DetectingWales.com

Does anyone know of any websites on ancient pathways in uk ? I've already found
"Where's the path" but either I'm not using it right or i'ts not showing much info. Are there any other sites  on here?

Hi you little Spud Muffin  :P
Have you tried the site "You take the high road and I'll take the low road"  ::) ::)

Ha ha ha Jeff, I'm going to kill you  lol. Have you got rid of the wifes magic wand yet ? ;D ;D

What about looking at drovers roads ? Imagine they might be following the ancient tracks.

The force has grown to strong within her I think  :P
Now there is no way the wand can be removed from Mrs Wizards clutches  ::)  Until it can be removed, no Gold Ring or other shiny stuff is safe  :'( :D

lol  ;). im going to put lead in her wellies jeffers :D that should slow her down a bit

Alas Master Badger, The Force is far to strong for the old lead in wellies trick  :-\
Afraid best I can hope for is quick setting mud at low tide  8)

I have just got back from shopping and I wondered why Jeff had locked himself in the bathroom, now I see why. :o ??? LOL

 ;D ;D ;D

Difficult one lamp shady. The only place I have come across ancient footpath info is in old library maps in the archives.
You got me searching for them now lol. Good luck buddy, let me know how you get on

Not sure what you mean? tracks as in roads or footpaths as in more local? Many tracks are thought to be still being used with most if not all Roman roads following the course of older Neolithic "ways" with local roads honouring the course of older routes, as Svaipa has said the Drovers tracks are in the main old but how used by these were by the general populace is debatable as they're designed to avoid built up areas.
As for footpaths then once again the majority of those still in existence are based on time honoured ones, many of those that have lapsed are gone forever but as they, 99% of the time, follow the shortest most direct route, a map and a rule can give you some good approximations of old footpaths especially between churches (highest visible point) ;)

Great idea Geoff I never thought of the measuring idea. What brought it to mind was, two rallies
ago on speaking with the farmer, he pointed out a couple of places where there were once
footpaths  across his fields, now long gone.I just wondered if there was a website showing old maps and where these footpaths could be found on local farms and possibly useful for rallies.

Depends what you call ancient Dylan.  Ordnance Survey do a good selection of 1800's maps of most areas which show all the old tracks and buildings.  
They're in the 'Old Series' reproduced from the Cassini collection to match the Landranger series. I bought one for my area and it's very informative.

As far as foot paths are concerned, I haven't seen anything published. As Alun said, could be the an Archive job.

Val

Thanks Val and Alun, I suppose now I'll have to buy myself a musical instrument and search
through the yellow pages ,that will give me information on music teachers, who will charge me at least £10 per hour for music lessons, so that Iwill be able to catch a bus to Pontypridd, as it's to
expensive to park my van in the local car park,[ i.e. £1 per hour, ] Then i'll have to catch a train to Cardiff and find myself a nice busy spot where I can start busking, to earn enough money so that I
will be able to afford to buy the maps.  ;D ;D

 P.S.   I forgot about the cost of buying a dog to keep me company while I'm busking and the cost
of feeding it, Oh and then there's the vet bills for the spaying [dog not me].

You could try this link Dylan.  (If it works)   Takes a bit of twiddling but it's all there, including some old paths.

http://visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/results.jsp?xCenter=3016027.88557&yCenter=2883841.20712&scale=63360&mapLayer=nineteenth&subLayer=first_edition&title=Ordnance%20Survey%20and%20Ordnance%20Survey%20of%20Scotland%20First%20Series (http://visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/results.jsp?xCenter=3016027.88557&yCenter=2883841.20712&scale=63360&mapLayer=nineteenth&subLayer=first_edition&title=Ordnance%20Survey%20and%20Ordnance%20Survey%20of%20Scotland%20First%20Series)

p.s. you can grab and drag to where you want and zoom in.

Thanks Val x

LMAO.  Should have known it was you Dylan,  nice one.

Get a current OS map and a copy of the same area on the first edition OS map and see how many footpaths have disappeared in the intervening 180 or so years. 

I always find it difficult to correlate the information between old and new, some major changes in some areas.
An area I have been looking at is an example.  I now have 3 points of ref. on my area so what I do is get Google Earth up then minimise it and open another window to 'Vision of Britain' and have the map out as well. Then start comparing.
Last night,  I looked at the old map, which showed a Farm on the east side of a road/track but it's on the west side on modern map and Google. Looking more closely I suddenly realised the road had been moved.
What I find interesting is the number of 'dead end' tracks that are still showing. If you look closely enough, on Google, you can usually make out double hedges, which were the old tracks  went to buildings, now long since gone. Very often they lead to small enclosed fields or grown over patches.
On Google you can drag down the little man for a road view. Now that's even more interesting. You get more of an idea of the lay of the land and what it looks like now.

Val

I am also amazed at a lot of the dead end roads in my area Val according to the tithe map lead to common fields which were all gobbled up by the Enclosure Act in the 1830,s. Very productive sites Roads that lead to nowhere.  ;D

Www.old-maps.co.uk (http://Www.old-maps.co.uk) is an old favourite but printing them off is not as easy as it used to be. Worth getting a Google aerial shot and marking on with a pen anyways so you can follow it better when on the ground...

PS. You could borrow my dog but you'll have to feed him...

Thanks for that Andy, as for the dog, couldn't you feed it first before I borrow it ? ;D ;D

If you wait till the postman's been he'll have had his fill...    ;)