A footpath built by Scottish revolutionaries two centuries ago in the royal park beside Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh is at the centre of a modern revolt over public access rights.
The Radical Road was laid around the foot of Salisbury crags, a spectacular basalt cliff that curves around the foot of Arthur’s Seat, by unemployed Scottish weavers who had threatened an insurrection against rapid industrialisation in 1820.
To the dismay of walkers, urban conservationists with the Cockburn Association, geologists and climbers, the path has been closed to the public for five years by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), the agency that manages the park, after rock falls from the crags.
It is now sealed off by weld-mesh security fencing, with warning signs telling visitors it is closed, visible from the car park outside the king’s official Scottish home at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
A coalition of groups, coordinated by Ramblers Scotland, has accused the agency of unjustifiably restricting access and of being slow to produce proposals to safely reopen the path, which it closed on 11 September 2018.
Brendan Paddy, chief executive of Ramblers Scotland, said the agency was taking a far too rigid line on public safety, and should allow walkers and climbers to make informed decisions on the risks of using the path. “It is farcical that Historic Environment Scotland has failed to reopen the Radical Road, following half a decade of missed deadlines and broken promises.
“HES must immediately stop managing this world-famous geological feature like a crumbling historic building. Residents and tourists should be advised of the risks then allowed to make informed decisions, like everywhere else in Scotland.”
Katharine Taylor, chair of the rights of way society ScotWays, said the path was a legally designated right of way which had been in use long before HES came into being, yet HES closed it unilaterally.
“There should have been due process before it was closed,” she said. “Despite HES saying there was going to be discussions about it, that has not happened in five years.”
The dispute between HES and its critics is in part a crisis over how public bodies manage the effects of climate heating on popular monuments, with greater rainfall, warmer climates and increasingly turbulent weather destabilising rocks, masonry and the ground around historic sites.
In 2018, HES identified Arthur’s Seat, which is visited by an estimated 2 million people a year, as one of its sites most at risk from climate heating damage. Unstable weather and warming conditions promote the growth of invasive plants such as valerian, which prise rocks apart.
A public path under cliffs on Edinburgh Castle’s volcanic rock – a site also identified by HES as being at significant risk – has also been closed off. A costly boundary wall, fence and nets were installed under the castle by HES on a nearby road leading to the Royal Mile.
In its internal assessments about rockfall risks on all its sites, Salisbury crags had the most red flags. It was closed in September 2018 after about 50 tonnes of rock broke off the crags and fell on to the path; the largest boulder was estimated at 5.5 tonnes.
HES said between 2017 and 2020, it logged more than 80 rock falls. Most were small but some were more substantial, including two involving large rocks. It has not monitored the site since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, but was aware of two incidents since then.
Partly because of its historical associations, the Radical Road, which winds under the crags for 0.77 miles (1.25km), has long been prized by Edinburgh’s residents and visitors for its views over the city, but also by climbers and geologists.
It is famed for two sites on the crags discovered by James Hutton, the father of modern geology, which helped him establish the role of molten rock in rock formation, and in its continual transformation.
The Edinburgh Geological Society is unhappy that the closure has restricted access to Hutton’s sites; Brian Shackleton, the president of Mountaineering Scotland, said its members have been left unable to practise bouldering in an old quarry at the southern end of the path.
They are deeply unhappy the agency has so far failed to produce a plan to allow access. An appraisal for HES written in 2021 suggested partially or completely covering the cliffs with protective nets, rerouting the path, erecting an alternative cantilevered path alongside it, or permanently closing it.
The dispute also highlights ongoing problems with public funding cuts for the UK’s conservation bodies as they wrestle with the mounting costs of adapting to climate changes, alongside routine maintenance.
HES acknowledged that funding was in part an issue in Holyrood Park and said it would approach its critics once it had a clear plan to discuss. “The changes to our climate are impacting on natural rock features and many other physical aspects of our sites and Scotland more generally,” it said.
“We are working to meet those challenges from technical research on stone decay through to climate risk assessments and how our management approaches need to evolve. This is inevitably a significant resource pressure for HES and all those who manage natural and built assets. Like many others we have to prioritise how and where our resources are deployed.”
