# The road from London to Paris in 1823



## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Imagine you were a businessman or a tourist travelling from London to Paris in the last years before the advent of the train. You had to take a (horse-drawn) coach to complete the journey. But which road did the coach follow, and how long did it take to reach Paris? The answers are here, extracted from the diary of an Englishman who travelled between these two cities in 1823.

Back in 1823, London had 1,400,000 inhabitants and Paris had 700,000 inhabitants. They were the two largest cities in Europe by far, and also nearly the two largest cities in the world. Yet the road between these two large metropolises was nothing like our broad modern highways today. It meandered in the countryside and went through the middle of villages and towns, without any bypasses. It took several days to go from London to Paris.

Here I will cover the whole itinerary in pictures day after day, from London to Paris, based on the detailed information published by that gentleman who travelled between the two cities in 1823. The road crosses hundreds of towns and villages, and I will of course not post pictures of them all. I will only post a few select pictures of the whole itinerary.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

*Day 1: London to Dover*

There were several coach companies that went from London to Dover. Here we're going to take the largest coach company, Chaplin's coaches. Chaplin's coaches departed from the Spread Eagle Inn, in Gracechurch Street, next to Leadenhall Market, in the heart of the City of London.

This is how the Spread Eagle Inn and its coaches looked like in the beginning of the 19th century.









This is how it looks today:









The Chaplin's coach left at 8:30am and 10am every day. We'll take the 10am coach, because we don't want to wake up too early. 

Day 1, 10am: we're leaving the Spread Eagle Inn. En route!









At the end of Gracechurch Street we turn right in Eastcheap:









Then we turn left in King William Street which leads to London Bridge:









London Bridge, the oldest bridge in London, but rebuilt several times, and now a rather ugly modern bridge:









On the other end of the bridge, we reach Southwark, with its cathedral. Back in 1823, we were already leaving the administrative London and arriving in the county of Surrey (Southwark was part of Surrey):









We then take Borough High Street, the main street in Southwark. It is the area south of the Thames that was urbanized the earliest:









After this church (St George the Martyr Southwark), we turn left into Great Dover Street:









Then we continue on Old Kent Road. I'm afraid the Channel Tunnel didn't exist back in 1823. 









In 1823, approximately here, at the corner of Old Kent Road and Dunton Road, only 3.2 km from our departure point, London ended, i.e. the dense urbanization ended. Beyond this point, there were still some detached houses along the road for a while, but the area was not feeling urban anymore, it resembled somewhat the country roads between Belgian cities today that are lined with houses.









After Old Kent Road we continue on New Cross Road. We then arrive in New Cross, 6.6 km from our departure point, which is the historical border between Surrey and Kent. Today this area is fully inside Greater London, but back in 1823 the border between the counties of Surrey and Kent was here. There was also a turnpike here, you had to pay to continue towards Canterbury and Dover.









After New Cross Road we take Deptford Broadway and then Blackheath Road. We basically keep following the modern A2, which corresponds here to the ancient road from London to Dover. We cross the heath behind Greenwich. The modern Eurolines buses between Paris and London still cross this heath today.









After the heath, 9 km from our departure point, the countryside started for good in 1823. There were no more houses along the road. We had reached the open countryside.

We continue on Shooters Hill Road and abandon the modern A2 which doesn't correspond to the ancient road from London to Dover anymore. We follow the ancient road through the little village of Shooters Hill, then through the village of Welling, then through Bexley Heath and Crayford. The road here corresponds to the modern A207.

Finally, 22.9 km after our departure point, we reach the modern border of Greater London. Probably the traveler in 1823 would have found quite odd a border of London so far out in the countryside.









We now follow the modern A226 which is the ancient road from London to Dover. We reach Dartford, and the road takes us right through the center of Darford (Dartford's High Street), but I can't show you pictures because it is now a pedestrian only street, so no Google Street View.

Immediately after Dartford, we cross the M25, London's orbital motorway, 26.4 km after our departure point.









