PLEASE PIG, GET OVER THE STILE

Riding down a Kentucky country road, I spotted this tubular metal object going up and over a wire fence. I stopped and looked it over and on closer inspection realized it was a stile. A stile for sure. It met the definition -- a device that allows folks to cross over a fence or low wall without letting animals to go through. In this case it was a metal type ladder stile.

It reminded me of a story, Old Woman and Her Pig, that many children hear and enjoy when they are young. It's an English tale that begins with an old women that finds a sixpence and decides to go to the market and buy a pig. She buys the pig and on her way home she comes to a stile and says:

Please pig, get over the stile
But the pig would not

The story continues on with how the pig finally gets over the stile. A fun tale for children.

When I was young I was always fascinated with this tale and wondered what the heck a stile was. No one seemed to explain it clearly. As an adult, I learned exactly what a stile was but had never actually seen a working one. That is why I was surprised to actually see a real one that day on the country road.

OLD HILL STILE -- SCOTLAND
PUBLIC DOMAIN WIKIPEDIA

Why the tale of the Old Woman and Her Pig mentions a stile is that it was the custom in Great Britain to have them over fenced or low walled areas. Country land was used commonly. Meaning that folks were allowed to walk the land to get to where they were going, using any path that they wanted to follow even if it meant walking over private land. It was customary to do so. As I understand, it is still customary. No need to open any gates, which might be left open allowing animals to roam outside the property, just use the stiles to get over the fence or low wall.

I researched stiles online and came up with several interesting examples in Great Britain. None in the U.S.

STILE INTO OLD CHERRY ORCHARD -- GREAT BRITAIN
COPYRIGHT -PENY MAYES
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENCE

Stiles come in all different designs. Some very decorative and some very plain. There have been some that are very elaborate with dates and initials.

ARNOLD'S FARM STILE -- GREAT BRITAIN
COPYRIGHT DAVID STOWELL
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENCE

The photographer that took the above photo explains it as follows -- "This particular stile is equipped with a lift up dog gate. The footpath associated with the stile heads straight across the field and the way has been marked by what appears to be tractor tracks."

As far as I have been able to research stiles, I would say that the U.S. might have only a few? It seems the idea of the commons has never taken hold in this country. Here, private property means just that -- private.

We adopted many of the English customs but this one we seemed to have overlooked.

I think we missed the boat on this custom as stiles offer charm and history to an area.