I’ve been checking the legality of some of the trails I ride round here as one is shown as a footpath on the 1:50k OS map and a bridleway on the 1:25k.
According to the Worcestershire County Council Definitive Map, it is a bridleway, so I’ll go with that.
I found quite a few other paths on the OS map which are not on the definitive map though.
If you put 374000 in the X box and 276000 in the Y box on that map for example, then zoom out one click, it shows a gap between paths 549 and 839, even though it is continuous on the OS map.
It also shows a couple of other bridleways and a footpath on the OS map without the definitive right of way overlaid on them.

So, are they legal Public Rights of Way or not ?

So, are they legal Public Rights of Way or not ?

Does it matter?

your local rights of way officer will tell you. The local plan should I think be the legal definition of the RoW, however legally the printed version you can consult at the council office is usually defined as the definitive map and often you’ll see a disclaimer on electronic local plan maps to that extent. i’m sure no one will catch you anyway.

I was just asking out of curiosity really.
The path that originally got me checking is at X=379000, Y=278000 on that map as it passes Hall’s Farm.
If you untick the PRoW button for clarity, then zoom in and out from 1:50k to 1:25k, you’ll see it change from a bridleway to a footpath.

I’ve ridden it several times and never met anyone else, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s fair game.
I’m thinking of using it in a trailquest though, so I needed to know the legal status as we only use bridleways for events.

It’s when I started scrolling around and found other bridleways, which I know have got blue arrow signposts on them on the ground, yet are not marked on the definitive map, that I wondered what was going on.

In your first post the reason for the gap between paths 549 and 839 is because it crosses a county boundary, and by the look of it Worcestershire CC don’t have the data for the neighbouring county

Dunno about Halls Farm as I see a light green BW (+++’s) at either scale with pink dashed FP’s going north and south.

I’d go by a combination of whats on the ground and what the OS map says so you won’t really get into many problems, and what you’re obviously doing is then getting back and checking the online mapping to make sure if something does go wrong.

[EDIT] Sorry, I re-read your post and I didn’t zoom out to 50k. The only thing I can say is that OS maps have about as many mistakes as the DM. OS maps are sometimes only updated every 7-8 years, so it may have been picked up on. All OS maps have a disclaimer, something like “paths represented here aren’t evidence of any PROW”.[/EDIT]

As for the ‘definitiveness’ of the DM its as definitive as it gets, hence the name 🙂 that doesn’t make them accurate though as there are LOTS of errors because the maps are based on Parish council surveys done in the 50’s.

Definitely in my area (and every other council I know about) you can tell they weren’t ever walked, just added on how the surveyor remembered them donkeys years ago “I CBA walking/surveying this as I remember this path when I was a kid, it goes from this farm in a magical straight line to the other farm half way *scribble*”. I wish I could go back in time and punch them in the face TBH 🙂

Oh yes, that bit’s in Shropshire. 😳

It’s the path going straight through Hall’s Farm.
If you untick the PRoW box to get rid of the green ++++ so you can see the map more clearly, then look at the 1:50k map, it’s shown as short pink dashes as a footpath to the South and long pink dashes as a bridleway where it coincides with the farm track to the North East.
If you then zoom in to the 1:25k map, it’s shown as long green dashes as a bridleway all the way through.

Go to the local authority and ask for the latest map. Explain and you’ll get the official answer which is what you want to run events. No come back that way. Done this often when motorcycle trail riing.

In the case of Hall’s Farm, the definitive map shows it as a BW, so that seems quite clear – just the OS 1:50k map which is wrong. As mentioned above, your other issues are simply because you’re looking at ROWs in Shropshire which WCC has no data on.

These discrepancies bug me too. There’s one where I ride and walk near Castle Combe;

If you look at the crosshairs in the middle, just below ‘Plantation’ you can see where a bridleway suddenly changes to a footpath at the parish boundary. Now, it’s obvious that villagers in Long Dean would ride horses and use pack horses to go backward and forwards to Castle Combe, there were wool mills all along the valley, 19 in total, but on the ground it’s marked as a footpath along its length. I tend to ignore that on the bike, and I’ve never been hassled but it ought to be clarified. The screengrab is from 1:25k Viewranger on my phone, BTW.

How about this one, CountZero ? 50m of bridleway in the middle of a footpath. 😀

There’s a footpath in the Wyre Forest known as The Coach Road, which gives a clue to it’s former use.

You also need to look at the most up to date 1:50k mapping – which surprise, surprise is at http://www.getamap.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/?gr=SO787776 select “Leisure” box at top left of map and zoom out one to get the 50k.

For CountZero’s case, the small black dots are parish (or community, depending on how you look at things) boundary’s (on 25k only it’ll have in large-ish grey text, something like ‘Whatever CP’).

Depending on how the parish surveyor marked it his parish – say a BW – his / her counterpart in the neighbouring parish would mark it as a FP, meaning modern maps show a BW turning into a FP. These are really difficult to sort out, hence back in time, and a kick to the nads.

No idea what’s going on with the 50m BW in MTG’s map 😀

p.s. Totally OT. Theres a pantystain up not too far away from ruthin. I would post the link but it keeps breaking, so look a bit northwest of LL11 5HN

one issue is that currently a right of way may exist but not be on the definitive map – not being on the definitive map doesn’t preclude a right of way existing and being added to the definitive map – this is changing and means that in around 15years time (less for unclassified roads? depending on what happened when in past)then if its not on the definitive map it will never be a right of way

http://www.iprow.co.uk/gpg/index.php/Definitive_Maps is quite an interesting source of info – warning reading the detail will cause agitation

The status of a route on the Definitive Map is regarded in law as a way of that description unless it can be proven otherwise.

OS maps all carry a disclaimer stating that the status shown on the OS map doesn’t mean that it is a right of way.

The other thing to look out for are “white roads” on OS maps. There is another type of route open to the public that is shown on the “list of streets”. This is a list held by the Highway Authority of all routes that are publicly maintainable. Sometimes these are shown on 1;50k OS with red dots. Not all of them are on OS though. Some are VERY gnarly!They are usually ancient roads and can comprise old trackways or even rivers!

Not sure if this has already been suggested, but its important you send the error to OS, as they may not know about it. Its takes a while to check, but the OS cartographers will get back to you after checking and will fix it.

It will take years before its fixed on the 25/50’s though as they are only generated from the OS master map every 5 years or so.

Not sure if this has already been suggested, but its important you send the error to OS, as they may not know about it.

Though as I pointed out above, the original issue MTG mentioned has already been fixed on the very latest maps.