A stagecoach (also: stage coach , stage , road coach , diligence ) 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 drawn by six horses.
73-515: Hinchingbrooke may refer to one of the following structures near Huntingdon , Cambridgeshire, England: Hinchingbrooke Hospital , a small district general hospital Hinchingbrooke House , adjacent to and now administered by Hinchingbrooke School Hinchingbrooke School , a short distance from Hinchingbrooke Hospital See also [ edit ] Hinchinbrooke (disambiguation) Hinchinbrook (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
146-443: A Royal Mail coach passing through a turnpike gate, a Dickensian passenger coach covered in snow pulling up at a coaching inn , a highwayman demanding a coach to "stand and deliver" and a Wells Fargo stagecoach arriving at or leaving an American frontier town. The yard of ale drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts . The stagecoach
219-514: A coaching centre, notably at the George Hotel . The town has a well-preserved medieval bridge that used to serve as the main route of Ermine Street over the river. The bridge only ceased to be the sole crossing point to Godmanchester in 1975, with the building of what is now the A1307 (formerly A14 ) bypass . The town's valuable trading position was secured by Huntingdon Castle , of which only
292-410: A Stage Coach (If God permits), which starts every Thursday at Five in the morning. The novelty of this method of transport excited much controversy at the time. One pamphleteer denounced the stagecoach as a "great evil [...] mischievous to trade and destructive to the public health". Another writer, however, argued that: Besides the excellent arrangement of conveying men and letters on horseback, there
365-770: A balcony overlooking the yard. Since 1959, the courtyard and balcony have been used for Shakespeare performances by a company run by the Shakespeare at the George Trust. Until 2024 when the Green King company who run the George Hotel decided it was not in their best interest to continue Shakespeare at the George, ending its 65-year run. Huntingdon has a town council with 19 councillors elected every four years. Two of them serve also as mayor and deputy mayor. Meetings are normally held once
438-416: A basic stagecoach infrastructure had been put in place. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool . The stagecoach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. Stagecoaches also became widely adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century and generally travelled at
511-642: A coach could travel at full gallop across levels, combined with more staging posts at shorter intervals, cut the time required to travel across the country sometimes by half. A Cobb & Co (Australia) proprietor arrived in New Zealand on 4 October 1861, thus beginning Cobb & Co (New Zealand) stagecoach operation. Beginning in the 18th century, crude wagons began to be used to carry passengers between cities and towns, first within New England by 1744, then between New York and Philadelphia by 1756. Travel time
584-499: A convent, is said to be haunted. The bridge over the Alconbury Brook named Nun's Bridge is said also to be haunted, by one of the nuns who once lived at the convent. She is said often to be accompanied by another ghost that resembles a nurse. The myth goes that the nun had a monk lover who caused them to be murdered. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia . Television signals are received from
657-417: A day and a half, including a night stop at Bab al-Wad (Shaar HaGai), the trip in the opposite, downhill direction took 12 hours. The stagecoaches belonged to private owners, and the wagoners were mostly hired, although sometimes the wagoner was also the owner of the wagon. The license to operate the stagecoaches was granted by the government to private individuals in the cities and to the colony committees in
730-669: A few miles per hour. Shakespeare 's first plays were performed at coaching inns such as The George Inn, Southwark . By the end of the 17th century stagecoach routes ran up and down the three main roads in England. The London-York route was advertised in 1698: Whoever is desirous of going between London and York or York and London, Let them Repair to the Black Swan in Holboorn, or the Black Swan in Coney Street , York, where they will be conveyed in
803-519: A half after leaving Manchester." A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension. This coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour (13 km/h) . Even more dramatic improvements were made by John Palmer at the British Post Office . The postal delivery service in Britain had existed in
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#1732928088010876-454: A horse racecourse and once was a centre for aviation. Huntingdon is home to many local businesses, including Huntingdon Racecourse . Hinchingbrooke Business Park also contains offices and warehouses. The nearest weather station for long-term data is at RAF Wyton , 3 mi (5 km) north-east of the town centre. More recently Monks Wood, 5 mi (8 km) to the north-west, has also provided data. Like most of Britain, Huntingdon has
949-462: A low price (about a shilling for every five miles [8 km]) but with such velocity and speed in one hour, as that the posts in some foreign countries make in a day. The speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Reforms of the turnpike trusts , new methods of road building and the improved construction of coaches led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey - from an average journey length of 2 days for
1022-588: A monopoly on the supply of stagecoaches to the Royal Mail and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing for the following few decades. Steel springs had been used in suspensions for vehicles since 1695. Coachbuilder Obadiah Elliott obtained a patent covering the use of elliptic springs - which were not his invention. His patent lasted 14 years delaying development because Elliott allowed no others to license and use his patent. Elliott mounted each wheel with two durable elliptic steel leaf springs on each side and
1095-520: A month at Huntingdon Town Hall . Huntingdonshire District Council has three wards: Huntingdon North , Huntingdon East and Huntingdon West . The three wards each have two councillors. The main offices of Huntingdonshire District Council are in Huntingdon itself. The third tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council providing county-wide services such as roads, education, social services, libraries and heritage protection. Huntingdon
1168-518: A network of stagecoach routes existed. Stagecoaches, often known by the French name "Diligence" - a smaller model with room for six passengers and a bigger one for ten, drawn by two horses (in the city, on the plain or on a good road) or three (on intercity and elevated roads) - were the main means of public transportation in Ottoman Palestine between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of
1241-630: A popular solution. They built their first Concord stagecoach in 1827 employing long leather straps under their stagecoaches which gave a swinging motion. Describing a journey he took in 1861, in his 1872 book, Roughing It , Mark Twain wrote that the Concord stage was like "an imposing cradle on wheels". Around twenty years later, in 1880, John Plesent Gray recorded after travelling from Tucson to Tombstone on J.D. Kinnear's mail and express line: That day's stage ride will always live in my memory – but not for its beauty spots. Jammed like sardines on
1314-418: A relaxation, it seems as if we could never have survived the trip. The horses were changed three times on the 80-mile (130 km) trip, normally completed in 17 hours. The stagecoach lines in the U.S. were operated by private companies. Their most profitable contracts were with U.S. Mail and were hotly contested. Pony Express , which began operations in 1860, is often called first fast mail service from
1387-621: A replica cannon installed in the 1990s to replace one from the Crimean War , scrapped for the war effort in the Second World War . However, it faces in the opposite direction from the original. St Mary's Street drill hall was built in the late 19th century. The George Hotel on the corner of High Street and George Street was once a posting house. It was named after Saint George of England in 1574 and bought some 25 years later by Henry Cromwell, grandfather of Oliver Cromwell . Charles I made
1460-536: A temperate, maritime climate free of temperature extremes, with rainfall spread fairly evenly over the year. The absolute maximum recorded at Wyton was 35.4 °C (95.7 °F) in August 1990; the temperature at Monks Wood rose in July 2006 to 35.1 °C (95.2 °F). The mean annual warmest day is 29.7 °C (85.5 °F), and on 16 days a year will rise to 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. Typically 43.2 nights of
1533-673: Is a special-needs school. Secondary schools include St Peter's School and Hinchingbrooke School . Further education colleges include Huntingdonshire Regional College , Hinchingbrooke School sixth-form college and St Peter's sixth form. Huntingdon railway station is sited on the East Coast Main Line . Services that stop here are operated by Govia Thameslink Railway , on the Thameslink and Great Northern routes. Great Northern services operate between Peterborough and London Kings Cross station ; trains take just over an hour to reach
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#17329280880101606-644: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire , England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there in 1599 and became one of its Members of Parliament (MP) in 1628. The former Conservative Prime Minister (1990–1997) John Major served as its MP from 1979 until his retirement in 2001 . During
1679-581: Is in the High Street. Medway Christian Fellowship is based on Medway Road. The highest-ranking football club, Huntingdon Town , plays in the United Counties League . Huntingdon United RGE plays in the Cambridgeshire League . Names are in birth order. Data are from the subject's Misplaced Pages article except where referenced. Source: The following people and military units have received
1752-416: Is of late such an admirable commodiousness, both for men and women, to travel from London to the principal towns in the country, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage-coaches, wherein any one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather and foul ways; free from endamaging of one's health and one's body by the hard jogging or over-violent motion; and this not only at
1825-408: Is one of 60 electoral divisions, represented by two county councillors. The fourth tier of local government is Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority , which is headed by a mayor. The Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough is Dr Nik Johnson . Huntingdon lies in the parliamentary constituency of the same name (formerly Huntingdonshire ). Ben Obese-Jecty MP (Conservative)
1898-634: The Cambridge -London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. Robert Hooke helped in the construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, improving the characteristics of the coach. In 1754, a Manchester -based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". It was advertised with the following announcement - "However incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four days and
1971-633: The Defence Equipment and Support arm of the MOD and RAF Alconbury currently occupied by the United States Air Force . Part of the medieval infirmary hall of St Johns in the market place became Huntingdon Grammar School . It was attended by Cromwell and by the diarist Samuel Pepys . The building is now the Cromwell Museum , run by Cambridgeshire County Council . Hinchingbrooke House , once
2044-685: The Domesday Book of 1086. The name means "The huntsman's hill" or possibly "Hunta's hill". Huntingdon seems to have been a staging post for Danish raids outside East Anglia until 917, when the Danes moved to Tempsford , now in Bedfordshire , before they were crushed by Edward the Elder . It prospered successively as a bridging point of the River Great Ouse , a market town, and in the 18th and 19th centuries
2117-507: The Freedom of the Town of Huntingdon. Stagecoach Commonly used before steam-powered rail transport was available, a stagecoach made long scheduled trips using stage stations or posts where the stagecoach's horses would be replaced by fresh horses. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as staging. Some familiar images of the stagecoach are that of
2190-691: The Missouri River to the Pacific Coast, but the Overland Mail Company began a twice-weekly mail service from Missouri to San Francisco in September 1858. Transcontinental stage-coaching ended with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The railway network in South Africa was extended from Mafeking through Bechuanaland and reached Bulawayo in 1897. Prior to its arrival,
2263-707: The Roman Empire , in 274, a massive coin hoard dating to the reign of Tetricus I and Roman Emperor Aurelian was hidden in the grounds of the town. Consisting of 9,724 Roman coins , and discovered in 2018, the Muddy Hoard is considered to date the largest treasure trove of Cambridgeshire. Huntingdon was founded by the Anglo-Saxons and Danes . It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 921, where it appears as Huntandun . It appears as Huntedun in
Hinchingbrooke - Misplaced Pages Continue
2336-559: The Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cambridgeshire , Heart East , Greatest Hits Radio East , Star Radio and HCR FM , a community based station that broadcast from the town. The Hunts Post is the town's local weekly newspaper. The local primary schools are Hartford Junior School, Huntingdon Primary School, Thongsley Fields Primary School, St John's Primary School, Stukeley Meadows Primary School and Cromwell Academy Primary School. Spring Common School
2409-401: The 1850's. In North America a few Concord Coaches survived until the first half of the 20th century. The first crude depiction of a coach was in an English manuscript from the 13th century. The first recorded stagecoach route in Britain started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith . This was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the island. By the mid 17th century,
2482-509: The 20th century. The first stagecoaches were brought to Palestine by the German religious group known as the " Templers " who operated a public transportation service between their colonies in the country as early as 1867. Stagecoach development in Palestine was greatly facilitated by the 1869 visit of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I . For this distinguished guest, the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem
2555-504: The English Mail Coach. Although normally well-sprung and enclosed, seating eight or more passengers, some types had a semi-open seat, for three or more passengers, shared with the driver. This latter was known as the banquette. Although most vehicles were coachman driven, others were in the care of postillions . The number of horses varied according to difficulties of the route. Three, or a unicorn team were not unfamiliar, especially on
2628-499: The George his headquarters in 1645. Later the highwayman Dick Turpin is said to have been a customer when it was a coaching inn on the Great North Road . A theatre was built to the rear of the George in about 1799. The Lincoln company of actors managed by Thomas Shaftoe Robertson and later Fanny Robertson performed here in race weeks. Two wings of the inn burnt down in the mid-19th century, but two were saved, including one with
2701-417: The ancient world and modern Europe/America. Revived in England during the late 16th or early 17th centuries, although a nationwide system was not organised until 1658. Considerable improvements came during the 18th century with the turnpike system and better engineering of public roads. ... Forced from its main trunk routes by railway competition from the late 1830's, although some lingered in remoter areas until
