WHAT I DO

I will lay your Hedge, Build or repair your Dry stone walling or plant new hedges.

Hedgelaying, Planting, Drystone Walling, Garden features, House stonework, hedgelaying, teaching, illustrated talks, Training in Hedgelaying, Stonework, Drystone Walling

I live and work in the North York Moors area



I'm a qualified hedgelayer and have laid hedges in Ireland, Holland and in the UK. I'm also a drystone waller and have built houses (and walls), garden features, gate entrances in Ireland, Australia and in England.

I've been told I'm a bit of walling and hedgelaying nerd. But I don't mind it because it's normal. Doesn't everyone stop and take pictures of these when they are on holiday?

Some of the site contains my work along with pictures of hedges, walls and walling features from places I've visited. It should be pretty obvious which is my work.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Irish Walls (2)

Irish walls don't always conform to the same 'rules' of British walling.  Here we have a retaining wall consisting of a mix of horizontally coursed stones mixed in with vertically coursed stone and capped with a double course of vertical stones.
(Co Wexford)
In many places in the south west of Ireland stones are placed in a vertical orientation.  These walls are surprisingly easy to build and the walls tighten as they settle.  They are often built without any copes or top stones. 
 A field boundary wall in Co.Waterford built of rough field stone.  Again no copes/topstones
 The same wall - As you can see it has been built within the last 15 years.

(Below).  In many parts of rural West Cork, the hills and land outside cultivation contain miles of these small walls, often no more than a meter in hight and of single stone construction.n the rougher.  They serve no purpose now and both sheep and cattle can easily cross them.  No farmer I spoke to was able to tell me to what original purpose these walls served.