Pre-industrial urban sprawl made ordinary trips punishingly long on foot

Evidence

Still, we moderns can wonder at the stamina of these urbanites. Consider Bill Sikes, for example. His city-nineteenth century London-has already begun its industrially induced outward march, the compact area of its earlier years left far behind. Yet there he is, setting out before dawn, young Oliver Twist dragging behind him, trudging along hour after hour, his toil broken only by occasional short rides on passing wagons, arriving long after nightfall at his destination. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 216