The following is an adaptation from
Ramble On: A History of Hiking.
The “right to roam” is the concept that every individual has a right to walk through open country. In general, this means being able to access privately owned land and undeveloped wilderness areas for recreational purposes. Of course there are certain exclusions and protections for landowners, depending on the laws and customs of each country. For instance, most, if not all, countries restrict the general public from walking in close proximity to homes, or through the cultivated fields of farmers. For the most part, the right to roam has never really been an issue for hikers in the United States. However, individuals have been restricted as to where they can walk in much of Europe. With the exceptions of Scandinavia and a few other northern European countries, much of Europe developed out of feudalism, which meant that vast swaths of land were owned by the nobility classes. As the Industrial Revolution took root, especially in England, workers living in large cities began seeking the countryside to gain relief from pollution and congested urban centers. In response to what they saw as trespassing, wealthy land barons began fencing people out. In 1604, the British Parliament passed the first in a series of laws that would become known as the Enclosure Acts. By 1914, they had enacted more than 5200 enclosure laws that effectively closed off 6.8 million acres, or roughly one-fifth of England’s total landmass, thus making it illegal for the general public to walk across areas that were previously considered common lands. Exacerbating the situation, large publicly owned spaces were extremely rare throughout much of Europe, especially in Great Britain. By 1900, American hikers had access to tens of millions of acres in national parks and forests. On the contrary, the first national park in Great Britain wasn’t established until 1951. France designated its first national park in 1963, Germany in 1970, while Austria didn't establish its first national park until 1981.
To combat what they saw as an infringement on their basic right to roam, hikers in Great Britain began organizing and committing acts of civil disobedience. By 1824, the first of several associations were formed to advocate for public access to local forests and other common and undeveloped lands. In 1874, the Liverpool YMCA Rambling Club was formed, which became the first of several rambling clubs to organize during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most of these clubs actively campaigned for the right to roam, sometimes resulting in violent conflicts with landowners. One group in particular, the Sunday Tramps, was known for purposely trespassing on private lands during their weekly excursions. The group was formed in 1879 by Sir Leslie Stephen, one of the most famous British climbers during the Golden Age of Alpinism, who also served as the fourth president of the Alpine Club in the mid-1860s. Other mass intrusions would follow, including the Kinder Scout mass trespass on April 24, 1932, which resulted in the arrests of six of its leaders. It’s estimated that roughly 400 ramblers were involved in this incident. Although it was considered a highly controversial tactic at the time, the conviction and subsequent imprisonment (between 2 and 6 months) of some of its participants led to wide public outrage, which helped to increase support for access to open lands. This event is widely recognized as a turning point in the establishment of the right to roam. During the ensuing decades, several laws have been passed that have improved walkers’ rights to access open lands, culminating with the passage of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in 2000. However, the battle between hikers and landowners continues to this day, each asserting their rights that conflict in one way or another with the other side.
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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century.
What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.
