Author Topic: Missing footpath and a Lostway. Breiddens.  (Read 959 times)

barewirewalker

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Missing footpath and a Lostway. Breiddens.
« on: 15:43:20, 12/01/19 »
Last week Mrs BWW and I walked on the Breidden Hills on a lovely clear day, just a day to be out, we missed reaching our objective, the usual one most walkers aspire to when tackling the Breiddens. This was partially due to the missing way, partially our dawdling because of the pure joy of the quality of way and of course the missing way marks.

My fear that I might be off the righteous way was also a contributory reason and excessive searching for navigational detail, not because I felt guilty of trespass, but because I wanted to have full grasp of the facts, if some belligerent rustic popped up from behind a hedge or a quasi rustic erupted from 'chez nous' with outraged notions of 'you walkeers'.

Now before I bore you all, with the idea that I am beating drum too often hammered. This anomaly was discovered partially as an interest in these hills posted by Mel and I may outrage Jimbob because I do not intend to gather together a group of ardent, activists and stand with placards on the NW flank of Kempster's Hill in pouring rain.
There are some very interesting points to be learnt about the suspicion that this particular bit of path may be on the counties B or C list of RoWs, why no waymark or finger-post on the N access point? When 40 yards away another RoW is signed and furnished in exemplary manner.

So why does one of bit path take precedent over a path that could add quality of way to hundred of miles of LDW or just a local walk? The reason is no one can see that possibility because this path has a piece missing as a lostway, but that piece is in Powys, Wales and rest in Shropshire.


We had another experience, that evening that could add to a learning curve for those, who administer our access network, however to explain it I would probably have to write several 1500 word articles, as well as roll out yards and yards of map to show facts and details, which add to the economic force that is the access network.
For a little more, read my final post on Mel's post. Please do not feel too hijacked, I really do hope you enjoy your walk in the Breiddens and I think if you pick up on the clues I left for you they may add to your knowledge of our landscape and how we can explore it.
As a little more of a clue, it is easy to see how one can get from England to Wales using the Llantisilio bridge, the Severn Way uses it, so why do I think the Maginnis Bridge is so important? I think that opinion gained by one's own reasoning so much more important than that explained and perhaps I do not hold all the answers, actually this little excursion showed me another good reason. (That from the view off Pritchard's Hill)

The N end of Kempster's Path; SJ 32081 14482
 S end of same; SJ 31411 14350Lostway and Wales/England boundary; SJ 31529 14198 only 250 yds of lostway but a marker for the Maginnis bridge if you have the imagination to see it.


So rather than 1500 word posts that will lie in the recesses of the dusty archives of walking forums back topics, I offer discussion, if there are any interested.
 We are still talking about how much we enjoyed the walk we did and it has nothing to do with the above subject, although the evening in the Admiral Rodney was much enlivened by the story I told based on above facts and premises told to a visiting retired school teacher from Lytham St Annes, who was staying at the nearby Brimfield House. This because the subject was found amusing, conspiratorial and a little derogatory, if seen from the point of view of a certain minority with a well developed sense of self importance.



 
« Last Edit: 15:47:51, 12/01/19 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Missing footpath and a Lostway. Breiddens.
« Reply #1 on: 13:24:14, 22/01/19 »
A good few years ago I was walking on the opposite flank of the Breiddens. It was one of those moments that are special, I walked down from Rodney's Pillar by the Bytherig and was of two minds to either catch a bus at Middletown or the train from Welshpool.

I found myself walking across some small permanent pastures liberally populated with mature oak trees, the footpath followed the contour across the slope which looked out onto the River Severn below. It was a perfect summers day, I sat for a while, enjoying the shade of one of the oak trees, and at that moment I decided to take the longer option and walk into Welshpool and catch the train. This meant crossing the river using the Maginnis Bridge, I did not realise at that moment that there was no right of way across it, this I assumed because there are footpaths, which are rights of way leading right up to it.
When I restarted my walk I could not get out of that field, not without forcing my way through several hedges and some gymnastics using the branches of trees overhanging hedges, giving me the chance to drop into another field. A closer study of the map might have forewarned me of these difficulties as the footpath ends at a Parish boundary.

It was the view of Wales from that comfortable spot that made me realize that this is a perfect walkers entry point into Wales, for those who are familiar with the map will point out that I was already in Wales, but the River Severn must still be crossed and all other options are accompanied by excessive exposure to heavy traffic.
On reaching the Maginnis Bridge I discovered that his is not a Right of Way, I had to climb a well locked gate, with a top bar wrapped in barbed wire, worthit as there is an almost direct crossing of a the busy A road Welshool to Oswestry, to the quietude of the Canal towpath, a peaceful, verdant way into Welshpool.


This to me is quality of way, I have often wondered if this is a quality that we walkers value enough or even try to promote it.



BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Missing footpath and a Lostway. Breiddens.
« Reply #2 on: 10:31:15, 23/01/19 »
I went to the funeral of a Shropshire farmer yesterday. At the gathering afterwards, completely out of the blue the name Gordon Miller cropped up. Anyone, who has followed my posts, will know that I have mentioned this name in connection with the lost ways of Shropshire. Estate agent to Lady Berwick of Attingham Hall and Chairman of the Shrewsbury and Atcham RDC during the period the Definitive Map of Shropshire was being compiled. It is the classic example of the corruption of the Definitive Map.

Why this immediately remark is pertinent to this topic is GM's connection with the Loton Estate, the farmer talking about him was connecting this estate agent, with personal knowledge, to one of the great areas of lostways of Shropshire, which in particular compromises the approach to the Breiddens.

A couple of years ago, I was exploring a route along a sightline, with the Wrekin at one end, I mention it in this post, 2 lengths of lostway, which created a 10 mile countryside walk that seems to follow an ancient drover's way. If this is so the Wrekin was the medieval navigation marker for a crossing over the River Severn at Cressage. Whilst I was walking this, it occurred to me that the modern equivalent, would be the reverse, for people to walk out of the Midlands to the Welsh coast. So if we are developing an access network for the 21st century, why not join the top of the Wrekin to Cressage with a new path, so that the walker can stay out of the way of the commuting rural suburbanite and white van driver delivering aforemention's groceries.

What has this to do with the Breiddens? With Maginnis bridge in their western lea and the Melverley Bridge to windward, the Breiddens provide the beacon for an approach from the NE there is a cross county route of quality. The possible approach from the east would need lostways reinstated over 1100 acres.


Does this just indicate the a few teeny bits of pre-war footpaths left off the Definitive Map, because of a difference of opinion between 2 compilers in the 1950/60s, actually make a lot of difference to the quality of way of a route, if recognized could be used by many thousands of walkers in the future.


Is this fanciful thinking or is it the sort of creative thinking needed to fashion an access network that the 21st century needs?

« Last Edit: 10:35:19, 23/01/19 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

 

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