Oxford "Old Road" from Wheatley to Shotover

[BikerPaul]

Tha "Old Road" from London to Oxford has a lot of history, and the vicious hills east of Oxford were essentially bypassed by the building of the Headington Road (Now the A40/A420) into the city.

The original road - the Old Road - was a turnpike which went over Forest Hill and Shotover Hill.

Now interstingly, whe I went to look at this ancient route recently, I found that part of it is a "restricted byway" which surprised me, as this has clearly been a road since "time immemorial" and until 1790 this was the only route. I have evidence of it being used for coaching certaily well into the 1850's, but it appears that in 1889, Oxfordhsire County council did not record it as a highway.

As a result, in the 1950's it was recorded (again I say wrongly) as a RUPP, and became a "restricted byway" in 2006.

The route is still passable by vehicle, and still contiguous. It's just never been recorded as a "motor road".

What could be done to fix this discrepancy?

[c2R]

What needs to be fixed? I know it well, as a friend used to live down the hill from there....

[KeithW]

Tha "Old Road" from London to Oxford has a lot of history, and the vicious hills east of Oxford were essentially bypassed by the building of the Headington Road (Now the A40/A420) into the city.

The original road - the Old Road - was a turnpike which went over Forest Hill and Shotover Hill.

Now interstingly, whe I went to look at this ancient route recently, I found that part of it is a "restricted byway" which surprised me, as this has clearly been a road since "time immemorial" and until 1790 this was the only route. I have evidence of it being used for coaching certaily well into the 1850's, but it appears that in 1889, Oxfordhsire County council did not record it as a highway.

As a result, in the 1950's it was recorded (again I say wrongly) as a RUPP, and became a "restricted byway" in 2006.

The route is still passable by vehicle, and still contiguous. It's just never been recorded as a "motor road".

What could be done to fix this discrepancy?

Nothing, the enforcement of such restrictions is usually applied by a Traffic Restriction Order and this one appears to have been already been challenged and the change declined.
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/dmmo/02032

Oxfordshire County Council holds the definitive map of all such restricted byways - see map at.
https://publicrightsofway.oxfordshire.g ... rdmap.aspx

The detailed map showing the restriction order identifier can be found at
http://portal.oxfordshire.gov.uk/conten ... SP50NE.pdf

<Edited to add link to detailed map>

[Jonathan B4027]

Hope your suspension is decent if you want to use it as across Shotover Plain itself, it was bad enough on a mountain bike when I lived in Wheatley!

[Truvelo]

There are plenty of these old roads dotted around the country. Another example is Old Shaftesbury Drove between Salisbury and Shaftesbury. I believe motorised traffic is permitted to use that one.

[KeithW]

There are plenty of these old roads dotted around the country. Another example is Old Shaftesbury Drove between Salisbury and Shaftesbury. I believe motorised traffic is permitted to use that one.

There are dozens in South Cambridgeshire which were never sealed that have been restricted to non motorised traffic. One reason was the damage done by Green Laning. One enthuastically driven 4x4 can destroy in a day a road that survived for centuries.

[BikerPaul]

My point is this.

This road was in use from time immemorial until at least 1790, there are records of it's use in the 1880's. yet this is not recorded on the Oxfordshire definitive map as a road, due, apparently to their own error in 1889.

While I'm not suggesting that it should be opened as a metalled road, it should be recorded as a Highway, rather than a byway, because it's never been legally stopped up as a "Road" other than by failure, by the relevant authority, to comply with its legal duty.

Because it ailed to comp,y in 1889, it slipped away in the 1950's, and again in 2006, to a "path" rather than a historical and significant part of our road network.

Would anyone here suggest that, for example, Stonehenge Bottom should be allowed to fall into disuse by the local authority not bothering to comply with its duties?

[RichardA35]

It seems to me that the route in contention is able to be used by the modes of transport available in 1880 when it last saw regular use, (foot, horse, bicycle) so what exactly is the problem?

[Richard_Fairhurst]

Oxfordshire County Council recently cleared a big backlog of DMMO applications - this was one of them, as the links supplied by KeithW indicate. There were many others around the county, mostly lodged by the Trail Riders Fellowship, and I'm not aware of any applications that succeeded. I think the ship has sailed (and can't say I'm sorry about that).

[KeithW]

My point is this.

This road was in use from time immemorial until at least 1790, there are records of it's use in the 1880's. yet this is not recorded on the Oxfordshire definitive map as a road, due, apparently to their own error in 1889.

While I'm not suggesting that it should be opened as a metalled road, it should be recorded as a Highway, rather than a byway, because it's never been legally stopped up as a "Road" other than by failure, by the relevant authority, to comply with its legal duty.

Because it ailed to comp,y in 1889, it slipped away in the 1950's, and again in 2006, to a "path" rather than a historical and significant part of our road network.

