Extreme Walling

Tracey Blackwell sent this photo of stonework above an old quarry quite close to her home in Yorkshire. One can only wonder at the skill and dedication of the folk who built this retaining wall. Apparently there is a severe fault in the rock at the top of the quarry which could have led to part of the field sliding into the space.Even now in the 21st century a repair in this situation would have presented a major problem.

Dry stone Feature in Japan

Richard Lloyd and Teruki Kamlya built this interesting double arch in front of a flower shop in the city of Gifu. Shortly after it was completed they found it damaged and suspected vandalism . However this was Japan, the next day a gentleman arrived at the flower shop admitting that he had bumped into the stones with his car. He offered to pay for a rebuild. This was done and now the arch is the talk of the town.

Visit to Victoria Australia

I did promise that I would not get involved in dry stone walling while visiting one of our sons in Australia. I did see many wonderful and unique animals including the egg laying mammal Duck Billed Platypus. Looking very relaxed was this Kangaroo. I also tried to photograph the elusive Tasmanian Devil but only caught it retreating. Despite my promise I did have to help a little bit along with son Calum. The wonderful folk we were staying with had a set of steps built with the local well named Mud stone. They found the rock was not suitable to run a wheelbarrow down as it was tending to crush the stone. We built a wheelbarrow ramp using large rocks set deep into the ground with only the flat surfaces exposed.It worked well.
I did find a few dry stone features in Australia, they will appear in a day or two. After that will be a photo of a build in Japan.

Swiss Style

Before I visited Switzerland several years ago I had the usual mis-preconceptions about that Country. I imagined that everything was as the post cards neat and ordered. I thought that the dry stone walls would all be the same strictly coursed and blocky. This set of images shows that their stonework is as varied as anywhere else. I leave you to decide what you like best. But please do not fall into my bad habit of judging without knowing.

Big problems face the wallers in my next entry 15th April

Cosy Stone house

Another lovely build by Neil Best. He seems to have the knack of creating a really warm and attractive atmosphere when he builds features. I am very happy to post his work on this dry stone site , he gives life to the rocks in a way which I greatly admire.

Look again at http://www.magmadesigngroup.com/

Fantastic Artifact

One finds strange things when taking down old walls but I have never seen anything like this shrew in a bottle which was photographed by Tracey Blackwell. It is the sort of image which immediately starts you thinking, how did that happen especially as the lid seems to still be in place.
Since posting this item Tracey has been in contact to assure me that there was no top on the bottle. So no foul play by some naughty little person is suspected after all.

To have a look at the website of work by Tracey and her group go to http://www.atadrystone.co.uk/

Stargate

My son Duncan and I recently rebuilt an end which required a solid support and we were asked to incorporate a feature. We had seen several moongates which are large enough to walk through. We decided to do a Stargate . Here it is.

On 16th December I will be posting a photo of a first attempt at a wall by someone after attending a brief training course.

Amazing wall in Iceland

This photo of a remarkable heritage wall shelters a fine garden on Skólavörðustigur. The wall was built by a (female) minister of Hallgrimskirkju (Rekjavik‘s most prominent landmark). It came to me via Canada sent by Dr.Sandy Robertson.

Scary stones in the woods

Evan Oxland has sent some very interesting photos from his tour in Europe. I find it fascinating how the simplest of ideas can be so powerful.

These sculptures can be found at the famous gardens in Marqueyssac,Dordogne, France.

Roof slabs

This photo came from Canada and shows a very sound roof covering done in a similar style to those seen across Europe . It is great to see these ancient crafts being applied expertly in the new world. I have seen the same type of construction in Vermont USA built by master craftsman Dan Snow assisted by Dieter Schneider the Swiss mason.