The Mass Trespass
Manchester Rambler
This song ‘The Manchester Rambler’ was written ten years before I was born. I can’t recall when or where I first heard or learnt this song, but it seems like I have always known it. It was written in 1932 by Ewan MacColl shortly after he had participated in the ‘Kinder Trespass’ in the Derbyshire Peak District on 24th April 1932.
It was organised to increase public awareness and highlight the fact that walkers were denied access to areas of open country. The then newly formed ‘Ramblers Association’ was seen to be too inactive by some ramblers so the more militant section, who were members of the ‘Young Communist League,’ decided to take matters into their own hands, and organised the mass trespass.
During the trespass the four hundred plus protesters were confronted by eight gamekeepers and in the following fracas one gamekeeper was injured. The chief organiser and four others were arrested, tried, found guilty and received prison sentences for riotous behaviour.
Seventeen years later the participants achieved their goal with the passing of the ‘National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 which granted them ‘the right to roam’.
