When reading and researching about the right to roam and
access to nature, I came across the story of the Mass Trespass at Kinder Scout.
What happened during the trespass is not generally debated; however, the
effects are. Regardless if it was a direct effect, many today will credit the trespass
with laying the groundwork for securing access to nature and footpaths for
everyone in Britain. It is also argued that the trespass created the impetus
for the creation of the National Park Act in 1949, as well as the Countryside
and Right of Way Act (CROW Act) of 2000.
On Sunday, 24 April 1932, a group of young factory workers,
primarily from Manchester made their way to the small village of Hayfield to
asset a right to walk on the high moorlands. Organized by the Communist Party,
about 400 assembled at a quarry in prelude to a mass civil disobedience event
against wealthy landowners who denied access to the moorland in favor grouse
hunting. The previous Sunday, activists distributed leaflets urging other
ramblers to “take action to open up the fine country at present denied to us.” Police officers were called upon to warn away the potential trespassers to no
avail.
At the appointed time, the rebel ramblers set off, singing
the “Red Flag” and the “International” during their walk according to the
Manchester Guardian. When gamekeepers confronted the ramblers, scuffles and
fights broke out. Yet, restraint on both sides prevented further disturbances. Once
on the moorland, accounts note that the ramblers adhered scrupulously to path. In
what today might sound quaint, the group stopped for tea and a hat was passed
to take up a collection to help defray the cost for anyone who would be fined.
Eventually, as the group reentered Hayfield, police arrested six leaders,
including Benny Rothman, sentencing five of the trespassers to six months in
prison. The substantial, what might be considered excessive, judgment led to
greater sympathy in the court of public opinion.
The Kinder Trespass was not the first time Hayfield was at
the center of debate over access to footpaths and nature. In 1897, the Peak
District and North Counties Footpath Society secured permanent access to what
was popularly known as the Snake Inn Footpath from Hayfield to Glossop. Instead
of the confrontation tactics that would be used three decades later, the
Society, which was created for purpose a few years earlier, used consultations
and negotiations to secure the right of passage. A sign erected in 1906, on the
edge of Hayfield, commemorates the late nineteenth century success. The Peaks and Northern Footpath
Society continues to exist as a voluntary organization actively monitoring,
protecting, and improving footpaths in the region. They organize hikes and help
maintain trails, even prodding local councils to provide maintenance so that people
can walk the trails.
Access to nature and the right to roam were severely
curtailed by a series of legislative acts of Parliament from the mid-eighteenth
century through the mid-nineteenth century, collectively known as the Enclosures.
With each of the acts, roughly 4000 in total, Parliament sought to rationalize
British agricultural lands by designating publicly owned land, used
collectively by peasants, private property to be owned and maintained by a
single person. The Enclosures were meant to make farming in Britain more
efficient by creating larger tracks of land, rather than a patchwork of tracks,
and to establish a hierarchical decision-making process. Before the enclosures,
decisions on what and when to plant were made collectively, hence everyone had
a say and negotiations could take some time and were not particularly efficient.
Effectively, the parliamentary acts displaced peasants from the land, denying
them not only the opportunity to grow crops on their own, but also the right to
gather food, such as berries and mushrooms, and firewood, the principal energy
source of the day, from the forest. Instead, the land became private, usually
in the hands of a single person, who could reserve land for their own use.
Hence, landowners would use the lands that were enclosed for hunting and/or
recreation.
 |
| Kinder Lodge, Hayfield |
Today, Hayfield embraces the legacy of the 1932 Kinder
Trespass. Explanation waysides and historical markers dot the village. At the
site of the former train station, where many factory workers from Manchester
and other industrial towns would have alighted to enjoy the moorlands, the
region’s walking trails are enumerated and explained. During the summer months
of the 1920s and 1930s, upwards of 10,000 people would descend on the village
for recreation and fresh air. Since the closure of the train station in 1970,
buses serve as the primary public transportation and the bus stop is located
where those workers and their families would have started and finished their
days.
The history of Hayfield stretches back two thousand years,
as the Roman road between Buxton and Glossop ran through the village. Although
a refuge for working class people, Hayfield once had a woolen factory of its
own in the eighteenth century, which brought it a modicum of prosperity. Part
of the charm of the village is its old-world feel.
 |
| Hayfield with the store on the right |
 |
| Library |
|
The Old Hayfield Grammar School was founded in 1604 and the school building (pictured) was constructed in 1719.
|
Charming as it is, Hayfield can be rather limited to the traveler
without an automobile. The post-pandemic contraction of labor meant that, like
many places in Europe and North America, there were not enough workers to keep
many establishments open. On a Monday evening, after a full day of walking and
exploring, I found that none of the restaurants or pubs in the village was serving
food. I had the choice of taking the bus, or walking, to New Mill or stopping
in the village store for hummus and bread sticks. I chose the latter, reasoning
that breakfast would come soon enough.
When traveling, the local library is one of my preferred
destinations. It is a place where one can orient oneself and learn a little bit
about the local area. Given the history of Hayfield, I assumed that the local history
section would have some nuggets of information to inspire more investigations
and explorations. But the library, tidy and efficient as it was, had rather
limited holdings and focused primarily on meeting the borrowing needs of locals
rather than serving as a node of information. There was no local history room
or section. The information posted around town on information boards for
tourists were more than what was contained in the library.
 |
| Sign turn off to Snake Inn Trail |
 |
| Phonebooth at the Trespass Cottage |
 |
| Kinder Road |
 |
| The plaque commemorating the events of 1932 at Bowden Bridge Car Park, erected in 1982 on the fiftieth anniversary |
 |
| The reservoir, constructed in 1912 |
 |
| The bridge and footpath that leads to Kinder Scout |
 |
| The peak of Kinder Scout on the left |
 |
| Local family |
 |
| Shooting Cabin |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Old signpost, in the middle of the moor, that is very helpful in navigating the paths |
 |
| Lambs frolicking on the Snake Inn Path |
 |
| Twenty trees, a copse in the field along the Snake Inn path - on guidebook noted that there are only nineteen trees |
 |
| The gate to the highland |
 |
| Descending back into Hayfield |
 |
| The historical marker on Kinder Road where Snake Inn Path leads to trail. It is also marks the approximate place where the trespassers were arrested in 1932 |
