Britain oldest national conservation body is 150 this year, says Harry Mead, its mission, as ever, to save open space enjoyed by the public

THE National Trust. Everyone’s heard of it. Millions of us are members. To be precise, 4.2m, six times the combined membership of all Britain’s main political parties.

But the Open Spaces Society? A blank look, or a scratch of the head might be the reaction of many.

Yet, get this, there would be no National Trust without the Open Spaces Society. Britain oldest national conservation body, it proudly notches up its 150th anniversary this year. Its usually low public profile masks an outstanding contribution to public good – protecting common land, public paths, village greens and other open spaces and, crucially, people’s right to enjoy them.

The OSS didn’t merely pave the way to the National Trust. It bred it. Here’s how. The society itself emerged in response to the accelerating enclosure, triggered by the Industrial Revolution, of what had been open land. In London especially, people often woke to find a favourite green space turned into, say, a gravel pit or a refuse dump. Signs that the Government might act to stem the losses in fact increased the enclosures. So in July, 1865, concerned individuals formed, in London, what became the Open Spaces Society.

Initially named the Commons Preservation Society, within just a couple of decades it had contributed to the saving of Wimbledon Common, Hampstead Heath and the remnants of Epping Forest – all cherished public assets today. Far beyond London, it secured rights of access to the fells around Manchester’s new Thirlmere reservoir, which the city planned to fence off.

A prominent member of the society, solicitor Robert Hunter, felt that besides this campaigning body there was a need for an organisation that actually held threatened land. A speech he gave on the subject inspired others, one of whom, in a letter that still exists, proposed “The Commons and Gardens Trust - for accepting, holding, and purchasing open spaces for the people in town and country.” Hunter pencilled on the letter “National Trust” – and in 1895 what is now Europe’s largest conservation body was born.

As Kate Ashbrook, secretary of the Open Spaces Society, admits: “The National Trust soon overtook the society in strength.” Yet they complement each other, which is also true in a second instance of the OSS virtually seeding a vigorous new conservation group.

Who campaigns for footpaths? The Ramblers Association (actually just called The Ramblers these days) you suggest. Correct - but the first Rights of Way Act, which established the key principle that a path used without challenge for 20 years is a right of way, pre-dated by three years the Ramblers Association, founded in 1935. It capped more than half a century of campaigning for footpaths by the OSS, one of whose members, Octavia Hill, author of that letter conceiving the National Trust, described them as “a common possession which we ought to try to hand down undiminished.”

Though Ms Ashbrook accepts that the Ramblers “soon eclipsed” the OSS, her second role as the Ramblers President testifies to common purpose and close co-operation. While the endeavours of both the National Trust and the Ramblers embrace a variety of activities, the OSS remains firmly focused on the primary task of safeguarding common land and footpaths, on which it possesses unrivalled knowledge and expertise.

Yorkshire and the North-East hold honourable parts in its story. In 1956, Durham County Council became the first local authority to produce its definitive footpaths map – a complex procedure aided by a guide published by the OSS. Down in North Yorkshire, the late Richard Harland, of Grassington, did what Ms Ashbrook calls “sterling work” compiling evidence for the registration of many of the county’s commons and greens.

With a membership of around 2,000 - a mere fraction of the National Trust’s with its many benefits - the society operates largely through regional scouts. “Unfortunately, we haven’t done ourselves out of a job,” reflects Ms Ashbrook.

Currently the society is combating a fresh attempt to fence Thirlmere’s gathering grounds. The sale of land by the Lake District National Park Authority is also being challenged by the society, which fears access could be lost. And the society has successfully defended footpaths against closure or “unpleasant diversion” by celebrities including John Paul Getty II and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

“We are especially keen for communities to register as ‘local green spaces’ any land freely used by the public,” says Ms Ashbrook. “Any odd corner can qualify, but not once the land is targeted for development. Most people value footpaths and green spaces. Our mission is what it always has been, to save open space enjoyed by the public and have every public path recorded and protected.”

Information on registering ‘green space’ is obtainable from the society at 25A, Bell St, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 2BA. Also available for £5 is an attractive booklet on the OSS, Saving Open Spaces, by Kate Ashbrook. www.oss.org.uk