Hampshire gate

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A Hampshire gate or wire gate is a type of agricultural gate formed from a section of wire fence which can be removed temporarily.

It is used where access is only needed occasionally, and the provision of a conventional gate cannot be justified. It does not require heavy gate-posts, is cheap and easy to make, and if necessary it can easily be made much wider than a conventional gate.

A gateway is made in the fence as if for a conventional gate, and a short section of loose fence is made to fit the gap (this may be made of netting or barbed wire, and will usually match the adjacent fence). One end of the loose fence is attached to the main fence, and two or more short posts are used to keep it flat – one of these is at the loose end. This end post fits into a loop of wire at the base of the fixed fence, and the top is then pulled tight to tension the "gate". The top may be held by another loop of wire, or by a short length of chain hooked onto a nail. Proprietary closures are also available which give greater tension. If use is likely to be very rare (perhaps only in emergencies), the gate may be wired shut for security – an emergency then only requires the cutting of the securing wire, not cutting the fence itself. When open, the Hampshire gate is folded back against the adjacent fence to avoid becoming entangled with animals, people or machinery.

Typical uses for Hampshire gates include giving occasional access between adjacent landowners, giving access to small woods for forestry operations, rotational grazing, or allowing unusually large traffic to bypass a normal route.

The term "Hampshire gate" is widely used in Britain, both in Hampshire and elsewhere – the names of other counties are occasionally substituted. In the United States the same thing is called simply a "wire gate."

[edit] See also

• Stile
• Bump gate
• Kissing gate
• Cattle grid or cattle guard

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