A bit of correspondence between Rod and me with my daft questions omitted. Be both thought you might be interested.
These photos were taken about 300 metres from the house in Portugal. The stone is limestone, more amenable than Greenhow limestone in that despite being very hard and heavy you can dress it to some extent. There seems to be a lot of front pinning, which is just starting to fall away, but that does seem to be common practice in those parts. The trees behind the wall look to be about 75 years old at a very hazarded guess which might give a date for the wall.
They are retaining walls and very thick, probably built as much as a place to deposit clearance stone as a means of levelling cultivated land on a slope. There were some free standing walls in the adjacent area all built in a very similar style with the bases around 600/700 mm thick and around chest height, but often with no proper toppers. Perhaps the lack of rain and winter frost might account for this, but you would think goats and sheep would soon damage the walls in the absence of a good topper.
Barry and I spent the early part of the morning picking out toppers and cheekend stone from Clive's huge pile of, sometime huge, stone. After Clive had brought it to the road side edge with his mini digger, we then spent a slithery, and at least in my case, very warm time getting it to the relevant places.
Unfortunately I didn't get to the stage of actually using the toppers, jumping over the wall for each course seems to slow me down! Barry however was able to make good use of the new stone for the cheekends of the stile.
Pictures:
Stile Progress:
Morning
Wall gap Progress:
Richard H.
No. Wallers: 2
Barry and I braved the odd shower to make slow progress on the last few bits at Fogfield. Zipping back and forth between the two sides of the wall when the ground is boggy and the fences and trees are unhelpful does not increase your speed.
Main wall last section.
Stile in the Morning
Richard H.
No. Wallers: 2
Graham and Catriona went to a sunny Markenfield and made good progress, Catriona finishing the last course on the existing wall and Graham putting foundations in on the next stretch. At midday, much earlier then forecast, it started to rain but we carried on for another couple of hours before plodding back across a very wet and muddy field
Graham D.
No. Wallers:2
Only Barry and I went to Fogfield this week. 2 stiles to do and a small gap in the main wall to fill in. Barry undertook the stile work, and I started moving stone around at the main wall in an effort to get it closer to where it needed to be. Not much to show in terms of progress as both the stile and the gap in the wall are both very awkward to navigate.
Richard H.
No Wallers: 2
Duncan and I did an enjoyable morning session at Markenfield, finishing at lunchtime when the rain started to get unpleasantly heavy
Barry and I had company for our topping out day, a Bull a few cows and a some calves. We were kept from one another by a single electrified wire running a few feet from the wall. Truth be told the cows weren't really interested in us.
We had some breaks in the rain, for almost 5 minutes! However I spent most of the day resembling a drowned rat, though underfoot remained mercifully solid (for Fogfield)
Just two stiles and the gap at the end of the wall to go.
Toppers on:
End of last week
Graham, Duncan & I made some more progress on the Park Wall. Duncan continued to clear the next stint while Graham & I laid more of the courses until coffee time, after which Duncan & I swopped places, he & Graham taking the wall just short of full height by the end of the day. I grubbed around exploring the foundations for the next stint, adding to the increasing piles of rubble from the exceptionally wide previous re-build that constitutes the remaining stretch to the stile. There was some nice stone amongst it all and we might be able to face the east side with the limestone for a few more metres yet.
Pictures at close of play at 2.50pm.
Barry S.
No. Wallers:3
Catriona and Roderick continued work on the main wall, whilst I faffed around at the stile leading to the road. As they diligently worked towards the final height of the wall I stood and stared at the stile wondering what the heck to do. After having taken it down, my final though was - Sugar it. So I went to hamper Catriona and Rod at the wall face.
The main wall is now up to height, looking good, and ready for toppers next week. With just the gap at the east end to fill in.
I've rung North Yorks County Council pathways department, who told me to e-mail in my request for guidance on the stile - so I expect we'll be hearing from them some time in 2022.
Progress on the main Wall:
Disassembling another stile:
Richard H.
No. waller:3
A lovely sunny day at Fogfield! Barry, Rod and I made our way (at intervals of 5 minutes) down to the wall under clear blue skys. The grass was verdant, the stone honey coloured under the suns glare and Darley beck murmured gently as we worked away.
Was it a nice day?
Ey it were alright.
Liz and Clive (and four legged companions) came to, respectively, check our covid distancing, and our walling progress. I'm not sure we passed either inspection, but we haven't had any report cards yet.
The stile is finished and functional, and the main wall is not far from it's final height, thanks to the sterling work by Barry and Rod nether of whom seemed to want to leave. We walled till nearly 5 o'clock and I think they would both be still there had I not asked them if it might be time to go home.
Progress on the main wall:
Progress on the stile:
Original state of stile:
Richard H.
No. Waller:3
