A jaunting car is a light two-wheeled
carriage
A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...
for a single horse, with a seat in front for the driver. In its most common form with seats for two or four persons placed back to back, with the foot-boards projecting over the wheels and the typical conveyance for persons in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
at one time (outside jaunting car). Also with passenger seats facing each other (inside jaunting car)
The first part of the term is generally taken to be identical with the verb to jaunt, now only used in the sense of to go on a short pleasure excursion, but in its earliest uses meaning to make a horse
caracole
The caracole or caracol (from the Spanish ''caracol'' - "snail") is a turning maneuver on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics.
In dressage, riders execute a caracole as a single half turn, either to the left or to the r ...
or prance, hence to jolt or bump up and down. It would apparently be a variant of "jaunce", of the same meaning, which is supposed to be taken from old
French '.
Ireland
In rural Ireland it was adapted for public transport by the Anglo-Irish entrepreneur
Charles Bianconi
Charles Bianconi (24 September 1786 – 22 September 1875) was an Italo-Irish entrepreneur. Sometimes described as the "man who put Ireland on wheels", he developed a network of horse-drawn coaches that became Ireland's "first regular public trans ...
in 1815. It was also a popular mode of transport in 19th-century
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, popularised by
Valentine Vousden in a song by that name. Jaunting cars remain in use for tourists in some parts of the country, notably
Killarney
Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castl ...
in
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
where tours of the
lakes
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
and
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
are popular.
The colloquial name for the Irish driver of a jaunting car was "jarvey", used in the song "The Jarvey Was a Leprechaun" by
Val Doonican
Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the ...
.
Percy French
William Percy French (1 May 1854 – 24 January 1920) was an Irish songwriter, author, poet, entertainer and painter.
Life
French was born at Clooneyquinn House, near Tulsk, County Roscommon, the son of an Anglo-Irish landlord, Christopher F ...
edited a weekly comic magazine called ''The Jarvey'' from January 1889-January 1891 based on the adventures of a driver of The Irish Jaunting Car and published by
Richard J. Mecredy
Richard James Patrick Mecredy (1861–1924) was an Irish bicycle racer, journalist and writer. He is credited as being the inventor of Cycle polo, the rules of which he drew up in 1891.
Life
Mecredy was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, the ...
who was also publisher and editor of highly successful Irish Cyclist. ''The Jarvey'' was a highly literary and lavishly illustrated weekly comic paper, considered to have been the best comic paper of the 19th and 20th century in Ireland. French also wrote his own version of the song 'The Irish Jaunting Car' for his comic opera 'The Knight of the Road.' (1891)
Elsewhere
When
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
toured
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in 1803 with his sister Dorothy and friend
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
, Coleridge procured an Irish jaunting car for the journey from a friend in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England. Managing the horse and car proved difficult for Wordsworth, who had appointed himself as the driver.
Types
There were two main varieties of jaunting car: the "outside jaunting car", or "outside car", the more common type described above, in which the passengers faced outward over the wheels, and
the "inside jaunting car", or "inside car", considered to be more "genteel", in which the passengers sat with their backs to the sides of the car and faced each other.
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
described the "inside jaunting-car" as "perhaps the most uncomfortable kind of vehicle yet invented."
A third variety, the "covered car", was an inside car with oiled canvas arranged on all sides to protect the passengers from the weather, at the expense of visibility.
Taxation
In the early 1800s, the British government levied a tax on every "jaunting car or pleasure car" (1813 Act of Parliament, 53 Geo III c.59).
["Ireland - Jaunting Cars" by ]Clive Akerman
Geoffrey Clive Akerman (28 September 1939 – 24 September 2013) was an English philatelist. In 2001, Akerman and Gavin H. Fryer won the Crawford Medal from The Royal Philatelic Society London for their work "The Reform of the Post Office in the ...
in '' The Revenue Journal'', Vol. XXII, No. 4, Whole No. 88, March 2012, p. 175.
In film
This form of vehicle also featured in the 1952 movie ''
The Quiet Man
''The Quiet Man'' is a 1952 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Ford. It stars John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen. The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 '' Saturday ...
'', particularly to comedic effect during the first formal courting scene involving the characters played by
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
,
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara (; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was a native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, who became successful in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural ...
, and
Barry Fitzgerald.
In Disney's 1967 film ''
The Gnome-Mobile
''The Gnome-Mobile'' is a 1967 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. Based on the 1936 book ''The Gnomobile'' by Upton Sinclair, it was one of the last films personally supervised by ...
'', DJ Mulroony (
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
) tells his grandchildren (
Matthew Garber
Matthew Adam Garber (25 March 1956 – 13 June 1977) was a British child actor who most notably played Michael Banks in the 1964 film ''Mary Poppins''. He appeared in only two other films, '' The Three Lives of Thomasina'' and ''The Gnome-Mobil ...
and
Karen Dotrice) about the jaunting car he owned in his youth, and sings a song about it.
Notes
References
*
External links
{{commons category, Irish Jaunting Cars
Carts