Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Dry Stone Wall, Bransdale

Those pesky rabbits

Thanks to a skill beyond
The craft of honest men,
I’ve stood twa-hundred years, and mair;
And lang may stand again.

The answer to John Wilson’s riddle is the dry-stone wall1Hart, E. (1973) ‘Long lives the dry stone wall’, Times, 06 Jan, 16, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CS268924966/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=f5baa3b3 [accessed 19 Aug 2021]., that constant feature of Britain’s upland countryside.

Of course, a dry stone wall will not stand for two hundred years, if climbing sheep have anything to do with it. Generally, dry-stone walls are built double skinned, narrowing towards the top, courses slightly sloping inwards and with plenty of ‘hearting‘ or rubble in between. This is the recipe for a strong wall, yet a wall permeable to the wind.

Bransdale walls however don’t follow this tradition. They are single skinned. Large undressed stones precariously placed on top of each other. The result is that Bransdale dry-stone wall have more holes than a colander. Yet surprisingly they do seem to endure – until the sheep detect a weakness.

This was the job that awaited us today. To be honest I suspect the real vandals behind this collapse were the rabbits. The foundations of the wall had been undermined like Emmental cheese.

Why bother repairing the walls? As well as being a traditional feature in the landscape, they provide a wildlife refuge for small mammals, wrens and invertebrates. Both core values of the National Trust.

I guess this Bransdale style of dry-stone walling would have been cheaper to build requiring relatively unskilled farm labourers. Repairing collapses, whilst more frequent, would be quicker and easier.

In 1794, a landowner would expect to pay between 1s 6d. and 1s. 8d. to have built a seven and a half yard stretch of (conventional) dry stone wall five and a half feet high (about £6 in today’s money). A skilled mason would be paid between 2s. 2d. and 2s. 6d. per day (about £9). By contrast, the wages of an ordinary farm labourer were from 1s. 4d. to 1s. 8d. a day (about £6). Work began between six and seven in the morning, finishing between six and seven in the evening with an hour rest at dinner2Pringle, A. (M,DC,XCIV [1694, i.e. 1794]) ‘General view of the agriculture of the county of Westmoreland, with observations on the means of its improvement. By Andrew Pringle. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement’, pp. 30/31, Edinburgh: printed by Chapman and Company, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CW0108472724/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=753663d4&pg=31 [accessed 19 Aug 2021].. Long hours indeed.

Job done
Job done!

 

  • 1
    Hart, E. (1973) ‘Long lives the dry stone wall’, Times, 06 Jan, 16, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CS268924966/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=f5baa3b3 [accessed 19 Aug 2021].
  • 2
    Pringle, A. (M,DC,XCIV [1694, i.e. 1794]) ‘General view of the agriculture of the county of Westmoreland, with observations on the means of its improvement. By Andrew Pringle. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement’, pp. 30/31, Edinburgh: printed by Chapman and Company, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CW0108472724/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=753663d4&pg=31 [accessed 19 Aug 2021].

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