2774-514: The authorities. This could be overloading of passengers in excess of the licence or minor matters such as luggage too high on the roof. They did this in return for a portion of any fines imposed, sometimes as much as half. The tax paid on passenger seats was a major expense for coach operators. Harris gives an example of the tax payable on the London to Newcastle coach route (278 miles). Annual tax amounted to £2,529 for 15 passengers per coach (4 inside and 11 outside). Annual tolls were £2,537. The hire of
2847-588: The average daily mileage traversed approximately 60 to 70 miles (97 to 113 km). With road improvements and the development of steel springs, speeds increased. By 1836 the scheduled coach left London at 19:30, travelled through the night (without lights) and arrived in Liverpool at 16:50 the next day, a distance of about 220 miles (350 km), doubling the overall average speed to about 10 miles per hour (16 km/h), including stops to change horses. [Stage coaches operated] between stages or stopping places, both in
2920-471: The basket, and generally presents a pile, half as high again as the coach, which is secured by ropes and chains, tightened by a large iron windlass, which also constitutes another appendage of this moving mass. The body of the carriage rests upon large thongs of leather, fastened to heavy blocks of wood, instead of springs, and the whole is drawn by seven horses. The English visitor noted the small, sturdy Norman horses "running away with our cumbrous machine, at
2993-445: The body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the axles . After the expiry of his patent most British horse carriages were equipped with elliptic springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. Steady improvements in road construction were also made at this time, most importantly the widespread implementation of Macadam roads up and down
Hinchingbrooke - Misplaced Pages Continue
3066-463: The borough charter of 1205, are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office, Huntingdon. Parts of Huntingdon, including the centre, were struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, during a record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The centre suffered moderate damage. Between the railway station and the old hospital building, stands
3139-476: The capital. Thameslink services run between Peterborough and Horsham , in West Sussex , via St Pancras and Blackfriars . Bus services are operated primarily by Stagecoach East and Whippet . Routes serve the town, including Hinchingbrooke Hospital , and connect Huntingdon with Peterborough, St Neots, Ramsey, St Ives and Cambridge. Luton and Stansted airports are located within 40 miles (64 km) of
3212-440: The country. The speed of coaches in this period rose from around 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) (including stops for provisioning) to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for mail . Each route had an average of four coaches operating on it at one time - two for both directions and a further two spares in case of a breakdown en route. Joseph Ballard described
3285-973: The countryside the 1860s did see the start of a coaching revival spurred on by the popularity of Four-in-hand driving as a sporting pursuit (the Four-In-Hand Driving Club was founded in 1856 and the Coaching Club in 1871). New stagecoaches often known as Park Drags began to be built to order. Some owners would parade their vehicles and magnificently dressed passengers in fashionable locations. Other owners would take more enthusiastic suitably-dressed passengers and indulge in competitive driving. Very similar in design to stagecoaches their vehicles were lighter and sportier. These owners were (often very expert) amateur gentlemen-coachmen, occasionally gentlewomen. A professional coachman might accompany them to avert disaster. Professionals called these vehicles 'butterflies'. They only appeared in summer. Cobb & Co
3358-491: The course of his business, and noted that it seemed far more efficient than the system of mail delivery then in operation. His travel from Bath to London took a single day to the mail's three days. It occurred to him that this stagecoach service could be developed into a national mail delivery service, so in 1782 he suggested to the Post Office in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that
3431-423: The creation of new routes. Within the month the service had been extended from London to Norwich , Nottingham , Liverpool and Manchester , and by the end of 1785 services to the following major towns and cities of England and Wales had also been linked: Leeds , Dover , Portsmouth , Poole , Exeter , Gloucester , Worcester , Holyhead and Carlisle . A service to Edinburgh was added the next year, and Palmer
3504-501: The early 1840s most London-based coaches had been withdrawn from service. Some stagecoaches remained in use for commercial or recreational purposes. They came to be known as road coaches and were used by their enterprising (or nostalgic) owners to provide scheduled passenger services where rail had not yet reached and also on certain routes at certain times of the year for the pleasure of an (often amateur) coachman and his daring passengers. While stagecoaches vanished as rail penetrated
