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Footpath 21 – Old Routes and New Possibilities
A new footpath has been laid out both extending and replacing part of Footpath 21 in the north of the Parish. The existing Footpath 21 crosses Abbott’s Wood between Heathfield Road and Wooburn Common Road. It is thought to be the last remaining stretch in the area of a pilgrim’s route from Kent to Woburn Abbey. The evidence for this supposition comes from early maps and the classic shape and dimensions of its cross section. From Heathfield Road the first part of the Footpath is a tarmac drive which runs along the side of the Abbott’s Wood House, its gardens and outbuildings. Once the residential curtilage is passed it becomes an attractive but short, informal Buckinghamshire woodland walk before reaching Wooburn Common Road which, once crossed, joins the Beeches Way.
The current interest in Footpath 21 comes from two directions. The owners of Abbott’s Wood have permission to replace the existing house with a large mixed architectural history show piece, prospective purchasers of which would be unlikely to be encouraged by the proximity of a public footpath. Opposition to any diversion of the footpath comes from the desire to keep a public footpath with a long romantic history. The Parish Council also has a policy of opposing any proposals to change footpath routes, a policy that results from local landowners’ long history of terminating rights of way. This in turn has resulted in a Parish which no longer has an effective footpath network joining its northern and southern areas. Links with footpaths in surrounding parishes are also meagre and lacking in cohesion. There is, therefore, a reliance on rural lanes and roads and their verges as connections, a reliance that has unfortunately not been recognised by the Highway Authority who appear to do all in their power to attract rat-running traffic and increase its speed. This makes the verges both unattractive and in parts perilous for walkers.
To cut the Gordian knot produced by divergent interests, the owners have put forward an alternative routing for Footpath 21 and generously increased the length of the footpath to the west to allow a link between two sections of the Beeches Way, one coming through Coach Farm Alley to Sheepcote Lane and the other starting to the east of Hale’s Cottage on Wooburn Common Road. The new footpath routes have been laid out as permissive paths and can be walked by all who wish to do so, allowing a comparison to be made between the existing and the proposed.
The new permissive paths form a very pleasant woodland walk much longer than the existing Footpath 21. It is thought by some to the most attractive footpath in the locality. The most obvious improvement at the Heathfield Road end is the section of footpath going south from the existing tarmac drive through pleasant woodlands. The landscape of this new section is great visual improvement on what is now just the access to a house and its associated outbuildings. The new link on the Beeches Way would be a very positive asset to the Public Footpath system as the current connections are along busy roads with no continuous verges for walkers’ use. Further improvements, suggested by the Parish Council, include changing part of the alignment of the new route to include the wooded section of the existing Footpath 21 and moving the section paralleling Sheepcote Lane further from the road to reduce traffic noise.
If Footpath 21 could unequivocally be proved to be an ancient right of way, then it can be neither diverted nor lost but a more picturesque alternative could reduce or voluntarily end its use. If Footpath 21 cannot be proved to be an ancient right of way, then it could be the subject of a modification order application whose success would be dependent on the improvement offered to the existing route. The footpath would still have to start and end at the existing place and the modified paths would have to be statutorily registered public footpaths and not permissive or permitted paths which could be closed by the landowner.
The next move belongs to the owners who have held widespread consultation with relevant bodies to garner reactions to the proposal. The possibility has also been raised that some of the woodland could be donated to the Parish Council. HTS members are encouraged to visit the north of the Parish and walk the new paths. If followed on to the Beeches Way eastward, walkers are faced with the dilemma of choosing between the Jolly Woodman and the Blackwood Arms. Braver souls can dice with the traffic and turn west on to Wooburn Common Road to the Royal Standard!
Mary Trevallion
The new paths do not appear on printed maps yet, but they are on the web at www.openstreetmap.org and we have printed the relevant section here. The new paths are shown in red and the easiest places to park are marked with blue P symbols. - Ed.