The King Charles III England Coastal Path was inaugurated in 2026. This new national trail will eventually follow the entire coastline of England. The route, which will stretch for over 2,700 miles when it is completed, will be the longest managed coastal walking route in the world.
From ancient paths to National Trails
Many of today’s footpaths, bridleways and byways evolved centuries ago as routes created through the habitual movement of people and animals. However, as common land was increasingly taken into private ownership through enclosure, many traditional routes across the landscape were diverted or lost.
From the late 19th century, there was increasing awareness of what had been taken away. This period saw the foundation of organisations advocating for rights of access to land. These included the Commons Preservation Society (1865), the National Trust (1895), the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (1926) and the Ramblers’ Association (1931).
Campaigns for ‘the right to roam’ included actions such as the controversial mass trespass of Kinder Scout in Derbyshire (1932). This and other campaigns aimed to encourage the creation of national parks. These campaigns also increased the awareness of and public interest in access to the countryside.
Decisive legislation came in the form of the Access to Mountains Act 1939, and the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The 1949 Act established the National Parks Commission, which was responsible for overseeing the designation of National Parks. They began by establishing the Peak District, Lake District, Snowdonia and Dartmoor National Parks in 1951. This Act also granted local authorities the power to establish and maintain nature reserves and to 'make further provision for the recording, creation, maintenance and improvement of public paths and for securing access to open country'.
Countryside Commission poster showing a central map of England and Wales, surrounded by photographs and text about conservation, recreation and access to rural landscapes. Produced by the Central Office of Information, 1980. Catalogue reference: COU 3/174
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- From our collection
- COU 3/174
- Title
- Poster from the Countryside Commission
- Date
- 1980
The 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act also required local authorities to carry out surveys of the public rights of way on footpaths and bridleways within their jurisdictions. As a result of this, a national network of public rights of way evolved. This was welcomed by Country Life magazine as ‘a sort of Domesday Book of Rights of Way.’
As National Parks were defined, maps were updated to reflect this. For example, Ordnance Survey maps acquired green dotted lines to show designated rights of way over private and common land. In many places, local walking groups created their own systems of signposting and waymarking. In some cases, landowners would also take on the responsibility of maintaining and marking paths. While this enabled access, it also protected their land from potential trespass.
An Ordnance Survey map of South Downs National Park, including a green-dotted line to mark designated rights of way.
Crown copyright Ordnance Survey
From the 1950s, there was growing interest in creating a consistent navigation system for the expanding network of long-distance footpaths. The aim was to introduce 'a common signpost [...] for all long-distance routes' (catalogue reference: HLG 92/150).
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- From our collection
- HLG 92/150
- Title
- Government correspondence on the marking of the Pennines
- Date
- 1952–1960
Public and government opinions
Discussions on signposts across government carried on throughout the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, there was a lack of agreement about exactly how paths should be marked, and who should cover the cost.
Local authorities, highway authorities, the Ministry of Transport, farmers, landowners, advocacy organisations, and others all had an interest in the issue. An August 1952 editorial in The Times stated that: 'Signposts of some kind would seem to be inevitable, but they will have to be placed with great discretion if they are not to destroy the very sensation – and a spice of uncertainty and adventure is part of it – which the walker seeks to experience'.
The author of a letter to The Guardian in 1961 reiterated some of the reasons in favour of a single national symbol:
Public footpaths
Sir, Mr Bousted says that public footpaths are not adequately sign-posted. Many local authorities have taken great trouble to map their footpaths, and some have erected signposts to show where the paths lead, but are these posts needed? The stroller who enjoys striking a country path will almost certainly know its destination; if not, he can easily learn it from a glance at the map. It is not so easy, however, to discover the exact track of a path that is not regularly trodden.
What is needed is the adoption, on a national scale, of a sign, such as a diagrammatic representation of a stile, to indicate a right of way. By means of a small plate fixed to an existing post, this way-mark could be shown at the start of a path and at points along it where its course ceases to be obvious.
Many of the paths now marked on county maps have fallen into disuse. For a very small expenditure, without putting up direction posts, we could beckon the wayfarer along them once more. Yours truly,
S. W. Green.
6 Chalk Grove, Cambridge.
Letter to The Guardian, signed by S. W. Green from Cambridge, 31 May 1962. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1061
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- From our collection
- COU 1/1061
- Title
- Designs for waymarks and a national symbol for them
- Date
- 1965–1967
Designing a national Long Distance Route symbol
A Long Distance Routes Committee had been formed in 1954 as part of the National Parks Commission to bring interested parties together. In January 1962, the committee noted the desirability of a universal Long Distance Routes emblem used 'sparingly as a way-marking and on signposts'.
The Minister of Transport suggested that a national competition might be held, but the committee preferred 'the idea of a National Symbol chosen perhaps from designs submitted by a selected number of designers'.
At a meeting on May 21st with Mr. Stephenson of the Ramblers Association and Miss Searle, the Secretary of the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society, the question of signposting and use of a National Symbol on Long Distance Routes was further discussed.
Both Mr. Stephenson and Miss Searle were in favour of the idea of a national symbol but did not like the suggestion of a stencil.
Mr. Stephenson said that he had recently been walking on the Pennine Way in the Cheviots and he thought there was a need for some intermediate sign.
