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A curricle is a light two-wheeled
carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
drawn by two horses abreast. Usually open with a falling hood, it seats two people, plus a liveried groom on a seat or small platform between the rear springs—whose weight might be required to properly balance the carriage. Curricles are harnessed with a pole between the horses, and have an iron crossbar (the curricle bar) which rests over the
harness saddle A harness saddle is an element of horse harness which supports the weight of shafts or poles attaching a vehicle to a horse. Like other types of saddle, it lies on the horse's back directly behind the withers, often has an internal supportive ...
and supports the weight of the pole. The lightweight "swept" body is hung from a pair of outsized swan-neck cee-springs at the rear, with a minimal
dashboard A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel or IP, or fascia) is a control panel (engineering), control panel set within the central console of a vehicle, boat, or cockpit of an aircraft or spacecraft. Usually located directly ahead of the ...
and a pair of lamps in front. For park driving, such as in the
Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...
or along the seafront at
Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Hon ...
, two liveried mounted grooms might follow. The curricle originated in Italy and came to England in the early 1800s by way of France. The word ''curricle'' comes from , the name of the Roman racing chariot. In Latin, the word means "running", "racecourse" or "chariot". The French adopted the English-sounding word for such vehicles. Accidents with curricles were common. The ratio of draft—one lightweight carriage compared to two horses pulling—was so low that curricles were often driven faster than they should, leading to collisions or accidents when a horse slipped. The danger, plus the development of the safer phaeton and
cabriolet A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...
, replaced curricles as the fashionable carriage of the time.


See also

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Carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
*
Horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...


References


Further reading

* {{Horse-drawn carriages, state=expanded Carts Carriages sv:Karriol