Ireland Stage by Stage: the Rally Roads of Ireland Free
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FREE IRELAND STAGE BY STAGE: THE RALLY ROADS OF IRELAND PDF Rodney McComb,Esler Crawford | 192 pages | 19 Mar 2016 | Colourpoint Books | 9781780730707 | English | Newtownards, United Kingdom WRC news: Rally GB edges closer to Northern Ireland move To renew a subscription please login first. From until the s Charles Bianconi revolutionised public transport with his regular scheduled car service. National Gallery of Ireland. From about Ireland experienced a series of communications developments that pro-foundly altered the opportunities to move around the island. Road, canal and, later, rail initiatives meant that by about a communications revolution had occurred. The progress of these far-reaching changes is recorded at the time mainly through a host of small entries in contemporary newspapers and in the directories that began to be issued in the s and appeared regularly from the s. The first Turnpike Act, providing for tolls to be levied on traffic along the route, was passed in and related to the roads from Dublin to Navan and to Naas and on to Kilcullen. Over the next decade, further turnpike acts provided for the extension of these routes and for further radial routes from Dublin. Other early acts dealt with the routes out of Belfast, and between Cork and Mallow, and Limerick and Ennis. Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland the rest of the century, a network of tolled turnpike roads developed across much of midland and southern Ireland and along the eastern corridor north from Dublin to Belfast and Coleraine. Many of the turnpike road developments involved the building of new sections of higher-quality road—developments that are also distinguished by their long, straight stretches. The legacy of the early turnpikes is still evident along some major routes, for example from Kilcullen to Athy, and from Kinnegad to Mullingar. From the start, the new turnpike roads made an impact that was soon readily appreciated by property-owners. A advertisement Dublin Journal, 15—18 March that gives extensive detail on a large house and garden at Monasterevan, Co. Modern readers can surely find a resonance in this language of years ago. Directories and newspapers describe the transformation that came with the turnpikes. Long-distance hire services and dedicated route coaches are advertised from the late s. More regular services were also developing. Twice-weekly stagecoach services from Dublin to Drogheda, Kinnegad and Kilkenny were being advertised in It cost 5s. A once-weekly service to Athlone operated frombecoming twice-weekly about The Kinnegad service extended to Mullingar in ; by the early s this service was running four times weekly. Significantly, and perhaps ominously, departure times from Dublin were advertised, but in the early years there is no mention of an estimated arrival time. You arrived when you did, and you were never late because there was no schedule—surely something that might appeal to some modern carriers. Traffic on the road west from Dublin passed through the ruined Maynooth Castle. Note the sign for a small tavern beside the castle gate. The first coaches to Belfast ran in the s. In the journey to Belfast cost four English crowns from Dublin and took three days, stopping at Drogheda on the first night and at Newry on the second. A year or two later, it was specified that the coach would always run with six able horses. Based on a 5am start, the journey could be done in two days in summer, three in winter. Across Ireland all long-distance journeys involved overnight breaks. For Dublin to Cavan in the s the overnight stop was at Kells. It was the same 30 years later. For Dublin to Kilkenny, a day and a half was still needed in winter during the s. An alternative route to Kilkenny was by Athy and Castlecomer. For Dublin to Limerick, even in the s when regular mail coach services began to operate, an overnight stop was required at either Maryborough or Mountrath. But even in the s a winter journey to Longford required an overnight break at Mullingar. New service stations With the growth of coaches came a parallel growth in communications-related services. Travellers had to have somewhere to eat and rest, and, just as importantly, horses had to be refreshed and changed. The response to these requirements is seen in the growth of the inn system. Inns were already established along some of the main routes in the second half of the seventeenth century, but the turnpike roads Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland them a new impetus. Just how significant that was is illustrated by the run of advertisements for new and refurbished inns that appear at frequent intervals in newspapers from the mids. Inns developed early along all the main roads out of Dublin. Further afield, an inn is recorded at Ninemilehouse in south Tipperary in A advertisement for a coach service from Dublin to Kilkenny via the new Athy to Castlecomer turnpike road gives extensive detail on the organisation of the new service. Following a 6am start on the outward journey, breakfast was at Rathcoole, mid-day dinner was at Kilcullen, and the overnight stop was at Athy. The following day breakfast was at Castlecomer, with the coach arriving in time to dine in Kilkenny. Horses, as much as travellers, needed rest and forage. On long journeys, a smooth passage was facilitated by providing fresh horses, usually at intervals of around ten to fifteen miles. When a twice-weekly stagecoach to Eyre Court in east Galway was advertised init was noted that five sets of horses would be needed, part of the explanation for the high charge of 30 shillings English per passenger. The role of inns as staging posts for both men and horses clearly had a bearing on their spacing. Along the Great Connaught Road, inns can be identified at five to ten mile intervals. Over time, however, inns in different places dominated. In the early years there were short intervals between changing stages. In the s the new Kings Arms Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland Leixlip could offer a good first stage. Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland, as coaches improved steel Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland were being advertised as state-of-the-art in the sintervals lengthened and Maynooth could become an alternative first stage. Beyond Kilcock, there was no obvious candidate for a second or, certainly in earlier years, third stage. The minor drama of the competition between different inns is played out from the s and is surely an issue that deserves further research. Another such issue is the economic impact of individual inns. Inns were of major importance in village economies, yet they appear to have received very limited academic attention. To appreciate the significance of the local inn, we have only to contemplate some of the contemporary newspaper advertise-ments. But he also gave prominence to the location of his inn and its wider context on the road west:. He hopes the impartial public will consider he was the first that set up chaises on that road. Post chaises, as usual, in Maynooth, and also at the New Inn, which is mid-way between Maynooth and Kinnegad. Post chaise and pair at thirteen pence a mile, four horses at nineteen pence halfpenny. Gentlemen may be accommodated with horses to their own carriages at the above price. As traffic increased, so did the size of inns. In the s, a house in Monasterevan built for an inn was advertised as having stables for 30 horses, while the Great Inn in Mountrath had stabling for 50 horses in The Great Inn at Newbridge and a new Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland at Kilcock respectively offered stabling for 60 and 40 horses in the s and s. Just how frequently it operated at capacity is unknown, but this certainly seems large. A large number of hands must have been needed to provide bedding and storage, not to mention less regularly needed services such as those of the blacksmith or wheelwright. The rail bridge across the Boyne at Drogheda as it looked beforeopened incompleted the rail link between Dublin and Belfast. For a brief period aboutthe stagecoach services were threatened by the prospect of the canals as rivals. The Grand Canal from Dublin had been expanding for some 30 years and had now reached as far as Monasterevan, Co. It was to continue through the midlands, reaching the Shannon about The canal offered a more comfortable journey, but it was a fixed route and maximum speeds were around seven miles an hour. Nonetheless, for a couple of decades, canals, particularly those that might open up coalfields, were seen as potentially attractive development prospects. In for a brief period a coach operator offered a Dublin—Kilkenny journey that involved travel by canal to Monasterevan and the rest of the way by coach. But this journey was slow and required an overnight stop. Across most Ireland Stage by Stage: The Rally Roads of Ireland Ireland the challenge from inland navigation either did not materialise or else was soon seen off by faster, and sometimes more frequent, coaches. New mail coach services were inaugurated inand were to run along a developing system of post-roads from By then, too, other routes had developed, and the coaches could carry more passengers. From a base at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, they extended across much of southern and western Ireland. Coach services not all of them involving the mail listed in early nineteenth-century directories radiate from Dublin across Ireland.