A gig, also called chair or chaise

Chaise

A chaise, sometimes called chay or shay, is a light two - or four-wheeled traveling or pleasure carriage, with a folding hood or calash top for one or two people....

, is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart

Sprung cart

A sprung cart was a light, one-horse , two-wheeled vehicle with road springs, for the carriage of passengers on informal occasions. Its name varied according to the body mounted on it....

 pulled by one horse.

Description

Gigs travelling at night would normally carry two oil lamps with thick glass, known as gig-lamps. Gig carts are constructed with the driver's seat sitting higher than the level of the shafts. Traditionally, a gig is more formal than a village cart or a meadowbrook cart. A light gig can be used for carriage racing. OED gives the date of first known reference to a horse-drawn gig as 1791.
There are several types of gig, including:

• calesín: small, one-horse, hooded, a seat behind for the driver, used in the Philippines; diminutive of Spanish calesa
• stanhope
  Stanhope (carriage)
  The stanhope was a gig, buggy or light phaeton, typically having a high seat and closed back. It was named after Captain Hon. Henry FitzRoy Stanhope The stanhope was a gig, buggy or light phaeton, typically having a high seat and closed back. It was named after Captain Hon. Henry FitzRoy Stanhope...
  
  : typically having a high seat and closed back; named after Fitzroy Stanhope, a British clergyman who died in 1864.
• stick gig: lightweight, two-wheeled, for one person
• Tilbury (carriage)
  Tilbury (carriage)
  A tilbury is a light, open, two-wheeled carriage, with or without a top, developed in the early 19th century by the London firm of Tilbury, coachbuilders in Mount Street...
  
  , lightweight, two-wheeled,
• whiskey or whisky: small body that resembles a chair, suspended on leather braces attached to springs

External links

• Landscape Property|Regency|Georgian|history|lifestyle|house | Gigs, Cabriolets and Curricles. Jane Austen Centre Bath UK England.