People were no longer willing to put up with archaic laws that dated back to the Inclosure Acts and excluded almost the entire population of England and Wales from the vast majority of the countryside. That act of civil disobedience 90 years ago was met with violence, as the landowner’s gamekeepers physically attacked the walkers, and several of the protesters were arrested by the police and subsequently imprisoned – even though trespass, then and now, is not a criminal offence under English law.īut the tidal swell of passion that had been building for years and which led to the Mass Trespass proved irrepressible. On 24 April that year, several hundred marchers – an interesting mix of ramblers and Young Communist Party members – defied landlords and the law by striding across the then-privately owned Peak District onto the plateau of Kinder Scout, with the intention of doing nothing more radical than enjoying a nice walk. This year has arguably been one of the most important in the long fight for the freedom to roam in the outdoors across England and Wales since the Mass Trespass in 1932. (Image credit: Pat Kinsella) Fight to roam
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