Guided Tours of Suffolk's Past
On the Move
Horse Sense

Back in the days of the Turnpike Roads, the inns along the way were vital to carriers, wagon drivers and mounted horsemen as well as to coach companies.

Travellers stopped at the pubs and inns to refresh themselves and their animals at all times of day, and many times of night, as they

often had to set out in the early hours of the morning in order to get to their destinations on time. It was not unknown for a tired driver to be rocked to sleep by the motion of his hay wagon trundling along at 3 miles an hour.

A carrier's wagon at Ancient House, Ipswich.

There were caravans on the road, and every year gypsies brought ponies to Suffolk from Wales. Pedestrians did not have to pay to use the turnpike roads, but there was a charge for taking flocks of animals.

On the Move

In the Air