Ding-dong

A previous landlord of my favourite, old, coaching-inn here without the city walls of Bath on the road to London, discovered some original, early 18th century plans of the area which included detailed depictions of the layout of the place.

On the other side of the road - slightly off-centre of the rear entrance, there still exists a inversely bow-front shop facade, and it was shaped like that to allow teams of coaches and horses to take a wide swing at the narrow entrance when parking up and off-loading the passengers for a night's stay on their way from the West Country to London, about 300 years ago.

To the left of the main entrance shown above, there was a low wall running about 4 feet from the front wall (as we discovered when looking at the old plans) and this was to prevent the alighting passengers from being splashed with mud from other passing coaches as they entered the inn.

Upon entering, they would have found themselves in a largish room with a massive, stone fireplace on the right, and this fire would usually have been primed with a large joint of meat, slowly turning on a spit - possibly driven by a small dog on a tread-wheel - which was to be their supper on the night before they continued the 7 hour journey on to London.

The parish of Walcot is the largest in Bath, because the main road from the East Gate had been the prime arterial route in and out of town since the Romans and before, and many small houses and shops existed for the mile or so before travelers approached the scary high-roads in the wilderness of Wiltshire, with all the hazards - including highwaymen - that the 100 mile journey exposed them to.

Today, it takes about two and a half hours by automobile to reach the western boroughs of London but, in the late nineteenth century, they had a little race to London using a coach and four horses, and covered the distance between Bristol (an extra 14 miles) and Hyde Park in around 4 hours. How did they achieve this staggeringly quick time? By galloping all the way and changing the horses at every available livery on the way. A very expensive undertaking. Never before or since has the Royal Mail been so promptly delivered.

Of course, all things must change, and these days the scary hazards are confronted as you enter the old inn - see photos above.