Campaigners say ancient sites have been closed to pedestrians

More than a quarter of England’s oldest countryside sites are not easy to visit because they are on private land and have no legal rights of access, according to research by campaigners.

A report by the Right to Visit group has found that more than 5,500 lesser-known sites designated as scheduled monuments have no direct footpaths or are not on open access land.

The Stone Club, a group of Neolithic stone lovers, said its members often have to trespass to reach the sites.

Government adviser Historic England said landowners are not obliged to open such sites to the public, although many grant permission on a case-by-case basis.

While scheduling means that a private landowner needs consent to carry out any work on a protected site, it does not affect their ownership nor give the general public any new rights of access beyond existing footpaths. Gives.

However, owners of the East Kennet site told the BBC they are happy for people to visit with permission, as safety was an issue with horse training nearby.

The owner of the Holne Chase site has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

Countryside charity CPRE, formerly known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said it believed Right to Roam’s estimate of sites without legal rights of access was “probably a significant underestimate”. .

This was said to be because the report does not include sites that may not have direct access but are within 20 meters of a road or footpath and can therefore be seen from a distance, such as devil’s arrows Stone circle in North Yorkshire.

CPRE chair Mary-Ann Ochota said the public must have a legal right to “responsible access” to ancient sites because “peeking over the fence is not enough”.

Meanwhile, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents rural landowners, said many of the sites identified “face persistent threats from motorbikes to metal detectors – and are very difficult to avoid uncontrolled access.” Are delicate”.

“Open them, and we could lose them forever,” explained Victoria Vivian, its president.

He called for more funding to provide “controlled, directed” access to farmers and to better protect scheduled monuments on their lands.

Right to roam campaigner Amy-Jane Beer said there should be access to ancient sites because they “connect us to our past and enrich our experience of the countryside”.

The group is calling for a change in the law to bring England into line with Scotland, where, since 2003, the right of responsible access to most land has been in place.

Matthew Shaw of the Stone Club said: “At sites that are frequently visited, there are active groups who look after them – maintaining access, making sure the stones are well looked after and the land. Contact is maintained with the owner.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said that the purpose of scheduling monuments is to preserve them for future generations and not to create new rights of public access.

A spokesperson for Historic England said it does not require landowners to open their sites to the public.

“Although not all are publicly accessible, we can also celebrate a site’s history through capturing and sharing information about it,” he said.