of suffering.
Yes. And Rochdale
had a really hard time with it.
So what did working men and women
attempt to do about their plight?
The Chartists were trying to campaign
for working people to get the vote,
but there were other organisations
that were setup,
like co-operative societies.
Working people getting together
to work together.
It was no good waiting for the great and
the good to come in and improve things.
Over the next 170 years or so,
the co-operative movement
has spread so successfully
that the United Nations designated 2012
the International Year
of the Co-operative.
The movement's come a long way
since the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society was formed in 1844.
Now a common sight
on many a British high street,
the first ever Co-op shop opened here
at 31 Toad Lane.
- Who were these Rochdale Pioneers?
- They were ordinary working people.
About half of them were involved
in the textile industries.
They would be working 14 hours a day
in the mill
and get together
in the evenings for meetings.
They actually said that if they
could change all of production,
distribution, education and government
to co-operation,
that the world would be a better place.
Well, let's start small with the shop.
They had saved up £28; £1 per member.
It doesn't sound like a lot now, but
then it would take a skilled craftsman
a week and a half to two weeks
to earn a pound.
It was a huge investment
that they were making.
- And what were they trading in?
- Butter, sugar, flour and oatmeal.
Those were the basic staples of life.
Was the point of setting up the shop
really about prices?
It was partly prices.
They wanted honest pricing.
But also there was a lot
of food adulteration that went on.
For example, flour.
When you bought flour,
you were likely to find
that it was half chalk, half flour.
Oatmeal, another one of the staples,
was often mixed with gravel or sand.
This appears to be
about 90 per cent gravel.
(laughs) Food really
wasn't very healthy at the time.
Not only did they adulterate food,
but they also weighted the scales
so that you weren't buying as much
as you thought you were.
So the Pioneers had their scales
on open show.
Everybody knew
it was honest business.
What state have the co-operative
societies reached by the 1860s?
(Io-operation was spreading
across the country.
In 1863, the co-operative societies
in the North of England
actually got together
to form the North of England
Co-operative Wholesale Society,
which is now known
as the Co-operative Group.
We have their original visitors' book.
In 1863 they had visitors from
St Petersburg, Paris, Germany, Belfast,
as well as across the whole of the UK,
coming here
to see how they could operate
their own co-operative societies.
There's a lovely article
in The Cooperate! for 1860,
slightly before the Bradshaw's date.
But it talks about them
coming on a third-class covered carriage
very comfortably
and singing all the way.
In tune with my timetable,
I'm heading to my final destination,
a place renowned
for its natural beauty.
Bradshaw's gives me much
to look forward to at my next stop.
"In the bottom of a deep dale is seen
the little village of Hebden Bridge,
surrounded by lofty ridges of moorland
heights, partly clothed with woods
and partly spotted with groups
of cottages and farmhouses."
Absolutely enticing.
Nowhere better represents the impact
of the railways on Victorian leisure
than Hebden Bridge.
It had been no more than a few mills
and some houses dotted along the river,
but in 1840, the railways brought
swathes oi working people
on day trips from industrial towns
keen to view the loveliness
of the Calder Valley.
Diana Monahan is a local historian.
- Diana.
- How do you do, Michael?
Good to see you.
What a beautiful station
with its local stone, I suppose,
and the columns and the old signage.
Is this what would have been here
in Bradshaw's time?
No, this was actually built
in about 1892
to replace the station that was built
in 1840 when the line opened.
The problem was that the waiting rooms
were far too small.
In those days,
the ladies had crinoline dresses
and you wouldn't gel
many crinoline-dressed ladies
in one wailing room.
We are in
the most beautiful countryside.
These people, even from 1840,
were beginning to come for tourism,
were they?
Yes, they were. It was very popular,
particularly on Whitsuntide,
logo into Hardcastle Crags
and the countryside
around Golden Clough,
all the lovely valleys that we have
coming down to the Calder.
(Michael) I've noticed
your lovely picnic basket.
- May I carry that for you?
- It's a bit heavy, I'm afraid.
Let's set off.
Is this beautiful bridge the one
from which the town takes its name?
It is indeed, Michael.
It's over 500 years old
and it had its birthday party in 2010.
And what about the impact
of the railways?
It must have been exponential
on the number of visitors.
Al the time of Bradshaw's, in 1866,
they had over 2,000 in one weekend.
And then in the 1890s,
over 12,000 came in one weekend,
so yes, it did have an effect.
I can see the water down there.
There's quite a nice quote here
in Bradshaw's.
"Through the dark recesses is heard
the roar of the Calder
and its various tributaries
rushing occasionally in sheets of spray
over the precipitous heights."
That's rather nice.
This is one of the tributaries
of the Calder, Hebden Water.
People would have come here
for the wonderful nature and scenery.
They might have come to listen
to the birds
and watch the animals, the otters.
It's just lovely.
Forward.
Right, Michael, I've brought
some Whitsuntide buns for our picnic.
- (Michael) Did you bake those?
- I did.
Delicious.
Hebden Bridge is still very important
for tourists today, isn't it, Diana?
It is, yes.
It's one of the main industries, really.
Because whilst the smoke has disappeared
from the chimneys of the mills,
the natural beauty
is the same as in Victorian times.
Yes, and you can still go for the most
beautiful walks from Hebden Bridge
up on the tops
and look down on the town.
Despite the jolly pageantry
of the Preston Guild,
life for Victorian workers
in northern mill towns was pretty grim.
It was during the so-called Hungry 1840s
that Rochdale men founded
the Co-operative Society.
But standing here,
it's a relief to recall
that once the railways were built,
mill operatives could occasionally
escape the grime and smoke
and fill their lungs with fresh air.
On the next leg, Hearn how
Victorians marketed confectionery, “
"On Saturday last, you were eating
Mackintosh's toffee at our expense."
"Next Saturday pay us another visit
eat it at your own expense."
- That's brilliant.
- A very unusual way of advertising.
I get a tailor-made fining...
Most people have got one shoulder
lower than the other, and you have.
Where I've been writing over the years.
- All them cheques.
- (Laughs)
and I help to revive
a cinematic railway legend.
Oakworth! Oakworth Station!
(all cheer)
Oakworth!