Found within the holdings of the Historic England Archive is a group of negatives taken by an unknown photographer whose work chronicles a little bit of cycling history.
They were collected by William Field (1854 to 1932), a professional photographer based in Putney, London.
Conservators discovered them during a project to clean and stabilise more than 500 photographic glass plates.
At first glance, the photographs reveal little of their significance. They have charm, featuring cyclists in various locations and on all manner of contraptions.
Many also include pubs, which proved to be the key to unravelling their story. They take the viewer on a journey from the outskirts of London, heading south and west, following the route of the old Portsmouth Road.
Today the A3 road is a busy arterial, 6-lane highway. A motorway in all but name. When these photographs were taken in the late 19th century, it was quite different. It was a quiet byway, whose main traffic was weekend cyclists keen to escape the crowds and grime of London.
But before cyclists, it had conveyed a different type of traveller.
The sailors’ highway
For many decades, the Portsmouth Road had been the quickest, most direct route between London and England’s greatest naval port. This stretch of road became known as the ‘Sailors’ Highway’, delivering seafarers of all ranks to and from their vessels at Portsmouth.
Numerous stagecoaches thundered along this crucial route every day. Inns along the way flourished.
By the mid-19th century, new railways were being constructed across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. The first services reached Portsmouth in the 1840s and, from 1857, the Admiralty Line transported sailors directly into the naval dockyard.
Trains were faster and more comfortable than stagecoaches and Portsmouth’s seafarers soon deserted road for rail. The Sailors’ Highway became almost forgotten, relying on local traffic to sustain businesses. Once prosperous pubs and inns struggled to survive.
Happily, before long, a new breed of traveller discovered the Portsmouth Road. In contrast to the seafarers, these new travellers journeyed for leisure and they relied on pedal power.
Pedal power to the rescue
From the 1860s, cycling became enormously fashionable. Its popularity peaked in the late 19th century, and at weekends vast numbers of Londoners would take to cycles of all descriptions and head out into the countryside.
A photograph saved
The original photographic glass plate for the image above arrived in our Archive conservation laboratory in poor condition, with the image layer peeling away from the glass. The image may have eventually been lost if left untreated, but our Archive Conservation Team stabilised the glass plate. Despite the traces of damage, the photograph provides important historical details. You can see how the bicycles each have slightly different wheel sizes.
The Portsmouth Road was by far the most popular route for the capital’s cycling enthusiasts. It attracted thousands of cyclists every weekend. And, at a little over 20 miles from London, Ripley in Surrey proved to be the perfect destination for many of the capital’s energetic pedallers.
The prolific travel writer and artist, Charles Harper described the road to Ripley as the “most frequented by cyclists of any road in England”.
He was clearly disapproving of some elements of the cycling fraternity, complaining that: “The Ripley Road…is the stalking-ground of self-advertising long-distance riders, of cliquey and boisterous club-men, and of the immodest women who wear breeches awheel.”
The Historic England Archive holds Harper’s collection of drawings and paintings.
The ‘Ripley Road ride’, as it was known, became world famous. So popular was riding to Ripley that it featured in the press, in novels and even spawned a board game.
‘Wheeling, A New and Exciting Game for Cyclists’ featured a bike race in which players left London with the aim of arriving first at The Anchor pub in Ripley, the cyclist’s hostelry of choice.
It’s no coincidence then that 3 pubs in the village of Ripley (The Jovial Sailor, The Ship Inn and The Anchor) all boast maritime names. This shrewd piece of marketing harks back to a time when passing seafarers, rather than cyclists, provided an income to local publicans.
Whenever I take my rides abroad
E S Ward of the Zephyr Bicycle Club, Maida Vale, The Anchor visitor book, 3 July 1881.
For this I’ll allus hanker,
That I’ll be guided by the Lord
to Ripley’s famous Anchor.
The Anchor at Ripley
Like the sailors before them, cyclists required refreshments along their journey. Those riding out to Ripley had a plethora of watering holes at which to quench their thirst and hunger, but one stood out from rest. The Anchor was by far the most popular.
Its reputation was legendary. Contemporary records suggest that much of the Anchor’s appeal lay with the publican Mrs Dibble and especially her 2 daughters, Annie and Harriet.
Mrs Dibble, Annie, Harriet and their brother, Alf, realised that the hordes of cyclists who arrived every weekend offered their business a much-needed lifeline. In response, the Dibbles went out of their way to cater for their new patrons.
The sisters died within a year of each other, Annie in 1895 aged 41 and Harriet in 1896 aged 47. A memorial window to the siblings, referred to as the ‘Cyclists’ Window’, was installed in St Mary Magdalene Church in Ripley. A plaque beneath the window states that it was ‘erected by their cycling friends’.
Champion racer John Keen
The recreational cyclists who thronged the road to Ripley in the late 19th century weren’t the first riders to discover it. The first were racers, most notably champion racer John Keen (1849 to 1905), who was described in an article in Wheeling World in 1885 as ‘in the first rank of cycling celebrities.’
Keen, also known as ‘Happy Jack’, was a professional cyclist who in 1878 was reputed to be the fastest rider in the world.
