Coventry's Cycle Industry

Kaga, the solid tyre was the bain of every cyclist before Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in 1888. In open handicap races the solid tyre used to slide too easily on the damp / wet grass track, much to the annoyance of the cyclists but to the enthusiastic amusement of the punters. Because most of the sports tracks were temporary for a particular sports, the track would be marked out at about 360 yards which afforded too tight a bend for safety. On a standard banked grit or tarmac track (440 yards) there was no real problem. The introduction of the new tyre caused some unrest amongst competitors which was not resolved until races were separated into 'solid' or 'air', except around Dublin where both were allowed in the same race for a little while. By the mid / late 1890s solids had almost disappeared - there was a slight problem in tricycle racing. In 1845 Robert Thompson had patented the idea of the pneumatic tyre in England - Dunlop came from Ireland. I well remember the bike spills when I started running in local handicap races (North of England); for the entertainment value for the crowd, only the steeplechase water jump in athletics rivelled a good cycle pile up!

Thank you, Harrier. If the photo had shown the valve, then I would have known. Was the valve bigger in those days?

This image appeared on FB recently and had me stumped until Cov Historian Malvern Carvell (apols Malvern not sure if you are here on the forum) came up trumps! One I'd never seen before - WHERE CYCLES ARE MADE: Jones, Venn & Co made the 'Viking' in 1891 from Round Tower Works, Coventry, The manager was W. Lalon. They also had a showroom at 20 King William Street, London. The Round Tower Works were at the back of the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital (between what is now the Paybody building and Lincoln Street). The works were accessed via a lane between Leicester Street and Swanswell Place. Venn, Jones & Co operated from the works from 1890 to 1906. In 1909 the works were bought by the hospital and demolished to build a new mortuary, laundry and power plant. These buildings were destroyed in the blitzes." On the 1906 map the tower was marked as the disused Swanswell Water Tower.

Hi Neil! Was that originally the Swanswell water tower?

I think so Helen yes - the 1906 map which references the Water Tower matches the plan of the buildings in the image.

The page was taken from a weekly journal called Cycling (edited by Charles P Sisley and illustrated by George Moore).

It was a proper windmill originally, much like the one below, shorter but complete with walkway halfway up. It even had the funny knob at the top. Initially the sails and revolving top were removed and a domestic style chimney was added. By the time they drew the sketch Neil posted, it didn't much look like its original at all.

I think the tower is just about visible in this BFA image Helen although its across the canal and very distant/blurry. I'd not seen or heard of it before.

I came across it because of the odd feature in the landscape that leads to it from Bishopsgate Green. I couldn't decide if it was originally a stream (pre canal) or a pipeline from somewhere. Subsequently I've found two sketches of the windmill - one by Fretton from some point between 1838 and 1851 and one by one of his students at the Katherine Bayley School from 1868. I bow down to his foresight in capturing the history and views of the city but his artistic skills could have done with some work.