Ilkley Eastside Wander #16: Osculatory Portal
This is the 16th of a series of 20 caches which will take you through some of the lovely countryside immediately to the south-east of Ilkley.
The cache a camo-taped 35mm film canister, is hidden at this kissing gate - please replace it carefully and well concealed - thanks!
See GC8PCW2 Ilkley East Wander #1: Intro and . . . Prick!? for information on the series and waypoints. See Gallery for an annotated map with cache locations and parking spots.
If doing Full Series in sequence: from #15, continue heading east along the trail across the field and on to the cache location.
If doing Mini-Series 2: park at P3 and refer to IEW#1 using the link above to reach IEW#13 then continue with the shorter sequence to IEW#15 then as above.
A kissing gate is a type of gate that allows people, but not livestock, to pass through. In this respect it is an alternative to a stile. The normal construction is a half-round, rectangular, trapezoidal or V-shaped part-enclosure with the free end of a hinged gate trapped between its arms.
When the gate is touching an arm it must be pulled or pushed to pass through. The gate may need to be pushed to give access to the small enclosure, and when in the enclosure the person pulls the gate past the bulk of the enclosure to exit.
Some examples have latches. Most are installed self-closing, to the side away from the pasture (livestock field), by hinge geometry, a spring or weight.
The gate may be made large enough to fit wheelchairs and the like. Alternatively, to allow pushchairs, 
wheelchairs, bicycles, and other things too large to pass through, a conventional gate with a less consistent swing-back or default animal-proof mechanism may be nearby, or an additional latch may allow it to open more fully.
The name comes from the gate merely 'kissing' (touching) the inside of the enclosure. It reliably forms a barrier rather than needing to be securely latched on each use. Examples, as with stiles, on footpaths published as accessible are those replaced, improved or supplemented by gates.
Kissing gates are included in British Standard BS5709:2018: Gaps, Gates & Stiles which extends to their recommended design, signs and maintenance.
In this respect, I wonder if allowance has been made in the recommended size of the opening available to allow for overall increased size of the adult UK population resulting from the greatly increased prevalence of obesity . . . !?
See here for a short illustrated blog on different types of wall/fence gap devices.
As well as being the title of several books, different songs called Kissing Gate have been performed by several artists . . . for example, see for here for a video of the Cornish folk-punk band Crowns performing the song at the 2012 Eden Festival and, in complete contrast, here for the Austalian songstress Sam Brown singing another 
version - great vocals with a bizarre video.
Finally, listen here for yet another contrasting version by the 1984-founded East Sussex Mood Index Continuum - the 'insane 10-piece anti-capitalist, funk/pop-reggae/free-jazz/noise/country punk band for which I was lead singer and co-writer' according to author Ian Marchant in his book 'Something of the Night'.