Travelling across England in early 1600s - Lancs to Suffolk

[Heath Clayton]

We often complain about traffic jams and the horrors of driving in Britain nowadays, but what was it like to travel a long distance in the early 1600s?

I am fortunate that the history of my Clayton ancestors is well-documented (e.g. 'The Manors of Suffolk' and White's 'East Anglian Notes' plus various wills) having been sourced from C18 accounts written by a member of the Clayton family.

From these I learnt that my 10 x Gt. Grandfather, Robert Clayton, came from Euxton (pronounced and often spelt 'Exton') in Lancashire and, in October 1603, married Susan Pulham in Stradbroke, Suffolk. They settled in Southolt, Suffolk.

Lancashire to Suffolk is not the easiest route. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how Robert undertook this journey - he may have sailed around the coast from Liverpool, or travelled across country on a horse - and secondly, why? Was it an arranged marriage, or had he already moved to Suffolk before he met Susan? His will states that he held property in the Manor of Rishangles, Suffolk, which suggests that he did not have a trade or vocation, although several of his descendants were clergymen.

Any thoughts welcome!
Thanks - Sue

[msr]

Hi Sue

No thoughts really to help.

Just HELLO from a very damp Euxton.
Thanks for telling folks how to pronounce it, we often hear Yuxton from those who don't know.
I guess they look at the Eu in Euston and follow the same idea.

Susan

[Heath Clayton]

Hi Susan,

Thanks for your greeting from Euxton - you're my first contact as I only started posting on Rootschat a few days ago.

It's raining here in Suffolk too.

Re. correct pronounciation of 'Euxton': when I first discovered that my ancestor came from this place, the LDS records on FamilySearch said it was in Lincolnshire (just shows you can't rely on unsourced records!). I searched everywhere for this mythical place before I realised that my ancestor had written it as he had heard it. He had probably never seen it written anywhere else.

Our ancestors never cease to confuse us!
Sue

[KGarrad]

The obvious answer is by stagecoach!
But, if the family were wealthy, then perhaps they had their own coaches?

[Heath Clayton]

KGarrad - thanks for that interesting thought. I hadn't considered stage coaches as I always associated them with the 1700s. I will look into it further. After all, coaching inns existed in Shakespeare's time.

This reminds me of something that other Rootschatters might find of interest: I was recently recommended the book "Shakespeare's Local" by Pete Brown. It's a history of the George Inn at Southwark - London's only remaining galleried pub.

[Ruskie]

Shank's pony. It was amazing how much walking people did in the past. 
Of course stagecoach as suggested by Ken - or horse. I think they were able to hire or borrow if they did not own their own.
Any waterways connecting both places?
Possibly less likely to go around the coast by sea.

[youngtug]

Stagecoach travel in the early 1600 would have been very expensive and probably not possible over long distances up until the middle or latter part of the century.  Travel by horseback if you could afford it was probably the quickest way, Samuel Pepys seems to have traveled by horse on his excursions to places such as Cambridge from London. Horses where probably hired, the cost of owning one would have been high.

[Skoosh]

Shortest route to an east coast port and a boat south?

Skoosh.

[Ruskie]

According to google maps it's just over 200 miles from Lancashire to Suffolk. He could walk it in a few days. 
However it is possible that he didn't actually make that trip in specifically to marry. It is possible that he was already living in Suffolk when he met Susan.There would be sparse documentation in that time and you can probably only speculate as to his movements. Is there any way to trace when he purchased property in Suffolk? (of course this may not help either unless it was prior to his marriage to Susan.