Todays Photo

Bog Man said:
We have one and it is marked on the deeds .
Motorway in the neighbors finished the mass bit .
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You should have hired Eddie Lenihan to insist on the mass path being preserved, he could have negotiated a zebra crossing on the motorway
 
gone said:
Old right of way for kids going to school and adults going to Church.
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Is the church still standing, there is a field near here known as the church field, its 45 acres or more and has a mound that once had a church, there are stiles on all the surrounding hedges that were part of the mass paths radiating out from where the church once stood, before the potato famine there were probably a lot of families living in this field in their small plots in the days of hedge schools.
 
Arthur said:
Is the church still standing, there is a field near here known as the church field, its 45 acres or more and has a mound that once had a church, there are stiles on all the surrounding hedges that were part of the mass paths radiating out from where the church once stood, before the potato famine there were probably a lot of families living in this field in their small plots in the days of hedge schools.
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Only really old churches around here would C of I churches taken during penal times.
The church served by this is newer, but like most Christian churches on these islands ministers/ priests are in terminal decline followed by worshippers, the churches are very plentiful.
 
There's a mass path going through our farm leading back to the famine times, there are gates and or stiles between the next farms which have never been interfered with or won't be either. Nice to have a reminder of times long past when life was so much tougher and many legs crossed these stiles.
 
Mass path here as well, not sure whether it was leading to the nearest village or just to the main road. We have a couple of stiles as a result too. Semi restored one and use it to access the field when herding.

They are a forgotten part of our past really.
 
We had hunting gates that were painted white but they were not rights of way despite what the aristocracy thought. There were two into neighboring farms and a couple of pole jumps within the farm . The huntsman used to paint them .
The hunt was banned out of the place between 1873 and 1932 due to a row with the Grand Jury over rates levied on the townsland over a malicious fire .
In other words the Grand Jury decided that the people that set the fire came from here and should pay for it on the rates .
 
Have Mass Paths been made into public footpaths over with you?

Any old mark on a map seems to be declared as a footpath now. Even if it goes nowhere!
Most were exactly as you say. Paths to go to Church.

A lot were also short cuts for farm workers, apparently permission would be sought before using them, say if you changed jobs you would ask whichever landowner if you could cross the path.
 
Rights of way lapse after 13 years without any use, so most are closed now.
This one really was only used by my mother's family and she and her brothers would have been the last to use it back in the early fifties.
 
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gone said:
Rights of way lapse after 13 years without any use, so most are closed now.
This one really was only by my mother's family and she and her brothers would have been the last to use it back in the early fifties.
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There is one through our land. Previous owner didn't remember it being used, he died 90 yrs old. A good 25 years ago. But it was on an old old map..... some idiot walking group found it next thing you know £18k was being spent on a new footbridge over the river.

The x- years unused rule is here too. But apparently these walkers had been using the path just the year before!

Biggest joke is there was an old stone style in one wall. That was broken to put in a new one! Yet I was in breach of the rules as we had fenced over the unused path!!
 
AYF said:
There is one through our land. Previous owner didn't remember it being used, he died 90 yrs old. A good 25 years ago. But it was on an old old map..... some idiot walking group found it next thing you know £18k was being spent on a new footbridge over the river.

The x- years unused rule is here too. But apparently these walkers had been using the path just the year before!

Biggest joke is there was an old stone style in one wall. That was broken to put in a new one! Yet I was in breach of the rules as we had fenced over the unused path!!
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Our property rights are a good bit stronger than yours and enshrined in our constitution, mainly due to the land wars here.
 
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There was a mass path that went through the farm here. No trace of the path now but the stiles or remains of them I should say are still here. CIE flattened one as they do a few years ago. I wouldn't mind but it was in perfect condition as it was on the railway bounds and cattle never got at it unlike the rest. There is a culvert across a long since disused drain that was a part of the path. The drain has been backfilled but the culvert was left alone.
 
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