Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 7, Episode 19 - Hampton Court to Teddington - full transcript
For Victorian Britons,
George Bradshaw was a household name.
At a time when railways were new,
Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them
to take to the tracks.
I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide
to understand how trains
transformed Britain, its landscape,
its industry,
society and leisure time.
As I crisscross
the country 150 years later,
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
I'm now more than halfway
through my journey
travelling to the south west
of London.
Today I'll visit two palaces,
one famous and one forgotten.
I'll discover how Queen Victoria was
an accident of birth
and learn how her subjects
changed their attitudes to duelling
and disabilities.
Using my Bradshaw's Guide,
I've taken in the beauty of Kent,
and followed a route
south of London into Surrey.
Racing through the Home Counties,
I'll now be visiting royals
and reformers before ending
riverside in Henley-on-Thames.
Today I discover forgotten royal
histories in Esher,
follow in the footsteps of the
Victorian tourist at Hampton Court,
pass through Teddington, and defend
my honour oh a London common.
I'm let loose on the longest
vine in the world.
Have you ever allowed
an incompetent like me to do this?
No! No.
I get fired up like an early
Victorian gent...
I've hit my man.
And find out how the course of
British history was set in Esher.
If Charlotte had not died, Victoria
would never have been conceived
and we would never have had
the Victorian era.
It's early morning
as I begin my journey.
My first stop will be Hampton Court
Where I will be visiting the palace.
Bradshaw's reminds us
that Cardinal Wolsey,
"Created great envy at court,"
when he built it.
So much so that, unsurprisingly,
King Henry VIII took it over.
"Numerous sovereigns since have made
it their temporary abode
"and the last who resided here
was George ll,
"since which the Crown reserves
the right of resuming possession,"
a surprising thought to us,
who think of the palace as a museum
and a film set.
Hampton Court Station is the
terminus of a branch
of the South West Main Line.
It arrived here in 1849,
enabling visitors to visit
Hampton Court Palace, which had been
opened to the public by Queen Victoria
in the previous decade.
The railways unleashed mass
tourism, as sightseers
from across the country were enabled
to visit spectacular locations.
Here, the original Tudor palace
had been repeatedly extended...
Thank you very much.
Offering courtyards,
royal chambers,
galleries and beautiful gardens
to explore.
Good morning.
- Good morning, sir.
Thank you very much.
- My pleasure.
I'm here before the crowds to meet
the Curator of
Historic Buildings, Daniel Jackson.
Hello, Dan.
- Nice to meet you.
Judging by the dimensions,
this magnificent hall must be
what's described in my Bradshaw's
as Wolsey's Hall.
Did he, in fact, establish it?
So, it's a very complicated history.
There's an awful lot of
academic debate as to
whether this is Wolsey's Hall
or Henry's Hall.
But, I think we're coming down
on the side that this is
probably Henry's Hall.
The tapestries on the wall
are purchased by Henry,
the roof certainly is
finished by Henry.
When was Hampton Court
opened up to mass tourism?
It's not until 1838.
Queen Victoria throws open the doors
to the masses, free of charge,
and from that point you very quickly
have a huge number of
people visiting.
It's over 100,000 in the first
ten years,
up to over 300,000 by the end
of the 19th century.
So a huge number of people
coming into the palace,
people from all walks of life,
so you have wonderful
stories of this becoming
a hive of Cockneydom,
and you have lots of people visiting
in hobnailed boots, which causes
chaos for the floors, which is
why we have very few original
floors left, in fact.
But Hampton Court is somewhere
anyone can visit and enjoy,
and that's true in the 19th century,
as it is today.
Another notable attraction which
Bradshaw's is making me
want to see is the Great Vine.
Which way would that be?
Just back the way you came,
and then through Clock Court.
Thank you very much, Dan.
- My pleasure.
The Great Vine, which Bradshaw's
records, was reputedly
planted in 1768,
and I'm going to find it,
and the lady charged
with its welfare, Jill Strudwick.
Hello, Jill.
- Oh, hello. How do you do?
I was last here, I think, about 55
years ago. I came as a child.
Oh, goodness, did you?
I have the best memory of it.
Ah, well, did you get to taste
the grapes? I certainly didn't.
Oh, well,
we're really onto autumn now,
but I've just found one or two
little bits left over
that haven't been pruned.
If you'd like, you're very Welcome
to taste some of the very
last this year before we start
with the next job.
I would love to.
And they've got the lovely bloom on,
which you don't get
in the supermarkets.
I'm thrilled to try this.
- Ah.
Bradshaw's tells me they're Black
Hamburg grapes, is that correct?
Yes, that's right.
It's a very old variety,
so, sweet dessert grapes,
but you will find
they've got pips in.
So sweet, they're lovely.
- Yes, we like to think so.
And that's because I'm always
trying to pick them ripe.
RADIO COMMENTATOR:
"Once again the world's oldest grapevine
"is ready to give the world
its fruit."
"if you like really luscious grapes,
take some of these."
"They'll cost you six shillings
a pound, but who cares about that
"because the money goes to charity."
