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- This article is about coaching inns in general, for individual inns see: Stagecoach Inn (Disambiguation)
In Europe, from approximately the mid-seventeenth century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure. Although many survive, and some still offer overnight accommodation, in general they have lost their original function and now fulfill much the same function as ordinary pubs.
Description
Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. Traditionally they were seven miles apart but this depended very much on the terrain. Some English towns had as many as ten such inns and rivalry between them was intense, not only for the income from the stagecoach operators but for the revenue for food and drink supplied to the wealthy passengers. Barnet, Hertfordshire was one such location and even today boasts an unusually high number of historic pubs along its high street due to its former position on the main road from London to the North of England.
Cock and Bull
A pair of coaching inns in Stony Stratford (Buckinghamshire, England), named respectively 'The Cock' and 'The Bull', are said to have given rise to the term "cock and bull stories."
The coaching inns were mentioned in the Post Office Directories of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that were the precursors of today's telephone directories: some were to become railway hotels as the coaches were replaced by rail travel.
Historic Inns
Examples of historic sites of coaching inns in central London include the plaque on the Nomura building close to the Museum of London on London Wall commemorating the "Bull and Mouth" Inn; Golden Cross House, opposite St Martin's in the Fields recalls the Golden Cross, Charing Cross coaching inn.
Historic inns in Oxford include The Bear Inn (originally established in 1242) and the Lamb and Flag.
See also
"Coaching inn"