‘Mr Parker and I have been often in the Phaeton’
Keeping horses was a costly but necessary expense for any country house estate. From riding around the estate for pleasure to visiting the neighbours, and journeying to and from London residences, there was no other way to travel until the arrival of motor cars in the early twentieth century.
The horses kept in Saltram’s stables would have been primarily coach, riding and hunting horses, although there were certainly times when thoroughbred racers were put to stud here or stabled here ahead of local races. Sometimes horses belonging to guests of the house would be stabled here too. In total there is space for between 20 and 30 horses, making this a very busy place when at full capacity.
To keep that number of horses healthy and ready for action required several grooms, and one or two coachmen. Stable boys worked in shifts throughout the day and night and there would always be someone available to take care of these valuable animals. When the family travelled away from Saltram, stable staff would travel with them to care for the horses.
Between 1771 and 1778 John Parker II’s account books tells us that he spent almost £700 on coach horses and carriages, almost £93,000 today! The family travelled in style, their letters mention several vehicles in use here including a phaeton, a cabriolet and a post chaise.
In her letters, Anne (Nanny) Robinson (Theresa’s sister) describes carriage rides around the estate with John when Plymouth’s bad weather prevented her from walking:
“Mr Parker and I have been often in the Phaeton, when it was too dirty for me to walk, Therese is much too prudent to venture in it, she does not even go down to the Stables, we take a sober quiet airing in the Post Chaise step by step, all the way, to the new lodge which is building at the entrance of the new road, it will look very pretty from Saltram wood…” [British Library, Add Mss 48218, f.22: Nanny to Fritz, Saltram 8 Dec 1771]
Trips like this would have resulted in a muddy carriage, and Saltram’s stable staff would be responsible for cleaning the vehicles once they were returned. Tempting as it might be to think of the Cart Pond (to the left of the carriage house) as the place to do this, vehicles of this quality were very unlikely to have been wheeled into the water. It would have damaged the paintwork and sensitive suspension system. The cart pond was a place to wash simple carts, and to water the tougher horses who pulled them. Racehorses, hunters and coach horses were too prone to injury and disease to be stood in cold water. Their water would be drawn up and carried to them instead.
Emma Philip