A Kissing Gate

Another in my Gates programme.
This one is at Hollinhurst Woods, Nr Allerton Bywater. There is a field, then the woods. Some years back someone, council I think, decided to fence off the woods from the field, (I think they had some notion of grazing horses in it) anyhow they put up posts and wires and put in a kissing gate and further round a stile for walkers of dogs etc. These were not put in the places where the paths were. What they didn't allow for was that the local people, who had walked these paths for years didn't take kindly to being told where to walk, and  cut the wire fencing and walked at the side of the gate, as you can see where the path is. The stile now surrounded by trees and shrubs is in the wood and no longer of any use, and the old paths reinstated.
The area being in a coal mining district used to have bell pits on it. There are lots of depressions which show the extent of the mining. For those who don't know what a Bell Pit is here's a rundown from Wikipedia:-

A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore or other minerals where the coal or ore lies near the surface. A shaft is sunk to reach the mineral which is excavated by miners, transported to the surface by a winch, and removed by means of a bucket, much like a well. It gets its name because the pit in cross section resembles a bell.
Typically, no supports were used and mining continued outwards until the cavity became too dangerous or collapsed at which point another mine was started, often in close proximity.[1] This type of mine was in use in prehistoric times, the Middle Ages,[3] and a few continued in use until the early 20th century in the region around Ford, Northumberland. Such pits are common at prehistoric flint working sites such as Grime's Graves in Norfolkand also in the coal mining areas of Yorkshire, the Forest of Dean, and Leicestershire.
Bell pits often flooded due to a lack of a drainage system. This, together with the lack of support and the likelihood of collapse, meant they had a limited lifespan. The remains of bell pits can sometimes be identified by depressions left when they collapsed. Bell pits were not very effective for mining as they only partially exploited the resources.