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Section 2:
The Age of Coaching
The world of long-distance coach travel
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
The list of places you could go to is remarkably familiar to the modern traveller
We’re familiar with railway termini but what were the departure points like in the Age of Coaching?
Here are most of the coaching departure points in London, together withe here you could travel to from each one
An example of how politics influenced attitudes in some inns along the road
Not a war, just passengers trying to grab a bite to eat on the road
Coach drivers were an elite group, but as the coaching age declined, they lost their importance
The first half of the 19th century saw coaching at its peak
Who were the travellers and who owned the horses and coaches? Find out here
William Chaplin was one of the most successful coach proprietors - and he survived the move to railways
One of Chaplin’s Inn has an unusual name which comes from history
We complain about rail fares but coach fares were far higher
What did it cost to run a coaching business?
To understand coaching prices you must compare them with present day values
Coach travel was not without risk. Here are some reported coach accidents
This is the story of the Mail Coaches, how the mail evolved and what mailcoaches were like
A set of possible journeys that you might wish to make
The railways effectively killed the coaching industry very quickly. Here’s what happened
City inns had to change when the coaching trade dried up. Here’s how they coped
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Anecdotes written by people who actually travelled on the coaches
The coachmen, the inns, the coach proprietors - they’re all here. Come in and meet them
Britain’s roads were pretty impassable for most of our history. Coach travel was very difficult until they improved
Wheeled transport evolved over many years. Find out how coaches developed
Sources and information about how I came to create this website
Home Page of the Coaching Website
At the height of the coaching age, there were hundreds of coaches travelling thousands of miles across the entire country. The people and infrastructure maintaining this industry were extensive. Here’s a snapshot of Britain in those days:
On main roads there were inns every eight to ten miles. Their main function was to provide fresh horses for coaches and post-chaises. It took just two minutes to change a team of four, before the coach was off on its next stage. If spare time was available a stop may have lasted a little longer, giving passengers time to take refreshment and to make themselves comfortable. Scheduled meal stops were fairly brief; generally twenty minutes was allowed which was barely enough to get a bite to eat and a comfort break.
Horses were usually owned by an innkeeper and hired by the double mile (out and return). For a horse, an eight- or ten-mile stage was half a day's work. It then spent a short time eating and resting before drawing a coach travelling in the opposite direction, thus returning to its home stables. Horses usually rested on alternate days.
Coachmen (coach drivers) usually did about fifty miles before another took over. They expected a hefty tip from each passenger and harassed those who did not give to expectation. Some coaching adverts listed the number of drivers for a given journey. This gave passengers an indication of the amount they would have to expend on tips.
Most coaches carried a guard. He also expected a tip. He usually stayed with the coach for the whole of its journey. On routes lasting 24 hours, the guard may not have been very alert by the end of the journey.
Most coaches carried four passengers inside, a few carried six. Earlier, outside passengers sat on the roof itself, but by 1830 seats were provided at that level. The law limited the number of outside passengers: in 1830 twelve were allowed on an ordinary stagecoach, but only one on a mail-coach, and many fast post-coaches voluntarily restricted themselves to none or just two.
Overloading and Shouldering
The authorities tried hard to enforce the load limits, and near London some men made a living as paid informers (they received a share of the fines). In the country, no doubt, a certain amount of overloading went unnoticed. One of the pressures to overload came from a standard practice in the stagecoach industry: when a coach picked up an unscheduled passenger by the roadside, the driver usually pocketed the fare. This was known as ‘shouldering’.