Author Topic: Lostways and LDPs  (Read 7067 times)

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #15 on: 13:32:08, 18/11/19 »
It is worth looking at the Continuity of Way offered by the Righteous Way going north east from here. Mrs BWW and I walked some years ago, some delightful walking along side the River Meese, one of those footpaths often unrecognised for it's quality of way by hill walkers because it is below the horizon. They come as a surprise to those walking in supposed flat land, when you suddenly find yourself down below the ground around.
There is about 3.4 miles of river meadows and riverside walking and in all 9.73 miles of near continuous countryside corridor finishing near the picturesque country parish church of Chetwyn. I have stopped here because this area north of Newport runs out of obvious routes, which is probably explained by the memorials to dead worthies buried in it's churchyard.
SSroadmap_uff-chetw by Barewirewalker, on Flickr
The tracks of right of way (green) and lostway (red) when traced on memory map's explore still show up when viewed on the Super Scale Road Atlas. In all just over 15 miles of walking that can be fairly described as off-road. The section at the west end of the trail ends at Uffington, where there was a ferry over the river Severn for several hundred of years, here this trail joins the Shroshire Way for it's chosen way into the town a couple of miles of above average urban walking.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #16 on: 12:44:55, 26/11/19 »
Just a shortcut? To a place of work..........To church.................To the railway station
airfield_lostways by Barewirewalker, on Flickr
Or do they go further?
We tend to believe experts, and the experts on land must be the farmers and landowners, but how much thought have they put into the history of our paths network.
Looking again at the map that shows the lostways (in red), which were eradicated from our OS maps by military occupation in WW2 and their possible destinations, the short cut from the Chestnuts farm to Crudgington Station seems to be supported by the piece of right of way that did get onto the definitive map.
Now look at the next map, three footpaths from 1880-90 OS series have been overlaid onto today's explorer map.crudgS_OSexpl_Lways1 by Barewirewalker, on Flickr

The top path could be a shortcut between Crudginton Green and Sleapford or ways for farm workers to go to Sleap Farm, but it clearly byepass the farm and cuts across Dukes Drive, where another path carries on a southerly direction with no other source of users. This is an area of peat land recovered by extensive drainage work so the way through is governed by the water courses. The way south from Dukes Drive led to a bridge over the canal, built less that a 100 years before the original survey.
The third lostway joins to the end of the drive to Eyton Hall but meticulously avoids the buildings and garden of the Hall.

Are these clear signs of a public way, supporting a whole community and even cross-community, not merely 'grace and favour' ways allowed by a single landowner? Because there is a very strong line of direction that indicates purpose. Bottom right a right of way is shown around Apley Pool, a residue of a 19th century estate, here rights of way lead directly to the commercial hub of Wellington, Main line railway, Markets and town center.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #17 on: 13:49:01, 28/11/19 »
Does an old way leave traces in today's countryside? At the north end of the old footpath from Crudgington Green to Sleapford the path crosses the Commission Drain. This was a community project not merely drainage by a single landowner, the whole of the moors are made up of farms under individual freehold, to create very rich, fertile land from peat moors. I expect quite a lot of taxpayers money has gone into drainage schemes and the continued upkeep.
Google Earth gives a useful clue:footbr-OH3 by Barewirewalker, on Flickr
Surprising what you lying around in the countryside;
P1070630 by Barewirewalker, on Flickr

According to the writings of CLA experts on countryside access, lostways are solely the interest of obsessive nerds intent on making life difficult for landowners and have little value to the access network in today's economy or social structure.
Having read a lot of articles on comments on lostways it seems that the specific route of a lost way being proved is more the reason given, never the value of the infrastructure that may be there. Here the bridge services Environmental Agency fixed equipment and the commission drain needs regular cleaning so that a field margin runs along side it from a culvert under Dukes Drive. If this also served as public access a near complete route joins Lilleshall Abbey to Haughmond Abbey.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #18 on: 13:39:57, 30/11/19 »
An inquiry has been posted on the forum in the general walking section about unadopted roads. Dukes Drive is an interesting example of this, it clearly gives access to a number of property owners from Kinnersley at it's east end but when one has passed the last cottage has the walker gone beyond a point of general access, yet there is 2 destinations and also the lost bridge. It is unclear is the A442 is allowed, though it is not really an advisable route, the track south to Eyton could form part of a local circular route, but the way to the Crudgington Green footbridge that the lostway would have provided is locked and fenced off.
To the east of Kinnersley the is an almost mirror way to Dukes Drive (2 miles)called Kinnerley Drive (3 miles), this is partially adopted and 2/3 unadopted but is a right of way in the form of Bridleway.
The lostway can make 5 miles of way with safe and clear destinations at either end possible, is this an asset to the access network?
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Slogger

