The Compleat Trespasser

Many thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy of The Compleat Trespasser, made kind comments or left a review on the online sales sites. It is much appreciated. Not having the budget for publicity of one of the big publishing houses, we very much rely on word of mouth recommendations. Thank you too if you have done that… John.

“Probably the most subversive rambling book you will ever read”

The Compleat Trespasser by John Bainbridge.

The Revised and Expanded Edition.

WALK MAGAZINE SAID OF THE FIRST EDITION OF COMPLEAT TRESPASSER – “On a vagabonding tour through Britain’s most delightful countryside and forbidden tracts, Bainbridge charts the history of access and assesses the present state of the law. Villainous landowners feature; so do the likes of GHB Ward and CEM Joad, calling at rallies for access to mountain and moor. Gamekeepers, spring-guns and mass trespasses also get a look-in. Redolent of country air, with nature and archaeology dealt with in graphic style, the book evokes the age of campaigns before words like ‘stakeholder’ and ‘partnership’ were hatched out. The author lends his support to the England Coast Path campaign and calls for the Scottish access model to be extended throughout Britain. It’s thought-provoking stuff and well worth a read.”

ABOUT THE COMPLEAT TRESPASSER: In 1932, five ramblers in England were imprisoned for daring to walk in their own countryside. The Mass Trespass on to Kinder Scout, which led to their arrests, has since becoming an iconic symbol of the campaign for the freedom to roam in the British countryside. Over the centuries, thousands of walkers have fought for their right to roam – many are still fighting.

The Compleat Trespasser – Journeys Into The Heart Of Forbidden Britain, written by outdoors journalist and novelist John Bainbridge, looks at just why the British were – and still are – denied responsible access to much of their own land. This ground-breaking book examines how events through history led to the countryside being the preserve of the few rather than the many.

But there were earlier mass trespassers. Long before the iconic trespass on Kinder Scout, Victorians mass trespassed in the Lake District and Lancashire. The Compleat Trespasser looks at the direct actions in Ambleside and Keswick in the Lakes, Winter Hill in Lancashire and the battle of Glen Tilt in the Scottish Highlands.

It examines the landscapes to which access is still denied, from stretches of moorland and downland to many of our beautiful forests and woodlands. It poses the question: should we walk and trespass through these areas regardless of restrictions?

An inveterate trespasser, John Bainbridge gives an account of some of his own journeys into Britain’s forbidden lands, as he walks in the steps of poachers, literary figures and pioneer ramblers.

The book concludes with a helpful chapter of “Notes for Prospective Trespassers”, giving a practical feel to this handbook on the art of trespass. At a time when government is putting our civil liberties at threat, destroying the beauties of our countryside, and your right to access it, this book is a most useful read.

The Compleat Trespasser shows you why we should fight back!

John Bainbridge has been a country walker for over sixty years. He has been commended by the Ramblers Association for his many years of campaigning service to the rambling movement. He is the author of some thirty books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, mostly about the countryside and outdoor life. He is also well-known as a novelist.

This is a revised and enlarged version of the original book published in 2014

“Probably the most subversive rambling book you will ever read”, one magazine reviewer wrote.

 Out now in paperback and as a Kindle E-Book

ISBN-13: 979-8634243412