Travel, Trade and Horsepower
A business letter dated 12 May 1679, from John Payne, Bailiff to Sir James Langham, Kt & Bart, of Cottesbrooke, to Mr Peter Clayton at Sir Robert Clayton’s House in the Old Jury, London, probably took no longer to deliver then, as it does now, yet it relied on the Royal Mail Coach and a team of four horses. Horsepower was the ingredient that made the Northampton Mercury so successful when it was established in 1720. William Dicey employed sturdy riders on fast steeds to outpace the lumbering stagecoaches by at least four hours. By the time they arrived the Mercury had already been printed and was in the hands of the ‘men that carry the news’, who distributed it across Northamptonshire and several other counties. [The top image (public domain) shows the London-Edinburgh Royal Mail in 1838]
The Northampton Mercury for 3 August 1752 carried the following advertisement: “The Northampton New Berlin Stage, with four Wheels, and a Pair of able Horses, to carry four Passengers with great Ease, Sets out from the Old Cross-Keys Inn in St. John Street, London, to Barnet, where is a fresh Pair of Horses to the Woolpack at St. Alban’s, where is another fresh Pair of Horses to the Bedford-Arms in Dunstable, where is a fresh Pair of Horses to the George Inn in Newport-Pagnell, where a fresh Pair of Horses brings it to the Lion-and-Lamb Inn in Northampton. This stage, from London to Northampton, &c. which is 66 Miles, is performed in about 12 Hours, and is almost as little Time as the Post- Chaises from Post to Post, if not full soon.
The Lion and Lamb was situated at 40 Bridge Street and Kingswell Street and is first mentioned in a document of 1542 as one of the properties whose rent was given for the upkeep of Northampton Grammar School.
Today, the fact that each team of horses would have been fitted with a belfry or box of bells has largely 
been forgotten. Each set of bells was mounted onto a supporting iron rod that was fitted into the hame on the horse, a housing of leather decorated with brasses and tassels that protected the bells from the elements. All coaches and wagons had some sort of bell attachment, so people knew it was coming, just as we have a horn on modern day vehicles.
The Northampton Races drew large crowds to the town during the March season. In 1839 the Mercury recorded: “On Wednesday the outside of the George reminded us of some great contested election. There was a fair sprinkling of the nobility and officers from all parts of England, Ireland and Scotland and the town was thronged. The George Hotel had a bumper and had seventy beds engaged in the town. The Angel was full and most of the other inns had a fair complement.” As the Market Square was the assembly point for Gentlemen who had entered the steeplechase, it noted: “The Market Hill was crowded and to add to the gay scene there were four-in-hands, barouches, and other elegant carriages.”
Also during the season The George Hotel hosted the Race Ball, and special concerts and other entertainment was a feature of the Northampton 
Theatre, which was situated in Marefair. The ‘Season Ticket’ shown was made of silver and would have been worn around the neck on a ribbon. “Season Tickets, not transferable, admissible every night except Benefits, £1.1s.”
Although Northampton Races were inaugurated in 1632, originally on Harlestone Heath, it had several homes before the permanent course was established in 1777. Racing was also held on Boughton Green as this advertisement from the Northampton Mercury indicates: “On Friday the 20th June next [1724], on Boughton-Green, 2 Hats of a Guinea each will be given gratis, the one to be play’d for at cudgels; the other, with eight Pair of Buck-skin Gloves, to be wrestled for.
On the commercial side James Pigot & Co’s National Commercial Directory 1830 lists 25 Carriers operating from Northampton to various places; even then Pickford’s was an old established company, despatching Fly Vans from their warehouse in Bridge Street every evening to London.
[Image Northampton Mercury © British Newspaper Archive]
The most famous carriage maker in Northampton was Mulliner, situated in Bridge Street, with a Saddlery and Harness Manufactory at 4 George Row. The trade publication Northampton Illustrated, page 30, gives a short history of the firm: “The use of wheeled vehicles, for the conveyance of people rich enough to afford such a luxury, was only just coming into vogue when the first Mulliner of a long line of successors first devoted his energies to meeting a by no means unusual requirement two centuries and a half ago.”
The owner at the time of publication was Arthur F. Mulliner, whose large premises numbered 73 to 85 Bridge Street, “a spacious show rooms measuring 150 feet by 45 feet, in which may be inspected a splendid assortment of carriages, including many new designs of the firm’s special make, for which the house is world-famous. The contents of these departments include elegant and highly-finished landaus, broughams, phaetons, dog carts, waggonettes, private omnibuses, cabs, pony carts, and other conveyances of every description required for gentlemen’s use.” Mulliners survived into the 20th century.
They converted the old Empire Music Hall, which was situated behind their showrooms, into a two-story workshop for the production of motorcars. Although the golden age of horse transport had now passed, it still lingered for a time. The last horse- drawn trams in Northampton survived until 1904, and horses were still used for bread and milk deliveries, as illustrated from the photograph of Owen G. Wake, Baker of 92 St Leonard’s Road, Far Cotton, on his bread round.
Article: © C Glazebrook/NFHS
(Uploaded 26/7/24)