For Catherine, Mick and Neil M. this fine day was devoted to two stile repairs. The stiles, marked by red rings on the accompanying map, lay on a route between Brown Road Farm and Stonely Bank Farm, at each end of a very short section of footpath designated as 06/120/2 by Calderdale Highways Dept. We thank Todmorden Town Council for funding this work.
The detail
The stiles both consisted of two treadboards placed end to end, the inner end of each treadboard resting on stone, and the outer end attached to a wooden upright or “leg”. In both cases we found one half of the stile was sound, while the other half needed reconstructing with new timber.
First stile
This stile, the left-hand of the two marked on the map, allows passage through a belt of vegetation and tumbled stone with wire fences to both sides.
One half of the stile was unstable due to its leg being severely rotten just below ground level. The treadboard was lifted, the leg extracted, the hole deepened and new timbers put in place.
The structure is not ideal, as the lower step (which we left
in place) on the side we were working is perpendicular to the stile
and hard against the fence; also a gap remains between the two
treadboards. But as we often say in CROWS . . . "it's better than before".
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| Finishing touches |
Second stile
This stile passes through a gap in a substantial drystone wall. It was provided with a typical Yorkshire elevated gate, which in this case was hanging off a tall but very decayed post.
The farmer had agreed to fit a new gate on to a new post to be provided by us.
Then we tackled the stile itself; the significantly rotten treadboard being the main problem. In this case we were able to butt-join our replacement treadboard to the existing one.
Although the single step is rather high above the ground on this side, we placed a large flat slab of stone in front to account for the first couple of inches of height and to give a stable landing.
While there, we dismantled a nearby disused stile and recovered the timbers, which were in good condition. Also, in the vicinity, waymark disks were attached where needed.
We hope our efforts will have made this little-known field path both easier to find and easier to use.
