Timeline: A Walking History

1815 Parliament passes legislation by which, if two justices of the peace agreed 'that any public Highway, Bridleway or Footway is unnecessary, it shall and may be lawful by Order of such Justices, or any Two of them, to stop up and to sell and dispose of such unnecessary Highway, Bridleway or Footway'. (Early walkers faced many real dangers).

1824 The Association for the Protection of Ancient Footpaths in the Vicinity of York founded as a direct result of the threat to footpaths.

1826 The Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Footpaths founded.

1865 Commons Preservation Society (now Open Spaces Society)  formed; originally to fight for open spaces in London, but later its interests become national.

1884 National Footpaths Preservation Society established.

1880s A number of early ramblers clubs, from which the Ramblers' Association would emerge, are formed. The Sunday Tramps (1879), Manchester YMCA Rambling Club (1880), the London Polytechnic Club, the Forest Ramblers (1884) and G.H.B Ward's Sheffield Clarion Ramblers (1888), the latter an offshoot of the socialist magazine, The Clarion, are amongst the first.
(The Forest Ramblers and Polytechnic Rambling Club before setting off)

1884 James Bryce MP introduced the first bill for freedom to roam. The bill was reintroduced every year until 1914 and failed each time.

1892 The West of Scotland Ramblers' Alliance formed.

1894 The Peak District and Northern Counties Footpaths Preservation Society formed. Renamed the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society (PNFS) in 1896, it is the oldest surviving organisation concerned with walking in Britain.
(One of the rambling movement's founding fathers, G.B.H Ward)

1895 The National Trust founded with the intention of ' the protection of the public interests in open spaces.'

1905 The Federation of English Rambling Clubs formed by representatives of approximately twelve rambling clubs.

1919 Manchester Ramblers' Council, the first regional federation of clubs, formed.

1922 Liverpool and District Federation of rambling clubs formed.

1926 Council for the Preservation of Rural England (now Campaign to Protect Rural England) formed, one of the earliest environmental groups.
Law of Property Act ensures the public right of access to all urban commons.
Sheffield and District Federation of rambling clubs formed.

1930 Youth Hostels Association (now YHA England & Wales) formed as a joint initiative between rambling, cycling and youth organisations.

1931 A National Council of Ramblers' Federations established at a meeting at Longshaw in the Peak District. This meeting appointed an Executive Committee and became the first truly national body representing the interests of walkers.

1932 The controversial Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout takes place in April. During the trespass ramblers are attacked by gamekeepers, the trespass ringleaders are later arrested; six people are sent to jail. National Council of Ramblers' Federations opposes the action.
The Rights of Way Act simplifies the law relating to footpaths, the bill has been introduced eleven times since 1906.
(The Kinder Scout Mass Trespass sets off in high spirits, but ends in arrest)

1935 The Ramblers' Association (RA) formed when the National Council of Ramblers' Federations votes a change of title to Ramblers' Association from 1 January 1935.
(T.A Leonard, the RA's first Chairman)

1936 Standing Committee on National Parks (now Council for National Parks) formed.

1938 RA's first office opens in Liverpool.

1939 The Access to Mountains Act. A right of access to mountains had been central to ramblers ambitions, but this Bill would only have allowed access upon application and made certain types of trespass a criminal offence. A ferocious campaign to change the Bill is launched. The Bill passes into law with little alteration, but is never fully implemented due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

1940 RA publishes a leaflet Walking in Wartime giving advice on the necessary precautions such as always carrying your ID card and being home before dark.

1945 RA headquarters relocated to London indicating the importance of the RA's parliamentary work.
(The post-war vision of countryside access was often idealised, whereas cartoonists tended to go for the more obvious jokes)

1947 The Hobhouse Committee, a Parliamentary committee, recommended legislation for public access to open countryside.

1948 Tom Stephenson, a tireless campaigner for walkers' rights, appointed the RA's first full-time secretary. The position only becomes salaried in 1952.

1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act establishes National Parks in England and Wales (the first in the Peak District in 1951). The Act also provides for the creation of long distance paths, access agreements to specific areas of open country, the surveying and recording of all footpaths onto a definitive map and the production of the Country Code.
(The late 1940s saw great leaps forward for countryside recreation and protection, at the forefront was Tom Stephenson)

1952 Ramblers' Association membership exceeds 10,000.

1958 Ordinance Survey is persuaded by the RA to show public rights of way in England and Wales, as they are shown on definitive maps, on its popular map series. This simple act is instrumental in making the countryside more accessible to people.

