Returning to Yoad House in Bransdale, the weather was a tad kinder this week, not as harsh as the last. The forecasted rain? Nowhere to be found. And, surprise, in the afternoon the sun decided to make an appearance.
That stone post in the photo? It’s part of what is called a ‘stang stoop’ or ‘slip gate,’ a traditional type of gate before those modern 5-bar ones swung into fashion1‘MNA145921 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA145921> [accessed 15 February 2024].
Those ‘L’ shaped rebates give the game away. The other post, long gone now, would have had an equal number of deep sockets, either square or round. One end of a wood spar or ‘stang’ would snugly sit in each socket, and the other would slide into the rebate, probably held tight with wedges.
Some farmer once spun me a yarn about how the cattle got crafty, using their snouts to lift those spars. That’s probably why they had to use the wedges.
In the distance there’s Smout House, a farmhouse from the mid-19th century that I’ve rambled on about before.
- 1‘MNA145921 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA145921> [accessed 15 February 2024]
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