I’m very interested in the history of walking for pleasure in Great Britain so I was delighted when I was approached by Diana Jones who is writing a biography of Walker Miles, the pen-name of Edward Seyfang Taylor (1854-1909). He wrote a series of extremely detailed footpath guides covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex that were enormously popular and some of which remained in print until 1939. The working title of her book is Walker Miles; the Wainwright of the South. There were very few footpath guides until Miles set to work and he virtually invented the genre.
I collect old footpath guides and have four of his titles in my library so we agreed that I should walk one of his circular Surrey routes from Holmwood Station via Leith Hill and write a chapter comparing his description with mine. I found it surprisingly easy to plot his route onto the Explorer map and to my surprise found that all the paths he described are still marked on the map as public rights of way. The only exceptions are where building development has required his route to be diverted. Apart from the urban development and the metalling of roads, the landscape is little changed except for the removal of hedges to enlarge fields, and the felling of some woodland. Leith Hill is an outcrop of greensand which is unsuitable for agriculture.
I’ve been puzzling over how Miles discovered his routes. I have copies of the Cassini reprints of the 1:63360 Ordnance Survey Old Series based on the survey of 1813-1819 which does not show footpaths, and also the Revised New Series surveyed 1897-1909 which shows only a few. It has been suggested that he may have used the six-inch to the mile maps which show footpaths, but I can’s see how he could have used them to plan a 12-mile route let alone one of his 50-mile walks. I calculate that he would have needed some fifty sheets to cover all the walks he describes.
So how did he do it without a map that depicted footpaths? I suspect that it was a combination of factors. Walking was popular during the Victorian era and there were many walking clubs so it is likely that their walks were recorded. Also, footpaths were essential to allow country folk to go about their business and were much better used, and therefore obvious on the ground, than many of today’s rights of way. Agriculture was labour intensive and it is likely that there was plenty of opportunity to ask the way of the many farm labourers and foresters working in the fields and woods. I can remember my father doing this when as a family we explored the countryside before WW2. It’s interesting to note that on my two-day backpacking trip I encountered not one person working on the land. Another possibility is that he might have hired a lad from the village to show him the way. When I was evacuated to Devon during the flying bomb scare of 1944 all the village lads knew the paths for miles around from such pastimes as bird-nesting for eggs, mushrooming, scrumping, and making camps.
I decided to backpack his route because I had little idea of how long the expedition would take but in the event I camped wild and was able to enjoy another full day of walking.
Hugh
