Liphook - History - The Coaching Age

The Coaching Age

Liphook grew further as a coach stop on the London - Portsmouth route. In Tudor times mail was sent from London to Portsmouth via Southampton and the route through Liphook only used in emergencies, such as the Armada of 1588. The map of 1675 by John Ogilby shows this road bypassing Bramshott and going through Lippock, however the quality of this road was very poor.

Originally travellers' needs were catered for by stalls, eventually replaced by the half-timbered houses that exist around The Square. Growth accelerated with wagons being replaced by coaches, and coaching in Liphook was firmly established by 1660. The roads were often unmaintained and unsigned - Samuel Pepys records three journeys by this road in May 1661, April 1662 and August 1668, on the latter staying in Lippock:

So to coach again, and got to Lippock, late over Hindhead, having an old man, a guide, in the coach with us; but got thither with great fear of being out of our way, it being ten at night. Here good, honest people; and after supper, to bed.

— Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 6th August 1668

A coach service from London to Portsmouth started in 1688, which coincided with growth of the Royal Anchor coaching inn, and other 17th century buildings in The Square. The Royal Anchor itself has a fireback dated 1588 which supports the supposition that there was an earlier building on the site.

The Royal Navy considered the road from Petersfield to Portsmouth impassable in winter for heavy goods in the 17th century, but improvements were made in the 18th century to roads and coaches with the coming of the turnpike. Turnpiking between Petersfield and Portsmouth began in 1710 and between Kingston and Petersfield via Liphook in 1749. The Old Toll House by Radford Bridge in Liphook dates from the 18th century. But highwaymen were still a problem as 18th century notices in the Royal Anchor show. By 1784 London-Portsmouth coaches carried mail through Liphook. Turnpiking reduced the journey from London-Portsmouth from two days in the 1660s to 10 hours in 1819. Cary's New Itinerary of 1819 records seven coaches on weekdays left London for Portsmouth via Liphook and three during the night.

Local tradition has it that Nelson spent his last night in England in Liphook before sailing for the Battle of Trafalgar. George III and Queen Charlotte on their stay gave permission for the Blue Anchor to be renamed the Royal Anchor.(Wilson & Finney 2005)