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Newmarket to Walsingham

Michael Portillo is in Suffolk on the last leg of his 1930s Bradshaw鈥檚-inspired tour of East Anglia, visiting the racecourse at Newmarket and the Roman Catholic shrine at Walsingham.

Michael Portillo is in Suffolk on the last leg of his 1930s Bradshaw鈥檚-inspired tour of East Anglia. He begins at the home of British horseracing, Newmarket, where he learns of the interwar success of a jockey turned trainer and helps to care for a famous ex-racehorse.

At Ickworth House near Bury St Edmonds, Michael gets a taste of life below stairs during the 1930s and is put to work preparing a 'plum betty'. With a taste for sweetness, Michael takes the train to Downham Market to explore how sugar began to be refined from sugar beet at Wissington in 1925.

Back on the Fen line, Michael is bound for King鈥檚 Lynn and Wells-next-the-Sea, where he boards the exceptionally narrow-gauge Wells and Walsingham light railway. Arriving in Walsingham, Michael discover that until Henry VIII鈥檚 Reformation, this small village was one of the great Roman Catholic shrines. During the 1920s and 30s, there was a revival in pilgrimage to Walsingham, and a new Anglican shrine to the Virgin Mary was built.

29 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Michael Portillo
Director Anthony Holland
Series Editor Alison Kreps
Executive Producer John Comerford
Production Company Fremantle

Broadcasts

Steam railway programmes on 主播大秀 iPlayer

A collection of programmes from the 主播大秀 archives on the beauty of steam locomotives.