'Lost' cycle ways

[mjr]

New video, new discussion at https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/lets-rescue-britains-forgotten-1930s-cycleways.226396/

 

[Ajax Bay]

Then it's no longer a road it's a pedestrian area.

So before motor traffic and bicycles, were there no roads?

Early doors there were no roads; there were 'ways'. A way was a route where riders (on horses) 'rode' and might be known (by C17) as roadways, truncated into roads (?C18). But these were routes which could be ridden on horseback. So routes/ways whether for going, narrowness or a legal reason (unlikely), could not be ridden (in modern parlance footpaths or 'pedestrian areas') were not 'Roads'. So @byegad 's line of argument has a modicum of merit. HTH (and illuminates if not answers @mjr 's question).

 

[BoldonLad]

Here's a pic of one of the paths in Sunderland which are marked on the map.

There's one on the other side of the road as well.

View attachment 351598

Is that Durham Road, just passed where the Prospect Pub (now a Lidl/Aldi) was, if travelling away from Sunderland?

 

[byegad]

Early doors there were no roads; there were 'ways'. A way was a route where riders (on horses) 'rode' and might be known (by C17) as roadways, truncated into roads (?C18). But these were routes which could be ridden on horseback. So routes/ways whether for going, narrowness or a legal reason (unlikely), could not be ridden (in modern parlance footpaths or 'pedestrian areas') were not 'Roads'. So @byegad 's line of argument has a modicum of merit. HTH (and illuminates if not answers @mjr 's question).

I suspect this has been long repealed by common usage.

 

[Pale Rider]

Is that Durham Road, just passed where the Prospect Pub (now a Lidl/Aldi) was, if travelling away from Sunderland?

It is.

There's a similar width stretch on the other side of the road as well.

The bit on the westbound side carries on past what used to be Sunderland West/Farringdon Hall police station, and then over the crest where it conks out as the road levels.

Little used, not least because there's a cycle path to the south which runs parallel and involves a lot less cimbing if you are leaving Sunderland in the direction of Durham City.

 

[BoldonLad]

It is.

There's a similar width stretch on the other side of the road as well.

The bit on the westbound side carries on past what used to be Sunderland West/Farringdon Hall police station, and then over the crest where it conks out as the road levels.

Little used, not least because there's a cycle path to the south which runs parallel and involves a lot less cimbing if you are leaving Sunderland in the direction of Durham City.

Not on one of my "Cycling Routes", but, I have passed there in car many times, en-route to visit one of more of three daughters who live reasonably near there, and have never noticed it.

Looking at the GoogleMap, in the link, I see there is a bit of history even nearer to me, alongside A184 at East Boldon, I can claim to have ridden than, although again, there is a better cycle route within a short distance, if you know where to look for it.