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Facts and Figures

Coach travel was expensive and so ordinary people were less likely to ever make a journey by coach. John Clare, the peasant poet, is an example of one who did and it illustrates the success that his poetry achieved. But how much exactly is ‘expensive’? Rather than quoting fares at this point (I shall do that later) it is revealing to look at the operating costs.

Taking as an example the Chester to London route, 188 miles in just under 24 hours. For a daily service in each direction the operators needed:

•    4 stagecoaches, (at any one time, one coach was travelling south, another travelling north, and a spare coach was kept at each end of the route to allow for maintenance, breakdowns, etc.)

•    188 horses, (a team of four every eight miles, horses rested every other day, a simple equation that works out at one horse per mile of route.)

•    8 coachmen (drivers, 50 miles each per day)

•    4 guards (each did 24 hours on-duty then 24 hours off)

•    Payment of stage-coach tax (a sum per mile)

•    Payment of passenger tax at the load limit (whether the coach was full or not).

•    Payment of road tolls (substantial sums)

A full load was 5 passengers on a mail coach, 4 or 6 on a post-coach, and 16 on an ordinary stage-coach. Stagecoach proprietors had to obtain sufficient from an average load of passengers to cover all of these costs, plus something for themselves and a profit for investors. Mail coaches, which were franchised, had a guard provided free by the Royal Mail and did not have to pay road tolls. But they were compelled to travel a route specified by the Post Office, not necessarily the best route for passengers, and they still had to travel even when there were no passengers.)

Travel by coach was never comfortable. Those who could afford it took a seat inside. There, passengers (some of whom may have been less than pleasant after nights on the road) were crammed into a tiny space and banged and jolted together for hours or days. The less well-off travelled outside for around half the inside fare. In summer, with fair weather, this may have been an almost pleasant way to travel. But those who know the English weather will realise the potential pitfalls, even in summer, and particularly in winter.

A few packet-boats provided passenger services on the county’s canals and rivers. Inland, they were horse-drawn. A journey by canal-packet was slower than by coach, but it was comparatively comfortable. The boat had a smooth motion, none of the jolting and bumping of the coach. Passengers had space, they were not squeezed together in a small compartment. Various classes of accommodation catered for different pockets, but a journey between Manchester and Runcorn or Liverpool, in the coffee lounge of a Bridgewater Packet, gently winding its way through the tranquil Cheshire countryside, was probably the most luxurious form of travel then available.

Looking at the passenger transport services running in, to, or through, the county of Cheshire in the spring of 1830, and following them to destinations outside the county, there were 87 stage-coach routes (207 services each day), and 13 packet-boat routes (32 services). Most routes operated two services each day, one out and one back. A few routes did not operate every day. Some operated several times a day.

•    Sixteen of the routes went to London from starting points in Manchester, Liverpool, or Chester, a distance of about 200 miles, and a journey time of about twenty-four hours.

•    Twenty-one routes each went about 100 miles, with a journey time of about 12 hours. These were mostly to hubs in the day-coach network, Birmingham, Nottingham, Hereford, Sheffield, Holyhead, etc.

•    Fifty were shorter routes within the county and linking to towns in neighbouring counties.

•    Packet-boats carried passengers on 13 routes, six of them horse-drawn along the county's canals, and seven steam-powered along the estuaries. In addition, ten ferries crossed rivers.

The north of Cheshire, and to a certain extent the east, were well provided with local stage-coach services. The inhabitants of most towns in those areas could travel into Manchester, conduct several hours business, and return home the same day. Those of the north of the county, could travel into Liverpool for a few hours business and be back in their own beds that night. Those of Macclesfield, Knutsford, and Northwich, could travel into Chester for a few hours business and return by nightfall. The south of the county was not so well served by local routes. If someone from Nantwich or Middlewich wanted do business in any of the local "big" towns, it would have involved an overnight stay.

Stockport was visited by 91 stage-coaches each day, more than any other Cheshire town. It was on the main road south from Manchester so saw a lot of long-distance coaches. It also had its own small network of market-coaches linking nearby towns, and medium distance links to Liverpool, etc.

Chester was second, with 62 stage-coaches each day. It was a focal-point in the Mail Coach network, saw some coaches travelling south from Liverpool via the new Mersey steam ferries, was the centre for a number of routes serving North Wales, and had medium distance links to Manchester, Shrewsbury, etc. Most other towns in the county were visited by several stagecoaches each day, although many of these were on their way to Birmingham or London, so were not conveniently timed for local destinations. No village was more than five miles from a stage-coach route.

More distant destinations in the south of England and Wales were reached by changing in Birmingham or London, and those in Scotland and the north by going via Manchester or Liverpool. Ireland was reached via Holyhead or Liverpool. Most European destinations were reached via London and the cross-Channel ferries. Other continents were reached via Liverpool.


Next: Different Ways to Travel

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


______________________

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