A hot sunny day added to the challenge at Friends of the Lake District’s Annual Dry Stone Walling Competition on Saturday 13th May.

The event took place at Green Farm, Shap, where entrants gathered to compete in four classes; professional, amateur, novice and veteran, with an age range from 11 to 82 years old.  The entrants completed the rebuilding of a total of 20 metres of dry stone wall – a traditional skill where walls are built without using any mortar to bind the stones together.

Kay Andrews, of Friends of the Lake District said:  “Dry stone walls are iconic in Cumbria and a part of our cultural heritage.  With over 3000 miles of walls in Cumbria it’s vital that we don’t lose the skills needed to maintain and look after these much-loved features of our landscape.

“Cumbria boasts some of the most highly skilled wallers in the country, but we were delighted to see that our competition this year attracted five novices, as well as wallers from Oxford and Newcastle too. Competitions like these play a key role in raising awareness of this heritage skill whilst also providing the opportunity for wallers to not only showcase their skills but learn from each other and develop their skills too.”

Prizes were awarded by Mike Houston, former lead officer for Friends of the Lake District, who started off the first Friends walling competition in 1980.

We’d like to thank David Hodgeson at Green Farm for hosting us and to our Master Craftsman expert judge Steven Allen from Tebay. 

The event was part of Shap’s Outdoor Festival programme ‘Celebrating the landscape and wildlife of the area’.

Competition Results:

Class 1 Professional

1st – Keith Golding, Crosby Ravensworth

2nd – Tasha Bryne, Kirkby Stephen

3rd – Stephen Richardson, Penrith

Class 2 Amateur/Open

1st –  Lewis Twigg, Newcastle

2nd – Bob Alden, Oxford

Class 3 Novice/Juniors

1st – Russell Cannon, Staveley

2^nd – Jack Palmer, Kendal

3^rd – Vicki Smith, Shap

Class  4  Veterans

1st –  Dereck Thwaite, Kirkby Stephen

2nd – George Allonby, Penrith