In 1901 a lady on a cycling tour sent a post card to her niece recording that they had cycled the 11 miles from Winchester to Romsey that day. After staying the night in Romsey they intended to go on to Minstead and Lyndhurst. They were heading for Lyme Regis where they intended to stay several days before returning to London, a round trip of about 400 miles. At the time this sort of holiday was not unusual not just for men but women too.

Cycling had become very popular in the later years of the 19th century and improvements in bicycles made them safer and more comfortable. By 1890s a ladies' version of the 'roadster' had been developed with a step-through frame so that ladies in dresses and skirts could easily mount and ride them. They also had a skirt guard to prevent dresses becoming entangled in the rear wheel. Moreover, it became more acceptable for women to wear ' bicycling bloomers', or a 'bicycling costume' as it was known at the time. These still went to the ankles, and were quite voluminous, but they allowed more movement and were far safer, achieving freedom and emancipation. As one female cyclist stated in 1899:

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"The bicycle is in truth the women’s emancipator. It imparts an open-air freedom and freshness to a life hithertofore cribbed, cabined and confined by convention."

Hampshire Chronicle: Post card. Romsey Cycle Works 1904

Bicycles were used a good deal by suffragettes to emphasize the freedoms they were working for but other women also enjoyed the freedom and opportunities provided. Bicycles were used for leisure by the upper classes and were a convenient form of transport for the middle and lower classes. The first cycling organisation solely for women was established as early as 1892 by Lillias Campbell Davidson who believed that cycling would emancipate women from many of the limitations placed on them by society. The organisation published a handbook, priced 4d (about 1½p), containing details of reasonably priced places to stay while cycle touring, and a monthly journal, the Lady Cyclists' Association News.

The popularity of bicycles led to the opening of many cycle shops throughout the country for selling and repairing bicycles. Romsey's Cycle works was in the Market Place (the present site of Tenovus Charity Shop). It opened about 1900 by Joseph Haynes. The Cycle works continued into the 1950s with Mr Arthur Wiggins as proprietor.

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