Dry Stone Walling

What are dry stone walls?

Dry stone walls are built without mortar and rely solely on the forces of gravity and friction for their strength. Where once these structures were used as a means of survival, for shelter to contain livestock, they are now being used in gardens as retaining and feature walls and indeed more contemporaneously as sculptural artworks in public open spaces.

Learning the craft

Geoff Duggan, Landscape Planning Manager at Mount Annan Botanic Garden, began building dry stone walls in 1991. In 1995 Geoff was awarded the Friends of The Gardens Horticultural Scholarship to study the craft with the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain.

Geoff has returned to Britain twice since 1995 and undergone a series of progressive, practical tests leading to the Master Craftsman Certificate in dry stone walling. As a Master Craftsman, Geoff is pushing the boundaries of his craft to new limits. He has created sculptural artworks and sees a future for the craft in public places. Over 1000 people have acquired some basic skills of their own developing over 1000 metres of dry stone walls.

You can see some of Geoff’s work at Mount Annan Botanic Garden.  The Garden’s impressive entry gates are set in an ornate dry stone wall. There is also a sculpture titled ‘Door to the Sun’ on the Education Lawn, and dry stone walling retaining walls in the Banksia Theme Garden.

Courses

Geoff conducts weekend public workshops in dry stone walling at Mount Annan Botanic Garden. This training is based on traditional techniques and principles developed over many hundreds of years.

For information about learning the art of Dry Stone Walling download a brochure and application form.

'Door to the sun' (1.5 x 2 m) at
Mount Annan Botanic Garden.
Installed as part of the ‘Stone upon a stone’ dry stone walling exhibition.

Participants in a dry stone walling course.

Course at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

The Knot, Mount Annan Botanic Garden