Held up by
gravity alone.
No mortar, no concrete — just stone laid on stone by hand and eye, so that gravity and friction hold it for a century. A wall that can be taken down and built again.
A heap of stone,
then a wall.
A dry stone wall is two leaning faces filled with hearting, bound now and then by a through-stone that reaches right across. One stone on two, two on one — every joint covered — and a heavy cope to lock the top. Scroll, and raise a length.
Stone, gravity, and a good eye.
The footings
Turf stripped and a trench dug to firm ground. The biggest stones go in first, set flat and level — a wall is only as sound as what it stands on.
The courses
Two faces built together, leaning in a little — the batter. Each stone spans the joint below, one on two and two on one, its best face out and its length into the wall.
Hearting & ties
The middle is packed tight with small hearting, never soil. Every so often a through-stone reaches from face to face and ties the whole wall into one.
The cope
A row of heavy copes is set on edge along the top, locking the courses and shedding the rain. Set right, the wall will outlast the man who built it.
Walls that stand.
Field walls, retaining walls, garden walls and repairs — built and rebuilt by hand.
A hammer, a line, and stone.
We build and mend dry stone walls by hand — field walls, retaining walls and garden work — with local stone, battered faces, through-stones and a good cope. Nothing is mortared and nothing is wired; a dry wall drains itself, moves with the ground, and can always be built again. We work by the metre and by the eye.
Ask for a wall.
Tell us the length, the height and the stone to hand — we will come and look, and send a price.