Sheep Creeps

There's a few local names for these, including one of my favourites, 'pop holes'.

This one was part of a wall I was repairing at Howdale and forms the boundary of the farmed land and the moors.  It is also the boundary of the Strickland Estate & Fylingdales parish boundary - an ancient boundary dating back at least 500 years.  I replaced the stones  around this sheep creep in their previous positions where possible.  This was in 2010.  Early in spring this  2016 or 2017 year I was leading a wildlife walk and for the 1st time noticed the circular' cup and ring' marks on the right end of the lintel.  These marks occur in many places in the UK, and can be found in substantial numbers on the nearby moorland. I obviously never noticed when I was rebuilding this wall.

This is not the only archaeology find in this wall.  I also discovered a cope stone with several 'cup' marks on one side.  But that I noticed and emailed the national park at the time of finding it.

Irish Walls (2)

Irish walls don't always conform to the same 'rules' of British walling.  Here we have a retaining wall consisting of a mix of horizontally coursed stones mixed in with vertically coursed stone and capped with a double course of vertical stones.

(Co Wexford)

In many places in the south west of Ireland stones are placed in a vertical orientation.  These walls are surprisingly easy to build and the walls tighten as they settle.  They are often built without any copes or top stones. 

 A field boundary wall in Co.Waterford built of rough field stone.  Again no copes/topstones

 The same wall - As you can see it has been built within the last 15 years.

(Below).  In many parts of rural West Cork, the hills and land outside cultivation contain miles of these small walls, often no more than a meter in hight and of single stone construction.n the rougher.  They serve no purpose now and both sheep and cattle can easily cross them.  No farmer I spoke to was able to tell me to what original purpose these walls served. 

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Unusual Single Wall NYM

I must have walked close to this wall many times over the years and not noticed it before.  Its the only wall I know in the NYM which consists of a single wall composed with the foundation stones all set on edge.  It is a small enclosure just   A few yards to the south of the gravel track running down off the moor into Glaisdale.  Some of the stones are massive.  The wall is some four to five feet in hight and a couple of feet in width. 

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Walls with Dates

Most walls are almost impossible to date.  However these two on opposite sides of the farm track up to  Grange Head Farm (796033) have the date of construction carved into stones  - 1918 & 1903  I wonder whether the same waller built both?

Garden Walling

I don't often do garden walling but here's and example I did recently in Burniston 

Vertical walling - Scotland

Taken in Easedale a few miles south of Oban in Scotland I spotted this jetty made with vertically placed stones.  This is the only place outside the south west of Eire I've seen such walls using this style.