Flying Waggons

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Section 4:

The Coaches

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The Wheel

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The First Coaches

Stage Waggons

Flying Waggons

The First Coach Service

Flying Coaches

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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

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The journey from London to Bristol could take between two and three days and would be undertaken using cart-horses pulling wagons. They were known as ‘flying machines’ which tells us a lot about travel at that time. They were built in a variety of shapes, and often covered with black leather. Their motion was described as “like a ship rocking and beating against a heavy sea, straining all her timbers”.

One writer of the time describes what it was like travelling inside one of these wagons:

“The machine was crammed full of passengers, including fat men, sick children, a parrot, a bag of red herrings, a double barrelled shot gun (afraid loaded), and a snarling lap dog. When awakened from shallow slumbers, had cramp in one leg and the other in a ladies bandbox.” This was an inside passenger. Outside the machine, the passengers fared no better: “my eye was cut by the lash of the clumsy coachman's whip. My hat was blown off into a pond. My companions were two apprehended murderers, a sheep stealer in irons and a drunk asleep behind us.”

By the 1600s, waggons developed into huge and ungainly contraptions which towered over the horses. The rear wheels were 5ft (1½m) in diameter, and the covering was 12ft (3½m) high. They carried people and goods and could weigh as much as 6 tons in summer and perhaps 5 in winter. They were built in a variety of shapes and were covered with leather.

As time went on, they became more efficient. They began to run all through the night and change both horses and waggoners from time to time along the route. By doing this they managed an average speed of 5mph and reduced the journey time from London to Exeter from seven days to four. The weather remained a crucial variable. One example is a delay in Devon that was caused by snow. It took thirteen horses to haul the waggon through snowbound section!

The need for speed was driven, even in those days, by competition. Achieving an average speed of around 4½mph allowed shipments of butter from the Exeter and Salisbury area to be sold in London and compete with locally produced butter.


Next: The First Coach Service