3577-677: The early Zionist colonies. The license holders paid a special tax for this right and could employ subcontractors and hired wagons. The stagecoaches linked Jerusalem with Jaffa, Hebron and Nablus, the Zionist colonies with Jaffa, Haifa with Acre and Nazareth. They were also used for urban and suburban transportation in the Haifa region. The colony of Rehovot is known to have promulgated detailed regulations for stagecoach operation, soon after its foundation in 1890, which were greatly extended in 1911. Fares were fixed, ranging between 1.10 Grush for traveling to
3650-516: The earthworks of the motte survive. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and home to a beacon used to mark the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada . In 1746, the nurserymen Wood and Ingram of nearby Brampton developed an elm -tree cultivar, Ulmus × hollandica 'Vegeta' , which they named the Huntingdon Elm after the town. Original documents on Huntingdon's history, including
3723-511: The existing system could not be improved, but eventually the Chancellor of the Exchequer , William Pitt , allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The stagecoach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. Impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised
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#17329280880103796-556: The flatter roads of the north west. In Germany, Austria and some parts of Switzerland the Diligence was known as the Post Coach or Malle Post. —D. J. M. Smith in A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles The diligence from Le Havre to Paris was described by a fastidious English visitor of 1803 with a thoroughness that distinguished it from its English contemporary, the stage coach . A more uncouth clumsy machine can scarcely be imagined. In
3869-425: The four coach vehicles needed was £1,274. The 250 horses needed for this service also needed to be paid for. Operators could reduce their tax burden by one seventh by operating a six-day-a-week service instead of a seven-day service. The development of railways in the 1830s spelled the end for stagecoaches and mail coaches . The first rail delivery between Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830. By
3942-575: The front is a cabriolet fixed to the body of the coach, for the accommodation of three passengers, who are protected from the rain above, by the projecting roof of the coach, and in front by two heavy curtains of leather, well oiled, and smelling somewhat offensively, fastened to the roof. The inside, which is capacious, and lofty, and will hold six people in great comfort is lined with leather padded, and surrounded with little pockets, in which travellers deposit their bread, snuff, night caps, and pocket handkerchiefs, which generally enjoy each others company, in
4015-462: The hard seats of an old time leather spring coach – a Concord – leaving Pantano , creeping much of the way, letting the horses walk, through miles of alkali dust that the wheels rolled up in thick clouds of which we received the full benefit ... It is always a mystery to the passenger how many can be wedged into and on top of a stagecoach. If it had not been for the long stretches when the horses had to walk, enabling most of us to get out and "foot it" as
4088-433: The north and west. Between Godmanchester, Huntingdon and Brampton lies Portholme Meadow , England's largest. Its 257 acres (104 hectares) contain many rare species of grass, flowers and dragonfly . It is the only known British habitat of the marsh dandelion. It acts as a natural reservoir for water in times of flood, enabling the river to run off slowly, so helping to preclude flooding in nearby towns. It has also served as
4161-483: The origin of the phrase " riding shotgun ". Always a headed vehicle, fitted with roof seats or gammon boards, from the early 19th century. ... Driven from an elevated box seat, its footboard supported by brackets. At first unsprung or dead axle, but later hung on braces, elbow and finally Telegraph springs, as with the Mail Coach . ... Most stage coaches were named and painted in special liveries . The American mud wagon
4234-470: The period 1971–2000. Between 1801 and 1901, the current area of Huntingdon consisted of four parishes: Huntingdon All Saints, Huntingdon St Benedict, Huntingdon St John and Huntingdon St Mary. The populations of these were counted in the ten-year UK census and ranged in the period between 2,368 in 1801 and 4,735 in 1891. (The census was omitted in 1941.) In 2011, the parish covered an area of 2,765 acres (1,119 hectares). The population density in that year
4307-533: The rate of six or seven miles an hour". At this speed stagecoaches could compete with canal boats , but they were rendered obsolete in Europe wherever the rail network expanded in the 19th century. Where the rail network did not reach, the diligence was not fully superseded until the arrival of the autobus . In France, between 1765 and 1780, the turgotines , big mail coaches named for their originator, Louis XVI's economist minister Turgot , and improved roads, where
4380-406: The same delicate depository. From the roof depends a large net work which is generally crouded with hats, swords, and band boxes, the whole is convenient, and when all parties are seated and arranged, the accommodations are by no means unpleasant. Upon the roof, on the outside, is the imperial, which is generally filled with six or seven persons more, and a heap of luggage, which latter also occupies
