No chain, no problem

Hmmm....I've pondered the significance of a gate with nothing either side of it before here. Are there suddenly more of these about that I've begun to noticde them? I have no idea what the purpose of this gate is. It is usually "closed" so that you have to walk through the gaping holes either side of it - but today it was open. Somebody needed it that way - so much so that they even had to fashion a tie back out of a piece of dead vine because there was no chain to hold it. But there was no sign why it had to be open. Curious