In 1840, one man transformed travel In Britain and Ireland.
His name was George Bradshaw
and his railway guides Inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,
what to see and where to stay.
Now, 170 years later,
I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of these Islands
to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.
For this journey I've crossed the Irish Sea,
using my Bradshaw's Guide to Great Britain and Ireland.
When my Descriptive Railway Handbook was published in the 1860s,
the two formed a United Kingdom under the reign of Queen Victoria.
Although industrialisation was more pronounced in England,
Wales and Scotland,
there was an extensive railway network in the Emerald Isle.
Today I'll learn the ancient art of butter-making...
It's exquisite, Eamon. It's a taste of the Irish rain.
Thank you very, very, very much.
... I'll tackle the basics of Ireland's oldest game...
So, what's the first thing to learn?
- Just... - Is to bounce it on my hurley.
Oops!
... and I'll ride the Duke of Devonshire's Victorian Irish railway.
In case the Duke of Devonshire is watching,
I want to thank your ancestor, sir, for giving us this lovely railway.
Using my "Bradshaw's Guide", I'm following tracks which opened up
the rich resources of the south of Ireland to tourists and trade.
I'll then travel north to discover Ireland's 19th-century heart,
before turning west to finish In beautiful Galway.
Today's leg begins In Charleville, on the northern tip of County Cork,
takes In County Tipperary and ends In the city of Waterford.
My Bradshaw's is rather unfair.
"The constant drizzle is the chief drawback,
but this gives Ireland its emerald green."
"It's said that the rain never leaves off but on 30 February."
The rain may be inconvenient to the tourist, but it's given Ireland
an industry that is the envy of the world: Dairy farming.
Founded In 1661, Charleville, In County Cork, was named after King Charles II.
Linen and wool were Its first staples but after the railways arrived In 1849,
dairy farmers, and butter-makers In particular, took full advantage.
I'm meeting Eamon O'Sullivan, who can trace his butter-making
and railway roots all the way back to Bradshaw's day.
(laughs) Eamon!
Not many people have a railway signal in their garden. Why do you?
You see a signal, I see a monument. A monument to thousands of employees
that built the railways, that laid the track,
that controlled the signals, that worked in the station,
like my own dad and my granddad.
- I was actually born under a signal. - Were you?
And my mother, the day I was born, on 8 February 1953,
there was a big noise and she said, "Don't worry, luvvie," she said.
I was two hours old. "That's the 1 7:30 going down to Cork."
The first sound you heard was a train.
I've come to talk to you about butter.
What is the connection between railways and butter?
If you were a farmer in West Limerick
and you had 50 miles to travel to the marketplace,
which was Cork, it took 12 hours.
When the train stopped in Charleville, Michael, it took one hour.
So you had your product efficiently gone to the marketplace in Cork.
And all that because of the train,
so I take double pride in being a railway child
and also being, on my mother's side,
descended from great dairy people who knew about making butter.
Replacing the "butter roads"
that once connected County Cork's rural areas with Its towns,
railways sped up the delivery of dairy products,
like the butter that Eamon and his daughters still produce traditionally
from Its raw material, cream.
Now, Michael, if you entered a house in the past,
it was very good manners to take part in the churning,
so I'm going to ask you to wish the butter good luck and a good yield
and good flavour that you would operate the churning for a few minutes.
Just like this?
Eamon, what is it I'm doing here, what am I achieving?
(Eamon) Michael, you're doing something that people did 400 years ago.
That's the oldest form of butter churning.
(Michael) What happens next?
(Eamon) Now, what you have is buttermilk and butter grains.
You took one product and you made two.
You took one product and, like Paul Daniels, you did magic.
You did magic! And look now, you've two products.
You've buttermilk and butter grains.
So, Edwina is working the moisture out of it now and the air.
I see why you get the water out, but why do you need to get the air out?
Very important you take the air out, because bacteria need three things.
They need heat, food and moisture, so we reduce the temperature,
which takes out the heat,
we take out the air, which takes out the oxygen,
and we take out the moisture, which takes out the food source.
And we salt it as well, which shouldn't allow or encourage bacteria to grow.
