The country rambles that millions of us enjoy today are only possible because earlier generations appreciated the unspoilt countryside, asserting their ‘right to roam’. Over time walking has developed from a niche, often challenging pastime into a popular leisure pursuit.

The Romantic landscape
Three centuries ago anyone trudging through fields and woods usually either owned the land, or they worked on it: the idea of wandering up hill and down dale purely for recreation was virtually unknown. In 1715 Daniel Defoe, touring Britain, bemoaned the ‘frightful views’ and ‘howling wilderness’ of the Derbyshire Peak District (now a major National Park), but a few decades later humans’ relationship with their natural surroundings began to shift. Dramatic scenery – soaring mountain peaks, deep forests, rugged ravines and thundering rivers – now attracted philosophers, writers and artists inspired by the more sublime features of the natural world. To Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and other writers of the late 1700s and early 1800s, wild, untamed nature was both authentic and innocent, yet magnificent, even terrifying, communicating a profound sense of awe.

Over time the work of many influential English authors including Jane Austen and, later, Thomas Hardy has been shaped by a deep attachment to their local surroundings, the locations described in their novels still informing walkers’ routes in parts of southern England today. Similarly, the dramatic paintings of artists such as Joseph Wright of Derby and the picturesque scenes of JMW Turner and John Constable, besides elevating the status of English landscape painting, also inspired affluent late-Georgian tourists to visit in person the scenery first admired on canvas.

Rural escape
Romantic culture also coincided with the Industrial Revolution, the fast-growing urban environment bringing the countryside into sharper focus. The relentless clamour, smoke pollution and grim squalor of industrial towns and cities provoked a response from ordinary people, a yearning for more tranquil, restorative surroundings, fresh air and wide horizons. Hence, during the early 19th century a custom arose for recreational walking among mill and factory workers from northern manufacturing centres such as Manchester, York, Leeds and Glasgow – all within reach of meadows and pastures nearby.

As early as 1824 the Association for the Protection of Ancient Footpaths in the Vicinity of York was formed, followed in 1826 by the Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Footpaths. These pioneering organisations that aimed to secure pleasant and convenient walking routes for ordinary working people seeking sanctuary in the neighbouring hills and dales were the first to try to preserve the natural landscape for human use.

Early walking groups sometimes attracted members from quite diverse social and occupational backgrounds. As the pursuit became more established in the mid-1800s, dedicated publications appeared, such as Hugh MacDonald’s Rambles around Glasgow (1854), detailing lengthy walks beyond the city, accompanied by history notes and comments on the local flora. There was much to learn by exploring the landscape on foot and many textile workers and artisans became self-educated through their rambles, growing highly knowledgeable about geology and botany.

A Victorian pursuit
Wider enjoyment of the countryside began to advance when the expanding Victorian railway network offered enhanced travel opportunities to all but the poorest in society. In time some long-distance railway routes catered chiefly for walkers and eventually it became possible for Londoners using the Great Western Railway to enjoy a mid-day walk on Dartmoor, returning home the same day. In the mid-1800s the Lancashire mill towns established Saturday as a half-day holiday for workers; the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 gave others increased leisure time, encouraging more people to leave the confines of the city for the open spaces beyond.

The harsher, more remote regions of the British Isles remained effectively inaccessible until the 20th century, due to limited communications, difficult terrain and a real fear of wild beasts. However, for many of our late-Victorian ancestors, diverse areas of Britain came within easier reach, from the rolling South Downs to the craggy Yorkshire Dales. Many highly organised local walking and rambling clubs existed by the late-1800s. Male ramblers donned their tweed breeches, ‘breathable’ socks and cloth caps or summer straw hats before setting off into the countryside. Women adopted masculine felt hats or shady straw boaters, stout boots and practical ankle-length hemlines, a sturdy umbrella serving as both walking stick and parasol.

An improving pastime
Energetic walking provided invigorating physical exercise and mental liberation from the routine of work and domestic life. It could also offer ordinary people the potential to elevate themselves intellectually and socially. There was a sense of seriousness and sobriety about walking, with Congregationalist church and temperance groups often encouraging the pastime, even forming their own walking clubs. Joining wholesome expeditions into the countryside implied a rejection of the more vulgar urban entertainments common in manufacturing towns, especially rowdy music halls and taverns. Ramblers generally prided themselves on their intelligent interest in the world around them, and, unleashed from everyday trappings to freely roam moor and mountain, valued their independence of thought. Some walking club members were firm believers in democracy and social progress, like GHB Ward, founder of the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers in 1900, a group aimed at the intellectual and physical improvement of working men: a steelworks’ engineer, Ward eventually became a prominent Labour Party figure and was also a key walkers’ rights activist.

