The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

served the needs of travellers, for food, drink, and rest. The attached stables, staffed by hostlers, cared for the horses, including changing a tired team for a fresh one. Coaching inns were used by private travellers in their coaches, the public riding stagecoaches between one town and another, and (in England at least) the mail coach. Just as with roadhouses in other countries, although many survive, and some still offer overnight accommodation, in general coaching inns have lost their original function and now operate as ordinary pubs. Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

es and mail coaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. In America, stage stations performed these functions. Traditionally English coaching inns were seven miles apart but this depended very much on the terrain. Some English towns had as many as ten such inns and rivalry between them was intense, not only for the income from the stagecoach operators but for the revenue for food and drink supplied to the passengers. Barnet, Hertfordshire still has an unusually high number of historic pubs along its high street due to its former position on the Great North Road from London to the North of England.

Historic coaching inns

The Black Lion in Cardigan (established 1105) is probably the oldest Welsh coaching inn. Other historic inns in Wales include the Black Boy Inn (built 1522) and the Groes Inn (1573).

The Bear, Oxford The Bear (historically associated with The Bear Inn) is a pub in Oxford, England, that was founded in 1774 as The Jolly Trooper. It stands on the corner of Alfred Street and Blue Boar Street, opposite Bear Lane in the centre of Oxford, just nor ...

, was founded in 1774 as 'The Jolly Trooper' from the house of the stableman to the coaching inn 'The Bear Inn', on High Street. It acquired the name The Bear, and the history of the coaching inn, when The Bear Inn was converted into a private house in 1801. There were many coaching inns in what is now central London. The only remaining one with the galleries to the bedrooms above is The George Inn, Southwark, owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and still run as a pub. Many have been demolished and plaques mark their location. The

Nomura Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Don Nomura (born 1957), Japanese-American baseball agent * Katsuhiro Nomura, Japanese voice actor, includi ...

building close to the Museum of London on London Wall commemorates the "Bull and Mouth" Inn. The Golden Cross House, opposite

St Martin's in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

recalls the Golden Cross, Charing Cross coaching inn.

Cock and Ball

A pair of coaching inns along

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

in Stony Stratford are claimed to have given rise to the term " cock and ball stories". The claim is that stories by coach passengers would be further embellished as they passed between the two hostelries, "The Cock" and "The Ball", fuelled by ale and an interested audience. Hence any suspiciously elaborate tale would become a cock and ball story. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this is where the phrase originated. The phrase, first recorded in 1621, may instead be an allusion to

Aesop's fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended t ...

, with their incredible talking animals.

References

Bibliography

*''Coaching Era, The: Stage and Mail Coach Travel in and Around Bath, Bristol and Somerset'', Roy Gallop, Fiducia (2003), * 'The English Urban Inn 1560–1750', Alan Everitt, in ''Perspectives in English Urban History'', ed. By Alan Everitt, Palgrave Macmillan (1973), I

External links

Coaching inns
By Anne Woodley.
Stagecoaches and Coaching Inns
Cottontown.
Photos of examples of what may be considered coaching inns in geograph.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coaching Inn Transport infrastructure Drinking establishments in Europe Tourist accommodations Horse-related professions and professionals Hotel types