The photo above shows an old velocipede at the junction of Parnell and Sackville Streets in Dublin around 1911.
Though many bicycles were imported from Britain, Ireland did have its own cycle industry from the time of the very first bicycles. As you can see below in this extract from ‘English Mechanic’ of May 28, 1869, P. Ledwidge advertised his services as a velocipede maker at 32 Amiens St, Dublin.
The National Museum of Ireland has a Ledwidge velocipede in their collection and I have one too. There is also one in Canterbury Museum. So it looks like he must have turned out a decent quantity of machines.
ABOVE: You can see the ‘cartouche’ (engraving) on the backbone showing the maker’s name. Most velocipedes have no record of their builders.
BELOW: 1869 Velocipede by Ledwidge of Dublin
BELOW: Uncle George on parade with this same velocipede, late 1940s
