Open Space

T and I were in the cafe in Avenham Park discussing what constitutes an open space. We went through places such as moorland which neither of us were keen on. Space, as in up there beyond Earth’s atmosphere which is a subject I would like to address one day, undersea space, mountains, different counties, backyards etc and we couldn’t come up with a subject for this blog.

But just as we were on the way out of the building a noticeboard caught my eye and on it was this:

"Within Avenham Valley there were also a number of cottages. Probably the most famous resident was Mr Charles Jackson. During the 1830s Jackson opened an ornamental garden which he opened to the public...which proved to be popular with the growing population... By 1850 Preston had become central to the cotton trade and 70,000 people were crowded into the town.

Avenham Park

"The benefits of open spaces in places like Preston were widely recognized and there were calls for public parks. Between 1843 and 1854 Preston Council purchased land in the Valley...and provided lawns, gardens, footpaths with seating. This was the beginning of Avenham Park and later Miller Park which is adjacent to it."

I would imagine that clean water and proper sewerage constructions were the major steps forward in the health of this country but the mental health of folk surely was improved immeasurably by the access to fresh air and the beautiful views we have now.

From beginnings such as in Preston and other towns and cities came a gradual increase in access outwards to the countryside around them. Cycling became popular, then (unfortunately) cars. But there came a limit to the journeys people could travel as they came across the barriers put up by wealthy landowners and supported by law making bodies.

Which brings me to the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932 and some of my heroes. The 1932 trespass was a coordinated protest involving three groups of walkers who approached Kinder Scout from different directions at the same time. The generally accepted figure is that reported by the Manchester Guardian at the time, of an estimated 400 people. The trespassers began at Bowden Bridge quarry near Hayfield. They proceeded via William Clough to the plateau of Kinder Scout, where there were violent scuffles with gamekeepers. The ramblers were able to reach their destination and meet with another group at Ashop Head. On the return, five ramblers were arrested, with another detained earlier. Trespass was not and is not a criminal offence in England, but some received jail sentences of two to six months for offences relating to violence involving the keepers.

Kinder Scout

It was organised by anti-fascist Benny Rothman, the secretary of the British Workers' Sports Federation and a member of the Young Communist League. Although the mass trespass was a controversial strategy at the time, the imprisonment of some of the trespassers led to public outrage, which increased public support for open access land. Some of the trespassers went on to become successful activists and politicians, and some later died fighting against fascism during the Spanish Civil War.

According to the Hayfield Kinder Trespass Group website, this act of civil disobedience was one of the most successful in British history. It arguably led to the passage of the National Parks legislation in 1949 and helped pave way for the establishment of the Pennine Way and other long-distance footpaths. Walkers' rights to travel through common land and uncultivated upland were eventually protected by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW Act) of 2000 which has been interpreted as the embodiment of ‘working class struggle for the right to roam versus the rights of the wealthy to have exclusive use of moorlands for grouse shooting.’

"The Manchester Rambler", also known as "I'm a Rambler" and "The Rambler's Song", is a song written by the English folk singer Ewan MacColl in 1932. It was inspired by his participation in the Kinder trespass and was the work that began MacColl's career as a singer-songwriter.

I've been over Snowdon, I've slept upon Crowden
I've camped by the Wainstones as well
I've sunbathed on Kinder, been burned to a cinder
And many more things I can tell
My rucksack has oft been me pillow
The heather has oft been me bed
And sooner than part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead

Ch: I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all me pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday

The day was just ending and I was descending
Down Grindsbrook just by Upper Tor
When a voice cried "Hey you" in the way keepers do
He'd the worst face that ever I saw
The things that he said were unpleasant
In the teeth of his fury I said
"Sooner than part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead"

He called me a louse and said "Think of the grouse"

Well I thought, but I still couldn't see
Why all Kinder Scout and the moors roundabout
Couldn't take both the poor grouse and me
He said "All this land is my master's"
At that I stood shaking my head
No man has the right to own mountains
Any more than the deep ocean bed

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.