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Before the days of high-speed transport, travelling across England was a slow and often uncomfortable experience. Before tarmac, roads would have been small lanes or pathways made of whatever materials people could find nearby. If the soil was thin with rock underneath then the road would probably be quite solid, but in places where the land flooded or had thick soils, roads would quickly become difficult or impassable. Roads between settlements tended to stick to the best, driest land – like finding a route through the puddles on a rainy day – crossing streams and rivers where it was easiest. Sometimes bridges were built, but if the river was shallow, the road went straight through at a ‘ford’ (nothing to do with the make of car!).
Because travelling by foot, horse or cart was tiring, there were plenty of places for you and your horse to stop for food, drink and rest along the way. These ancient lodging houses called ‘inns’ (probably short for inside or within) are what later developed into modern day pubs, and some like the Swan Inn at Yardley retain that name. It’s thought that ‘swan’ here was a variation of ‘swain’, an old English word for peasant, which itself comes from the French word ‘pays’ meaning land or place, so a peasant (or a swa[i]n) was just a ‘countryside dweller’, and 200 years ago Yardley was a tiny village in the countryside.
As populations grew and roads became more important, landowners would be given the right to charge a toll to use the road in return for keeping it well repaired through a Turnpike Trust. Just like the M6 toll, barriers were constructed at either end of a stretch of road to make sure travellers paid, but instead of a simple bar that lifted up and down, these barriers were constructed of sturdy pointed poles called ‘pikes’. When the toll was paid, the pikes would be turned out of the way to allow you to pass. These roads became known as ‘turnpike’ roads, a term that’s still used in America for some main roads. The Coventry Rd (A45) was at some point a turnpike road, and if you follow it all the way to Coventry on it’s old route along the Holyhead Road, you’ll reach a pub called the Tollgate which is close to the site of the old Toll House where toll fares were once collected.
Before satnav and road atlases, directions between major destinations were given as written directions or linear-maps. The most famous of these were written by Thomas Ogilby, who wrote this in 1699 about the journey between Oxford and Shrewsbury passing through Birmingham: “Come to Bermingham vulgo (commonly called) Bromicham of 1M (mile) on Rea flv (river) a large and well built Town, which drives a great Trade in most sorts of Iron-work, and has a considerable Market on Thursdays.”