Would anyone here suggest that, for example, Stonehenge Bottom should be allowed to fall into disuse by the local authority not bothering to comply with its duties?

A byway is simply a road that is too minor to be called a highway.

There two categories of byway
Byway Open To All (BOAT) which has unrestricted access including motorised vehicles
Restricted Byway on which certain classes of vehicle are restricted. Legally this is no different to making a city street pedestrian only. Try driving your car through pedestrianised streets in York where some existed during the Roman area.

This has nothing to do with the 19th century and the road has not been stopped up it has been reclassified as a Restricted Byway under the terms of the Countryside act of 2006 which required councils to review the classification of all routes , amend the definitive maps, issue notices to that effect and consider any appeals. One such appeal was lodged and rejected. Far from ignoring their statutory duties they have carried them out scrupulously. From the interactive maps on their website you can zoom into any byway and not only see the restrictions but access the reclassification order and any appeals lodged. I provided a link to that map.

Raising Stonehenge is a mistake, I suggest you dont try to drive up the A344 from Stonehenge Bottom to Woodhenge, it was 'stopped up' in 2013.
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... title=A344

Many old sections of long existing roads have been reclassified in this manner including stretches of the original Great North Road.

Lastly asserting that anything has existed since time immemorial requires proof that it existed at the start the reign of King Richard I on 6 July 1189. The date of 1790 suggests it was a Turnpike Road which was not open to all, you had to pay a toll to use it. 10 minutes of research showed this to be true, it was an offshoot of the Stokenchurch, Wheatley, Begbroke & New Woodstock Turnpike

Not that this matters as the reclassification was legally carried out in 2006

[BikerPaul]

Again, the difficulty here is that this road, at the time of ht incorporation of Oxfordshire County Council, WAS in use.

Additionally, while this road was the turnpike for a period of time, it pre-dated the turnpike acts. There is evidence of the existence of this road dating back to the time of the Norman conquest, that is, since "time immemorial" and it is only due to an error made in 1889 that this is not being maintained as a route by the council.

I'm not looking to have this road turned into a Dual Cariageway or even listed as a C road, merely to have the historical record put straight with the council, this was always a Highway, never a byway, and should still be recorded (and maintained, even if unmettaled) as such.

Throughout its time as a Royal Forest the road from Oxford to London ran over the top of Shotover Hill. Up to the middle of the sixteenth century the main users of the road would have been pedestrians, riders and pack horses. The Highways Act of 1555 made parishes responsible for the upkeep of roads within their boundaries. In the Oxford area, increased traffic placed a heavy strain on the roads leading into the town and this resulted in the Mileways Act of 1576. This bound inhabitants living within 5 miles of Oxford to to supply labour proportional to their holdings, to maintain the roads within one mile of the city center or "mileways". However the road over Shotover was outside this one mile limit and so did not benefit from the mileways act. Its maintenance remained the responsibility of the parish.

By the seventeenth century wheeled carts and waggons were starting to replace packhorses, and carriages were coming into use for people making longer jouneys. In 1669 the diarist Anthony Wood reported that on Monday April 26th, the first "Flying Coach" was able to complete the journey from Oxford to London within a single day. It set out at 6 am from All Souls college and set its passengers down at their inn in London by 7 pm.

This increase in wheeled traffic took its toll on the roads and by 1647 parishioners with the misfortune to have a "main road" passing through their parish were arguing that taxes should be levied on road users to fund the upkeep of the roads. The result of this was the first of the Turnpike Acts, passed by Paliament in 1663. This permitted local justices in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire to levy tolls on traffic using the important road Ermine Street, where it passed through those counties, in order to cover the costs of keeping the road in good repair.

The idea of making road users, rather than parishoners, pay for road maintenance caught on slowly over the next 30 years. The early "Justice Trusts" were replaced by Independent Trustees, who were granted powers to borrow money, appoint officers, manage the roads and levy tolls to pay for their repair. The trustees themselves were unpaid and specifically forbidden from making a profit from the activities of the trust. However most were local business men who benefitted indirectly from the increased trade brought to a town with good road links. The turnpike system grew steadily over the next 150 years until by 1838 when the turnpikes were at their peak, it has been estimated that there were more than 1000 turnpike trusts, responsible for around 22,000 miles (35,000 km) of highway. This represented around one fifth of all the public highways in the country.

The road over Shotover was made into a Turnpike by the Stokenchurch Turnpike act of 1719, the introduction to the act stating that the road had "become so ruinous and Bad, that in the winter season the said Road is Dangerous to Travellers".

Presumably the act resulted in an improvement to the road, but the tolls charged were a source of much complaint. In 1740 the tolls were one shilling for wagons and carriages drawn by four or more horses, and sixpence for those with less than four horses; a lot of money at that time.

