Old Town, Walker Lane: Gate and Stile near Ibbotroyd.
Despite the persistent drizzle during the early part of the morning, Paul, Ian S and Frank H pitched into the double task of installing a narrow gate so the footpath (Wadsworth 080) could be accessed, and providing a 2-step stile to negotiate a post and rail fence. It was a day of hard work requiring careful alignment of structures.
The Gate
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| 1. Before: (view from field side) access through a narrow gap is over greasy, sloping rails. |
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| 2. After (view from road side) narrow pedestrian gate with rope closure-loop. |
The pedestrian gate was hinged on an existing post for a (padlocked) field gate. A closure spring was added (hope it lasts!) and a closure loop (with closure post) fitted. The endpost for the barbed-wire stock fence was repositioned, installed more deeply and the very slack barbed-wires re-tensioned.
This gate leads on to a 'post and rail' fence where the stile needed to be installed.
The Stile
While Frank was fitting the gate, Ian and Paul started on the stile by installing the stile side-posts.
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| 3. Existing post and rail fence where a stile needs to be. The rails are parallel to the sloping ground, whereas the stile cross-rails have to be horizontal. Mmm! |
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| 4. Stile side-posts (one short, one long). They are vertical (exactly) and spaced to accept 1.20 m cross-rails. Spot-on work by Paul and Ian. |
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| 5. Fence rails cut out. Two (temporary) stile cross-rails in place. Digging by Frank & Ian to embed stile step-legs. |
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| 6. The end product: A 'standard' 2-step stile installed within a sloping post and rail fence. |
We were very pleased with the end result. The stile is safe, secure, functional and durable. The aesthetics of the angled, wooden stock fence have been maintained and the safe horizontal and vertical components of the stile neatly inserted. It was a long working day and a second wave of rain swept in - fortunately we had just about finished!
Today's work was funded by the landowner who also provided us with a brew of tea. Many thanks!
