Travel in the 1800 and 1900s???

[careylynne]

How did people generally travel distances in the late 1800 and early 1900s?

I have family that seem to move quite a bit around Durham and Northumberland...

From Crook to Castle Eden to Hutton Henry to Durham City mid 1800s

From Consett to Ashington early 1900s

Am just interested as to how they got around daily as well as the big moves??

[KGarrad]

Railways, generally!
Or they walked, rode horses, or carts/carriages.

If they lived near the coast or a port, then sea/river travel was another possibility.

[youngtug]

Late 1800s onward the bicycle would have been a viable option.
 https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/4/4f/Im1932Bart-Page74.jpg

[jfchaly]

Canals took some passengers too

Jfch

 

[andrewalston]

People walked much further in the past than we are now used to. One of my families regularly walked 4 miles to church in the early 1800s. If they had walked to their proper parish church, it would have been 7 miles each way, so they tended to use that only for marriages.

Another of my families must have used the railways for their trips back and forth between Spitalfields in London and Macclesfield, Cheshire, both centres of silk production.

[KGarrad]

Crook to Castle Eden is 19 miles. About 5 or 6 hours by foot? Easy in a single day.
Castle Eden to Hutton Henry is just 2.5 miles.
Hutton Henry to Durham is 12 miles. Just 3 or 4 hours.

Consett to Ashington is about 32 miles.
There were trains to Newcastle in the late 1800s.
Ashington had a railway station on the Blyth and Tyne Railway.

None of these are great distances. A pony & trap, or a cart & horse would have been easy travel.

[John915]

Good afternoon,

Macclesfield to Spitalfields is 163 miles, 2 days 6 hrs to walk it according to g maps. Given they wouldn't walk 24hrs a day and probably pulling a cart with goods on then I would say 5 days each way. Of course, the rds wouldn't have been so good then.

When Thomas Smith exhibited his Sussex trugs at the great exhibition in London. Queen Victoria was very taken with them so ordered some for herself and many family members. Thomas made the order then walked from Herstmonceux, Sussex to Buckingham Palace with a "wheel" of trugs. He delivered them personally and became the only trug maker with a royal warrant. Then walked home again, about 2 days each way.

Every year farmers and stockmen would walk herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and geese etc to Spitalfields market for sale. Some from places quite a distance from London.

John915

[careylynne]

Brilliant! Thank you everyone!

[Blue70]

I think most people just walked the well trodden footpaths that people had used for hundreds of years.


Blue