Preserving the right to roam on the ridgeway (From Gazette & Herald)

Preserving the right to roam on the ridgeway

The Yorkshire Wolds is home to its own ridgeway, however, one vital part of it is not yet part of a public right of way.

ARTHUR HORNE is trying to gather further 'evidence of use' from people who have traversed this track on foot, horse or cycle sometime in the last 25 years.

YOU may have heard of the famous Ridgeway which marches across the downs of Berkshire, past many a hill-fort and long barrow towards Avebury and Stonehenge.

It has probably been used by man as a highway for some 4,000 years and more, and no one disputes that it is a public right of way (RoW). But did you know that our Yorkshire Wolds has just such a ridgeway and that one vital part of it is not yet a RoW?

Where is this ridgeway? You will find it on the larger scale OS Explorer maps emerging from the outskirts of Bridlington as the B1253 and it follows the valley of the Gipsy Race (on its northern slope) to Rudston, passing close to the tallest standing stone in Britain. Soon it climbs onto a ridge of the Wolds and is named on the map as 'High Street'.

It touches the hamlet of Octon and there changes direction from west to almost south-west and, after crossing the Driffield road, keeps to the ridge all the way to Sledmere.

So far, all this way, it has been a tarred road, rather long and tedious for walking, but a wonderful cycle ride, especially west to east with a wind behind!

At the western end of Sledmere, the B1253 continues and soon runs alongside Towthorpe Plantation on the left but is no longer named on the map. Just short of Canada Cottages, there is a gate into the field on the left and here the Plantation curves gently away to the left and leaves the road, which goes north-west to Duggleby.

If you had been here 30 years ago, or more, you would have seen a trackway curving away close to the Plantation and following it across to the B1248 road where, directly opposite, it continues as a public bridleway.

This track was shown on all maps before then and I am certain that this must be 'High Street'. It still exists in the first field from the west (B1248) end, although in four other fields to the east it has been ploughed up.

Over the road, the bridleway continues in the same general direction for five miles to reach the ancient hilltop enclosure at Aldro as a minor road.

So here we have a through route of 24 miles across the Wolds from Bridlington to Aldro, probably used by mankind for thousands of years, separated into two parts by a gap of less than one-and-a-half miles.

I cannot understand why, when the Aldro track was made a RoW, this bit was left out. The first edition of the one inch to one mile OS map of 1852 shows the track complete alongside the Plantation and curving into the Sledmere road near Canada Cottages.

There are at least eight tumuli (round barrows) in the Plantation or close to the track, which give some indication of its age. It may even have been part of a prehistoric trade route from Ireland to the Continent.

AJ Brown mentions this very track in his book "Tramping in Yorkshire (North & East)" first published in 1932. After leaving Sledmere, he says: "I chose the Duggleby road but branched off at Canada Cottages and struck the old green track that runs straight over Towthorpe Wold towards Aldro.

This is the sort of track I would rather follow than all the metalled roads constructed by man. It must be very old - how old nobody knows, suffice to say that it is a well defined green track running south-west alongside a plantation."

In the year 2000, the publication of the new OS Explorer map of the area (no 300) showed that only one third of the track at the west end still existed and none of it was a RoW.

At about the same time, I also learn that anyone could put in an application to add (or delete) a RoW on the definitive map, or alter its route or status; so I decided to "have a go".

Until 1974, all of this track was in the old East Riding, with a parish boundary following its southern edge. But in that year, this became a county boundary, and most of the track is now in North Yorkshire, with only a length of about 90 yards at the east end remaining in East Yorkshire.

So I wrote to North Yorkshire County Council in January 2001 requesting the means to apply. Eleven months later, they sent me some forms along with a useful little booklet issued by the Countryside Commission on procedure.

I had to find out who owned the land, and although I thought this would be difficult it turned out to be quite easy. I simply wrote to the five surrounding farms or estates (enclosing a sketch map and a stamped return envelope) and asked if they had any objection to telling me if the fields were theirs.

Four replied, three said the land was not theirs, one said they owned only the field west where the track still existed. The other landowner did not bother to reply, so I assumed they owned the other fields.

It is interesting to note that two or three of the local people I have written or spoken to all seem to regard the track as a RoW already. One actually said: "I always thought it was a RoW as most local people do."

Having found the two owners, I had to notify each of them that I intended to apply to the County Council for the track to be reinstated as a public bridleway. I also had to certify to the County Council that I had done this.

In addition, I had to provide "evidence of use" of the track by the public. This was to prove more difficult. I obtained a photocopy of the passage in AJ Brown's book and another of a magazine article which stated that the track was used by a group of cyclists in the late 1930s and, of course, I added details of my own walks over it in 1969-73.

Eventually I sent my application off to the N Yorks CC. They acknowledged receipt on April 11, 2002, adding that, owing to the large number of similar applications they had already to process, it would be "some time" before mine could be dealt with. Since then I have heard nothing more from them on the matter.

However, it is still not too late to send in any further evidence of use. So, if any reader has traversed this track on foot, horse or cycle sometime in the last 25 years (or longer) and wishes to help preserve the right to do so, they should write to me: Arthur J Horne, 27 Garden Flat Lane, Dunnington, York Y019 5NB.

Updated: 12:49 Wednesday, October 19, 2005