Country diary: Building walls, the Exmoor way

Porlock, Somerset: There are 12 miles of wall to maintain along farmland, and the methods date back centuriesOn the edge of the moor above Porlock, overlooking the mercurial grey tides of the Bristol Channel, lie a few remote farmsteads. Their fields are laced into the precipitous hillsides, with earthen banks faced with stone and topped with dense hedges. For centuries, these walls have been the traditional Exmoor way of providing a two-in-one stock-proof fence and shelter belt - much needed in a place often pummelled by gales, heavy rain and snow.Exmoor walls are made by digging down to hard ground and laying two parallel lines of rocks. The wall is built up from these foundations using smaller "litter stone" collected loose from the land. Stones are usually laid flat so that the narrower side forms the outer wall. Each row is backfilled with soil beaten solid with a sledgehammer. The finished product is about 5ft 6in high and more than 3ft thick. Continue reading...