Wimbish Footpaths

There is an interactive map of all the rights of way in Wimbish - click here to view it

Wimbish is extremely fortunate in having an extensive network of footpaths, bridleways and byways that have been left as traditional green lanes (although, sadly, Essex County Council has now hard-surfaced most of them).

More than anyone?
Wimbish may have a greater length of off-road public rights of way than any other Essex parish: certainly we have more headland footpaths (for which we receive ECC grant money based on their length) than any other parish. Headland footpaths are those that run beside the hedge or ditch at the edge of a cultivated field. The other types are "cross-field" paths and green lanes. Most cross field paths used to be headland paths before the hedges were rooted out to enlarge the fields.

Green lanes
"Green lanes" are the most important of all our rights of way (for wildlife conservation and landscape value as well as their level of enjoyment by users).Green lanes have a hedge on both sides and often quite wide strips of grassland or woodland on each side. Legally, green lanes can be just footpaths or bridleways (also available for horse-riders and cyclists) or byways available for all users. Wimbish has one of the best collections of Green Lanes in Essex - these date back to antiquity and are like all our roads were before the coming of the motor car and tarmac. The late John Hunter was a Thaxted resident and professional landscape historian - he wrote the excellent book "The Essex Landscape". His last publication gives a fascinating insight into the landscape history of Wimbish and the importance of these lanes (see the journal of the Saffron Walden Historical Society Autumn 2005 & Spring 2006).

Walking our footpaths
All footpaths & bridleways should (by law) have a sign showing where they branch off from a metalled road - and almost all the Wimbish ones do. Away from the roads, most footpaths have clear way marks helping walkers to follow them. A few Wimbish cross field paths have been rendered invisible and impassable by farming use: this is illegal and, happily, less of a problem in Wimbish than in most country parishes.

Maps & further information
All our footpaths are marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer Sheet 195 (Braintree & Saffron Walden).

Take part in a survey of Wimbish paths

Wimbish has a "Parish Paths Partnership" with Essex County Council. If we know of any problems with paths (broken stiles or bridges, being blocked by locked gates or barbed wire, being ploughed up and not restored within 14 days for example) the Wimbish P3 Officer (Ted Browne) can organise help from the Essex rights of way team. But first we need to know about the problem. Please send any footpath reports to: ted.browne.wpc@gmail.com

The following table lists the byways, bridleways and footpaths in Wimbish and gives their official numbers from the Essex County Council’s Definitive Map of Rights of Way. If you wish to explore the Wimbish countryside see our footpath page or join the “Wimbish Walkers” group.

You can see details of all these paths on an interactive map: click here