When the appeal for helpers on this Project appeared on the ECR website in the Autumn, I was intrigued and immediately volunteered.
The initial part of this project, of identifying those paths which don’t appear on the ‘Rights of Way’ definitive maps of Cheshire East and Chester & Cheshire West websites, is well in hand. Chris Meezewen, the Footpaths Officer for our neighbouring Congleton Ramblers Group, is coordinating the project at this stage and, after he had briefed me, I set about the task of systematically checking hundreds of historic large scale maps against the definitive maps of both Council areas.
I was supplied by Chris with a map on disk covering the old county of Cheshire which included such areas as the Wirral, districts of Warrington and Halton as well the old Cheshire ‘pan handle’ which stretches up to Stalybridge. For the purpose of this exercise we are currently only checking those areas which fall within the new boundaries of Chester & Cheshire West and Cheshire East. Divided into 67 areas, each area is sub-divided into sixteen historic large scale maps dating around 1900. These maps are normally arranged 4 across and 4 down. Currently there are eight people working on the checking aspect of the project with each person being allocated an area at a time.
I found the best way of undertaking this task was to juxtapose my desktop PC with my laptop PC. On the desktop I displayed each large scale map which I enlarged to 300% to get good detail. Meanwhile on my laptop, I displayed the ‘Rights of Way’ definitive map of the area I was working in and that I had displayed at the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance survey base (same scale as the O.S. Explorer Series). The advantage with this is that it shows all the field boundaries. On my desktop I have set up an Excel spreadsheet to document each lost path I found and this includes recording the unique listed numbered area as supplied together with the map number in that area. The parish in which the path lies is recorded together with the footpath number if available. Ten figure grid references are then added at either end of the lost path. Finally a brief description is written to indicate the start point, direction the path runs and an end point. Often a named farm or lane can be used.
So what is a ‘lost path’? The criterion used is to identify any path with the wording ‘FP’ marked alongside a dotted line(s) which doesn’t appear on the ‘rights of Way’ definitive map of Cheshire East or Chester & Cheshire West maps. With each historic map displayed and enlarged to 300% on your desktop the map is checked against the appropriate rights of way definitive map. A dotted line without the wording ‘FP’ is not included as a lost path as there is no evidence that this was ever a right of way; and these so called tracks or paths run into the hundreds. To date I have checked many areas across Cheshire and so far there appears to be many more lost paths in the west of the county than the east. As of mid February I have identified over 300 so called lost paths and there are still a number of areas which remain to be checked. Hopefully, this first part of this task should be completed during March this year. It is an ideal project to get your teeth into on these dull wet winter days.
A few pockets of countryside have changed little especially country estates but in other parts, such as modern urban areas like Ellesmere Port or industrial complexes such as the Stanlow Oil Refinery, the landscape today resembles very little of the past. As you can imagine, and with a career in cartography I am finding this is a very interesting project and it is fascinating to see how the countryside around us has changed in the past one hundred years.
Colin Park
If you would like to participate in this important project and help us discover and restore our lost paths then please speak to Colin or any Committee member in the first instance. And RA Central Office is holding a free Seminar on this subject in Manchester on Saturday 9th April to provide further information and guidance.
You can check this out on the Ramblers National website or get direct information from the Organiser who is Ed Wilson tel 0207 339 8520 or Email: volunteersupport@ramblers.zendesk.com