Transportation in the Regency Era

On Monday, I spoke of a need for structure in writing a story or novel. Today, I’m going to talk a bit about worldbuilding and transporation. When writing about another time period or indeed even in fantasy and science fiction settings, the author needs to consider the infrastructure of their setting and the effects that will have on their characters and stories from the time travel takes, to sensible clothing choices to relevant status symbols. Today, we’ll be taking a look at transportation in the Regency Era.

Travel and transportation have only increased in speed, comfort and horsepower since the Regency Era. We take for granted the speed at which we dash from place to place in hours instead of days. Likewise, different sorts of conflicts and obstacles crop up with different modes of travel. Instead of a flat tire, the heroine’s carriage might break an axle or one of the horses might go lame near the hero’s manor house. She can’t just call for a taxi or even a rideshare and be off again. An invitation creates forced proximity and increases tensions between them.

Types of Transportation in the Regency Era

Moving Raw Materials, Good and the Mail

Before the 1830s, trains had not yet spread widely across the English country side and many factories still relied on canals to transport of raw materials and goods to market. The postal system needed to carry mail and people along particular routes. And by the late Regency, the aging infrastructure required improvement. The work of Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John McAdam (of the Tar-McAdam or tarmac fame despite his not using tar in his construction, but possibly because of family business in the 18th century involving tar and shipbuilding) led to widespread renovations and improvements (in terms of the roads taking people where they wanted to go) on the Roman roads, including the Great North Road, the corridor between London and Edinburgh that is now called the A1.

Moving People

One’s economic prosperity usually determined one’s mode of transportation. However, walking was universal. The poorest people walked because they had no other alternative. The more affluent walked for exercise and, one suspects, freedom from the bumps and jolts of traveling over rough roads. Riding in a carriage was more fashionable than riding horseback, but some gentlemen surely preferred the maneuverability and freedom.

Carriages & Coaches

The designs of the various carriages during the Regency Era reveal the inadequacies of the roads for which they were meant to compensate. Climbing the rungs of the economic ladder, vehicles move from heavy and ponderous to lighter and more lavish. Lighter, well-sprung carriages were the sports cars of their day.

The Royals and many wealthy peers custom ordered their carriages and coaches. However, one could also visit a carriage builder’s show room and purchase new vehicles similar to modern car dealerships. Without the hard-sell, one would hope. Few Regency Era carriages survive today. Rapid advances in design meant owners either scrapped or renovated older vehicles.

I go into more detail on the different types of Regency carriages as well as more information about horses in other posts.

Velocipedes: Entertainment or Transportation?

In January 1818, the first ‘running machine’ was patented by a German named Karl Drais. This contraption was wooden and one straddled it, propelling it using a running motion. This prototype was of little practical use as it was only suitable on well-maintained paths in parks or gardens. Others promptly copied it and they became popular in England and France. This ‘running machine’, ‘swiftwalker’ or ‘dandy horse‘, as it was often called in Britain being favored by the dandies, gained in popularity and the term ‘velocipede’ was first used in the 1860s when Pierre Michaux, Pierre Lallement and the Olivier brothers built the first bicycle equipped with pedals, the ancestor of the modern bicycle.

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Which travel nightmares do you think you would hate to have encountered the most in the Regency Era? Or which would you gladly avoid by trading the speed and comfort of now to travel back in time?

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For more information regarding Regency Transportation, Carriages and Horses and a variety of other Regency-themed topics can be found on my Regency Resource page.