So, you get good flavour and long keeping.
(Michael) Ah, that's why you put salt in it?
- (Eamon) Exactly. - Edwina, may I have a go?
Most definitely.
So, what do I have to do? Just squeeze to get the water and the air out.
(Edwina) Take the heel of your hand and go like that.
(Michael) I can see water coming out.
That's right. And you can fold it in like this.
Uh-huh. It's rather satisfying.
(Edwina) I can show you the shaping into the block?
Ooh, that will be difficult, I think. OK, show me how you do that.
(Edwina) Now, mind the splashes. It's just...
Mmm... beautiful.
Now, Michael, Louise is actually going to wrap the pound of butter.
(Michael) Just like doing Christmas presents.
(Eamon) A little block of gold.
In a world dominated by technology, It's heartening that traditions
dating back to Bradshaw and beyond still thrive.
(Eamon) Michael, this is the fruit of our labour and it was a labour of love.
But, Michael, we have done justice to the memory of thousands and thousands
of people going back 4,000 years.
And I'm going to ask you to taste that.
And that colour, Michael, is pure natural,
that's the beta-carotene that comes from the grass.
Thank you, Eamon.
And I'm going to ask you to wash it down, Michael,
with real, real, buttermilk.
Now, there is little grains of butter in it, that's to be expected,
and I think you're going to leave here
with a taste that you will not forget. Enjoy.
- Your great good health, Eamon. - And thank you so much, Michael.
Mmm. Gosh, that is the richest thing, with all those little pearls of butter.
Gorgeous. Beautiful.
I thank you so much for recognising that.
And followed now by dollops of butter.
(laughs) Very good, very good, very good.
It's exquisite, Eamon. It's the taste of the country.
It's the taste of the Irish rain.
Please, Michael, take it away in your heart and take it away in your mind.
Thank you very, very, very much.
Leaving County Cork behind, I'm making a detour northeast
Into County Tipperary on the Intercity mainline.
The arrival of the railways in Victorian times massively increased mobility,
enabling people to broaden their horizons
beyond the limits of their village or community.
And that new ability to travel to other towns and cities
stimulated the development of sport,
particularly one that became so important in Irish history and culture.
As I hope to discover at my next stop, Thurles.
In the 12th century,
at least 1700 Norman Invaders were slain In battle here,
but In the late 19th century,
Thurles became a symbol of pursuits of a gentler nature
when the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed.
It's the governing body of Ireland's national sports:
Gaelic football and hurling.
With the advent of the railways,
crowds from all over the country were able to travel to watch these games.
Today, this rural town has an Incongruously large sports stadium.
And I'm meeting Pat Bracken,
a PhD student of Victorian sport, to find out why.
Pat, this is an enormous stadium.
Thurles is quite a small town. How do you have such a large stadium?
(Pat) Thurles had a sports field here for many years
and it developed from 1910 as a sports field
solely for Gaelic sports and pastimes.
And it's a terrific gem for the game, not alone in Thurles,
but throughout the country.
(Michael) What's the population, and the capacity of the stadium?
(Pat) Thurles has a population of just around 7,000 persons
and the stadium has a capacity of 53,000,
so it's a big jump, but on match days, particularly the Munster final day,
it's absolutely jam-packed
and there's a great buzz around the town and the square.
No one knows the precise origins of the sport.
But perhaps the earliest surviving reference to hurling In this Island
Is found In 7th-century Irish laws,
which describe sporting Injury compensation.
Not for the faint hearted, hurling Is played with sticks called hurleys,
a ball called a silotar,
and by two teams of 15 trying to outscore each other
by hitting the ball between the posts or Into the goals.
So, when did the sports that are played here become official and organised?
They became official and organised, for the want of a better word,
codified even, in 1884 at a meeting in one of the hotels in Thurles,
Lizzie Hayes's Commercial Hotel. That was on 1 November 1884.
So, I'm at the very heart, I'm at the place where it all began.
You're at the official birth of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
(Michael) How important are these sports and these events to the Irish character,
Irish culture, Irish calendar?
I don't think in the history of anything in relation to sport in Ireland
is there two games more important to the Irish psyche
than hurling and Gaelic football.
