Clapper Stiles

Go for a walk in the countryside along farm land and you are likely to encounter a stile. A wooden structure, it is designed to allow humans to cross from one field to another while maintaining a barrier to prevent livestock from escaping. They are usually positioned in a break in the hedgerow and their distinct advantage over gates, aside from their size, is that they are not reliant upon us to remember to close them.

I have never really given the types of stiles much thought but one I certainly have not encountered before is the clapper stile, also known as the tumble stile, of which, according to the Hungerford Virtual Museum, there are only sixteen surviving examples in the United Kingdom. There is one in Hungerford on the path leading from The Croft to the churchyard of the Parish Church of St Lawrence.

Other examples can be found in Linton in Cambridgeshire, Charlecote Park in Warwickshire and one in the History and Archaeology Society Barn Museum at Kenilworth Abbey. The latter was originally sited in the Abbey Fields in Kenilworth but was moved to the museum after the original had been vandalized and then restored.

A clapper stile is a pleasing combination of ingenuity and simplicity. It consists of horizontal rails, usually three but the Hungerford example has four, that are loosely held in place by a weights, often stones or pieces of wood, at one end and a pivot at the other. To pass through the stile, simply push down the unweighted end of the rails, which will move down to create a space which can be stepped over. Then release them, allowing the weights to swing the rails back into their original position.

The rails make a sound as they move, hence the name of clapper and the stiles must have been a boon to anyone wearing long skirts. They also enabled people to pass through the barrier with the minimum of effort, allowing them to maintain their poise and composure.

It is sad that they have all but disappeared.