Foulridge Mass Trespass 1911

[Pluto]

The Kinder Scout mass trespass is generally seen as the first such protest, but there was something similar on the L&LC twenty years earlier, when some 600 people trespassed on the footpath around Foulridge and Slipper Hill reservoirs. Three people were prosecuted, and copies of the court documents relating to their prosecution are attached.

1911 Trespass documents.pdf

[Heartland]

The reasons for the trespass as mentioned in the attached pdf probably deserve further explanation

 

[PeterScott]

Yes, a fascinating tale.

 

On 24/04/2022 at 11:43, Pluto said:

...  600 people trespassed on the footpath around Foulridge and Slipper Hill reservoirs. Three people were prosecuted, and copies of the court documents relating to their prosecution ...

'"Trespassers will be prosecuted" [signs] are meaningless as you cannot be prosecuted for trespass - it is a civil wrong, not a criminal offence. It's therefore more accurate to have a sign that reads: "Keep out - private property. You are trespassing." ' (Guardian)

 

So three of the trespassers, Henry Banks (The Younger), William Hook and Frank Eastwood, presumably the main organisers, were sued for damages in the Chancery Division, and look to have come to an out-of-court compromise that allowed access to some (or all?) of the disputed footpaths. 

 

There were some fences / stile / gate on the footpaths the trespassers saw as rights-of-way. They took them down (no mention of any criminal damage prosecutions btw) and the compromise was that the people could use the paths as permissive paths, but accepted that they weren't rights-of-way: Canal Company declared they wouldn't maintain them, and everyone paid their own legal expenses.

[Pluto]

The paths around the reservoirs at Foulridge had long been a favourite walk for locals, and it would seem that when the canal company's tenants tried to close them off, a Foulridge Footpaths Defence Committee was formed to keep them open. They were successful as they are still in use by the public. People in general were beginning to demand more respect at this time, and there was much unrest amongst workers, with numerous strikes, including by canal workers. It is possible there could have been some sort of revolution, but the First World War came along instead.