Hartley Royd: More stile!
In ideal conditions, Jerry, Maggie (second session) and Frank H continued with the work started by Ken and co. on the 14th July. The task was to complete the construction of a stile at the 3-way junction of a public right-of-way (footpath Todmorden 049).
Today's work was funded by Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks.
The details
The plan for today was:
i) Add diagonal braces to the new stile side-posts that were constructed earlier.
ii) Dig holes for the legs of a two-step stile and embed the legs deeply, firmly and vertically.
iii) Fix horizontal cross-braces to further stabilise these legs.
iv) Fit treadboards.
v) Add a 'lift-type' dog gate.
vi) Re-attach the existing fragile and dilapidated stockfence to the stile structure.
Here's how it went:
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Maggie and Jerry preparing holes for the step-legs. Mmm! Hard going on account of the remnants of an old drystone wall! Perseverance is the name of the game!
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And here's quality control in the shape of Elsie (LC), the Lakeland Terrier-Collie cross. She often visits our work (accompanied by her favourite human) but at the moment has lost interest in stile timbers and has her eye on some new playmates - a flock of distant sheep . . . which is why she is firmly controlled by a short lead!
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Canine moments are over. Work progresses - diagonal braces to side-posts in place, step legs in place and legs 'tied' together with horizontal bracing. It's a stable rigid structure.
Some time later . . .
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A two-step, step-through stile completed. It's a really neat, stable job. The dog-gate, which wasn't on our original brief, has (with some ingenuity) been added as shown.
The stockfence, with a single, barbed, top-wire, has been re-strung. The whole fence is not in very good condition being fragile, rusty and poorly supported by the wobbly array of posts. However, it will, for the moment, keep the sheep where they are supposed to be!
More ingenious work in the Blackshaw Head area next week . . . the excitement mounts!
