History of the Main Mail Routes from London until 1850

Mail communication between London and the important towns in the UK, and indeed overseas, was very important for official, trade and personal communications from the 15th Century. This book identifies 21 such towns and presents the history of the mail routes to them from London until 1850. For most of the period mail was taken by road either by foot post or horse post until 1784 when mail coaches were introduced. The route changes are presented in detailed tables and figures, together with a discussion of both the changes and the improvements that were made to the roads over the years. From 1837, however, mail was increasingly carried by rail and the effect of the introduction of the railways on the carriage of mail is also described. The towns considered are Dover, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Falmouth, Milford Haven, Birmingham, Chester, Holyhead, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Carlisle, Portpatrick, Glasgow, Norwich, Yarmouth and Harwich.