Leisure walking goes back a long time in Britain and the Ramblers' Association, founded in 1935 but with roots in the 19th century, has played a fundamental part in the fight for the freedom to roam in the countryside.
On Saturday 27th April 2002 walkers from all over Britain congregated to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Mass Trespass. Read on to find out about the century-long campaign for the right to roam...
It was as early as the second half of the 18th century that the attitude towards walking in Britain shifted: from considering it a mere necessity, people started to see it as something to enjoy. The Romantic Movement with its celebration of nature had a strong impact on the upper and middle classes, while it was the industrial revolution that brought the working classes to discover the countryside as a haven of peace and tranquility.
The Enclosure Acts of the 19th century closed much of what had been "open land". Despite (yet probably because of) heavy-handed opposition by the landowners, the struggle for the public's right to roam the countryside gained more and more consensus across the years. And so began a movement that was gradually to lead to the formation of the Ramblers' Association.
Two of the earliest groups were the Association for the Protection of Ancient Footpaths in the Vicinity of York, formed in 1824, and the Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Footpaths (1826).
Federations of rambling clubs developed in several provincial cities, but by the early 1930s many in the outdoor movement spoke of the need for a national body to represent the interest of ramblers, and so delegates from around the country attended a meeting at Longshaw in the Peak District in September 1931. As a result, the National Council of Ramblers' Federations was established. It met once a year and appointed an executive committee.
In 1932, the conflict between ramblers and landowners over access to the Derbyshire grouse moors led to a mass trespass on Kinder Scout in which several ramblers were arrested and subsequently imprisoned. The National Council of Ramblers' Federations opposed the tactics of the trespassers and did not endorse the event but it was an important milestone in the long campaign for the National Parks and access to the countryside.
In 1934 the decision was taken to change the council's name, and so on 1st January 1935 the Ramblers' Association was officially founded.
In November 2000, the Ramblers' decades of campaigning for peaceful and responsible freedom to roam in open, uncultivated countryside finally bore fruit when parliament passed the historic Countryside and Rights of Way Act. This act will eventually give access - with some limitations - to mountain, moor, heath, down and common land in England and Wales, as soon as this land has been adequately mapped. There is also a provision to extend the rights to coastal land, and options for owners of other types of land such as woodland and riverside to permanently dedicate their land as access land.
We stock The Ramblers' Association Walk Britain guide.
Date: 26 February 2007
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