How do you plan
a road trip in mid-eighteenth-century England? If it’s to take place on the
Great North Road, it’s not difficult, as that was the main road running north, and the modern A1 motorway parallels it. But if
your characters venture elsewhere, it’s more complicated. For A Peculiar
Enchantment, I needed to trace Adelaide and Gervase’s route from London to
Northumberland in detail and it couldn’t be by way of the Great North Road (for
fear of pursuit).
Searching 21
st
century maps for eighteenth century routes is seldom helpful.
The
Tradesman’s Guide; or The Chapman’s and Traveller’s Best Companion by
Charles Pickman (1727), lists the towns between
London and the traveller’s destination (if it was a market town or held a fair), mileage, and places where coach routes cross.
With that information, I was able to work out where my characters might stop
for the night and how long the journey might take.
At Carlisle, they went east on the Stanegate, the old Roman road running east-west south of Hadrian’s Wall, and turned north at Corbridge. The Roman roads crisscrossing England were better built than those built later with less engineering skill and are easy to research online.
I made use of the extensive network of Roman roads in my upcoming novel, By Sword and Fan (worldwide release date 10/18/2023).
Sometimes the fan is more useful than the sword.