Miss Searle thought that the idea of a symbol was attractive and wondered if it could be put on existing finger posts. She would prefer a symbol to be in one colour, e.g. green or red, and thought that perhaps an abstract design would be best. She considered that the emblem should be within the size of the ordinary Ministry of Transport footpaths sign.
Mr. Stephenson said that on the Continent way-marking was widespread. In some cases it was done by a simple bar of red. In the French Alps it was indicated by the letters “GR” and a number (Grande Route); in Italy simply by numbers. In certain places boards were erected giving the numbers and titles of the various routes. In the Ramblers’ Association only a minority disliked the general idea of way-marking but a majority would not support way-marking on the hills.
Mr. Stephenson thought that farmers would object to low signs which might also be covered by grass and undergrowth and be dangerous to walkers.
Conclusions
Both Mr. Stephenson and Miss Searle accepted the idea of some form of intermediate sign, but thought that form, shape, colour and materials needed close study. Whilst the matter would be put to open competition or commissioned from a professional designer, it could with advantage be discussed, with the Lettering Centre in the first place.
A meeting summary between Mr Stephenson of the Ramblers Association and Miss Searle, the Secretary of the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1061
In May 1962, a further meeting was held between a representative of the Ramblers' Association and the Secretary of the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society. They agreed to find a suitable emblem, and to 'think about form, shape, colour and materials'. Other questions included:
- How frequently, and where, should routes be signposted?
- How should waymarkers be adapted to different types of landscape?
- What symbol should be used to ensure national recognition and consistency?
A Committee on Signposting and Waymarking of Long Distance Footpaths and Bridleways was established by the National Parks Commission to oversee the project. The committee outlined the requirements for the design. It had to be ‘a simple symbol, to be recognisable, with usage, as an indicator of Long Distance Routes designed by the National Parks Commission’.
Additional design requirements are outlined in the below brief from the committee.
Object
To mark long distance footpaths, such as the Pennine Way and South Downs Way, for pedestrians, and to identify them as a "national" scheme.
Requirements
1. A simple symbol, to be recognisable, with usage, as an indicator of Long Distance Routes designed by the National Parks Commission.
2. (a) To be applicable to stone surfaces (rocks, stone walls etc.), and suitable for carving on e.g. a rock face.
(b) To be applicable to wood (fence posts, gateposts, etc.).
(c) To be suitable for use on notices (painted, printed or cast metal).
3. To be manufactured in metal alloy or plastic, in two colours of a size say 6" or 4" in diameter.
Considerations
- A bench mark is an example of a suitable symbol, which, with usage, has become identifiable to those concerned.
- The National Parks Commission at present uses no symbol. Different symbols for each National Park have been devised by the Park Planning Authority concerned.
- It might be an advantage if it can also indicate direction.
- It might be an advantage if it gives some suggestion that it is an official marking, perhaps bearing the Commission's name.
- The Commission take the view that identity by shape is a more important consideration than by recognition of the elements comprised in the design.
- Consideration should be given to the incorporation of three words "long distance footpath" or the name of the route.
Design Brief for the Long Distance Routes symbol. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1117
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- From our collection
- COU 1/1117
- Title
- Waymarking Symbol with photographs, stencils and castings
- Date
- 1965–1976
Other considerations included that it ‘might be an advantage if it [the symbol] can also indicate direction’. The commission also took the view that ‘identity by shape is a more important consideration than by recognition of the elements comprised in the design’.
Based on these ideas, initial designs were provided by the Lettering Centre.
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Initial designs for the Long Distance Route symbol proposed by The Lettering Centre, 1966. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1061
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Image 3 of 3
Meeting minutes reveal that ‘the attractive acorn design used by the National Trust was mentioned’. The National Trust had adopted a design based on oak leaves with an acorn for their symbol around thirty years earlier. This seems to have prompted the committee to prioritise a similar option. The acorn of the native English oak inspired a sense of tradition and a close relationship with the landscape.
Finalising a design
By 1966 the committee had accepted (in principle) a waymarking symbol based on the acorn, and received designs produced by the Central Office of Information. Notes in record COU 1/1117 show that the committee discussed design preferences before sharing these designs with the full National Parks Commission.
Two proposals for the acorn symbol, with slightly different shapes. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1117
Committee members seem to have shared differing opinions: the representative for the National Parks Commission, for example, commented rather bluntly:
I prefer C, but would like the stalk to be even shorter than it is.
The long stalk on A has obvious disadvantages when reproduced in almost any medium. It is also incorrect.
The straight sided B is just heavy and clumsy and I would not have it at any price.
Catalogue reference: COU 1/1117
Drawings showing the new acorn symbol on wood stiles and stone, 1967. Catalogue reference: COU 1/1117
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The acorn symbol stencilled on stone.
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The acorn symbol stencilled on wood.
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The acorn cut on stone.
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The acorn symbol carved on to wood.
By 1968 the design was in production by the Royal Label Factory in Stratford-upon-Avon. The National Parks Commission looked for a professional photographer to capture striking images of the symbol in use.
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'The Countryside Commission's Waymark for long-distance footpaths and bridleways, seen here on the Pennine Way near Malham Cove.’ Catalogue reference: COU 1/1117
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The reverse of the photo reads, 'The waymark is non-directional, and its only purpose is to confirm to walkers the line of the Way in places where there might be some doubt'
The acorn symbol was first used along the Pennine Way before gradually appearing along other long distance routes in England and Wales. The simple acorn became a familiar sight, reassuring walkers, riders, and others of their rights of way across the countryside.
