Cattle creep

A cattle creep is a small, field-to-field access for farm animals, usually to allow passage beneath an obstacle such as a road, canal, or railway embankment. Those under roads or railways may be termed underpasses.

As they are intended primarily for cattle or other livestock, cattle creeps usually have a low head height and are uncomfortable for humans to use.

On Dartmoor, in south-west England, the term sheep creep is used to describe a purposely constructed gap in the base of a drystone wall, commonly topped with a granite lintel. The gap allows sheep to pass from field to field, but is deliberately too small for cattle or ponies.^[1] Similarly in Cornwall small gaps are constructed in Cornish hedges to allow sheep to pass through to graze the cliff-tops. In order to prevent sheep passing through the gap is covered using a large slab of slate.