Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society

  • Outdoor Access
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  • Who We Are
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    • Our History
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Ask Me Your Outdoor Access Question

Important People of Scottish Access

  • Important People of Scottish Access – Adam Black (1784-1874)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Archibald Eneas Robertson (1870-1958)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Arthur W Russell (1873-1967)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Donald Bennet (1928-2013)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Donald Grant Moir  (1902-1986)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – John George Bartholomew (1860-1920)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Professor Sir Robert (Bob) Grieve (1910 -1995)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Rennie McOwan (1933-2018)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Viscount James Bryce (1838-1922)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – Walter Arthur Smith (1852-1934)
  • Important People of Scottish Access – William Ferris (1894-1963)

Introducing Ken

  • Hello, my name is Ken.

Court Cases

  • An outline of the Scottish Courts System
  • The Authority of Case Law
Cases under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003
  • Aviemore Highland Resort v Cairngorms National Park Authority
  • Caledonian Heritable Ltd v East Lothian Council
  • Creelman v Argyll & Bute Council
  • Forbes v Fife Council
  • Gloag v Perth & Kinross Council and the Rambler’s Association
  • Law Society of Scotland v Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
  • Renyana Stahl Anstalt v Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority Appeal Decision
  • Snowie v Stirling Council and Ramblers Association Lindsay and Barbara Ross v Stirling Council
  • Tuley v Highland Council
  • Williamson v Highland Activities Limited
Public rights of way and private servitude rights of way
    Creation of public rights of way – need for public place end points
    • Cuthbertson v Young
    • Darrie v Drummond
    • Duncan v Lees
    • Jenkins v Murray
    • Lauder v MacColl
    • Leith-Buchanan v Hogg
    • Magistrates of Dunblane v Arnold-McCulloch
    • Marquis of Bute v McKirdy & McMillan
    • Melfort Pier Holidays Ltd v The Melfort Club and Others
    • Midlothian Council v Crolla
    • Oswald v Lawrie
    • Scott v Drummond
    • Smith v Saxton
    • Wood v North British Railway
    Creation of public rights of way – use as of right by the public for the prescriptive period
    • Aberdeen City Council v Wanchoo and Neumann v Hutchison
    • Ayr Burgh Council v British Transport Commission
    • Burt v Barclay
    • Cadell v Stevenson
    • Cumbernauld & Kilsyth District Council v Dollar Land (Cumbernauld) Ltd
    • Duffield Morgan v Lord Advocate
    • Kinloch’s Trustees v Young
    • Magistrates of Elgin v Robertson
    • McGregor v Crieff Co-operative Society Ltd
    • McInroy v Duke of Athole
    • Norrie v Magistrates of Kirriemuir
    • Rhins District Committee of the County Council of Wigtownshire v Cunninghame
    • Richardson v Cromarty Petroleum Co Ltd
    • Rome v Hope Johnstone
    • Scottish Rights of Way & Recreation Society Ltd v Macpherson
    • Strathclyde (Hyndland) Housing Society Ltd v Cowie
    • Wills Trustees v Cairngorm Canoeing and Sailing School Ltd
    • Wilson v Jamieson
    Creation of rights of way – interruption of the prescriptive period
    • Mann v Brodie
    Different kinds of use of rights of way
    • Aberdeenshire Council v Lord Glentanar
    • Carstairs v Spence
    • Crawford v Lumsden
    • Macfarlane v Morrison & Others (Robertson’s Trustees)
    • Mackenzie v Bankes
    • Malcolm v Lloyd
    Need for a particular line for public rights of way
    • Home Drummond & Another (Petitioners)
    • Hozier v Hawthorne
    • Mackintosh v Moir
    Obstruction of rights of way
    • Aitchison v India Tyre & Rubber Co.
    • Anderson v Earl of Morton
    • Drury v McGarvie
    • Earl of Morton v Anderson
    • Fife Council v Nisbet
    • Geils v Thomson
    • Glasgow and Carlisle Road Trustees v Tennant
    • Glasgow and Carlisle Road Trustees v Whyte
