A section of our 220+ year old dry stone wall fell down last November (not to be confused with the modern stone wall that was taken out by a Range Rover in December). We'd been expecting problems with that section of the wall, built by William Croghan as a retaining wall on the south and west of his mansion house. It had developed a lean to the west, pushed out by the roots of an ill-sited tree. Now the tree has been removed, the stump ground out, and wall repairs have commenced, on this bizarre warm and sunny January day. Master stonemason Neil Rippingale is here rebuilding the wall from the base up, using no-mortar techniques that have been honed over centuries. It will take a few days to repair. The rest of the wall needs some attention too, and we plan to continue the work of maintenance and repair over the next several years.