The Turnpike Act could do nothing to reduce the slope of the hill and the western escarpment in particular was so steep that travellers were forced to dismount from their coaches and walk up the hill. The resultant slow progress made Shotover a favourite haunt of Highwaymen. In 1737 for example, John Wesley was a victim.

In 1773 the trustees applied to parliament for powers to divert the road to a new route entirely avoiding Shotover. In 1775 a cutting was made up the steep face of Headington Hill making possible the opening of a "New Turnpike" to the north of the old road, passing through Headington and along the line of the present A40 road. However progress on the new road appears to have been slow, with disputes over the exact route and a shortage of funds to build it. In 1788 the trustees went back to parliament with a request to enlarge the term and powers of the previous act in order to allow them to complete the new road.

In 1852 Mary Coppock is listed as a fly proprietor at the Black Horse in St Clement’s (to the east of the St Clement’s toll-gate), and on 24 June 1856 her fly was advertised as taking the route “via Headington windmill and Shotover” for a Grand Temperance and Peace Festival.

There was an attempt to have the road "stoped up" in 1878, but this was voted down.

There is clear evidence that this omission, and stopping up of the road as a true "highway" is a clerical error that has been compounded over the years. Surely this is exactly the sort of thing we should be interested in correcting, for historical reasons if nothing else?

[RichardA35]

...There is clear evidence that this omission, and stopping up of the road as a true "highway" is a clerical error that has been compounded over the years. Surely this is exactly the sort of thing we should be interested in correcting, for historical reasons if nothing else?

No, it may have been an error but the rest of the world can live with it, get over it and make their way along by foot, bicycle or horse.
Is the interest in this matter connected with being unable to ride motorbikes along this stretch?

[BikerPaul]

No the interest is ensuring that the historical record is correct, and this right of way is properly recorded as being a highway, which it was from time immemorial until a clerical error in 1889 changed that.

I haven't ridden a bike (motorised or otherwise) since a major accident in 2005, thanks for reminding me.

[KeithW]

No the interest is ensuring that the historical record is correct, and this right of way is properly recorded as being a highway, which it was from time immemorial until a clerical error in 1889 changed that.

I haven't ridden a bike (motorised or otherwise) since a major accident in 2005, thanks for reminding me.

The historical record is as accurate as possible and show that the first credible report of the road dates back to 1719 when it was regarded as impassable to all wheeled vehicles. It became a turnpike highway and was restored. The turnpike company was wound up in 1878 when as with most other turnpikes it had effectively ceased trading and maintenance had been neglected for years. In fact the 1881 Ordnance Survey Plan shows it as a path, their only interest was the state of the road at that time. Ordnance survey maps were initially made for military purposes and the army needed to know if the could get horse drawn carts for artillery and munitions down a road.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov. ... /c/F100715
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/458959 ... /12/101270

The map in 1889 was accurate as it was based on the latest OS information, by that stage the highway was only capable of being used as a foot path, This was common as the railways were carrying all the long distance paying traffic and maintenance of most rural roads was negligible as before the Road Trust Fund was introduced in the 20th century . There was no income to pay for it and the local rural council did not have the money.

The legal definition of a highway is simply a road that is accessible to the public. The normal test for a road is simply that it is a definable route, with ascertainable edges, and that leads from one point to another to enable travellers to move conveniently from one point to another along that route. The need to restrict access to certain types of vehicle resulted in sub definitions of highways such as Byway Open To All, Restricted Byway, Bridle path and footpath. This is all enshrined in statue law and became necessary when motorised vehicles appeared in large numbers. The public right of way is not extinguished, these definitions simply restrict the class of vehicle that may be used to do so.

As I have already explained the road was reclassified as a restricted byway as the Countryside act of 2006 required councils to review the classification of all roads, amend them if appropriate, modify the definitive maps and issue notices if any restrictions were changed and to consider any appeals. That all of this was done is a matter of record.

[Big Nick]

I drove this a few years ago. It was rather bumpy but not impossible for my little Focus. Although that may be why the suspension eventually failed....
Car needed a good wash afterwards too!

There were no signs of any sort to say "No Through Road" or "No Cars". One end is a car park for local walkers - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.75190 ... 6656?hl=en
and the other end is a little country lane https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.74867 ... 6656?hl=en

[Berk]

It seems to me that the route in contention is able to be used by the modes of transport available in 1880 when it last saw regular use, (foot, horse, bicycle) so what exactly is the problem?

It strikes me the only “benefit” from re-classifying the road as a highway would be the possible permission of access for motor traffic. That the road has fallen into disuse by most forms of traffic isn’t in doubt, so why would it make sense to encourage motorised vehicles to use it??

If it’d happened in more recent times, and was broadly wide enough to cope with cars/4WD’s/motorbikes etc., then fair enough. But it appears to be barely wider than a country lane - unmodernised, therefore. It would be a waste of time and money to reclassify the road at the expense of more pressing projects.

