ronshavreen | photoblog » Dry Stone Wall

24 Apr 2008 • 224 views

Dry Stone Wall - 1

Highland areas of Britain are not suitable for arable agriculture but have been used for grazing for centuries. The land was divided into pastures according to ownership and even some of the highest moors had dividing walls built across them, sometimes even going straight up the steepest slopes. The natural building material to use was lying all around.

Drystone walls are a particular feature of upland Britain. There is great skill to building these walls and they they can stand for a very long time through the worst conditions nature can throw at them. They are very different in construction, materials and design. This wall is made of cut slate, tomorrow's is very different.

camera	FinePix S9600
exposure mode	aperture priority
shutterspeed	1/58s
aperture	f/5.6
sensitivity	ISO200
focal length	15.4mm
resolution	1000x713 pixels

Dry Stone Wall - 1

comments (6)

mal

24 Apr 2008, 13:40

I like the isolation of detail here, quite abstract. mal

Ron Shavreen: I think I've been bitten by them as a subject. I can see me looking out such walls for photographic treatment.

Tracy

dry in Stoke

24 Apr 2008, 14:15

My husband builds wall like this. Nicely captured Ron.

Ron Shavreen: Sounds like hard work! I bet it's a labour of love. Does he do it for a living or as a leisure activity.

brianaw

24 Apr 2008, 15:14

Unusual but interesting subject Ron. Lots of nice shapes and shades in this. I look forward to tomorrow's.

Ron Shavreen: Once you start looking in detail they become extraordinary - even just at the craftmanship level.

Bill Phillips

Droitwich

24 Apr 2008, 16:23

Used to watch them doing a demo at The Royal Welsh Show. Every year they built a wall, then took it down and built it again the next year. Mind you it wasn't as exciting as the coracle demonstration!!

Ron Shavreen: You certainly know how to enjoy yourself Bill!

tim

united kindom

24 Apr 2008, 22:42

been a brickie i have had a go at doing this the end result was quite funny to us as the capping's for the top didn't fit

very abstract feel to the image Ron well done

Ron Shavreen: I'm pleased you like it Tim. I hope country skills like this, thatching, hedge-laying and so on endure. Our country will be the worse for loosing these landscape features.

Mary MacADNski

The Island

25 Apr 2008, 00:37

In the state of Victoria in Australia we were traveling on a road though I don't remember precisely where. There was at least a hundred kilometers where these fences were everywhere, dividing each property and field. We stopped after a while and saw some information stating that they had been built by Scot that had been brought to Australia to make the walls. It was amazing....at least a hundred km.

Ron Shavreen: It's a great use of natural resources as it builds a boundary and clears the soil at the same time. Given a little care they can stand for ages and they can be built two metres high or more. I knew that the Scots exported tartan, salmon and whiskey ... but stone walls???

random photoblogs.org permalink

	name

	email

	send me a copy
	fill in code

	in this box

	name

	email
	up to 5 e-mails, separated using commas
	optional message

	(max. 1,000 characters)