The Sylvia Pankhurst Trail

Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) is less well-known than her older sister Christabel and mother Emmeline, the famous Suffragettes, but was actually more radical and far-reaching in her ideas and her political activities. She was born in Manchester and died in Addis Ababa. We can’t follow the full distance of her travels, but we will visit several locations across London which are associated with her and where she is commemorated.

This is a full day, train-assisted ride. Please read the ride description carefully.

* Please note: Our meeting place is outside Ealing Broadway Station, not at the Town Hall.*

From Ealing Broadway, we will take the District Line to Earl’s Court. We will visit several locations in West and Central London where Sylvia and her family are commemorated. Then we have a steady ride eastwards, using Cycleway 3 and quieter back roads, to see memorials commemorating Sylvia’s later campaigning and welfare work in the East End.

Our lunch stop will be at the Hub Café in Victoria Park.

The second half of our ride takes us across Hackney Marshes and up to Woodford Green, on the fringes of Essex, where Sylvia lived from 1924. Our destination is the curious Anti Air War Monument which Sylvia had erected in 1935, in the garden of the cottage where she then lived, as a protest against Mussolini’s aerial bombing of Ethiopia.

The last section of our ride takes us on the off-road Roding Valley Way into Ilford, where we will take the Elizabeth Line back to Ealing Broadway.

Train-assisted ride across London to visit locations associated with Sylvia Pankhurst.

Quieter roads where possible, some stretches on busier roads. Segregated cycle tracks and shared paths. Off road tracks on Hackney Marshes and the Roding Valley.

Visit to several locations associated with Sylvia Pankhurst. Lunch stop in Victoria Park.

Lock for bike. Money/card for cafe and for train fare.

First-timers welcome!