Dry stone walls, or "dry stane dykes", have been used for centuries to form the boundaries to land and property. They are found throughout the United Kingdom and vary greatly in style and type of stone used.
Dry stone walls are incredibly strong and have the added benefit of requiring little to no maintenance. These walls are described as "dry" as they contain no mortar.
Dry stone walls can be used for numerous purposes including:
- Free standing walls
- Retaining walls
- Decorative features such as rockeries, ponds, barbeques
- Staircases
- Cairns
- Bridges
Niall Baird is a dry stone waller based in Ayrshire, Scotland. He has been walling for 10 years and learned these skills from his father Leslie Baird, a dyker of 30 years experience.
Niall is a current professional member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain. He has obtained an intermediate level qualification in dry stone walling and is a DSWA trained instructor.
Niall has worked on a variety of interesting and unusual walling projects and has been involved in the construction of many large conservational path networks which required a variety of skills including fencing, bridge building/construction and mortared stonework.