I have mentioned the reason for my interest in access was started by being verbally abused, whilst standing firmly on PRoW, by a landowner. Up to that point I would have thought him to be a farmer, it was my subsequent reading of Land and Business, which made me realise why this individual had been indoctrinated into an attitude, which should have been stamped out in the last century.
L&B is the monthly publication of the Country Landowners' Association, previously mentioned, now several things started to make sense. I terminated my farming career by having the tenancies of the farms I worked bought out, so that a landowner could farm them himself, a neighbour on a much smaller farm was forced out by near bankruptcy a few years later. I was building a business totally unconnected with agriculture, but I heard of my neighbours misfortunes and that his relationship with our common landlord was very acrimonious. To my surprise he became a membership recruiting agent for the CLA, he certainly was unlikely to have a glowing recommendation from the landowner he had tenanted his farm from and he had no other qualifications. Except his family, a long line of professional farmers, many uncles and great uncles, who had successfully bought land from the failing aristocracy of the county between the wars, been successful in the post-war boom and bought farms for their sons.
Landowners were losing the foothold in the house of Lords and the needed membership, which had long been barred to those with professional farming abilities in favour of pedigree. The CLA had been founded in 1913, I think, just pre first World War, when the Liberal Party were about to impose Land Taxes, the bill to bring this about was thwarted by the outbreak of war. The NFU was founded around 1927, the basic reason, the Society of Master Butchers were rigging meat prices and farmers needed to break this strangle hold on a basic farm commodity. By the outbreak of the Second World War, a country traditionally used to importing food had to become self sufficient in food production, the organisation chosen to do this was the younger NFU, chosen by the War Cabinet despite connections between aristocracy and government. My Grandfather, who was a chairman of War Ag, told me in the 1950's of the Nazi connections in aristocratic families, but the real reason was the tenants were the real professionals in Agriculture. It was these farmers who raised the countries agricultural production from under 30% before the war to 100% by the end of the war.
For this reason the NFU continued to be the main negotiating body in post war years with government. An onslaught on this traditional membership amongst farmers became desperate for the CLA with the loss of hereditary peers in the H. of Lords.
Another result of those 2 Wars was the 1949 act resulting in the ProW we enjoy, the between war years had seen every trick in the book being used to thwart attempts to open up the countryside by the landowners in the House of Lords and Clement Attlee's post war government used their majority to force a form of access. It was not intended to be a shortcut for Lawyers and Estate Agents to byepass doing thorough property searches.
It was the intention of Clement Atlee that two generations' suffering should be rewarded by having the freedom of their countryside and this is a point that is not recognised by Harry Cotterell and the CLA. It was a PRoW officer who pointed out to me that many of the anomalies and gaps in the DM were due to the need for Parish Councils to implement the recording of RoWs and the control local landowners have had over these.
Why raise these points here? Cause and Effect. The access network earns huge revenues for the rural community and yet the landowners organisation refuse to recognise this by their denial of the part they played in the damaging flaws left the network by undemocratic action by their former members.
It is in the very Parish (and adjacent parishes) occupied by the author in chief of the CLA's policy on Access we see the reluctance to record those ways, which today could give access to major access assets.
In following up another topic, the intention of Shropshire's Access team to add linear routes to the Shropshire Way, an area with well below average access can be seen to have forced a detour, which completely destroys the logic of a linear way. It is a shame that the poster DM (2 posts) has not followed up on this attempt to encourage members of the forum to comment on another website, without more input here.
Perhaps another reason for HB coming onto this forum and fishing for comment may be connected with Shrewsbury wishing to become a Walker Friendly town, a notch in the tourism tick list, there are some pleasant routes into the town from the surrounding countryside but do they go far enough to really push the Borough of Shrewsbury high up the list as 'walker friendly'. The measure of this can be seen in the surrounding Xzones, this means the town is surrounded be landowners, who have historically shown themselves reluctant to show welcome onto their land. This is reinforced by the historic ways foot traffic used to enter the market town not having been recorded as rights of way on the Definitive Map. Any walker using an Ordnance Survey map might get a sense of this from finding PRoWs, which end at Parish Boundaries, to the advantage of of the Estate where the way should continue through. The limitation of the surrounding access does not allow walkers safe routes to the destinations that should be linked to the town.
