Bridestones Moor: Open access stiles.
On a drizzly day Kasher, Guy, Andrew, Jan and Frank H ventured into the mist over Bridestones' Moor to replace a decaying access stile (see map) and to survey, for future work, two other similar stiles.
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| 1. Location: Blue tag marks worksite for stile to be replaced. |
Today's work was funded by Todmorden Wind Farm through CFFC (Community Foundation For Calderdale). Many thanks.
The detail:
The job started with a 15/20 min walk-in from Eastwood Road carrying timbers and tools up to the Bridestones before dropping down to the worksite. This was perhaps not the shortest route but it had the benefit of being the smoothest underfoot!
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| 2. The Bridestones: but which is the groom and which the bride? |
At first glance the original stile seemed to be in adequate condition:
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| 3. Original stile: . . . but many defects |
The main issues included:
i) stile width far too narrow.
ii) rotten side-post and step-legs.
iii) treadboards weakly attached to top of step-legs.
iv) stockfence partly de-tensioned by lower wire being cut (by persons unknown).
v) barbed top wires cut (again, by persons unknown).
vi) awkward and too high a step on downslope side.
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| 4. Decay!: example of rot in main timbers. |
In case the weather became worse or in case we hit technical difficulties it was decided to leave the stockfence in place and install the new side-uprights (with a wider gap) before removing the old.
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| 5. Alignment: Stile side-post being checked with right-angled spirit level. Is it vertical, Frank? . . . "You bet it is!" |
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| 6. More open than usual!: old stile timbers removed and temporary cross-rail and old fence post being positioned. |
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| 7. Progress!: New stile side-posts and steps in position and cross-braced as needed. |
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| 8. Fencing skills: stockfence being fixed using 'staple and twist' method. Neat work, Kasher. |
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| 9. More fence work: Top barbed strands above stockfence being repaired and re-fixed. |
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| 10. Woof!: Lift-type dog-gate being fitted. It's a spectator sport! |
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| 11. End result: downslope view of completed stile . . . but will it take a load? |
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| 12. Stress test: Courtesy of Guy photographed through a mist affected camera! |
This was a long working session. There was much hidden effort - long carries of timber, de-nailing of old timber, salvaging of any potentially useful timber (hardly any!), scavenging packing stone, surveying (by Kasher and Andrew) of two other open access stiles for replacement or repair, a tidy-up of the site and the final clean up of tools etc back at the depot.
Although the mist cleared on a couple of occasions to give atmospheric views, there were spells of drizzle and enough heavy rain to ensure we got wetter than expected!
Overall, despite one or two design compromises created by ground conditions, we were satisfied with the end result. The stile is secure, stable, easily negotiated and has specific access for dogs . . . which should eliminate the irresponsible de-tensioning of stockfencing.
More in future weeks when we may be working on the other access stiles