Now, you have the most
extraordinary,
the most wonderful title.
What is it?
Well, I'm the vine keeper.
How long
have you been the vine keeper?
Oh, oh, oh,
am I going to admit to
30 years if you don't tell anybody else?
Really? And do you live on the
premises?
Yeah, yeah, I live just over
there behind the wall.
Grown in a very traditional way,
under glass and with heat,
the Hampton Court specimen appears
in the Guinness Book of Records
as the largest productive
vine in the world.
Bradshaw's tells me it's 110 feet
long, is that still true?
Well, when I had to measure it
for the Guinness Book of Records,
it was 120.
- Oh, that's reasonable.
Yes, there's hot much in that,
is there, really?
Ten foot in a century and a half. And
what do you have to do with the vine?
Well, it's so large that
it's like the Forth Bridge,
as I finish one operation,
it's time to start the next,
and the next thing is the pruning.
I don't normally allow it
but you're Welcome
to come and help me, if you'd like.
Well, I'd be privileged.
Thank you very much indeed.
We're doing something rather
special today, actually.
Each autumn, I out this year's
growth back by about half,
and that will encourage it to grow
a bit more next year, and that's how
we're gradually increasing
the length of some of these
branches, the main framework.
That's really very exciting,
so, erm, ooh,
am I going to be entrusted
to do this?
- Yes, you're going to be
entrusted with my secateurs
to make the first out
for this autumn's pruning.
Have you ever allowed
an incompetent like me to do this?
No, no, no, I haven't.
No, normally I wouldn't let anybody
prune the vine,
except me and my deputy.
I feel slightly queasy cutting
a 250-year-old vine.
Oh, tough as old boots.
- Here we go.
Jill, do you know, in all
the years that I've been
using my Bradshaw's Guide,
I don't remember before
being guided to a living
thing that is still alive today.
Oh, what an interesting
thought. Mmm.
For the next leg of my journey,
I'm boarding the train
at Hampton Court...
for Surbiton...
where I change to travel
one stop south.
My next stop will be Esher, Where
I'm going to visit Claremont,
a house which, according to
Bradshaw's, "Has a melancholy
"interest from the death of the
lamented Princess Charlotte, in 1817.
"The palace has since
belonged to her husband,
"the King of the Belgians,
who subsequently appropriated it
"to the use of the exiled
King Louis Philippe,
"who left France in 1848."
It seems that swathes of
19th-century history are to be found
under a single roof.
Many pass through Esher,
on the outskirts
of London, on their way to the
racecourse at Sandown Park.
Just outside the town is
Claremont House,
built in the late 18th century
for Sir Robert Clive of India.
He commissioned the famous landscape
architect Capability Brown
to position the house
in a remodelled park.
Since the 1930s, it's been a school
and I'm meeting Pamela Rider,
who's worked here for 27 years,
to hear its intriguing history.
Pamela, hello. Hello.
Nice to meet you.
What a wonderful house.
I had no idea it existed.
Yes, aren't we lucky?
It's really wonderful.
Please come inside. I'll show you
some wonderful parts.
In 1816, Claremont House was
given as a Wedding gift to
Princess Charlotte, the granddaughter
of the reigning monarch, George III,
and daughter of his regent,
George IV,
on her marriage to the
German Prince Leopold.
Pamela, I never saw a classroom with
such beautiful decor.
What was this room at one time?
It was the bedroom,
in 1816, of Princess Charlotte,
and Princess Charlotte
and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg
had moved here on their marriage.
Then she gets pregnant and the birth
was to occur in this very bedroom.
Yes, she went into labour
on the 3rd of November,
and the birth went on and on,
and it took 50 hours.
Eventually, the baby was born,
but it was stillborn
and, very unexpectedly,
during the night, Charlotte died.
So in one night, Prince Leopold had
lost, not only his wife, but his son
and his reason for being in England,
which was to be the prince consort.
What was the impact oh the British
public of this double tragedy?
They were devastated.
Everybody put black armbands on,
everybody suddenly had
cups and saucers with black
round them,
the churches were full of mourning
at the time of the funeral.
Now, what impact does that
have oh British history,
on the history of the monarchy?
Oh, enormous, because suddenly we
have no proper heir to the throne.
Since Charlotte had been an only
child, the line passing through
her father, the Prince Regent
and future George IV, came to an end.
The pressure came on to the other
children of George Ill
to provide an heir.
All George III's children,
he had 12 of them still
living at that time,
but none of them had
legitimate heirs,
so all the princes and the
princesses have got to get married.
And the Duke of Kent,
who is the fourth son,
had in fact got a mistress out in
Brussels Whom he'd had for 28 years.
He was extremely happy with her,
but he agreed that he, too,
would find a Wife
and Leopold suggested that he might
marry his widowed sister,
Victoire of Meiningen, and the child
that was born was Victoria.
It's absolutely amazing to think
that, in this room,
the history of England changed.
If Charlotte had not died, Victoria
would never have been conceived,
and we would never have had
the Victorian era.
In the middle of the 19th century,
another remarkable chapter was to
unfold at Claremont House.
25 years after the French Revolution,
the monarchy had been
re-established in France.
However, in 1848, further unrest
caused King Louis Philippe,
and his Wife Queen Marie-Amelie,
to flee for their lives.
They made it to British shores,
and were offered Claremont House
as a safe haven.
All the sons came as well,
and their children.
I don't know how they all packed in.
There were 70 of them
and so they had to make this
into their dining room.
So they all ate in here.
Does Louis Philippe live in
the house for long?
Not really, because he dies
Within two years.
I think he's very much a broken man.
And then, Where was he buried?
That's a very extraordinary
story, really,
because his wife, Marie-Amelie,
wanted him to be
buried on Catholic ground,
which was quite difficult
round here,
but there was a Roman Catholic
living in Weybridge,
called Charles Taylor, and he had
built himself a little chapel,
with a vault underneath Where he was
going to have his family buried
and he offered this vault to the
Orleans family and so, actually,
amazingly, the last King of the
French was buried in Weybridge.
This house has astonished me.
How often on my travels have
I talked about the Victorian age?
And yet, had it hot been
for the death of Charlotte,
the forgotten princess,
Victoria would not have reigned.
She might not even have
been conceived
and we'd be talking
instead about the Charlottian era.
But, as it is,
I don't suppose that
there's one British person in a
thousand who's ever heard of her.
My overnight stop is going to
be Wimbledon.
Bradshaw's mentions
the Rose And Crown.
It Won't be a palace
like Hampton Court or Claremont,
but it can be a rose for Charlotte,
and a crown for Victoria.
The station is a busy
interchange between rail,
London Underground and tram services.
Wimbledon town surrounds the station,
and in the old village up the hill,
I find the Rose and Crown.
The earliest recorded mention
of this coaching inn is 1659,
and I just imagine it then, it would
have been maybe the first stop
for travellers out of London, going
down to Southampton or Portsmouth.
And now it's become a local pub
in a highly populated area,
and the main reason for that change -
the railways.
It's a new day
and I'm leaving my hotel,
headed towards one of the most famous
green spaces in the country.
Not the All England Lawn Tennis Club,
but Wimbledon Common.
Today it's a favourite place
for dog walkers
and the setting for The Wombles'
adventures.
But in previous centuries,
it witnessed more violent activity.
"Wimbledon," says Bradshaw's,
"was formerly celebrated in the
annals of duelling, which has now
"become synonymous with our
notions of such killing being murder.
"And like many other customs of
uncivilised beings,
"is now condemned."
I can scarcely imagine peering down
the barrel of a gun into
another man's hating eyes, or indeed,
squeezing the trigger in cold blood.
Duelling became established
in the late 16th century as a way for the
upper classes to resolve personal
disputes and to defend reputations.
Adherence to a very particular
code of conduct was held to set them
apart from their social inferiors.
I'm meeting
Professor Clive Emsley
of the Open University.
Clive, good to see you.
My Bradshaw's celebrates the fact
that duelling has
become beyond the pale.
Was it quite a problem?
Had it become quite an epidemic?
I wouldn't say it was
an epidemic, but it was
something that gentlemen did.
Was Wimbledon, then,
a favourite place for this?
Wimbledon Common was
unquestionably a favourable spot
and even prime ministers
fought to the north of the common.
William Pitt the Younger fought
a duel here in 1798.
So, were people killed in these duels or
did gentlemen just meet
and call it a day?
Very often, it was
enough for a gentleman to appear,
and sometimes they fired their
pistols in the air.
But nonetheless there were
fatalities.
Oh, there were fatalities, yeah.
What was the most celebrated duel?
Probably the one that's stuck
in everyone's mind
was Lord Cardigan against
Captain Tuckett in 1840,
Lord Cardigan being the man who led
the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
And what was the cause
of their dispute?
Tuckett had written a few articles
critical of Cardigan.
I mean, Cardigan was
the worst kind of snob
and if you crossed Cardigan
you are really asking for trouble.
[THUNDER ROLLS]
[RAIN FALLS]
Once challenged to the duel,
Captain Tuckett met with
Earl Cardigan on Wimbledon Common.
In accordance with etiquette,
each was accompanied by his second.
They were armed with duelling
pistols of equal match.
Gentlemen, I design to resolve
the affair in this manner.
Then you'll each take six good
paces, turn and fire.
One,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six.
Cardigan shot and Wounded
Captain Tuckett.
I've hit my man.
Cardigan was charged with
intent to murder,
but acquitted on a technicality.
The fact that he was arrested showed
that public attitudes were changing.
Subsequent trial verdicts, alongside
pressure from Queen Victoria,
put an end to the practice.
By the 1850s, the duel was
as good as dead.
Back at Wimbledon Station, I'm taking
a train a little further west,
to Teddington, which, like Wimbledon,
is a leafy Outer London suburb.
What makes us civilised?
Is it literature, architecture,
institutions of government,
maybe liberty, or fairness?
As I hope to discover when I leave
this train at Teddington,
it dawned on the Victorians
quite late
that one of the marks of civilisation
might be the way a society treated
people with special needs.
As I leave the train,
I'm making my way to an institution
built at the time of my Bradshaw's
by a Victorian Reformer,
John Langdon Down,
and his wife, Mary.
He was a distinguished physician,
who, in 1858, took up a post
in the then unpopular and
ostracised field of mental health,
becoming Medical Superintendent of
the Earlswood Asylum in Surrey.
The first to classify the condition
now known as Down's syndrome,
he revolutionised the treatment
of those with learning disabilities
and, in 1868, built his own facility
here at Normansfield.
I'm meeting Ian Jones-Healey,
the archivist of
the Langdon Down Museum,
which is housed here.
Hello, Ian.
- Hello there.
Very good to see you.
Ian, first of all, I have to ask
about this extraordinary
model of the ship.
This was created
by James Henry Pullen,
who was a resident
at the Royal Earlswood Asylum
when John Langdon Down was
working there.
And although James Henry Pullen
had certain difficulties
with hearing and speech,
he was able to make
three-dimensional models
from very little information,
perhaps a picture in the
Illustrated London News,
so he created the Great Eastern,
which the original
was built by
built by Isambard Kingdom Brunei at
Millwall on the banks of the Thames.
Yes, it's a remarkable,
a splendid piece of work, isn't it?
In the 19th century,
what are the attitudes towards people
with learning difficulties?
Certainly for the upper
middle classes
and upper classes sometimes
it could be a matter of shame
and people could be
kept very much in secret.
What was the new approach that
John Langdon Down brought?
Well, he set up a revolutionary
institution here.
He took people
mostly from the upper classes
because he had to have an income.
He didn't have any state funding
and he decided that
the whole regime should
be much more enlightened.
You should be dressed properly,
you should have good food to eat,
you should have stimulation,
you should have walks
that you could go out on and, I think,
most of all, you should have some
form of education,
and perhaps learn a trade,
if you wanted to or were able to.
Can you give me an example of how
patients benefited
from this approach?
Well, they would have had
a lifestyle that was,
as far as possible,
almost like a home from home.
Mary Arnott is an example
of somebody that came to
live at Normansfield.
She lived into her late 50s,
which was quite rare in that time
for somebody with her condition.
I think that's testament,
maybe, to the
quality of life that she was
enjoying here.
I didn't know about
John Langdon Down.
Have we forgotten about him?
I think we're probably
rediscovering him.
I think he stands next to some of
the great Victorian reformers
of the period, somebody
that really wanted to
improve the lives of people with
disabilities, and certainly did so.
In the 1950s, Normansfield became
part of the National Health Service
and in 1997, it closed as a hospital.
Today, in a wing of
the original building,
is the Langdon Down Centre, home
of the Down's Syndrome Association,
which provides workshops,
drama groups
and a support network for people
with Down's syndrome.
One of John Langdon Down's legacies
is the beautiful Victorian playhouse,
which is listed,
and here I meet Kate Powell.
Hello, Kate.
- Hello.
I'm Michael.
- Hi.
How long have you been coming to
work at the association?
I've been coming here for 15 years.
I get involved in giving talks,
I get involved in big meetings
and AGMs, and I always get involved
in any kind of raising awareness
for people with Down's syndrome.
And here you are,
clutching a magazine...
Yes...
- Of which you are the editor.
I am. This is the Down2Earth
magazine.
Thank you very much.
- This is what I do.
What sort of things are in it
and how does it all work?
It all works with people's letters,
they also do art,
creative art, poetry, they also
put in people's photography.
It's a very fine magazine,
and I gather you have made a speech
at the United Nations, is that true?
It is true.
- What were you speaking about?
I was speaking about a project
called WorkFit.
It encourages people to
be in the world of work.
How did you feel speaking to the
United Nations?
Proud, I felt very proud.
And what about nervous?
No, I Wasn't nervous at all.
Not nervous?
- Never!
What do you think of the work that
John Langdon Down did'?
Well, the work that he did
encouraged people with
learning disabilities and
Down's syndrome, he loved people,
he helped people, with his work,
and I think he was a very good man.
Excellent, thank you
very much indeed.
Perhaps it's hot surprising
that Princess Charlotte
has been largely forgotten.
She died at a young age and the era
in which she would have reigned
has become inextricably linked
to her cousin, Queen Victoria.
It's harder to understand that,
whilst we remember reformers
like William Wilberforce
and Lord Shaftesbury,
few of us could name a man
who was a visionary
and a pioneer in the field
of disability.
The time has come to add
the name of John Langdon Down to the
Victorian roll of honour.
Next time, I attempt to
pull my weight on the River Thames...
Push on the legs, hands right.
- Sorry, I've lost it completely.
Discover the radical implications
of one of the country's
first universities for women...
I think it really was
a starting point.
By having ah education, by having a
choice, they demanded other choices.
And let off some
steam at a vintage funfair.
[HE LAUGHS]
Oh! This is horrible!
Oh! Enough! Enough!
[END THEME]
George Bradshaw was a household name.
At a time when railways were new,
Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them
to take to the tracks.
I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide
to understand how trains
transformed Britain, its landscape,
its industry,
society and leisure time.
As I crisscross
the country 150 years later,
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
I'm now more than halfway
through my journey
travelling to the south west
of London.
Today I'll visit two palaces,
one famous and one forgotten.
I'll discover how Queen Victoria was
an accident of birth
and learn how her subjects
changed their attitudes to duelling
and disabilities.
Using my Bradshaw's Guide,
I've taken in the beauty of Kent,
and followed a route
south of London into Surrey.
Racing through the Home Counties,
I'll now be visiting royals
and reformers before ending
riverside in Henley-on-Thames.
Today I discover forgotten royal
histories in Esher,
follow in the footsteps of the
Victorian tourist at Hampton Court,
pass through Teddington, and defend
my honour oh a London common.
I'm let loose on the longest
vine in the world.
Have you ever allowed
an incompetent like me to do this?
No! No.
I get fired up like an early
Victorian gent...
I've hit my man.
And find out how the course of
British history was set in Esher.
If Charlotte had not died, Victoria
would never have been conceived
and we would never have had
the Victorian era.
It's early morning
as I begin my journey.
My first stop will be Hampton Court
Where I will be visiting the palace.
Bradshaw's reminds us
that Cardinal Wolsey,
"Created great envy at court,"
when he built it.
So much so that, unsurprisingly,
King Henry VIII took it over.
"Numerous sovereigns since have made
it their temporary abode
"and the last who resided here
was George ll,
"since which the Crown reserves
the right of resuming possession,"
a surprising thought to us,
who think of the palace as a museum
and a film set.
Hampton Court Station is the
terminus of a branch
of the South West Main Line.
It arrived here in 1849,
enabling visitors to visit
Hampton Court Palace, which had been
opened to the public by Queen Victoria
in the previous decade.
The railways unleashed mass
tourism, as sightseers
from across the country were enabled
to visit spectacular locations.
Here, the original Tudor palace
had been repeatedly extended...
Thank you very much.
Offering courtyards,
royal chambers,
galleries and beautiful gardens
to explore.
Good morning.
- Good morning, sir.
Thank you very much.
- My pleasure.
I'm here before the crowds to meet
the Curator of
Historic Buildings, Daniel Jackson.
Hello, Dan.
- Nice to meet you.
Judging by the dimensions,
this magnificent hall must be
what's described in my Bradshaw's
as Wolsey's Hall.
Did he, in fact, establish it?
So, it's a very complicated history.
There's an awful lot of
academic debate as to
whether this is Wolsey's Hall
or Henry's Hall.
But, I think we're coming down
on the side that this is
probably Henry's Hall.
The tapestries on the wall
are purchased by Henry,
the roof certainly is
finished by Henry.
When was Hampton Court
opened up to mass tourism?
It's not until 1838.
Queen Victoria throws open the doors
to the masses, free of charge,
and from that point you very quickly
have a huge number of
people visiting.
It's over 100,000 in the first
ten years,
up to over 300,000 by the end
of the 19th century.
So a huge number of people
coming into the palace,
people from all walks of life,
so you have wonderful
stories of this becoming
a hive of Cockneydom,
and you have lots of people visiting
in hobnailed boots, which causes
chaos for the floors, which is
why we have very few original
floors left, in fact.
But Hampton Court is somewhere
anyone can visit and enjoy,
and that's true in the 19th century,
as it is today.
Another notable attraction which
Bradshaw's is making me
want to see is the Great Vine.
Which way would that be?
Just back the way you came,
and then through Clock Court.
Thank you very much, Dan.
- My pleasure.
The Great Vine, which Bradshaw's
records, was reputedly
planted in 1768,
and I'm going to find it,
and the lady charged
with its welfare, Jill Strudwick.
Hello, Jill.
- Oh, hello. How do you do?
I was last here, I think, about 55
years ago. I came as a child.
Oh, goodness, did you?
I have the best memory of it.
Ah, well, did you get to taste
the grapes? I certainly didn't.
Oh, well,
we're really onto autumn now,
but I've just found one or two
little bits left over
that haven't been pruned.
If you'd like, you're very Welcome
to taste some of the very
last this year before we start
with the next job.
I would love to.
And they've got the lovely bloom on,
which you don't get
in the supermarkets.
I'm thrilled to try this.
- Ah.
Bradshaw's tells me they're Black
Hamburg grapes, is that correct?
Yes, that's right.
It's a very old variety,
so, sweet dessert grapes,
but you will find
they've got pips in.
So sweet, they're lovely.
- Yes, we like to think so.
And that's because I'm always
trying to pick them ripe.
RADIO COMMENTATOR:
"Once again the world's oldest grapevine
"is ready to give the world
its fruit."
"if you like really luscious grapes,
take some of these."
"They'll cost you six shillings
a pound, but who cares about that
"because the money goes to charity."
Now, you have the most
extraordinary,
the most wonderful title.
What is it?
Well, I'm the vine keeper.
How long
have you been the vine keeper?
Oh, oh, oh,
am I going to admit to
30 years if you don't tell anybody else?
Really? And do you live on the
premises?
Yeah, yeah, I live just over
there behind the wall.
Grown in a very traditional way,
under glass and with heat,
the Hampton Court specimen appears
in the Guinness Book of Records
as the largest productive
vine in the world.
Bradshaw's tells me it's 110 feet
long, is that still true?
Well, when I had to measure it
for the Guinness Book of Records,
it was 120.
- Oh, that's reasonable.
Yes, there's hot much in that,
is there, really?
Ten foot in a century and a half. And
what do you have to do with the vine?
Well, it's so large that
it's like the Forth Bridge,
as I finish one operation,
it's time to start the next,
and the next thing is the pruning.
I don't normally allow it
but you're Welcome
to come and help me, if you'd like.
Well, I'd be privileged.
Thank you very much indeed.
We're doing something rather
special today, actually.
Each autumn, I out this year's
growth back by about half,
and that will encourage it to grow
a bit more next year, and that's how
we're gradually increasing
the length of some of these
branches, the main framework.
That's really very exciting,
so, erm, ooh,
am I going to be entrusted
to do this?
- Yes, you're going to be
entrusted with my secateurs
to make the first out
for this autumn's pruning.
Have you ever allowed
an incompetent like me to do this?
No, no, no, I haven't.
No, normally I wouldn't let anybody
prune the vine,
except me and my deputy.
I feel slightly queasy cutting
a 250-year-old vine.
Oh, tough as old boots.
- Here we go.
Jill, do you know, in all
the years that I've been
using my Bradshaw's Guide,
I don't remember before
being guided to a living
thing that is still alive today.
Oh, what an interesting
thought. Mmm.
For the next leg of my journey,
I'm boarding the train
at Hampton Court...
for Surbiton...
where I change to travel
one stop south.
My next stop will be Esher, Where
I'm going to visit Claremont,
a house which, according to
Bradshaw's, "Has a melancholy
"interest from the death of the
lamented Princess Charlotte, in 1817.
"The palace has since
belonged to her husband,
"the King of the Belgians,
who subsequently appropriated it
"to the use of the exiled
King Louis Philippe,
"who left France in 1848."
It seems that swathes of
19th-century history are to be found
under a single roof.
Many pass through Esher,
on the outskirts
of London, on their way to the
racecourse at Sandown Park.
Just outside the town is
Claremont House,
built in the late 18th century
for Sir Robert Clive of India.
He commissioned the famous landscape
architect Capability Brown
to position the house
in a remodelled park.
Since the 1930s, it's been a school
and I'm meeting Pamela Rider,
who's worked here for 27 years,
to hear its intriguing history.
Pamela, hello. Hello.
Nice to meet you.
What a wonderful house.
I had no idea it existed.
Yes, aren't we lucky?
It's really wonderful.
Please come inside. I'll show you
some wonderful parts.
In 1816, Claremont House was
given as a Wedding gift to
Princess Charlotte, the granddaughter
of the reigning monarch, George III,
and daughter of his regent,
George IV,
on her marriage to the
German Prince Leopold.
Pamela, I never saw a classroom with
such beautiful decor.
What was this room at one time?
It was the bedroom,
in 1816, of Princess Charlotte,
and Princess Charlotte
and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg
had moved here on their marriage.
Then she gets pregnant and the birth
was to occur in this very bedroom.
Yes, she went into labour
on the 3rd of November,
and the birth went on and on,
and it took 50 hours.
Eventually, the baby was born,
but it was stillborn
and, very unexpectedly,
during the night, Charlotte died.
So in one night, Prince Leopold had
lost, not only his wife, but his son
and his reason for being in England,
which was to be the prince consort.
What was the impact oh the British
public of this double tragedy?
They were devastated.
Everybody put black armbands on,
everybody suddenly had
cups and saucers with black
round them,
the churches were full of mourning
at the time of the funeral.
Now, what impact does that
have oh British history,
on the history of the monarchy?
Oh, enormous, because suddenly we
have no proper heir to the throne.
Since Charlotte had been an only
child, the line passing through
her father, the Prince Regent
and future George IV, came to an end.
The pressure came on to the other
children of George Ill
to provide an heir.
All George III's children,
he had 12 of them still
living at that time,
but none of them had
legitimate heirs,
so all the princes and the
princesses have got to get married.
And the Duke of Kent,
who is the fourth son,
had in fact got a mistress out in
Brussels Whom he'd had for 28 years.
He was extremely happy with her,
but he agreed that he, too,
would find a Wife
and Leopold suggested that he might
marry his widowed sister,
Victoire of Meiningen, and the child
that was born was Victoria.
It's absolutely amazing to think
that, in this room,
the history of England changed.
If Charlotte had not died, Victoria
would never have been conceived,
and we would never have had
the Victorian era.
In the middle of the 19th century,
another remarkable chapter was to
unfold at Claremont House.
