A dry stone wall repair in Mellor
Couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a farmer in Mellor, Nr Blackburn, to repair this corner of a dry stone wall. He hit it with his tractor and trailer when going through the gateway.
Can’t leave a mess like this for long. Certainly not next to a busy highway and obstructing pedestrian traffic.
The finished result.
took me an afternoon and the farmer was very happy with the work. The fact that you are working with existing material makes dry stone walling a cost effective repair. The cost would be much higher to was fully mortar this. This is partly because of all the effort chipping off old mortar and stuck-together stone. On top of that you have the cost of materials to account for. sand, cement, plasticiser. Sometimes even cement dye so as to match the existing mortar. If you are a farmer or landowner in East, Central or even North Lancashire, give me a call or email to discuss a quote for any projects like this.
A cheek end in Sabden.
Above you’ll see an example of a dry stone wall end or ‘cheek-end’. This is a project I’m working on near Sabden, a village at the foot of Pendle overlooking The Ribble Valley. I’m raising and fixing a very old dry stone wall around a newly renovated stone farmhouse.
This is one of the more advanced features of a wall and takes some time and practice (and patience!) to get right. The result is very pleasing to the eye, I think you’ll agree. This was using quite rough stone, too. The taper or ‘batter’ towards the top is a crucial structural strength of a traditional dry stone wall. The stone will settle inwards in time.This creates an even stronger and tightly-packed wall . Passers by notice this kind of feature..
