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A monochrome drawing of a man with wavy hair, sideburns, and a high-collared coat with a dark necktie, viewed from the chest up.

Walter Hancock, Empty Common

Empty Common

History of Empty Common

An 1831 satirical drawing showing various steam-powered carriages and bicycles emitting thick smoke on a bustling street.

1831 cartoon on steam coaches

In 1839, according to The Cambridge Nobody Knows (1977), Han[d]cock’s Steam Coach, built to run between Cambridge and London in four and a half hours, arrived for the first time on 30th September. It was described as a lumbering carriage with a dozen seats. One after it left the road and came to rest in Empty Common. The following day it left for the races at Newmarket and was never heard of again.

Walter Hancock

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