The Nimrod Stage Coach

The “Nimrod” at Wherwell: October 2009

It is many a year since the walls of Wherwell echoed to the jingle of harness, the rumble of iron-shod wheels and the cheery tootle of the coach-horn.  But they did on Wednesday 26th August when the “Nimrod” coach and a team of four great black horses rolled to a halt in the yard of The White Lion.  

This was not part of a film or TV advertisement but a group of friends who share an enthusiasm for and an interest in four-in-hand coaching and who each year take a two-day journey to celebrate the pleasures of coaching and keep alive old traditions. This year the journey started at Kings Somborne, via Horsebridge and Houghton to Stockbridge on the first day: then from Stockbridge through Longstock, Testcombe and Chilbolton to Wherwell and back to Stockbridge via Longstock, stopping at all available hostelries and the River Test Smokery to collect lunch. 

The coach, owned by John Brown of Leigh in Kent, was built in 2005 to the pattern of an original 19th Century Road Coach.  Before railways, these were the equivalent of today’s trains and buses – infinitely more glamorous and probably less comfortable ! John drives the coach with his team of Gelderlander horses at County Shows. In previous years he has won the coaching class at Royal Windsor and The Royal County of Berkshire Show.  For those who saw us, I hope we raised a smile and gave a glimpse of how things might have been. 

Colin Pawson   (Guard to the “Nimrod”)