WANTED
Help from members who love peering over maps, have an appetite for detective work and are fairly computer friendly.
WHY?
There could be many historic routes in our area which for a variety of reasons are not recorded on the definitive map. Our group has set up a small working party to find these ways, as have many other groups nationwide, in order to claim them as PRoW by applying for DMMOs (Definitive Map Modification Orders). There was a deadline for applications - 1st January 2026 – then on 16th February 2022 DEFRA announced that it would ditch this deadline requirement . However they have now changed their mind and set a new deadline, the 1st January 2031. On Boxing Day 2024 the new UK Government announced a late Christmas present for millions of walkers: the abolition of the deadline to record historic rights of way in England. And with that, the end of the threat to over 41,000 miles of unrecorded paths.
However, we are continuing to seek out lost ways to add them back to the path network, in line with the Ramblers Central Office’s ‘Don’t Lose Your Way project’.
ACTION
We have made good progress but would welcome more help to complete our work.
A lot of the basic work can be done on-line on a computer at home. Later visits to Lancashire Records Office may be useful.
INTERESTED?
Our Chairman, Brian Jones, has compiled three exercises to show what can be involved in the map work. This is through the MARIO maps which can be accessed here.
Click on the following links to access them:
Try working through them and if you are hooked or still interested and would like further information on being involved, please contact the project co-ordinator, Joy Greenwood – email: