CHAP. XI. THE WELSH ROADS. 435 



again to take to an open ferry-boat before they could 

 gain the main land. The tide ran with great rapidity 

 through the Strait, and, when the wind blew strong, the 

 boat was liable to be driven far up or down the channel, 

 and was sometimes swamped altogether. The perils 

 of the Welsh roads had next to be encountered, and 

 these were in as bad a condition at the beginning of 

 the present century as those of the Highlands above 

 described. Through North Wales they were rough, 

 narrow, steep, and unprotected, mostly unfenced, and 

 in winter almost impassable. The whole traffic on the 

 road between Shrewsbury and Bangor was conveyed by 

 a small cart, which passed between the two places once 

 a week in summer. As an illustration of the state of 

 the roads in South Wales, which were quite as bad as 

 those in the North, we may state that, in 1803, when 

 the late Lord Sudeley took home his bride from the 

 neighbourhood of Welshpool to his residence only thir- 

 teen miles distant, the carriage in which the newly 

 married pair rode stuck in a quagmire, and the occu- 

 pants, having extricated themselves from their perilous 

 situation, performed the rest of their journey on foot. 



The first step taken was to improve the landing- 

 places on both the Irish and Welsh sides of St. George's 

 Channel, and for this purpose Mr. Eennie was employed 

 in 1801. The result was, that Howth on the one coast, 

 and Holyhead on the other, were fixed upon as the most 

 eligible sites for packet stations. Improvements, how- 

 ever, proceeded slowly, and it was not until 1810 that a 

 sum of. 10,OOOZ. was granted by Parliament to enable 

 the necessary works to be begun. Attention was then 

 turned to the state of the roads, and here Mr. Telford's 

 services were called into requisition. As early as 1808 

 it had been determined by the Post-Office authorities 

 to put on a mail-coach between Shrewsbury and Holy- 

 head ; but it was pointed out that the roads in 

 North Wales were so rude and dangerous that it was 



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