A Regency Road Reference

So often when writing a novel set in the Regency, a writer has to rely on references that come second, third, or even fourth-hand. We read diaries and letters that are often edited by children and grandchildren—meaning the children mention the scandal and decry it, but the grandchildren simply want to moralize or white-wash events. We scan biographies--some brilliant and some shabby beyond belief. And we read books written about the Regency. But sometimes a novelist needs more.

When writing about characters that live in the Regency, I’ve often needed to get into those character's heads. We need to see how they lived. We need first-hand experience. I've been known to read by candlelight—truly an eye-straining experience—brandish a sword, which came into handy in several novels, and even try a pen and ink to see what it's really like.

One book that offers a first-hand experience into the Regency is Cary's New Itinerary.

At the end of the eighteenth century, John Cary was commissioned by the Postmaster-General to survey all the principal roads in England. He did this by walking these roads, pushing a wheel connected to a counter, which kept a tally of the number of rotations and then produced an accurate mileage.

Between 1787 and 1831, Cary put his knowledge to use and published, among other books, the New English Atlas, The Travellers' Companion, the Universal Atlas of 1808, and Cary's New Itinerary. The maps and surveys have some of the most accurate and valuable data about the structure of the Regency world. They also provide an insight into how people traveled in the Regency. It was a terrific book that helped with my novella Border Bride, which had an elopement to Scotland, and several other stories ended up with travelers, and I needed the details to bring life into the books.

Published in 1815, the fifth edition of Cary's which I own goes on to explain that it is, "an Accurate Delineation of the Great Roads, both direct and cross throughout, England and Whales, with many of the Principal Roads in Scotland, from an actual admeasurement by John Cary, made by command of his Majesty's Postmaster General."

There's more detail provided at the front of the book in an ‘advertisement’ that's really more of a preface.

The information alone on roads and distances, with fold-out maps provided, has helped me sort out the practical problems that face any Regency writer—such as, how far is it really between London and Bath? And what roads might one take? However, Cary's offers much more.

Cary's divides into neat, organized sections. The man was obviously methodical. The first section lists the direct roads to London—as in all roads lead to this metropolis. The next section gives a list of principal places—i.e., larger towns, that occur along the cross-roads. A cross-road is a road that crosses one of the direct roads into London. At this point, you begin to see how London-centric this world really was. As someone living outside of London, it would be your goal to get to a major town, and then you could get to London. Cary, living in London, wrote his book for outward-bound Londoners, and that is how the book is organized.

The next section is as important to a Regency writer as it would have been to someone traveling in the Regency—it is a list of coach and mail departures. This includes the name of the London inn from which the coaches departed, the towns each coach passed through, the mileage, the departure time, and the arrival time. It's an utter godsend if you have to get your heroine to Bath at a certain hour on the coach. I can also picture Regency Londoners pouring over this information, planning short trips to the seaside, or to watering towns.

The next section lists all direct roads, as measured from key departure points in London, but this is not just a dry list of mileage. Descriptive notes are tucked into various columns to describe houses of note and distinctive sights. For example, if you're going to Wells from London, then, "Between Bugley and Whitbourn, at about 2 m(iles) on l(eft) Longleat, Marquis of Bath; the house is a Picture of Grandure, and the Park and Pleasure Grounds are very beautiful." This was an era in which slower travel meant taking the time to look at surroundings.

Another section provides a similar treatment for cross-roads, and not to be overlooked, Packet Boat sailing days are listed for England's various sea ports, just in case an intrepid traveler whishes to travel abroad.

Finally, Cary's provides an index to Country Seats, or as Cary's notes, "In this Index the Name of every resident Possessor of a Seat is given, as well as the Name of the Seat itself, wherever it has a distinctive Appellation." This is actually a list from the 1811 returns to Parliament, as noted in the book. In the Regency, this actually would have been a much used feature, for it would allow a traveler to look up and visit various great houses and country seats. It was a time, after all, when visitors expected the great houses to always be open for show, and to be gracious in their hospitality.

Overall, Cary's is not a book that will give you insight into the politics of the Regency, nor into the social structure of that world. However, between its worn covers lays the description of the Regency world that can put you back into that era, just as if you were traveling the roads of England.

Regency Posting Inns and Post Coaches

Over the centuries in England, post houses existed along the roads, many of them constructed at first to provide horses for the Royal Mail. The type of business determined its name: ale houses served ales, taverns served wine, inns provided rooms for travelers.

The post houses came to be known as posting inns, unlike the coaching inns that would provide carriage for hire. Eventually, public houses, which came to later be called “pubs” and were different from private houses or clubs, came into being might serve food and drink. All these establishments held to a long tradition of a memorable name, preferably one that might be made into a sign that would be easy for an illiterate person to identify. Common names included: the Blue Lion, the Pheasant, the Rose & Crown, the Feversham Arms, the Bell, Castle House, the Boar's Head, the Peacock, the Kings Head, the White Hart, the Swan, the George (a popular name after the Hanoverians took the throne). More unusual names might include the Running Footman, the Honest Layer, the Cock and Bull, or the Eagle and Child.

