The fifth episode of the fourth series of ‘Grundy’s Wonders’ produced by Tyne Tees Television and written and presented by architectural historian and broadcaster John Grundy. In this programme John begins the programme by looking at the development of factories and mass production during the industrial revolution before re-living his youth by returning Dixon’s Mill in Carlisle where he once worked as a teenager. In the final part of the programme John travels to York and the former...

The fifth episode of the fourth series of ‘Grundy’s Wonders’ produced by Tyne Tees Television and written and presented by architectural historian and broadcaster John Grundy. In this programme John begins the programme by looking at the development of factories and mass production during the industrial revolution before re-living his youth by returning Dixon’s Mill in Carlisle where he once worked as a teenager. In the final part of the programme John travels to York and the former Rowntree’s chocolate factory to showcase the efforts of this Quaker family to improve not just the lives of their workers but also the community. An animation of a book with its pages turning revealing different buildings and architectural styles ending on presenter John Grundy holding the programmes title card. Title: Grundy’s Wonders A montage of industrial processes taking place in factories intercut with blacksmith Neil Downey working his forge inside the Errol Hut Smithy, part of the Ford and Etal Estate in north Northumberland. Stand nearby as Neil bends a piece of iron on the anvil is presenter John Grundy who gives a definition of a factory and explains that through most of history things were not made in bulk rather by people like Neil in workshops like this as and when they were needed. On a table outside the smithy examples of Neil’s ironwork sitting in a table. Coming to stand in the doorway John states that until recently every community needed a blacksmith like this one and on estates like Ford and Etal lots of other specialist workers. Along the banks of the River Till at another part of the Ford and Etal Estate is Heatherslaw Corn Mill with the water from the river channelling along the mill race driving it’s the massive waterwheel inside the wheelhouse. Standing beside it John talks about the history and development of the mill during the 18th and 19th centuries. Inside the mill itself the waterwheel turns the grinding stone turning corn into flour, the finished product falling into a large burlap sack. John talks about why he likes this the ‘granddaddy of traditional mills’ and explains why it isn’t a factory. Exterior views of the Spillers’ Tyne Mill along the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle, an example of a flour factory rather than a flour mill. Returning to John watching the wheels turn inside Heatherslaw Corn Mill he explains how it was the industrial revolution that totally changed the way work was organised making it more efficient, cheaper and be able to produce in bulk. Inside a textile factory cotton being spun with John talking about how the work of Richard Arkwright helped in developing automated spinning machines and build the first textile factory at Cromford in Derbyshire. Returning to John inside Heatherslaw Corn Mill he talks about how by the middle of the 18th century the industrial revolution was expanding even to places like the Ford and Etal Estate, and what happened here being a perfect example of how the world began to change from local subsistence to mass production. A montage of Ford Castle and other buildings on the Ford and Etal Estate with John providing details in the work of the Delaval family to modernise the estate including the opening a coalmine. In the distance a chimney and the ruins of the now closed mine. Near to Heatherslaw Corn Mill a building identified by John as a factory that opened in 1767 to make initially nails and hand tools but later to make spades which were then exported. A painting of a fiery industrial landscape with John explaining that factories were not initially considered ugly but rather exciting. Sitting under a tree John pretends to write a Robert Burns poem onto a piece of glass with him telling a story of a visit to a Glasgow factory by the poet and a poem he wrote of that visit on a piece of glass using his diamond ring. John holds up and reads Burn's poem written on the glass. Over views of an early factory built like a simplified country houses in a rural setting, John explains that these early factories were accepted as they didn’t damage the landscape and there were not many of them. The sequence ends on Derwentcote Steel Furnace at Hamsterley Mill near Consett in County Durham. Walking along a riverbank with daffodils and other flowers growing along the banks John reads a passage from a travel booking describing what appears to be ‘a fertile and beautiful country’ and asking the viewer to imagine where they believe the writer was talking about. Now standing in the banks of the River Tyne with heavy industry and shipbuilding taking place on the far banks John confesses it is a description of a walk along the banks of the Tyne between North Shields and Newcastle passing this area in 1832. Reading the passage again John looks out across the river not being able to imagine what it looked like nearly two centuries earlier, but states that by the early 19th century England and especially the north had become industrialised with vast areas of the landscaped changed forever. If this change was for good or the worse then that question is still being hotly debated. A montage of shipbuilding along the River Tyne changed to John walking into the yard of Dixon’s or Shaddon Mill in Carlisle and talks about a job be had as a 17-year-old working in the dispatch department. Heading inside he takes a lift to the fourth floor where a man watches over modern knitting machines. As John talks about his memories of working at the factory in the 1960s