Wheels of Time

This exhibition was held during the Pembroke Festival 2009, the theme of which was Wheels of Time.  The exhibition traced the development of land transport from the invention of the wheel to present day motor vehicles.

In the Beginning ...

The first people on Earth had to walk to get around.  They moved from place to place searching for food, following the same paths each year.

The sledge was the first form of transportation, first pulled by humans and later animals were used.

 

3,500 BC

Sometime around this date the single most important discovery ever made occurred in Mesopotamia – the invention of the wheel

There is no proof to show exactly when this great discovery was made – it probably developed from the roller, and at first would have been a solid wooden wheel like a bullock cart of the Far East

 

BRONZE AGE

2,500 – 800 BC

At this time the sledge served well for ordinary loads, but the people of the Bronze Age sometimes needed to shift huge weights.    

In order to erect massive stone monuments likde Stonehenge rolleres would have been used - round logs laid under the object to be moved,

THE IRON AGE The warlike Celts developed Chariots - we know this from chariot burials (although not in our part of the country).Many chieftains were buried with their chariots,

 

ROMAN BRITAIN 43 – 410 A.D. The Romans were famous for the finely paved roads they made and as the Roman Empire spread to new lands more and more roads were built.  A number of paved Roman roads were laid down in Britain between main settlements – reaching as far west as Carmarthen . There is no proof they ever came as far as Pembroke although Roman coins have been found in the castle.

 

Before the Romans came here the Britons had scarcely any form of paved roads but used tracks worn down by men and cattle over the course of many centuries. Most of these tracks were on high land and along the crests or ridges of hills, well above the forested river valleys “Ridgeways” – locally the route from Lamphey to Penally was such a track. But land travel being difficult, boats were the main means of  travel,

POST ROMAN

For many centuries following the collapse of Roman rule towards the end of the fourth century AD,  travelling on land was difficult and often dangerous. War was a constant factor in the lives of the people who lived here and this period is often called The Dark Ages.

The sea remained the chief highway.

 

With the gradual establishment of more stable times there was no development of wheeled transport. Only the foot traveller and the horseman could be sure of making progress. Any wheeled vehicles risked being hopelessly bogged down

MIDDLE AGES 1066 - 1485

Travel on wheels still had many drawbacks.  Clumsy carts were used for farm work by the Anglo Saxons and Normans but if a journey had to be made on land the traveller would walk, or ride a horse, taking his goods on pack-horses.  These animals were harnessed with special pack-saddles to which baskets or bundles of goods could be fastened, and the horses moved in procession nose to tail. 

         

 

PEMBROKE - A GREAT PORT

Poor land communications meant that trade had to be carried out by ship and this actually benefitted Pembroke. With its strategic position on the Pembroke River it grew into a major port,

 

                             

               

                                                                                                                                                        

Many Norman ladies used the litter for travelling – carryingpoles attached to the horses’ pack saddles: the man would ride as it would have been regarded as unmanly not to do so.

 By the 14th Century a form of ladies carriage was used: a heavy, springless wagon with a curved canvas hood completely covering it.

It would have been accompanied by numerous servants to help when the wheels got stuck in the mud and to guard against attack from outlaws. Men would ride on horseback unless feeble (royalty excepted).

                                                                    

Ladies often rode on horseback and they rode astride; side saddles were unheard of in England until 1380, and were not in common use for some time after that date.

 

16th & 17th CENTURIES

 

It was not until the mid 16th century that the coach was introduced into England (used long before on the Continent). Queen Elizabeth had the first English State Coach in 1571.

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STAGE COACH

Around 1640 the stage coach was a significant development.   Records exist of a stage coach service between London and Chester.  It was run by William Dunstan, Henry Earle and William Fowler in 1657. 

Cooperation between inns along the road ensured that at the end of each stage (between 10 and 20 miles) a fresh team of horses was provided: the discarded team would be fed and rested, to be ready for  a stage when the coach returned.

