Scotways Historic Footpaths Project Help Page

This project aimed to trace all of the footpaths from the Ordnance Survey six-inch to the mile 2nd edition maps of Scotland (1888-1913). The project ran between April and December 2022 and collectively traced over 120,000 footpaths, spanning over 34,000 miles.

The following sections provide further information on the Footpaths Transcription Project:

View the footpaths

We have made the footpaths available in two viewers:

  1. Single-screen viewer
    Screengrab of single-screen footpaths viewer with numbered sections
    1. Zoom in on an area with a mouse wheel, zoom buttons, double-click or pinch to zoom.
    2. Locate the map using a modern or historical place name search, or by historic counties/parishes (further information).
    3. The legend or key explains the colouring of the paths into labelled and unlabelled categories.
    4. Select the viewer links on the right to look at maps of the same area in other NLS map viewers.
  2. Split-screen viewer
    Screengrab of plit-screen footpaths viewer with numbered sections
    1. Zoom in on an area with a mouse wheel, zoom buttons, double-click or pinch to zoom.
    2. Locate the map using a modern or historical place name search, or by historic counties/parishes (further information).
    3. Choose other background historic or modern map or satellite layers on each side (use both drop-down lists).
    4. Toggle the paths layer off or on.

Purpose

The primary aim of the project was to record paths and tracks shown on Ordnance Survey Six-Inch to the Mile maps of around 1900, to help facilitate Scotways’ work in researching the backgrounds of footpaths today and safeguarding them as rights of way. The initial focus of the project was therefore on recording paths and tracks which were specifically labelled as 'Footpath' (F.P.) or 'Bridle Road' (B.R.). However, it quickly became apparent that Ordnance Survey did not assign these abbreviations to many other paths and tracks that were clearly footpaths. Sometimes more detailed Ordnance Survey 25 inch to the mile maps had these F.P. or B.R. abbreviations which were not generalised into the OS Six-inch maps which we were tracing. More generally, Ordnance Survey was reticent in applying F.P. or B.R. abbreviations to many pedestrian or walkable routes which were shown on their maps.

The scope of the project was therefore widened substantially to include and trace paths or tracks which did not have F.P. or B.R. abbreviations. However, the aim was not to trace all tracks or paths. Following the guiding purpose of assisting Scotways, we generally tried to exclude paths or tracks which were not intended for walking (such as firebreaks in woodland, tracks to quarries or refuse heaps, and private tracks leading to or around particular buildings). In general too, we tried to exclude routeways which were intended for motorised traffic. These were often described as being 'metalled', referring to the crushed small pieces of stone that formed part of the system of creating a levelled, sealed and waterproof road surface, as pioneered by John McAdam (1756-1836). Paths and tracks, by way of contrast, were usually on bare soil and described as 'unmetalled'. These principles and exclusions are explained in more detail in the Path definitions section below.

Path definitions

The definitions of path or track which guided the project are important in understanding which routes were generally traced, how these traced routes were categorised, and which routes were generally excluded.