There is a story, told with relish by some landowners of a land agent, Gordon Miller by name, he acted for at least 7 Estates around the town and was also Chairman of the Atcham and Rural District Council at the time of the formation of the Definitive Map. The ARDC as I seem to remember it was called completely surrounded the Borough of Shrewsbury and in the interest of his client Estates it is told that Gordon Miller 'stripped out' many of the old paths from inclusion in the DM and so are not PRoW today. If they were there, what would be the impact on today's access network? Is it worth speculating on the value of added continuity of way, a real 'Walker Friendly Town' where the surrounding hospitality matches that hoped for by this title?
This post is an example of how the embedded attitude of landowners completely undermines the efforts of the wider community to move forward into the 21st Century. Shrewsbury's intention to become a Walker Friendly town will surely be a poor accolade with 8 estates surrounding, all landscaped into prime countryside, reluctant to share this natural amenity. As a speculative exercise it might be interesting to explore the possibilities of an access network that could have developed with those old ways in place and as an extra ingredient imagine a mindset of landowners wishing to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
In a time when it was not the duty of individuals on public bodies to declare 'other interests', I will place Gordon Miller on the map, he lived in a house on the Attingham Estate owned by Lord Berwick and now National Trust. The adjoining Longner Estate also used his services. So to start by using this example of a PRoW ending abruptly at a Parish boundary and the loss of continuance being to the advantage of the privacy of the House and Estate in the Parish, where the way ceases. I can also place Gordon Miller, Estate Agent, on this map.
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Arrow 4 places Gordon Miller's home. Arrows 1 points to the anomaly of a PRoW ending at a Parish Boundary and Arrow 2 indicates the other end of a way once shown on earlier OS maps. Arrow 3 indicates the position of an ancient bridge, which no longer exists, which may have indicated that this way took heavier traffic to the ferry, other than the recorded footpath, shown at Arrow 1.
Had this way been on the Definitive Map it is possible that the value of a river crossing, once provided by the ferry, could have been included when the bridge was built for the A5(T). This crossing would put the summit of Haughmond Hill (Trig Point) within 2.3 miles walking distance of the south east of the town.
An interesting possibility might be seen here; 300yds downstream from the ferry a weir is mapped. This is the remains of one of several fish weirs, which can be found along the Severn north and south of the town. I have read that there is a connection with this fish weir, which we as children used to call the Salmon Trap, with the monks of Haughmond Abbey. I think that this weir is unique from the others as it is stone based, others were wood pilings. Should the idea occur to restore the fish weir as part of Shrewsbury's history, the means of crossing the river here, so close to old ways leading to the ferry, might be revived. A fish weir comes with a byelet, and island which creates a narrow channel between the end of the weir and the far bank. A short enough distance for a small bridge, a restored stone weir could have a walkway above so the means of crossing the river in a very attractive rural setting, with a strong historical meaning, on foot and well away from the traffic flow of the town.
This would put Lord Hill's Column in Shrewsbury a 3 mile walk from the trig Point on Haughmond Hill. It creates a second walkable link with the towns nearest and main local walking destination. But it could be a far more useful feature of attraction, there is the remains (segments of PRoWs) of two market day routes, the one using the ferry to reach Shrewsbury 5-6 miles east from Withington and Roddington and another where country folk also walked to Wellington markets. Although these routes have been interrupted sufficient remain to provide a corridor of countryside joining the two market towns. All it needs is the goodwill of those, who have inherited the obstructions, to see the value of allowing these ways to reopened.
A cross Shropshire linear route focused on Shrewsbury and Wellington is 50 – 60 miles, in 1990 a survey on the Pennine Way by Natural England showed it's earning power to be around £8000 per mile per year, for every £5000 of earning power 55 miles will yield £275,000 per annum. Actually the potential earning power of good routes now seems to be much higher, is it a good route; answer, the one I walked is 'yes' if I take out of the equation resentful growers, hostile landowners and obstructions due to being off-piste, on the Wellington – Shrewsbury section. Shrewsbury to the Welshpool is again fraught with unattractive options, where the legacy of Gordon Miller seems have been at work.
Question must be, what is the cost of landowners resentment of the 1949 Act and their obstruction in the compilation of the Definitive Map. West of Shrewsbury there is a huge X zone, largely centred on an Estate I know was one of Gordon Millers. It forced the Severn Way north of the river to a long stretch of tarmac, it also hides one of the best river crossings of the Severn, which is another anomaly and a story for another day.