Early Carriages and Roads

Early Carriages and Roads is by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart., and is illustrated. A short note says attention has been given in this publication to the early history of wheeled conveyances in England and their development up to recent times.

The text says Richard Bellasis, entrusted with the task of dismantling Jervaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire, refers to the quantity of lead used for roofing purposes, which cannot be conveyed away till next summer, for the ways in that countrie are so foule and deepe that no carriage (cart) can pass in winter. A section headed Seventeenth Century High Roads says it was not until 1622 that any attempt was made to save the roads, and that James I issued a Proclamation in which the use of four-wheeled carts for carrying goods and agricultural produce was forbidden, carts with two wheels only being allowed. The text says a carriage adorned with allegorical groups by Cipriani, having only been used on rare occasions, is still in a good state of preservation, and cost £7,562 to build and adorn.