D. M. Field

This is an excellent little book by a writer who clearly knows his subject. The notes on the back cover begin "It is often forgotten that in the early nineteenth century, before the arrival of the railways that were the foundation of Victorian Britain's prosperity, the country [the UK] had the fastest and most efficient form of public overland transport the world had ever seen ...".

Long-distance stagecoaches - vehicles that followed a regular schedule carrying fee-paying passengers - date from 1660 but were uncommon before the late eighteenth century. The introduction of mail-coaches in 1784 stimulated dramatic improvements and the coaching age reached its peak in the early 1830s and, within a decade, was in rapid and terminal decline, having been rendered obsolete by the railways.

The state of the nation's roads was fundamental to the success of stagecoaches and mail-coaches and became an important source of revenue for innkeepers who ran the coaching inns. People in small towns were able to set their time-pieces by the reliability of the mail-coach. This book tells the story of what travel was like for those who could afford it and of how the business was conducted.

As with most of the Shire Library, it's well illustrated, but an index would have improved the book.… (mais)