THE CITY OF MANCHESTER igg 



through Congleton, which is five and a half miles to 

 the westward of the true road, used to be half a mile 

 longer. 



As a matter of fact, the first 37J miles of the 

 St. Albans road — i.e., to HocldifTe — were common to 

 most of the coaches. Here, however, the Manchester 

 mail turned off and made for Northampton, Leicester, 

 and Derby, whence there is a clear course through 

 Ashbourne, Leek, and Stockport. 



By the other route coaches would hug the Liver- 

 pool road as far as Congleton, and then pass through 

 Wilmslow. There was once hardly a choice between 

 the two highways. But when the hills about Hock- 

 liffe were levelled, the road made of a proper width 

 and shape, a new road cut from Stone Bridge to 

 Wednesbury and all the hills avoided, I am not sure 

 that Congleton was not the shorter and the quicker 

 way. . 



The mail by night did the hundred and eighty- six 

 miles to Manchester in nineteen hours ; Colonel Cor- 

 bett speaks of the Telegraph covering the ground by 

 day in eighteen hours. 



The great coaching inn, recognized by De Quincey, 

 was the Bridgwater Arms, at the corner of Market 

 Street, next the High Street. It has long since ceased 

 to be an inn, and its site is now covered by the 

 premises of Messrs. Harrison, Griffin and Company, 

 which, however, include a part of the original build- 

 ing. But in 1802 it was, says Mrs. Banks, ' a hand- 

 some new hotel, in front of which a semicircular 



