‘WORCESTERSHIRE Coaching Inns’ will be the subject of the next talk for a town group.
Kidderminster Historical Society hosts speaker Julian Hunt on Thursday, November 27.
Most English market towns had two or more large coaching inns able to provide fresh horses for scheduled stage-coach services.
They would also provide horses for private coaches and hire out post chaise — a smaller coach with two horses, one of them ridden by a post boy.
The innkeeper would be one of the largest employers in a town, having to run a shift system of servants and grooms to ensure that passengers and horses were looked after around the clock.
The inn would have a large assembly room and a bowling green. It needed a kitchen garden to provide food for the table and pasture for the horses when not on the road.
Julian was a librarian in Birmingham, Oldham and latterly in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
He has written books about churches, cotton mills and the market towns of Worcestershire and Buckinghamshire.
Julian is currently president of Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society.
KHS meetings start at 2.30pm at The Museum of Carpet, Stour Vale Mill, Green Street.
There is a small charge for visitors who are welcome and asked to book to ensure a seat.
More information is at kdahs.org or on Facebook page KidderminsterHistoricalSociety.
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