The
Great North Road was the main highway between London and Scotland. It became a coaching route used by
mail coaches travelling between London,
York and Edinburgh. The modern
A1 mainly parallels the route of the Great North Road. Coaching inns, many of which survive, were staging posts providing accommodation, stabling for horses and replacement mounts. Nowadays virtually no surviving
coaching inns can be seen while driving on the A1, because the modern route bypasses the towns in which the inns are found.