Travel in Jane Austen’s Time II
This past Saturday, I spoke (via Zoom) to the New York Metropolitan chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The topic was “The Pleasures and Perils of Travel in Jane Austen’s time.” I have not spoken on this topic in several years, so it was a good refresher to revisit all that research again.
I originally researched travel and coaching inns to write my series, Tales From Ivy Hill and especially Book One, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill, which is set primarily in a coaching inn. After all, in almost all of my books, travel plays a part in one way or another.
I learned a few new things in reviewing and revising the talk, that I thought I would share with you today:
Coaches had to stop every 10 or 15 miles (depending on terrain) to change horses. This was done at a network of coaching inns along the routes stretched across England. Some inns were grand “Posting Houses,” like this one in Stow-on-the-Wold, which catered exclusively to the wealthy who traveled in their own carriages or in post-chaises.
Common coaching inns, meanwhile, accepted passengers from mail and stagecoaches, and some but not all would accept wagon passengers and travelers on foot.
Coaching inns stabled many horses—some contracted to stage lines or the Royal Mail—ready to replace tired teams. Trained horsemen or “ostlers” could change a team of four in as little as two-three minutes, and prided themselves on besting the times of competing inns. Quick turnovers were especially critical for the Royal Mail who rigorously adhered to delivery schedules.
Occasionally, stops lasted a bit longer, giving passengers time to take refreshment or a hasty meal, which required innkeepers to work quickly. More humble travelers would eat with the landlord in his parlour or even in the kitchen.
Washington Irving wrote: “In the evening we reached a village where I had determined to pass the night. As we drove into the great gateway of the inn, I saw on one side the light of a rousing kitchen fire beaming through a window. I entered, and admired for the hundredth time, that picture of convenience, neatness, and broad, honest enjoyment–the kitchen of an English Inn….”
Wealthy people traveling in their own carriage or post-chaise would often eat their meals in a private sitting room. But by the turn of the 19th century, common dining rooms or “coffee rooms,” as they were called, became more common.
Travel Guides were regularly published in the era. Travelers could choose stage coach routes and inns with the help of guidebooks like Powell’s Guide, Paterson’s, or The Traveller’s Oracle.
Here’s the description of an inn from Powell’s Guide (1831): “The Crown was a coaching inn licensed to a widow called Sarah Smith. “Mrs. Smith deserves particular commendation and support, as being the first…to add to the accommodation of visitors by every species of Comfort, neatness, and domestic attentions.” Like the Tripadvisor or Rick Steve’s of the day!
Are you, like me, already planning a trip for this summer? If so, I’d love to hear where you are going. I would be happy to pray for safe travel for you and would love your prayers for safe travel for my husband and me as well.
May the sick and afflicted, be now, and ever thy care; and heartily do we pray for the safety of all that travel by Land or by Sea…”
—Jane Austen, Prayers
