CONCRETE & STONEWORK
WHEN IS A WALL
NOT A WALL?
Is a wall ever ‘just a wall’? It’s
dividing, defining, enclosing,
sheltering, protecting and providing.
It does so much, yet we call it ‘just a
wall’. We can sit on it, lean against it,
stare at it, climb it, step over it, walk
around it. Of course we can’t pay
it, yet we employ it to do a job. So
we make the wall look good and in
return it can do its job properly and
reward year after year - looking back
at us, silently performing its duty
regardless of the weather. We have
years to appreciate that wall, so
picking the stone that helps the wall
do its job is very important.
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Looking at just one style - Dry
Stone Walling originally served as a
boundary and stock barrier and was
traditionally completed with ‘cock
and hen’ topping resonating farming
methods that date back to the
Neolithic times circa 3000BC.
As much art as science, building a
dry stone wall without mortar relies
on the careful placing of stones and
the stones’ own weight to keep it
standing – for more than 100 years
if it’s a good one. Get up close and
personal and you will find that dry
stone walls offer amazing habitat
and wildlife corridors. Mosses and
lichens, pennywort and cranesbill
all make their homes here. Wrens,
wheatears, little owls, even lizards
nest in its cavities.
The Cotswolds are famous for over
6,437 km of dry stone walls and
the walling supplied by Cotswold
Hill Stone and Masonry at their
quarry near Ford, Cheltenham, looks
fantastic employed by this method.
In fact Cotswold Hill Stone and
Masonry provide numerous choices
of Cotswold Limestone and Royal
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