CHAP . V. KKI.'I.'IKS AND NAY l< i AI'.LK IMYKKS. 291 



CHAPTER V. 



FERRIES AND NAVIGABLE EIVERS. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the great want of roads and bridges 

 wlrjch we have found to exist in the earlier periods of 

 English history, comparatively little use was made of 

 the abundant facilities for inland navigation which the 

 rivers of the country presented. The trade of the king- 

 dom In' ing comparatively small, the strings of pack-* 

 horses, and afterwards the heavy waggons drawn by 

 horses or oxen, proved sufficient for its accommodation. 

 The" goods carried were mostly of a light character the 

 cutlery and ironware of Birmingham and Sheffield, the 

 cloths of the villages of Wilts and Somerset, and the 

 cottons (or coatings) and baizes of Manchester and 

 the neighbourhood. The light articles brought from 

 abroad to the ports of London and Bristol were in 

 like manner distributed through the country by pack- 

 horse or waggon. The chief difficulty was in trans- 

 porting food and fuel. But as corn was mostly sent 

 to London by sea, and the city lay fronting the ports 

 of Holland, almost at the door of Europe, there were 

 usually abundant facilities for supplying its large and 

 rapidly increasing population. The tide lifted daily 

 into the heart of the country fleets of ships laden with 

 stores from all parts of the world, and London tended 

 more than ever to become the metropolis of Europe. 



The difficulties of sending coal from Newcastle to 

 London in early times seem, however, to have been 

 considerable. For a long period a strong prejudice 

 existed against the use of "sea coal." Edward I. issued 

 a proclamation against it, and a man was actually 

 hanged during his reign for committing the crihie of 



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