by John Ledbury

Created on: March 07, 2007   Last Updated: March 23, 2011

Every evening, six times a week at 8 o'clock, about twenty eight mail coaches leave the Post Office Headquarters in London. They are bound for towns and Cities throughout the land. The sound of the horses snorting, the clip clop of their hooves and the steam rising from their nostrils, adds to the atmosphere of the evening crowd who have assembled to see the coaches set off into the night.

For some of the coaches, many lonely and hazardous miles of road lies ahead.

My name is Robert, I’m the Guard on this coach tonight, and George is the Coachman.  The people sitting on top of the coach will be able to move down inside the coach later on when there’s room. Travelling by mail coach is very safe, I’ve a blunderbuss here, just in case we're bothered by highwaymen. If it rains, there’s sheets to cover yourselves.

Hold tight now, were off, listen to those post horns blasting! The crowds are shouting and waving, it's quite a spectacle for them and for us. They come here every night, just to see us off.

If it is Salisbury your going to,  you’ll like it there, the Cathedral is very impressive. It has one of the tallest spires in England.  Now you all settle down and rest, and I'll tell you when we get there.

You've woken up I see, just in time as were stopping at an Inn soon to change the horses. There‘s coffee and chicken pie. Were in Dorset now, to the right  Cranbourne Chase, the hunting hills belonging to the King. Its a nice Inn and Lilly the maid will be there to serve us.  My job now is to sound the Post horn to warn the Inn of our approach.

George the coachman will change the horses for fresh ones. Follow me inside folks. Pardon me for moving slowly, I was injured in the American war of independence ten years, but I was one of the lucky ones.

Sit down my friends and we'll have some coffee and pie. Salisbury will be the next inn stop. I don't like to talk about my war experience, but I do if I’m asked. It wasn't nice for any of there, but then, it was a war.  I was in a place called Lexington, we waded ashore from our ship rowing boat.  Someone had warned them of us coming in from the sea. Six of my men and I went after a couple of the enemy soldiers.  

We eventually found them by the old church there. I captured one of them, but I got shot in the leg. The prisoner then escaped. After that my war service ended and I came back home.
I’ll never forget Suzy in Boston, but that’s another story!

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