How did people in local villages get about in 1873? Roads Apart from the A1, the local road network in the 1870s wasn’t that different to today. Originally, they’d been maintained by each parish, but the 1862 Highways Act had transferred the responsibility for most roads to the County Surveyor. Roads would have been made using (to some degree) Macadam techniques, such as medium-sized stones at the bottom and smaller stones on top. They’d be dusty in dry weather as they wouldn’t have been sealed with tar (tar-macadam, i.e. ‘tarmac’) until the 20th century. People without their own horse would have relied on the railway (see below) or local carriers. The latter were men with horse-drawn wagons who provided a regular service, usually just on market days, from the villages to the towns, and then back later the same day. A better service than many villages enjoy today; and they always dropped off and collected at a pub! In 1873 the carriers to/from Grantham (and their drop off point) included: Barkston – Mr Shelbourn (Saturdays, Fox & Hounds) Brant Broughton– Mr Peck (Saturdays, Fox & Hounds) Caythorpe – Mr Codd (Saturdays, Blue Pig) / Mr Baker (Daily, Angel and Royal) […]