(Michael) Is there any way I could learn the basics?
I think you could indeed.
Even though hurling's an amateur sport,
Its top players, like Noel McGrath and Joanne Ryan,
who plays the women's version called camogle, are well-known faces.
(Michael) I have never dressed like this in my life!
Time for my ritual humiliation.
Hi, guys. So, how do you play it?
- Can I borrow your hurley? - No bother.
So what's the first thing I have to learn?
Is to bounce it on my hurley.
Oops! Yeah!
(Noel) I suppose the first thing to do is
teaching youngsters how to hold the hurley right
and then just to raise the ball and get it into the hand like that.
(Michael) What's the point of getting it into your hand?
You have to get it into your hand, so you can hit it with the hurley again.
- (grunts) Nearly! - Nearly there, yeah.
(laughs) Just that six inches adrift.
- Yay! I'm off! - That's it, yeah.
Now what's this business about bashing it round the field? How do you do that?
I suppose you just, once you get it into your hand
you just throw it up and you just strike it, like.
I suppose it comes natural after a while, like.
So, how do you do that neat thing, you just swing your bat around...
Two hands on the hurley... Oh! Sorry, a bit hard.
Too good for you, Joanne!
(laughs)
I'm playing a cricket stroke there.
So...
Ah, that's getting better!
Hooray! Noel, I'll get your autograph later.
Thank you very much indeed.
It's probably best that I abandon my stick and journey on.
In Bradshaw's day, and indeed well into the 20th century,
there was a direct rail connection from Thurles to my next destination.
But Ireland suffered cutbacks in its rail network every bit as radical
as those in the UK, and so now I have to go back south to Limerick Junction
and then eastward to Clonmel.
I'm changing train at Limerick Junction,
an Important crossing point that, In Bradshaw's day,
opened up Ireland's most southerly rail routes
and one of Its most famous towns.
The song It's A Long Way To Tipperary was written in Manchester in 1912
and, being a lament for a girl left far behind at home,
it became popular with the soldiers in World War I marching to the front
and became globally famous.
With its reputation for being so distant,
I never dreamt that I'd set foot there myself,
but, right now, I'm arriving in Tipperary.
I'm not allghting.
But my next destination Is not a long way from Tipperary,
It's just 27 miles down the track.
In the mid 18th century, the ancient town of Clonmel
demolished part of Its city wall
and built a deepwater quay on the River Suir,
becoming one of the most Important freight hubs for Irish corn.
The railway arrived In 1852,
but some years earlier,
Ireland's first ever public transport service commenced here,
and I'm hoping that Fergal O'Keefe, the owner of Hearns, my hotel for the night,
can tell me all about It.
- Great to see you. - Thank you very much.
I see outside that it says that this was the headquarters
of the Charles Bianconi stagecoach system from 1815. Tell me about that.
He actually set up the headquarters here
for the first public transport system in Ireland in 1815.
He actually came from Italy. He actually was a peddler.
He walked up to 30 miles a day around the country
and he noticed how bad the public transport system was.
He had a great opportunity, actually, at the Battle of Waterloo.
After that, that's when he had his big chance,
because basically there was a glut of cheap horses
and cheap grain that went on the market
and he used that opportunity to set up his business.
But, when he started, the demand wasn't great.
It didn't really take off.
Bianconi had arrived In Ireland as a penniless 15-year-old
and he wasn't about to let his business fail.
To drum up custom, he set up a rival service In another name,
and developed a fierce, but fake, rivalry between the two.
Word quickly spread and passengers bought tickets,
simply to experience the thrill of the race from Clonmel to Cahir.
His stagecoach network quickly spread nationwide
and, embracing the railways' rapid expansion,
It Included many feeder routes to stations.
I have to say, the town is so proud of him. He was a great visionary.
He also set up the first Catholic university in Dublin.
He was an investor in that. He also set up the national bank.
He was also the mayor of Clonmel for a couple of years
and he didn't take a salary during that time.
Ireland was very happy to borrow this Italian.
Exactly, yeah.
Revived and ready for a new day of discovery,
my first destination Is In Clonmel.
