Rural Rights of Way (or Public Footpaths) in Milton Damerel
In the early 1900’s there were around
25 rural footpaths throughout the Parish. Their purpose
was not recreational use, but as a means of getting
around the Parish in the days before the advent of the
motor car, when the primary form of transport over short
distances, at least, was by walking. Some of the tracks
were also about moving produce such as millers’ tracks
from farms to mills etc. Hence many of these paths ran
from pockets of habitation to farms which were the major
sources of employment at the time. They also went to
churches, schools and shops, taking the most direct
routes possible, in order to cut down on journey times.
FP 1 probably originated to allow the vicar/rector to
walk from the original rectory to the Church. In the
1950’s and 60’s when the car became ubiquitous and
farming more mechanised and needing far fewer workers
many of these footpaths fell into disuse and over the
years have now been ‘lost’. Today, with people having
more leisure time available, interest is being generated
in rural footpaths for recreational walking, to enable
them to get away from traffic and out into the peace and
tranquillity of the countryside.
There are 7 of these short footpaths remaining within our Parish, none of which is more than ½ mile (0.8 km) in length:
No. 1 Glovers Cottage to Worden Cross
No. 7 Whitebear Cross to Lower Walland Gate
No. 12 Gidcott Mill to Halsepark
No. 15 Whitebear Farm to Chapel View
No. 16 Whitebear Cottage to Holy Trinity Church the Methodist Chapel
No. 21 Waldon Farm via Heddon Farm to Sutcombe *
No. 24 Milton Mill via North Town to Butterfly Lane **
* The parish boundary is the River Waldon which is crossed by a footbridge and from there to
Sutcombe it continues under a different footpath number.
** The first part of this path has recently been re-aligned and therefore does not follow the route
marked on the various O/S maps.
The routes are marked on the Ordnance Survey maps which cover the Parish. Sheet 126 of the Explorer series
(scale 1:25,000 or 2½ inches = 1 mile) and sheet 190 of the Landranger series (scale 1:50,000 or 1¼ inches = 1 mile). The Definitive Parish Map which is on display inside the Parish Hall shows the footpaths in more detail, as that has a scale of 1:10,000.
The County Rights of Way officer usually walks each path
around every two years with a view to putting right any
problems which might have developed. His last visit
resulted in a replacement footbridge over Fishpool Lake
plus two new stiles on footpath 16. If you do come
across any problems whilst using any of these paths will
you please contact a Parish Councillor or the Parish
Clerk so that remedial action can be put in hand.
Many of the Milton Damerel footpaths are across working
farms with the possibility of the presence of sheep and
cattle. It is recommended that dogs be kept under
close control on a short lead. Please also remember that
cattle, especially when with their young, perceive dogs,
even small ones, as a threat and you should treat them
with the utmost caution.
A short booklet has recently been prepared describing
the various paths in more detail and which will allow
you to walk the paths without the need for an Ordnance
Survey map. Copies can be obtained as a free computer
download from the button below, or for those without
computer access as a paper copy, at 25p to cover
production costs, from the Parish Clerk.