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

考虑到公众对它们的使用和关注，学术界对次要路权、公共人行道和"绿色车道"的研究仍然非常不足。自然英格兰最近的倡议强调了绿色车道作为栖息地的重要性，这导致了当地自然主义团体的一些调查和记录，包括诺福克和诺维奇自然主义者协会。但这些特征的历史很少受到关注，公共人行道的历史几乎没有。历史之路旨在鼓励当地社区研究和记录他们自己特定区域内的公共道路权（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的培训课程提供支持。还将提供口述历史使用方面的培训，以便参与者能够有效地记录对过去使用特定路线的回忆、失去的车道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工作，记录PROW的物理特征。我们会鼓励参与团体将研究成果直接上载至计划网站。计划网站由大学设计及维持，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步行活动，每次活动都由当地的一个相关团体主办，他们将能够直接向更广泛的受众传达他们的发现。此外，研究小组将编写三篇文章，向学术界读者介绍该项目的总体成果。

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.