Quote Originally Posted by az_gila View Post
...but I would think that the old Roman road system was the smoothest and easiest to pass.

The mill towns had not yet grown, so looking at a map, I would guess south to York and then west to Manchester on the path of the Roman roads. Unless they had lots of cash, they probably walked...

The Roman Road system is here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ro..._Britannia.svg

Trains started 1830...

He could have travelled the Manchester to Liverpool portion by canal, the predecessor to the Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1750

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey_...ell_Navigation



gil A - fascinated by these sort of old family questions that are just not covered well in history books - the "how people did stuff"...
Cool stuff indeed.

Would young men have traveled much by horse back then? Would they have stabled the horse during a river part of a journey or taken the horse on board?

I have heard that Middleham was reputed for its horsebreeding, and there is some evidence that my ancester, a Mr. Gildart, might have been associated with the craft. There's some discussion in a compilation of our family history that the name Gildart was derived from the term geld herder.

Anyway, we believe he traveled from Middleham to Liverpool in 1700 and at the time, was not a man of means. I find it remarkable that he might have actually walked a major portion of the way.

I imagine a man had to be well-armed along those roads as well, and perhaps would never travel alone.