‘Keep Out’
The history of popular rambling in Britain is part of the wider story of social conflict, as the rural elite and ordinary working people battled over issues concerning property ownership and use. As generations of land-owning aristocrats, rural gentry, their estate managers and gamekeepers used lethal traps, shotguns and threatening notices to deter urban dwellers from entering their pastures and woods, walkers wishing to enjoy time-honoured rights of way through the countryside were effectively taking on the Establishment.

Ever since the Reformation new landlords had been seizing former ecclesiastical estates and from the 18th century successive Parliamentary Acts of Enclosure carved up more of the land on which rural communities traditionally lived and worked. Areas once considered common land were requisitioned by great estate owners, fuelling disputes about not only country people’s rights of way, but also their right to trap small animals and gather berries, nuts and wood – essential resources. Fences, hedges and stone walls marked new boundaries, forming physical barriers, a restricting process that also reflected new agricultural practises. Precisely when urban populations were rising sharply, many ancient footpaths bisecting the landscape were being closed, limiting townspeople’s access to the open countryside.

As we have seen, northern towns formed early footpath preservation societies during the 1820s, and in 1833 a Select Committee on Public Walks was formed. Yet heated debates and confrontations between keen Victorian and Edwardian walkers and the authorities continued. Rural landlords seemed determined to keep labourers and other ‘trespassers’ off their private property, farmers also fearing damage to their fields. Even public works like municipal water boards, believing that ramblers would pollute their reservoirs with infectious diseases, restricted access to surrounding areas. With land ownership and freedom of use becoming increasingly contested, ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’ signs were a familiar sight throughout Britain, well into the 20th century.

New directions
After the Great War, rambling in Britain advanced, becoming a nationwide movement, and in 1931 the establishment of the National Council of Ramblers’ Federations brought together members from walking groups up and down the country. In 1932 there occurred a major clash between walkers and landowners known as the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout moorland, the point marking the beginning of the 272-mile Pennine Way. Seen as a pivotal moment in the battle over access to traditional footpaths, the aftermath brought widespread support for walkers, encouraging even greater interest in walking and rambling. The government had been considering nationalising swathes of land as early as the 1920s, to allocate free spaces for everyone’s use. In 1949 the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed, creating a legal blueprint for future parks and specifying ease of access from the main centres of population.

The great outdoors
Developments favouring walkers’ rights of way dovetailed with an even more pronounced interest in the outdoors between the wars. Influenced by contemporary writers such as JB Priestley, nostalgic for his childhood rambles in Yorkshire, and a growing cult of health and fitness, fresh country air and physical exercise were attracting walkers from all social backgrounds. An energetic hiker might cover 30 or more miles on a summer’s day, as did my father, who regularly walked from north London into the depths of Hertfordshire.

Walking not only promoted strength and stamina, but also a slender, athletic form – the new physical ideal. Gaining a suntan was also becoming fashionable, and more relaxed leisure wear was designed to free and expose the limbs. During the 1930s younger hikers adopted shorts for the first time, open-necked short-sleeved shirts and comfortable jerseys or loose jackets –practical and versatile separates perfect for walking holidays and weekend rambles.

Short trips could be extended into longer tours by pitching a tent or staying overnight in modest bed and breakfast accommodation. In 1930 the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) was established in Britain with a specific remit: ‘To help all, but especially young people, to a greater knowledge, use and love of the countryside, particularly by providing hostels or other accommodation for them on their travels.’

Train travel remained convenient for many ramblers and hikers, until the Beeching cuts restructured the railways during the 1960s, closing many useful country stations. By then private car ownership was rising sharply, enabling more families to drive themselves out into the countryside. Provisions and local maps were available from village shops and popular walking guides like Alfred Wainwright’s 1950s/1960s pocketbooks covering the Lakeland Fells became trusted reference works.

During the past half-century ramblers have experienced more freedom to wander, as old boundaries, real and perceived, have shifted and ideas about land and property ownership have broadened. Reportedly up to one-third of Britons enjoy regular country walks today. Whether for healthy exercise, escape from daily toil, appreciation of picturesque scenery and the natural world, social interaction with like-minded companions, or all of those reasons, we are also revisiting our shared rural past, treading the lanes and footpaths worn smooth by the feet of our ancestors.