Meriden, cycling centre of Britain

Returning home from Birmingham at the beginning of the month we drove through Meriden, between Birmingham and Coventry.


Here there is a monument to cyclists who gave their lives in the two World Wars. Cyclists who gave their lives? A quick search reveals 2Wheel Chick's blog and her post about it.


This is what she writes:

At a time when we remember those killed at war I have been thinking about cyclists who perished. Browsing through a French history cycling site special mention is made to those cyclists lost during the first world war. It seems that cyclists paid very heavily with their lives during that time.

Among the French cyclists mentioned were former Tour de France winners, Octave Lapize (plane shot down, 1917), Francois Faber (shot, 1915) and Lucien Petit-Breton (killed in a motor car accident, 1917). The latter's brother, Anselme Mazan was also killed during the war, in 1915.

Other high profile cyclists of the day who were lost were the 1913 winner of the Giro d'Italia, Carlo Oriani (died from pneumonia), the 1896 Olympic track champion Leon Flameng (killed in a plane crash, 1917) and the English track star Tom Gascoyne.

As well as the elite cyclists there were hundreds of amateur cyclists killed during the Great War.

At Meriden in the West Midlands stands the National Cyclists Memorial, a monument which specifically commemorates cyclists lost during the First and Second world wars.

Well, people from all walks of life were killed in the wars, and I acknowledge the debt we owe to them, but I didn't know there was a memorial specifically for cyclists. Are there memorials for kite flyers, pigeon fanciers and pram pushers in more remote parts of the country? Unless, of course, 2Wheel Chick has missed the point; and it's cycle messengers or other cyclists more obviously contributing to the war effort who are remembered in Meriden.

Cyclists from all over the country make an annual pilgrimage here. Here are some pics from one of these services.

Back to my photo:


Oh, look, I missed a trick here: trying to hide between the monument and the phone box is a No Cycling sign.

Another thing about Meriden: for centuries it has claimed to be at the centre of England. There's another stone structure on the green, a weathered sandstone cross (which I didn't see), with a metal plaque to that effect.

And another cycling connection: Triumph motorcycles were built here from 1941 to 1983. I didn't know that, either. A housing estate now sits on the site of the factory.

This post is long enough, so I'll hold over more cycling stuff - free cycle taxis - until tomorrow.