Dry Stone Walling in the Lake District

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Lake District Dry Stone Walls

Dry stone is a method of building that doesn't involve any mortar to hold the stones in place, walls, bridges and buildings have been constructed in this way since before the Roman era.

The words "Dry Stone" are best known for the construction of walls, but has expanded into dry stone buildings, land marks, bridges, and other structures. Many a guest house or hotel in the area is built this way, as are many of the houses, there is mile upon mile of walling throughout Cumbria.

The way dry stone walling works is the weight of the outside leans inward to the core of the wall or structure, each stone is carefully selected almost jig-saw like as to create a near flush contact area between each stone used to prevent slipping or wobble.

Dry stone walls are used to define boundaries of land, the average height of dry walls is about 1.6 metres, but they can be found around the lake district measuring in at just over 2 metres in some farmland areas.

Different areas produce different textures and colours to the walls, seasons can have an effect on the shape of the walls, water freezes in winter and can force the stones apart, when it thaws, dirt gets trapped and so the process continues maybe over a number of years but eventually the wall looses a stone, and if not repaired the wall will keep loosing stones until a major rebuild is needed.