Radical countryside: 800 years of rural protest

1381 The Peasants’ Revolt against the collection of poll taxes kicks off with the villagers of Fobbing in Essex, before spreading across large parts of England.

1450 Anger at government corruption and abuse of power fuels the century’s biggest rebellion, as Jack Cade (right), leads a march from Sevenoaks in Kent to the Capital.

1549 Introduction of the English Book of Common Prayer (Latin was customary), sees the Prayer Book Rebellion (right), begin its bloody trajectory at Castle Canyke near Bodmin in Cornwall.

1644 Tired of pillaging by both Royalists and Parliamentarians during the English Civil War, the first group of Clubmen takes up arms in protest at Wem in Shropshire.

1766 Rocketing food prices lead to over 100 riots including one at Cirencester in the Cotswolds, where a 1000-strong throng steal corn, flour, cheese to then sell on at last year’s prices.

1896 10,000 people climb Winter Hill in Lancashire in the largest mass trespass ever seen in Britain, campaigning for the right to roam.

1981 A group march from Cardiff to Greenham Common in Berkshire in protest against nuclear weapons, and set up a Women’s Peace Camp, (above), that lasts 19 years.

2020 The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police leads to protests around the world, including Colmer’s Hill in Dorset, (above), which is draped with a Black Lives Matter banner.

Find guides to walks at all these locations at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes