Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 8, Episode 1 - The Flying Scotsman - full transcript

[OPENING THEME MUSIC]

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 and Ireland, their landscape,
industry, society and leisure time.

As I follow its roots 130 years
later,

it helps me to discover these
islands today.

At the time of this 1882 edition of
Bradshaw's guide,

Ireland was part of the United
Kingdom.

But because its population had been
drastically reduced by famine and



emigration, many Irish resented
British rule.

I'll be interested, on this rail
journey, to see how Irish culture

strengthened during this period,

with a new devotion to the Irish
language and Irish sports, and national

pride celebrated on the harp
and the fiddle,

in song and in dance, and in literature
and poetry that rejoiced in the

loveliness of this Emerald Isle.

My Irish journey begins in the
south-east.

I travel north to the political
capital and cultural centre of Dublin,

then cross the country westwards,

delving into the core of Irish
identity and Victorian ingenuity

before ending on the wild Atlantic
coast in County Mayo.

Today's route starts in the old port
of Wexford.

I'll travel through the musical
valleys around Arklow northwards to



County Wicklow, where a trot around
the surrounding hills ends this leg.

'Along the way, I take to the seas
in a hundred-year-old lifeboat...'

It's wonderful to feel the sense of
teamwork...

as I pull the oars with this
wonderful crew.

'...learn of a much-forgotten
political poet...'

He deserves to be remembered as
someone who spoke up for Irish culture and

Irish political rights at a very,
very dark time.

'...and abandon the trains for a
taste of the travelling life.'

Reins in hand, and we're all ready.

My first port of call will be
Wexford.

The guidebook tells me it's the
capital of a county of that name

at the mouth of the River Slaney.

Steamers from here to Bristol and
Liverpool.

Many Victorian travellers arriving
from England would have started their

journey here and would have been
struck by the town's relationship with

the sea, which was to have an
extraordinary influence across the ocean.

Wexford was a transport hub for
Victorians travelling between England

and Ireland on the steam ferries.

The quayside railway station opened
in 1874, a decade before my guidebook,

as part of the Dublin, Wicklow and
Wexford railway linking this port

to the capital.

I'm meeting historian Jarlath Glynn.

Michael, welcome to Wexford.

Thank you very much. The town is
looking absolutely gorgeous and

you've got the bunting out.
You've got a festival going on?

We have. Wexford Maritime Festival.

It's in its fifth year.

And it celebrates all things
maritime and Wexford.

And I notice you've got a lot of
lifeboat posters up today.

So you have a lifeboat, do you?

We have a lifeboat. We've one here
just behind us at Wexford Bridge and

we've another one in Kilmore Quay.

And there are lifeboats
from England,

Scotland and Wales here today to
join our celebrations.

And it's a great institution,

saved so many lives, and the
volunteers are wonderful.

And here in Ireland, it's still
known as the RNLI,

R being for Royal.

Yes, that has continued.

I suppose that's surprising, but I think
because they do such marvellous work,

that the name has just continued.

I'm not sure people pay any
attention to the name now.

Wexford has had a lifeboat station
since 2002.

This life-saving service is
celebrated as part of the festival.

We gather to bless these boats and
all those who sail in them.

BOTH: God of love, at the beginning of
time, your spirit hovered over the deep.

And from these oceans,
you brought forth life.

We ask your blessing on these boats

and all who will work
and travel in them.

I've donned this life jacket because
I've been given the privilege of

riding with the oarsmen today
on the lifeboat.

Hi, guys. Can I come aboard?

Yes, of course you can.

Thank you.

This oar is tremendously heavy.

I'm a bit nervous. I just have to
follow what the others do.

Oars in, lads.

Ready, away and pull.

Pull.

This hundred-year-old lifeboat and
its crew are visiting from Whitby in

England, where lifeboats have been
operating for over 200 years.

Since the foundation of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution in 1824,

its crews have saved over
139,000 lives.

I'm concentrating like mad on trying
to keep the same rhythm as my fellow

experienced oarsmen.

Rowing boats like this set the
standard until the 1850s.

To feel the sense of teamwork...

as I pull the oars with this
wonderful crew.

Get rid of the blue oars, please.

Thank you.

Michael, would you like a drop?

Oh, I would. Thank you, cheers.

You're welcome.
- what a very lovely crew this is.

Well done!

Ah! I could row the Atlantic now.

Wexford's maritime history goes back
to the Vikings,

who named the place Veisafjoror,
meaning Inlet of the Mudflats.

It's long been a busy fishing
harbour and, since the 18th century,

it's also been an important trading
port.

This strong maritime culture spawned
one of the town's most famous sons.

Commodore John Barry,
United States Navy.

Who was he?

John Barry has been described
as a Wexford-born American hero.

He was born in South Wexford in the
mid-17405,

he came from a maritime background.

