A report by the Right to Roam group has found that over a quarter of England’s countryside landmarks cannot be accessed due to being located on private land. This means that over 5,500 Scheduled Monuments have no direct footpaths or public access. While owners of the private land are not obliged to grant access, many do provide access on a case-by-case basis. Scheduling does not affect their ownership or give the general public any legal access beyond established footpaths, but consent is required to carry out any works to the protected site.
The Stone Club, a group for neolithic stone enthusiasts, said its members are often required to trespass to access sites, illustrating that the prohibition on access to these landmarks remains a concern. Non-existent or indirect access to these landmarks, combined with access rights via established footpaths, means that many ancient sites, such as the East Kennett site, chosen by the BBC to represent this situation in its reporting, are not fully accessible to the general public.
CPRE, before being renamed as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said it believed the report by Right to Roam of sites without a legal right of access could be “a significant underestimate.” While this report does not include those sites viewed from a distance, such as the Devil’s Arrows in North Yorkshire, the CPRE is of the opinion that these areas must be protected by responsible access. CLA, which represents rural landowners, understands the threat that these vulnerable and fragile areas are exposed to ranging from motorbikes to metal detectors and claims that opening access without due care implies the potential loss of heritage sites.
Right to Roam campaigner Amy-Jane Beer expressed her concern that ancient sites must be accessible to connect people with the past and enrich their experience of the countryside. The group is advocating for the law to change to bring England in line with Scotland, where since 2003, there has been a right of responsible access to most land. Maintaining access and liaising with landowners is the aim of active groups caring for sites, according to Matthew Shaw, a member of the Stone Club.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Historic England have said that scheduling monuments aimed to preserve sites for future generations and does not create new rights of public access. Furthermore, Historic England does not require landowners to open their sites to the public, but can share historical information about them. The countryside landmarks shielding critical aspects of old England’s past continue to prevail as a cause for concern
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