Old Cumbria Gazetteer - stone walls, Cumbria



	stone walls, Cumbria
county:-	Cumbria
also see:-	geology, Cumbria sheepfolds, Cumbria

	Geology Apparent
	BMV05.jpg BMP19.jpg
	Stone walls are a constant feature of the landscape in Westmorland, Cumberland, etc.
	Stone walls vary in style from area to area, reflecting the underlying geology of where they are. I think it is possible to see that the stone walls at one end of our valley, Longsleddale, are different from those at the other. The lower parts are on the Brathay Flags whose found stone often has angular edges; the upper parts are on Borrowdale Volcanics and the stones are more often slightly rounded boulders. You have to allow for the occasional transport of 'foreign' stone from one place to another.
	We have taken photos of stone walls here and there all over the counties. You must look and see what you think. You must also be looking for hogg holes, smoots, bee boles, and stiles.
	BVU75.jpg

evidence:-	old text:- Wordsworth 1810
source data:-	Guide book, A Description of the Scenery of the Lakes, later A Guide through the District of The Lakes, by William Wordsworth, 1810-35. goto source page 45 "... the singular appearance which the sides of many of these mountains exhibit, intersected, as they are, almost to the summit, with stone walls. When first erected, these stone fences must have little disfigured the face of the country; as part of the lines would every where be hidden by the quantity of native wood then remaining; and the lines would also be broken (as they still are) by the rocks which interrupt and vary their course. ..." goto source page 46 "... [a] sylvan appearance is heightened by the number of ash-trees planted in rows along the quick fences, and along the walls, for the purpose of browzing the cattle at the approach of winter. ..."

evidence:-	old text:- Martineau 1855
source data:-	Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76. goto source Page 59:- "... we know of no obstacle to his doing it [the Fairfield horseshoe], unless it be the stone wall which divides the Scandale from the Rydal side of the ridge. These stone walls are an inconvenience to pedestrians, and a great blemish in the eyes of strangers. In the first place, however, it is to be said that an open way is almost invariably left, up every mountain, if the rover can but find it; and, in the next place, the ugliness of these climbing fences disappears marvellously when the stranger learns how they came there.- In the old times, when there were wolves, and when the abbots of the surrounding Norman monasteries encouraged their tenants to approach nearer and nearer to the Saxon fastnesses, the shepherds were allowed to inclose crofts about their hillside huts, for the sake of browsing their flocks on the sprouts of the ash and holly with which the hillsides were then wooded, and of protecting the sheep from the wolves which haunted the thickets. The inclosures certainly spread up the mountain sides, at this day, to a height where they would not be seen if ancient custom had not drawn the lines which are thus preserved; and it" goto source Page 60:- "appears, from historical testimony, that these fences existed before the fertile valleys were portioned out among many holders. Higher and higher ran these stone inclosures,- threading the woods, and joining on upon the rocks. Now, the woods are for the most part gone; and the walls offend and perplex the stranger's eye and mind by their unsightliness and apparent uselessness; but it is a question whether, their origin once known, they would be willingly parted with,- reminding us as they do of the times when the tenants of the abbots or military nobles formed a link between the new race of inhabitants and the Saxon remnant of the old. One of these walls it is which runs along the ridge and bounds Rydal Park. There may be a gate in it; or one which enables the stranger to get round it. If not, he must get over it; and, if he does so, high enough up, it may save him another climb."

notes:-	Gideon Maude, in his Tour into Westmoreland, remarks:-
notes:-	"... The country became very barren in its appearance as we proceeded, indeed the stone walls with which this part so much abounds, give the country a very barren appearance, and often make the prospect appear more barren than it really is. I cannot imagine why farmers are so fond of them; surely they might have good thorn hedges at half the cost. Stone walls, which are built up without either lime or mortar of any kind frequently (I suppose) want repairing. I saw them in many parts in a very delapidated state. Land, adorned with good thriving thorn fences, would in my opinion sell for double the value to what it would as it is now disfigured with those ugly stone walls."
	The ill-informed comment is moderated in a footnote by a friend:-
	"A friend of mine informs me - 'It is not any particular liking that the farmers in Westmorland have for stone walls; but I can assure you they would not have thorn hedges at ten times the cost; stone is found upon the land - quicks are enormously dear; besides, these walls have existed from one generation to another with little or no repairing, but what they casually receive from the owners; and where is the farmer now who would lay out his money (even were it in his power) to imrove his landlord's ground? or where is the landlord over those wilds who would incur an expense over his land, which would not add one farthing to his income? besides it has been found that quick-set hedges do not thrive on those grounds.' - W.F."
	Maude 1831

notes:-	There is a display of stone walling from different parts of England at the Westmorland County Showground, Crooklands, south of Kendal:-
	Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain (Lane Farm, Crooklands, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7NH)

BSM33.jpg		Longsleddale, NY50080289 -- View, towards Cappelbarrow. (photo 11.4.2010)
BMV05.jpg		Longsleddale, NY50080289 -- Stone walls. (photo 8.10.2006)
BIK12.jpg		Longsleddale, NY50080289 -- Fields, stone walls, trees, shadows. (photo 15.2.2004)
BIG22.jpg		Longsleddale, NY50080289 --

references:-	: 1977: Dry Stone Walling; A Practical Conservation Handbook: British Trust for Conservation Volunteers:: includes some notes on bee boles, stiles, gates, hog holes, etc. Bodman, Janet: 1984: Lake District Stone Walls: Dalesman Books (Clapham, Lancaster):: ISBN 0 85206 777 1; with a geological sketch map Garner, Lawrence: 1984: Dry Stone Walls: Shire Publications: album 114: ISBN 0 85263 660 0 Gray, Anna: 2005: Dry Stone Walls (leaflet): Cumbria Fells and Dales Leader+ Programme Rainsford-Hannay, F, Colonel: 1957: : Faber and Faber (London):: includes poems about wallers Rainsford-Hannay, J: 1972: Dry Stone Walling Raistrick, Arthur: 1946 &1976 (7th impression): Pennine Walls: Todd, George and Son (Whitehaven, Cumberland):: ISBN 0 85206 012 2 Rollinson, William: 1978: Lakeland Walls: Dalesman (Clapham, Lancaster):: ISBN 0 85206 449 7; has notes about the enclosures, and a geological sketch map Rollinson, William: 1998: Making Drystone Walls: Smith Settle (Otley, West Yorkshire):: ISBN 1 85825 097 8

person:-	: Dry Stone Walling Association

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