And he emigrated to the United
States at the age of 14 and started as a

cabin boy, started at the lowest
ranks,

and worked his way up to the
highest ranks.

And he became a commercial
sea captain.

At the start of the American War of
Independence,

commercial sea captains were drafted
in to fight the British.

Loyal to his new nation, John Barry
commanded numerous warships,

winning crucial victories,

including the final sea battle of
the revolution against the British,

in 1783.

He became a naval hero and President
George Washington appointed him

senior captain of the United States'
new naval force.

How was he recognised for those
achievements?

He was given the title Father of the
American Navy and he is really

recognised in America.

Four US destroyers named after him, and
the two American presidents have come

here to lay wreaths at this statue.

Dwight Eisenhower came in 1962 and the
following year, of course, John F Kennedy

came to Ireland because his
ancestors come from Dunganstown

outside New Ross.

And he came to Wexford town in June
1963, and people are still

talking about it.

Should we be surprised that Wexford
produced a naval hero of

global significance?
- No, not really.

Wexford has always had a very proud
maritime tradition and Wexford has

always looked out to the sea.

Before I leave, there's just time
fora quick peek in the food tent,

where some rather unusual local
produce has caught my eye.

Hello, there.
- Good day, sir.

Michael, and I'm
another Michael here.

Michael, it's very nice to see you.
- And you too, fella.

I imagine
Wexford's pretty famous for seafood.

It's absolutely, yeah. we're
obviously by the coast.

That's a seafood sausage, if you
want to try one.

A seafood sausage?

It's salmon and
haddock and herbs and spices.

They're gluten-free, they're high
in Omega-3 oil, low in fat,

seriously healthy.
what do you think?

Well, I think they're wonderful.

Yeah. They're delicious and, may I say,
you are the best-dressed man here today?

Well, I think you beat me on that
one, sir. Fair dos to you.

No, no, no, no!
- Thank you very much.

Thank you. Cheers.
Bye-bye.

Bacon marmalade, that's intriguing.

It's very nice.

Thank you.
- It seems very strange, bacon and marmalade,

but it works very well.
Have a good day.

Thank you very much.
- Thank you.

I'm leaving County Wexford and
heading north up the coast to the

very scenic county of Wicklow.

The arrival of the railways opened
up this region to the 19th-century

traveller, who could enjoy the view
from the window, just as I do today.

This is a beautiful train ride.

The guidebook says, "The greater
part of this county is mountainous.

"Towards the sea coast, it assumes
great splendour and variety of scenery.

"The railway can be taken to the
famed Vale of Avoca,"

or meeting point of the waters.

And where the gurgling stream meets
the babbling brook,

you can expect sweet music.

I'm alighting at the town of Arklow.

It's the closest station to the Vale
of Avoca, mentioned in my Bradshaw's,

which became a popular destination
for Victorian tourists.

It's where the River Avonmore meets the
River Avonbeg, and where I'm meeting

Maynooth University professor of
English Emer Nolan.

Emer, hello.

Michael, welcome to County Wicklow.

Thank you very much. So, the waters
meet here.

what makes them so famous? This is
the setting for a very,

very famous Irish song, composed by
Thomas Moore in the 19th century.

It became one of the most popular
musical pieces for performance

in Ireland and beyond Ireland,
as well.

And he sets the story of the song
exactly at this spot,

contemplating the meeting of
the two rivers.

Give me an idea of his popularity in
his heyday.

It was enormous.

He was one of the best-known English
or Irish writers of the early 19th

century, and he really put Ireland
on the map, in literary terms.

He was the first person who found
all the kind of stories and symbols and

images of Ireland that we would
recognise today - the shamrocks, the harps...

rediscovered many of the old airs
and melodies and really made them

available to a vast audience
throughout the world.

Considered by some to be Ireland's
national bard,

Moore had left his homeland as a
young man to work in London.

Through his nostalgic, patriotic
poetry and songs,

he championed a proud Irish identity,
and his work inspired the masses and

those working for independence.

Did people make a connection between
Thomas Moore and politics?

I think they did, yes.

There was a very important connection
between Moore's poetry and music

and Irish politics.

He was associated with Daniel
O'Connell,

the great leader of the Catholics in
the early 19th century in the great

movement for Catholic emancipation.

Thomas Moore has probably been
almost completely

forgotten in Great Britain,
and substantially in Ireland.

How should he be remembered?

He deserves to be remembered as
someone who spoke up for Irish culture and

Irish political rights at a very, very
dark time, and remained so important to

millions of Irish people in Ireland
and beyond as someone who had kept a

gleam of nationhood alive.

Thomas Moore's emotive Irish poems
were set to traditional Irish

melodies - famous amongst which are
Minstrel Boy, The Last Rose Of Summer

and The Meeting Of The waters.

