Bennetts Funeral Directors in Essex
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Home » Keeping tradition with the horse drawn hearse

Funerals have been a part of life since Anglo-Saxon times and over those years massive changes have taken place in the way that funerals are carried out. Some traditions, such as the popularity of the horse-drawn hearse were very popular in Victorian England as people were always anxious to view the coffin and no stylish Victorian funeral would have been complete without a pair or team of horses adorned with black plumes pulling the black hearse through the streets; these are still popular today. We think most people would agree that our stunning horse-drawn hearse is one of the most breathtaking sights to behold. We can offer the black hearse pulled by black Friesian horses, or the white hearse pulled by Lipizzaner’s, or you can mix and match.

The must-have vehicle for funerals directors

In the 1800s no funeral directors would have been worth it is salt without a glass-sided hearse. These were particularly popular at the time as people were always anxious to view the coffin and no Victorian funeral would have been complete without a pair of horses adorned with black plumes pulling the black hearse carriage through the streets. However, with the higher cost of these vehicles in 1887 being £100 this was an amount that not many could afford (at the time, a working man’s annual salary was around £20) so a handcart or bier-cart carried by 2-4 men was the most common form of transport for a coffin and cost a far more affordable £5.