    • Graham v Sharpe
    • Hay v Earl of Morton’s Trustees
    • Kirkpatrick v Murray
    • Lanarkshire Water Board v Gilchrist
    • Lord Donington v Mair
    • Macdonald v Watson
    • Midlothian District Council v MacKenzie
    • Rodgers v Harvie
    • Soriani v Cluckie
    • Stewart, Pott & Co. v Brown Brothers & Co
    • Sutherland v Thomson
    Procedural issues
    • Alexander v Picken
    • Alston v Ross
    • Hope v Landward District Committee of the Parish Council of Inveresk
    • Macfie v Scottish Rights of Way and Recreation Society Limited
    • Nairn v Speedie
    • Potter v Hamilton
    • Torrie v Duke of Atholl
    Public and private rights of way – ancillary rights and burdens
    • Allan v McLachlan
    • Lord Burton v Mackay
    • McRobert v Reid
    • Milne v Inveresk Parish Council
    • Moncrieff v Jamieson
    • Preston’s Trustees v Preston
    Relationship of public rights of way with private servitude rights of way and with ‘roads’ under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984
      Public rights of way and ‘roads’ under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984
      • Davidson v Earl of Fife
      • Hamilton v Dumfries & Galloway Council
      • Hamilton v Nairn
      Relationship of public rights of way with private servitude rights of way
      • Alvis v Harrison
      • McGavin v McIntyre
      • Thomson v Murdoch
    Rights of way – land owned by statutory undertakers or the Crown
    • Ayr Harbour Trustees v Oswald
    • British Transport v Westmoreland County Council
    • Edinburgh Corporation v North British Railway Co.
    • Ellice’s Trustees v Commissioners for the Caledonian Canal
    • Kinross County Council v Archibald
    • Lord Advocate v Strathclyde Regional Council and Lord Advocate v Dumbarton District Council
    • Oban Town Council v Callander & Oban Railway
    • The Ramblers Association v The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (and Others)
Navigation rights and rights in relation to the foreshore
    Navigation rights
    • Campbell’s Trustees v Sweeney
    • Colquhoun’s Trustees v Orr Ewing & Co
    • Crown Estate Commissioners v Fairlie Yacht Slip Ltd.
    • Denaby and Cadeby Main Collieries Ltd v Anson
    • Ellerman Lines Ltd v Clyde Navigation Trustees
    • Kames Bay Case – Petition of the Crown Estate Commissioners
    • Walford v David
    • Wills Trustees v Cairngorm Canoeing and Sailing School Ltd
    Rights in relation to the foreshore
    • Leith-Buchanan v Hogg
    • Marquis of Bute v McKirdy & McMillan
    • Officers of State v Smith
Liability
    Cases relating to contributory negligence
    • Smith v Finch
    Liability of recreational users to one another
    • Anthony Phee v James Gordon & Niddry Castle Golf Club 4 November 2011
    • Milne v Duguid
    • Pearson v Lightning
    Occupiers’ liability: Cases involving ‘hazards’ in the outdoors
    • Anderson v The Scottish Ministers
    • Brown v South Lanarkshire Council
    • Duff v East Dunbartonshire Council
    • Fegan v Highland Regional Council
    • Graham v East of Scotland Water
    • Johnstone v Sweeney
    • Lang v Kerr Anderson & Co.
    • Marshall v North Ayrshire Council
    • McCluskey v Lord Advocate
    • Michael Leonard v The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority
    • Prosecution by the Health & Safety Executive Dunoon Sheriff Court, 18th August 2010
    • Strachan v Highland Council
    • Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council
    • Trueman v Aberdeenshire Council
    • Wright v Nevis Range Development Company
    Occupiers’ liability: Cases involving children
    • Dawson v Scottish Power
    • Glasgow Corporation v Taylor
    • Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council
    • Stevenson v Glasgow Corporation
    Occupiers’ liability: Cases involving facilities/indoor premises
    • McCondichie v Mains Medical Centre
    • Poppleton v Peter Ashley Activities Centre
    • Porter v Borders Council
    Cases involving animals
    • Gardiner v Miller
    • Shirley McKaskie v John Cameron
    • Welsh v Brady
Other cases of interest
  • Carol Rohan Beyts v Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited
  • Law Society of Scotland v Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
  • Neizer v Rhodes
  • R v Howard

