Anyone for a Game of Drystone Jenga?!

There is an art to many of the forgotten country crafts, and no where is this better illustrated than with constructing dry stone walls. A classic regional feature of much of our beautiful countryside, these take time (and patience!) to build - and as our students may now profess, will take years to master.

Foundation Degree students have been building their own dry stone wall (nicknamed 'The Great Wall of China'!) over the last term and although not finished, progress has been made (Plate 1).

Plate 1: The great wall of China (students from left: Dan, Becka, El, Nat and Sophie)

The quality of stone for building these boundary features is very important, and students have had to grapple with poor quality materials but the end result as I am sure you may agree is taking shape! Students started by digging a foundation trench before sorting through the available stones which were categorised into:

i. Foundation stones (larger stones also known as footings);
ii. Hearting stones (fragments of stones for filling air spaces in your wall, also known as fillings);
iii. Intermediate face stones (the bulk of what you will see);
iv. ‘Through’ stones (long large stones that will go all the way through your wall to aid stability);
v. Coping stones (including thicker ‘bookends’, placed over ‘cover bands’).

Each layer (or course) of the wall was then guided through the use of a batter frame. Stones were placed with their length into the wall – not along it. Larger stones were used at first and pinned in place, and joints were staggered to enhance stability. Although definitely a work in progress, it remains to be seen whether the 'great wall' will last as long as the original!