From a small office behind an opticians in South Oxfordshire, the battle for England’s green and pleasant land continues.

The Open Spaces Society has been waging it for 150 years, in fact, with the organisation now celebrating a landmark anniversary.

The campaigning group began its life in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society, created to rescue Hampstead Common, along with other London commons that were being used for gravel pits and rubbish dumping.

But long ago it vastly expanded its remit to cover the whole of England and Wales, embracing all types of open spaces and public paths, to save millions of acres of land for the public.

And commons are not just limited to London. As well as the historic Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common, which together extend to 400 acres on the outskirts of Oxford, there are magnificent commons at Nettlebed and Ewelme.

Down the years, the Open Spaces Society has defended common land against a host of enemies: greedy landowners, ambitious developers, high-tech farmers and bracken and scrub. Last year alone it took up about 600 cases, with numerous campaigns launched to preserve paths and defend open spaces.

Not bad for an organisation that employs just five people.

For 31 of its years of campaigning, the driving force and general secretary has been Kate Ashbrook, who has written a new book Saving Open Spaces: The Campaign for Public Rights to Enjoy Commons, Green Spaces and Paths.

Ms Ashbrook, who is also president of the Ramblers’ Association, said: “The society is needed now more than ever as it fights a multitude of threats to open spaces and paths.

“New laws endanger village and town greens, commons are still threatened with encroachment, and a politically-motivated cut-off in 2026 is set to prevent the recording of thousands of miles of ancient public paths, unless we can get them on the map before then.”

The society has been prominent in a number of local campaigns. In 1990 it objected when the Henley Regatta allowed one of the hospitality marquees to be placed over a public footpath, with Ms Ashbrook marching through in her shorts, asserting her right of way, to the dismay of the guests. The path was not blocked again.

“We have been delighted that village green law has been made in Oxfordshire,” she said. “High-profile cases in the House of Lords, at Sunningwell and Trap Grounds, Oxford, led to much-loved land being registered as village greens and protected from development – and to the law being strengthened for other communities wishing to register land.

“Currently we are campaigning to claim an ancient route across the River Thame at Cuddesdon where there used to be stepping stones. If we succeed and can then persuade the county council to provide a crossing, the path will connect two dead-end routes which link to other paths and will open up new walking opportunities.”

Sietske Boeles of the Friends of Warneford Meadow, said: “The Open Spaces Society gave us invaluable advice and support when we were seeking their legal advice back in 2006 on how to submit a town green application. We went on to achieve town green status.

Oxford Mail:
Kate Ashbrook alongside some horses in 1993

“I know that other local groups have been seeking their advice using the Open Spaces Society’s legendary ‘evidence of use’ form, to provide evidence that use of the land has fulfilled the requirements of the legislation.

“It is an organisation that has been operating on a shoestring but it has helped transform many communities.”

Ms Ashbrook uses her new book to remind everyone that the National Trust is still regarded as the society’s baby, with the trust created as it was realised that the best way of protecting open spaces was to own the land.

The society – based in Bell Street, Henley – provided the trust’s first office and initially raised money so it could purchase threatened land.

“The National Trust overtook the society in strength,” said Ms Ashbrook, “But we continue to keep an eye on our baby to ensure its land and public access to it are in good order.”

Friends of the Open Spaces Society would expect nothing less after 150 years.