In the 1870s he set up a business manufacturing and repairing cycles. His workshop was adjacent to the Angel Inn at Thames Ditton in Surrey.
In the photograph above, taken outside his workshop, Keen can be seen second from the right.
Serious racing cyclists soon moved over to purpose built cycling tracks, leaving the ‘Ripley Road’ to the enthusiastic recreational cyclists. These ‘amateurs’ flocked to Keen’s workshop and the Angel Inn before heading out towards Ripley.
From 2 wheels to 4
With the dawn of the new century, the motor car began to usurp the bicycle on England’s roads. Increasing numbers of travellers moved from 2 wheels to 4. New roads were designed to accommodate motor vehicles, whilst existing ones were adapted for the same purpose.
The photographs below both show the Hut Hotel at Bolder Mere, a local beauty spot just outside Ripley.
In the first image, taken in late 1800s, the Portsmouth Road is still the haunt of cyclists with various tyre tracks visible on the unsurfaced road.
The white building in the background is The Hut public house. It was here in 1873 that John Keen, champion racer, is recorded as having met with a group of fellow cycling enthusiasts. It’s likely that the condition of the roads was one of the topics discussed during their meeting.
The photograph above, taken from the Historic England Archive’s Historic Inns and Vernacular Buildings Collection, shows the same location in the 1920s.
A police officer looks towards Bolder Mere, whilst behind him are numerous cars parked on the newly asphalt-surfaced road outside the Hut Hotel.
Ironically, it was the ever-growing popularity of motor vehicles that sounded the death nell of the Hut Hotel. In the 1970s it was demolished to allow for the widening of the A3 Portsmouth Road.
Just as it had with cyclists, Ripley also attracted large numbers of weekend motorists. So popular was it that in 1909, Eric Parker in ‘Highways and Byways in Surrey’ described it:
“The Ripley road, for the 2 days in the week when it is most used, is a place to avoid. Yet it can be beautiful… Ripley itself, but for the traffic, would be the prettiest village on the road… The motor-car has brought prosperity, even if it is a prosperity that can soil.”
Today the Portsmouth Road bypasses the village of Ripley. The Anchor continues to serve refreshments to hungry and thirsty travellers and is now a Grade II listed building.
Despite the passage of time, it would still be readily recognisable to the Victorian cyclists who once thronged there to quench their thirst after a long day in the saddle.
The history of the bicycle
Discover the different types of early bicycles and how they developed over the 19th century.
The penny-farthing
Originally known as the ‘ordinary’ or ‘high-wheeler’, the early bicycle many of us know as the ‘penny-farthing’ was first manufactured in the 1870s. Its iconic design featured one gigantic wheel at the front and a tiny wheel behind.
Chain-driven bicycles were not invented until 1885. As the penny-farthing’s pedals were mounted straight onto the bike’s axel, one revolution of the pedals equalled one rotation of the wheel.
Larger wheels meant that riders could go faster and travel further. Bicycle manufacturers responded with increasingly large wheels, with sizes typically ranging from 36 to 60 inches.
The small size of the back wheel helped to reduce the overall weight of the bicycle, and many early models weighed around 50 pounds.
The tricycle
Although popular, the penny-farthing required a level of athleticism to mount and dismount it. Manufacturers tried various designs of cycles, and the practical advantages of the tricycle made it popular with a wide range of cyclists.
In 1882 ‘The Tricyclist’ magazine was published for the first time. On 7 July 1883, the London Tricycle Club held a 24-hour race with 67 competitors, won by T R Marriot, who covered 218 and three-quarter miles.
Tricycle designs were continuously developed. By 1884, there were 120 different models available. Designs ranged from a large driving wheel on one side and two small steering wheels on the other, to two rear wheels and one front wheel.
Again, manufacturers experimented with wheel sizes, often with two large rear wheels and a smaller wheel in front.
The sociable tricycle, or ‘sociable’
Cycling brought with it a new sense of freedom. Riders could travel increasing distances under their own pedal power rather than relying on horsepower. Tricycles made it more practical for women to cycle, even while wearing full skirts.
The ‘sociable tricycle’ of 1877 even allowed 2 riders to sit side by side, giving women the chance to ride with their husbands. However, these machines took up a lot of space, and later models adopted a tandem arrangement with one rider in front of another.
The tricycle’s popularity declined from the 1890s with the rising popularity of the safety bicycle, which paved the way for our modern-day bicycles.
Written by Mandy Garratt and the Historic England Archive team
The Historic England Archive
We hold an outstanding range of photographs, plans and drawings in our public archive, covering the historic environment of England. Browse thousands of historic and modern photos.
Further reading
- 6 Listed Bicycle Sheds
- 12 Things to Know About the ‘Austerity Games’: The 1948 London Olympics
- 100 Years of Wembley Stadium
- The “Mecca of all good cyclists”: Ripley Road
This is lovely! Great work on the conservation too
Wonderful images and very impressive conservation work. Mandy, please can you contact me about these. Thank you.
I was really surprised to see that the track and field events were measured in meters in 1948. At school in the 60’s our races were 100, 400 & 800 yards & the mile.