From the earliest times Guildford has been a major nexus of roads. Much of the traffic from London to the central southern coast passed through the town, as well as a thriving local trade, and its inns became noted for their size and quality. These prospered in the coaching era that began in the 17th century, particularly as a result of the increased traffic that followed Portsmouth's rise as a major naval base. From Stone's End, Borough to Portsmouth is 72 miles and travellers found it convenient to break their journey overnight at Guildford, roughly halfway, while their horses rested.
Stage coaches could do the journey in one day, changing horses at the end of every 10 or 12 mile stage. This is about as far as horses could be expected to give their best without a rest. However, road surfaces were often very bad, which slowed the journey greatly, often taking 14 or16 hours. The 18th century saw the introduction of the turnpikes, privatised main roads where money paid at toll gates went to maintain a good surface for wheeled traffic. The Portsmouth road was turnpiked in three sections. When the final section, from Kingston to Sheetbridge, was finished in 1749, the time for staging from London to Portsmouth was reduced to 9 hours, although the record was under 8 hours. From the 17th century, the Royal Mail had been carried by boys riding ponies, which could cope with rough roads. It is a testimony to the improved surfaces of the turnpikes that in 1784 the mail began to be sent by coach. The Guildford tollgate stood just south of the town from 1803 until the turnpike was wound up in 1870. The Arundel road was turnpiked in 1757, with a tollgate at Shalford Park. Turnpiked in the following year were the Leatherhead road and the Farnham road over the Hogs' Back with a gate at the top of the Mount. The Mount was so steep, however, that an extra pair of horses had to be kept at the Wheatsheaf at the bottom to help the coaches up. To avoid this, the present Farnham Road was built in about 1800 on a more gradual ascent up the north side of the ridge.
Many of the Portsmouth Road passengers were sailors. Flush with money when paid off at Portsmouth, ordinary seamen would club together to hire a coach to London, and they could often be seen yelling and waving flags as their dangerously-swaying vehicles clattered through the town. Having spent, or been robbed of, all their money, the same sailors might be seen walking back to their next ship.
In the early 19th century the fares were a guinea inside and 12/6d outside. The less wealthy, who did not mind a slower and less comfortable trip, could ride outside a van for 6/6d, taking 16 hours, or even a stage wagon which took three days. The early 19th century saw a boom period for coaching, with an average of ten coaches a day travelling in each direction through Guildford, and some 28 different coach services passing through the town, perhaps taking two hundred passengers per day. Night coaches changed horses at Kirby's stables at the top of North Street.
The coaching trade declined rapidly after the coming of the railway. Even before the line from Nine Elms reached Portsmouth in November 1849, trade fell off. In 1839, 18 coaches ran through Guildford: in 1840, 16: in 1841, 11; and 9 in 1842, when the mail coaches ended and the post began to be sent by rail. Five coaches survived until 1849, but all finally ceased to run in that year.
There was a sentimental revival of coaching from the 1860s, much as enthusiasts preserve steam railways now. Captain Hargreaves drove his Rocket from 1875 between London and Portsmouth for a time, and Walter Schoolbred's New Times coach ran from Piccadilly to Guildford from 1879 until The Great War. These were really only pleasure trips, however; the coach could never challenge the railway commercially.
Guildford had an unusually large number of inns to cater for the travellers. John Taylor The Water Poet wrote of Guildford in 1636. This towne hath very faire inns and good entertainment at the Tavernes, the Angell, the Crowne, the White Hart and the Lyon. It is curious that makes no mention of the Three Tuns, already at least a hundred years old in his time, and finally demolished in 1818. There were, in fact, to be two Lions, the Red and the White, and in the heyday of the coaches another inn, the George, flourished on the High Street. Only the Angel now remains, ironically one of the smallest. It was already known as Angel in 1526 and traces of Jacobean timbering survive behind a classic Regency frontage. (It is significant that all the Guildford inns were refronted in the boom period of the early 19th century.) The archway gives access to the paved yard where the crane to the hayloft above the stable can still be seen.
The Crown, first recorded in 1476 and later the headquarters of the Whigs or Liberals, did not long survive the collapse of the coaching trade and became a shop in the 1850s. It is now the National Westminster Bank but a fibreglass replica of the old crown can still be seen above the present bank sign. Faulkner's coach office at 64 High Street was not an inn as such, and soon closed in 1840. The George, the youngest of the coaching inns, which stood between the Bull's Head and the Guildhall, was another early casualty in the 1840s. The White Hart was the Conservative inn and survived the coaching era as a meeting place for county society, only to be demolished in 1905 to build Sainsbury's. The carved White Hart sign itself is now in the Museum. The Red Lion, where Charles II and Samuel Pepys stayed, was the largest of all. However, the stables for the coach horses were demolished in 1846 and it declined into a pub, becoming a shop after the First World War. By that time, Red Lion Gate had long been renamed Market Street. The White Lion, home of the politically radical Gin & Water Club lasted until 1956 when it was demolished to build a branch of Woolworths. White Lion Walk now stands on the site. It is no coincidence that the old coaching inns were often replaced by large chain stores; Guildford was developing into the shopping centre it is today.
Guildford Museum, Castle Arch, Guildford, Surrey
(01483) 444750
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