ABSTRACT
The carts that succeeded the early British and Roman war chariots, and enabled the villeins and cottars to do the obligatory “cartage ” for the lord of the manor, were heavy, lumbering vehicles, with wheels hewn out of solid pieces of wood, and were used for private transport rather than transport for hire. The long waggon developed into a roomy covered vehicle, capable of accommodating about 20 passengers in addition to merchandise. It was in the long waggon that many a traveller in the seventeenth century made the journey between London and Dover, either going to or returning from the Continent; and, though, because of this Continental traffic, the Dover road was probably kept in as good a condition as any in the country, the long waggon went at so slow a pace that in 1640 the journey to Dover often took either three or four days.
