A week or two before Christmas I had an email from someone who said he was a volunteer working with the Countryside Service to rebuild a drystone wall alongside the Trench Meadows SSSI. He'd come across my blog posts about the nature reserve (see HERE) and thought I might be interested. I made a tentative arrangement to walk up there to meet him and perhaps photograph him at work, but then something cropped up and I was sadly unable to do so. I did, however, stop to have a look at his work on a recent wander round through the woods. It appears to be almost complete, with just a few stones to add to the top of the wall.
For info, drystone walls usually have two rows or 'faces' of stones, set slightly wider apart at the bottom than the top, with through-stones at intervals to strengthen them. Smaller stones (hearting) are used for infilling and the top is finished with coping stones - sometimes flat, as here, and sometimes rounded. They're really common up here in Yorkshire, in fact the Yorkshire Dales are renowned for them. Other regions have them too, with slightly differing styles and appearances that to an extent depend on the type of stone used.
As always, such walls look like enormous jigsaw puzzles. Held together solely by friction and gravity, there must be a good deal of skill in choosing the right stone for the right place. He sent me a couple of photos taken earlier (left and below), and you can see from them the extent of the work he has done, even including a seat - which has a nice view down over the reserve and the valley.
Hopefully this rebuilt wall will stand proud for many years to come. There are no vehicles passing by that might crash into it (a common fate for walls at the sides of roads) and there's an extra fence between the wall and the cattle that graze the reserve periodically. Well built, they can last 100-200 years, and can of course be rebuilt again using the same stones, as is being done here. So, with luck, it will be safe.
A friend's son is a dry stone wall mason...and he also teaches workshops for those who wish to carry on this craft. I love whenever I see a dry stone wall, compared to many a stone wall, or facade, with lots of grout that keeps it upright. Many more decisions go into making dry stone walls. And the ultimate ones are in Peru!
ReplyDeleteI've seen them being worked on on TV and it is a real skill!
ReplyDeleteThere are many such walls here in New England and now thanks to this post, I know a bit more about how these were constructed.
ReplyDeleteThat would be unusual here.
ReplyDeleteThe wall seat is a nice feature.
ReplyDeleteInteresting tid bit, snakes love drystone walls. After sitting on a stonewall, I turn back to see a comical grass snake poking out, like who turned off the heater.
It's great that the old art of building dry stone walls lives on.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I love the built in seat. My son builds dry stone walls--there's quite an art to choosing the right stone fr the right place.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful endeavor to rebuild the historic stone wall and please give my compliments to the builder.
ReplyDeleteOne of the great fascinations for me whenever I am fortunate enough to visit Britain is the abundance of dry stone walls. I was once told that an expert dry stone waller can fit together the pieces of a jig saw puzzle face down, so used is he to matching pieces by shape. Whether that is true or not I don't know, but it's a good story!
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