I am trying to identify Britain and Ireland's walling treasures, the best of stonework whether it be walls or structures. These are currently forming a series of articles and snippets in Stonechat the magazine of the North Wales Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association, and in Waller & Dyker the magazine of the Dry Stone walling Association of GB. I hope to turn them into a slide presentation and even harbour far fetched dreams of turning them into a book. It all began on the DSWA on-line Discussion forum following on from something about the TV series "Around the World in 80 Gardens", which mutated into 80 stone walls and then why not Britain alone.
This site has an associated powerpoint slide presentation "Inscriptions on the Landscape", originally devised for the 2009 Stone Foundation Symposium In Ventura California. I regularly give this talk on behalf of the North Wales Branch of the DSWA.
Further details will appear on The DSWA Welsh Branches Website www.dswales.org.uk in due course.
for now contactsean@stonewaller.freeserve.co.uk
I'm looking for nominations, anything stone walling related, old or new, specific or generic. For example structures such as the Gallarus Oratory in SW Ireland, the iconic field systems of the Yorkshire Dales typified by Gunnerside Bottoms in Swaledale, the structures of the Welsh slate industry, modern rebuilds/reconstructions such as the Nine Standards near Kirby Stephen, or a walling type - such as the herringbone walls of Tintagel, brand new walls etc., etc
The list goes on, but is not exhaustive, I'm not worried about repeat nominations as they only serve to emphasise the worthiness of something. So I'd like you out there to let me know of anything you think should be included either electronically sean@stonewaller.freeserve.co.uk or traditionally: Sean Adcock, 2 Bryn Eithin, Waen, Penisarwaun, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 3PW. Photo contributions gratefully received. Thanks, and watch this space and "Stonechat" for updates on nominations and the progress of the project.
This site is currently under development, and will be added to as nominations are recieved and time permits. As it develops the "chapters" are likely to change as various nominations are combined to form a category.
Click on a link to see more photos, and sometimes descriptions/further information, detailed articles etc.
I also operate www.Dry-stone.co.uk This covers not only my work but also has lots of photos and information on walling in general plus an extensive library of my writings.
The following is an alphabetical list of the nominations so far, the stars relate approximately to the amount/quality of information included on this site. Click on any to view. When looking at the information pages you can click on any picture to see a larger version
You can also scroll down the page to see an example photo from each nomination, click on any of these for further information.
Aran Islands (*****) Askrigg Stiles (***) Balmoral Cairns (***) Gallarus Oratory (**) DSWA Pinnacle Awards (****) Honeycomb Pens (**) Irish Stone Forts () Modern Walls(****) Newgrange (*) Nine Standards Rigg (***) North Wales Quarries (*****) Patterns(****) Scottish Brochs (**) Shibden (***) SingleWalls () Skellig Michael (*****) Swaledale (*) Ty Hwll (*) Underground () Irish Stone Forts (****)
