Public Byway To Sproxton, Open To All Traffic

On a cold winter morning I went for a walk to the North East of Melton Mowbray. It is an area with tangle of footpaths, bridle paths, byways, field roads and green lanes; call them what you will. A look at a map reveals that our modern network of tarmac roads do not follow logical lines between villages, but are often merely the routes specified by commisioners responsible for enclosing the old field systems in the 17th and 18th centuries. The direct lines between settlements are those that the old green lanes take and because they are ancient rights of way they still exist.

Despite the crisp winter air and frozen puddles, traversing this byway was somewhat hazardous. The thick and heavy Leicestershire clay stuck to my boots and my boots stuck to the ground. Each step was accompanied with a sucking sound as my boot threatened to pull off my foot, or alternatively I gingerly slipped and slid along the deep ruts. I was glad to reach the woods where I could remove the weight of clay that had increased the size of my foot ware by at least a factor of two.

In 1555, The Highways Act was passed and the responsibility for the upkeep of the the roads placed with individual parishes. Within each village, a "Surveyor Of Highways" was elected to office and he had responsibility for ensuring that road maintenance took place. The peasants in turn were required to provide unpaid labour and their own equipment for four eight hour days every year. The effectiveness of this action was somewhat variable and dependent on the individual parish. The bottom line was that roads had sufficed for foot travelers and movement of goods on the backs of ponies, but as carts got bigger the road infrastructure was found wanting.

I was reminded of the words of one early traveller "the roads grew bad, beyond all badness". In the 17th century, many roads were simply impassible in winter for any wheeled traffic; "this road was most execrably vile with ruts" said another traveller. I had some sympathy for those folk as I precariously negotiated this particular byway, both marked on the Ordnance Survey map  and local road signs as being "Open To All Traffic".