mikem said:Most of our rights of way are just the routes locals took to visit their neighbours, work or church.
Possibly smaller population and differing terrain. There are plenty of 'green roads' in Southern Ireland but I don't know what their status is.NeilC said:mikem said:Most of our rights of way are just the routes locals took to visit their neighbours, work or church.
That reminds me of something that's always puzzled me - as almost all rights of way have come about simply because they were the routes that people used to get about, most people having no means of transport other than by foot until comparatively recently, why are there so few of them in Scotland and Ireland? Presumably people there needed to walk about just as much as English people did? And given the more dispersed settlement patterns, I'd have expected more paths rather than fewer.
mrodoc said:Possibly smaller population and differing terrain. There are plenty of 'green roads' in Southern Ireland but I don't know what their status is.NeilC said:mikem said:Most of our rights of way are just the routes locals took to visit their neighbours, work or church.
That reminds me of something that's always puzzled me - as almost all rights of way have come about simply because they were the routes that people used to get about, most people having no means of transport other than by foot until comparatively recently, why are there so few of them in Scotland and Ireland? Presumably people there needed to walk about just as much as English people did? And given the more dispersed settlement patterns, I'd have expected more paths rather than fewer.
mikem said:They were also "owned" by the landed gentry, who didn't want their tenants to have rights.
Who were the English establishing their independence from??mikem said:Yes, but by the time the footpaths were legitimised, the English were already establishing their independence...
Stuart France said:I am sorry, but Ireland, Scotland etc are off topic.