A.B. Smith has written a history of almost a century of The North Road Cycling Club.
This photograph (in colour) was used on a cigarette card. This card and many other can be bought from Drummonds Cards.
More cycling stuff in Hertfordshire
A1-The Great North Road
From Baldock to Biggleswade the Great North Road followed the line of a Roman road but at Biggleswade it sidestepped to the west to cross the River Ivel, only to re-cross at Sandy, three miles downstream. The Roman road kept east of the river, altering its alignment to the north-north-east, just short of Sandy, to head in a straight line for Godmanchester. The Viatores tell how, in the 13th century, the road was called Brunnestrate or Brown Street. The A1 keeps to the Roman line till the southern edge of Biggleswade but then turns west on the by-pass built in the early 1960s while the Roman road is marked by London Road and then Drove road through the town. North of Biggleswade the route is obscure, as is the reason why the Great North Road has crossed to the west side of the River Ivel. The Viators discuss the matter thus: Between Biggleswade and Sandy one has to rely a great deal on what has been published hitherto, since traces are scanty. Robert Morden's Map of Bedfordshire (1773) shows a road marked from Baldock via Biggleswade and Sandy to Tempsford. On maps of 1769 and 1770 the road is no longer shown complete between Biggleswade and Sandy. Carey's map of 1793 shows a road between Stratford and Fairfield Road, Biggleswade, curving to the west of the Roman road past Shortmead House; parts are still in existence (1961) as a green lane. The first edition of the 1 in. O.S. map (1835_ shows "Roman Way" marked along a line of hedgerows up to the barrow at TL 186468 and nothing between that point and Stratford. Clearly, therefore, on the evidence available, the Roman road went out of continuous use across Biggleswade Common about 1760 and it would be fair to say that the Great Northern Railway, which opened between London and Peterborough in August 1850, was in no way responsible for its obliteration.
Armstrong's map of 1776 has the Great North Road on the modern course with no road to the east of the Ivel between Biggleswade and Sandy. The same road pattern was shown a century earlier by Ogilby with "a Stonebridge and brook" marked at Biggleswade. At this time, 1675, this was the London to Oakham road, the London to Berwick route being the Old North Road further east through Royston and Huntingdon.
Girtford is thought to originate from the Old English greot ford for a gravelly ford. It does not feature very large on the map, being dominated by Sandy, but it earned its place in the history of the Great North Road by its contribution to cycling.
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F T Bidlake, one of
cycling's greatest administrators was a record breaker in the 1880's.
Subsequently, he was in great demand as a timekeeper, and became the
moving force to establish time-trialling as we know it today. A
member of the RRA committee for many years, he was President from 1924
until his death in 1933 after being knocked off his cycle. His ashes were scattered at Girtford
Bridge on the Great North Road. A memorial milestone, marking 48
miles from London and 148 miles from York stands at the Bidlake Memorial
Garden. There is also a seat commemorating Bidlake's tandem
partner, G. H. Stancer, who died in 1962. The memorials stand at
Poplars Corner, now renamed Bidlake Corner.
A.B. Smith has written a history of almost a century of The North Road Cycling Club.
This photograph (in colour) was used on a cigarette card. This card and many other can be bought from Drummonds Cards. More cycling stuff in Hertfordshire |
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Biggleswade was home to Daniel Albone, the racing cyclist. Born in 1860 he spent his whole life here and in the 1880's established the Ivel Cycle Works where he invented his own bicycles, motorcycles, ladies bicycles, the tandem and the first Ivel Agricultural Tractor - the ancestor of all modern tractors. He is particularly famous as the inventor of the first ladies safety bicycle. Dan was also a leading pioneer in developing the modern agricultural motor tractor and one of his prototype machines is preserved in the Science Museum, London.
The Great North Road became a dual carriageway, slicing Girtford and Beeston in two. The village of Beeston straddles the A1 just south of the Sandy roundabout. Apart from about half the houses in the village that front on to the A1 (including the village pub, The Cross), the rest of the houses face Beeston Green, a square green of some 13 acres and a registered Common.
Girtford Manor was demolished in the mid-fifties, in order to accommodate a road-side cafe and petrol station, which is today a Little Chef and Texaco service station. The crossroads at Girtford, once controlled by a complex set of traffic lights, was simplified at the end of the seventies, by a roundabout, and the A1 has been "improved".
The RAC Routes to Scotland says: Here is Sandy, very busy growing vegetables. It does not elaborate further but moves on to Tempsford.
It is claimed that the name Tempsford, or Tamiseforde as spelt in Domesday, means on the road to the Thames, i.e. to London. I find this unconvincing; more likely it was a joke about the River Ivel being as wide as the Thames. There is a ford and opposite is a row of cottages which were formerly the Anchor Hotel. The present Anchor Hotel, standing alongside the A1, dates from 1830.