Hello. How are you?

Very well. You're playing
The Meeting Of The Waters.

Yes, we are. Well spotted.

It's meant to be a little bit
old-fashioned,

but you still get something
out of it?

We do, absolutely. It's a beautiful
air, the lyrics are beautiful.

It still resonates today,
particularly here.

Any chance of hearing it through?

Yes, we'd be happy to.
- Love to play for you.

Ready? Three, four...

[THEY PLAY "THE MEETING OF
THE WATERS"]

"There is not in this wide world

"A valley so sweet

"As the vale in whose bosom

"The bright waters meet

"Oh, the last rays of feeling

"And life must depart

"Ere the bloom of that valley

"Should fade from my heart

"Ere the bloom of that valley

"Should fade from my heart."

Following my Bradshaw's to the
letter,

my stop for the night will be the
Woodenbridge Inn, how a hotel.

Good evening.

Good evening, Michael. Welcome to
Woodenbridge.

Thank you very much indeed.

My guidebook, which is 130 years
old or thereabouts,

says that tourists can spend the
night here.

You've been here a while.
- Woodenbridge Hotel dates back to 1608,

and would have been a stop on the main
coaching route from Dublin to Carlow.

You'll have had some famous visitors.
- We've had many famous visitors.

We've had Eamon de Valera, a
former president of Ireland,

who would have fought in 1916 and
the War of Independence,

and Michael Collins, who turned out
to be his arch nemesis in the end, also

stayed here.
And most famous of all,

John Redmond made his famous speech
about Irish men joining the British Army.

1914.
- That's right, yeah.

Wow!

what history. what politics!

Absolutely, yeah.

I thought the place smelt of politics.
I'll feel very much at home here!

Good, well, enjoy your stay.
- Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thanks.

This morning, I'm returning to the
mainline,

continuing northwards in the
direction of Dublin.

My first stop today will be Wicklow.
Bradshaw's is not very complementary.

"A small town, the capital of the
county,

"made up of streets that are narrow
and ill-built.

"It stands on the little
River Vartry."

Unfortunately, Ireland in the
19th century suffered not only famine,

but also cholera and typhoid, and the
little River Vartry played an important part

in bringing clean water to the
capital.

During the middle of the
19th century,

about a million Irish people starved to
death, and close to two million more

abandoned Ireland in waves of
mass emigration.

I'm making my way towards the Wicklow
Mountains, where a grand Victorian

project hoped to combat another
threat from disease.

I'm meeting plant engineer Ned
Fleming.

Hello, Ned. I'm Michael.
- Hello, Michael. How are you?

Ned, how does it come to be that a
tremendous reservoir is built here?

Dublin in the 18503 needed a new
water supply, and the main problem really

was that cholera had appeared in
Ireland in the 18303 and killed over

50,000 people. And it was only
during the 18503 that, due to the work of

John Show in particular in London,
that they realised that water,

contaminated water, spread cholera.

Prior to that, the Victorians had
the theory of miasma -

that all fevers were spread
by bad air.

But with these new thoughts, a
medical doctor in Ireland, John Gray,

drove this idea of a new water
treatment works

and new water treatment supply for
Dublin.

John Gray was not only a medical doctor
but a businessman who lobbied hard

for a new, clean water system
for Dublin.

He believed that could be achieved
by damming the River Vartry 25 miles

from the city and piping water
into Dublin.

Why would they choose this
particular location?

This location was largely dictated
by the prior building of the railway

down to Wexford. The city fathers
realised that the city would expand to

follow the railway and hence the
idea of building a waterworks in this

part of the country because it could
supply on the way back in to Dublin.

work on the reservoir began in 1862.

Digging to a depth of over 18 metres
and creating a capacity of over 11

billion litres, the scheme was a
huge engineering feat.

Using mainly picks and shovels,

the navvies completed the project in
just five years.

These filtration beds that we
see here,

these are essentially what were
built in the 19th century?

Yes, seven of them were built in the
18605.

The scheme was so successful that
three more were added almost

immediately, within ten years.

So now, where are all the levers?

They are over in the valve house
under the dam.

We'll 90 across and look at it.

Very beautiful machinery. Victorian?

These are Victorian. They're the
original valves and they control the

amount of water that we take from
the reservoir into the water works.

So, what is the system?
- The system is simply gravity -

water's stored in the reservoir,

the pressure of that water drives it
through the pipes underneath our feet,

and these valves then, by
opening or shutting,

we control the amount of water that
comes in.

And so that gravity is sufficient to
take it all the way to Dublin, is it?

It is, yes.
- How would you operate these things?

It's very, very simple. I suggest we
walk across and look at this valve here.

And it's a matter of turning
this wheel.

As you turn, you are now opening the
valve and, if you turn the wheel the

other way, you're closing the valve.

