Having read far too many books - frequently American writers setting their stories in the early 19th century in England - in which clearly little or no research has been done into period culture, language usage and even distances

Aie! Let me blanket apologize for that, for all the use that would be.

One of my favorite bodice rippers is my favorite *because* the heroine isn't a modern woman dumped in an earlier age or part of a modern family in funny clothes. She's very much a woman of her times, with the limitations and thought processes of those times.