Creating a record of Gloucestershire Stone Stiles

There is no definitive list of stone stiles in Gloucestershire and most are unprotected. We need your help in producing a record of them.

One of our volunteers is carrying out this project to build a record of all of Gloucestershire’s stone stiles. Peter has written a brief history of dry stone walls in which he writes about the historic significance of stone stiles, some of which are well over 200 years old. He also points out that the ancient stiles are unprotected and yet some consider them to be an important landscape feature.

There are several types of stiles. Most people think of them as solid upright slabs, but they can include stepping stones set into the wall, and gaps in a wall too narrow for larger farm animals but wide enough for humans to pass through. Naturally they are found on pathways but not always, as some paths have fallen out of use over the last 200 years. Where they exist they mark ancient pathways prior to land enclosure, and the lines of the pathways can give a clear indication of where there was human habitation pre-1800, whether it be a long disappeared farm or hamlet.

If you’d like to help Peter to form a record of all the stone stiles in Gloucestershire we’re asking you to find them, photograph them and complete the below form, then email it to Peter.Wilson@woodchestervalleyvillage.co.uk

Download a form to record a stone stile