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Shibden Park

Dry stone walling exhibit

This is a permanent and unique exhibit built by the West Yorkshire Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association in the grounds of Shibden Hall in Halifax and exemplifies all the skills of the Master Craftsman dry stone waller.

The exhibit draws together the highest standards of dry stone walling and interprets the characteristics and the practical applications of the craft in the landscape.

Completed in 2003, the project had the support of Johnsons Wellfield Quarries, who donated the stone, the Heritage Lottery Fund who provided a grant of £30,000, and Calderdale Council.

Working parties, practice days, workshops and training helped to create the exhibit and worked alongside Shibden's Education officers, rangers and gardeners to learn about the skill.

The spectacular conical cairns mark the top entrance to the exhibit. From the lower entrance, marked by closely dressed square-topped pillars, the path leads past a series of stiles and lunky holes through walling which gradually takes on a more relaxed field wall character until it curves upwards to the top of the site.

Within the exhibit, a circular pinfold half buried in the hillside displays the skills involved in building in a tight curve, and a set of demonstration walls show the various stages in building in dry stone. Different styles of topstone reflect the styles found in urban and rural landscapes, including half rounded topstones and "cocks and hens".

For more information about dry stone walling, visit the Otley and Yorkshire Dales: Dry Stone Walling Association| . The branch keep an active interest in the exhibit and form part of Shibden's network of "Friends".

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