Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Heritage Site
(p. 690) near Abergavenny (p. 691), where there are iron works, work-
ers cottages, a heritage railway, and the elevator below ground at the fantastic Big Pit.
Alexander Cordell wrote about Blaenavon in his novels, notably his trilogy
Rape of
the Fair Country
(1959),
The Hosts of Rebecca
(1960), and
Song of the Earth
(1969).
These moving accounts of working life in the 19th century dealt with the social
unrest at the time, much arranged by the Chartist Movement, which held protests in
many industrial towns. Chartism shaped modern politics, despite it being rejected
over the next 60 years. Workers won the right to vote in elections (previously only a
landowner's privilege).
In 1848, when there were revolutions all over Europe, the Chartist Movement was
waning because political rights in England and Wales were ahead of other countries.
Employment was rising and living standards improving, thanks partly to the building
of railways, which provided work and transported agricultural products to towns and
manufactured products to ports for export. Many of the industrial railways are now
heritage lines popular with tourists, for instance the Llanberis Lake Railway, which
takes visitors to the
National Slate Museum
in Snowdonia (p. 723).
The most influential Victorian writer was Charles Dickens who knew from first-
hand experience the misery of poverty: His father's financial problems landed them
in a debtor's prison in 1824. By Victoria's time he had established himself as a journal-
ist and wrote
Oliver Twist
(1837-39),
David Copperfield
(1849-50), and
Great Expec-
tations
(1860-61) in monthly installments. Go to Kent to find out more about
Dickens's life in
Rochester
(p. 247), although families might prefer
Dickens
World,
in Chatham (p. 248).
Another major writing talent of the Victorian age was Oscar Wilde. Although he was
born and educated in Dublin, Ireland, he won a scholarship to Magdalen College,
Oxford (p. 215), and moved to London after graduation to write poetry. He eventually
became a journalist and published children's stories such as
The Happy Prince,
pro-
ducing his only novel,
The Picture of Dorian Gray,
in 1891. He is best known, though,
for his plays:
Lady Windermere's Fan,
A Woman of No Importance,
An Ideal Husband,
and
The Importance of Being Earnest.
Wilde was jailed for homosexuality in 1895 and
sentenced to hard labor at Reading Gaol (the subject of his 1898 poem
The Ballad of
Reading Gaol
). He died, impoverished and broken, in Paris, in 1900.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement transformed painting in the Victorian era. There are
fabulous collections at
Tate Britain
in London (p. 102) and the
Birmingham Muse-
ums & Art Gallery
(p.469). The art critic John Ruskin had greatly promoted the work
2
Houses of Parliament, London
