During the reign of Queen Victoria many people relied on horse-drawn coaches for travelling around. Coaches could be caught at the 'Maypole Inn' heading for Ongar, the 'Three Nuns' in Whitechapel, and the 'Bull' at Aldgate. One of the operators running coaches from Chigwell Row, William Powling, lived next to the Maypole. His wife, Sophia, continued the business when he died in 1848, running a daily coach to London and another to newly opened Ilford railway station. William Claydon took control of these coaches in 1858, moving to Vicarage Lane in 1864.

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