This is the courthouse in Clonmel, where, my Bradshaw's tells me,
"The O'Brien pronunciamento was knocked on the head in 1848,
the leader of which has returned to his native land a wiser and better man
having been pardoned by Her Majesty Queen Victoria."
Now what's interesting to me is that a guidebook published in the 1860s
is still recalling a political event from 1848,
so it must have been pretty important and worthy of further investigation.
With no train link, to find out more I need to travel 22 miles north by road
to the townland of Farrenrory, close to the village of Ballingarry,
where I'm meeting author Willie Nolan at the Famine Warhouse.
- Willie, hello. - Oh, hello, Michael.
(Michael) William Smith O'Brien, who was he?
(Willie) William Smith O'Brien was a member of an aristocratic family,
the O'Briens of Inchiquin, but he was also a member from 1843
of the Repeal Association which was meant to repeal the act of union.
- To give Ireland home rule. - A form of home rule.
(Michael) So, how does he become involved in events in 1848?
O'Brien was going around the country to organise the Irish League
and to actually establish military clubs.
It was a twofold pronged attack on the British system,
your military organisation and your political organisation.
But of course what happened is,
the British government was moving pretty quick to sort out the affair
and they brought in a number of Acts in Parliament,
and the one which really started all the problems here in some respects
was the suspension of habeas corpus.
People could be put in prison without charge?
Basically internment without trial.
And they knew that because the Young Irelanders, Irish Confederation,
had publicised all their efforts in newspapers,
they had their own newspaper, The Nation,
they knew who was involved.
A proclamation put a £500 price on O'Brien's arrest
and a troop of 46 policemen
under the leadership of a sub-Inspector named Trant,
set out for the pursuit.
But these were dangerous times for the authorities In Ireland,
and It was Trant and his policemen who were pursued,
as O'Brien's pro-Independence Young Irelanders
forced the police to take refuge In this widow's house In Farrenrory.
(Willie) O'Brien comes to this window here, and he says to the police inside,
"I'm Smith O'Brien, I'm as good an Irishman as any of you
and I want to make peace."
Sub-Inspector Thomas Trant ordered the police to fire, and in doing so,
one man was shot dead,
one man was badly injured and died a couple of days later
and a few more people were wounded.
(Michael) How was the siege eventually resolved?
By the intervention of Father Philip Fitzgerald, the local Catholic curate.
Father Fitzgerald rides up to the front window here
and attempts to negotiate with Trant, who appears at the window.
There are various kinds of aspects of what Father Fitzgerald said
and didn't say, but what I think he said is that if they surrendered their arms,
they would be allowed to go free.
But that didn't appeal to Trant and he said,
"No, we're quite pleased to be where we are."
"We're very secure, we've a very solid house," and he was all the time
expecting re-enforcements from the other police stations,
and this is actually what happened.
(Michael) What happened to O'Brien after the siege?
O'Brien was in safe hiding for a week after the siege,
and just nearly exactly a week later, he turned up at Thurles Railway Station,
and a railway guard named Hulme came up to him and said,
"You are Smith O'Brien and I arrest you in the name of the Queen."
(Michael) It says here, "Remember 48".
Now, how important is it in Irish history, do you think?
It's very important, because you could say the schedule of title
to Irish nationalism, there are references to six occasions
in which the Irish took up arms
to secure independence and this is one of them.
Well, Willie, you've really brought to life for me
a very substantial part of Irish history. Thank you.
(Willie) Thank you.
Back to Clonmel, to take the train to my last destination of the day.
Beautiful though it is to watch Ireland's green fields
race past the carriage window,
it's more exciting to see the railway lines stretching out ahead of the train,
and for the brief run from Clonmel to Waterford,
I'm going to ride in the cab.
So, Raymond, how long a run is it into Waterford?
- Forty minutes. - Is it quite nice countryside?
It's lovely, yes. It's a nice, scenic line.
(train horn sounds)
Of my next stop, Waterford, "Bradshaw's" says,
"It has a thriving provision trade with Bristol and Liverpool
and Is provided with excellent quay room,
and water deep enough for ships of a thousand tons. "
With Its ready access to the sea,
Waterford has been a substantial port since Viking times.
