Reaching Sites You Can't Park Near: Access, Rights of Way and Getting Permission

Submitted by Andy_B on Friday, 21 August 2026 Page Views: 28

**Castle An Dinas (Penwith)** submitted by Bladup : These stones look like they were once part of a hut in Castle-an-Dinas, the folly and St Michael's mount are in the background. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Thousands of Britain's ancient monuments sit on private land with no public right of access, which means reaching them takes more than following a map. A grid reference on the Historic England register shows where a stone circle stands, not whether there's a lawful way to get there. Some have a signed footpath running past; others sit behind locked gates on a farm, the nearest legal path several fields off.

Working out which category a site falls into before setting off saves a wasted trip. It usually comes down to whether a right of way passes close enough, whether the land is mapped as open access, or whether reaching the stones means asking a landowner directly.

Getting There Without a Car

Distance is its own access problem for anyone who doesn't drive or would rather not tackle a long trip alone. Many of the richest concentrations of prehistoric monuments sit well outside easy reach of a railway station, from the moorland circles of Cumbria to the Cornish clusters around Penwith, and public transport there can mean a train followed by a bus running twice a day. For those who'd rather not drive, coach holidays built around a heritage region cover that gap.

Public Rights of Way Cover Most Short Walks

Public rights of way are the most reliable route to a monument, giving a legal right to walk a specific line across land regardless of who owns it. Ordnance Survey Explorer maps mark these as green dashes, and the right applies to the path itself rather than the field around it. Straying off the line, even for a closer look, technically counts as trespass, though most landowners only object if a path is used regularly.

Open Access Land Under the CRoW Act

Open access land is a separate category, covering mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land mapped under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Walkers can leave the path and cross this ground freely, which is how many upland circles and cairns are reached without a marked route in. This doesn't extend to lowland farmland, though, and campaigners have found that more than 5,500 scheduled monuments in England have no formal right of access, roughly a quarter of the register.

When a Site Sits on Private Land With No Path

Some of the most rewarding sites have no formal access at all, which puts the decision in the hands of the landowner rather than the law. Circles and barrows can often be reached by asking permission locally, sometimes through an honesty box at a farm gate, sometimes by knocking on a door first. Working out a site's access status before travelling matters more here, since a locked gate and no signal wastes a trip.

Checking Before You Travel

Checking a monument's access status before leaving home avoids most problems that come up on site. Looking up whether it sits on a right of way, open access land or private ground gives a realistic idea of what a visit involves, and cross-checking against a current OS map catches paths diverted since older guidebooks were written. Sites with no formal access deserve the same care, since a farmer who has tolerated visitors for years can close a gate.

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