Initially, these posting inns or post houses provided only horses, but as the Royal Mail was changed in the late 1700’s to use mail coaches, the coaches, horses, and drivers were all supplied by contract. There was much competition for this lucrative business—a contractor earned not only a fixed regular income for the postal service, but could also charge fares for any passengers on the coach, and an inn could also hope for extra income from quick refreshments sold to passengers.

On Monday August 2, 1784, John Palmer's first coach left the Rummer Tavern in Bristol at 4:00 PM, carrying the mail and four passengers (which later became seven passengers, with four inside).  As noted, Palmer had long advocated postal reform and expansion—increased commerce, industry, and population demanded it.  After his friend William Pitt became Prime Minister, Palmer got authority to try his reform ideas. Palmer's Mail Coach reached Bath at 5:20 PM, and arrived in London at the Swan with Two Necks well before 8:00 the next morning to deliver mail to the Chief Post Office in Lombard Street.  The coach had traveled 119 miles in under sixteen hours, an incredible feat at the time.  Palmer received public acclaim and bureaucratic stone-walling, including a record of criticism which ran to three volumes of copperplate.  However, Palmer's Mail Coaches began to take hold.

In 1787, the Post Office adopted an improved mail coach design patented coach by John Besant and John Vidler. The two men soon held a monopoly on the supply of Royal Mail coaches, including their upkeep, and servicing, and all the coaches took on the distinct black and scarlet colors of the Royal Mail, with the stage number painted on the back side pannel.

From 1801 to 1808, England also had numerous private posts to carry letters between towns and manor houses.  Rates could vary from 1/2d to 1d or more for delivery.  From 1808 on, local delivery standardized at 1d per letter and post towns began to use the stamp P.P. for Penny Post.  The private posts, however, tended to be notoriously slow and unreliable.  Postmasters often went bankrupt, ending their service without much warning.  Those to whom speed carried more importance than money kept to the old practice of sending letters via servants, by the Common Carriers, or by private courier.

By 1811, approximately 220 mail coaches ran on regular schedules from London to various major cities.  These coaches used the main post roads and cross roads (post roads that did not pass through London, but which crossed the main roads), which could support the light, fast coaches.  The new process for macadamizing roads created excellent paved surfaces on the main roads, but other dangers existed, including: poor drivers (on the road and on the mail coaches), bad light from the lack of any moon at night, snow drifts, flooded rivers that had to be forded, collapsed bridges, thunder and lightning that might spook the horses, heavy fog, and rain that could be blinding. On steep hills, passengers might have to climb out and walk beside the coach going up and down to better save the horses for their primary job of delivering the mail. In addition, dust was always a problem on the road in the summer, and any lady who traveled generally wore a veil not to protect her identity, but to save her delicate skin.

Toll roads were constructed during this time period—roads that were the enterprise of local contractors or postal concerns, and the toll was meant to pay for the construction work. Mail coaches had the advantages of not having to pay tolls, which could be worth as much as six pounds to the contractor.

The Royal Mail coach was faster than any stage as the mail only stopped for delivery of mail, and sometimes did not stop at all but only slowed to allow the mail to be exchanged with a quick toss. The coaches were drawn by a team of four, and had seating inside for four passengers, and outside for two or three more to sit with the driver. A seat inside for the Royal Mail from London to Bristol cost about 2 pounds and 10 shillings, while one outside cost about 1 pound.  In general, Royal Mail ticket costs were about one penny (1d) per mile more than would be charged by a privately operated stage. (Stage fares averaged about 2d  to 3d a mile for an outside seat, and 4d to 5d for an inside seat.)

Mail coaches averaged 7 to 8 mph on hard summer roads, and up to 10 mph on a good, straight road with no hills, but in poor winter conditions this speed went down to about 5 mph. Fresh horses were supplied every 10 to 15 miles. Unlike stage coaches, which were operated by private companies, the limit on passengers and luggage on the mail prevented the common danger of overturning due to excessive or top-heavy weight. The mail coaches also traveled mostly at night when roads were less busy and the coach might make better time.

But the heyday of the posting inns and mail coaches wasn't long. In the 1830's the first delivery of mail by rail took place between Liverpool and Manchester, and by the early 1840's London-based mail coaches were being withdrawn from service. The last mail coach service to London ended in 1846--the age of rail had taken over. Many posting inns closed as traffic moved from road to rail. A few regional mail coaches continued active service into the 1850's, but these, too, were being replaced, and many posting inns fell into ruin, with only those in the main towns surviving

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