It carried 6 to 8 passengers.  Outside passengers sat on the roof facing the rear, inside passengers were shut in by leather curtains, there being no glass in the windows. These early coaches travelled only in summer and never at night.

 

1661 THE GLASS COACH

 Through the 17th Century coaches improved in design and comfort. Glass windows were introduced – James, Duke of York had the first English coach fitted with windows in 1661– then called a glass coach

 

POST HORSES Riding still remained the common mode of land transport.  Long distance travellers in a hurry often made use of the system of post-horses, whereby horses could be hired for stages marked out by inns; at each inn the horse could be changed

 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

 

AN AGE OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION

 

For centuries the constant drawback of travelling was the wretched state of the roads.

 

An Act of Parliament in 1555 directed that each parish should maintain its own roads or be heavily fined.  Every able-bodied man of the parish had to work on the roads for 4 days running each year.  But this was often disregarded.

 

During the 18th century 2000 Road Acts were passed, the increase of wheeled traffic had broken down the road surfaces so much.  The state of the roads was appalling.

 

The Turnpike Trusts

A system of tollgates or turnpikes was set up to make road users pay for the roads’ upkeep. At intervals a strong gate was placed across the road, guarded by a small house in which lived the turnpike keeper.  In order to pass, travellers has to pay a toll which was used to pay for road repairs.

We can see evidence of such a toll gate on the outskirts of Pembroke at Penny Bridge.

The improvements in road surfaces were making possible an increase in public transport services.  In the 18th century there emerged 3 great Road Engineers:

JOHN METCALFE (1757-1834) Although blind, he became a great road-building engineer, making 180 miles of road in Yorkshire.  His greatest feat was a roadway across the bog between Huddersfield and Manchester. THOMAS TELFORD (1757-1834) Son of a Scottish shepherd, he trained as a mason and became an engineer skilled in the design and building of bridges, aqueducts and canals and roads. JOHN MACADAM (1756-1836) It is to Macadam that we owe modern road construction lending his name to “tarmac”.

IMPROVEMENTS IN COACH SERVICES –

 

POST TRAVELLING

 Improved roads led to improvements in coach services.The old idea of post-riding with relays of saddle-horses was carried a step further in the middle of the 18th century when the system of  post travelling in carriages was introduced into England.  Chains of “posting inns” were established along the main routes, each holding relays of carriage-horses.  A traveller arriving at a posting inn had his horses unhitched and a fresh team harnessed up while the used team was fed and rested.

               

PEMBROKE'S COACHING INNS

Pembroke at this time was a prosperous town boasting 3 coaching inns of note: of these The Kings Arms and The Lion are still inns while the third, the former Green Dragon, is now the National Westminster Bank.

The Lion - in older and much smarter times

Several Acts of Parliament were passed to safeguard travellers – there was much over crowding on coaches and frequent accidents due to careless and drunk drivers.

                                      THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The Nineteenth Century saw the great development in transport - from horse power to the Railway and the invention of the internal cumbustion engine.

Coach Travel was increasing and with it the need for change and innovation.

         

A casualty of increased road transport was Pembroke’s Mediaeval North Gate: demolished

in 1825 to ease traffic flow!

 

THE MAIL COACH

           

In 1831 the Packet Service from Milford Haven to the South of Ireland developed to such an extent that it was decided to improve the mail-coach roads throughout South Wales. Hobbs Point was selected for the construction of a pier to accommodate the packets and this would connect with the mail coach road leading from Carmarthen to Pembroke named, appropriately, London Road.

The daily arrival and departure of mail-coaches running between Hobbs Point and London was an exhilarating sight, and townspeople regularly assembled to welcome their appearance and to see them off.  Much news and gossip, accumulated along the route, were obtained from the coach drivers and passengers and quickly spread around the town and district.

The coaches were drawn by four horse changed at different posing houses along the way and after a while the service operated as far as Gloucester. There it  linked to a railway service to London.

 

ALL STEAM AHEAD!

Experiments begun in the 18 Century continued - at first land vehicles were tried but these gave way to the much more efficient Railways, the great symbol of Victorian engineering.