Surprisingly easy.

Yes, because of good gearing,
25 turns,

you will only open that tongue
one inch.

The Vartry water supply scheme still
provides drinking water to around 15%

of the Greater Dublin Area and today
it's additionally treated with chlorine.

Why do we have this tower and this
bridge?

This tower is called a draw-off tower,
where the water's taken from here,

it's like a vertical pipe.

But, of course, in Victorian times,
a pipe had to be beautiful.

It did, yes, and they did it in the
Victorian Gothic style.

Beautiful. And how significant has
this been for the people of Dublin?

It's probably the most significant
public health engineering project ever

for Dublin because it supplied
ZOO-300,000 people with clean water and,

in doing so, it eliminated cholera.

I'm gazing at the Wicklow
Mountain district

which, according to my guidebook,
"no tourist should omit visiting.

"It extends from Donnybrook to
Arklow."

I'm interested in that subset of
Irish people whose view of it is always

changing as they travel from place
to place, never settling.

Irish travellers have roamed the
countryside for generations.

Victorian writers romanticised their
nomadic lifestyle and today, for a taste

of life out on the road,

visitors can hire traditional
caravans from Dieter Clissmann.

Hello, Dieter.
- Hello, Michael. You're very welcome.

Thank you very much indeed.

These beautiful horse caravans,
would these be typical and historical?

Yes, they are historical.

We copied them from the pattern that
we got from the old travelling people

themselves.
- And how different

are what you have today from the
traditional ones?

Well, obviously, we have a lot
of modern conveniences that they

didn't have in the old ones.

The old ones had a potbelly stove,
which was used for heating and for

cooking. The travellers were famous
for having lots of children and there

would be sometimes up to a dozen
children or more even, and they would

start off life in the caravan,

being minded by their mother and
father, and then migrated to underneath

the caravan,

when they were getting a bit older!

Is it possible to take a ride in one
of these?

Yes, we'll take a drive rather than
a ride, and we'll just have to find

ourselves a horse first.

We certainly will.
Why don't we do that?

Let's just do that.

These barrel-top caravans flourished
in Ireland at the turn of the

20th century.

A good pulling horse was essential.

Hello.
- Hello, welcome.

This is Neasa, my youngest.

I'm Michael.
- I'm Neasa and this is Paddy.

Hello, Paddy.
- He'll be your horse for today.

Would this be atypical horse from
the travellers' days?

Yes, it would be. They come in all
shapes and sizes, in a sense.

A lot of them would have been black
and white and they were called piebald

horses or brown and white are
skewbald.

They typically have this little
moustache at the front, and

a little bit of a beard underneath.

Big, friendly giants.

Very good.
- OK.

Come on, Pads. Good boy.

All yours.

Thank you.
- Left is left and right is right.

And pull both and it is to stop and
say, "Whoa!"

Reins in hand and we're all ready.

Come on, Paddy.

Today, there are around 25,000 Irish
travellers living in the Republic of Ireland.

Dieter, what sort of relationship
did the Irish travellers have traditionally

with the settled people?

Sometimes, they're regarded as
being, if you like, outside normal society

but, essentially, travellers, as we
know them today,

used to be called tinkers because they
worked in tin and they used to make

tin implements and tin containers
and all kinds of things.

Tin kettles. And they were a
valuable part of the community.

They were itinerants.

So, if you had a kettle that sprung
a leak,

you waited until the next tinker
would be passing by and you'd get it

repaired.
- And what about the culture?

what about the folklore?

The horses have been a central part
of the culture of the Irish traveller.

And the horses that we use here,
to a large extent, come from the

travelling people, we buy them
from them.

And they're very good
horse dealers.

For the 19th-century tourist,

horse-drawn transport was common and
riding the new steam trains would

have been the thrill. But for
today's visitors, like me,

seeing the country at the gentle
pace of a horse and wagon is the treat.

When the young John Barry emigrated
to the American colonies,

he was typical of Irish people who
felt they had little future at home,

although his success as Father of
the US Navy was truly exceptional.

The great hunger of the 19th century
turned that emigration into a flood,

many of them leaving from the port
of Wexford.

As political agitation also
increased,

writers like Thomas Moore sought to
recreate an Irish national identity,

hoping to create a society from
which young Irish would no longer feel

compelled to escape to find their
fortunes.

'Next time, I discover one of
Ireland's greatest treasures...'

This embodies the soul of the
nation, this instrument.

I don't think that's an
overstatement.

'...hear how the British tried to
calm relations across the Irish Sea...'

So, despite the political agitation,

using the royal family is a good
card to play.

It's always a good card to play,

especially if they're young and
good-looking.

'...and get involved in a bit of
Dublin culture.'

A few of them and you'll be having
the craic all night!

[LAUGHTER]

[END THEME MUSIC]