Different Ways to Travel

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Section 2:

The Age of Coaching

Introduction


The world of long-distance coach travel

An Early Advertisement

A coach advertisement from 1706

Beginning to End
How long did the Great Age of Coaching Last?

Two Coaching Periods
The age of coach travel falls into two distinct phases

The First Coaching Period
Coaches in the early period were uncomfortable, slow and dangerous

Highwaymen
The scourge of the early coaching industry, these robbers eventually disappeared

Transition
The change from the early period to the late happened because life in Britain was altering

The Second Coaching Period
This is the Great Age of Coach Travel - surprisingly familiar; just slower and wetter

Facts and Figures
A look at prices, costs and numbers involved in coaching

Different Ways to Travel
There were stagecoaches and mail coaches, and more besides

Destinations

The list of places you could go to is remarkably familiar to the modern traveller

London Coaching Inns

We’re familiar with railway termini but what were the departure points like in the Age of Coaching?

Famous London Coaching Inns


Here are most of the coaching departure points in London, together withe here you could travel to from each one

Inns and Politics

An example of how politics influenced attitudes in some inns along the road

The Battle of Barnet

Not a war, just passengers trying to grab a bite to eat on the road

The Coachmen


Coach drivers were an elite group, but as the coaching age declined, they lost their importance

An Industry at Full Gallop


The first half of the 19th century saw coaching at its peak

Inns, Drivers & Passengers


Who were the travellers and who owned the horses and coaches? Find out here

One Coach Proprietor

William Chaplin was one of the most successful coach proprietors - and he survived the move to railways

Swan With Two Necks

One of Chaplin’s Inn has an unusual name which comes from history

The Cost of Coach Travel

We complain about rail fares but coach fares were far higher

Cost to Proprietors

What did it cost to run a coaching business?

The Value of Money

To understand coaching prices you must compare them with present day values

Accidents

Coach travel was not without risk. Here are some reported  coach accidents

The Post Office

This is the story of the Mail Coaches, how the mail evolved and what mailcoaches were like

Itineraries

A set of possible journeys that you might wish to make

Death by Steam

The railways effectively killed the coaching industry very quickly. Here’s what happened 

Inns Become Booking Offices

City inns had to change when the coaching trade dried up. Here’s how they coped


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Part 1: Living Memories

Anecdotes written by people who actually travelled on the coaches

Part 2: The Age of Coaching

The coachmen, the inns, the coach proprietors - they’re all here. Come in and meet them

Part 3: The Roads

Britain’s roads were pretty impassable for most of our history.  Coach travel was very difficult until they improved

Part 4: The Coaches

Wheeled transport evolved over many years. Find out how coaches developed

Background

Sources and information about how I came to create this website

Home Page

Home Page of the Coaching Website

Although we assume that long-distance travellers automatically travelled by stagecoach, there were a number of other options available. Several specialist services had arisen which targeted different needs and pockets. They included:

•    Mail-Coaches:

These were the elite stage-coach service. They travelled non-stop (other than to change horses). They were fast and expensive. Their primary purpose was to carry the Mail, but they also carried a few ‘premium’ passengers to help defray expenses. To travel ‘by the Mail’ was a luxury few could afford.

•    Post-Coaches 

These coaches tried to match the speed and luxury of the Mail-Coach. They carried parcels but no mail. They also carried a very limited number of passengers.

•    Ordinary Stagecoaches 

These coaches tried to keep fares as low as possible (although still not cheap) by packing in as many passengers as the law would allow.

The services above all had grand names and ran to fixed schedules, usually seven days a week, although some, particularly to destinations in Wales, did not run on Sundays.

Other choices available were:

•    Market-Coaches ran short distances, usually terminating in the local town. They ranged from coaches running one day a week (market-day), to those running frequent shuttle services between two adjacent towns (Stockport and Manchester for example).

•    Post-Chaises were the equivalent of taxies. They carried two or three passengers wherever and whenever the hirer wanted, usually on short journeys, but some very wealthy passengers travelled long-distance by Post-Chaise to avoid having to rub-shoulders with others.

•    Packet Boats carried passengers along rivers and canals, and across seas. Those on the rivers and canals were powered by horse or steam and operated to fixed schedules. They were slower than coaches, but less expensive and more comfortable. At sea, steam was being introduced on the shorter routes, but longer distances still sailed (when the wind allowed).

•    Ferries carried passengers across rivers. Some new steam ferries on the broader rivers operated to fixed schedules, but most hand and wind-powered ferries on smaller crossings ran on-demand.

•    A network of Carriers connected local villages and towns. They primarily carried goods but would carry passengers if required. They were the least expensive mode of transport but were slow and they operated to a rather vague timetable. Walking was faster, so only the infirm or those accompanying valuable goods went by carrier.


Next: Destinations