The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford and Cromer Road: Sport and history on an East Anglian turnpikeHarper, Charles G. (Charles George)
History
The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford and Cromer Road: Sport and history on an East Anglian turnpike
Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)
England -- Description and travel; England -- Social life and customs
Meanwhile, the down coach came along, and had only just crossed the
bridge when the arch, forced out by the swollen state of the river,
burst, with a tremendous crash. Another coach, approaching, received
warning from the guard of the “Magnet” swinging his lantern. Had it not
been for his timely act, a very grave disaster must have happened, and
the passengers of the coach very properly set afoot a subscription for
him.
Meanwhile the Royal Mail was going every week-day night, at 7 p.m. from
the “Golden Cross,” Charing Cross, and from the “Flower Pot,”
Bishopsgate Street, an hour later. It ran to the “King’s Head,” Norwich,
and went by Bury St. Edmunds, continuing that route until January 6th,
1846, when—the last of the coaches on this road—it ceased to be.
In 1821 the “Times” day coach left the “Blue Boar,” Whitechapel, at 5.45
every morning, going by Bury; the “Telegraph” day coach, by Barton Mills
and Elveden, started from the “Cross Keys,” Wood Street, at 6.45 a.m.,
and got to Norwich in 13 hours; a coach from the “Bull,” Bishopsgate
Street, travelling by Bury, left at 7 a.m.; from the “White Horse,”
Fetter Lane, a “Light Post” coach set out, by Barton Mills and Elveden,
at 5.30 p.m., arriving at the “White Swan,” Norwich, in 15½ hours, at 9
a.m.; and a coach by the same route from the “Golden Cross,” Charing
Cross, at 6.30 a.m., arriving at 8 p.m.
In addition to these were the so-called “single” coaches: _i.e._, those
not running a down and an up coach, but going down one day and returning
the next. These were the conveyance from the “Bull,” Bishopsgate Street,
at 5.30 a.m., on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, by Barton Mills and
Elveden, reaching the “White Swan,” Norwich, in 12½ hours (the best
performance of all); and the “Norwich Safety,” by Bury, on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, from the “Bull and Mouth” at 7.30 p.m.; a very
slow, as well as a self-styled “safe” coach, for it only reached Norwich
at 11 a.m.; thus lagging 15½ hours on the road.
The “Phenomenon,” or “Phenomena,” as it was variously styled, left the
“Boar and Castle,” 6, Oxford Street, where the Oxford Music Hall now
stands, at 5.30 a.m., and the “Bull,” Whitechapel, at 6.30, and went a
route of its own, by Chelmsford, Braintree, Sible and Castle Hedingham,
Sudbury, Bury, and Scole, to Norwich. To Bury, especially, went three
coaches, two of them daily, and one thrice a week.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account