he believes the scenes them weren’t that different from the mills of early industrial revolution. Walking past women working at sowing machines or on an iron John takes the programme into the commercial break by stating that you never turned your back on a Carlisle mill girl. Title: Grundy’s Wonders End of Part One Part Two Stepping from the lift still inside Shaddon Mill John appears in a large empty space once filled with cotton machines. As he wonders around the area, he talks about the architecture of the mill designed by William Fairburn who was a very important engineer in the Lancashire cotton industry. John points out some of the features including its fire-proof construction with cast-iron beams holding up a shallow brick arched ceiling with fire-proof tiles laid out on the floor. John opens a door into a chute where potentially flammable waste could be swept. Now on the seventh and top floor of the mill John talks about a friend of his who had the best job of all working up here in the Wool Store. As he explains why he looks out of the window at Carlisle below. Back outside again John quotes some statistical information about the building before going onto explain why it needed to built narrow with lots of windows. Near to the mill is Dixon’s Chimney with John explaining why to him it was more important than either Carlisle Castle or Cathedral. Over views of nearby cobbled streets and terraced houses John explains how this 19th century mill created its owned distinctive world about it. On nearby Charlotte Street a Congregational chapel where John attended a youth club are followed by other examples of working-class life including the Milbourne Arms public house with John stating that while not the most beautiful townscapes in the world, it is one of the ways northerns define themselves. Walking along one of the cobbled streets he explains that while the mill may no longer be as active, the physical landscape is still there where there is still a romance on these tough streets. Because of this he awards this weeks ‘Grundy’s Wonder’ to the backstreets of northern towns and like with Carlisle the factories that gave rise to them. An animation of a fanfare of trumpets over the following title. Title: Grundy’s Wonders Standing outside the entrance of the Nestles Rowntree factory in the city of York in North Yorkshire John recounts a visit to a Lemonade factory as a child and how a visit to this chocolate factory is a dream come true. Inside he wonders along various automated production lines watching Kit-Kat bars being produced. Coming along the Smarties Corridor John licks his lips before watching the multi-coloured Smarties coming off the individually coloured production lines and being mixed. In another room as an employee works to produce Lemon Drop hard-sweets or equivalent John talks about the factory once being begun and run by Joseph Rowntree. As women in another part of the factory work to box up what appear to be Matchmaker mints John talks about the families Quaker beliefs and their sharpened social conscious. He talks about the many charitable trusts they developed in areas such as education and poverty as well as other solid real practical things they did that altered the lives of their workers. A montage of the model village of New Earswick near York begun in1903 and one of the most important housing estates in Britan and one of the earliest garden villages. Over views of the houses and many decorative gardens John explains that the village was built as a model type of housing for ordinary working families being artistic in appearance, sanitary and above all affordable. Returning to the former Rowntree’s factory in the centre of York a montage of some of the builds built to improve and enrich both the body and soul of their workers including a garden and dining hall built in 1912, a lecture theatre and school now the Nestles Conference and Training Centre, sports facilities such as the Yearsley Swimming Pool and to help enrich peoples lives they build the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library and Memorial Theatre. Inside Rowntree Park donated to York in 1919 children play watched over by parent while around the pond others watch the ducks and geese. Views of the Gatehouse and Dovecote and with people relaxing and enjoying themselves John explains that he is so glad that there have been and still are business owners like the Rowntree’s who have the conscious and the vision to look beyond the narrow definition of what their responsibilities are to their workers and their communities. As he walks around the pond John states that he likes the idea of philanthropic factory owners so much he is going to offer a second ‘Grundy’s Wonder’ to the factory owners who give something back. A second animation of a fanfare of trumpets over the following title. Title: Grundy’s Wonders Returning briefing to John who asks the question where will this week’s ‘Grundy’s Great Boot of History’ fall? With smoke billowing from the chimneys at the Egger wood-based panel factory at Hexham in Northumberland John asks how are factories like this allowed to be built? With sheep and lambs in a nearby field he asked why are they allowed to grow and make places uglier? Really hating factories like this John decides to crush them. An animation of a giant boot descending on the Egger factory. Over the closing credits a montage of some of the locations featured in this programme. Credit: Written and Presented by John Grundy Camera and Location Director Simon Elphinstone Sound Paul Graham, Andrew Bennett Lighting Gordon Porteous Title: Archive Science and Society Picture Library Credit: Production Manager Christine Stewart-Tilling Production Assistants Karen Sharp Graphics Dave Richardson Title Music and Dubbing John Cook Editor Mark Duncan Executive Producer Jane Bolesworth Series Producer Steve Robins Title: © Tyne Tees Television 2003 End title: A Tyne Tees Television production. Granada