Latest News

Goodbye to blocked byway in East Sussex

September 2, 2024

Following pressure from Chris Smith, our local correspondent for Lewes district in East Sussex, the Firle Estate has reopened a blocked byway.  This is an old, two-kilometre-long route, shown on some eighteenth-century maps.  It runs between Newelm, west of Firle, westwards to the A26 road at The Lay in Beddingham parish.  It was probably first…

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Byway-blockage epidemic in Wiltshire 

August 27, 2024

The society has been pressing Wiltshire Council to secure the removal of obstructions on byways in Wiltshire. The council has finally acted—but only in one case, ordering a farmer to remove a set of illegal gates across a byway in the Wylye Valley. That followed a statutory notice from us requiring the council to have…

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Unlawful gates to go

April 22, 2024

Update – June 2024: We’re pleased to confirm that the gates have now been removed. You can read our latest update here.  In October 2022 the British Horse Society served two notices on North Yorkshire Council, under section 130A of the Highways Act 1980, for the removal of two pairs of large, ornamental gates. These…

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We celebrate addition of restricted byway to Norfolk’s path-map 

November 10, 2023

We are delighted that our Norfolk local correspondent, Ian Witham, has succeeded in his application to upgrade a public footpath at Mundesley to a restricted byway, with rights for cyclists, horse-riders and carriage-drivers, in addition to walkers.  The 60-metre path runs roughly south-west to north-east, between the C634 Cromer Road to the clifftop.  The route…

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We win recorded route in East Sussex 

August 18, 2023

We are celebrating the addition of a 2.3-kilometre restricted byway to the official map of public paths in East Sussex.  The route was claimed, based on historical evidence, by our local correspondent for Lewes, Chris Smith.    The path runs from Robin Post Lane in the north (to the west of the A27 between Hailsham and…

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