In the early 1900s the Motor Cycling Club ran a reliability trial from London to Land’s End and sometimes back again. For example, in 1920 93 motor bikes and 60 sidecars were entered, with 33 ‘light cars’. Of the 195 entries, 117 made it safely to Land’s End, an overall reliability rate of 60 per … Continue reading The reliability of early motor bikes
Category: transport & communications
Stratton: harbour, canal and visitors
There was something different about Stratton. Located in the far north of Cornwall, its exceptionalism was signalled by the fact that its population rose in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was most unusual in a region where the general experience in this period had been substantial depopulation. Stratton was a Janus-faced sort … Continue reading Stratton: harbour, canal and visitors
St Veep: on the roads
Constructing a road along the lines proposed by John McAdam in the 1820s. This was painted in Maryland but the same basic principles would have been found in Cornwall in the later 1800s St Veep in the nineteenth century was a rural parish bordering the lower reaches of the River Fowey and well away from … Continue reading St Veep: on the roads
Cornish studies resources 