46 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



early as 1346. Edward III. authorised a toll to be 

 levied for the repair of the road leading from St. Giles 

 in the Fields to the village of Charing, and from the 

 same quarter to Temple Bar, down Drury Lane. 

 The roads further west were so bad, that when the 

 King went to Parliament, faggots were thrown down 

 over which the royal cavalcade passed. 



Even as late as the reign of Elizabeth and James I., 

 travelling was continued with difficulty. The great 

 west road out of London was in an intolerable state, 

 and at Knightsbridge coaches and waggons very 

 frequently stuck hard and fast in the mud. Further 

 from London the roads were mere rough tracks, 

 consequently the general mode of travelling was on 

 horseback or on foot, poor people walked and rich 

 people rode ; judges and barristers rode circuit. For 

 a long time after this nothing but waggons were used 

 on the highways. 



The great main road through Wales to Holyhead 

 was in such a condition that, in 1685, the Earl of 

 Clarendon, who was then Viceroy of Ireland, was five 

 hours in travelling fourteen miles from St. Asaph to 

 Conway ; between Conway and Bangor he was forced 

 to walk and the Countess was carried in a litter ; his 

 carriage was brought after him somehow by the help 

 of some farm labourers. Carriages were frequently 

 taken to pieces at Conway and carried by the Welsh 

 peasantry to the Menai Straits. Roads were before 

 made a matter for legislation in England in the time 

 of Queen Mary, when a law was enacted that in every 

 parish there should be two road surveyors, and the 

 inhabitants of all such parishes should provide labourers 

 and tools for four days of each year to work on the 

 roads under the direction of these surveyors. This law 



