REMEMBERING THE COMRADES OF THE ROAD

The National Cyclists’ War Memorial was unveiled 100 years ago as part of a remarkable ceremony in the heart of England

- James Shrubsall

The small village of Meriden must have wondered what had hit it when exactly 100 years ago last Friday, it saw what Cycling magazine described as “the greatest assembly of cyclists ever witnessed” – 20,000 cyclists gathering on the village green.

They had converged on the West Midlands village for the inauguration service of the National Cyclists’ War Memorial, a 30-foot high obelisk in Cornish grey granite, dedicated to all the cyclists who had fallen in the recent Great War.

Located a stone’s throw from Coventry, Meriden already had one claim to fame, having long been viewed as the geographical ‘heart of England’. This made it the perfect location for what would become its second, on May 21, 1921.

Bike riders gathered throughout the day, arriving in groups of varying size from all parts of Britain. The roads into Meriden, recounted the CTC Gazette, “thronged with quiet processions of men and women making pilgrimage, many with the dust of distant places still upon them”.