Chinnor & PRR trials new horse-friendly gate

NEW horse-friendly gates at Chinnor railway crossing,
one of the busiest sections of bridleway in the county, is being used as a trial for a brand new type of horse-friendly gate.

Oxfordshire County Council?s Countryside Service worked in partnership with Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway to install the new gates by the Keens Lane railway crossing at Chinnor in the Chiltern Hills.

This section of bridleway is well-used as it connects Chinnor village with The Ridgeway nearby.

Slow-closing gates

The new bridlegates have been engineered to be slow-closing, giving horse-riders plenty of time to pass through. The gates will be tested for the first time in Oxfordshire at the Chinnor site.

Steam train event

The gates were installed in time for people to watch the 100th anniversary celebrations of what is now the Chiltern Railways line through Bicester North. A special Centenary Steam Express service ran from Banbury to Princes Risborough and on to Chinnor to commemorate the event.

Philip Capron, a volunteer with Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway said: ?We are very pleased to have helped enable the installation of the latest bridlegate technology at this key site for railway enthusiasts as well as other users of the countryside. It was a stroke of luck that the gates were installed in time for the Chiltern Railways Centenary Special steam train event on 3 July.?

Making life easier

Councillor Rodney Rose, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Implementation, said:
?We have long been aware that gates of any kind make access to the countryside more difficult for horse-riders.
“We are hoping that this new type of bridlegate will make life easier for those on horseback and we welcomed the opportunity to work with the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway to trial the new gates.”

Bridleway 45 crosses the railway line on the east edge of Chinnor and leads to The Ridgeway.