Faithfull HWALL Walling / Masons Hammer

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As its name suggests, it is a wall made up of dry stones without mortar or binding/gluing stuff/solution. The dry-stone wall structure is sustaining based on gravity and friction principles. Then you lay large, flat stones on the top, and stand upright cope (or coping, cap or capping) stones along it: bigger, heavier ones at regular intervals, with smaller, lighter ones wedged in between. Finally, pebbles are hammered down between the cap stones, setting everything solidly in place.

Remove and sort all the unstable stones so that you have a firm base to work from. Sort the coping stones out first. The waller's only tool is a sharp-edged hammer, used to dress stone when necessary. Wallers like to cut stones to shape as little as possible; in some parts of the country, the stone is too hard to dress anyway and must be used as is. In the Cotswolds, where Ingles and his son Chris work, the sedimentary limestone is more amenable. The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. Walls built with level bedded stone often look neater. Irregular stone tends to look more rustic. However the skill of the waller and style being built affect this as much as the stone. Walls built with larger stone also tend to look more rustic. Smaller stones tend give a more tidy look. While you want to build the best wall possible, don’t try to force the stones into a character they are not.

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A moderately deep foundation requires for dry stone walling project depending on the nature of the soil and height of the wall.

Steps, stiles, seats and monuments are often required and display gardens at local and national garden shows now provide the more adventurous wallers with excellent opportunities to showcase their work. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show can offer the craft an international shop window for wallers if garden designers provide encouragement for the imaginative use of stone.The role of throughs or leg stone is to hold to sides of the wall together. It stops the wall bellying out and collapsing. Dig down up to firm soil base or prepare a base by appropriate base material like stone aggregates or gravels.

Britain has many different types of agricultural environments and throughout history each one required a different style of stone wall, depending on the types of stones found in any given area. Building styles that have emerged from place to place also vary due to the range of different raw materials: some were built using a small number of huge boulders, while others were made with thousands of tiny pieces of flat shale. Coping stones straddle the wall in the same way as throughstones, holding the sides together and holding down and protecting the upper courses.

Irregular stone accounts for all stone that is not level bedded. It can be angular or rounded. Irregular stone does not have flat parallel surfaces, and will not usually split so that it does. Granite and marble both break into irregular shapes. There is a continuous range from stone that is clearly level bedded, to stone that is clearly irregular. Most stone is somewhere in between. Irregular stone can also be cut, or split using feathers and wedges, to form regular shapes that it would not form naturally. Often when people think about the craft of dry stone walling, they conjure up an idyllic country landscape of irregular field patterns stretching across the Cotswolds, the Yorkshire Dales or the Lake District. These walls must have been there for hundreds of years, they surmise, and have no contemporary relevance and no one to maintain them in their original condition. Even when practising their craft, wallers find themselves being asked by members of the public ‘Isn’t dry stone walling a dying art?’, as if the evidence of their eyes is simply unbelievable. Take out the main stones and put the top ones furthest from the wall. Keep the largest ones nearest the wall to aid building. Leave a gap of about 60cm alongside the wall for working. Keep throughstones safe and separate.

Top image: Luke De Garis is the apprentice who has joined forces with Martin Tyler at Dry Stone Walling Dry to learn the ancient craft of stone walling, thanks to the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. Source: Kristie De Garis There are many types of coping, so follow the local style as far as possible. Keep the top of the coping even by using a line. Avoid wedging the stones to keep them steady. Wallheads For other wallers, who wish to extend their skills into more distinctive architectural and even artistic features, the craft can offer a most rewarding and satisfying career alongside the other crafts and trades employed in the building conservation sector. There is a place for all levels of waller, male and female, young and old. Most aspiring dry stone wallers start off by attending a one- or two-day weekend training course. These courses are often run by conservation charities but the quality of instruction provided can be of variable quality. Several colleges, particularly in England, provide walling courses run by qualified instructors with recognised walling and teaching certificates. The students can be trained to a sufficient standard to be able to take and pass the Level 1 (initial) and Level 2 (intermediate) certificates, which are timed assessments of entirely practical skills.

Dry Stone Walling: It’s a Balancing Act

Demonstrate all new work techniques as you come to them. This will save mistakes and avoid accidents. Throughs mostly placed at the mid-point of the rise or total height of the wall if the wall is short like three feet. If the wall is high place throughs at the regular intervals. The wall head is a pillar which acts like a bookend to hold the wall up. It is the section least well supported and most prone to damage. Use the largest and most rectangular stones available. Slopes