When I moved into my new house in the Dales over a year ago, the departing owner said “there’s a bit of the dry stone wall fallen down, apologies for not fixing it”. They were busy with moving out so I completely understood the reason for not being able to do the repairs and thought I’d soon get round to it. 

My teenage summers were spent helping my Aunt on her hill farm in North Yorkshire. Dry stone walling was part of those duties, along with pulling thistles and rigweltering sheep. Everyone chipped in and did what was needed, so repairing a dry stone wall was something I’m familiar with, even if it was many years ago.

But in my new house time flew by and what with one thing after another the wall didn’t get fixed. When I moved in I was still working full time and have continued part time ever since. The neighbouring farmer had put a wooden pallet up against the breach so that provided an immediate practical solution to the problem of escaping sheep so it wasn’t desperately urgent. 

Every time I had a spare day and thought about tackling it the weather was bad. Eventually, now with more than a year since I moved in, my farming neighbour was starting to mention it as a bit of a pointed joke, so it had to be done, or I was going to lose serious credibility.

Building a dry-stone wall is a skill but it’s mostly common sense. There are obviously facing stones that make up the front and back, but they are not the most important parts. It’s the through stones that are the heart of a wall. They hold together both sides and need to be tilted to help drain rain water to prevent erosion and build up of ice in winter.

Smaller stones are put between the facing stones to fill the centre of the wall, and on the top are cap stones to keep everything in place. These are big and heavy, and along with the through stones need some strength to lift into position. Placing the capstones and through stones was a two person job. 

One of the lovely, if exhausting, things about living here in the Dales is that I have a steady stream of visitors. Eventually the planets aligned. A tall, strong, fit visitor arrived, the weather was good, and we spent a pleasant and satisfying day putting the wall together. 

There’s an almost spiritual aspect to lifting and positioning the stones so that the wall is well-balanced and tightens itself as weight is added, culminating in placing the heavy cap stones. Perhaps the facing stones were not as tidy as they could have been, but the result was certainly functional, and we stood back with hands on hips to admire our handiwork.

Do you have some jobs that you put off doing for a long time and then get great satisfaction when they’re finally done?

Rowan on the Moor

A Moodscope member