The next branch of my subject that presents itself in due order is the
means by which the goods thus brought to the several ports of the
kingdom are carried to the interior of the country. There are two means
of effecting this; that is to say, either by land or water-carriage.
Land-carriage consists of transit by rail and transit by turnpike-roads;
the water-carriage of transit by canals and navigable rivers. I
shall begin with the first-mentioned of these, viz. turnpike-roads, and
then proceed in due order to the others.
The turnpike-roads of England present a perfect network of
communication, connecting town with town, and hamlet with hamlet. It
was only within the present century, however, that these important
means of increasing commerce and civilization were constructed
according to scientific data. Before that, portions of what were known
as the great coaching roads were repaired with more than usual care:
but until Mr. M‘Adam’s system was generally adopted, about forty years
back, all were more or less defective. It would be wearisome were I
to add to the number of familiar instances of the difficulties and
dilatoriness of travelling in the old days, and to tell how the ancient
“heavy coaches” were merged in the “fast light coaches,” which, in
their turn, yielded to the greater speed of the railways.
In 1818, according to the Government Report on the turnpike-roads and
the railways of England and Wales, there existed--
Miles.
In England and Wales, paved streets
and turnpike-roads to the extent of 19,725
Other public highways 95,104
-------
Total 114,829
Other parliamentary returns show, that in 1829 the length of only the
turnpike-roads in England and Wales was 20,875 miles, or upwards of
1000 miles more than they (together with the paved streets) extended to
10 years before. In 1839, the length of the turnpike-roads and paved
streets throughout England and Wales amounted to 22,534 miles, while
all other highways were 96,993 miles long; making in all, 119,527
miles of road. By this it appears, that in the course of 20 years
upwards of 4500 miles of highway had been added to the resources of
the country. As these are the latest returns on the subject, and it
is probable that, owing to the establishment of railways, there has
been no great addition since that period to the aggregate extent of
mileage above given, it may be as well to set forth the manner in which
these facilities for intercommunication were distributed among the
different parts of the country at that time. The counties containing
the greatest length of turnpike-road, according to their size, were
Derby, Worcester, Flint, Gloucester, Somerset, Monmouth, Stafford,
Hereford, Southampton, &c., which severally contained one mile of
turnpike-road to about each thousand statute acres, the average for
the entire country being nearly double that amount of acres to each
mile of road. Those counties, on the other hand, which contained the
shortest length of turnpike-roads in relation to their size, were
Anglesey (in which there were only five miles of road to 173,000
statute acres, being in the proportion of one mile to 34,688 acres);
then Westmoreland, Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, Pembroke, and Cumberland.
The counties containing the greatest length of paved streets at the
above period were, first, Middlesex, where there was one mile of
street to every 774 acres; second, Suffolk; third, Lancaster; fourth,
Warwick; fifth, Surrey; and sixth, Chester. The average number of acres
to each mile of paved street was 12,734, and in the districts above
specified the number of acres to the mile ranged from 3600 to 6900.
Those counties, on the contrary, which contained the shortest length of
streets, were Radnor and Anglesey, in which there were no paved streets
whatever; Brecon, which has only one mile, and Carnarvon which has
only two; whereas Middlesex, the county of the capital, has as many as
232 miles of streets extending through it. The cost of the repairs of
the roads and streets in the different counties is equally curious. In
Merioneth, the rate of the expenditure is 12_s._ 11-3/4_d._ per mile;
in Montgomery, 1_l._ 14_s._ 2-1/2_d._; in Radnor, 1_l._ 18_s._ 1_d._;
in Brecon, 2_l._ 6_s._ 6-1/2_d._; in Carnarvon, 2_l._ 10_s._ 1-3/4_d._;
in Anglesey, 3_l._ 8_s._; in Cardigan, 3_l._ 3_s._ 0-1/2_d._; whereas
in Middlesex the cost amounts to no less than 87_l._ 1_s._ 6-1/2_d._
per mile; in Lancashire, the next most expensive county, it is 32_l._
2_s._ 6_d._; in the West Riding of Yorkshire it comes to 23_l._ 4_s._
3_d._; and in Surrey, the other metropolitan county, to 19_l._ 1_s._
1-1/2_d._; the average for the whole country being 10_l._ 12_s._
1-1/2_d._ per mile, or, 1,267,848_l._ for the maintenance of 119,527
miles of public highways throughout England and Wales.
These roads were used for a threefold purpose,--the conveyance of
passengers, letters, and goods. The passengers, letters, and parcels,
were conveyed chiefly by the mail and stage-coaches, the goods by
waggons and vans. Of the number of passengers who travelled by the mail
and stage-coaches no return was ever made. I am indebted, however,
to Mr. Porter, for the following calculation as to the number of
stage-coach travellers before their vehicles (to adopt their own mode
of expression) were run off the roads by the steam-engine:--
“In order to obtain some approximation to the extent of travelling
by means of stage-coaches in England, a careful calculation has
been made upon the whole of the returns to the Stamp Office, and
the licenses for which coaches were in operation at the end of the
year 1834. The method followed in making the application has been to
ascertain the performance of each vehicle, supposing that performance
to have been equal to the full amount of the permission conveyed by
the license, reducing the power so given to a number equal to the
number of miles which one passenger might be conveyed in the course
of the year. For example: a coach is licensed to convey 15 passengers
daily from London to Birmingham, a distance of 112 miles. In order to
ascertain the possible performance of this carriage during the year,
if the number of miles is multiplied by the number of journeys, and
that product multiplied again by the number of passengers, we shall
obtain, as an element, a number equal to the number of miles along
which one person might have been conveyed; viz. 112 × 365 × 15 =
613,200. In this case the number of miles travelled is 40,880, along
which distance 15 persons might have been carried during the year: but
for the simplification of the calculation, the further calculation
is made, which shows that amount of travelling to be equal to the
conveyance of one person through the distance of 613,200 miles. Upon
making this calculation for the whole number of stage-coaches that
possessed licenses at the end of the year 1834, it appears that the
means of conveyance thus provided for travelling were equivalent to
the conveyance during the year of one person for the distance of
597,159,420 miles, or more than six times between the earth and the
sun. Observation has shown, that the degree in which the public avail
themselves of the accommodation thus provided is in the proportion of 9
to 15, or three-fifths of its utmost extent. Following this proportion,
the sum of all the travelling by stage-coaches in Great Britain may
be represented by 385,295,652 miles. We shall probably go the utmost
extent in assuming that not more than two millions of persons travel
in that manner. It affords a good measure of the relative importance
of the metropolis to the remainder of the country, that of the above
number of 597,159,420, the large proportion of 409,052,644 is the
product of stage-coaches which are licensed to run from London to
various parts of the kingdom.”