1959 The Highways Act places responsibility for maintaining rights of way onto Highway Authorities in England and Wales, mainly County Councils, rather than the "inhabitants at large".
(Many serious problems confront walkers as they attempt to go for a country walk, one of which is intimidating signs)

1965 The country's first long distance footpath, the 429km/286 mile Pennine Way (now the Pennine Way National Trail), opens 30 years after Tom Stephenson proposed it. Many more promoted walking routes will follow, both National Trails supported by Central Government and other routes supported by local councils.

1967 Ramblers Wales founded.

1968 The Countryside Act gives county councils in England and Wales, among other things, a duty to signpost footpaths. It also seeks to widen the scope of the 1949 Act by widening the definition of open country to include woodland and riverside. (No new access agreements for such land have since been made under this Act).

1974 Ramblers Scotland founded.

1980 The West Highland Way opens, Scotland's first official Long Distance Route (equivalent to a National Trail).

1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act introduces provisions for keeping Definitive Maps under continual review in England and Wales. Now any person has the right to apply for a right of way to be added to the definitive map.

1985 A fully-fledged campaign for freedom to roam is  launched by the Ramblers as the Forbidden Britain Campaign, identifying areas from which the public were unreasonably barred, and campaigning for a right of access to them.

1986 Ramblers' Association exceeds 50,000.

1990 Rights of Way Act (England and Wales). Edward Leigh MP introduces a Private Members Bill after the RA's Lincolnshire Area takes him for a walk to see footpath problems. This Bill becomes the Rights of Way Act, introducing new laws on the reinstatement of paths after ploughing and cropping.
(The ploughing and cropping of footpaths is one of the most common problems facing walkers in the countryside)

1994 Ramblers' Association membership exceeds 100,000 (currently membership stands at 142,000).

1997 The Labour government announces it's intention to introduce a freedom to roam on mountain, moor, heath, down and common land.

2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act. Although best known for creating a legal right to walk in open, uncultivated country (mountain, moor, heath, down and common land) in England and Wales, this Act also introduces the concept of Rights of Way Improvement Plans. It also gives the public the ability to serve notice on Highway Authorities to remove obstructions and introduces a cut-off date for claiming rights of way that existed before 1949.
Legislation passed to allow National Parks in Scotland.
(The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, the most significant access legislation since 1949)

2001 Blanket closure of the British countryside in response to an epidemic of foot and mouth disease (FMD). FMD has a devastating effect on farming and, as people stay away from the countryside, the rural economy. The Government concedes such widespread closures are unlikely to be repeated in any future epidemic.
(The Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic closed the countryside to walkers and had disastrous consequences for rural businesses)

2002 In July Scotland's first National Park, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs, opens. This is swiftly followed by the Cairngorms National Park in November. Disappointingly, the Cairngorms Park does not include Highland Perthshire; a campaign to get this region included in the park begins.

2003 Land Reform Act passed in Scotland giving a general right of statutory access to all land and providing for the development of local path networks by councils. Eventually, this Act will give Scotland the best access regime in Europe.
Wales' National Walking and Cycling Strategy adopted by the Welsh Assembly, Britain's first national strategic plan to increase levels of walking for health, transport and pleasure.
(The country's most famous footpath, the 'van Hoogstraten' path, is finally opened by a High Court order, over a decade after being blocked)

2004 The Walking Plan for London, aimed at making London one of the world's most walker friendly cities by 2015, launched by the Mayor and Transport for London, Britain's first regional strategic plan for walking.
The New Forest becomes the first National Park for nearly fifty years, giving the nation's highest form of environmental protection to an historically important landscape.  Environmental groups express concern that the government has fudged the boundaries allowing development to go unchecked on the fringe of the park.
The Countryside Code, a replacement for the Country Code of 1950, is launched. The code is an important document for twenty-first century countryside access, setting out the rights and responsibilities of both walker and landowner.

2004/5 Implementation of new access rights under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, region-by-region, beginning with the South East and Lower North West: an historic moment in a campaign that has lasted over a century and is one of the four charitable aims of the RA.

2006 Launch of campaign for coastal access.

2006 Launch of the Use Your Paths Challenge.