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The Discovering Lost Ways Project
Further to the enactment of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, the Government asked the Countryside Agency to establish an effective process by which historic rights of way (those in existence before 1949) could be identified and to then submit claims to the relevant authority so that the Definitive Map could be amended. This was to be done before the cut off date of 1 January 2026 (set by Part II of the Act).
The process is to bring to light ways, which are currently not identified on the Definitive Map and also any higher rights, which may exist over ways, which are already recorded.
Extensive preliminary research was undertaken to gauge the scale and nature of the task and options for taking it forward and the implementation phase of the Project has now been entered.
Further to a competitive tendering process the Countryside Agency let a contract in July 2004 to establish an Archive Research Unit. The Archive Research Unit will carry out a systematic examination of records in the national and county record offices to identify the historic sources of evidence for right of way, including both those that are missing and those with higher rights.
This detailed evidence collection has started with research at the National Archives at Kew, utilising the central collection of Tithe and Finance Act Records. This will be followed by a staged approach to county-based research in local record offices, beginning in the two lead areas, Wiltshire and Cheshire. In advance of this evidence collection, base maps are being prepared using OS contemporary mapping 1:10,000 Raster data, supplemented with available local authority information. A comparison will be made with digitised OS pre-war Historical Map Data County Series.
Before the research begins in each county an Archive Research Plan will be drawn up, in close liaison with rights of way and archive office staff and experienced volunteers, to help direct the scope of the research based on local knowledge. It is anticipated that individual volunteers and user groups will play a vital role at this stage in assisting with the research and providing supporting evidence using their local knowledge. Consultation with representatives from user groups is currently being undertaken on how best to involve volunteers and provide appropriate training.
Archive research in the two lead areas will be completed by May 2005. This will be expanded to collect all of the available evidence for ten counties by the end of the third year of the contract, although the order in which counties will be researched has yet to be finalised. Countrywide coverage is anticipated in less than ten years.