Drystone Wall Repair at Bridge of Allan Golf Club, Stirling

When done properly, drystone can last for centuries but sometimes a fallen tree or wayward vehicle means that repairs are needed. Another one of drystone’s amazing properties is how well it lends itself to repairs or modifications.

Storm Arwen and a fallen tree were responsible for the repairs required at Bridge of Allan Golf Club and we enjoyed working on these lovely old sandstone walls.

As is often the case, there was some prep to do before we began building. We reuse as much stone as possible in repairs and so our first task is ‘stripping out’ and organising the stone ready to be built back into the wall. On this job we had some extra prep to do. The roots of the tree that had fallen had been severed from the main trunk meaning that although they intersected the line of the wall, they were not suitable to build over as they would inevitably rot and compromise the structure. It took a while to remove them.

When repairing the goal is to blend the repaired section of wall back into the standing sections. This requires using similar stone as well as a similar building style and paying attention to details like course height.

As you can see from the images below, our repairs blend seamlessly into the original walls.

I’d like to talk a bit about ‘throughs’, what they are and why they matter.

Through stones are large stones that sit across the width of the wall at around knee height. Their purpose is a sort of binding together of the wall. As the wall settles the idea is also that they will help distribute any movement evenly. All round great, if not essential, for structural integrity and longevity. In this case, the through stones are what saved the bottom half of the wall in the image above, meaning repairs only had to be carried out in the top section.

As you can see from the images below, the walls at Bridge of Allan Golf Course have been built to last with throughs protruding at regular intervals along their length.

Very much looking forward to heading back to the club for some more walling and fantastic views across Stirling through to Perthshire.