25 years after the French Revolution,
the monarchy had been
re-established in France.
However, in 1848, further unrest
caused King Louis Philippe,
and his Wife Queen Marie-Amelie,
to flee for their lives.
They made it to British shores,
and were offered Claremont House
as a safe haven.
All the sons came as well,
and their children.
I don't know how they all packed in.
There were 70 of them
and so they had to make this
into their dining room.
So they all ate in here.
Does Louis Philippe live in
the house for long?
Not really, because he dies
Within two years.
I think he's very much a broken man.
And then, Where was he buried?
That's a very extraordinary
story, really,
because his wife, Marie-Amelie,
wanted him to be
buried on Catholic ground,
which was quite difficult
round here,
but there was a Roman Catholic
living in Weybridge,
called Charles Taylor, and he had
built himself a little chapel,
with a vault underneath Where he was
going to have his family buried
and he offered this vault to the
Orleans family and so, actually,
amazingly, the last King of the
French was buried in Weybridge.
This house has astonished me.
How often on my travels have
I talked about the Victorian age?
And yet, had it hot been
for the death of Charlotte,
the forgotten princess,
Victoria would not have reigned.
She might not even have
been conceived
and we'd be talking
instead about the Charlottian era.
But, as it is,
I don't suppose that
there's one British person in a
thousand who's ever heard of her.
My overnight stop is going to
be Wimbledon.
Bradshaw's mentions
the Rose And Crown.
It Won't be a palace
like Hampton Court or Claremont,
but it can be a rose for Charlotte,
and a crown for Victoria.
The station is a busy
interchange between rail,
London Underground and tram services.
Wimbledon town surrounds the station,
and in the old village up the hill,
I find the Rose and Crown.
The earliest recorded mention
of this coaching inn is 1659,
and I just imagine it then, it would
have been maybe the first stop
for travellers out of London, going
down to Southampton or Portsmouth.
And now it's become a local pub
in a highly populated area,
and the main reason for that change -
the railways.
It's a new day
and I'm leaving my hotel,
headed towards one of the most famous
green spaces in the country.
Not the All England Lawn Tennis Club,
but Wimbledon Common.
Today it's a favourite place
for dog walkers
and the setting for The Wombles'
adventures.
But in previous centuries,
it witnessed more violent activity.
"Wimbledon," says Bradshaw's,
"was formerly celebrated in the
annals of duelling, which has now
"become synonymous with our
notions of such killing being murder.
"And like many other customs of
uncivilised beings,
"is now condemned."
I can scarcely imagine peering down
the barrel of a gun into
another man's hating eyes, or indeed,
squeezing the trigger in cold blood.
Duelling became established
in the late 16th century as a way for the
upper classes to resolve personal
disputes and to defend reputations.
Adherence to a very particular
code of conduct was held to set them
apart from their social inferiors.
I'm meeting
Professor Clive Emsley
of the Open University.
Clive, good to see you.
My Bradshaw's celebrates the fact
that duelling has
become beyond the pale.
Was it quite a problem?
Had it become quite an epidemic?
I wouldn't say it was
an epidemic, but it was
something that gentlemen did.
Was Wimbledon, then,
a favourite place for this?
Wimbledon Common was
unquestionably a favourable spot
and even prime ministers
fought to the north of the common.
William Pitt the Younger fought
a duel here in 1798.
So, were people killed in these duels or
did gentlemen just meet
and call it a day?
Very often, it was
enough for a gentleman to appear,
and sometimes they fired their
pistols in the air.
But nonetheless there were
fatalities.
Oh, there were fatalities, yeah.
What was the most celebrated duel?
Probably the one that's stuck
in everyone's mind
was Lord Cardigan against
Captain Tuckett in 1840,
Lord Cardigan being the man who led
the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
And what was the cause
of their dispute?
Tuckett had written a few articles
critical of Cardigan.
I mean, Cardigan was
the worst kind of snob
and if you crossed Cardigan
you are really asking for trouble.
[THUNDER ROLLS]
[RAIN FALLS]
Once challenged to the duel,
Captain Tuckett met with
Earl Cardigan on Wimbledon Common.
In accordance with etiquette,
each was accompanied by his second.
They were armed with duelling
pistols of equal match.
Gentlemen, I design to resolve
the affair in this manner.
Then you'll each take six good
paces, turn and fire.
One,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six.
Cardigan shot and Wounded
Captain Tuckett.
I've hit my man.
Cardigan was charged with
intent to murder,
but acquitted on a technicality.
The fact that he was arrested showed
that public attitudes were changing.
Subsequent trial verdicts, alongside
pressure from Queen Victoria,
put an end to the practice.
By the 1850s, the duel was
as good as dead.
Back at Wimbledon Station, I'm taking
a train a little further west,
to Teddington, which, like Wimbledon,
is a leafy Outer London suburb.
What makes us civilised?
Is it literature, architecture,
institutions of government,
maybe liberty, or fairness?