The Bookshelf

  • Welcome to The Bookshelf
Legislation
  • Legislation 1960-1969
  • Legislation 1970-1979
  • Legislation 1980-1989
  • Legislation 1990-1999
  • Legislation 2000-2009
  • Legislation 2010-2019
  • Legislation 2020-2029
Guidance on Legislation
  • Guidance on Legislation 1990-1999
  • Guidance on Legislation 2000-2009
  • Guidance on Legislation 2010-2019
  • Guidance on Legislation 2020-2029
Responsible Access
  • Publications on Responsible Access 1990-1999
  • Publications on Responsible Access 2000-2009
  • Publications on Responsible Access 2010-2019
Rights of Way and Outdoor Access Management
    Land Management
    • Managing Land for Outdoor Access 2000-2009
    Path Management
    • Path Management 1980-1989
    • Path Management 1990-1999
    • Path Management 2000-2009
    • Path Management 2010-2019
    • Path Management 2020-2029
    People Management
    • Managing the Public 2000-2009
    • Managing the Public 2010-2019
    Signposting
    • Signposting and Interpretation 1990-1999
    • Signposting and Interpretation 2010-2019
    • Signposting and Interpretation 2020-2029
Surveys of Rights of Way, Access and Procedures
  • Surveys of Rights of Way, Outdoor Access and Procedures 1980-1989
  • Surveys of Rights of Way, Outdoor Access and Procedures 1990-1999
  • Surveys of Rights of Way, Outdoor Access and Procedures 2000-2009
  • Surveys of Rights of Way, Outdoor Access and Procedures 2010-2019

About Access Rights

  • What are Outdoor Access Rights?
Rights of Way
  • A local landowner has fenced off a path that is well used by local people, and has put up a sign saying No trespassers’. What can I do about it?
  • Can I ride my motorbike on a right of way or take it off road?
  • Development Proposals and Outdoor Access
  • Do public rights of way exist in Scotland?
  • Horse riders are using a local path and churning it up so that it is difficult for walkers to use. What can be done?
  • How does a route become a right of way?
  • Is there any need for rights of way, now that there is freedom of access?
  • Is there any record of rights of way in Scotland?
  • My neighbour says he has a right to go along the path at the back of my house. Could this be a public right of way?
  • Private Signs, Private Roads, Public Roads, What’s the difference?
  • Rights of access to land
  • There is a path close to my house which local people say is a right of way. Can I divert the route so as to protect my privacy?
  • There is a proposal for a windfarm development that will be close to a well-used right of way. What can be done?
  • Where can I cycle?
  • Where Can I Ride or Drive my Horse?
  • Who’s responsible for path maintenance?
Statutory Access Rights
  • A Brief History of Access Rights
  • A local landowner has fenced off a path that is well used by local people, and has put up a sign saying No trespassers’. What can I do about it?
  • Are access rights different in Scotland from those in England and Wales?
  • Can I go wild camping in Scotland?
  • Can I ride my motorbike on a right of way or take it off road?
  • Horse riders are using a local path and churning it up so that it is difficult for walkers to use. What can be done?
  • Is there any need for rights of way, now that there is freedom of access?
  • Private Signs, Private Roads, Public Roads, What’s the difference?
  • Right to Roam Timeline
  • Rights of access to land
  • The Coming of Access Rights
  • The Scottish Outdoor Access Code, A Replacement for the Country Code
  • What activities are covered by rights of access?
  • What activities are not covered by rights of access?
  • What are core paths?
  • What does behaving responsibly mean?
  • What happens when there is a dispute about whether, or how, the rights of access apply?
  • What is a Local Access forum?
  • Where can I cycle?
  • Where Can I Ride or Drive my Horse?
  • Where do access rights not apply?
  • Who should I contact if I have a problem about access rights?
  • Who’s responsible for path maintenance?

