AVON AREA AND ITS GROUPS

History & Prehistory

Action to protect rights of way and public access to open spaces did not begin with the Ramblers’ Association. In 19th century Bristol, Joseph Leech campaigned to keep paths open and to preserve Leigh Woods, one of the first properties to be acquired by the National Trust. “General” Mathias, in the course of a twenty-seven year battle against the Merchant Venturers incidentally caused the legal decision that a perambulator is not a carriage but the natural accompaniment of a pedestrian. Popular protest led to the 1861 Downs Act that ought to prevent misuse of the City’s major open space. The Bristol and District Foot-path Preservation Society won two significant victories: one by preventing the closure of the path to St Anne’s Ferry, the other by asserting the right of local people to use Walton Down as a village green.

In 18thC Bath, the fashionable promenaded the streets to show themselves off; in contrast rambling demanded no fellow-spectators. It was undertaken for its own agreeable sake, combining outdoor exercise with easy explorations of Bath’s highly picturesque, walker-friendly countryside. The great orientalist William Jones, at Bath for a month in 1777, believed he got much more out of wandering the hills and valleys than ‘those who amuse themselves with walking backwards and forwards on the parades’. The sole obstacle to would-be pedestrians was the lack of well-maintained local paths, strictly a parish responsibility. In 1775 the favourite way from Kingsmead fields over to Twerton was so out of repair a subscription was raised to improve it. In 1789 the path by the Avon to Spring Gardens was in a dangerous state, and by 1797 even the Common was being denied to walkers after the tenant farmer fenced it round and put up ‘No Trespassing’ signs, though protesters broke down the fence. The grounds of Prior Park were similarly banned at times to visitors after Ralph Allen, the philanthropic ‘Man of Bath’ died. Still, many ramblers refused to be put off straying, ‘thro that Charming wilderness of sweets’. Popular footpaths ran across the fields, from the river ferries and along the river itself, and where there were no paths people used the relatively quiet network of lesser roads. Many routes offered excellent landscapes and views over Bath itself. The diary of an assiduous walker records almost daily rambles in 1743 - on the slopes and plateau of Lansdown, over to Weston, along the river to Twerton and Newbridge or to Batheaston, up Beechen Cliff, around Lyncombe and Widcombe. Women were as keen to hike as men (and must have had the comfortable footwear to do it). Jane Austen several times speaks of walks to beauty spots or to points of interest like the ‘Cassoon’ lock on the coal canal near Combe Hay. Closer to Bath women certainly felt safe enough to walk on their own - Elizabeth Sheridan in 1786, for example, having a favourite solitary route along the Avon, and the 10-year-old Mary Aime Galton delighting to walk with her French mistress. If one ‘Humble Pedestrian’ voiced regret in 1791 that the relentless outward growth of Bath seemed to be burying its flowery footpaths, the many green tongues that penetrated the built-up area still invited leisurely explorations on foot

In the 19thC, Bath had societies dedicated to keeping footpaths open and encouraging walking. Without their timely efforts, many of the paths we enjoy today might never have survived. The Bath Society for Preserving to the Public the right of Ancient Footpaths was formed In June 1843 at a public meeting called by the Mayor. One of the Society’s committee members, Dr James Tunstall, claimed in his book Rambles about Bath (1847) that the city was unrivalled In Europe for ‘the variety and beauty of its suburban walks. By the 1840s, however, frequent sales of land were threatening the historic network of public ways, and the Society’s main concern was to stop the deliberate blocking of paths by new owners and tenants. Newspaper reports of the time give some idea of the problems: a path stopped up despite the long uninterrupted right of way; another barred by post and rails; a third impeded by a gate covered in thorns. The Society tackled many such issues in the 1840s but without halting abuses altogether. Thus a correspondent signing himself ‘Perambulator’ complained in 1851 that on Bathwick Hill a path already diverted round the edge of a field had now been further obstructed by a sheepfold. In 1852 the new tenant on Bathampton Down, wanting to create a rabbit warren, tried to warn off the redoubtable Tunstall himself - in vain of course - for supposed trespass on the path between Sham Castle and Hampton rocks, a route with splendid views that Tunstall had walked for fourteen years and included n his book of rambles. This dispute may have led to legal action, since the poster announcing a public meeting of the Society some weeks later cautioned walkers meanwhile 'not to annoy the Tenant on Hampton Down, where one of the disputed Footpaths exists’. Look at your OS map today, though, and you’ll find this right of way happily exists still.

WERF AND THE EARLY RA

The precursor of the RA was the West of England Ramblers’ Federation. Operating on a frayed bootlace, it was short-lived. By the first and only AGM its Council had already considered the setting up of a single national Ramblers’ Federation and come to an indecision. It is interesting that the AGM amended the constitution so the Associate Members as well as Affiliated Clubs were represented on its Executive Committee

On 13th November 1934, a Special General Meeting, attended by eight people, supported by two apologies, resolved unanimously that WERF become a constituent district federation of the Ramblers’ Association as from January 1st 1935. The area covered was to be Gloucester Somerset and Wilts. Typically, the meeting was marked by provincial distrust, a demand that the National Office should be north of Birmingham, and a national financial deficit of £75. The Secretary denied that the new national body would lead to a loss of local independence. “Provided a local federation carries out its work efficiently, there is no reason whatever to anticipate interference from headquarters. Replacing the present system of Independent federations affiliated to a National Council with a national organization with local federations would enable the new body to speak with authority on behalf of all ramblers and provide more efficient national services for the members. In a year or two, it should be possible to open an office and employ one or two full-time assistants to do a considerable proportion of the clerical work which at present takes up too much of the time of those who have given their leisure to the movement.”

After payment of dues to the RA, the Federation had only 6d a head to service associate members. “If West-Country ramblers do not subscribe enough money to protect their own Interests, why should Londoners and the ramblers of the North be expected to do it for them?” Much of the Secretary’s report has a timeless appeal: blocked paths, illegal diversion, and correspondence with apathetic local Authorities.

AVON AREA NOW

Slowly, the west of England was divided up into smaller areas, generally coterminous with Highway Authorities, starting in 1948 with Devon & Cornwall. In 1967, the Somerset and Bristol Avon Area was inaugurated, covering also parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The new County of Avon being the Highway Authority, it was expedient for an Area to follow its boundaries. The last change came in 1996 when members in the new unitary authority of North Somerset made the sentimental decision to transfer to Somerset Area. The Area, now comprising Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset, decided to retain its name on the grounds that no-one could think of a better one and the RA had been using it before the County of Avon was formed.

Between 1974 and 1999, there was a steady programme of group creation, beginning with Bristol (1974) then, Southwold (1976), Norton Radstock (1977), Bath (1987), Clevedon (1990 Now in Somerset), Woodspring (1991 Now in Somerset), Kingswood, the RA’s 400th Group (1996), Severnside (1997), Chew Valley (1998) and finally a group for the under forties, Brunel. (1999).

Trevor Fawcett
Peter Gould

Please note that Peter Gould holds some of the Area archives. Contact him for further information