|
For the last talk of 2001 Mr Martin Way entertained us with an excellent illustrated account of coaching in England during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The heyday of the stage coach was, he told us, only approximately forty years in duration.
After the decline of the Romano-British period the road system introduced by the Romans was neglected. By the Middle Ages the responsibility for their upkeep was at a local level with the result that little use was made of them.
The Industrial Revolution generated a need for better long distance transport and that included a need for better roads. At first the cartways which passed for roads were deep rutted tracks in fine weather and quagmires in wet. The variety of vehicle types and sizes which existed between counties often meant that the wagons from one county could not be used across its borders where the rut widths were of differing widths. The main improvement come when toll roads were built, the turnpike roads, which allowed money to be put into developing good surfaces. Engineers such as Telford and Macadam set about the building of roads along which coaches and wagons could travel with few risks to the occupants or the goods being transported.
The new improved roads meant changes to coaches were possible and the more reliable services created the need for places to stop and coaching inns sprang up along the routes. But the main factor was the use of coaches for carrying the Royal Mail. Coaches were hired to carry the mail and the first regular route was London to Bath. Part of the time that the stage coaches were at their peak Britain was in the grip of a mini-iceage. This added to the hazards of travelling with snow storms and freezing weather a constant problem, one mail guard died trying to get through after the coach got stranded.
Of course highwaymen were a constant threat to travellers. These operated along the routes trying to rob the mail and passengers. The coaches carried armed guards to deter and prevent such activities not always successfully. One Oxfordshire bandit was James Hines who carried out various robberies. There were also the Dunkin brothers; Tom, Dick and Harry.
Large businesses were created to run the stagecoach services with four having as many as 2000 horses. The horses were changed roughly every seven miles. The route to Gloucester west through Henley gave rise to the building of the bridge in that town. Benson became a major staging town out of London and developed a coach building industry. A second route west went through High Wycombe and Stokenchurch. At the outskirts of Oxford it went across Shotover and down into the city past the present Churchill Hospital.
The intense rivalry and competition for passengers led to coaches racing each other, a practice which caused accidents and consequently a loss of confidence in the service. Attempts to restore that loss saw companies naming their coaches.
Although coaching carried on for many years the coming of the railways saw the end of the many coaching companies and the industry's "Golden Age" before the middle of the 19th Century.
|