4453-403: The same form for about 150 years—from its introduction in 1635, mounted carriers had ridden between "posts" where the postmaster would remove the letters for the local area before handing the remaining letters and any additions to the next rider. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient. Palmer made much use of the "flying" stagecoach services between cities in
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#17329280880104526-432: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hinchingbrooke&oldid=1131923972 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4599-573: The stagecoach service between Manchester and Liverpool in 1815 as having price competition between coaches, with timely service and clean accommodations at inns. Stagecoaches in Victorian Britain were heavily taxed on the number of passenger seats. If more passengers were carried than the licence allowed there were penalties to pay. The lawyer Stanley Harris (1816–1897) writes in his books Old Coaching Days and The Coaching Age that he knew of informers ready to report any breach of regulations to
4672-652: The town. There are four Church of England churches in Huntingdon; once there were more, which together with those in the adjacent villages Great and Little Stukeley are members of the Huntingdon Team Ministry in the Diocese of Ely . The four are All Saints' (next to the Market Square), St Mary's (opposite Pathfinder House), St Barnabas (on the Oxmoor estate) and All Saints', Hartford . Huntingdon Methodist Church
4745-520: The year report an air frost. The absolute minimum at Wyton was −16.1 °C (3.0 °F) in January 1982. The mean for the annual coldest night of the year is −7.7 °C (18.1 °F). With annual rainfall at under 550 millimetres ( 21 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches) a year, the Huntingdon area is among the driest in the UK—103.4 days on average record at least 1 mm of rain. All averages mentioned refer to
4818-406: Was 5,493.1 inhabitants per square mile (2,120.9 inhabitants per square kilometre). The former Literary and Scientific Institute is now Commemoration Hall. Following the 2013 closure of RAF Brampton , once home to Headquarters RAF Support Command , there are now two operational RAF stations within 4 mi (6 km) of the town: RAF Wyton , once a major flying station but now a facility of
4891-417: Was a closed four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses or hard-going mules . It was regularly used as a public conveyance on an established route usually to a regular schedule. Spent horses were replaced with fresh horses at stage stations , posts, or relays. In addition to the stage driver or coachman who guided the vehicle, a shotgun messenger armed with a coach gun might travel as a guard beside him. Thus,
4964-411: Was an earlier, smaller, and cruder vehicle, being mostly open-sided with minimal protection from weather, causing passengers to risk being mud-splashed. A canvas-topped stage wagon was used for freight and passengers, and it had a lower center of gravity, making it harder to overturn. Until the late 18th century, stagecoaches traveled at an average speed of about 5 miles per hour (8 km/h), with
5037-457: Was elected to this seat in the House of Commons in 2024, replacing Jonathan Djanogly . The town lies on the north bank of the River Great Ouse opposite Godmanchester and close to the market town of St Ives to the east and the village of Brampton to the west. Huntingdon incorporates the village of Hartford to the east and the developing areas of Oxmoor, Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke to
5110-634: Was established in Melbourne in 1853 and grew to service Australia's mainland eastern states and South Australia. The diligence , a solidly built stagecoach with four or more horses, was the French vehicle for public conveyance with minor varieties in Germany such as the Stellwagen and Eilwagen . Diligence. Late 18th century name for a French public coach working on long distance routes. So-named from its reputation for promptitude and good time-keeping, as with
5183-444: Was greatly improved, making possible the passage of carriages. Stagecoaches were a great improvement over the earlier means of transport used in the country, such as riding horses, donkeys or camels, or light carts drawn by donkeys. When the stagecoach ran into a difficult ascent or mud, the passengers were required to get off and help push the carriage. The trip between Jaffa and Jerusalem by stagecoach lasted about 14 hours spread over
5256-703: Was reduced on this later run from three days to two in 1766 with an improved coach called the Flying Machine . The first mail coaches appeared in the later 18th century carrying passengers and the mails, replacing the earlier post riders on the main roads. Coachmen carried letters, packages, and money, often transacting business or delivering messages for their customers. By 1829 Boston was the hub of 77 stagecoach lines; by 1832 there were 106. Coaches with iron or steel springs were uncomfortable and had short useful lives. Two men in Concord , New Hampshire , developed what became
5329-510: Was rewarded by being made Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office. By 1797 there were forty-two routes. The period from 1800 to 1830 saw great improvements in the design of coaches, most notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system , and a novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed
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