by peter Lazenby
A SERIES of guides to walks across formerly "forbidden" land across Yorkshire and the North has been launched by the Ramblers' Association.
Their publication marks the culmination of a centuries-long battle which followed the seizing of much of the open moorland of England and Wales by private landowners.
Today, new legislation known popularly as the "Right to Roam" is being rolled out across England and Wales re-opening the land to the people.
The land was taken into private ownership by a series of Enclosures Acts between 1760 and 1840, and by the mid-19th century vast tracts of land had been declared private, accessible only to the landowners who claimed them.
There was resistance, and enormous resentment among many ordinary people at their loss of rights to walk on and use common land.
The enclosures meant the end of thousands of smallholdings which enabled rural communities to survive.
Hunger and starvation ensued. Rather than return the common land to the people to enable them to live, the authorities introduced Poor Laws, and the dreaded "workhouse." Country people were driven to towns and cities.
Although the Government's Countryside and Rights of Way Act stops short of restoring common ownership of the land to the public, it does make accessible many thousands of acres of some of Britain's most beautiful mountain and moorland countryside.
In September last year the legislation came into effect in an area stretching from Bowland Forest in the Pennines in the north, to the Peak District in the south, including many of West Yorkshire's moorlands.
Books
Journalist and keen walker Andrew Bibby, from Hebden Bridge, is series editor of the new guide books mapping out walks on the newly-opened land.
The guides, entitled Freedom to Roam, are being produced in partnership with the Ramblers' Association.
Introducing the South Pennines and Bronte Moors guide, Mr Bibby said: "For years it was the dream of many to be able to walk across mountain top, moorland and heath, free of the risk of being confronted by a 'Keep Out' sign or being turned back by a gamekeeper.
"The sense of frustration that the hills were, in many cases, out of bounds to ordinary people was captured in the song The Manchester Rambler by one of the best-known figures in Britain's post-war folk revival, Ewan MacColl.
"The song, which was inspired by the 1932 'mass trespass' on Kinder Scout when walkers from Sheffield and Manchester took to the forbidden Peak District hills, tells the tale of an encounter between a walker, trespassing on open land, and an irate gamekeeper."
The series of guides is dedicated to the memory of Benny Rothman, one of the leaders of the 1932 Kinder Scout mass trespass who was imprisoned for his part in what was deemed to be a 'riotous assembly.'
The Ramblers' Association was formed in 1935, mainly as a result of the campaign to regain access to formerly common land. It had been hoped the introduction of the National Parks after the Second World War might restore access to the land but it did not happen. Not until the Labour Government of 1997 was elected did work begin on legislation to re-open the land.
"So now, at last, we do have freedom to roam," said Mr Bibby.
l The Freedom to Roam series will be available in bookshops from March 28 , costing £7.99 each.