History

  • 175th Anniversary
  • 1844 The beginning of ScotWays
  • 1964 When figure 740 changed the face of path signs
  • A Brief History of Access Rights
  • Boardwalks, the oldest types of constructed path
  • Historic Footpaths
  • Right to Roam Timeline
  • ScotWays’s Oldest Standing Signpost
  • The Association for the Protection of Public Rights of Roadway in and Around Edinburgh
  • The Bedford Memorial Bridge
  • The Changing Face of ScotWays Signs
  • The Coming of Access Rights
  • The First ScotWays Signposts
  • The History of ScotWays
  • The Launch of the Heritage Paths website
  • Welcome the Scottish Rights of Way and Recreation Society Limited
  • What’s in a name?

Scottish Hill Tracks

  • Scottish Hill Tracks ~ Overview
  • SECTION 11: Glen Coe & Appin
  • SECTION 13: Loch Leven to Glen Spean
  • SECTION 14: Ardgour, Moidart & Morven
  • SECTION 15: West Mounth & Sidlaw Hills
  • SECTION 17: Cairngorms
  • SECTION 19: Monadh Liath
  • SECTION 2: Central & South-West Borders
  • SECTION 20: Loch Eil to Glen Shiel
  • SECTION 21: Glen Affric, Kintail & Strathfarrar
  • SECTION 22: Mull & Skye
  • SECTION 23: Wester Ross
  • SECTION 24: Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
  • SECTION 3: Lammermuir & Moorfoot Hills
  • SECTION 4: Pentland Hills
  • SECTION 5: Clydesdale & Lowther Hills
  • SECTION 6: Galloway & South Ayrshire
  • SECTION 7: Arran, Inverclyde & North Ayrshire
  • SECTION 9: Southern Highlands

Heritage Paths

  • Heritage Paths Introduction
  • Historic Footpaths
  • The Launch of the Heritage Paths website
About Types of Heritage Paths
  • Coffin Roads
  • Drove Roads
  • Fish Roads
  • Heritage Paths Introduction
  • Leisure Paths
  • Medieval Roads
  • Military Roads
  • Pilgrimage Routes
  • Postie Paths
  • Public works and private enterprise: moving towards the modern transport system
  • Religious Routes
  • Roman Roads
  • Salters’ Roads
  • Trade Routes
  • Traveller Routes

Signposting

  • 1964 When figure 740 changed the face of path signs
  • A Signposting Tour of the Cairngorms
  • ScotWays’s Oldest Standing Signpost
  • The Changing Face of ScotWays Signs
  • The First ScotWays Signposts

#RespectProtectEnjoy

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  • History
  • The History of ScotWays

The History of ScotWays

Heritage Paths managed by Scotways

Although rights of way have existed in one form or another for many centuries, the story of ScotWays starts in 1845.  At that time landowners in Scotland were becoming increasingly protective of their property and ordinary folk were being prevented from walking in the countryside. Angry at these restrictions, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Adam Black, convened a public meeting to form an organisation to protect the public’s right of access to land.

That organisation was the Association for the Protection of Public Rights of Roadway in and around Edinburgh and, within two years, it was involved in one of the most celebrated cases in the history of access in Scotland. John Balfour, an ardent supporter of the newly founded Association and professor of botany at Edinburgh University, organised field studies for his students in the Highlands each summer. In 1847 he led a group from Braemar down Glen Tilt, where he met the Duke of Atholl and his ghillies barring the way. An acrimonious encounter ended only when Balfour and his students climbed over a dyke and ran off down the glen. The lengthy lawsuit which followed vindicated the right of way through Glen Tilt, and also established the Association’s role as defender of the public’s interest in such cases.

Forty years later the Association, renamed the Scottish Rights of Way and Recreation Society, installed the first rights of way signs in Scotland and became involved in another famous legal battle. A Society group led by Walter Smith set out on an expedition through the Mounth and Cairngorm glens to signpost rights of way. In Glen Doll it was intercepted by the keepers of the landowner, Duncan Macpherson, and the subsequent lawsuit was only finally settled in the House of Lords. The ruling confirmed the status of Jock’s Road as a right of way, but it left both the Society and Macpherson virtually bankrupt, such was the cost of litigation.

