A less than idyllic day in the life of a stone waller

Imagine the scene – the beautiful countryside of the Pennines and Dales, the sound of birdsong with the sun on your back. There is also the satisfaction of starting the day with a pile of random stones and, as the hours tick by, the heap of rubble has morphed into a section of field boundary which, with a bit of luck along the way, will still be there when your grandchildren's grandchildren are roaming the countryside. All of this and you get paid as well.

On rare occasions, the job is as described although the "sun on your back" sometimes seems to be hard, if not impossible, to find. Take this last week for instance. I arrive at farmer Geoff's for a session of gap walling (that's a dilapidated section in an otherwise sound wall). Geoff farms hard land at 1,000ft (or 304.8m) on the Pennine Way.

His herd of Friesians are inside cudding their way through the preserved sunshine in last year's silage, and the flock of April lambing mules are scavenging for imaginary blades of grass under the snow while waiting for Geoff to arrive with hay and sheep nuts in his futile attempt to satisfy their appetites.

"You'll find them gaps up t'lane and on yonder through top gate 'oil. Looks like frost fetched one down but the others have been down a while. There's only two or three yards – reckon you'll be done for dinner time."

Off up the lane to survey the idyllic scene. It's a typical mucky Pennine winter's day – the view across the valley has been swallowed up by the fog and drizzle and any self- respecting songbird will be miles away. The pickup struggles up the slope through the semi-frozen mud to the scene of the day's action. There is a gap all right. The footings have slipped and Geoff is correct – there are only two or three yards down. Unfortunately, he has failed to mention that the wall adjoining the gap has also been dragged out of line and is in imminent danger of sinking into the ground, never mind that his 100 ewes have been using this gap as a thoroughfare between fields for the past year and the fallen stone is now mostly buried in a mixture of frozen mud and sheep muck. At temperatures of between –1C and +1C this stuff acquires the properties of superglue, making the usually simple job of sorting the stone into a messy and major undertaking.

Geoff's three yards are going to be seven so it is wise I ring him before starting. "You're all the same, you wallers! Allus trying to mek gaps bigger so you can addle more brass. Seven running yards will be the year's takings from four ewes! Well, you'd best do what you

think, Billy."

Geoff knows I am well aware of sheep economics as I used to farm the neighbouring land but I also know (hope) that he trusts my judgment how much wall has to come down to effect a proper repair.

After three hours the fallen stone has been extracted from the frozen morass and the adjoining sections of wall are demolished. In the process I have also uncovered the partial remains of an old "Acrobat" side rake which, in its death throes, had been propped against the gap six months ago to try to deter the sheep from their shortcut. During its productive life 30-40 years ago, the "Acrobat" would have been attached to Geoff's dad's Massey 35 rowing up the hay for baling.

The offending footing stones, instead of being level, lay at an angle of 30 facing down the slope of the hill. The earth beneath has given way, the footings have slipped with the weight of the wall (a ton a yard), and the wall has tumbled. This is one of the most common reasons for the failure of a dry stone wall and the problem can usually be sourced to a diverted or blocked drain in the land above the wall.

The footing stones have to be removed with a pick and the earth levelled to give a firm start. It's pointless repairing the gap without eradicating the cause, so I head back down to Geoff's for a length of pipe to provide drainage through the wall. Geoff is carrying a bale of bedding straw into his calves. "Done already have you? Thought you'd be an hour or two yet."

I am paid by the square yard of completed wall and it is at this point I realise that I have been working at this gap for most of the morning and have not "addled" a penny as I have yet to place my first stone of the rebuild.

Walling – a satisfying job? I still think so.

Billy Topstone will be writing occasional pieces for Country Week. e-mail: [email protected]