Coach travel

For many years the only form of long distance transport from town to town, for people not owning their own carriages, was by the stage and mail coaches that travelled between coaching inns. Each town on a coach route had at least one coaching inn where horses could be changed and stabled, and refreshments, and possibly overnight accommodation was available.

Wolverhampton had several coaching inns, and was served by many famous coaches, including Red Rover, Shropshire Hero, Beehive, Royal Dart and Wonder. The London mail coach ran daily from Shrewsbury to London via Wolverhampton, Coventry and St. Albans. It came up Tettenhall Road, into Salop Street, round the corner into Cock Street and under the archway entrance into the yard of the New Hotel, kept by John Shaw Walker in the 1850s. Within sixty seconds the passengers would climb aboard, parcels packed, horses changed, and the coach would continue on its way.

It departed from the Bull and Mouth Inn in London at 6.30 a.m., arrived at Coventry at 4.02 p.m. and reached Wolverhampton at 7.36 p.m. The fare from Wolverhampton to London was 34 shillings inside and 17 shillings outside. In the 1790s the London mail coach ran from the Bull and Mouth Inn to the Talbot in King Street, Wolverhampton. It left the Talbot at midday and arrived in London at 7 a.m. next morning. Goods transported on the coach were guaranteed delivery in London by 9 a.m. The fair to London was £1.16s.0d. The fair to Birmingham was four shillings inside, and two shillings outside. Mail coaches were the fastest way to travel, but priority was given to the mail, and passenger fares were much higher than on the stage coaches.

The first known reference to stage coaches in Wolverhampton is a handbill dated 23rd July, 1783. A coach departed from Wolverhampton daily to Birmingham via Walsall. The fare to Birmingham was four shillings. By 1787 a coach service was running from Wolverhampton to London via Birmingham. It operated three times a week, the fare to London being twenty four shillings.

In 1784 the Post Office began running experimental mail coaches which were much lighter in weight, and carried fewer outside passengers. The horses were changed more frequently, journeys were faster, and time keeping was much improved. By 1808 the London to Holyhead mail coaches were stopping in Wolverhampton, and by 1818 it was possible to travel from the town to Bristol, Chester, Liverpool, and Manchester, as well as to Birmingham, London, and Holyhead. Services also ran to Bridgnorth.

By 1827 coaches were also leaving daily from Wolverhampton to Gloucester, Leeds, Newcastle, and Southampton. There were twenty departures daily to Birmingham.

One of the town’s main coaching inns was the Star and Garter in Cock Street. In 1846 the service was as follows:

Walsall's Coaches

The town’s most famous coaching inn was the George Hotel on The Bridge. It had 106 coach and posting horses in its stables. Many coaches called there, including the following:

The Red Rover and the Railway from London to Manchester; The Albion from London to Chester; The Crown Prince, the Aurora and the Magnet, from London to Liverpool; The Times and the Mail from Birmingham to Sheffield; The Standard Pearl, and the Rapid, to Derby; The York House from Bristol to Liverpool; The Mail from Manchester to Bath; and the Lazy Liverpool; besides coaches to Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton, and Lichfield.

The Red Rover was especially well-appointed and very fast; the guards wore red hats and it is said that their situations were worth £15 a week. On the first of the month when it carried the magazines, it had six horses. It required ten horses to work between Walsall and Cannock. The guard and coachman were fined 2s. 6d. a minute if behind time.

The Albion ran by the four Crosses on Watling Street and had four splendid bays and four chestnuts to work the eight miles. The Standard Pearl and the Rapid were opposition coaches driven by Capt. Baring and Capt. Douglas, and travelled at a reckless pace, on one occasion coming from Birmingham to Walsall in 28 minutes. The Standard changed at the George, the Rapid at the Bradford Arms, but came on to The Bridge to start fair on the race to Derby.

The "Lazy Liverpool" was so called because it was a slow, heavy coach, carrying the luggage of the fast coaches and passengers at cheap fares; it was consequently crowded with sailors and Irish pig-dealers. Some humorous person christened it the "Lousy Liverpool," and it was known by that name for many years.

The Amity ran from Wolverhampton to Sheffield, and was due in Walsall at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Aris’s Birmingham Gazette of 30th November, 1778 includes an advert for the Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Birmingham Fly. The fare from Walsall to Birmingham was £1.7s.0d inside, or 13s.6d. (half fare) outside. In 1780 a coach ran from Holyhead to London via Walsall and Birmingham. The fare from Walsall to London was £1.11s.6d.

After the formation of the London & North Western Railway on 16th July, 1846, stage and mail coach services rapidly went into decline.

There were frequent and reliable train services to much of the country, which people preferred. All long distance coaches had gone from Wolverhampton by 1851, the only coaches still running went to Birmingham, Bridgnorth, Dudley, and Worcester.

In 1854 only a single stage coach travelled from the Star & Garter. It ran daily to Bridgnorth, leaving the hotel at 6 p.m. This soon came to an end due to competition from a horse-drawn omnibus service.