Coaching 1750
The Coaching trade through Shifnal was well established in 18th century Shifnal, especially after it was declared that the road from Birmingham to Shrewsbury, via Wolverhampton, Boningale, Shifnal etc was better than the alternative route via Dudley, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock. Coaches, drawn by teams of horses, carried passengers, goods and the post, and stopped at Shifnal to provide refreshments, change horses or, in the case of goods and letters to be unloaded and redirected around the district.
This lucrative business was centred on the large inns, like the Jerningham Arms, The Star, which stood on the site now occupied by Odfellows/ Dental Surgery and the Talbot in Bradford Street, with the Crown and the Union, now Jaspers, being hubs for the carrying trades.
The “Wonder” Coach. Painting by Robert Harrop
The heyday for the Coaching trade in Shifnal happened in the early 19th century especially after improvements to the Holyhead Road by Thomas Telford had been implemented in the late 1820s – in Shifnal, this improvement was the construction of New Street, now Victoria Road, which cut out the sharp right hand turn into Shrewsbury Road.
A model of the “Wonder” from the Shifnal History Group collection at the Old Fire Station.
Coach times got faster as roads, the vehicles and the skills of the teams servicing the coaches improved. In the 1730s, the journey from Shrewsbury to London took at least six days: by 1835, the fast running Wonder coach had cut this time down to 12 hours 40 minutes. But however fast the coaches and efficient the services, they were no match for the railway, which arrived in Shifnal in 1849. Although distribution of the mail and carting goods from the railway station remained an important function, the passenger coach trade very quickly died.
With thanks to the Shifnal History Group for the description and picture.