Walking Class Heroes: Pioneers of the Right to Roam

by Roly Smith, Stuart Maconie (Forward)

The twentieth anniversary of the Countryside & Rights of Way (CRoW) Act in 2020 provides a good opportunity to look back on the doughty band of campaigners who fought for so long to give ramblers their cherished right to roam. This century-old battle brought to the fore a number of larger-than-life characters who were prepared to go to extreme lengths--in some cases even imprisonment--to reclaim the right of access which were taken from the people by the hated Enclosure Acts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This book describes the life and work of twenty of these 'wilderness warriors', retelling the battles they fought against seemingly intractable politicians and the Establishment and includes memories of personal encounters by the author with many of them. From the nature-loving romantic poet John Clare and access pioneers such as Tom Stephenson and Benny Rothman, to present-day activists and writers such as Jim Perrin, Fiona Reynolds and Kate Ashbrook, Walking Class Heroes describes the contributions made by philanthropists, writers and political militants. Their battlegrounds included the Peak District, Dartmoor and Scotland and their tactics encompassed campaigning journalism, legal dexterity and even mass trespass. Some are no longer with us of course, but several others are continuing the fight for the same kind of public access to the countryside currently enjoyed by our neighbours in Scotland and the rest of Europe.

Paperback

Published November 12, 2020

About the author

Roly Smith is a freelance writer, editor and consultant and the author of more than seventy books on walking and the British countryside. He has been dubbed 'Mr Peak District' by his local newspaper and a 'Peak District Sage' by Country Walking magazine.
Based in Bakewell in the heart of the Peak, Roly was formerly Head of Information Services to the Peak District National Park before taking voluntary early retirement in 1997 to concentrate on his freelance writing career. Previous to that, he enjoyed a twenty-year award-winning career in journalism. He is president of the Outdoor Writers' and Photographers' Guild, having been its chairman from 1990 to 2002. He was made a Honorary life member in 2005.