As I hope to discover when I leave
this train at Teddington,
it dawned on the Victorians
quite late
that one of the marks of civilisation
might be the way a society treated
people with special needs.
As I leave the train,
I'm making my way to an institution
built at the time of my Bradshaw's
by a Victorian Reformer,
John Langdon Down,
and his wife, Mary.
He was a distinguished physician,
who, in 1858, took up a post
in the then unpopular and
ostracised field of mental health,
becoming Medical Superintendent of
the Earlswood Asylum in Surrey.
The first to classify the condition
now known as Down's syndrome,
he revolutionised the treatment
of those with learning disabilities
and, in 1868, built his own facility
here at Normansfield.
I'm meeting Ian Jones-Healey,
the archivist of
the Langdon Down Museum,
which is housed here.
Hello, Ian.
- Hello there.
Very good to see you.
Ian, first of all, I have to ask
about this extraordinary
model of the ship.
This was created
by James Henry Pullen,
who was a resident
at the Royal Earlswood Asylum
when John Langdon Down was
working there.
And although James Henry Pullen
had certain difficulties
with hearing and speech,
he was able to make
three-dimensional models
from very little information,
perhaps a picture in the
Illustrated London News,
so he created the Great Eastern,
which the original
was built by
built by Isambard Kingdom Brunei at
Millwall on the banks of the Thames.
Yes, it's a remarkable,
a splendid piece of work, isn't it?
In the 19th century,
what are the attitudes towards people
with learning difficulties?
Certainly for the upper
middle classes
and upper classes sometimes
it could be a matter of shame
and people could be
kept very much in secret.
What was the new approach that
John Langdon Down brought?
Well, he set up a revolutionary
institution here.
He took people
mostly from the upper classes
because he had to have an income.
He didn't have any state funding
and he decided that
the whole regime should
be much more enlightened.
You should be dressed properly,
you should have good food to eat,
you should have stimulation,
you should have walks
that you could go out on and, I think,
most of all, you should have some
form of education,
and perhaps learn a trade,
if you wanted to or were able to.
Can you give me an example of how
patients benefited
from this approach?
Well, they would have had
a lifestyle that was,
as far as possible,
almost like a home from home.
Mary Arnott is an example
of somebody that came to
live at Normansfield.
She lived into her late 50s,
which was quite rare in that time
for somebody with her condition.
I think that's testament,
maybe, to the
quality of life that she was
enjoying here.
I didn't know about
John Langdon Down.
Have we forgotten about him?
I think we're probably
rediscovering him.
I think he stands next to some of
the great Victorian reformers
of the period, somebody
that really wanted to
improve the lives of people with
disabilities, and certainly did so.
In the 1950s, Normansfield became
part of the National Health Service
and in 1997, it closed as a hospital.
Today, in a wing of
the original building,
is the Langdon Down Centre, home
of the Down's Syndrome Association,
which provides workshops,
drama groups
and a support network for people
with Down's syndrome.
One of John Langdon Down's legacies
is the beautiful Victorian playhouse,
which is listed,
and here I meet Kate Powell.
Hello, Kate.
- Hello.
I'm Michael.
- Hi.
How long have you been coming to
work at the association?
I've been coming here for 15 years.
I get involved in giving talks,
I get involved in big meetings
and AGMs, and I always get involved
in any kind of raising awareness
for people with Down's syndrome.
And here you are,
clutching a magazine...
Yes...
- Of which you are the editor.
I am. This is the Down2Earth
magazine.
Thank you very much.
- This is what I do.
What sort of things are in it
and how does it all work?
It all works with people's letters,
they also do art,
creative art, poetry, they also
put in people's photography.
It's a very fine magazine,
and I gather you have made a speech
at the United Nations, is that true?
It is true.
- What were you speaking about?
I was speaking about a project
called WorkFit.
It encourages people to
be in the world of work.
How did you feel speaking to the
United Nations?
Proud, I felt very proud.
And what about nervous?
No, I Wasn't nervous at all.
Not nervous?
- Never!
What do you think of the work that
John Langdon Down did'?
Well, the work that he did
encouraged people with
learning disabilities and
Down's syndrome, he loved people,
he helped people, with his work,
and I think he was a very good man.
Excellent, thank you
very much indeed.
Perhaps it's hot surprising
that Princess Charlotte
has been largely forgotten.
She died at a young age and the era
in which she would have reigned
has become inextricably linked
to her cousin, Queen Victoria.
It's harder to understand that,
whilst we remember reformers
like William Wilberforce
and Lord Shaftesbury,
few of us could name a man
who was a visionary
and a pioneer in the field
of disability.
The time has come to add
the name of John Langdon Down to the
Victorian roll of honour.
Next time, I attempt to
pull my weight on the River Thames...
Push on the legs, hands right.
- Sorry, I've lost it completely.
Discover the radical implications
of one of the country's
first universities for women...
I think it really was
a starting point.
By having ah education, by having a
choice, they demanded other choices.
And let off some
steam at a vintage funfair.
[HE LAUGHS]
Oh! This is horrible!
Oh! Enough! Enough!
[END THEME]