Past Talks
Highways & Byways: History of our Footpaths
Date: 20th April 2026
Speaker: Robert Evans
Robert Evans, a retired professional historian and active member of the Ramblers, explained that people made paths for different purposes throughout history and they reflect the fact that, in the past, most people walked to their destinations. Named as a track, way, lane, trail, alley, thoroughfare and many other regional words, they began in the pre-historic period, the Icknield Way and Ridgeway in the local area and trods on the North York Moors, being examples. These were long, broad, straight routes. The Abbott’s Way, which crosses the Somerset Levels is a lowland pathway constructed of transverse alder boughs and known as a corduroy road.
In the Middle Ages, paths had no clear legal status and disputes were resolved in local courts. In the 16th century, maps and plans began to define ownership, rather than access. Early maps of enclosure showed paths and roads for the first time, but small tracks which had surrounded pre-enclosure strips were often lost.
In the late 19th century, paths began to become classified and were categorised by width and surface. Main roads were the widest and best maintained, and many became trunk roads after 1936, managed by county councils. The turnpikes, established in the 18th/19th centuries, were the first, efficient, long-distant roads since those constructed by the Romans. (A local example being the Roman road across Otmoor, which linked Alchester and Dorchester). The ownership of lower status paths moved to local authorities, with the larger routes (highways) managed by district councils and the smaller paths (byways, green lanes, holloways, bridleways and footpaths) by parish councils.
From the early 19th century, numerous groups emerged, seeking to protect paths and open spaces. These included the Association for the Preservation of Footpaths (York 1824), the National Fieldpaths Society (1865), the Commons Preservation Society, the Ramblers Association and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (1926). The City of London Corporation purchased Epping Forest in 1878 and Burnham Beeches in 1880 to protect them.
The Rights of Way Act 1932 encouraged mapping of rights of way and allowed for the formal dedication of paths used by the public where there had been twenty years of uninterrupted usage.
A militant working class in northern England campaigned for access to mountains and moorland. Although the mass trespass on Kinder Scout (Derbyshire) in 1932 is the most well-known, an event in 1896 on Winter Hill in Lancashire saw 10,000 protesters, mostly from Bolton, gather to claim an ancient right of way across the hill. Less radical activists in the south of the country staged the Hiker’s Mystery Express No. 1 in 1932 to facilitate ramblers’ walks in the countryside. 1500 people set off from Paddington. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 was the result of this agitation.
In the meantime, many footpaths were being lost, principally due to military takeover of land and new farming methods. The Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 favoured the north of England, as it refers to areas of 'mountain, moor, heath and down' in addition to registered common land; not all uncultivated land is covered. A review of public rights of way, including limited rights to create new public footpaths where needed, is being conducted under the Act, but the deadline for claiming historic paths has been abandoned.
The Oxford area had rambling societies from the 1920s, including the Oxford Fieldpaths Society founded in 1926, and local champions, notably John Ruskin, William Morris and ‘Colonel’ d’Arcy Dalton.
Robert Evans sited many local routes, such as the intriguingly named Peep-O-Day Lane from Abingdon to Sutton Courtenay without crossing the River Thames; Steventon Causeway – a three-quarter mile long earthen embankment; the ford over the River Ray at Islip - the mediaeval road linking London and Worcester crossed the river at this point; the lane leading to the Badger’s Well at Appleton; the drove road at Cothill, a wide road planted with trees that the animals could graze on en route; the Singing Way through Wytham Woods and several others in the area.
Questions at the end of the talk brought up examples of paths closed for one day each year to avoid classification as a right of way. The area in front of the old Lloyds Bank in Sheep Street was suggested by a former bank employee, who recalled the practice.
Sally James