Class Description

It is estimated that by 1819, London had over 120 inns that served the postal roads in and out of the city. These had grown up over the centuries, starting off as places to get a room, a drink and a meal, but on April 9, 1657 the London paper, the ‘Mercurius Politicus’ carried an advertisement that a public coach service was to start between London and Chester, costing 35 shillings for the four day travel over 190 miles. Roads improved, posting inns took off, and became competitive, the Royal Mail shifted from ponies to coaches, and by 1797, stages went between Manchester and London in thirty-six hours, while the mail did that journey in only twenty-eight hours.

Posting inns of London varied from the large and famous—such as the Swan with Two Necks, the Bull and Mouth, the Angel, and the Golden Cross—on down to the smaller and also those older inns starting to fall on hard times. Keeping an inn going was an expensive prospect—the inn wasn’t just a place to catch the mail coach or the stage or find a room for the night, it served up coffee rooms, taverns, large halls for balls and meetings, private parlors and sitting rooms, carriers and wagons to haul goods, rented horses and coaches, and all of this required staff to keep it running smoothly, including the innkeeper, the booking office, the housekeeper, cooks, coachman, chambermaids, kitchen maids, porters, waiters, potboys, olsters, postboys, potboys, boots, scullery maids, and the extra staff for laundry, repairs to coaches and furnishings, horse buyers, upholsters, and mail guards.

This workshop will look at life in a London posting inn, covering: