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Mails to Ireland: Difference between revisions
→John Palmer
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: I’d walk to Dublin ere I’d ride to Chester.
From 1785 a new mail coach service operated from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_with_Two_Necks,_London Swan with Two Necks] in London to the Eagle & Child in Holyhead, both public houses, taking some 45 hours to complete the journey using the roads that had been improved under the Turnpike Acts. The Mayor and Council Men of Chester were delighted that the PMG had decided that this service was travelling via Chester. The coach left London 8:00pm and reached Chester at 1.00am on the second day, where there was break of an hour for refreshments. It then travelled via Saltney and Hawarden to Northop, where there was a 10 minute break. The horses were not changed until Holywell. It is interesting to note that the horses were almost always mares and were a cross between heavy cart horses and Welsh Cobs. Many of them were partially blind but this mattered little as they always travelled the same route and were thus familiar with every twist and turn. The mails were then taken across the Irish Sea, weather permitting, by Post Office sailing packets, a journey that took another 20 hours. Delays could also take place waiting for suitable weather to cross the Menai Strait. Each mail coach also carried a guard (who was the only post office employee on the coach), armed with pistols, shotgun and a sword to protect against highway robbery which was common at this time. This was despite the penalty of death or transportation to the colonies if caught. The mail
To prevent corruption and ensure good performance, the guards were paid handsomely and supplied with a generous pension. The mail was their sole charge, meaning that they had to deliver it on foot if a problem arose with the coach and, unlike the driver, they remained with the coach for the whole journey; occasionally guards froze to death from hypothermia in their exposed position outside the coach during harsh winters. They were supplied with a timepiece and a posthorn, the former to ensure the schedule was met, the latter to alert the post house to the imminent arrival of the coach and warn toll gate keepers to open the gate (mail coaches were exempt from stopping and paying tolls). Since the coaches had right of way on the roads the horn was also used to advise other road users of their approach. Several different short pieces could be played on the posthorn, each having a different meaning, such as start, pull up, slacken pace, clear the road.
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