Topic summary
Dry-stone wall
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Dry stone.
Other uses
Traditional turf-roofed Hebrideanblackhouses were constructed using the double-wall dry stone method. The middle of the walls were generally filled with earth or sand in order to eliminate draughts. During the Iron Age, and perhaps earlier, the technique was also used to build fortifications such as the walls of Eketorp Castle (Öland, Sweden), Maiden Castle, North Yorkshire, Reeth, Dunlough Castle in southwest Ireland and the rampart of the Long Scar Dyke. Many of the dry-stone walls that exist today in Scotland can be dated to the 14th century or earlier when they were built to divide fields and retain livestock. Some extremely well built examples are found on the lands of Muchalls Castle.