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Dry stone walling competition comes to Dartmoor

Lisa Young,South Westand
Caroline Densley,Devon
News imageLydia Noble Three men are building a drystone wall. The one in the foreground is wearing gloves and placing a stone on top of the wall. The man opposite him is also placing a stone on top of the waist-high wall. There are spades and a wheelbarrow behind them.Lydia Noble
Different parts of the country have their own style of dry stone wall

A national dry stone walling competition is being held in Dartmoor for the first time.

Nick Fell's farm at Merrivale is hosting the Ellwood Classic Drystone Walling Competition on Saturday, alongside demonstrations of traditional skills and guided walks.

Fell said he had "quite a few miles" of walls to repair and he hoped the competition would "get them all into the proper fettle like they were thousands of years ago".

He said the 39 competitors each had to build stone-faced banks which were 6.5ft (2m) wide and 5ft (1.5m) high in seven hours. "You've got to get a move on to do that," he added.

News imageMike Kitson Nine men and one women are working on building a drystone wall across two grassy fields. Some are lifting stones and others are placing stones on the wall. There are large piles of stones next to the wall.Mike Kitson
Nick Fell said if the wall was "wonky" the competitors would lose points

On Saturday the competing professional dry stone wallers will have to take a wall down, set the stones aside and then rebuild it to a high standard against the clock.

Fell said: "If they don't finish in time, they'll lose points.

"If they do a wonky job that I and the judges aren't happy with, they'll lose points.

"If it's really bad, they'll have to take it down and build it again the next day, because the walls have got to last a long time."

Matt Stores will be leading demonstrations at the event.

He has been a professional dry stone waller for 15 years and learnt his trade growing up on a farm near Widecombe on Dartmoor.

He said everywhere in the country had its own style of dry stone walling.

"Dartmoor has its own stone-faced banks, an earth bank faced with granite.

"The wallers from Yorkshire are going to have a bit of a shock, I think, when they come down here and see the styles they'll have to do this weekend," he joked.

"Dartmoor stone is a tricky stone to work with, it's not really coursed, it's all irregular bits of granite and it's basically like doing a jigsaw puzzle, but without the picture on the front of the box."

Visitors will be invited to choose and place a stone in a new wall on the day and there will be demonstrations of traditional skills and the chance to try drystone walling.

There will also be guided walks including a two-hour exploration of the Merrivale prehistoric stone row complex led by archaeologist Andy Crabb.

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