I go over a lot of stiles in the course of the shoe work and it has struck me that nobody is keeping any sort of record of them. There are books on the mills and books on the canal but as far as I have been able to establish there is nothing on the stiles. Some of them are very old. Some of them are in a poor state and when they go they will be replaced with a kissing gate and that will be that.
So I am starting a register. Same principle as the shoes. Location, type, condition, measurements where practical. I have bought a separate notebook for it (blue, to avoid confusion) and Our Linda has given me a cloth tape measure that she says she never uses, though I have my doubts about that.
I would say at the outset that this is the Colne Valley side only. The Holme Valley has its own stiles and if anybody over that way wants to take them on, they are welcome to get in touch. Barry has said he will keep an eye out around Dewsbury but I have told him Dewsbury is neither valley so we will see.
8 March 2015. Stone step stile, two steps up, one down, which is unusual as they are normally even. Left-hand gatepost has a hole through it that I would say is older than the wall. Steps sound. Top stone rocks slightly under a size nine but I would not call it unsafe. Gap at the top measured at fourteen inches with Linda's tape. Weather were grey but dry. A good stile to start on. Flask conditions reasonable.
14 March 2015. Squeeze stile, which is a different proposition altogether and I can see the classification is going to want some thought. No steps as such, just the gap. Measured at nine and a half inches at the narrowest, which is on the tight side, and I noted a fair amount of wool on both stones, so the sheep are using it an' all. Somebody has worn the right-hand stone smooth over the years, presumably with their hip. Weather were bright, wind from the west. Photograph didn't come out.
18 April 2015. Wooden ladder stile over the wall, which strictly speaking may not be a stile in the traditional sense and I will have to decide where I stand on that. Three rungs each side, second rung on the far side loose. Did not measure. There were a shoe on the reservoir path at Blackmoorfoot on the way home, which I have entered in the main register, and by the time I had finished with that the light had gone. I will come back and do this one properly.