ABSTRACT
This chapter considers road transport with close reference where possible to nineteenth century social and economic changes within Cumbria. Local newspapers provide the main source of information on price levels during this period; most editions providing a weekly summary of market prices in the various towns, with additional comments upon price fluctuations where appropriate. The next three years marked a turning point in the history of the Furness iron-field; it was ceasing to be an exporter of raw haematite and was beginning to smelt its own ores upon a large scale. On the whole the main role of rail transport within Cumbria was as an accelerator of social and economic changes. Roads were inevitably overshadowed by railways during the second half of the nineteenth century, but they still formed an essential link in the region’s transport network. Cumbria had altered greatly during the nineteenth century.
