ONE of the few known survivors of the pedal-less forerunner of the bicycle has undergone expert repair and refurbishment by the Knutsford Penny Farthing Museum.

The Harlow Museum is home to the John Collins Cycle Collection, which includes a Hobby Horse created by London carriage maker Denis Johnson in 1819.

Denis made 320 of the machines, but two centuries on only 12 are known to have survived, one of which is at the Knutsford Penny Farthing Museum and another at Tabley House.

The Harlow Museum was seeking expert help to repair its Hobby Horse, number 225 of the 320 made, and sent the machine to the Knutsford museum because of the wealth of knowledge of bicycles by its founder, Glynn Stockdale.

Glynn offered to help after visiting the Harlow museum when he was in the area attending a funeral, and the Hobby Horse has been repaired by blacksmith Lawrence Clark and cabinet maker Richard Cooper.

Glynn said: “The Harlow museum couldn’t find anyone to repair the Hobby Horse, and were grateful we volunteered to help. Craftsmen of any type are in very short supply.

“Blacksmiths like the Clark family are very rare now, particularly people who can do delicate work, and the same goes for cabinet makers.

Knutsford Guardian:

Glynn Stockdale next to the Knutsford Museum's Hobby Horse

“It was a big responsibility to undertake the repairs, and the Knutsford museum was honoured to have the Hobby Horse.

“We’ve done a cracking job and hope the museum at Harlow is going to be happy with it.

“In 1818 Denis Johnson submitted his patent for a Pedestrian Accelerator, Britain’s first bicycle.

“In 1819 he made 320 of them, and they were a fashionable craze amongst the Regency for just one year.

Knutsford Guardian:

“There are just 12 known survivors, including one at the Knutsford Penny Farthing Museum and another at Tabley House.

“The Harlow Museum sent their machine, the highlight of their collection, to the Knutsford Museum for repair and refurbishment, so for a few months the north west had three of the 12 within two miles of each other.”

Denis Johnson's ‘pedestrian curricle’ became Britain's first bicycle in 1818.

It featured a curved wooden frame, and although Johnson referred to his machine as a ‘pedestrian curricle’ it was popularly known as a Hobby Horse.

Riders would propel the machine by ‘swift walking’, and the Hobby Horse led to the invention of the bicycle in the 1860s.

Knutsford Guardian:

A close-up of the brass fine detail on the Harlow museum Hobby Horse

In 1989 Glynn was reading a book on Cheshire in which the author wrote of having seen a ‘Dandy Horse’ on a visit to Tabley Old Hall, the first home of the Leicester family and now a ruin, in 1901.

Glynn rang Tabley House, and in the cellar discovered the Hobby Horse. After restoration work by Glynn and a team of specialists the Hobby Horse returned to Tabley, where it has been on display ever since.