Dry Stone Walls: History and Heritage

by Angus J.L. Winchester

Dry stone walls create much of the character of upland landscapes across Britain. How do we go about dating dry stone walls? Why were they built and by whom? This book seeks answers to these questions and also suggests how walls themselves may be ‘read’ as historical evidence, shedding light on past farming practice and the history of local communities.

The first part of the book traces the history of dry stone walls from medieval times to the present. The standard form of most dry stone walls probably dates from Tudor times but the great era of wall-building in the uplands took place comparatively recently, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There are numerous regional variations: ‘Galloway dykes’ in south-west Scotland; stone slab fences, found from Orkney to mid-Wales; ‘consumption’ walls, built to absorb vast quantities of stone from the fields.

The second part of the book looks at dry stone walls as part of Britain’s cultural heritage. The walls themselves contain evidence of why they were built and how they functioned as part of the hill farming system. They sometimes preserve information about their builders and owners or evidence of lost features in the landscape.

Genres: History

140 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2016

About the author

Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Lancaster.

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely sad to reach the last page. What an extraordinarily interesting book.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb, well illustrated book that deals with the different periods of wall building, and attempts to date walls from the physical remains, though admitting the difficulties! Also deals with different features that can be encountered on the walls. I dare say I am a bit of a weirdo, but as soon as I finished the book I was itching to get out and investigate Mid Wales examples in the Black Mountains for instance!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this because I am volunteering and learning dry stone walling in Derbyshire. Once started I soon began to look at dry stone walls with a different eye - and wallwatching has become really interesting. This book is a great background history with lots of extra details for look out for. Don't expect a slick coffee table book but it's full of information and working photographs.

[John Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of interesting material, but somehow the overall impression is a bit random: I know it shouldn't be, but it feels that way to me.