Cavan Reflections

By: Anne Corke

Jun 23 2011

Tags: dry stone walling

Category: Rural Landscapes

1 Comment

If you’re heading north on County Road 10 on your way to Lindsay, be sure and look for this beautiful stone arch on a hill to your left just past Mount Pleasant. This wonderful arch was created by dry stone wallers in 2005. There is no mortar holding it together, just the stones themselves. Dry Stone Walling in Canada is a growing network of wallers whose mission is to promote and practice the ancient art of dry stone walling. To quote from their website (www.dswa.ca): “Our goal is to continue to run walling events, teaching demonstrations, competitions, and various presentations, as well as introduce a more relevant Canadian standard of walling to ensure that the traditions and techniques of our craft are better adapted to our specific needs.” Canadian wallers have created many unique projects, including the Mount Pleasant Arch built in 2005. My family attended one of their building bees, in October 2007 at Garden Hill Acres in Northumberland County, where wallers were busy building a sheep shear, a double helix and a straight wall, accompanied by the music of the Ancient Music Trio. It was a fascinating afternoon in lovely surroundings. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and came away wishing we were ten years younger and stronger so we could build our own dry stone wall! There is a beginners’ seminar scheduled for September 3rd and 4th in Campbellford so if you’d like to learn a new old skill, contact them via the website. Just think what fabulous structures you could build in your garden!

Photo courtesy Dry Stone Walling in Canada

Copyright 2011 Anne Corke