We continue along the A226 towards Greenhithe and North Fleet, then we bypass Gravesend on the B261 (the bypass is the old road to Dover). After Gravesend we're on the A226 again.

Just after Chalk, we finally reach the current end of the continuously urbanized area of London, 39.6 km from our departure point. This is the beginning of the open countryside, mixed with some exurbs of London. Of course, back in 1823, we would have been in the countryside for already more than 30 km.









We continue along the A226, which merges with the A2 just before entering Rochester.

47.2 km after our departure point, we cross the River Medway. The bridge was enlarged in the 20th century, but the road originally ran only on that side of the bridge. Across the river lies Rochester, a major stopover on the road from London to Dover. You can see Rochester Castle to the right.









On the other end of the bridge we reach the city center of Rochester.









The road becomes Rochester's High Street:









On the side of the road, we can have a look at Rochester Cathedral. Our modern, bland, wide highways that bypass all the interesting points of interest can't compete with this. It has changed the experience of travelling.









Still in Rochester's High Street. Look how narrow was the road linking what were soon to become the two largest cities in the world. All the coaches from London to Paris had to take that street. No bypass.









After Rochester, we continue along the modern A2 towards Sittingbourne, Faversham, and Canterbury.

We cross the beautiful Kent countryside between Rochester and Canterbury:









(I'm not always writing directions, but all pictures here are basically eastbound, i.e. going towards Dover)









Before reaching Canterbury, we cross the village of Boughton-under-Blean. Again, look how narrow was the main road from London to Paris.









Just before entering Canterbury, we again abandon the A2 (which bypasses Canterbury) and follow the ancient road from London to Dover which is now the A2050, then it becomes London Road, then St Dunstan's Street.

We enter the Medieval city of Canterbury by the Westgate, 89.9 km from our departure point. Even today, cars still go through the gate, which is rather rare in Europe these days.









We're now on St Peters Street, the main street of Canterbury (_Cantorbéry_ in French). It's almost France already as you can see. 









In Canterbury it's possible to stop for an hour to have dinner (according to the diary of the traveler from 1823, which is the source of all the information in this thread), and then continue to Dover, but because we don't want to waste time we will continue straight to Dover without stopping in Canterbury.

Canterbury is of course world famous because of its cathedral, the spiritual heart of England, but unfortunately we won't see it here because the road to Dover, which is Canterbury's main street, doesn't run next to the cathedral, so we can't see it.

We exit Canterbury by St George's Gate (now demolished, so I can't show you), then we take Dover Street and Old Dover Road. The smell of ocean is now distinctly in the air, and at this point the travelers that we are start to get quite excited. We can't wait to reach Dover and from there that fascinatingly exotic country called France.

After Canterbury we cross the village of Bridge:









Then the road merges with the A2 again. Here the ancient road from London to Dover has been considerably enlarged:









After a few miles, we find a section of the ancient road that hasn't been upgraded and still resembles what it must have looked like in the 19th century. I don't know you, but personally I would have been afraid of being attacked by brigands here.









We abandon the A2 just before starting our descent from the Kentish plateau towards the sea-level and Dover (_Douvres_ in French). We go through Lydden and Temple Ewell, and our coach finally enters Dover at 7pm, 9 hours after having left the City of London.

We go down Dover's High Street, towards the harbor:









Our coach will take us to the King's Head Inn, in the old harbor district, to the south of Dover's city center. The King's Head Inn was the terminus of the Chaplin's coaches from London.

In order to reach the King's Head Inn, after Dover's High Street we take Biggin Street:









We reach Market Place, the central square of Dover, partly destroyed during WW2:









We then take King Street:









Then we turn right in Townwall Street and continue along Snargate Street. The long Snargate Street runs at the bottom of the cliff and leads from Dover's city center to the old harbor district to the south of the city center. The left side of the street was obliterated either during WW2 or by crazy planners after WW2. To the left is the modern harbor of Dover.









