RAMBLERS have been celebrating Britain's new right to roam laws - the culmination of 120 years' campaigning.

The most notable protest was the Kinder Scout mass trespass in Derbyshire in 1932.

But here in Bolton there was a mighty demonstration on Sunday, September 6, 1896, when 10,000 people marched up Halliwell Road, Smithills Dean Road and Coalpit Road.

Col Ainsworth, a noted bleacher and landowner, had closed Coalpit Road where it diverged from the track past Holden's Farm to Hole Bottom, between Green Nook and Gilligant's farms.

When the crowd reached the gated section there was a fracas involving the police and gamekeepers.

Gordon Readyhough, a Bolton Evening News librarian, wrote in September, 1982: "The gate was destroyed and the marchers proceeded along the narrow pathway to Scotchman's Stump and on to Belmont, where a demonstration perhaps unprecedented in the history of Bolton ended.

"An unorganised walk took place the following Wednesday afternoon, and on the Saturday 12,000 protesters marched peacefully over the same route."

Col Ainsworth subsequently issued writs against 10 of the people who had passed over his land during the first demonstration.

He won the case at Manchester Chancery Court on March 9, 1897, and the 10 had injunctions served against them.

Two of them, Solomon Partington and William Hutchinson, had costs awarded against them, totalling around £600.

These events inspired several hundred people to take part in a commemorative walk in September, 1982.

Paul Salveson, a 29-year-old trade union tutor of Clay Street, Bromley Cross, who had written a pamphlet about the 1896 demonstration, was the main organiser.

By that time Coalpit Road had been scheduled as a public footpath - a final vindication of the fight for freedom in the previous century.

The 1982 walkers assembled, as their predecessors had, at the junction of Blackburn Road and Halliwell Road.

Among them were entertainer Mike Harding, authoress Jessica Lofthouse, Andrew Bennett, MP for Stockport North, and veteran rights of way campaigner Benny Rothman from Timperley, Cheshire - one of the Kinder Scout trespassers who spent four months in jail.

They were all led up Halliwell Road by the Eagley Brass Band, and the Horwich Morris Men added to the spectacle. When the walkers reached Coalpit Road, a plaque was unveiled in memory of the original trespass.

The ceremony was performed by Donald and Geoffrey Hutchinson of Altrincham, grandson and great-grandson respectively of William Hutchinson.

The organisers said they planned to keep the issue of footpath closures and free access in the public mind.

Pictures

Top - ! Television personality Mike Harding, left, was pictured with his friend and fellow walker Robert Teal. Mr Harding later became President of the Ramblers' Association.

Bottom - Young people led the way during the commemorative walk to Smithills Moor. The walkers are pictured here in Smithills Deane Road.