[See #1 for “Who stole Willow Brook?”]

Did someone steal a Footpath?

Waterhouse Lane was a recent survey, and I’ve never seen so many footpaths & Service Roads coming off the top of a road before — makes it look like a tree. The north-south footpath travels eventually to Lambley, is complete, but has to appear on the OSM map in numerous segments due to the mapping constraints (1-6 is within Gedling streets, 6-10 is within fields & 11/12 are within Lambley):–

• (s-to-n):– [1][2][3][part of Yew Tree Lane][YTL#2][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

So the North-South public footpath seems complete.

There is also an East-West public footpath (seen clearly on this NLS Map but make sure that you choose “OS 1900s” as the “Background Map”). The E-W footpath appears on those maps to travel from Lambley Lane & stop at Waterhouse Lane, but an access strip is clearly visible on some maps between the end of the footpath & the bend in Wood Lane.

A resident close to the footpath asked me if I knew anything about a continuation of the footpath as described above. He thought perhaps that it had become sealed off. I had to both profess my ignorance in his case & state that I had seen such an occurrence many times elsewhere.

For the record, these are the segments of the E-W public footpath:–

• (w-to-e):– [1][2][3][4][Alma Close][part of Oak Tree Drive][part of Willow Lane][8]

What I find most interesting is the way that these ancients paths persist down the centuries, and how Waterhouse Lane was far more important to Gedling than it at first appears.