AMESBURY 195 



Amesbury is a sheltered village, lying in a valley 

 between these downs. It was on the alternative 

 coach route taken by the ' Telegraph,' ' Celerity,' 

 ' Defiance,' and ' Subscription ' coaches, wdiich, leaving 

 Andover, came by AVeyhill, Mullen's Pond, and ' Park 

 House Inn.' This way came the 'Telegraph' coach 

 on its journey to Loudon, 27th December 1836, 

 through the thick of that terrible snowstorm of 

 w^iich we find copious mention on every one of the 

 classic roads. It began when they reached Wincanton, 

 and from that place they struggled on up to the 

 Plain, Avhere it was a white world of scurrying snow- 

 flakes, howling winds, and deep drifts. Down into 

 Amesbury, and to the hospitable ' George ' there, was 

 but a momentary respite, for the determined coach- 

 man, although immediately snowed up in the open 

 country beyond the village, sent for help and, assisted 

 by a team of six fresh post-horses with a post-boy to 

 every pair, charged up the hills in the direction of 

 Andover, with that fortune which is said to favour 

 the brave. That is to say, he and His Majesty's 

 mails got through to London, where the story w^as 

 duly chronicled in the papers of the period. 



Here, or hereabouts, it was that the up Exeter 

 'Celerity' coach came into collision with the ' Defiance' 

 at one o'clock in the morning of 25th July 1827, 

 resulting in the death of a gentleman who was thrown 

 off the roof of the ' Celerity ' and instantly killed, and 

 in serious injuries to others. Both coaches were 

 overturned. The ' Celerity ' coachman, according to 

 the evidence at the subsequent trial, was to blame 

 for reckless drivino- and for endeavourino- to take 



