78 
survives now only in a few out-of-the-way 
corners of the country, and is regarded as 
an interesting relic of by-gone days where 
it does exist, we can form perhaps a vague 
idea of the extent of the change. About 
the year 1830 upwards of 1,040 coaches 
were running daily out of London alone. 
We need not, thanks to “Nimrod” and 
other chroniclers of the coaching age, remain 
content with a vague idea of the number of 
horses then in use on the roads. It is easy 
to take a single route and reckon up the 
stud required to work a coach running 
thereon. The usual “stage” for a team 
was from eight to ten miles, and making 
due provision for rests, accidents, &c., the 
proprietors estimated the needs of a coach 
at one horse per mile “one way.” There- 
fore a coach running from London to York, 
200 miles, and back, required about 200 
horses; from London to Edinburgh, 400 
miles, and back, about 4oo horses; from 
London to Exeter, 175 miles, and back, 
about 175 horses. 
On roads where the passenger traffic was 
heavy, coaches were numerous: as many 
as twenty-five ran daily in the summer 
during the ’thirties from London to Brighton. 
The distance by road is about sixty miles, 
