The plaque in Bowden Bridge Quarry, Hayfield, Derbyshire, commemorating the Kinder Scout mass trespass of April 1932
A heritage centre to commemorate the 1932 Kinder Scout Mass Trespass will be set up in the village of Hayfield, starting point for the protest.
A grant of £18,000 from the Peak District’s Sustainable Development Fund will help establish the centre, which will promote awareness of the events surrounding the incident, in which a group of ramblers fought with gamekeepers on the Duke of Devonshire’s Kinder Scout estate in a struggle to establish the right to walk on the high moors.
The events of 1932 were crucial in the campaign to gain access to the Peak District hills, and the gathering was addressed by a young Manchester Communist, Benny Rothman, at Bowden Bridge Quarry on the edge of Hayfield, before leading the group on to Kinder Scout.
The mass trespass is seen as a crucial event in the movement that gained access for walkers to Britain’s countryside and the establishment of the country’s national parks.
Other grants, among the £70,000 handed out by the fund are £15,000 to Park Art, a project to bring up to 200 young people from disadvantaged areas of Leek into the national park and inspire artistic activities.
An £8,400 handout will go towards willow arches, dens and willow planting at Dukes Barn outdoor centre for disabled people at Beeley. The project will be carried out by 30 young volunteers, who will learn the skills from a willow worker, and will include a wheelchair-accessible path.
Nine projects in all will receive cash from the fund.
Chair of the Sustainable Development Fund panel, Pauline Beswick, said: “It’s clear there is a really strong commitment among local communities, organisations and individuals to a sustainable future for the Peak District. These projects are imaginative, innovative and inspiring, and we are pleased to be able to support them.”
Grants cover up to 75 per cent of costs for community projects, and 50 per cent for business projects, and advice is given on other sources of help.
Neil R
20 October 2010From the state of access in England right now, I'd have thought the money would have been better used funding a second mass tresspass and a third and a fourth, until you get proper access to your own country. THEN would be the time to put up a commemorative centre.
Kinder Kid
22 October 2010It would be good if this centre told the whole story and illustrated that the trespass was as much legend as fact. It would also be a good idea if it also mentioned how the people of Hayfield must have felt prior to the event.
During that period there was general unrest throughout the country and other communist meetings had resulted in trouble.
This is why the move was taken to ban meetings on the recreation ground, the majority of residents at that time were also working class people, who were worried about what might happen to their village! I have seen many celebrations of the Trespass but no apology to the villagers from ramblers.
Alison Bagley (Nee Beever)
17 March 2011My grandfather, his father & uncles were gamekeepers, working for the landowners. Their job was to keep the trespassers off the moors, heavily outnumbered, they were on a hiding to nothing!
Spare a thought for those who had no choice but to be there!
Ian Watson
22 April 2012Are Kinder Kid and Alison Bagley (nee Beever) going to get together with others who have the same opinions , to ensure that the correct story of 24th April 1932 is recorded.
The trespass did not occur on land belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. James Watts owned the Kinder valley side of Kinder Scout. The ''Mass Trespass'' occured on land belonging to Stockport Corporation Waterworks ( see their minutes dated 9th May 1932 ) and the Park Hall Estate. As the trespassers only ventured a short distance ( 50 yds. )from the William Clough public footpath , they did not get onto the Kinder Estate which was owned by James Watts.
Ian Watson