The Proprieters of the Light Post Coach - Document from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook

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Date:1820 - 1830 (c.)

Description:Post coach in the Potteries - Finally!

The national post coach service begins to run through the Potteries as part of the London to Liverpool service.

The Potteries had been trying to get this service since the late 1700s but it failed to improve its roads well enough to be considered by the Postmaster General.

It was a passenger service as well as a post carrier.

Express

To travel on the post coach was more expensive but it was far more reliable, as these coaches were built for speed.

It is estimated that they could reach a speed of ten miles per hour. Improvements in road building also helped to facilitate faster coaches.

The post coach also had the right of way over non-postal traffic.

A horn was sounded to warn traffic up ahead to move over.

Just like a fire engine or ambulance today.

Stand and deliver

Other benefits included an armed guard. Robbers and highwaymen were very much a reality in the early 1800s.

The expense of the journey also improved the potential for a 'better class' of fellow passenger!

An Inter City service

Connections to Bath, Exeter and Manchester were possible on this service.

To the pub to catch the coach?

As the coach travelled through the Potteries it called at the Leopard Inn in Burslem, the King's Head at Shelton, and the Crown and Anchor at Lane End.

These pubs were the local stations, ticket booking offices and parcel depots for the service.

Revenue

From the early 1800s the service provided huge revenues for the government, helping, amongst other things, to fund Great Britain's struggle during the Napoleonic Wars.

About this document

This document was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood. It is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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