Travel

Exerpt from "A General View of the Agriculture of Derbyshire", 1817:

The Mail-Coach Routes, that cross this district of Map, p. 193, are as follows, viz.

PK, London and Edinburgh Mail, through Hoddesdon, Ware, Royston, Caxton, Huntingdon, Alconbury-hill, Stilton, Stamford, Grantham, Newark, Tuxford, East Retford, Bawtry, Doncaster, Ferry-Bridge, Tadcaster, York, Easingwold, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Belford, Berwick, Dunbar, &c.

London and Glasgow Mail, through Barnet, Hatfield, Welyn, Baldock, Biggleswade, Eaton-Socon, Alconbury-hill (and thence, as above, to) Ferry-Bridge, Abberford, Wetherby, Borough-Bridge, Catterick-Bridge, Greta-Bridge, Brough, Appleby, Penrith, Carlisle, Longtown, &c.

YH, London and Leeds Mail, through Barnet, Hatfield, Welyn, Hitchin, Bedford, Higham-Ferrers, Kettering, Rockingham, Uppingham, Oakham, Melton-Mowbray, Nottingham, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Dronfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, and Wakefield, to Leeds.

Dr, London and Carlisle Mail, through Barnet, St. Alban's, Dunstable, Hockliffe, Woburn, Newport-Pagnel, Northampton, Market-Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Derby, Ashburne, Leek, Macclesfield, Bullock-Smithy, Stockport, Manchester, Bolton, Chorley, Preston, Garstang, Lancaster, Burton, Kendal, and Penrith, to Carlisle.

Mc, London, Chester, and Holyhead Mail, through Barnet, St. Albans, Dunstable, Hockliffe, Woburn, Newport-Pagnel, Northampton, Welford, Lutterworth, Hinckley, Atherstone, Tamworth, Litchfield, Rudgley, Wolseybridge, Stafford, Eccleshall, Ashley-heath, Wore, Nantwich, Chester, Hawarden, Holywell, St. Asaph, Abergeley, Aberconwy, Aber, Bangor, and Llangefni, to Holyhead.

Ru, London and Liverpool Mail, through Barnet, St. Alban's, Dunstable, Hockliffe, Fenny-Stratford, Stoney-Stratford, Towceter, Daventry, Dunchurch, Coventry, Stone-Bridge, Coleshill, Tamworth, Litchfield, Rudgley, WolseyBridge, Stone, Newcastle-under-Line, Congleton, Holme-Chapel, Knutsford, Warrington, and Prescot, to Liverpool.

U, Birmingham and Sheffield Mail, through Sutton Coldfield, Litchfield, Burton-on-Trent, Derby, Ripley, Alfreton, Chesterfield, and Dronfield, to Sheffield ; from hence also a Coach goes forwards with the Letters, to Rotherham and Doncaster.

an, Birmingham and Manchester Mail, through Walsall, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Slone, Newcastle-under-Line, Congleton, Holme-Chapel; and Cheadle (Cheshire), to Manchester.

r, Manchester and Sheffield Mail, through Stockport, Bullock-Smithy, Buxton, Tideswell, and Stoney-Middleton, to Sheffield.

From Derby to Nottingham, a Coach carries the Letters daily; besides which, there are several Horse Posts for the conveyance of Letters to and between the different Post-offices in the County of Derby and its environs : a List of the Derbyshire Post-offices, will be found in Sect. 1, of this Chapter.
The Canals and Navigations (see Section 3) leaving the district of Map, p. 193, conduct as follows, viz.

A, The Rochdale Canal (whose western commencement at q is mentioned hereafter) - To Rochdale, Todmerden, Sowerby-Bridge near Halifax, whence, by means of the Colder and Hebble, Ayre and Calder, York Ouse, and the Humber Navigations, it connects with the Port of Hull and the German Ocean ; and also with the six following Canals and Navigations, and several others N and NW of this line, as I have particularly described in the article Canal, in Dr. Rees' "New Cyclopsedia," written in 1805.

D, The Huddersfield Canal - To Marsden and Huddersfield ; whence, by means of Ramsden's Canal, the Colder and Hebble, Ayre and Calder Navigations, &c. it connects and supplies Water-carriage as above.

I, The Barnsley Canal - To Wakefield; whence, by means of the Ayre and Calder Navigation, &c. its connects as above.

L, The Don Navigation - To Thome and GooleBridge; whence by means of the York Ouse, &c. and by its cut to the Ayre and Calder near Snaith, and by the Stainforth and Keadby Canal to the Trent River, it connects as above.

N, The Idle Navigation - To West-Stockwith; whence, by means of the Trent, Humber, and York Ouse Rivers, &c. it connects as above.

