| Coach services in the area | ||
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The entry below is from Pigot's directory of South Wales in 1835. It lists the horse drawn coaches which stopped at Crickhowell at the time Queen Victoria came to the throne. This was the only means people had of travelling beyond the area into the wider world at that time. |
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| Because Crickhowell developed at a crossing point on the river Usk it was a convenient stopping place for coaches using the valley as a routeway. As you can see the town had connections to London, the Welsh coast (where you could catch a ship for Ireland), and the important port of Bristol. These were very good connections for a rural town in early Victorian Britain (if you could afford the fare!) | ||
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| Coaches
like the Paul Pry, the Nimrod and the Fusileer
could keep up a speed of about 8 miles an hour by changing horses regularly
at coaching inns. Even with the smoother turnpike roads the journey could
be difficult and if you could only afford an outside seat on top it could
be very uncomfortable. Imagine sitting
up there in the driving rain in winter in the dark! These coach services disappeared when the railway network was built. trains were faster, cheaper and more comfortable. Because Crickhowell missed out when the railways were constructed a coach service to Brecon continued well into the Victorian period. |
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