A Rainy Night at a Georgian Coaching Inn | History for Sleep

Hey guys! We're now on Spotify 🎧 Join us here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1iLKLmP... Fall asleep to one wet October night in 1789 at the Haycock, an old coaching inn at the end of the stone bridge at Wansford, about 80 miles up the Great North Road from London. The stagecoach comes in at dusk with its roof passengers soaked through, having paid half the inside fare for the privilege. On the inn bills of the day a fire costs 3d to 6d, a rushlight for the night 2d and a roast chicken 2s 6d, while a post-chaise runs at a shilling a mile and a labourer earns perhaps 7 or 8 shillings a week. Over the door the inn keeps its old sign: a man fast asleep on a haycock, carried down the river in a flood. So who keeps a house full of strangers warm and safe until the 5 o'clock coach? Subscribe to the channel: @oldhistorynights In this video, we talk about one rainy night at a Georgian coaching inn from the soaked arrival to the morning coach, including the legend of the sleeper on the Haycock's sign, riding on the roof for half the fare, the basket at the back of the coach, the ostlers and the stabling of the horses, wet greatcoats steaming by the kitchen fire, the landlord's bar where beds were ordered, tea and toast and hot negus, John Byng's whist and supper at the Haycock in 1789, Carl Philipp Moritz at the kitchen table, the coachman in the tap room, real inn bills set beside a labourer's wage, Lord Monboddo's three sixpences, booking a seat and the turnpike rules, damp sheets and the copper warming pan, the galleried bedrooms, tallow candles and rushlights, strangers sharing a room, Johnson on the happiness of a good inn, first sleep and second sleep, the boots and his midnight work, the post-boy asleep in his spurs, the night mail and its guard's sealed timepiece, the knock before five and the leave-taking at the door. 🔔 Subscribe so the next long, rainy night is waiting for you whenever you need it. 💬 Tell us where you're listening from tonight, and where you would have spent that wet night in 1789: half price on the coach roof, or the warmed bed in the parlour wing. 📢 Share it with someone who loves old inns, Georgian England or a slow story at bedtime, in your group chat, on Facebook or on Reddit. You're the reason the kitchen fire stays lit. Chapters: 00:00 Opening 18:39 Under the arch into the yard 34:22 Wet coats by the kitchen fire 49:44 Tea, toast and a hot negus 1:05:15 Supper in the parlor 1:28:02 What a night here cost 1:44:10 The chambermaid airs the beds 1:59:44 The gallery and the named rooms 2:16:41 Strangers under one roof 2:39:07 The boots at his midnight work 2:54:32 The mail goes by in the dark 3:10:53 Second sleep, and the rain easing 3:26:03 Pray remember the chambermaid Sources: Carl Philipp Moritz, Travels in England in 1782 (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5249 John Byng, The Torrington Diaries, Vol. IV (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.... James Woodforde, The Diary of a Country Parson 1758–1802 (Internet Archive): https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet... Charles G. Harper, The Great North Road: London to York (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46716 Charles G. Harper, Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Vol. 1 (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58667 The Haycock Hotel, Wansford, listed building record (British Listed Buildings): https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/... Daniel Defoe, A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, Letter 7 (Vision of Britain): https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/tr... DISCLAIMER: This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from the sources listed above alongside primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional. #OldHistoryNights #HistoryForSleep #GeorgianEngland