IN Memories 273, we pedalled down an interesting backwater. We asked for locations of surviving Cyclists’ Touring Club plaques on buildings, and they came at us from all points of the compass.

The club was formed in Harrogate in 1878 to promote the interests of the first cyclists, and in 1879, it began rating hotels and inns for their friendliness towards cyclists – more than 30 years before the AA did the same thing for motorists.

The CTC negotiated special rates for cyclists, and in 1888 it began placing 2ft diameter cast iron circular plaques on establishments that had its seal of approval. The plaques, which must have been very expensive to make and distribute, show the club’s winged wheels emblem.

A lucky few hotels which offered the largest discounts were given the status of being the “headquarters” of the CTC; a few more which offered cyclists great service were designated “quarters”. A handful of places – sadly none in our area – were allowed to put up a plaque with “repairer” on it, as they could help a cyclist in a mechanical emergency.

As cars began to overtake bikes on the roads, hoteliers were no longer so desperate to attract cyclists, and so the discounts began fizzling out in 1902 and had ended by 1908.

After the First World War, those establishments which still wanted to be associated with cycling were issued with cheaper embossed copper plaques and then black-and-yellow enamel signs, both of which were square.

So most of our plaques must be 125 years old, and they all should be treasured. Let’s go on a tour around them – in the saddle, of course:

Shotley Bridge

JG CLARKSON of Shotley Bridge, Consett, sent in this brilliant early 1930s picture of the Crown and Crossed Swords Hotel in his town with the CTC plaque above the main door on the right. The plaque is still in situ, and the Crossed Swords, which has expanded into the Commercial Hotel on the left, as one of Camra’s ten pubs of special interest in County Durham because its interior is largely unchanged since the 1950s.

Stanley

DAVID CARTER was among those who drew our attention to the splendid Imperial Hotel in Stanley, which has a cast iron CTC plaque above its main door. The Baroque-style hotel was built around 1905 and has recently been restored. Last year, scenes for TV police drama George Gently were filmed there.

Staindrop

LOADS of people told us about the former Royal Oak pub near the church in Staindrop. An early 19th Century pub, it was converted into a private residence in 2014, when the cast iron CTC plaque got a nice touch of paint.

Bowes

AS befits a village which has been shaped by transport, Bowes has two surviving CTC signs, both of which are the later square ones. One is on Kirby House, and is painted matt grey; the other is on The Grove, an intriguing-looking semi-derelict building. It dates to 1750 when it was opened as Moor View School – one of several boarding schools in the village which inspired Charles Dickens to write Nicholas Nickleby. The first floor is a single room, which was once a dormitory but then, when The Grove became a travellers’ rest, became a dancehall. The downstairs served meals to cyclists.

Lazenby

A VILLAGE just to the east of the metropolitan sprawl of Middlesbrough, where Stuart Edwards kindly drew our attention to the Half Moon pub. A cottage beside it boasts a “Quarters” metal CTC plaque. It must have been stopping off point for cyclists on their way to Saltburn on the coast.

Carlton-in-Cleveland

THE BLACKWELL OX, at the foot of lung-busting climb into the Cleveland Hills, has a very well-maintained “Quarters” plaque above its door.

Askrigg

ALISON and Michael Niklewicz got in touch from this beautiful village in the Yorkshire Dales National Park as they run Sykes’s House which is a village store, a bed and breakfast and a tea room. Far more importantly, it has a CTC plaque which still draws in the cyclists.

Uniquely in our area, it also bears a National Cyclists Union plaque. The NCU was founded in London seven months before the CTC. They don’t seem to have been deadly rivals as they shared the cost of the poles on which they erected signs warning their members of approaching hazards like steep hills, but after about 1888, the NCU concentrated on organising bike races, leaving the walls of hotels free for CTC plaques.

In late Victorian times, Sykes’s House, which was built in 1687, was a temperance hotel. The CTC seems to have been keen to associate itself with such healthy lifestyle establishments.

Pickering

TIM ALLISON of Stokesley was in Pickering recently and spotted the CTC plaque on the walls of the Black Swan. He took a picture, because it reminded him on the plaque which used to be on the Golden Lion in his hometown. It was fortunate for us that he did, because, as CTC plaques go, it is the crème de la crème – it is a “headquarters” plaque. This was the highest status awarded by the CTC, and only eight of them are known to survive in the country.

So, do you know of any others either surviving or which have disappeared over the years? Please let us know: chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch, including Geoff Gilligan and David Waistell. Additional photography by Sarah Caldecott, Gavin Engelbrecht, Matt Westcott and Chris Lloyd.