Growing up in Ireland, I’ve been surrounded by history ever since I was born. I’m not talking about recent history, I mean ancient history. Most of it was wasted on me as a kid, but now that I’m older I can appreciate it. Looking out the window of my house I can see the crumbling stone ruins of a monastery that’s been around since the ninth century Viking invasions, and a short drive down the road is Newgrange, an ingenious stone passage tomb that has a small slot in the wall that floods the space with sunlight on the winter solstice. It’s truly astounding, even more so when you hear that it’s over 5,000 years old.
Stone surrounds me here in this part of the country that’s known as “Ireland’s Ancient East” and the more I travel abroad on hiking and biking trips, the more I notice it when I return. Above all, I notice all of the dry stone walls. These structures are such a common part of Ireland and the United Kingdom's visual landscape that they blend into the surroundings as much as telephone poles and traffic lights. But their diminutive stature tells an important story as they mark a civilization’s place in history and represent a fading cultural identity.
The Origins of Dry Stone Walls
Dry stone walls have been around for thousands of years. At the most basic level, a dry stone wall is made without the use of any binder like mortar or cement; they’re free-standing structures held up by the way that they’re built.