Chris Stephens: Walls for all

Like motherhood and apple pie, everyone is in favour of dry stone walls. We enjoy seeing them and use them to promote the countryside, as well as to sell walking boots and rucksacks, and to recruit members to heritage organisations. But few, it seems, are currently in a position to pay for their maintenance or restoration.

What we see today is only a fraction of what was built 200 years or more ago. According to a 1995 survey by the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, 40% of dry stone walls in England have been lost since the Second World War.  Much of this has been the consequence of changes in farming practices. Of those which remain, only 13% are in good condition, 58% are in urgent need of restoration, and the remainder are now beyond repair. In Wales and Scotland the position is unknown but likely to be similar.

In the past, the cost of rebuilding field walls used to be shared between Defra and the landowner. Most upland farmers are now in no position to make their contribution and the present prospect is that unless the public can be engaged - either through voluntary action or with financial support - dry stone walls will slowly disappear from our countryside except perhaps within our upland national parks.

While in many areas the agricultural need for dry stone walls has declined, their value as a wildlife refuge and a landscape feature has increased everywhere.  There are a huge number of plants and insects that live along the walls, not to mention numerous important lichens, mosses and liverworts providing an essential input at the bottom of the food chain. David Bellamy himself has said: “Well-managed dry stone walls are as important as hedgerows to the character and wildlife of our country”.

In terms of being a treasured part of the landscape, it’s well known that the public puts a high value on the preservation of dry stone walls. A recently published report has shown that for every £1 expenditure on the repair of dry stone walls in the Yorkshire Dales National Park there was an injection of £1.92 into the local economy.

The Ramblers has been enormously successful in promoting walking and campaigning for access to the countryside. Its charitable objectives include the protection of the countryside for the enjoyment of all walkers, and its Articles of Association also allow it to work with other organisations with similar objects.

The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain works to maintain the craft standards of dry stone walling and provides training for members of the public though its 20 UK branches (see www.dswa.org.uk). A lot can be done by volunteers: complete novices, under the supervision of a qualified instructor, can build excellent walls – albeit rather slowly! Moreover, rebuilding dry stone walls is just as much fun and just as much exercise as walking with something to show for it at the end. As one or our recent course attenders said: “There is not much which I do in my life which I can say will last for a hundred years”.

So isn’t it time our two organisations got together to realise these objects as they apply to our dry stone field walls? How about it Ramblers?

Chris Stephens is a member of both the Dry Stone Walling Association and Ramblers