The Roads of England and Wales 1889

By Charles Howard188914 chapters23 images

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Contents

• Preface (opens in a new tab)

  The author explains the need for a reliable road book adapted to cycling, describes the contents (mileage, hills, surface, hotels, and an index), and acknowledges that the first edition may contain errors he invites readers to correct.
• Introduction (opens in a new tab)

  A practical guide for cycling tourists covering road surfaces and their characteristics (flint, gravel, limestone, macadam, sandstone, sandy), the ongoing replacement of the turnpike trust system, and a detailed comparison of maps available to cyclists including the Ordnance Survey and reduced sectional maps.
• Corrigenda to Fifth Edition (opens in a new tab)

  Corrections to mileage figures for the southern and midland roads in this edition, cross-referencing revisions made in the author's companion Handy Route Book of England and Wales.
• Direct Roads: Abbreviations and Key (opens in a new tab)

  Explains the abbreviations used throughout the itinerary (m. for miles, l. for left, r. for right, T.P. for turnpike, C.T.C. for Cyclists Touring Club tariff hotel, etc.) and the notation system for mileage between places and cumulative distances from the route starting point.
• Section I: South Eastern Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes radiating south-east from London Bridge and Lewisham covering Kent and East Sussex; includes roads to Margate and Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Tunbridge Wells, Rye, New Romney, Hastings, Eastbourne, and Sheerness, with notes on surface, hills, hotels, and points of interest.
• Section II: Southern Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes from Westminster Bridge through East Surrey and Mid Sussex, covering roads to Eastbourne via Godstone, Seaford, Limpsfield, Brighton (by Lindfield, Cuckfield, Handcross, and Reigate), Reigate, Shoreham, and Littlehampton, with detailed surface and gradient notes.
• Section III: South Western Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes from Hyde Park Corner through West Surrey, West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, South Berkshire, and South Wiltshire; the longest section, covering roads to Chichester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Lymington, Christchurch, Weymouth, Swanage, and Land's End by multiple variants, including Dartmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, Ilfracombe, Taunton, Exeter, and Frome.
• Section IV: Western Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes through West Middlesex, Berkshire, North Wiltshire, North Somerset, South Buckinghamshire, South Oxfordshire, South Gloucestershire, Monmouth, and South Wales; covers roads to St. David's, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Hereford, Brecon, Newport, Aberystwyth, Cardigan, and Pembroke.
• Section V: North Western Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes through North-West Middlesex, West Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, South Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, South Cheshire, and North Wales; covers roads to Barmouth, Carnarvon, Holyhead, Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Chester, Bangor, and Llangollen.
• Section VI: Midland Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes through Mid Hertfordshire, West Bedfordshire, North Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, North Warwickshire, Leicestershire, North Staffordshire, Derbyshire, West Nottinghamshire, East Cheshire, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Cumberland; covers roads to Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Kendal, Carlisle, Edinburgh via Carlisle, Blackpool, Skipton, Leeds, and Glasgow via Dumfries.
• Section VII: Great Northern Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes through East Middlesex, East Hertfordshire, East Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, West Cambridgeshire, East Northamptonshire, Rutland, East Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland; covers the Great North Road to Edinburgh via Stamford, routes to York, Scarborough, Whitby, Lincoln, Grimsby, Louth, and Edinburgh via Coldstream.
• Section VIII: North Eastern Roads (opens in a new tab)

  Routes through Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, East Huntingdonshire, and East Cambridgeshire; covers the road to Edinburgh via Ware, routes to Cambridge, Huntingdon, Norwich, Cromer, Hunstanton, Wells, Lynn, Yarmouth, Ipswich, Harwich, Colchester, and Southend, with notes on the sandy Fenland and Norfolk roads.
• Cross Roads (opens in a new tab)

  A supplementary collection of cross-country routes not starting from London; includes Margate to Southampton by the coast, Brighton to Bognor, Winchester to Brighton, Winchester to Stockbridge, Guildford to Maidstone, Farnham to Reading, Oxford to Winchester, Marlborough to Salisbury, Dorchester to Taunton, Exeter to Bideford, and many other connecting roads across England and Wales.
• Index (opens in a new tab)

  Alphabetical index of all towns and places in the itinerary, giving the distance from London by direct routes (left column) and the page reference (right column), with cross-references marked X for entries appearing in the Cross Roads section.