Last updated May 23, 2020

Work Party News

19 November 2008

 
We installed the two new kissing gates at the entrance to Brinklow Castle Motte & Bailey from Ell Lane and the entrance from the path leaving the village near The Raven pub.

New kissing gate at entrance from Ell Lane, with the Motte (The Tump) ahead, and the Bailey behind the hedge to the right
New kissing gate at Ell Lane entrance view from the motte
New kissing gate viewed from top of path from The Raven
 

This was a hard but satisfying days work. Hard because the stiles had been set in lots of brick rubble and concrete which had to be chipped away to make each of the four holes for each gate, as well as for making holes to rebuild the fences. Satisfying because the sun shone, the ground where we worked was dry, and The Raven kept us wet (with coffee on arrival at 9:30, and good food and drink for lunch just after 2:00pm) – many thanks to the new hosts.

New kissing gate and improved stile at top of path from The Raven

The remaining stile will not be replaced at present, but it has been enhanced by the removal of the top rail to bring in line with current standards, and with the double step it is easy to climb. We further enhanced the looks by upgrading the waymarker discs.

On 25 November, a small work party returned to upgrade the discs on all 5 waymark posts between the two new kissing gates.

Note: for history lesson on Brinklow Castle and link to details of what a Motte & Bailey are, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinklow_Castle