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #19 on: 15:27:30, 30/11/19 »
Maybe slightly off topic but Ive been looking to find a long distance route that necesitates the area South east of Peterborough. I have found that footpaths are few and far between and those that do exist are not as linear as I would prefer and tend to end with long road walking to find another path. Where I live in Lancashire there are paths everywhere and I wonder, did all the paths in that region end up as roads? Surely people must have got about somehow or have all the paths that were there simply disappeared?

ninthace

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #20 on: 15:52:30, 30/11/19 »
Maybe slightly off topic but Ive been looking to find a long distance route that necesitates the area South east of Peterborough. I have found that footpaths are few and far between and those that do exist are not as linear as I would prefer and tend to end with long road walking to find another path. Where I live in Lancashire there are paths everywhere and I wonder, did all the paths in that region end up as roads? Surely people must have got about somehow or have all the paths that were there simply disappeared?
  Very likely that most would have ended up as roads.  The area is flat and was fen for a long time.  Routes between places would have been on the good ground.  Initially some may even have been built as causeways which in time would be developed into roads.  If you at the map, there are a lot of straight lines, indicative of a man made landscape.
Solvitur Ambulando

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #21 on: 17:31:18, 01/12/19 »
I welcome Slogger's observation. The Shropshire Weald Moors are a miniature version of the fens, agricultural land claimed from a marsh. I think slogger pinpoints another form of 'lostway'. When the destination of a footpath is a road and that road becomes so busy that it is not suitable for walking, then the way as a whole becomes devalued.
My original discovery of lostways came from identifying areas I name X zones as they were areas that seemed suspiciously clear of off road access, yet the pre 1940 maps show footpaths. I wonder if monks and pilgrims traveled between Lilleshall and Haughmond Abbeys before reformation, perhaps they were taken through the swamps by boat. I little bit of our history we are denied the chance to speculate by walking this route. 
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #22 on: 09:52:41, 03/01/20 »
About 20 years ago, a friend, who is a mapping surveyor asked me to stand in as his chain boy. The job was a property near Cannock, Staffs., which turned out to be The Grand Lodge, at the end of a drive to Beaudesert. At the time I did not have a clue where I was and as the day progressed it became apparent that we were mapping the garden area of the Lodge, which had been, presumably, sold off from the rest of the estate, it would once have been part of.
I made a bet with my friend, that I could guarantee there would be in an area devoid of Rights of Way of 500 acres. I had newly acquired memory map and I was only just then becoming aware of the Corruption of the Definitive Map. The signs of Aristocratic landholding was sufficient clue to base a calculated guess; I drew a track from RoW - RoW to encircle an area without footpaths and other RoW and ticked the area box in Properties to close the loop and came up with a figure very close to 500 acres.
At the time I was very new to a computer and my knowledge of the internet minimal, it was some time till I realised that I could look up the History of Beaudesert. So it came as a surprise that the Grand Hall, once one of the many residences of the Earl of Anglesea, a mere country  country seat, no longer existed. In fact it was a ruin a decade or more before the Definitive Map was enacted, however it had been located in a prime position, landscaped to make the most of the view east, as it lies in the lea of Cannock Chase. I may have over estimated my 500 acre exclusion zone, as MM did not map Open Access at the time.

Here, the 18th century Landscape engineers built a way to maximize nature for a scenic approach to provide a leisure area, then only accessible to a privileged few. This was the purpose of large country houses in the 17th,  18th and 19th Century, yet today that approach is denied to an industry of leisure that is important to the health of the nation.
Does Beaudesert connect with the other lostways in this topic? I think it does both as route and provides a better understanding of lostways. It provides a piece, in an independent route from the Midlands to the Welsh coast. But it's location is important, originally I thought it was proximity of the transport hubs of Litchfield and Rugeley, but how significant are rural gaps between major built up areas.
What is a Lostway? Is it a way that can be recovered through a Public Inquiry by collecting the appropriate legal evidence or is it a way that many people might walk if common sense were allowed to prevail. Could the Grand Lodge, Beaudesert be the portal to the longest lostway in England and Wales. The rights of way across Wales are not used because the way across England is not easy to see.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

watershed

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Re: Lostways and LDPs
« Reply #23 on: 08:27:47, 15/01/20 »
How many use the marvelous Library of Scotland's website . After a bit of a lay off because I had down loaded and re-constructed actual sheets of areas of interest I returned to it and got onto the seamless 1888-1913 series. It really is an  interesting way to spend a few spare hours. 


Wow Barewirewalker many thanks for this link.
Just had a quick look and already its answered some questions I had on some old tracks here on Shetland.
Most useful indeed.
I can see many an hour being spent on this on stormy nights over the winter.
Superb!

 

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