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The Guardian view on rambling: the right to roam is a precious freedom The Guardian view on rambling: the right to roam is a precious freedom
(5 days later)
Do not be misled by the Dickensian ring of phrases like the Crudwell Award or the Inclosure Consolidation Act, 1801. A court of appeal ruling this month upheld the power of commissioners appointed under the terms of the 1801 act to designate rights of way in the process of enclosing common land. The case concerned two stretches of bridleway in the north Wiltshire parish of Crudwell, but the ruling, which came after a 22-year legal fight, is likely to lead to the official recognition and mapping of hundreds more miles of footpath. That matters because there is now a deadline of 2026 after which it will be impossible to re-establish historic rights of way that are not on the updated register. Do not be misled by the Dickensian ring of phrases like the Crudwell Award or the Inclosure Consolidation Act, 1801. A court of appeal ruling this month upheld the power of commissioners appointed under the terms of the 1801 act to designate rights of way in the process of enclosing common land. The case concerned two stretches of bridleway in the north Wiltshire parish of Crudwell, but the ruling, which came after a 22-year legal fight, is likely to lead to the official recognition and mapping of hundreds more miles of footpath. That matters because there is now a deadline of 2026 after which it will be impossible to re-establish historic rights of way that are not on the updated register.
The appeal court ruling was a fitting way of marking the 80th anniversary year of the first legislation to grant a right of access. That was the Property Law Act in April 1925. It spurred a campaign to open up the great empty spaces of Britain to working people and led to the most successful direct action in British history, the first mass trespass on Kinder Scout in April 1932. Organised by the British Workers’ Sports Federation, 400 walkers from Manchester and Sheffield met on the Kinder edge path. The appeal court ruling was a fitting way of marking the 90th anniversary year of the first legislation to grant a right of access. That was the Property Law Act in April 1925. It spurred a campaign to open up the great empty spaces of Britain to working people and led to the most successful direct action in British history, the first mass trespass on Kinder Scout in April 1932. Organised by the British Workers’ Sports Federation, 400 walkers from Manchester and Sheffield met on the Kinder edge path.
It still took another 68 years to get a proper right to roam. And even now, it would be a mistake to think that the fight is over. The undeclared war between landowners and walkers flares up like a bush fire. While in many places landowners recognise both the rights of walkers and their value to rural tourism – and even create attractions to get ramblers into their tea room or farm shop – in others, signposts are taken down, stiles fenced over and gates locked. Sometimes a path is lost under an impassable depth of boggy plough. In others, bulls or cows with calves lurk in fields crossed by footpaths. Related: Bull lurking in views on the right to roam | Letters from Cathy Bergs, Tom Jackson and Rose Harvie
It still took another 68 years to get a proper right to roam. And even now, it would be a mistake to think that the fight is over. The undeclared war between landowners and walkers flares up like a bush fire. While in many places landowners recognise both the rights of walkers and their value to rural tourism – and even create attractions to get ramblers into their tea room or farm shop – in others, signposts are taken down, stiles fenced over and gates locked. Sometimes a path is lost under an impassable depth of boggy plough. In others, bulls or cows with calves lurk in fields crossed by footpaths.
It is not entirely the fault of mean-spirited farmers and landowners. Some walkers are ignorant or inconsiderate. They let their dogs chase stock, or leave rubbish that can be dangerous as well as unsightly or stray from footpaths regardless of risk to ground-nesting birds or fragile grassland. And sometimes footpaths established centuries ago by men and women walking to fields or taking produce to market or by children on the way to school fall into disuse and disappear from the landscape, and popular memory.It is not entirely the fault of mean-spirited farmers and landowners. Some walkers are ignorant or inconsiderate. They let their dogs chase stock, or leave rubbish that can be dangerous as well as unsightly or stray from footpaths regardless of risk to ground-nesting birds or fragile grassland. And sometimes footpaths established centuries ago by men and women walking to fields or taking produce to market or by children on the way to school fall into disuse and disappear from the landscape, and popular memory.
Next week, the Ramblers Association launches a scheme to encourage walkers to record the state of all 140,000 miles of recognised rights of way. The Big Pathwatch aims to persuade participants to take a single square kilometre of an ordnance survey map and walk every recorded path on it and submit details of its walkability.Next week, the Ramblers Association launches a scheme to encourage walkers to record the state of all 140,000 miles of recognised rights of way. The Big Pathwatch aims to persuade participants to take a single square kilometre of an ordnance survey map and walk every recorded path on it and submit details of its walkability.
Access to the countryside is about more than class, more than town v country. Wherever they live, many Britons have a nostalgia for the fields and moors of the imagination. It is a part of the national identity, as the writer Robert Macfarlane powerfully conveys. Drawing more people without experience of a world beyond the city into a more open and more ancient world ought to be as much a part of an introduction to citizenship as knowing how Westminster works. Two hundred years ago, the great poet of the natural world, John Clare, bitterly lamented the end of open spaces: “Inclosure came and trampled on the grave/Of labour’s rights and left the poor a slave.” His world isn’t coming back. But the vestiges that remain need defending, and enjoying.Access to the countryside is about more than class, more than town v country. Wherever they live, many Britons have a nostalgia for the fields and moors of the imagination. It is a part of the national identity, as the writer Robert Macfarlane powerfully conveys. Drawing more people without experience of a world beyond the city into a more open and more ancient world ought to be as much a part of an introduction to citizenship as knowing how Westminster works. Two hundred years ago, the great poet of the natural world, John Clare, bitterly lamented the end of open spaces: “Inclosure came and trampled on the grave/Of labour’s rights and left the poor a slave.” His world isn’t coming back. But the vestiges that remain need defending, and enjoying.
• This article was amended on 14 July 2015. It is 90 years since the Property Law Act of 1925, not 80 years as a previous version said.