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Wheeled Vehicles

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For most of human history everything that needed to be moved was carried by people, horses and carts. The Iceni and the Romans had chariots for a few rich people to ride in but generally humans walked or rode everywhere. The Roman army marched and in mediaeval times, even kings and queens rode everywhere on horseback.

It’s not until the 1300s that any form of carriage is mentioned. In 1355, Elizabeth de Burgh bequeathed her “great carriage, with the covertures, carpets, and cushions,” to her eldest daughter.

There are also a few early mentions of vehicles called ‘charettes’ and ‘whirlicotes’. And there’s a picture of Richard II, at the age of seventeen in 1384, travelling in a whirlicote, accompanying his mother, who was ill. But wheeled transport was rare in those days.

Wheeled vehicles and roads go hand in hand. After hundreds of years of rebellions, pestilences, foreign wars, and domestic strife, Britain’s roads were completely unmade. Travelling anywhere was rather like crossing open fields. You can imagine how muddy and rutted they became, especially in winter. Picking your way on foot or on horseback would not be easy; pulling a wheeled cart would often be impossible. 

So the development of wheeled vehicles was slow, and was hindered by the state of Britain’s roads. But over a several centuries, both the roads and the vehicles did improve as you will see. 

Find out how coaches evolved in this section and learn about roads in Section 3.


Next: The Earliest Coaches

Section 4:

The Coaches

Introduction

The Wheel

Wheeled Vehicles

The First Coaches

Stage Waggons

Flying Waggons

The First Coach Service

Flying Coaches

Stage Coaches

Glass Coaches

Mail Coaches

Coach Names


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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