Packhorse

History

Packhorses have been used since the earliest period of domestication of the horse. They were invaluable throughout antiquity, through the Middle Ages, and into modern times where roads are nonexistent or poorly maintained.

Historic use in England

Packhorses were heavily used to transport goods and minerals in England from medieval times until the construction of the first turnpike roads and canals in the 18th century. Many routes crossed the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire, enabling salt, limestone, coal, fleeces and cloth to be transported.

Some routes had self-describing names, such as Limersgate and the Long Causeway; others were named after landmarks, such as the Reddyshore Scoutgate ("gate" is Old Norse for a road or way) and the Rapes Highway (after Rapes Hill). The medieval paths were marked by wayside crosses along their routes. Mount Cross, above the hamlet of Shore in the Cliviger Gorge, shows signs of Viking influence. As the Vikings moved eastwards from the Irish Sea in about 950 AD, it is likely that the pack horse routes were established from that time.

Most packhorses were Galloways, small, stocky horses named after the Scottish district where they were first bred. Those employed in the lime-carriage trade were known as "limegals". Each pony could carry about 240 lb in weight, spread between two panniers. Typically a train of ponies would number between 12 and 20, but sometimes up to 40. They averaged about 25 mi a day. The train's leader commonly wore a bell to warn of its approach, since contemporary accounts emphasised the risk packhorse trains presented to others. They were particularly useful as roads were muddy and often impassable by wagon or cart, and there were no bridges over some major rivers in the north of England.

About 1000 packhorses a day passed through Clitheroe before 1750, and "commonly 200 to 300 laden horses every day over the River Calder (at a ford) called Fennysford in the King's Highway between Clitheroe and Whalley". The importance of packhorse routes was reflected in jingles and rhymes, often aide-memoires of the routes.

As the need for cross-Pennine transport increased, the main routes were improved, often by laying stone setts parallel to the horse track, at a distance of a cartwheel. They remained difficult in poor weather — the Reddyshore Scoutgate was "notoriously difficult" — and became insufficient for a developing commercial and industrial economy. In the 18th century the first canals were built in England and, following the Turnpike Act 1773, metalled roads. They made the ancient packhorse routes obsolete. Away from main routes their use persisted into the 19th century, leaving a legacy of paths across wilderness areas called packhorse routes, roads or trails and distinctive narrow, low-sided stone-arched packhorse bridges, for example at Marsden near Huddersfield. The Packhorse is a common public house name throughout England. During the 19th century, horses that transported officers' baggage during military campaigns were referred to as "bathorses", from the French bat, meaning packsaddle.

Historic use in North America

Training and use

Foundation training of the packhorse is similar to that of a riding horse. Many but not all packhorses are also trained to be ridden. In addition, a packhorse is required to have additional skills that may not be required of a riding horse. A pack horse is required to be tolerant of close proximity to other animals in the packstring, both to the front and to the rear. The horse must also be tolerant of breeching, long ropes, noisy loads, and the shifting of the load during transit. Patience and tolerance are crucial; for example there are many ways to put pack horses into a pack string, but one method incorporates tying the halter lead of one animal to the tail of the animal in front of it, an act that often provokes kicking or bolting in untrained animals.

Loading of a packhorse requires care. Weight to be carried is the first factor to consider. The average horse can carry up to approximately 30% of its body weight. Thus a 1000 lb horse cannot carry more than 300 lb. A load carried by a packhorse also has to be balanced, with weight even on both sides to the greatest degree possible.

References

• Back, Joe. Horses, Hitches and Rocky Trails.

References

1. J.J.Bagley''A History of Lancashire''(Phillimore & Co, London & Chichester) 1976, chapter 20 Andrew Bibby ''South Pennines and the Bronte Moors'' (Frances, Lincoln) 2005, p88. See also Gladys Sellers ''Walking in the South Pennines'' (Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe) 1991, p25
2. Herbert C Collins,''The Roof of Lancashire'' (Dent & Sons, London) 1950, p99
3. Herbert C. Collins, above, chapters 6 and 9. Keith Parry ''Trans-Pennine Heritage: Hills, People and Transport'' (David & Charles, Newton Abbot, London & North Pomfret, Vermont) 1981, chapter 3
4. Herbert C Collins, above, p99
5. Gladys Sellers, above, p26. Andrew Bibby, above, p88
6. Sue Hogg ''Marsden & Delph to Howarth & Oxenhope-Bridleway Rides in the South Pennines'' (Pennine Packhorse Trails Trust, Todmorden) 1998
7. Report of Quarter Sessions, 1632, cited by Herbert Collins, above, p163
8. Both Collins, at p.81, and Parry at p.31, above, quote in full the Long Causeway jingle, which starts ''Brunley (Burnley) for ready money''
9. See Parry, above, chapters 5-8
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