The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
The London and Southampton Railway was first proposed in 1831 and the bill approved by Parliament in 1834 at a cost of £900,000. The section between Basingstoke and Winchester opened on 11 May 1840 – and was the final part of the London and Southampton Railway to be completed. Prior to its construction, all of the traffic between London and Southampton was carried by eight stage coaches, four wagons per week, and one barge weekly on the Basingstoke Canal!
Don't Lose Your Way and the Right to Roam in Micheldever
Locals might be interested to hear about the Ramblers major campaign, Don't Lose Your Way and the Right to Roam group.
Across England and Wales and found there are over 49,000 miles of paths that could be lost forever, unless we come together to save them.
The government recently announced it would be implementing a deadline of 2031 to save these paths, despite announcing in 2022 that it wanted to remove the deadline.
After that date we will no longer be able to claim rights of way based on historic evidence. This means that time is running out to save our right to access these paths. The Ramblers need volunteers throughout England and Wales to prioritise, research and apply for the paths to be restored, protecting them for generations to come.
More info on the campaign can be found here: https://dontloseyourway.ramblers.org.uk/
More info on the Right to Roam, a group growing in prominence since the recent High Court action relating to camping on Dartmoor, is here:
https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/
If you're a member of the Ramblers, you can search the online map of 'lost paths' that the Ramblers Association is trying to restore.
For illustration, see the map below. All the dash lines are lost paths that may become open again, that are currently not rights of way.
The Pink dashes are a higher priority - some of these paths have full applications into the County now, to restore the right of way.
The Blue dashes are normal priority, part of the Ramblers general plans to restore rights of way.
In this general election year the main political parties have points of difference on Right to Roam legislation, lost paths and the deadlines in place to re-open paths.
If you care about the right to roam or about using paths that were once open to us all, check out the Ramblers Don't Lose Your Way Campaign and the Right to Roam group.