In this calculation the stage-coach travelling of Ireland is not
included, nor is that of Scotland, when confined to that kingdom; but
when part of the communication is with England it is included. Of
course, only public conveyances are spoken of: all the travelling in
private carriages, or post-chaises, or hired gigs, is additional.
The number of stage-coachmen and guards in 1839 were 2619; in 1840,
2507; in 1841, 2239; in 1842, 2107; in 1843, 146.
The expenditure on account of these roads in 1841 amounted to
1,551,000_l._; the revenue derived from them for the same year having
been 1,574,000_l._
A great change has been induced in the character of the turnpike-roads
of England. The liveliness imparted to many of the lines of road by
the scarlet coats of the drivers and guards, and by the sound of the
guard’s bugle as it announced to all the idlers of the country place
that “the London coach was coming in,” these things exist no longer.
Now, on very few portions of the 1448 miles of the turnpike-road in
Yorkshire, or the 840 of Gloucestershire, is a stage-coach-and-four
to be seen: and the great coaching inns by the wayside, with the
tribes of ostlers and helpers “changing horses” with a facility almost
marvellous, have become farmhouses or mere wayside taverns.
The greatest rate of speed attained by any of the mail-coaches was
eleven miles an hour, including stoppages; that is, eleven miles
notwithstanding the delay incurred in changing horses, which was the
work of from one minute to three, depending upon whether any passenger
was “taken up” or set down at that stage (the word “station” is
peculiar to railways). If there was merely a change of horses, about
a minute was consumed. The horses were not unfrequently unsuccessful
racehorses, and they were generally of “good blood.” Some would run
daily on the same stages 8 and 10 years. About 10-5/8 miles was an
average rate for the mail, and 8-1/2 to 9 miles for the stage-coaches.
They often advertised 10 miles an hour, but that was only an
advertisement.
So rapid, so systematic, and so commended was the style of stage-coach
travelling, that some of the great coach proprietors dreaded little
from the competitive results of railway travelling. One of these
proprietors on “the Great North Road” used to say, “Railways are just a
bounce--all speculation. People will find it out in time, and there’ll
be more coaching than ever; railways can never answer!”
So punctual, too, were these carriages, that one gentleman used to say
he set his watch by the Glasgow mail, as “she passed his door by the
roadside, at three minutes to ten.”
Nor is it only in the discontinuance of stage-coaches that the
roads of the kingdom have experienced a change in character. Until
the prevalence of railways, “posting” was common. A wealthy person
travelled to London in his own carriage, which was drawn by four
horses, almost as quickly as by the mail. The horses were changed at
the several stages; the ostler’s cry of “first turn out,” summoning
the stablemen and the postilions with a readiness second only to
that in the case of the passengers’ coaches. The horses, however,
were ridden by postilions in red or light blue jackets, with white
buttons, light-coloured breeches, and brown top-boots, instead of being
driven four-in-hand. This was the aristocratic style of travelling,
and its indulgence was costly. For a pair of good horses 1_s._ 6_d._
a-mile was an average charge, and 3_d._ a-mile had to be given in the
compulsory gratuities of those days to the postilion; 3_s._ a-mile was
the charge for four horses, but sometimes rather less. Thus, supposing
that 500 noblemen and gentlemen “posted” to London on the opening of
Parliament, each, as was common, with two carriages-and-four, and each
posting 200 miles, the aggregate expenditure, without any sum for meals
or for beds--and to “sleep on the road” was common when ladies were
travelling--would be 35,000_l._, and to this add five per cent for the
turnpike-tolls, and the whole cost would be 36,750_l._; an average of
73_l._ 10_s._ for each nobleman and gentleman, with his family and
the customary members of his household. The calculation refers merely
to a portion of the members of the two houses of legislature, and is
unquestionably within the mark; for though many travelled shorter
distances and by cheaper modes, many travelled 400 miles, and with more
carriages than three. No “lady” condescended to enter a stage-coach at
the period concerning which I write. As the same expense was incurred
in returning to the castle, hall, park, abbey, wood, or manor, the
annual outlay for this one purpose of merely a fraction of the posters
to London was 73,500_l._ It might not be extravagant to assert, that
more than five times this outlay was annually incurred, including
“pairs” and “fours,” or a total of 367,500_l._ This mode of travelling
I believe is now almost wholly extinct, if indeed it be not impossible,
since there are no horses now kept on the road for the purpose. I have
been informed that the late Duke of Northumberland was the last, or one
of the last, who, in dislike or dread of railways, regularly “posted”
to and from Alnwick Castle to London.