"When one thinks about it, family trees, happiness, constancy and all manner of things are not too different to dry-stone walls. In each of these significant aspects of our lives we will find gaps, breaches and places where repairs are called for. When we build either a strong wall or a strong family, the overall aim is the same; to create the strongest of bonds that withstands any friction.
I once had the experience of attending a week's course for building dry-stone walls in the Dales. I never became an expert at it, but during later years when I had an old cottage in Mirfield that needed constant renovation, I helped my builder construct such a wall around my detached house, which I found highly satisfying.
There are five rules to building a dry-stone wall that also applies to building a sound family structure where love endures. The first rule is, 'Set the length of stone into the wall.' This means that the end of each stone is part visible in the final wall and is perpendicular to the direction of the wall. In the construction of family terms, this simply means learning to show off one's offspring equally and teaching them to stand upright, not to be frightened of showing themselves to the world, but not showing or over-facing others by showing all one's assets in a boastful manner.
The second stone-wall building rule is to 'Heart the wall tightly.' Gaps in the interior of the wall, between the face stones, should be tightly filled with small stones, just as it is the loving children of each family that bound the parent's who protect on the outside and strengthen the marriage of all family members. The tighter the 'hearting', the stronger the wall will be.
The third wall building rule is 'Cross the Joints.' This means that each stone should be crossing a joint below so that it is setting on two stones beneath it. What should not be done is to stack stones so that they are vertical joints running from one course to the next. Neither should parents fail to recognise the differences in their offspring and their different places in the family structure and teach the older ones always to protect their younger siblings and never cross them without good purpose.
The fourth rule is, 'Keep stones level'. Walls should be built so that the stone and course are level.This is more apparent when using flat stones but applies to all dry-stone walls. Stones that are not level will tend to slide causing internal stress in the wall and will eventually cause failure as the wall shifts over time. This can be seen in the dynamics of most family structures when a child goes off the rails, is eager to move away from the family home and starts behaving badly. Many walls are built with quite irregular shaped stone, and when this is the case, focus on keeping the top of the stones level. That makes it easier to build on top of. When this is not possible to have a level top, slope the top toward a neighbouring stone to the right or left; not into the core of the wall or pitched out. When a child in the family starts behaving unhealthily, that is the time to allow them to lean on parents and siblings and not turn them out of the home!
The fifth and last rule of dry-stone wall building is, 'Build with the plane of the wall.' This simply means aligning the stones so that there is an even plain to the faces of the wall. String lines are especially useful to keeping an even plane, just like good home budgeting is better achieved by the use of constant checks on outgoings and income. The outer 'bump' of each stone is what should be assessed as keeping in line to keep the whole wall looking as one unit. Just as all good parents should judge their children and teach them to judge the goodness of others by including all their traits and aspects, not just the most obvious ones that jut out.
Perhaps more than any other man-made structure of life, dry-stone walls represent life itself in its most symbolic form. It is made up of all kinds of stone of different size, shape and colour and is built in a manner that can keep it maintained for hundreds of years; providing nobody seeks to remove, damage or rearrange it. It is not unusual for the wall to show gradual movement itself as the ground upon which it stands settles over the generations. Any repairs done to it should be sympathetic to its texture and fabric of construction.
I'm afraid that over the past fifty years, society has either unknowingly or deliberately destroyed the fabric of its protective wall, within which I was reared during the 1950's and 60's. We frequently see the top layer of the wall missing with the increase in parental divorces, just as our own elderly parents have often become missing from the family home they used to be born into and die in while still in good health. Often, life crisis' have knocked the stuffing out of our wall and instead of correcting the fault, we build up walls of denial and resistance instead which justifies us doing nothing to repair our past!
Far better I think to follow the five rules of dry-stone wall building. William Forde: March 25th, 2017.