Great Western Coffee Shop

I have heard, but can not substantiate, that one of the last horse drawn stage coaches, maybe THE last one, served Minehead.

IIRC correctly, a very early movie showed this conveyance. It was reputed to be the only film of a working horse drawn stage coach, the other routes having ceased operation prior to the invention of movies.

I refer here of course to horse stage coaches as an early public transport service, running to a published timetable, and not to later re-enactments for filming, tv, or historical interest.

Can anyone confirm or deny, or provide a link to video. IIRC it was shown on local TV a few years ago, possibly as part of a history or documentary.

You may be right on road coaches - on rail I think Fintona and Port Carlisle may have run later.

I can confirm it, based on this link. (https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/233276/5-Minehead-site-visit.pdf)

Fascinating link, Lee ... with questions therein ...


Social Media and VisitCornwall  ;D  ;D

It may be hard to tell what fits that definition and what does not. After railways had replaced coaches as main the transport provider, the old coaches were still operated as a kind of heritage service to resorts, summer season only. There were also enthusiasts for them, some of whom ran paid-for services to pay part of their costs. This issue of the Journal of the Roads and Road Transport History Association goes into more detail (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj28OOW2N7yAhVxoFwKHRceDXwQFnoECAQQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rrtha.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F04%2FRoad-Transport-History-Association-Journal-69-August-2012.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2fAbadpyX2TUclr_bjxH_q).

The dates given are mainly pre-1900, but the author does address the question of how much longer this went one, and says:
Of course your definition may be more restrictive.

I have also found a newspaper report (Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser 22 August 1959) of a politician (John Boyd-Carpenter) making a visit to give an election speech, saying he would "drive to the Dunster rally in the Minehead stagecoach, decorated with blue rosettes. They are due to leave the Plume and Feathers Hotel, Minehead, at 6 p.m."). That suggests to me that the phrase "Minehead stagecoach" may also refer to a preserved coach, used no doubt for weddings as well as politics. Of course nothing in that proves it really was or ever had been a real stagecoach!

The map at the back of the 1910 Bradshaw reprint has an extensive network of coach routes in the north of Scotland, but nothing in the south west of England. Alas, timetables for the coach routes are not included, though some coach connections do appear.

I don't know about Minehead, but when I worked in Elko in northeast Nevada in the early noughties, I learned that the very last stagecoach robbery in the old West (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarbidge_Stage_Robbery) occurred nearby at Jarbidge in 1916. I told the tale to my grandmother who was aged six at the time.

Many decades ago I had a flatmate from Chard. Sally was a lovely flatmate but she was a bit... unconventional, to the extent that my friend Paddy exclaimed "She's your flatmate? But she's an utter nutter!" Which she was, but in a good way. Back in Chard, she claimed to have a friend, whose name I can't remember, who was even nuttier than her and not necessarily in a good way. He had a horse's shin bone which he treated as a pet. Weird. He was also, supposedly, the grandson the last person in England to be hanged for highway robbery, and on one infamous occasion he decided to relive the family's profession. He headed out to a quiet country lane, flagged down a suitable car, and then produced a shotgun and demanded cash and valuables. It seems he did not utter the infamous words "Your money or your life" which is just as well, as then he'd probably have faced a long jail term for making death threats rather than a shorter one for attempted robbery, because the very next vehicle to come round the corner was a police car.

Back to the Future ??  ;D

An interesting recollection, but by 1959, railways, cars, and motor buses were in general use and horse drawn coaches already an historical curio rather than a mainstream mode of transport.

The wording "drive to the Dunster rally------" May imply that the politician was going to drive the vehicle himself, rather than being conveyed in a vehicle operated by others.
I also doubt that use of a public transport vehicle for political purposes would be allowed. A privately hired vehicle would be fine, just as present day politicians often hire buses.

Based on the title I expected to hear that, with Broadgage's full approval, a stagecoach service was to commence between Taunton and Minehead.

there may be a market for that, as horse has priority over motor ?

There would need to be in-coach dining. Not so much Pullman as Pull-horse.

I have been conveyed on a horse drawn cart or wagon for several local journeys. The horse seems willing to cover many miles a day provided that the load is modest.
For heavy loads it needs either a pair of horses, or frequent changes.

A farm cart not a stage coach, but fun and green.

If stage coaches still operated, after Brexit effects would there currently be major problems with hay supplies, and a shortage of qualified drivers trained for multiple working - of horses?  ???

Paul

The horses would have taken control.

No garden would be safe from their encroachment.

 :D