Regency Reader Question
How many miles apart was considered to be close proximity by most people? Would eight miles apart have been considered close enough for regular visits between a married daughter and her family?
| Source of Question | Research |
| Additional comments | Trying to place the distance between families for my novel. Am re-reading Emma at the same time, and I notice that while Mr. Knightly thinks it’s an easy distance to ride 16 miles to London, Mr. Woodhouse complains about going any further than about a mile from home, and pretty much all their acquaintances that they see regularly live about that distance except for Isabella’s family in London. |
Thanks for the question, Amanda!
The average person (considering height, weight, fitness) walks over the average terrain at about 3 miles per hour (at least according to various sources).
A horse walks around 4 miles per hour (on average), and can gallop on average 25 to 30 miles per hour. So if Knightly was doing a combo of walking/galloping to London he could easily do so in about two hours at a distance of 16 miles.
A coach, on good roads, likely averaged 7-8 miles per hour and needed to be changed approximately every 15 miles (https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/tag/regency-travel/). Mr. Woodhouse was a shut in and invalid, at least we are meant to believe. His fatigue at travelling a mile (a ten or fifteen minute excursion) I believe is meant for comic effect or emphasis.
If the family in question had their own horses and coach, an eight mile distance would have been close enough for regular visits. Take in to consideration the effort to prepare for the voyage, the state of the roads, and the formalities of a visit, in your portrayal.
Before coaching and improvements to country roads, a few miles would likely have been the limits of most people’s journeys. People with means (and good, well sprung carriages) could make longer journeys. The typical Regency era person would have been well accustomed to walking, much more so than the average auto dependent contemporary, so that several miles to walk would have been ordinary and acceptable.
I found another couple of very good blog posts that look at distance, speed and comforts in the Regency that are worth your perusal and go in to more depth:
http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.com/2016/06/speed-of-travel-in-jane-austens-england.html
