The Tranzient Gallery
The Tranzient Gallery is another curiosity cabinet, discovered and restored by our Curator, Wesley Perriman-Batty. It was found, prior to the discovery of the Palace of Curiosities, in a remote location high up in the Yorkshire Dales. It turned up at the enigmatic Mire House, which sits on bleak moorland 1,000ft above sea level.
The croft had fallen out of use in the 1950s and had remained empty until recently when it was purchased by local writer and eccentric Sue Woodcock. As a long-time friend of our curator she offered him the gallery which had been hidden at the back of the old carriage shed.
Over the last few years Wesley Perriman-Batty has been restoring this ''wonder of a bygone age'' and he has also endeavoured to find out more about this curious bicycle and its history.
The croft had fallen out of use in the 1950s and had remained empty until recently when it was purchased by local writer and eccentric Sue Woodcock. As a long-time friend of our curator she offered him the gallery which had been hidden at the back of the old carriage shed.
Over the last few years Wesley Perriman-Batty has been restoring this ''wonder of a bygone age'' and he has also endeavoured to find out more about this curious bicycle and its history.
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The original concept for The Tranzient Gallery is believed to have come about when its creator, William Henry Taylor, met the Reverend Jonathan Scobie during a visit to America in the 1880s. Scobie is said to have built the first Rickshaw while working as a missionary in Yokohama, Japan.
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It was at this time that rapid developments in the cycling world saw the ''Safety Bicycle'' taking over in popularity from the unwieldy penny-farthings.
We know that William Henry Taylor had some interest in the cycling developments of the age due to the discovery of a fragile copy of the |
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Indispensible Handbook to the Safety Bicycle by Henrey Sturmey amongst a box of ephemera stored inside the bicycle.
This box also contained a fabulous collection of photos and other documents relating to the early history of the gallery, some of which are reproduced here. |
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