ROAD STEAMERS

 In the middle of the 1820s began the great era of road steamers and the first successful one was built by Gurney.  In 1827 he patented a steam coach; weight 2 tons, speed 10 mph carrying 18 passengers.  Gurneys steam coaches were famous in SWW Engand but with heavy tolls, opposition and enmity of the railway promoters ceased to run his vehicles in the early 1830s.

 

         

Making the county's roads - steam rollers were used by the firm of Stephens, East Back Works Pembroke.

 

PEMBROKE & TENBY RAILWAY

 

1859 – The Pembroke and Tenby Railway Company was formed and an Act of Parliament 21st July 1859 authorised the construction of the Tenby to Pembroke Dock section with powers to raise the necessary capital of £80,000 with powers to raise a further £26,000.  For 2 years the scheme was delayed until enough capital was raised and David Davies of llandinam and Ezra Roberts were appointed as contractors agreeing to construct the Pembroke and  Tenby line for the full £106,000.

1862 construction began on the first stage of the railway from Tenby to Pembroke, opening on 30th July 1863.  The stretch from Pembroke to Pembroke Dock involving much heavier construction work including a tunnel.

 

     

 

A Sad Tale In Mrs Peter’s History of Pembroke Dock, is an account of one of the local drivers of the mail coaches – a popular and skilled driver called Bramble. The sight of him guiding a four-horse team at full gallop was a spectacle not to be missed. In the 1860s the mail service was switched from the stage coaches to the to the railway ad this so upset Bramble that he developed melancholia and hanged himself during a fit of depression in a stable at Tenby.

 

THE BICYCLE

Back on the roads and another vehicle is making its mark - the bicycle.

1818 the first bicycle makes its debut – not quite a bicycle as we know it as it was a bicycle without pedals. The rider straddled across the top bar and propelled the machine by kicking it along with his legs.  It was named the “hobby-horse” or “dandy horse” – dandy meaning at that time, novel or strange.

 

 Experiments followed in mechanization of the dandy horse but the big step forward took place with Michaux’s Velocipede in 1868 when pedals were fitted to the front wheel.  It had a main frame of solid iron, with wooden wheels and iron tyres.  It was popularly known as “the boneshaker” – the wheels were made of wood with iron tyres giving a very bumpy ride indeed!  

The next step in bicycle invention was the Penny Farthing which first appeared on British roads in the early 1870s. Wire spoked wheels with solid rubber tyres were used in the Penny Farthing, which had an enlarged front wheel five foot high and a tiny back wheel. The advantage of the enlarged front wheel was that each turn of the cycle drove the bicycle 5 or 6 yards.

But a rival was to appear In 1874 when Safety Cycles were produced by H J Lawson who later became the first chairman of the Daimler Motor Company. 

 At first they were fitted with solid rubber tyres but it was the replacement of these with the pneumatic tyre by John Boyd Dunlop in 1888 that was to terminate the use of the Penny Farthing on British roads in the early 1890s.

I haven't come across early bike pictures associated with Pembroke - this one is quaint ( in the possession of Mr Peter Hurlow-Jones)

                                  

THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

But soon a new invention gives rise to a motorised transport - which was to make the most far reaching impact on our lives. 

Many early inventors worked upon the idea of an internal combustion engine: but while

German and French engines were surging ahead while the British could not compete because of their restrictive laws.

1885 Carl Benz built his first motor car in Germany – a 3 wheeled “horseless carriage” as it came to be known.  It was a 2 seater, with 3 wire wheels and solid tyres.

 1891 The first car with a modern design was built in France by Emil Lavasseur and Rene Panhard.

1887 In England Edward Butler produced a motor tricycle BUT he was not able to run his machine on the road because of the Act of 1861-5 restricting the use of mechanical road vehicles to 4mph. At last in 1896 The law was eased and the speed limit was raised.  A great celebration run was organised on November 14th 1896 – 40 cars set off from London to Brighton, 13 of them actually finishing 8 hours later!

 

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