Skip to content 
When is a wall not a wall? Is a wall ever ‘just a wall’? It’s dividing, defining, enclosing, sheltering, protecting and providing. It does so much, yet we call it ‘just a wall’. We can sit on it, lean against it, stare at it, climb it, step over it, walk around it. Of course we can’t pay it, yet we employ it to do a job. So we make the wall look good and in return it can do its job properly and reward year after year – looking back at us, silently performing its duty regardless of the weather. We have years to appreciate that wall, so picking the stone that helps the wall do its job is very important.
Looking at just one style – Dry Stone Walling originally served as a boundary and stock barrier and was traditionally completed with ‘cock and hen’ topping resonating farming methods that date back to the Neolithic times circa 3000BC.
As much art as science, building a dry stone wall without mortar relies on the careful placing of stones and the stones’ own weight to keep it standing – for more than 100 years if it’s a good one. Get up close and personal and you will find that dry stone walls offer amazing habitat and wildlife corridors. Mosses and lichens, pennywort and cranesbill all make their homes here. Wrens, wheatears, little owls, even lizards nest in its cavities.
The Cotswolds are famous for over 6,437 km of dry stone walls and the walling supplied by Cotswold Hill Stone and Masonry at their quarry near Ford, Cheltenham, looks fantastic employed by this method.
In fact Cotswold Hill Stone and Masonry provide numerous choices of Cotswold Limestone and Royal Forest of Dean Pennant Stone from its two quarries in Gloucestershire. Very different in appearance and colour, both quarries are able to make that wall not just a wall. Random walling, dry stone, rockery, gabion baskets, sawn and split walling, as well as natural stone cladding is available.
The Pennant Sandstone at Birch Hill Quarry, near Park End in the Royal Forest of Dean also makes its mark by being popular with landscape architects as it is highly weather resistant and robust. The striking colours of alluring blue and grey is very popular among those seeking a more modern aesthetic and it maintains its appearance generation after generation. Not only that but it also makes an eye-catching decorative feature, with sawn masonry or monolithic stone pieces, entwined in the landscape design – be it weathered or newly-quarried.
The Pennant Sandstone at Birch Hill Quarry, near Park End in the Royal Forest of Dean also makes its mark by being popular with landscape architects as it is highly weather resistant and robust. The striking colours of alluring blue and grey is very popular among those seeking a more modern aesthetic and it maintains its appearance generation after generation. Not only that but it also makes an eye-catching decorative feature, with sawn masonry or monolithic stone pieces, entwined in the landscape design – be it weathered or newly-quarried.
Cotswold Hill and their products can also be found at different trade shows throughout the year. For example, they recently supplied sawn paving, rockery and monolith stone for the gold award landscape exhibit at last year’s Malvern Spring Show.
Their high quality masonry limestone at the Cotswold Hill Quarry near Stow-on-the-Wold features a fine texture in a pleasing creamy white or honey coloured appearance and is regularly used to produce or repair architectural features such as mullion windows and door surrounds. Both quarries boast a team of skilled stonemasons who work closely alongside their clients to bring ideas to life.
The Pennant sandstone from Birch Hill Quarry is used in all manner of applications, including construction, landscaping, revetment work and civil engineering, one of its most frequent uses is for the restoration or replacement of Regency building features such as steps and memorials.
Sometimes the sandstone has a green hue, or a shock of red within it which provides a dynamic and contrasting appearance.
