A Two Wheeled Revolution

Until the arrival of the safety bicycle in rural Ireland in the 1890s mobility outside the local area was the prerogative of the wealthy. Long distance travel meant train or horse. Most young people had only one available means of transport, walking. Their social life was local and as were their horizons.

The basis of local social life for the young was the crossroads dance. In the evenings the young people of a district would meet at a local crossroads for a dance. A few local musicians and a few bottles of poitin (illegally distilled whiskey) was all that was required. People married someone from their local area because they did not have the means to travel further afield.

The bicycle created a social and genetic revolution in rural Ireland, by making it possible to travel long journeys to a dance. Old people I knew in my youth told me they would cycle up to 30 miles to attend a dance. If they met someone who came 30 miles from the other direction to attend that dance, they might form a bond and end up marrying them. The bicycle gave them the means to conduct long distance relationships.

It was a genetic revolution, suddenly the pool of potential marriage partners extended way beyond the local parish. It was also a social revolution young people could travel far beyond the watchful eyes of their own community. Long before the car appeared the bicycle was dissolving the stifling conformity of Victorian social convention and opening new horizons for the young. It was a two wheeled revolution.

The long term impact of this mobility was profound. That generation of young Irish people gained a confidence and sense of their own power that no previous generation had. This was the generation that took on the global superpower of the British Empire, brought it to the negotiating table and won Irish independence. In their war with the British Empire the bicycle played a major role but that is another story.