Pathways to History: researching footpaths and 'green lanes' in Norfolk

考虑到公众对这些道路的使用和关注，学术界对小路权、公共人行道和“绿色车道”的研究仍然非常不足。英国自然协会最近的倡议强调了绿色小路作为栖息地的重要性，这导致了包括诺福克和诺维奇自然主义者协会在内的当地自然主义者团体进行了一些调查和记录。但这些特色的历史很少受到关注，而公共人行道的历史也几乎无人关注。“历史之路”旨在鼓励当地社区在自己的特定区域内研究和记录公共通行权（PROW）。社区将由历史学院和我们的合作伙伴组织的景观历史学家提供培训课程。还将提供使用口述历史的培训，以便参与者能够有效地记录有关过去使用特定路线的回忆，失去的小巷名称以及与之相关的当地故事和传统。此外，将大力鼓励社区进行实地考察，记录PROW的物理特征。我们会鼓励参与小组直接将研究结果上载至计划网站。计划网站由大学设计和维护，并在计划伙伴的协助下进行宣传。我们还将组织一些有导游的公众散步，每次都由当地的一个团体主持，在那里他们可以直接向更广泛的观众传达他们的发现。此外，研究小组将撰写三篇文章，向学术观众展示该项目的总体结果。

Considering the amount of use and attention they receive from the general public, minor rights of way, public footpaths and 'green lanes' remain remarkably under-researched by academics. Recent initiatives by Natural England have emphasized the importance of green lanes as habitats, which has led to some surveying and recording by local naturalist groups, including the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society. But the history of these features has received little attention, and that of public footpaths virtually none. Pathways to History aims to encourage local communities to research and record the public rights of way (PROW) within their own particular area. Communities would be supported by training sessions delivered by landscape historians from the School of History and our partner organisations. Training in the use of oral history will also be offered, so that participants can effectively record reminiscences about the use of particular routes in the past, lost names for lanes, and local stories and traditions attached to them. In addition, communities will be strongly encouraged to undertake fieldwork to record the physical features of PROW. Participating groups would then be encouraged to upload the results of their research directly onto the project website, which would be designed and maintained by the University, and publicised with the assistance of our project partners. We would also organise a number of guided public walks, each hosted by one of the local groups involved, where they would be able to communicate their findings directly to a wider audience. In addition, the research team will produce three articles presenting the overall results of the project to an academic audience.