Liverpool University Press Land Travel and Communications in Tudor and Stuart England: Achieving a Joined-up Realm

Focused on the period between 1500 and 1700, Land Travel and Communications in Tudor and Stuart England documents the unprecedented growth that occurred in road travel by all sections of society, from paupers to princes; the burgeoning volume of wheeled vehicles using the highways; and the radical changes in the means by which correspondence was conveyed throughout the realm and beyond. Unprecedented growth in ordinary travel by road occurred in Tudor and Stuart England between c.1500 and c.1700: increasingly complex itineraries and ambitious distances were achieved. Though mostly repaired in only rudimentary fashion, England’s highways supported increasing volumes of pedestrian, equine, and wheeled traffic. The framing of legal provisions for road maintenance and the burgeoning production of way-finding materials reflected the scale of demand. As well as considering regular trips to local markets or county fairs or for the freighting of building materials, the book considers the quotidian peregrinations of common and private carriers, chapmen journeying to sell to distant customers, the escort of prisoners to county gaols, wounded soldiers struggling homeward, and itinerant paupers on the move. The twice-yearly circuits of assize court judges and the more frequent movement of county justices and apparitors serving bishops’ courts are also reviewed. Journeys by players and other entertainers are included, and elite tourists travelling both within the realm and beyond for experience, education, and improved job prospects are considered. The ostentatious, orchestrated travels of monarchs and the high-born, and the stressful journeys of royalty on the run are also featured.