At that time ScotWays had three MPs among its directors and, dismayed by the cost of the Jock’s Road case, they advocated a much simpler and less expensive procedure for the settlement of rights of way disputes. Although this proved to be unsuccessful, they did succeed in having a duty imposed upon local authorities to protect rights of way added to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894.

One of the three MP directors was James Bryce who, with the support of ScotWays, sponsored three Access to the Mountains (Scotland) Bills to create a right to walk the mountains of Scotland, but without success. Bryce had a breadth of vision which enabled him to recognise the importance of rights of way while at the same time campaigning vigorously for freedom of access to the mountains. He realised that the existence of rights of way through the Highland glens made it virtually impossible for landowners to exclude hill-climbers from their estates, where they could enjoy a considerable degree of freedom of access to the hills. Even Walter Winans, the wealthy American who in the 1880s rented the land from Cannich to Kintail each summer for stalking and posted sentries to intercept travellers, had to recognise this, as is recorded by Sir Hugh Munro in his SMC Journal writings. It took until 2003 for Bryce’s dream of a right of access to land to become a reality.

In the early decades of the 20th Century, ScotWays was relatively inactive, but it was involved in a dispute in Glen Tanar concerning the rights of cyclists on pedestrian rights of way. With the case settling out of court, however, it did not provide the sought after validation of a precedent for cyclists’ rights.

During the 1930s one of our leading activists was our chairman, the Rev A.E.Robertson. After his completion of the Munros, he devoted much of his energy to walking the long-distance paths and tracks of the North-West Highlands and his pamphlet on this subject, published in 1941, was an invaluable record of these routes before the hydro-electric engineers flooded many of the glens in the 1950s. Between 1930 and 1934 Robertson carried on a long dispute with the owner of the Coulin estate, Torridon, who denied the existence of the age-old right of way across the Coulin Pass from Achnashellach to Kinlochewe. Robertson negotiated an alternative way that avoided the policies of Coulin Lodge, but the Forestry Commission subsequently planted over this route and the accepted route reverted to its original line.

In a change to ScotWays signposting of rights of way, the Second World War had ScotWays removing signs to make it harder for any German invaders to navigate. Many, but not all were replaced after the war ended.

Since 1945 many rights of way have been lost under densely planted forests and the rising waters of hydroelectric reservoirs, and promises to reinstate paths remain unfulfilled. In addition to these there has been a continuous gradual erosion of rights of way due to changing agricultural practices, building developments and the influx into Scotland of landowners who have no knowledge of or respect for our traditions of access. However, there can be no doubt that, but for the work of the Society, the loss of rights would have been greater than has been the case, and its compilation of a Catalogue of Rights of Way, with the help of Scottish Natural Heritage, during the 1990s has created for the first time a national record of known routes. At the same time, the revival of the signposting work has provided clear evidence on the ground of the vast network of paths that are part of our heritage.

The new access legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2003 has altered the scope of the Society’s remit and activities. The change of name to The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society (ScotWays for short) makes clear the intention to be involved in access matters in general and not just rights of way as in the past. The Society will continue to co-operate with local authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Paths For All Partnership, Ramblers Scotland and Mountaineering Scotland and other such organisations for the benefit of all people who want to enjoy walking, climbing and similar recreation in Scotland’s countryside.


175 years in 21 minutes

Join our Chief Operating Officer, Richard Barron, for a whistlestop tour of our history.  Presented as part of the National Library of Scotland online events series, it was recorded on 11 June 2020. 

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Updated on 17 December 2021
The First ScotWays SignpostsThe Launch of the Heritage Paths website

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The Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society. Upholding Public Access.
Registered Office: 24 Annandale Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4AN. Tel: 0131 558 1222.
A company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland. Company number 24243.
Scottish Charity number SC015460.
VAT registration number 221 6132 56.
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