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Horse-drawn coaches through Doyleston before 1870
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TitleHorse-drawn coaches through Doyleston before 1870
DescriptionWhen land was first purchased in Doyleston, transport was very difficult and the trip to Christchurch was a lengthy journey.
Unfortunately, very few people wrote about their personal experiences but public coach proprietors advertised extensively and so more is known about that mode of transport.
Also, Joseph Hastings Doyle and his family were involved in coaching so the topic becomes more important to Doyleston.
The earliest settlers walked often heavily laden with butter and cheese for the market or returned from the general store with the household provisions for another week or perhaps a month.
As settlers prospered, a riding horse was purchased.
Early in the 1870s American Buggies, which were light and be pulled by one horse, came into use.
Spring carts, many built in Southbridge, were unequaled for conveying the whole family. They were often covered and used by grocers and butchers to distribute produce.
Since Doyleston was on the road between Southbridge, Leeston and Christchurch, the coaches were significant.
At one stage the fare was 15 shillings return, a large sum of money for a laborer and it is not known how many people from Doyleston would have caught the coach.
For the cost of 3 return rides to Christchurch, a person could have bought an acre of land from the Government.
The delivery of newspapers, mail and parcels may have been more significant.
In January 1866, Mr Bean, who lived in the Leeston area, conveyed passengers in a four-seater coach to Christchurch, through Doyleston, on Mondays and Fridays and returned the next day. He also carried the weekly Canterbury Times to subscribers along the route.
John Cowan, formerly a ploughman for Charles Bridge at Southbridge, was advertising his coach by May 1866.
By July, Cowan was dropping off the Lyttleton Times newspaper enroute, and he had the mail contract in December.
The Press newspaper was being delivered to the Creek Store by February 1867.
It is not known when Henry Theophilus Worsley, from Fendall Town, started his coach service, but he advertised a change in his schedule in June 1866.
Thus by 1866 Doyleston residents had two coaches passing through their town. Worsley was set back by a fire in his stables in September 1867 which killed two horses and destroyed harnesses and feed.
Cowan had a new 16-seat coach by December 1867 and a daily run had started. Worsley had the mail run by 1868.
By May however, Worsley advertised to form a company and by July Brittin (or Brittan) & Co had taken over with the mail contract, daily leaving Southbridge at 7am and returning at 3pm.
Cowan met this challenge by running a daily return coach and a morning coach three days a week. His new 30-seater coach was pulled by five horses and he was again carrying the mail.
Material from Chapter 14 of Graham & Chapple’s book Ellesmere County , 1965, and information from Papers Past.
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date5 September 2019SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoyleston
DescriptionWhen land was first purchased in Doyleston, transport was very difficult and the trip to Christchurch was a lengthy journey. Unfortunately, very few people wrote about their personal experiences but public coach proprietors advertised extensively and so more is known about that mode of transport.
Also, Joseph Hastings Doyle and his family were involved in coaching so the topic becomes more important to Doyleston.
The earliest settlers walked often heavily laden with butter and cheese for the market or returned from the general store with the household provisions for another week or perhaps a month.
As settlers prospered, a riding horse was purchased.
Early in the 1870s American Buggies, which were light and be pulled by one horse, came into use.
Spring carts, many built in Southbridge, were unequaled for conveying the whole family. They were often covered and used by grocers and butchers to distribute produce.
Since Doyleston was on the road between Southbridge, Leeston and Christchurch, the coaches were significant.
At one stage the fare was 15 shillings return, a large sum of money for a laborer and it is not known how many people from Doyleston would have caught the coach.
For the cost of 3 return rides to Christchurch, a person could have bought an acre of land from the Government.
The delivery of newspapers, mail and parcels may have been more significant.
In January 1866, Mr Bean, who lived in the Leeston area, conveyed passengers in a four-seater coach to Christchurch, through Doyleston, on Mondays and Fridays and returned the next day. He also carried the weekly Canterbury Times to subscribers along the route.
John Cowan, formerly a ploughman for Charles Bridge at Southbridge, was advertising his coach by May 1866.
By July, Cowan was dropping off the Lyttleton Times newspaper enroute, and he had the mail contract in December.
The Press newspaper was being delivered to the Creek Store by February 1867.
It is not known when Henry Theophilus Worsley, from Fendall Town, started his coach service, but he advertised a change in his schedule in June 1866.
Thus by 1866 Doyleston residents had two coaches passing through their town. Worsley was set back by a fire in his stables in September 1867 which killed two horses and destroyed harnesses and feed.
Cowan had a new 16-seat coach by December 1867 and a daily run had started. Worsley had the mail run by 1868.
By May however, Worsley advertised to form a company and by July Brittin (or Brittan) & Co had taken over with the mail contract, daily leaving Southbridge at 7am and returning at 3pm.
Cowan met this challenge by running a daily return coach and a morning coach three days a week. His new 30-seater coach was pulled by five horses and he was again carrying the mail.
Material from Chapter 14 of Graham & Chapple’s book Ellesmere County , 1965, and information from Papers Past.
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date5 September 2019SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoylestonClick on the image to add
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Horse-drawn coaches through Doyleston before 1870 (5 September 2019). Selwyn Stories, accessed 07/04/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5268
