How did people in Britain get about before 1820?

[Sloe Gin]

I think you are both right - the point being that horses were ubiquitous, and could on occasion be borrowed.

[Erato]

Oh dear me, you Brits think so small, as if walking 20 or 30 miles was  unlikely or a major adventure.  People crossed North America on foot,  and they didn't learn how to walk when they got to the New World; their ancestors had been doing it for thousands of years.

[Siamese Girl]

Don't forget the huge number of carriers crisscrossing the country - from one man and his cart delivering goods locally to quite organised outfits who would travel certain routes on set days from town to town and are often mentioned in gazetteers, you could have cadged a lift on one of those.

Carole

[mike175]

Many more jobs involved walking in earlier times. For example, my grandfather would have walked about 12 miles behind a horse-drawn plough to turn over his acre of land per day, as well as walking to and from the field, and probably cleaning out the stables before he spent the evening digging his garden. He certainly didn't suffer an obesity problem!

Also, according to his journal, even on his holidays my great grandfather walked more than 16 miles and rowed a boat a further 18 miles, all in one day . . . for pleasure . . . and he was not a young man at that time.

As many others have said, our ancestors thought nothing of walking long distances when there was little alternative.

Mike.

[Nick29]

Oh dear me, you Brits think so small, as if walking 20 or 30 miles was  unlikely or a major adventure.  People crossed North America on foot,  and they didn't learn how to walk when they got to the New World; their ancestors had been doing it for thousands of years.

That's funny - I was sure that wagon trains were pulled by horses ? 

[coombs]

I have many instances of ancestors moving around well before 1800. One moved from Norfolk to London in about 1780 with siblings. From 1750 to 1800 I have a couple who lived all over Suffolk and in Norfolk for a time.

[Wharfrat]

I have read the diaries of one family of ancestors dating for roughly 100 years from the 1770s.
They were a wealthy family, but there is a lot of mention of transportation throughout the period, and it is very interesting to read how things changed.
The first ancestor was an American by birth and came to England just before Independence, travelling by passenger ship; later trans-Atlantic trips are mentioned and it seems passage could be bought at ports. His day-to-day travel was by horse.
His son lived mainly in Wales, but required to travel to London, which was achieved using his own carts or coaches, by ferry across the Bristol Channel, and by post coach from Bristol to London. For his local travel, he either used horse, horse & cart, or indeed was quite prepared to walk from his home to Swansea which is approx 6 miles.
From the 1830s, it is notable how much quicker the railway made the long distance trips, Bristol to London in hours rather than days.

[coombs]

People were more mobile than we seem to think they were.

[Dave the Walrus]

Hi Everybody,

I started this thread because I was considering whether the "Mabbutts of Gloucester" would, at one time, have moved to Wiltshire. I think that this is an option to be considered, especially if they were agricultural workers.

I think that people were much more mobile than I first thought.

Best wishes,

Dave