Sunday 20 March 2011
Letter #3, To Cassandra, From Cork Street, London, Tuesday 23 August 1796
"We reached Staines yesterday I donot [know omitted] when, without suffering so much from the Heat as I had hoped to do." - Jane Austen, Tuesday 23 August 1796
This is a description of Staines according to the Encyclopedia Britannica;
Staines, town in Spelthorne borough, administrative county of Surrey, historic county of Middlesex, England, on the left bank of the River Thames. A residential community on the western fringe of Greater London, Staines marks a crossing of the Thames used since Roman times by the major road from London to the southwest of Britain. Nearby are large reservoirs where Thames water is pumped, purified, and stored for London’s Metropolitan Water Board. Pop. (2001) 50,538.
The coaching inn at Staines in Jane Austen's time was The Bush. It remains today.
Jane Austen slept here, more than once. The Mercure Bush Hotel, Staines, England. This is just beautiful!
http://www.aboutbritain.com/hotels/hotel1930.asp
Letter #3, To Cassandra, From Cork Street, London, Tuesday 23 August 1796
"We reached Staines yesterday I donot [know omitted] when, without suffering so much from the Heat as I had hoped to do." - Jane Austen, Tuesday 23 August 1796
This is a description of Staines according to the Encyclopedia Britannica;
Staines, town in Spelthorne borough, administrative county of Surrey, historic county of Middlesex, England, on the left bank of the River Thames. A residential community on the western fringe of Greater London, Staines marks a crossing of the Thames used since Roman times by the major road from London to the southwest of Britain. Nearby are large reservoirs where Thames water is pumped, purified, and stored for London’s Metropolitan Water Board. Pop. (2001) 50,538.
The coaching inn at Staines in Jane Austen's time was The Bush. It remains today.
Jane Austen slept here, more than once. The Mercure Bush Hotel, Staines, England. This is just beautiful!
http://www.aboutbritain.com/hotels/hotel1930.asp
Staines Town Hall Square
Staines old town hall from the back
The following link is to a site with some very pretty pictures of Staines going to Windsor
It is 9 miles from Steventon to Basingstoke and 39.6 to 50.3 to Staines depending on which current day route you take.
In 1784 a mail stagecoach went 120 miles from London to Bristol in 17 hours, so, 17 x 60 = 1020, divide that by 120 miles and you get 8.5 miles an hour.
So, let's just say the trip from Steventon to Staines was 50 miles, at 8.5 miles an hour it would take almost six hours to get to Staines. This is probably a fast estimation, with the roads, horses and condition of the coaches maybe seven or eight hours? I am guessing.
What a difference to travel approximately 50 miles a day in Jane Austen's time and now. Well, I am quite sure we have missed a few flowers along the way.
What a difference to travel approximately 50 miles a day in Jane Austen's time and now. Well, I am quite sure we have missed a few flowers along the way.
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