Memories of glorious era when Royal Oak put Welshpool on the map

In the 1820s the Whitehall family took over the running of establishment with John and wife Sarah becoming well known for their hospitality.

Sometime during the early1830s a daily coach service named The Royal Oak was launched by Richard Smith of Chester, one of the city’s leading coaching operators, to run between Chester and Newtown.

The Licensed Victuallers Gazette published a letter in 1878 when an anonymous former stagecoach worker reminisced of his visits to the town and the Royal Oak.

He wrote: “In the days when railways were not; when commercial travellers did the roads in their own traps; when posting was the only method of locomotion for those who had the means, the Royal Oak, at Welshpool, was one of the best known hotels in the Principality.

“Welshpool was a a good town, seated at the bottom not far from the castle.

“The owner of ‘Castell Coch’ is the Earl of Powis. By the people of Welshpool, Powis Castle is looked upon with a large amount of pride, and the noble owner is considered in the light of a fellow-townsman, as such he really is.

“In the course of years there has been no small amount of festivity in connection with the Powis family and upon such occasions the Royal Oak was always the head quarters of the conviviality.

“The people of Welshpool were seldom short of an excuse for getting up public dinners, making sure that at the Royal Oak they were certain of being served in first class style.

“In coaching days the hotel was a busy place, and the spacious stables nearly always full.

“The principal coach that changed horses was the mail between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. During many years the mail was driven by that well-known whip, Tustin, and a better hand never handled the ribbons. The mail started from the post office at Shrewsbury at four o’clock every morning, and the turn-out was all that could be wished.

A stagecoach in the early 19th century. Picture: Royal Oak History.

“Welshpool is some 19 miles from the starting point, the road by no means an easy one to cover.

“On a fine summer morning nothing could be finer or more glorious than the scenery along the route – hill and valley stretching out as far as the eye could see.

“Then the Breidden and Moel-y-Golfa came in view. On the summit of the former a column is erected to commemorate Admiral Rodney’s celebrated victory over the French Fleet in the West Indies on April the 12th, 1782.

“Passengers naturally inquired from Tustin how it was that such a pillar was erected on that spot, but neither Tustin or the guard Berridge were ever able to answer the question satisfactorily.

“The time from Shrewsbury to Welshpool was about two hours, and it was a rarity if Tustin ever varied three minutes in his arrival at the Royal Oak, into the forecourt of which he dexterously piloted his four spanking browns.

“In the summer mornings there was always a number of people up to see the mail arrive, and the cordial and cheery welcome given to those passengers who alighted to partake of breakfast at the hotel, by the genial landlady, Mrs Whitehall, was a thing to be remembered and talked about, and the fame of her cuisine reached very far beyond the county in which she lived.

“She made the Royal Oak famous, and she had her reward. After her decease the hotel was in the hands of Messrs. Smith, of Chester, who were known as coach proprietors throughout a very wide district of country, and in their hands the mail was horsed in splendid style, so much so that the 13 miles between Welshpool and Newtown were often done in little more than an hour.

“But the days of coaching were drawing to a close, even in Wales the iron horse slowly elbowed first one coach and then another off the road, until Tustin and his famous Aberystwyth mail had to succumb. But they made a gallant fight for it, and died what we may call gamely.”