Regency Reference

How far can the post or express rider travel in the Regency era?

For my latest novella/novel, I needed to know how long it would take an express rider to get from Pemberley to Netherfield. Or perhaps just the regular post.

So, if anyone else is writing Regency romance or Regency anything and needs to know about travel in England, the road conditions, the roads, horses, etc then here is a great big link dump for you.

From my research an express rider travels 30mph. An average horse travels 20-30 miles in a day. A properly trained and conditioned horse can travel 50-60 miles in a day.

It would be realistic to travel15 mph for 13 miles then a change of horse.

Pemberley to Rosings Park travel time for an express rider: Longbourn to Peak District is 120 miles. Chatsworth house is Pemberley on Google Maps, and Meryton is Ware on the map. Therefore it is 160 miles from Pemberley to Longbourn. Caterham on the map is Rosings Park. Pemberley to Rosings is 200 miles.
It would take a total of 6.7 hours by express rider (4 horse changes, 2 hours added on) for 9 hours one way for an express rider to go from Pemberley to Rosings Park.
  1. https://core100austen.wordpress.com/wiki/horseback-riding-in-regency-england/
  2. http://orbis.stanford.edu/ This is actually a map of the world in Roman times. It’s useful for road distances of England.
  3. https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2015/03/travelling-the-roads-of-regency-england-with-louise-allen.html
  4. https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/tag/regency-travel/
  5. https://www.kristenkoster.com/regency-era-horse-sense/
  6. https://thebeaumonde.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Lesson-5-Speed.pdf
  7. https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/6411/possible-distance-travelled-by-horse-over-6-weeks
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=GLoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=galloping+horse+dirt+road+speed+1812+england&source=bl&ots=aTNJzSVAjn&sig=ACfU3U30YAnuMDCWygi4ioeaBb49KW9wPg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirhvDx89bnAhWRZ80KHfuWDGoQ6AEwEnoECA0QAQ#v=onepage&q=galloping%20horse%20dirt%20road%20speed%201812%20england&f=false
  9. http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.com/search/label/Regency%20travel
  10. http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.com/2016/06/speed-of-travel-in-jane-austens-england.html
  11. https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/the-postal-service-in-18th-century-britain-letters-and-the-penny-post/
  12. https://www.victorianlondon.org/communications/postal.htm
  13. https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/the-postal-service-in-18th-century-britain-post-roads-and-post-boys/
  14. https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/royal-mail-history/
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_coach
  16. http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/dighum/2016/12/01/mapping-pride-and-prejudice/
  17. http://jasna.org/publications/persuasions-online/vol36no1/ottman/
  18. https://www.geriwalton.com/regency-traveling-tips/
  19. https://shannondonnelly.com/2011/07/28/the-regency-horse-world/
  20. https://reginajeffers.blog/2019/07/31/king-of-the-road-or-the-cost-of-traveling-in-the-regency-era/
  21. https://core100austen.wordpress.com/wiki/horseback-riding-in-regency-england/
  22. https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2015/03/travelling-the-roads-of-regency-england-with-louise-allen.html
  23. https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/tag/regency-travel/