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Missing Section of "Roman Bridges" Path

8th May 2022 @ 6:06am – by Tarvin Parish Council
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walk packhorse 2platts lane to the roman bridges  map

The well-used path down to the "Roman Bridges" has a short section which is unrecorded on the definitive map (legal record of public rights of way kept by borough and county councils). This is despite the route having been a public thoroughfare for hundreds of years.

Although this anomaly has been known to Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) Officers for at least 12 years, their assurances to rectify the anomaly have not materialised.

In 2019 a small group of local residents, Parish and Borough Councillors initiated research into all of the historical evidence of the path's use. A substantial file was put together which included old maps showing the route being an Ancient Highway and that it was the main packhorse route from London to Holyhead in the 17th Century. CWaC Officers have seen the file and, because of the strong historical evidence gathered, they (CWaC Officers) decided in 2019 to add the unrecorded section of path to the List of publicly maintained highways.

The CWaC officer responsible for Public Rights of Way Asset Management joined the working group in January 2020 to walk the route down to the packhorse bridges from Tarvin. The status of the route still needed determining. Lockdown came along soon after and the project lost some momentum. The group has recently, however,  completed all of the paperwork necessary to submit an application to modify the definitive map. The application requests that the unrecorded section become a Restricted Byway which would match the Restricted Byway status of the route immediately on the other side of the middle bridge, which is in Christleton Parish. A Restricted Byway is a right of way for walkers (a walker includes a person using manual or powered mobility aids e.g., wheelchair or scooter), horse riders, cyclists -- who must give way to other users.

At the March Parish Council meeting all the documents were approved and the paperwork will now be forwarded to CWaC for their consideration and approval.

Ed: Great effort by all concerned – thanks everyone!

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