Cornish Stiles

Stiles

Robin Menneer, of the Guild of Cornish Hedgers, was kind enough to call me to compliment me on this web site. I was flattered to think that a true native Cornishman should enjoy the web site of an incomer. Thank you, Robin. He did, however, take me to task for having too many photographs of English-type stiles and not enough of the traditional Cornish stile made of granite or slate. I hope this item may compensate for the omission. Disappointingly, many visitors to Cornwall never get to see a proper Cornish stile. They walk the coast path, much of which is owned by the National Trust which seems to believe in wooden stiles or kissing gates, both really very English devices for providing pedestrian access while keeping animals in their field. I suppose it is a matter of cost; it must be a lot cheaper to make a wooden gate or stile than laboriously and skillfully to set granite cross-pieces into a Cornish hedge. A shame, because the granite stile, in all its varied forms, expresses the character and the landscape of Cornwall where a few bits of wood never can. There are three basic Cornish stile types, the open-stepped cattle stile, the sheep stile with projecting stones and the coffen stile, its stones laid across a pit in the ground. In a few places, including Crugmeer, tall cattle stiles are topped with old granite field rollers, tough to climb over, as are many slate stiles.

The cattle stile to nowhere at Higher Penquite

More information on Robin's website