At the end of Snargate Street we reach the old harbor district (known as the Pier District) and the King's Head Inn, 116 km from our departure point. Alas, almost none of it remains today. The old harbor district was flattened down after WW2 by manic British planners, and the King's Head Inn was demolished in 1970. In the picture below you can see the oldest harbor of Dover, where the boats to Calais used to moor. It was just next to the King's Head Inn, which was very convenient for the travelers.









This is how the King's Head Inn and the old harbor district around it looked like in 1921:









The King's Head Inn was demolished in 1970. This picture was taken the day before demolition work started (the inn had been sold and turned into the Continental Express Ferry House in the 1930s):









This is how the old harbor district (the Pier District) looked like in 1835:









This is how it looks today. Almost none of it remains. The King's Head Inn is now a parking ground.









Anyway, back in 1823, according to the traveler whose diary I'm using here, we would have dined at the King's Head Inn after our 9 hour journey from London. The menu was rump steaks and potatoes, accompanied with Port wine. :cheers:

And now, after our hearty dinner, let's go to bed. Tomorrow, we'll board a boat to France!


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

*Day 2: Dover to Calais*

(in this leg of our journey, we will study the ravages of WW2 and crazy city planners)

After a storm over the Channel which has delayed us somewhat, we resume our journey. We'll consider it's day 2 of our trip, since summer storms are rather rare in the Channel. So day 2: after a good night of sleep, we board a steamboat at mid-day (the only crossing of the day, no crossing every hour back then!).










The oldest part of Dover harbor, with the harbor district around it completely flattened down in the 1960s and 1970s:









The old harbor exit. The open sea!!









Leaving Dover. To the right you can see the modern harbor of Dover, which is closer to the city center of Dover than the old harbor.









Looking back: Dover Castle above the cliff. Back in 1805 when Napoléon attempted to invade England it was the most strategic English fortress, manned with the most troops in the kingdom, and equipped with the best cannons.









The white cliffs of Perfidious Albion, which kept in check some of the greatest world conquerors.









Last view of Old Blighty...









In the middle of the Strait of Dover (_Pas de Calais_ in French), the busiest strait in the world. Take that Singapore!









Back in 1823, the uneventful crossing from Dover to Calais took about 3 hours, thanks to the new steamboats. It was quite different before the 19th century, when the sailboats could take much longer to cross the strait, depending on the winds. The picture below shows the Brick Morgenster between Dover and Calais.









Our first sight of the French coast!!! This is Cap Blanc Nez, to the south of Calais. The needle on top of the cliff (the one to the right) is an obelisk commemorating the Franco-British Dover Patrol which kept the Channel free from U-boats during World War I.









Our first French village: Sangatte, to the south of Calais. We're sailing northward along the French coast towards Calais. Sangatte is a name of Flemish (Dutch) origin. It means "gap in the sand". The region around Calais, the Calaisis, was Flemish speaking until the 16th century, then it became Picard/French speaking.









Finally, we arrive in Calais! Back in 1823, Calais and Dover had approximately the same size (Dover had 12,000 inhabitants, whereas Calais had 13,000 inhabitants), but today Calais is a significantly larger city than Dover. At the 1999 French census, there were 105,000 people living in the urban area of Calais, whereas at the 2001 UK census there were only 39,000 people living in the urban of Dover.









We're navigating towards the old harbor where the boats from Dover used to moor:









Gasp... les gens ne parlent plus anglais ! :doh:









The old harbor (invisible in this picture, but located behind the parking ground), with the only three monuments of Calais that survived WW2. Back in 1823, the 13th century watchtower was used as the lighthouse of Calais. The beautiful belfry of the new city hall didn't exist yet. The traveler would have seen the no less beautiful belfry of the old city hall, of which I will talk more in a little moment. To the left the Notre Dame church built during the English occupation of Calais. Calais and its territory, know as the "Pale" (just like the Pale which the English also occupied in Ireland) was annexed to the Diocese of Canterbury. The church was built by Flemish workers allied to the English after the whole population of Calais was deported by the English. Since stones were hard to find in the Calais area, the church was built of bricks made with the sand of the dunes. Back in 1823, the Notre Dame church was a very popular tourist attraction for the English travelers, due to its being reminiscent of the English occupation of the city. Incidentally, it is in this church in 1921 that a relatively unknown young man, Captain Charles de Gaulle, married Yvonne Vendroux, the daughter of a merchant from Calais and future Première Dame of France.










