It is doubtful whether many of Southwold’s inhabitants needed to journey further than Reydon until the 1700s or later, but those who did would have been faced with rough unsurfaced tracks which turned to mud in winter and dust in summer.

Early road maps show that Southwold was isolated for quite a long time. John Ogilby’s strip map of 1675 indicates a turning to ‘Swole’ (Southwold) just beyond ‘Blyborrough’ but at Wangford and you would then have travelled along what is now the B1126. Senex’s strip map of 1768 shows the same. But by 1783 Joseph Hodgkinson’s survey shows a turn off to Southwold where it is now.

The state of the roads was so bad in the 17th century that Turnpike Trusts were set up in an attempt to improve maintenance standards. The costs were met by charging a toll. It was 48 years after the first Act of Parliament which introduced them that Suffolk had its first Turnpike and a further seventy four years, in 1785, before there was one roughly on the line of today’s A12. However, they never came to Southwold.

Stage-coaches
Travel by stage-coach originated during the late 1600’s and inns, known as posthouses, were recognised stopping points where horses were changed and passengers take refreshment. However it was not until February 1822, when the town was beginning to become attractive to visitors, that Southwold had its first stage-coach service, going to Great Yarmouth and Norwich. To read about it, click here.

Royal Mail Coaches, Post Horses and Letter Carriers
Mail Coaches were quicker and more comfortable than the stage-coaches and the public were allowed to travel on them. A service from London to Ipswich started in 1791 and by 1836 had extended to Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. Southwold, unfortunately was never on the mail coach routes but it did start its own letter-carrier service in the 18th Century. To read about it, click here.

Hotel Coaches
From around the early 1900’s all the hotels in Southwold sent their own horse drawn coaches to meet all trains at Southwold station. Click to see a picture of Centre Cliff Hotel's coach.

Motor Omnibuses
Following the demise of horse drawn omnibuses in the late 19th century it was not until early in the 20th century that any other form of public road transport service appeared. East Suffolk was amongst the first railway companies introducing feeder services to rail heads: the Great Eastern Railway (GER) commencing a daily service (summer time only) between Lowestoft and Southwold in 1904.

To read about motor coach services to Southwold click here.

Use the links below to explore the history of Southwold’s other methods of transport.

By Rail
By water