History

COACHING INNS Cindy Chant, Blue Badge Guide

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Coaching inns were a vital part of the coaching era. All coaches usually started from an inn, their destination was to an inn and nearly all the coach stops en route, which were about every eight to ten miles as that was the maximum length the horses could travel, were inns. Nowadays, we use railway terminals, bus stations and motorway service areas for refreshments etc.

The old coaching inns satisfy our nostalgia for romantic dreams: their friendly hosts, charming barmaids, log fires, mild ale, traditional English food, are all promoted by the tourist companies for those ‘get away breaks!’

These old inns had to be efficiently run. In a system which demanded a change of horses in less than a minute, there was no time for leisurely comings and goings like our modern hotels.

So important was the inn to coaching that it is fair to say without it, coaching would not have developed in the way in which it did. A whole industry grew up around coaching. Each inn required its team of barmaids, chamber maids, cooks and waiters to attend to the travellers, while ostlers, grooms, stable lads and blacksmiths were on hand to attend to the horses. Furthermore, there were coach builders, wheelwrights and harness makers nearby, who were all employed to build and maintain the coaches.

A good coaching inn would provide parlours, dining rooms and bedrooms for its guests. There would be cellars for the wine, a brewhouse, and then the stables, coach houses, and numerous outhouses all adjacent to the main building.

As well as taking coach bookings, the inn might also serve as a venue for the local law courts, gatherings and balls, auctions, and other community activities. In some places, the landlord might trade in commodities such as coal, salt and bricks. At coach times, the inns became frenetic with travellers milling around, porters attending to the baggage, coachmen taking a quick ‘nip’ and post boys straightening their beaver hats and brushing their red or blue jackets in order to impress potential customers.

As Sherborne was on a busy coaching route to and from London, there were several inns here in the town. The Angel, The Antelope and The George, all situated at the top of Greenhill. The Angel and The Antelope shared stabling for over 80 horses and The Angel still retains the impressive notice above its door ‘Licensed to let Post Horses.’ The Antelope was once originally called ‘The Horseshoe’ but in 1748, having been hugely developed with extra stabling, tack rooms and coach

room cottages to cope with the busy coaching trade along the Bristol Road, it was renamed ‘The Antelope.’ Then, at the top of Cheap Street, The George which claims to be the oldest inn in Sherborne.

Further along Cheap Street, and at the entrance to the Old Cattle Market, now the town’s main car park, there was The Swan Inn; its stable yard now redeveloped into shops and the inn even more recently converted into residential properties.

At the bottom of the town into Half Moon Street, were (and remain) the Half Moon Hotel and The Plume of Feathers. There was also The Kings Arms (now Perri Ashby and Symonds & Sampson), where to the rear of this building, the former stables have now given way to the newly built offices of the Sherborne Times!

As the road winds west towards Westbury there was the very last inn, The Coach and Horses, nowadays known as ‘The Weavers,’ the social club for the employees of the former silk factory.

Other local towns were just as busy as Sherborne…

The main posting house in Shaftesbury was The Red Lion, which was enlarged in the eighteenth century taking over two rural coaching inns, The Cook and The Star, and then became The Grosvenor Hotel, as we know it today.

In Dorchester, The Kings Arms was the principle coaching inn, with its fine bow window on the first floor, commanding a long view of coaches coming along the road from London, and through the entrance arch, traces of the old coaching stables may still be seen. It was here that the coach carrying George III always changed horses on his journey between London and Weymouth.

Wincanton claimed to be really important as it was the staging post for the west (111 miles from London, 111 miles from Plymouth) and each day and night, about 17 coaches went through the town. One of the most famous established coaching inns in Wincanton was The Greyhound where Queen Victoria slept on her way back from Sidmouth in Devon.

There were, of course, many other coaching inns along these routes and far too many for me to include in this small study. Today, all these inns have changed their use either to small hotels, posh restaurants, B & B’s, or public houses, like The George in Sherborne, or as so many others, to just private houses.

Next month, I will continue with the coaching routes, schedules and services.

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LOST DORSET

NO.3: FERN GLEN REFRESHMENT ROOM, STUDLAND, IN 1905 David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

Avisit to Studland by boat was an essential component of a Bournemouth holiday before the First World War; traps and charabancs took visitors to Corfe Castle, Swanage, and other local beauty spots. One contemporary description must have had the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme in mind, noting that ‘the ample refreshment room permits the tourist to have tea at separate tables on the beach.’

Studland became fashionable when the Bankes family of Kingston Lacy, who owned much of the Isle of Purbeck, released land for development, leading to ‘a red brick epidemic’ of new building. Despite that, the village retains its charm and the beaches are amongst the best in Dorset, particularly for families – rather like the one having its picnic in the foreground.

dovecotepress.com

Lost Dorset: The Villages & Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, price £12, and is available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers.

HERITAGE IN OUR MIDST county, including our town of Sherborne, see but not understand the significance of the historic buildings which populate many of our towns and villages?

Within Dorset, we are privileged to have over 300 historic churches, which across the centuries have provided places for Christian worship, community activities and in times of emergency, havens of refuge.

Sherborne is fortunate to have a number of such churches, the centrepiece being Sherborne Abbey with its awe-inspiring architecture, derived from a legacy stretching from Saxon times and its founder, St Aldhelm, in AD 705. These churches are close to the hearts of members in the Sherborne community who worship there, and to others; they are the foundations of the history of the town. Visiting these beautiful buildings and their cousins across Dorset, gives people a sense of the history and heritage of the county and the families who live here. The history of our nation and society can be observed on their walls.

However, the longevity of these buildings is no accident. They require constant maintenance and upkeep to enable their appearance and to remain faithful to the original concept of the architects, whether Saxon, Norman, Victorian - or unashamedly 20th Century.

Involved in this preservation work is the Dorset Historic Churches Trust, your Trust, which I have John Stokoe, CB CBE, Chairman,

How often do we and visitors to this glorious

Dorset Historic Churches Trust

Image: Katharine Davies

been privileged to serve for nearly 18 months. Founded in 1960, this year is our 60th anniversary and in July we were due to celebrate the milestone in the Abbey. In common with many other organisations and groups, we were prevented from doing so by the Covid-19 pandemic.

I was concerned that many, if not all, of the Trust’s activities would be curtailed by the necessary restrictions placed upon on our lives as we strive to defeat this virus. However, after much careful planning and consideration of risk, we have decided that we will continue with the annual ‘Ride+Stride’ event on 12th September. Many of you will know of this as the major fundraising event for the Trust, where there is the opportunity for teams of enthusiastic supporters of our church buildings to cycle, ride or walk the lanes and byways of the countryside around Sherborne and across Dorset, visiting as many churches as possible to raise funds to continue the preservation of our historic church buildings. Those involved this year will know that they do so in a safe environment and will be playing a huge part in sustaining our heritage.

As a Trust, we are adapting to life in the Covid-19 era and I am confident that, with our County-wide network of friends, we will continue to play our part in preserving and sustaining the history and heritage of Sherborne and Dorset for years to come.