The picture above offers a first glimpse at the ravages of WW2. English people are quite familiar with the Battle of Dunkirk and the hellish bombardment and destruction suffered by that city, but the suffering of Calais is less well known, I don't know why. Yet Calais suffered like few other cities during WW2. It was almost entirely destroyed by the German Luftwaffe in May 1940. All the ugly 1960s buildings that you can see between the three surviving monuments of Calais have replaced the Medieval and 18th centuries buildings that stood there before 1940 and which our traveler in 1823 would have had in front of his eyes. A very different view compared to today, to be sure. In fact it's even worse than what the unsuspecting traveler today could imagine. The tower of the Notre Dame church was shelled by mistake by the Allies on September 23, 1944 and collapsed on the nave of the church below. It had to be rebuilt after the war. As for the quaint Courgain district, the old fisherman's district of Calais, its roofs may look old, but it was utterly destroyed in 1940 by the Luftwaffe and rebuilt after the war with more grace than the rest of that unfortunate city.

This is how the old historical center of Calais looked like just before 1940. To the left, the 13th century watchtower, which was still used as a lighthouse back then, and to the right the Notre Dame church. Everything in this picture apart from these two monuments was totally obliterated by the Germans in 1940:









A German soldier standing in the ruins of Calais at the end of May 1940, with the watchtower in the background:









Arriving in the old harbor of Calais. We are going to moor in the Bassin du Paradis ("Paradise Dock"), the oldest dock of Calais, right at the entrance of the Medieval heart of the city, 42 km from the old harbor of Dover.










The Bassin du Paradis at low tide to our right, with the historical center of Calais behind it:









This is how it looked from the same angle in 1900. What a contrast compared to today! Nothing remains of the pre-WW2 buildings.









The same, but seen from the other side of the Bassin du Paradis (which is now to our left). Pseudo-Communist buildings from the 1960s have replaced the ancient buildings of Calais.









Same view in 1900. Only the tower of the Notre Dame church is still visible today.









Now facing east. Behind the Bassin du Paradis, you can see the Courgain, the old fisherman's district, with its lighthouse. It was the only part of the old Calais that was rebuilt with a little bit of grace after WW2, with a Flemish influence. To the right you can see a column (also visible to the left of the previous view) which commemorates the landing of King Louis XVIII in France in 1814 after the abdication of Napoléon. Back in 1823, when our traveller landed in Calais, he commented there was a brass print on the quay of the Bassin du Paradis showing the exact location where Louis XVIII set his royal foot in France for the first time since 1792. I don't know if it has survived the Republic and WW2.









This is how the Courgain looked from the same angle in 1900. As you can see, the Courgain was quite different from its post-WW2 reconstruction. There was no Flemish influence in the architecture, and each building had a different height.









Close-up view of the Courgain (check the building with a blue dot, it's the same as in the previous view). The Courgain was sheltered behind a low defensive wall.









The Courgain was a maze of small Medieval streets where working-class families of fishermen lived. People had their own (French) dialect, with a strong accent. None of these streets still exist today. The post-WW2 planners who rebuilt Calais did not respect the old street grid.


















Back at the Bassin du Paradis, just after landing in the middle of the afternoon after our 3-hour crossing of the Strait of Dover, we have to go through customs. This was serious stuff in 1823. Custom agents wanted to make sure that nobody smuggled English products in, notably manufactured products such as lace. Everybody is thus body searched by the customs agents, people from the lower classes and upper classes alike, in front of each other, which our gentleman from 1823 found slightly upsetting, since it was a rare instance of complete equality in the class society of the time. Even the ladies are body searched by female customs agents in a separate room. Luggage is also thoroughly inspected.

