“1659. May 2nd, I set forwards towards London by Coventre Coach: 4th I came to London.
1660. March 13th, my daughter Lettice went towards London in Coventre Waggon.
1662. June 28th, given 16s. in earnest, and for my passage with my man in Aylesbury Coach on Thursday next.
1663. January 27th, I went to Baginton [with his own horses, it would appear], 28th to Towcester: 29th to St. Albans, 30th by St. Albans Coach to London.
1677. April 8th, I went to Coventre: 9th thence to Woburne by Chester Coach: 10th to London.
1679. July 16th, I came out of London by the Stage Coach of Bermicham to Banbury.
1680. June 30th, I came out of London in the Bedford Stage Coach to the Earle of Aylesburie’s house at Ampthill.”
From the diary of a Yorkshire clergyman, lent by the Rev. Mr. Hunter, one gathers that in the winter of 1682 a journey from Nottingham to London in a stage coach occupied four whole days. One of this gentleman’s fellow-travellers was Sir Ralph Knight, of Langold in Yorkshire (an officer in Monk’s army), so that Mr. Parker was not singular in having as his companion in such a conveyance “persons of great quality, as Knights and Ladyes.”
In 1661 there was a stage coach running between Oxford and London, taking two days, i.e. thirty miles a day, or about three miles an hour. The fare was two shillings. A coach with four horses carried six passengers, a long waggon with four or five horses twenty to twenty-five.
In 1663 there was a stage coach between London and Edinburgh once a month, taking twelve days for the journey, i.e. thirty-three miles a day. In 1697 the stage coach from York to London took six days.