{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Short description|Structure providing passage across a fence}} {{Other uses}} [[File:Shetland Stile.jpg|right|thumb|A wooden stile in Esha Ness, Shetland]]
A '''stile''' is a structure or opening that provides passage for humans{{snd}}rather than animals such as livestock{{snd}}over or through a boundary. Common forms include steps, ladders, or narrow gaps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stile|title=Definition of STILE|website=merriam-webster.com|language=en|access-date=5 June 2019}}</ref> Stiles are often built in rural areas along footpaths, fences, walls, or hedges that enclose domestic animals.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/country-life/country-crossings-stile-guide-128113|title=Country crossings: a stile guide|date=8 September 2016|magazine=Country Life|language=en-GB|access-date=5 June 2019}}</ref>
==Types== In the United Kingdom many stiles were built under legal compulsion (see Rights of way in the United Kingdom). Recent changes in UK government policy towards farming have encouraged upland landowners to make access more available to the public, and this has seen an increase in the number of stiles and an improvement in their overall condition.{{cn|date=June 2023}} However stiles are deprecated<ref>British Standard BS5709:2018 Gaps Gates & Stiles ({{ISBN|978 0 580 98210 1}})</ref> and are increasingly being replaced by gates or kissing gates or, where the field is arable, the stile removed. Many legacy stiles remain, however, in a variety of forms (as is also the case in the US, where there is no standard). As well as having a variety of forms, modern stiles also sometimes include a 'dog latch' or 'dog gate' to the side of them, which can be lifted to enable a dog to get through.
right|thumb|A squeeze stile Where footpaths cross dry stone walls in England a '''squeeze stile''' is sometimes found, a vertical gap in the wall, usually no more than {{convert|25|cm}} wide, often formed by stone pillars on either side to protect the structure of the wall.
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Hanbury, Worcs, bridge stile 2.jpg|Bridge-shaped stile in Hanbury, Worcestershire File:Ladder stile Snowdonia.jpg|Ladder stile in Snowdonia File:Stile 02 Ranaghan.jpg|Ranaghan Westmeath Mass-path Stile File:Stile_line_drawing.jpg| Construction of Ranaghan Mass path Stile File:Stile with dog gate OS SY567846.jpg|Stile with dog gate File:WoodenStile.JPG|Low-level stile File:Step Stile - geograph.org.uk - 315602.jpg|A step stile in the Lake District National Park File:RoadsideStile.jpg|Modern roadside stile in Sweden File:KentStile.jpg|A wooden stile in Kent File:Clapper stile near Giants Hill, Rampton.jpg|Clapper stile in Rampton, Cambridgeshire </gallery>
==See also== {{Commons category | Stiles }} {{Wiktionary|stile}} * Cattle grid * Kissing gate * Mass path * Rambler gate * Turnstile
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Architectural elements Category:Types of gates Category:Landscape