Then our passports are taken from us and sent to the Préfecture de Police in Paris. Temporary papers are given to us for our journey, and we will have to report ourselves to the Préfecture de Police immediately on our arrival in Paris to regain our original passports. Finally we leave the custom house and we walk on the quay where we are assailed by dozens of young kids hired by the various inns of Calais who give us some cards with the names and addresses of the inns and pull us to go to this and that inn, and to furnish us with a coach for Paris. The scene must have been quite the same as what one can see on arriving in a Moroccan city today.

We don't listen to any of the boys because we have already decided to stay at Hôtel Dessin, the best hotel in Calais. It's already the end of the afternoon and we don't want to travel at night, so we won't take the night coach to Paris and will stay for the night in Calais. After having gotten rid of the kids with a few coins, we proceed to Hôtel Dessin on foot.

From the Bassin du Paradis, we take Rue de la Mer:









This is how Rue de la Mer looked like in 1900 (picture taken from the other end of the street):









Then we arrive on the Place d'Armes, the central square of old Calais, entirely destroyed during WW2:









This is how it looked in 1900. To the right of the 13th watchtower, you can see the old city hall of Calais, rebuilt in 1740, with its 15th century belfry (tower). The old city hall was utterly ruined by the German Luftwaffe in May 1940 and was not restored after the war, I don't know why. The stupid city planners decided to restore the watchtower but they destroyed what remained of the old city hall.









A close-up view of the belfry, from the 15th century. Back in 1823, the modern belfry of the new city hall, which is now the symbol of Calais, didn't exist yet. It was built between 1911 and 1923 as I said above. Here is the story: back during the French Revolution when the French communes (municipalities) were created, they decided that the commune of Calais would encompass only the Medieval city within its city walls. Immediately outside the city walls it was another commune, Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais. In the 19th century, the population of the Medieval city stagnated, while the population of Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais increased a lot, to the point that Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais became more populated than Calais around 1850. It made no sense to have two separate communes for what was essentially the same city, so eventually in 1885 they merged the two communes. After the merger, it was felt the old city hall inside the Medieval city was too small, so eventually they built the new city hall just outside of the old city walls, on some unbuilt land at the junction of Calais and Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais, which was a symbol of the merger between the two former communes. This new city hall was not destroyed during WW2, or rather, if it was damaged, it was fully restored after the war, but the old city hall was not restored after the war.










A postcard showing the old city hall before WW2 (after 1923, it was used as a marine museum, displaying all sorts of models of old vessels and marine objects) and the same at the end of WW2. From the look of it, it could have been restored, but the city planners decided not to.









The watchtower (right) and the belfry of the old city hall (left) as seen from Rue de la Paix:









We cross the Place d'Armes and we reach Rue Royale, the street to the right of the old city hall (and now to the right of the watchtower). Hôtel Dessin was somewhere on the right side of that street, but the street was of course completely destroyed during WW2.









This is how Rue Royale looked like in 1900, photographed from the same spot. It was already larger than what the traveler would have seen in 1823 (the street was enlarged during the Haussmannian period). Our traveler in 1823 would have seen a much more Medieval looking street.









In the middle of Rue Royale, looking back towards the belfry of the old city hall:









Finally, we arrive at Hôtel Dessin, the best hotel in town in the early 19th century, and after being shown our room, we proceed to the dinning hall where dinner is served. The menu is a soup compounded of every herbs, two kinds of fish, a thin beef steak, then fowls, then a breadmeat pie, then a gooseberry pie, then cherries, strawberries, grapes and figs, and a light kind of cake, all accompanied with Burgundy wine. Yes, we're in France.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice presentation brisavoine; i will wait for the next photos


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

I like the idea behind this thread.


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## alitezar (Mar 10, 2006)

Good job, thanks for the nice informative tour


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## henry hill (Feb 12, 2008)

Very good job.kay:

You gave a lot of your time. Congratulations. I copied a few photos.


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