Stonewalls: necessary fencing and works of art

Few things in life have given me more pleasure than building a length of dry-stone wall. I’m not an expert but anything I have built hasn’t fallen down – at least, not yet anyway. The funny thing about a stone wall is that, the older it gets, the better it looks.

I was delighted in recent weeks to learn that the art of Irish dry-stone walling has taken its place on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This recognition was part of an international application, led by Ireland, which also recognised similar cultural traditions in Andorra, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. Dry Stone Construction is Ireland’s fifth inscription on the UNESCO list which also includes Uilleann Piping, Hurling, Irish Harping and Irish Falconry.

Mighty Wall 

Stone was our first permanent building material. Monument building, and later field fencing, were among the creations that followed. 

Harry Manning, writing for RTÉ, gives us a good idea of the age and importance our stone walls.

The practice of constructing dry stone walls dates back to the Neolithic period and is still very active in many parts of Ireland. Ireland's two UNESCO world heritage sites at Brú na Bóinne in Co Meath and Sceilg Mhichíl in Co Kerry are of dry-stone construction.

Dry-stone walls are synonymous with the Irish rural and upland landscape. It is estimated that the Irish countryside has over 400,000km of dry-stone walls. The longest continuous length of dry-stone wall in Ireland, known as the Mourne Wall, is in County Down and winds its way 35km across that unique and rugged landscape. This mighty wall is constructed entirely from local granite and took eight years to complete, with construction beginning in 1904.

Ancient Tradition 

Teagasc, because of the link with rural farming, provide some very interesting background on our ancient stone wall tradition.

The building of dry-stone walls is a long-standing farming tradition dating back to the Neolithic Period here (5,000 years ago). There was also a time professional dry-stone wallers travelled through the country, as well as over and back from Ireland to England, Scotland and Wales. Many walls on estates and larger farms were built by these skilled craft workers as far back as the medieval period. Common stones used in Ireland include limestone, granite and sandstone.

In the past, the stones for such farm walls came from two sources: being gathered directly from the landscape, particularly in places like the Aran Islands and the hills of north Mayo, or they were turned up in ground that was being tilled. Quarried stone was more associated with urban or industrial building.

A dry-stone wall is built with a combination of stones and skill and nothing else. Such walls do not need mortar or cement to hold them together. According to the House of Lor, a jewellery design company who have a collection inspired by Irish stone walls, Mayo’s Céide Fields contains Ireland’s oldest farm stone walls.

The oldest known dry-stone walls in Ireland are the Céide fields of Co Mayo, built approximately 5,800 years ago. Many of today’s walls were built during the years of the Irish Famine, less than 200 years ago. The walls were built to separate and protect crop fields as well as create separated fields for livestock grazing.

As well as defining and securing fields, stones walls also became a lasting habitat for animals and birds. While a stoat and a wren make poor bedfellows, strangely, the favourite resting place of both is within the heart a stone wall.

Building Stone 

Over the years, I have lived in two houses in a rural setting and around them both, I have built stone walls. At first, I used old stones that came from demolished outhouses. That’s the thing about dry stone walls; you can take them apart and build them again – a bit like Lego. At the second house, I used stone that came out of the foundation bedrock. This was a tough unforgiving Ox Mountain sandstone and to describe it as unwieldy, would be an understatement.

The other thing about stonework is that it takes practice. You need to get to know your stone, you need to form a relationship with it. That may sound strange but it’s true. In the same way as you might need to know your donkey - what he will do, what he won’t do, and most importantly, what he can’t do - you also need to know the vagaries of the type of stone you will be working with. Limestone is easy; it breaks along veins and can be chipped to size to make tight joints. It is also relatively light to handle and so less inclined to make a hoop out of your back.

Of all the stone that one can work with, granite must be the most difficult. It is heavy, comes in large chunks and any wall you build with it will be of large proportions. I pity the men who built the Mourne Wall; 35km of granite wall built in the side of a mountain is some achievement. I have no idea how many spinal quacks were based in County Down back in the early 1900s but I can guarantee you this, they were all busy!

Gathering of Stones 

Wall building in Ireland these days is quite a healthy place. Dry-stone walling has undergone a resurgence in popularity due to the perseverance of a small number of farmers and a wider interest by many others. The resurgence is also due to the teaching of the craft by a very small number of dedicated masons.

While trying to get an appropriate image to go with this article, I recently called to Paddy Giblin in the distant foothills of the Ox Mountains. Paddy is a dry-stone wall enthusiast and has expertly restored countless boundary walls on his cosy hill farm at Largan, near Collooney in County Sligo.

There is now an organisation in existence, the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland (DSWAI), which promotes an awareness of the craft of dry-stone building. This a non-profit organisation, run entirely by volunteers, that aims to create an awareness of the need for preserving the craft of dry-stone building in Ireland. In doing so, the association hopes to advance awareness among the public and professionals in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the craft of building and repairing traditional dry-stone walls in Ireland.

In 2013, DSWAI and the Stone Foundation in the USA came together with a vision to invite an international community to Ireland for a Gathering of Stones. The Gathering of Stones was an event where people with an interest in Irish dry-stone walls came together under the instruction and guidance of the DSWAI to build a communal dry-stone installation. This installation, built without funding, is located at Lough Boora Discovery Park in County Offaly. Using stones gathered from all around the country, all four provinces are represented in the sculpture. If you have a free day this summer, Lough Boora Discovery Park is well worth a visit. Oh, and if you decide to build a stone wall for yourself on your return, mind your back!