Q, The Chesterfield Canal - To East-Retford and West-Stockwith; whence, by means of the Trent, Stainforth and Keadby, Humber, and York Ouse, &c. it connects as above.

V, The Trent River - To Newark (by its back stream, called Newark-Dyke), Gainsborough, West-Stockwith, Keadby, and Burton (upon Strather), to Trent-fall; whence, by the Humber and York Ouse, &c. it connects as above, and with the German Ocean.

By the junctions beyond the limits of the Map, of the last-mentioned seven lines of Navigations, the most extensive water communications arc formed, from the northern and western parts of Derbyshire and its environs, with Leeds, Bradford, Skipton, Colne, Burnley, Blackburn, Tadcaster, Cawood, Selby, York, Borough-Bridge, Ripon, Topcliffe,. Sheriff-Hutton Bridge, New-Malton, Yedingham-Bridge, Market-Weighton, Howden, Hull, Beverley, Great-Driffield, Barton, Brigg, Caistor, Lincoln (by the Foss-dyke Canal), Tattershall, Horncastle, Sleaford, Boston, Wainfleet, Spalding, Wisbeach, Crowland, Market-deeping, Stamford, Lynn, &c. &c.

X, The Grantham Canal - To Bingham, Bottesford, and Grantham.

A, The Leicester and Melton-Mowbray Navigation - To Melton-Mowbray; where it connects with the Oakham Canal, to that town.

F, The Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal - To Gumley-Wharf (near Market-Harborough, to which there is a Cut); from whence, by means of the Grand Union Canal (now very nearly finished, April 1814), it will connect with the Grand-Junction Canal in Norton, near Daventry, and with the five following Canals, and several others to the SE, S and SW from Derbyshire.

K, The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal - To near Hinckley, and Marston-Bridge near Nuneaton ; whence, by means of the Coventry, Oxford, and Grand Junction Canals, &c. it connects as above.
N, The Coventry Canal (main line)* - To Nuneaton and Longford ; whence, by means of the Oxford and Grand Junction Canals, &c. it connects as above.

Q, The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal - To Digbeth near Birmingham; whence, by means of the Warwick and Birmingham, Warwick and Napton, Oxford, Grand Junction Canals, &c. it connects as above.

W, The Wyrley and Essington Canal - Near to Walsall and Wolverhampton ; whence, by means of the old Birmingham, Birmingham and Fazeley, Warwick and Birmingham Canals, &c. it connects as above.

Z, The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, to Penkridge and Aldersley (or Autherley) near Wolverhampton ; whence by means of the old Birmingham, Birmingham and Fazeley Canals, &c. it connects as above: and with the Severn River and Bristol Channel.

By the various junctions, beyond the limits of the Map, made by the last mentioned six lines of Navigations, the most extensive water communications are formed from the southern and eastern parts of Derbyshire and its environs, with Northampton, Wellingborough (near), Thrapston, Oundle, Peterborough, Wisbeach,

Lynn (see page 213); Downham, Brandon, Thetford, Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmund's, Ely, Cambridge, St. Ives, Huntingdon, St. Neots, Bedford, Biggleswade, Daventry (near), Stoney-Stratford, Buckingham, Fenny-Stratford, Leighton-Buzzard, Tring, Wendover, Great Berkhampstead, Hemel-Hempstead (near), Watford (near), Rickmansworth, Uxbridge, Brentford, Paddington and London ; Coventry, Rugby (near), Southam, Warwick, Banbury, Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford, Reading, Newbury, Henley, Great Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, Chertsey, Kingston, Brentford and London; Stourbridge, Kidderminster, Bewdley, Bridgenorth, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Droitwich, Upton, Tewksbury, Pershore, Evesham, Stratford on Avon, Gloucester, Newnham Stroud, Berkley, Bristol, Bath, &c. &c.

h, Newcastle (under-Line) Junction Canal, which (with Sir N. B. Gresley's Canal) extends to Partridge-nest, and other collieries.

m, The Trent and Mersey, or Grand Trunk Canal - To Sanbach (near), Middlewich, and Northwich, to Preston-brook ; whence by means of the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal, the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, &c. it connects as follows.

q, The Rochdale Canal (whose northern exit from tho Map at A has been mentioned, p. 212) - To Knot-Mill or Castlekey on the S W. side of Manchester Town ; whence by means of Bridgewater's Canal, and the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, &c. it connects as above.

s, The Mersey and Irwell Navigation - To Warrington (near), Frodsham, Liverpool, &c. connecting with Bridgewater's Canal near Manchester ?, and at Runcorn-Gap, with the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury, the Sankey, and Ellesmere Canals, the Weaver Navigation, and with the Irish Channel near Liverpool.

* The detached part of the ("grand trunk") line, belonging to this Company, between Whittington-Brook and Fradley-heath, will be mentioned in Sect. 3.