But Its railway heritage most Interests me.
One of the things that impresses me about railways
is that even though steam engines have been replaced,
the basic engineering concept of metal wheels on metal rails
is unchanged in 200 years.
Here at Waterford, I'm going to see some other aspects
of current railway technology that even George Bradshaw would recognise.
- Stephen, hello, I'm Michael. - Hello, Michael.
This really is a signal box for railway enthusiasts,
built across the line like this over a bridge, that's quite unusual.
(Stephen) Yes, I haven't seen any others like that in this country.
- (Michael) How old do you think it is? - 100 years old, maybe more.
- Yeah. - Before my time, anyway.
(Michael laughs)
(Michael) Now, you've got here a variety of signal levers.
These control semaphore signals of the old-fashioned sort, yes?
Most of the signals there are semaphore signals.
The first railway semaphore signal In Britain and Ireland
was Installed on the London to Croydon line In the 1840s.
A horizontal signal always means stop...
... but whether "proceed" Is Indicated by an up or down arm
depends on which system each railway employs.
The trackside signals are worked manually by the signalman
who pulls a lever, which also moves a red or green glass In front of the lamp,
so the signal can be Identified In darkness.
Do you mind if I give it a pull for you? How many weeks' practice did this take?
You didn't have your Weetabix this morning.
- I'll let you do it, Stephen. - OK.
In Waterford, I come across another example of Victorian railway heritage
at Kilmeadan Station.
In the United Kingdom, we have heritage railway fever.
There are fewer lines in Ireland,
but I'm about to go on the longest stretch now open,
which is on the Waterford, Dungarvan & Lismore Railway,
which was originally opened in 1878, after my Bradshaw's was published.
And today there are families, festivities and balloons.
- Hello, Maria. - Hello, Michael.
Congratulations on your railway,
because this has been quite an effort, to get it open again.
It has indeed, yes.
It was a long effort, but I tell you, it's well worth it.
We've been operating ten years and it's gone from strength to strength.
(Michael) How long a track is it?
We've actually got 10km of track, but we only operate on 8.5km.
(Michael) I've heard this called the Duke's Line. Why would that be?
It was actually the Waterford, Dungarvan & Lismore Railway line,
and the Duke of Devonshire was the main shareholder in this line,
hence it was called the Duke's Line.
This new line terminated at Lismore, the Irish seat of William Cavendish,
the seventh Duke of Devonshire.
As the chairman and main shareholder of his railway,
the duke ensured that visitors travelling by rail to his castle
would be Impressed by his local station,
which he had built from expensive Portland stone.
(blows whistle)
What are your future hopes for the railway?
Our future hopes are to extend the track from Bilberry right to Waterford city,
so that people can get on in the city
and come out and experience the beauty of County Waterford
while they're staying in the city.
And at that time, I would hope we'd be operating with a steam engine.
Can you imagine a steam engine going from Kilmeaden
all the way into the city, down the quays and picking up in Waterford city?
It would be unique.
It'd be the only Irish city with a steam engine.
That'll be the day I come back.
In case the Duke of Devonshire is watching,
I want to thank your ancestor, sir, for giving us this lovely railway.
There are plans to re-extend it to the city of Waterford.
For the moment it only goes as far as Bilberry
to the south of the city centre, so that's where I'll be getting off.
In Britain, the railways are closely associated
with the Industrial Revolution, but even in rural Ireland,
the trains made as big an impact on things like agriculture and sport.
On this leg of the journey,
I've encountered things that most evoke Ireland.
Tipperary, butter, Gaelic football,
and, of course, rebellion against the British.
On the next leg of my journey,
I'll try my hand at cutting marble, Victorian-style...
(sighs / laughs)
It just suddenly fell away!
... uncover 19th-century Ireland's surprising Industrial heritage...
It's a monumental mill. Really impressive. Looks like a fortress.
... and learn how the railways helped to bring motorsport to the masses.
They estimated that there would have been almost a million people
- spectating on that event. - You're not serious.
The first gathering of that amount of people in Ireland.
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll