top of page

Guards & Coach-horns

   Guards were carried on all the major coaches - to protect the Mail, to keep the coach to time & to check all passengers had paid!

   The Tootler recounts tales of guards releasing horses from snow-bound coaches to carry the Mail forward, of coaches caught in floods and the dangers of coach travel

   All  guards would carry a horn to warn of the approach of the coach and to give a range of signals to other road users. The more musical would entertain passengers with simple tunes - in the hope of a tip. 

 

   

 

 

 

  The Tootler blows various horn calls describing when they would be used, and entertains with tunes from the days of coaching

"A splendid talk, painting a vivid picture of travel in the past"

                  Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum

bottom of page