E X T E N S I O N INNS AND STAGECOACHES1 A stranger opened the door of the Coach and Horses , an inn in the village of Iping. This is one of the first sentences of this novel, written by H.G. Wells in 1897. At the end of the 19th century, railways were present in many towns. There were only a few inns that gave assistance to a coach and its horses.These inns were mainly2 in small villages, like Iping. Very often the inn continued to have the same traditional name although3 there was no assistance anymore. A modern inn that still keeps the old name. The stagecoach first appeared on English roads in the early 16th century. It was called a stagecoach because it travelled in stages 4 of 10 to 15 miles (about 16 to 24 km). At an inn, horses were changed and travellers had a meal or a drink, or stayed for the night. Early coach travel was slow in 1673, it took eight days to travel by coach from London to Exeter in Devon! In 1750, it took about four and a half days to travel from Manchester to London and two days to travel from Cambridge to London. In 1820, the journey from Cambridge to London lasted5 less than seven hours. 1. stagecoach: (in the past) a covered vehicle pulled by horses that carried passengers, goods and often mail, along a regular route. 2. mainly: principally, generally. 3. although: despite the fact that. 4. in stages: in a series of separate steps rather than all at one time. 5. lasted: went on for (a certain period of time). 16