From Werneth Low, you can look out over Manchester, Salford and even Liverpool on a fine day. And a fine day it was, when volunteers gathered together with trainers for a Dry Stone Wall Building event, put on by the Gower Hey Wood project at the end of March 2003. Picture the scene: the rolling countryside in the county of Cheshire, nestling in the valley between Marple and Glossop. This well-known, local beauty spot is where the volunteers had been set the task of rebuilding a portion of old wall that forms the boundary alongside Needham’s farm. Originally built in the 18th century, the 8 metre long wall had seen better days, and was in need of a skilled hand to bring it back to its former glory.

“Conditions were excellent, with lovely sunshine. It was warm and dry, not windy,” says Stuart Manson, secretary of the Gower Hey Wood project. “You could see over the valley and the hills in the distance and everyone enjoyed it.” The volunteers knew nothing about dry stone wall building before the event. Of the eight, six were members of the project group and two others had responded to press adverts. The fully booked training course was provided free of charge, thanks to LHI funding. Volunteers were guided by staff from the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain (Cheshire Branch), but the volunteers did all the hard work themselves.

Equipped with gloves, goggles and hammers for the all- important job of reconstructing the wall, they began by gathering the stones which had been scattered during the decades before. “The volunteers were pushed a bit on the first day, in order to get the foundations in place for the second day’s building,” says Stuart. “Before they came on the course, they knew nothing about dry stone wall building”. The ancient skill is perhaps best known for constructing walls like a jigsaw puzzle, using large base stones for the foundation and smaller pieces of stone to fill in gaps. The walls are built in a triangular form, reaching an apex at the top for extra stability, and when soundly built, dry stone walls can last for many years.

By the end of the two-day training course, volunteers had something they could be truly proud of: a wall 1.5 metres high and 6 metres in length. “You could see you’d done something at the end of the day. A wall that your grandchildren can come and look at: something that granddad or grandma built,” continues Stuart. "It’s a legacy for future generations. The walls will last, may be, another couple of hundred years.” And for those who have been bitten by the wall building bug, there are further courses available through the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain .