Mails to Ireland: Difference between revisions

 

The completion of this road transformed the journey between London and Holyhead. The jewel in the crown was his daring suspension bridge over the Menai Strait, but the route includes many other fine examples of civil engineering as it passes through breathtaking mountain scenery in North Wales. He insisted on solid foundations for his new road, and in 2000 an [https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-281-1/dissemination/pdf/RR135_Thomas_Telfords_Holyhead_Road.pdf archaeological study] by Cadw (Wales’ historic monuments agency) found that circa 40% of the original remained, beneath and beside the modern road. He also ensured that the horses drawing the coaches faced no gradient steeper than 1 in 20. Telford's improvements to the Shrewsbury-Holyhead road were largely complete by 1818, although the Menai Suspension Bridge was not completed until 1826. Until Telford’s suspension bridges were completed over the river estuary at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conwy_Suspension_Bridge Conwy] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge Menai Straits] there were hazards in crossing these two stretches of water. In 1807, for example, a ferry crossing the River Conwy sank killing all but two passengers. Two weeks later another boat capsized trying to cross from Bangor to Anglesey with the loss of 14 lives. The worst case was in 1785, when a boat carrying 55 people went aground on a sandbank on the south side of the Menai Strait. As they tried to release the boat, it began to fill with water. Rescuers in Caernarfon heard of the crisis, but with the strong wind and the night closing in, and the danger of itself running aground, the lifeboat did not manage to reach the stricken boat. Only one person survived. When Telford’s new road through North Wales was completed Chester ceased to be a major hub on the Irish Mail route and activities centred round the White Lion Inn in Northgate Street declined but did not cease.

 

In 1820 a Royal Mail Coach departed from Holyhead every afternoon at 2pm and was due to arrive in Chester at about 4am the next morning. Another mail coach departed every afternoon at 4:30pm for London by way of Capel Curig, Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Daventry and St Albans and arrived two mornings later at about 6:30am. These mail coaches were the fastest on the route but anybody making such a journey would have needed a lot of stamina and fortitude. There was also a daily Chester to Holyhead Royal Mail coach and in 1830 it departed from Chester at 7-45pm and reached Holyhead the next morning at 7-00am. A Royal Mail Steam Packet sailed from here at 7-30pm, weather permitting, and arrived in Dublin at 4:00am.