Richard (left) with Kirsty Stone from the Peterborough Regional College (centre) and Sara Blair-Manning, chief executive of the John Clare Cottage Trust (right).
I
n Britain we’re proud of our heritage and millions of pounds are spent every year preserving our great cathedrals and old buildings. Yet at the same time some of the most historic man-made structures in our area are crumbling before our eyes. I’m talking about the dry stone walls that are such a feature of the region. Did you know that in our neck of the woods (Northamptonshire, Peterborough, North Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire) there are more stone walls than in Yorkshire? No, nor did I. Nor did I realise that they are disappearing fast. To make matters worse, there’s only one man in this area qualified to build or repair them. Luckily that man is Richard Donoyou, who is on a one-man mission to ensure that there will soon be dozens of local people versed in the ancient craft of dry stone walling. “We are losing the stone walls of the Nene Valley at an alarming rate,” says Richard. “Look at almost any village and you will find a wall in disrepair. The big estates , like Deene Park and Milton Park, for example, have a major challenge in keeping their miles and miles of historic walls in good repair. “Look beneath many woodlands and hedgerows in this area and you’ll find the remnants of stone walls that must have existed in good repair probably into the early 20th century. Until then, building and repairing dry stone walls was an important job in winter for farm and estate workers in the countryside, but after the first world war the labour force was massively reduced and the attitude of the large landowners changed. There just weren’t the people available to manage and maintain them.”
Saviour of the walls Richard, who lives in Elton, is a qualified building surveyor who admits that he got bored sitting in front of a drawing board or computer screen and set about the task of learning traditional building techniques. “I think it is important to get some practical understanding of these skills so one can appreciate the problems and benefits when asking others to employ them. So I have rebuilt timber frame houses, taught myself traditional slate roofing and thatching, and limestone dry stone walling, lime plastering and so on,” he
says. His passion for the old building techniques is matched only by his determination to pass them on. He is currently teaching the art of dry stone walling to 17 and 18 year-old students at Peterborough Regional College and is about to start a series of courses aimed at adults who want to learn the craft. “Some of our students haven’t done well at school and left with no qualifications,” he says. “This is a way of bringing them back into education, encouraging them to work as a team and improve their employment prospects. Many of them go on to learn other building techniques and will get jobs in the construction industry.” The courses take place both at the Regional College and at John Clare’s Cottage, Helpston, where the students are currently renovating a dry stone boundary wall that dates back to the early 18th century, when the famous poet lived there.
Learning the skill In fact dry stone walls date back much further than that. The remains of Roman dry stone walls can be found at Church Hill, Castor, for example, while in County Mayo in western
Ireland, dry stone walls dating back 4,500 years have been uncovered by archaeologists. The likelihood is that there is a dry stone wall very close to you. In fact you may have one on your property in need of repair – or you may even fancy building one. If so, Richard’s courses for adults, which start in the spring, could be right up your street. “Following the success of the student courses, I am starting adult courses in March and April,” says Richard. “We intend to offer week-long courses as well as weekend courses for those with full-time jobs. The courses would be suitable for builders and landscape contractors, estate workers, architects, building surveyors and conservation officers, as well as people who have stone walls in their gardens and around their houses which they wish to repair. A full week course should equip most people with sufficient skills to be able to progress by themselves. It is also intended that there will be further courses culminating in the Dry Stone Wall Association’s First Level Certificate standard.” It’s Richard’s hope that one day there will be lots of qualified dry stone wallers in the area to ensure that these important features of our landscape are preserved for ever.
ALL ABOUT WALLS
Dry stone walls are common in this area because of the ample supplies of limestone, literally under our feet. It is known as Oolitic limestone, laid down in the Jurassic period some 150 million years ago. The stone was formed as small invertebrate creatures died and fell to the bottom of the shallow tropical seas that existed at that time. Their calcareous shells then built up in layers, with each successive layer crushed to form the strata that is characteristic of limestone. As one works with the stone, the imprints of ancient plant fronds, large whelk like crustaceans and even trilobites can be found. “Oolitic limestone is a wonderful building stone that has a consistency that allows it to be shaped and carved and a wonderful honey coloured hue,” says Richard. “It was so highly valued by the Normans that its use was limited only to the church and the very wealthy. The quarries at Barnack produced particularly good stone and so became controlled by the church and the stone was used exclusively for great building projects including Peterborough and Ely cathedrals. “Other dry stone boundary walls clearly have medieval origins. For example, the wall that weaves and twists along the southern side of Sulehay Wood clearly marks a characteristic medieval boundary.” If you are interested in taking part in the courses, contact Richard by email: Richard.donoyou@btinternet.com or by phone on 01832 280494. You can also book with tutor Kirsty Stone at Peterborough Regional College by email kirsty.stone@peterborough.ac.uk or phone 01733 762288 STAMFORD LIVING JANUARY 2012
42 43 STONE WALL copy.indd 3
43
16/12/11 09:58:20