Creating a traditional dry stone wall with local stone

It appears that the dry stone wall is making a bit of a comeback as clients move to more sustainable materials.

Imitation or reconstituted paving and walling can take its toll on the environment both in terms of manufacture and haulage of materials to the manufacturing base.

Environmental cost is increased when materials are delivered onto the various stockists around the country before moving to its final destination and place of construction.

As you travel from place to place in the UK (or the world) there is much historical evidence of localised material production and use.

In areas such as Wales, Scotland and Cornwall, local stone, often only hauled across a field from a quarry adjacent to its final resting place, has been used for whole villages, including boundary walls and even roofs.

Wood was cut in the local woodland with straw and mud taken from neighbouring farmland. Often, clay pits would be opened up and the clay fired to produce bricks and tiles.

On land that has high flint content, the flint was knapped and used in conjunction with brick and stone to build houses - all in all, a sensible way to utilise natural resources as close as possible to the building site.

I think that garden designers and landscapers (and house builders) are faced with an increased challenge of sourcing and using local materials in new gardens or additional features in existing schemes.

In this You Tube video produced by Kathryn Wilkins, Cornwall Landscaping demonstrates how local stone is used to build strong but, aesthetically pleasing, boundary walls.