Regency England Research - post 14 – TRANSPORTATION; carriages, roads and post

Do you know your phaeton from your landau? 😉 No, I’m not being rude, these were carriages and coaches. And there was a variety of these to be had during the Regency. In the time before cars, these were the mode of transport, but like cars, had their fashions and variance.

I’ll leave a link to a detailed post on types of carriages here (with handy pictures), and even then there were differences in phaetons and curricles.

In rough order of size, in summary, there was:

v  Dog Cart – single driver (room for dogs); variations of

v  Governess / Jaunting Cart – ladies or children would use these (horse or donkey pulled)

v  Gig – really made for one

v  Curricle – sportster of its day; two wheeled, fast, dangerous, pulled by two

v  Phaeton – two-seater with four wheels (quite showy-offy)

v  Hackney – London cab, really

v  Post-chaise – two to four passengers, but intended for post

v  Landau – similar to a barouche – could be pulled by a pair or a team

v  Barouche – four-passenger, pulled by four horses – convertible (very grand) – could be pulled by up to 6 horses

v  Family Coach – enclosed four passenger – more suiting to long journeys

v  Brake / Brake – Could carry up to six sportsmen and their dogs to their hunting ground

v  Stagecoach / Mailcoach – Combined post with passengers and set up in relays/stages. Up to seven passengers (some outside)

Note - The Hansom and the Brougham were not actually in use yet. The Hansom Cab was developed in 1834 by a Yorkshireman of that name. And the Brougham, pronounced broom, was built in 1838 (recall Regency technically ended in 1820). Thanking you very much, please (sorry; watched too much Miranda of late!).

Carriage horses also formed part of the flashiness. One had to pair teams correctly. They were stockier than riding horses as they had to have the power to pull hefty weights.

Some of the very rich had their own relays of horses stabled along their frequented routes. Of course, this was extremely expensive. Most would hire the post horses which were en-route.

Right, so that’s the horses and carriages. They travelled upon something which I hesitate to call roads. Tarmacadam wouldn’t arrive until 1902! Turnpikes and tollroads had been introduced, so they weren’t quite the rough dirt tracks they once were. Improvements had been made, but inclement weather would still render roads impassable and hazardous. Many a carriage was overturned on its journey.

Road improvements were partly responsible for the sharp decline in highwaymen (*sings the Adam and the Ants song*).  They had improved even since Jane Austen’s time.

Journey Times

One can roughly guesstimate journey times.

Ensure you check maps of the time to see which roads existed. The M1 wasn’t even imagined yet.

If one assumes carriages travelled at around 8-12mph you can use the speed-distance calculator.

This article helpfully notes that King George III travelled from Windsor to Weymouth in 11-13 hours.

Another way of looking at it, and I remind you to be wary of distance on new roads – carriages would travel very roughly at cycling speed. Things such as Google maps will calculate the journey time for you (“avoid motorways”), nudge nudge, wink wink 😉

 The carriages mention post-chaise and mailcoaches. So I ought to quickly discuss the postal service. There was an appalling lack of email or even telephones, so one relied on letters to carry information. With all these lovely new roads, one had a speedier method of reaching our correspondents.

Enter the Penny Post – hoorah! That linked post contains all sorts of wonderful information on postal rates and franking, yes franking. Boo; in London, during the war, it was raised to threepence post! In around 1840 envelopes and stamps were invented; such exciting times.

Thank you and come again.

Always in love and light,

TL

Lady Anne in Regency Love has use of a barouche, of course 😉