Kelly's Directory for 1898 has this entry:
Tempsford was formerly occupied by the Danes, who were expelled by the Saxons about the year 921. Robert De Carun, in the year 1129, gave the church to the Prior and Convent of St. Neots, on account of his grandson Anselm taking the monastic habit there. The Danes visited Tempsford in 1010, it then being a walled town; and it is surmised that the first church was destroyed at that time : frescoes are known to have once existed upon the walls of the present church, representing this Danish irruption. Near the rectory is an ancient earthwork, called the "Gannocks," believed to be of Roman origin; the moat around is still perfect, and there is a subterranean passage from it to the hall of the rectory. Tempsford Hall, the property of Major Wm. Dugald Stuart J.P. has been rebuilt, and is a mansion of red brick and Dumfries stone, but some portion of the original building still exists : it stands in the midst of spacious grounds about 100 acres in extent, and is surrounded by many noble trees.
The ancient earthwork, more likely the remains of a Norman motte and bailey than Roman, is called Gannocks Castle
Tempsford is not so much by-passed, as divided, by the A1 into two separate groups of houses; Church End and Langford End. The Great North Road used to run along Church street but since the 1960s the A1 has run a little to the east, leaving the Church End area to the west and the rest of the village the other side. But, as explained below in this delightful piece of early 21st century prose from The Highways Agency, the two halves of the village are to be reunited.
Animals, birds and insects can now enjoy a new home, thanks to the Highways Agency. Together with local parishioners they have transformed Tempsford's neglected woodland into a flourishing habitat for wildlife. The creation of the new millennium garden sanctuary was designed to be a pleasant place for the local community. This is just part of the Highways Agency's pledge to improve the environment, as they funded the tree surgery and tidying up of the site. With help from the Parish Council and local community, they rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into enhancing the surrounding area.
The site was once the grand entrance to Tempsford Hall. The recreation of the garden as a main feature has helped to preserve some of Tempsford's heritage. Careful consideration has also been taken on the construction of the A1 Tempsford link, with native trees and shrubs to be planted after it takes shape. The Highways Agency is also encouraging local residents to leave their cars at home and use other modes of transport, especially for shorter journeys.
Said project manager Chris Shuker: "Tempsford's improved junction will give local people the opportunity to walk and cycle there again. Shortly, we will be signposting a shared cycle/footway alongside the A1 and A421 from Eaton Socon to Great Barford. "The two halves of the village will be reunited with the construction of the new link road. It will help to provide safe and easy access for Tempsford's residents."
What did it take to make the garden bloom? More than a hundred tonnes of granite scalping and pea gravel, wheel-barrowed onto the site, formed the pathways, 8,000 spring flowering bulbs, 70 new trees, more than 4,000 hedging plants and 200 yew hedge plants.
The medieval bridge over the Ouse was replaced when an Act for rebuilding Tempsford Bridge was passed in 1815 (and repealed in 1995, the work presumably having been finished by then). When the A1 was made a dual carriageway a second bridge was built alongside to take the southbound traffic, the old bridge keeping the northbound. There's a lot of boats around here now. While the Great North Road crossed to run west of the Ouse, another road kept to the east, passing through St. Neots. Some of the stage coaches used to take this route, rejoining the main road five miles further north at Little Paxton. With this exception, it is remarkable that a town the size of St. Neots was so close but not actually on the Great North Road. The local geography of the River Ouse and its frequently flooded valley must be responsible. There was a bridge connecting the road with the town first constructed with 73 timber arches in 1180 and replaced in the early 17th century by a stone bridge. The present bridge was opened in 1965.
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Black Cat Restaurant in the 1930s
The A421 (formerly the A428(T)) joins the A1 at The Black Cat Roundabout. It is so called because there used to be a cafe called the Black Cat there. Now there is just another Travelodge but the name lives famously on. And now it's got its own website. Just north is Wyboston, a village whose houses are uncomfortably close to the main road. It has a curiously named pub, the Wait for the Wagon. The Great North Road was probably a good place to wait for wagons and I don't suppose it has anything to do with the American Civil War song. |
Eaton Socon
The Eaton Socon by-pass opened in 1971, leaving the village with its old road to the east.
Between Eaton Socon and Little Paxton the road crosses the River Kym, anciently known as the Hail, from which Hail Weston, the village a little upstream, derives its name. There was an ancient bridge over the river, mentioned in 1377 and still standing in 1798 when it was described as being built of stone with four arches, but with the parapets ruinous. The present bridge was built in the late 19th century. At Hail Weston there are two springs which are reputed to have had medicinal qualities though they may derive more from from the poem by Michael Drayton The Holy Wells of Hailweston" but it was Holinshed who had reported in 1597 "...two springs are known to be, of which the one is verrie sweet and fresh, the other brackish and salt; this is good for scabs and and leaperie (as it is said) the other for dimness of sight. Verrie manie laso doo make their repports unto them for sundrie diseases, some returning whole and some nothing at all amended because their cure is without the reach and working of these waters. Never went people so fast from the chuurh, either unto a faire or market, as they go to these wels. These springs were used for medicinal purposes in the 16th and 17th centuries, but later fell into disuse. In 1844, the springs were sold and were then used by the Hail Weston Springs Co., aerated water manufacturers.
©Biff Vernon 2001, 2003