I also note the following (copied from Wiki).

Public footpaths

In England and Wales a public footpath is a path on which the public have a legally protected right to travel on foot and in some areas public footpaths form a dense network of short paths. It is probable that most footpaths in the countryside are hundreds of years old. The majority of footpaths are shown on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides that paths that are not recorded on the definitive map by 2026 and that were in use prior to 1949 will automatically be deemed stopped up on 1 January 2026.

The right of access on a public footpath normally only extends to walking (there may be other unrecorded rights as well), so there is usually no right to cycle or ride a horse on a public footpath. However, it is not a criminal offence to do so unless there is a traffic order or bylaw in place specifically: it is a civil wrong to ride a bicycle or a horse on a public footpath, and action could be taken by the landowner for trespass or nuisance by the user.

Byways open to all traffic

A byway open to all traffic (or BOAT) is a highway over which the general public have a right to travel for vehicular and all other kinds of traffic, but which is used by the public mainly as footpaths and bridleways are used, per Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, section 15(9)(c), as amended by Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Act 1991, Schedule 1.

After the 2006 Regulations to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, BOATs should now more properly be referred to simply as byways.

Roads used as public paths

A road used as public path (RUPP) was one of the three types of public right of way (along with footpaths and bridleways) introduced by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Countryside Act 1968 required all highway authorities to reclassify RUPPs in their area – occasionally as public footpaths but in practice generally as public bridleways unless public vehicular rights were demonstrated to exist in which case it would become a 'byway open to all traffic'.[8]

This process was slow as it involved research into historic usage and often public enquiries, and so was not completed by the time the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 was passed. This reclassified all remaining RUPPs as 'restricted byways' on 2 May 2006.

Restricted byways

On 2 May 2006 the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 reclassified all remaining roads used as public paths as restricted byways. The public's rights along a restricted byway are to travel:

•on foot
•on horseback or leading a horse
•by any vehicle (e.g. bicycles, horse-drawn carriages) other than mechanically propelled vehicles (e.g. motorbikes or cars) unless vehicular rights pre-existed, then the act did not extinguish those rights.

[BikerPaul]

So to be clear, when SABRE talks of "All British Roads" actually we only care about the classified and reclassified ones. If a road was never formally classified we give no ****.

Good to know, fantastic resource, but not what I expected from an organization like this, where roman roads, ancient trackways etc are all included, but this road isn't, simply because of a clerical error in 1889?

[Chris5156]

So to be clear, when SABRE talks of "All British Roads" actually we only care about the classified and reclassified ones. If a road was never formally classified we give no *****.

You've had a number of detailed and well-researched responses to your points about this road. I'd say you've seen a significant amount of care and interest demonstrated. It looks to me like you're just upset that nobody has agreed with you that it needs to be reclassified in any way.

Besides, as has been pointed out more than once: what happened (or did not happen) in the late nineteenth century is an irrelevance. This road was reclassified in 2006. That is the only decision that now matters because it is the only thing that decides what the road is now. If you disagree with how it was reclassified in 2006, feel free to take it up with Oxfordshire County Council, but don't expect SABRE to do it! We don't seek to reclassify roads or challenge decisions about them. We are not a campaigning organisation.

[Owain]

So to be clear, when SABRE talks of "All British Roads" actually we only care about the classified and reclassified ones...

That's not strictly true. If unclassified roads are your thing, you might find some items of interest here:

favourite unclassified roads

minimum width for an unclassified road

white roads on maps

That's just the content I found in a 30-second search; there are probably far more examples!

[KeithW]

So to be clear, when SABRE talks of "All British Roads" actually we only care about the classified and reclassified ones. If a road was never formally classified we give no ****.

Good to know, fantastic resource, but not what I expected from an organization like this, where roman roads, ancient trackways etc are all included, but this road isn't, simply because of a clerical error in 1889?

That is self evidently untrue when you look at the responses to this thread. I have given you chapter and verse pointing you to resources including Turnpike Trust Records, the OS Plot plans of the actual state of the road in 1886 and the definitive maps held by Oxfordshire County Council. You may not like the historical record but it is accurate. In 1886 the section of the road that is now a Restricted Byway was shown as being only usable as a footpath.

This does not mean that a vehicle cannot be physically driven down it , rather that it is not suitable for use by motorised traffic. The reality is that motor vehicles can and do destroy unsurfaced roads which is one reason why the 2006 reclassification was required. In North Yorkshire a group of avid green laners driving 4x4's and trail bikes destroyed just such a byway in a short period. By the end of the summer what had been a pleasant gravel road was left with 3 feet deep ruts full of muddy water. The damage was so deep it destroyed the field drains leaving the land owners and county council having to spend a wodge of money to fix it. Guess what happened next, yep a TRO followed by reclassification as a restricted byway.

<Edited for readability>