Teesdale Talk:
Scheme helps to build a picture of ancient dale craft

A PROJECT highlighting the three kinds of dry stone wall seen in Teesdale was completed this week. It will help to explain to residents, as well as visitors, how a large number of these simple structures are still standing, more than 200 years after they were built.

One of the dale's leading experts, Trevor Dixon, of East House Farm, Langleydale, told members of the Craft Works group how the different types evolved following the Enclosure Act of the 1780s.

They then had trips around the area to seek out and study some of the best examples of the ancient skill.

More than 70 per cent of the walls are made from sandstone, as it is easy to cut and shape.

The rest are built from whinstone, which is much harder, or ice age cobbles, which are found in riverbeds and ploughed fields. Mr Dixon made three miniature walls from these materials and gave them to the group.

They will be displayed in tourist information offices and at various events, along with leaflets describing the traditional techniques used on the different styles of wall.

Anne Noble, who runs Craft Works, said the project will encourage people to take more interest in the dale's dry stone walls, an important feature of the landscape.

It was funded by the Northern Rock Foundation and the North Pennines AONB Partnership.

Mr Dixon told me: "Over the centuries most wallers have used sandstone because it is easiest to find and cut.

"But those in the upper dale used whinstone as it was near at hand, though more difficult.

"And those near rivers used cobbles as they could be picked out easily and found in fields after ploughing."