DRY STONE WALL

Dry stone wall: traditional stone wall constructed without mortar. They are usually hand built but can sometimes be built with the aid of machinery. Gaps caused by collapse of the built structure can occupy less than 50% the length.
 

 

Dry stone wall attributes:

 select for information on Dry stone wall gaps.
     
Habitat examples: Click on an image to enlarge.
Dry stone wall: distribution in NI.
There are an estimated 5,602 km (0.4 km/km2) of Dry stone walls in NI. They are particularily concentrated in the Mourne AONB (3.6 km/km2) and are uncommon in the Wider Countryside (0.1 km/km2) and Fermanagh District (<0.1 km/km2).
Dry stone wall: predicted distribution map (1998).

Dry stone wall: net change 1991 - 1998.
The length of Dry stone walls has decreased significantly by 8% (-470 km) in NI, notably in the Wider Countryside (-15%, -235 km) and Slieve Gullion (-20%, -170 km)
Dry stone wall: summary of losses and gains 1991 - 1998.

Dry stone wall: losses and gains 1991 - 1998.
Dry stone wall loss was mainly by removal and by degradation to Ruined dry stone walls. Field Boundaries in the losses and gains table below are linked to their descriptors and NI data.
 
Losses
(1991 - 98)		 Field
Boundaries		 Gains
(1991 - 98)
km % km %
107 2 *     Hedge 53 <1 *
70 1       Mortared wall 0    
365 6 *     Ruined dry stone wall 170 5 *
0         Earth bank 115 <1 *
36 <1 *     Fence 36 <1 *
292 5 *     No Field Boundary 27 - *
Note :   % = percentage of baseline length
             * = indicates significant transition (p = 0.05)
 
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