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    The Touring Caravan
    The Touring Caravan
    The Touring Caravan
    Ebook92 pages43 minutes

    The Touring Caravan

    By Andrew Jenkinson

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    About this ebook

    From the original horse-drawn caravan to the sophisticated and well-appointed luxury leisure vehicle we know today, this book follows the dynamic evolution of the touring caravan over the last century. Using a selection of images from his archive, expert Andrew Jenkinson reveals how technical advances as well as interior design revolutionised the touring caravan in the United Kingdom, and how caravanning became a culture and a lifestyle choice. Covering well-known brands such as Eccles, Sprite, Swift and Bailey, this lively and informative book will appeal to caravan enthusiasts and social historians alike, and rekindle happy memories for anyone who has holidayed in a touring caravan.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateSep 10, 2014
    ISBN9781784420185
    The Touring Caravan
    Author

    Andrew Jenkinson

    Andrew grew up with caravans from his grandparents owning two touring caravans’ in the late 50’s and early 60’s. His own parents bought their first caravan a 1968 Sovereign 343 4 berth. Andrew became instantly fascinated by the design and different manufacturers and became a UK Industry expert, appearing on TV/radio and writing 14 books on caravan, motorhomes and static caravan histories to date. His passion has evolved over 50 years amassing a very substantial archive. He also has his own Youtube channel: The Caravan Industry Expert-Andy Jenkinson.

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      Book preview

      The Touring Caravan - Andrew Jenkinson

      VISIT

      Dr Gordon Stables’ caravan, The Wanderer, its interior fitted out as a bachelor gentleman’s flat. Stables wrote several books in his caravan about his caravanning adventures.

      EARLY BEGINNINGS

      THE IDEA OF having mobile holiday accommodation in the form of a caravan came about in the nineteenth century, amongst members of the upper class who had a romantic vision of roaming the highways and byways of Britain and sampling life as a gypsy family might do (the phrase ‘Gentleman Gypsy’ comes from this era). The difference was that their caravans were looked after by servants, who would usually be accommodated in a nearby tent – the home comforts these rich caravanners enjoyed were far removed from the realities of gypsy life.

      Of course no caravan sites as such were available: a stopover meant finding a patch of land and simply making camp! Often a farmer’s field by a river was chosen and in payment eggs and milk would be purchased. This seemingly idyllic gypsy life inspired one man to write diaries of his travels – laying the foundations of the leisure touring caravan experience we know today. This pioneering caravanner was Dr Gordon Stables.

      Stables designed his caravan and had it built for him by the Bristol Coach & Wagon Company in 1885. He named it ‘The Wanderer’, and it was later donated to the Caravan Club. As an ex-Navy man and writer of stories for boys, he wrote about his exploits in his ‘Land Yacht’ (connecting his travels by road with his seafaring days). His books were read with interest, and by the early 1900s the growing band of rich caravanners formed an exclusive club, which would bring like-minded people together. It was to be simply named the Caravan Club and was formed by J. Harris Stone in 1907, and grew slowly.

      Horse-drawn caravans were popular until the First World War; this is a more primitive design with the kitchen being placed outside. This photo was taken c. 1907, at the time when the Caravan Club was founded by J. Harris Stone.

      This period of time saw the true beginnings of the combustion engine. Motoring was taking off – though it was expensive – and it wasn’t long before some caravan users looked at putting a caravan body on the chassis of an early lorry or even car; this new idea was given the name ‘motorised caravan’, a name that would stick many years later. The future looked decidedly uncertain for the horse-drawn caravan, mainly because by 1914 many horses had been requisitioned for the First World War, to be used on the front lines.

      Car design at this time, however, was improving fast in terms of reliability and affordability. This progress would inspire the likes of Frederick Alcock in 1914 to build a trailer caravan for his 1913 Lanchester car. Streamlined for that period, its design resembled the shape of the Sprite 14 some forty years later. Alcock didn’t put it into production, building it entirely for his own use.

      The car-pulled caravan did not evolve into a fully-fledged touring caravan until after the First World War; it was after 1919 that several makers of caravans would become prominent. Winchester, Car Cruiser, Eccles and Raven were best known, with many obscure makers following in their wake. Names such as Red Rics, Ensor, Piggott, and Cliffe were some of the lesser-known early pioneers of caravan manufacture in the early 1920s.

      Soon after Eccles, other small concerns began building car-pulled trailer caravans in the early 1920s, such as Cliffe, who built mainly to the customer’s specification.

      Caravan production was a hand-built affair and construction and design harked back to

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