Photo credit – D. Ashbee
A New Survey of the Stone Stiles of Cam in November 2020 to April 2021
– By John Fowles
Introduction
Cam Parish has a number of stone stiles, most of which have been supplemented by wooden stiles. The stone used appears to be the same for all and is probably limestone from the former quarry at Woodfield. The purpose of the stiles is unknown and an investigation of the Berkeley Estate records produced no information on them. One theory is that the area was widely used for sheep to provide wool for the local industry so it is possible that the stone stiles were used to prevent sheep getting through stiles on public footpaths.
Part of a Local Heritage Initiative Lottery Fund Grant covered the surveying and maintenance of Cam’s historic stone stiles in 2007. The locations of the stone stiles had already been identified and they had been placed on a map of the Cam area. Some of the stone stiles have been included in a stone stiles walk to encourage the public to view them and a Stone Stiles Walk leaflet was published. A photographic record of the stone stiles walk was created and presented to the public as a ‘virtual’ Stone Stiles Walk, benefiting those unable to walk on rough terrain. The 2007 report was hosted on the internet by Stroud Valleys Project but appears to have been discontinued.
This new survey was carried out in November 2020 to April 2021 to update and supplement the previous survey. In the meantime an additional stone stile has been found in the Jubilee Field (a Parish Council owned leisure area) and that has been included in this new survey as SS16. Some of the stile numbers have been changed slightly as described in the text.