Features Ed Blog: The Glorious Peak District
By
It’s incredible to think how limited the public’s access to land was a hundred years ago.
Landowners possessed large parcels of the countryside, offering no welcome to those seeking escape from the growing urban areas of our country. If you wanted a break from the hubbub, you couldn’t simply go for a walk.
Many of the high and wild areas were reserved as shooting estates for the well-to-do.
It was an event in the Peak District back in 1932 which helped the push for access rights. Protestors arranged a “mass trespass” on Kinder Scout, a large hill with a high plateau, for April 24. Around an estimated 400 folk marched up the hill, despite it being privately owned land.