1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Welcome to This Day in History Class, where 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:11,360 Speaker 1: we bring you a new tipbit from history every day. 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: Today is the Day was a ninety two about five 5 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: hundred walkers, mostly from Manchester, England, trespassed and walked from 6 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: Hayfield to kinder Scout. Their goal was to call attention 7 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: to the fact that walkers have been denied access to 8 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: open country. The trespass marked an uptick in the right 9 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: to rome movement. Centuries ago, people could graze, cattle, cut lumber, 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,919 Speaker 1: and get water from common lands, but in the fourteen hundreds, 11 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: landowners began marking the boundaries around their property. In the 12 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds and closure acts turned millions 13 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: of acres of common land into land and privately owned estates. 14 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Some people, eager to have access to land that was 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: once common, snuck onto the now private land. Trespassing began 16 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: to have serious legal consequences, even death. For a period 17 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: of time, people began demanding the right to rome, or 18 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: the freedom to walk through certain public and private land 19 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: for recreation. In eighteen eighty four, Parliament made its first 20 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: demand for the right to rome. This attempt, and many 21 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: ones to follow were unsuccessful. In the late eighteen hundreds, 22 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: areas in northern England were becoming more industrial. As a 23 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: way to escape the smoke and other environmental ills that 24 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: industrialism caused. Workers from Manchester and other industrial cities would 25 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: escape to the moorlands and mountains and Peak District, an 26 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: upland area in England. In nineteen hundred, the Sheffield Clarion 27 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: Ramblers became the first nor Than Workers Rambling club. Ramblers 28 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: or walkers would leave busy cities and hit to more 29 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: natural landscapes for better environs and self improvement. By ninety two, 30 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: industrial and mining areas in the UK we're dealing with 31 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: the Great Depression. Still workers traveled to walk on greener land. 32 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: One place that was particularly popular was kinder Scout, a 33 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: moorland plateau in Derbyshire, But too many people the walkers 34 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: visits were more than just innocent strolls through nature. Two 35 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: landowners the ramblers were somewhere they weren't supposed to be. 36 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: The Duke of Devonshire owned most of the reservoirs and 37 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: mountains at kinder Scout, and he wanted the land to 38 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: be available for other locals to shoot grouse. Walkers were 39 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: warned not to traverse the land. People in organizations began 40 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,639 Speaker 1: to see the right to roam as a class issue. 41 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: The British Workers Sports Federation, which was affiliated with the 42 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: Communist Party of Great Britain, began to play a role 43 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: in advocacy for rambling. Benny Rothman was an outdoors enthusiasts 44 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: and charismatic leader in the Lancashire wing of the British 45 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,839 Speaker 1: Workers Sports Federation. At an Easter camp for the organization, 46 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: members were harassed by gamekeepers on a walk to bleak 47 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: Low and forced to head back to their camp. This 48 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: inspired the Ramblers to plan a mass trespass. Advocating for 49 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: land access. As a diversion, the Ramblers distributed false information 50 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: about a British Workers Sports Federation rally in Hayfield. Instead, 51 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: they met at a nearby Corey via a route that 52 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: cars could not use. Hundreds of adults and children were 53 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: in the crowd of Ramblers. They walked north past the 54 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: Kinder Reservoir and down an established right of way to 55 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: William Clough and Assent with views of Manchester and Tesshier. 56 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: From there the Ramblers it up to the forbidden kinder Moorlands. 57 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: When they got there, they had to fight off gamekeepers 58 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: and they won those scuffles, during which a gamekeeper had 59 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: been hurt, but they still had to face the police. 60 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: At Hayfield. Several ramblers were arrested, none of which were 61 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: over twenty three years old when they went to trial. 62 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: All of the men were charged with offenses related to 63 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: riotous assembly and assault and given jail time, but the 64 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: sentences inspired greater movement in the right to rome fight. 65 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: People held rallies and more mass trespasses the same year. 66 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,799 Speaker 1: Once the Second World War began, the country's attention shifted 67 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: and Ramblers joined the war. Are remained active in the 68 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: labor movement in other ways, but once the Labor Party 69 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: came to power in ninety land reform became more of 70 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: a focus. By nineteen forty nine, the National Parks and 71 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: Countryside Act passed, creating the National Parks Commission. Soon the 72 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: Peak District became Britain's first national park. In two thousand, 73 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: the Labor government passed the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 74 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: which implemented the Right to rome and land mapptis open 75 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: country or registered common land in England and Wales. I'm 76 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: Eave Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more 77 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have 78 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: any burning questions or comments to tell us, you can 79 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at t D 80 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: i HC podcast. Thanks for joining me on this trip 81 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: through time. See you here in the exact same spot tomorrow. 82 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart 83 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 84 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 1: favorite shows.