How did people in Britain get about before 1820?

[Erato]

In December 1778, my gggg-grandfather was discharged from the army and his pay included 12 days to walk home from Providence, Rhode Island to Topsham, Maine  -  a distance of about 225 miles.  So, in the winter, on bad roads, a young man was expected to walk about 18-20 miles per day.

[Lal]

Think about how all of those armies got around, mostly on foot! Probably the most extreme, and famous, example is King Harold's army having to march back from the battle of Stamford Bridge near York to face the Normans near Hastings. Carrying all their gear, and possibly with wounds. Few of them would be on horseback.

It wasn't just horses and boats that people would use as transport - there was also the humble donkey (I think they use them in the Canterbury Tales?) which more, but by no means all, people would have been able to afford. I've seen pictures of handcarts being used too, for moving goods about, and no doubt a child or infirm person could have had a ride on one of those.

[youngtug]

Some haulage details for Manchester here;  http://www.manchester-family-history-research.co.uk/new_page_22.htm

[youngtug]

Have a wander round this site, especially the farming section. http://www.essex-country-life.co.uk/coaches.htm

[Marmalady]

James Clegg, a north Derbyshire doctor & non-conformist minister in the early -  mid - 1700s details visits to patients & members of the congregation in his diaries.
Sometimes he was able to use one of the farm horses, but most journeys were on foot.

He thought nothing of visiting a farm 5 or 6 miles away for a chat & a prayer before lunch and then another a similar distance in the opposite direction in the afternoon. This sort of routine would happen several times a week.


Off topic, but one intriguing entry reads " we saw at Derby a rhinocerous and live crocodile".

[Braindead]

Last year I went on a tour of the Georgian theatre in Richmond & was told that the actors would walk huge distances - I can't remember exactly but it was something like 100 miles in 3 days, with a performance on the evening of the third day.

[Dave the Walrus]

Hi Everybody,

Thank you for all of the posts, with a special thank you to Youngtug for the site. My wife is Portuguese and when we got chatting about it, she said more or less the same thing: they all walked, or hopped on the back of the ox cart.

I suspect that many "gentlemen" were fortified by the prospect of a drink in pubs along the way. Perhaps they used them as staging posts. 

Best wishes,

Dave

[Nick29]

The ordinary ag, lab, would not have been able to purchase, keep and maintain a horse/pony and trap. Not to say that they never travelled considerable distances by shanks's pony and the possibility of getting a lift along the way.

Many farmers and labourers had horses and carts to help move things around on the farm.   When my grandmother got a job in domestic service in 1883, she travelled from near Ipswich in Suffolk to the West side of London in a horse and cart.  The journey there took 2 days.  Horses were working tools in those days, and not so much a toy for the daughters of rich men, so they were cheaper to purchase and keep.

[youngtug]

The ordinary ag, lab, would not have been able to purchase, keep and maintain a horse/pony and trap. Not to say that they never travelled considerable distances by shanks's pony and the possibility of getting a lift along the way.

Many farmers and labourers had horses and carts to help move things around on the farm.   When my grandmother got a job in domestic service in 1883, she travelled from near Ipswich in Suffolk to the West side of London in a horse and cart.  The journey there took 2 days.  Horses were working tools in those days, and not so much a toy for the daughters of rich men, so they were cheaper to purchase and keep.

Farmers would have owned horses,you couldn't have worked a farm without them, but not labourers, not on the earnings from labouring on farms. If you owned a horse then it would have to earn its keep, and make a profit. Which is why my gtgrandfather went from being a Ag. Lab, to become a haulier and then a landowner.