Farm Tracks and Private Roads

[Ticktockmy]

One interesting little fact which does come back to haunt the land owners is; During the first world war the British government introduced a land tax, if landowners claimed that a track, or path which crossed their land was a Public right of way they got a discount on their tax.

But the British government of the time being so happy to give them discount, also recorded the fact that a footpath or track had been declared a public right of way, this means that to this day it is still in law a ROW.

Moving on to the present times, present landowners are not aware of this fact, so if you go to the British Library in Euston road you can look at the maps which show what was declared in 1915/1916 as ROW. Then approach your local ROW officer to challenge, any dispute you might have with a landowner who has illegally blocked, gated or refused you the right to use such ROW.

 

[Garz]

Phew..now I need a glass or red wine.

Already on that one mate - cheers! *clink*

 

[Ticktockmy]

A further source of information regarding which track, might be a ROW, is your local All wheel drive club, or Trail Rider Fellowship, as they do a lot of research into the status of tracks.

Bridle way and county or cart roads can be quite interesting to research, indeed when cycling along them most cyclist just bimball along them , without seeing the history they contain. Often bridle ways or trackways might be only useable for say 6 feet width because of the type of modern usage, but there might be undergrowth on either side which if you look through or into you can see that some distance away there are earth banks anything from 1 to 2 foot high, and if the width between banks is anything from 15 to 30 foot or more in some places, then there is a good chance that that bridleway or track way is a old Anglo Saxon drove road.

If how every the bridleway or track way seems to generally have a slight camber to it and the edges are dipping into a ditch and the average width is about 14 feet, then the chances are that it is of Roman date.

Other clues as to it origin, sometimes you find old mile stones sticking out of the undergrowth, which is a good clue to say that the bridle way or track way was once a “main road” indeed a old coach route, but the gem to look for and often embedded into more modern walls, are stone columns anything from 2 to 4 foot high with Latin wording carved into them, that will be or could be a Roman mile post which again dates the bridle way or track way as being a ancient ROW.

 

[Globalti]

Ticktockmy, have a look at the website of the South Pennines Packhorse Trails Trust, you'll find it interesting: http://www.rightsofw.../sppttfront.htm These worthy horse riders are trying to get old packhorse trails that were relegated to FP status in the 60s returned to BW status so they can ride on them.

I wrote an article a few years ago for Singletrack magazine on cycling on the Pennine packhorse trails, of which many remain visible around here. We have some superb examples in Calderdale. Since then the mag has made frequent reference to them so I like to think I opened a few people's eyes to a fascinating part of our history that still fulfils a useful function:


(what's happened to the posting pictures function?)

 

[Ticktockmy]

Ticktockmy, have a look at the website of the South Pennines Packhorse Trails Trust, you'll find it interesting: http://www.rightsofw.../sppttfront.htm These worthy horse riders are trying to get old packhorse trails that were relegated to FP status in the 60s returned to BW status so they can ride on them.

I wrote an article a few years ago for Singletrack magazine on cycling on the Pennine packhorse trails, of which many remain visible around here. We have some superb examples in Calderdale. Since then the mag has made frequent reference to them so I like to think I opened a few people's eyes to a fascinating part of our history that still fulfils a useful function:


(what's happened to the posting pictures function?)

It’s good to see, so many groups have taken up the challenge, with the 2026 cut off date fast approaching, and there are so many more miles of ROW which need to be returned to the correct status.

I have in the past belonged to the British Horse Society, the Trail riders Fellowship and still do belong to the Ramblers and the CTC. Now there is a clash of interests, the BHS only want to get footpaths converted to Bridleway status, the trail riders want footpaths converted to BOATS, the ramblers want everything converted to footpaths. And the CTC sometimes does not know what it wants..LOL

My grissle in the main is with some, not all I hasten to add mountain bike riders, up in the Surrey hills to the North of my home town you see some who have no regard to the signing, which clearly shows that the path is a footpath and not a single track. Then all they are doing is peeing off the land owners which results with everyone being barred. There are a couple of MTB clubs who try to police it on behalf of the landowners, but all they can do is put right the any damage done and whisper in the offenders shell like ear.

I guess the problem is country wide.