The Journal of J Foxley Norris

It's the end of the season, and I'm doing as much reading as riding.  However, a recent ride in Kent directed my reading to cycling in the early part of the 20th Century -  a long standing interest of mine.

The Bicycle Arms closed in 2003, but a number of other hotels and inns in Kent and Sussex with cycling associations from the very early 1900s still survive.  I would guess that cycling was as popular then as it is now, and I am gradually finding out about it.  That's a story for another day, but what I have discovered along the way is the Journal of J Foxley Norris.  Norris was a cyclist from the late 1890s to 1910, he lived in London and rode where we ride, in some cases taking lunch at the same pubs.

The Journal is available in digital format from the University of Warwick:  https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/CTC/13/1/3 , and it's a delightful read.  Here are a couple of snippets.

Norris rode to Winchester, did a tour near Salisbury and obviously had many enjoyable days out in places that we recognise.  And, as many of us understand, there is an end to the road.  For Norris, it was in 1910:

He gave his faithful tricycle to charity, a decision which I applaud.

Mark

Author: Mark G

4 Comments:

Jeff 19 December 2018 at 17:34 GMT

Mark,

Many thanks for uncovering this irresistible gem.
I knew that Warwick was the repository for CTC's cycling archives, but have never visited because I imagined that I would find only agendas and minutes of meetings, not such a glorious treasure trove of cycle touring history. How wrong I was. Wonderful.

Jeff

Dave Vine 19 December 2018 at 22:02 GMT

Indeed a treasure, and I will read it thoroughly. Times do change though. Mr Foxley Norris would have a shock today riding through Mitcham to Beddington Corner and crossing the Wandle on Hackbridge Road. These are some very hostile roads, and people today take to the Wandle Trail to avoid them.

However some things don't change; in his account of a ride from London to Walton on the Hill he says "The road surface is splendid all the way except through Merton, where it is rather lumpy." I couldn't put it better myself.

Ged Lawrenson 20 December 2018 at 09:00 GMT

What a fascinating read - and an interesting way to spend time off the bike.
(I was in an antiquarian bookshop in Liverpool recently, browsing shelves of old maps, travelogues and the like, and commented to the owner that there seemed no material on cycling. His comment: "they fly off the shelves like hot cakes").
Perhaps there are others with this pastime?

Mark G 20 December 2018 at 14:52 GMT

I think I’m not alone, Ged, and your bookseller was quite right, you need to be quick if you see an interesting title. There seems to be little correlation with price, though - some of my best books cost very little.