International Women's Day: Leeds dry stone waller Jo Haines who came to career later in life

After working a secretarial job and bringing up her two children, it wasn’t until her 40s that she was introduced to the labour of love that became her trade.

“I went to Ingleborough yesterday and I'm still fascinated with walls,” says Jo, now 59. “Even though it became my job, it never ceases amazing me, really.”

Jo, from east Leeds, had always been an outdoors type but found herself in a line of work which did not suit her interests, then family life and health concerns came first.

Looking back, Jo says: “I was quite outgoing. I suffered a lot of mental illness – I didn't know why – from about 16, right into my 40s, I would say. I ended up doing an inside job, which was a good job. I ended up being a secretary and I used to meet friends years down the line from school and they’d go, ‘What?!’ Because it was completely different from what (I was like). But I’ve gone back to that.

“Then I brought the children up, of course, and I was a stay-at-home mum.”

At 29, she also had a stroke related to pregnancy with her second daughter, who was fine, and Jo thankfully recovered.

In 2004, she took up voluntary work to aid people with depression and alongside another lady in her group, decided to get outdoors.

“I wanted to work on a farm, really,” says Jo. “Temple Newsam estate is quite close by. They didn’t allow that but I worked in woodland management, volunteering, really, with a lot of retired men, but absolutely loved it – the wealth of knowledge, being outdoors and it gave me confidence.”

The estate had a ha-ha – also known as a sunk fence – that needed repairing, so Jo and two others were able to go on a taster course run by Otley and Yorkshire Dales Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA), learning the skills needed to do the job in 2006. “There was only me who stuck at it,” she says.

It proved to be the entry point to a new occupation in dry stone walling – but also, she admits, a “very nerdy” enthusiasm.

“I was lucky enough to make three trips to the Himalayas and I was taking pictures of walls there,” she says. “They're really a basic but very clever way of building.”

She says: “I’ve been fascinated since I’ve been 11, going up Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales, where I was yesterday, and I was fascinated that on such a steep angle, these dry stone walls didn’t fall down. I remembered that… and it was just practise and practise.

“Even though I loved it, I found it so difficult, I didn’t take to it straight away. And then I practised every week, I used to go to practice grounds up on Otley Chevin.”

There is also farmland next to the site where the courses are run – which is next to the Chevin’s Surprise View Car Park – and she helped rebuild its walls, eventually getting paid a small amount to do it, funded by stewardship schemes. “I started spending a lot of time up there, staying at friends. I’ve even stayed in a caravan up there. I don’t think the wall was particularly water tight, but I caught the bug of dry stone walling.”

Encouraged by fellow waller and Master Craftsman, David Griffiths, Jo took her initial DSWA qualification exam in 2009 and she went on to accomplish her intermediate and advanced levels.

“I had every intention of going on to do masters exams – that was always my ultimate aim – and then Covid came along, and that put paid to that. And by then, I was creeping towards 60.”

She is happy with the level she achieved, she says, and later also took an instructor’s exam. Typically, dry stone walls are wider at the bottom than at the top, consist of two walls – front and back – and do not require mortar.

“I’ve never had to go back to a wall,” says Jo. “They stand the test of time. You’ve seen it in the Dales – hundreds of years.”

Although she lives in Great Preston, Jo’s work is mainly in the areas of Otley and Rawdon. She is grateful to her friend, Stephanie Burton, who offered a place to stay while Jo was working. “When I didn’t believe in myself, she encouraged me.”

There is also husband Nigel, her ‘rock’, and daughters Danielle and Annalisa, who are very proud of her.

Since going self-employed in 2012, Jo has mainly worked full-time on her own projects, usually in private gardens, though she has volunteered at National Trust heritage sites. In the past few years, she has teamed up with waller John Downie, a retired policeman.

“It’s hard work, but I don’t see it as hard work,” says Jo, though her body is telling her otherwise – she is currently nursing a shoulder injury. “I’m getting paid for doing something I enjoy. It’s starting to tell on my body a little bit, but it does with every dry stone waller I know.”

The work has taken her to Australia and Romania, but it’s plain to see there are much fewer women in the trade than men.

Indeed, she “used to hide behind the fact that I was a woman”. When she was starting out, she told a graphic designer friend she didn’t want her full name, using Jo as her full name had always been shortened anyway.

She remembers him saying: “I’m going to give you a bit of advice. In 90 per cent of households, it’s the woman that makes the decision. So I want you to celebrate the fact that you’re a woman.”

Now, she wants to pass her knowledge on to others. “That’s my worry – that it’ll die with the wallers,” says Jo.

Next week: Our series continues all next week. On Monday we meet self-taught metalsmith Hayley Roberts.