The kids who were all over the Victoria Highland Games Celtic Cross

Christopher of the Cross

I  get to do some really unusual dry stone projects  sometimes. The Celtic Cross we did for the Highland Games in Victoria this weekend has to be one of the most enjoyable and best collaborative demonstration projects I have been involved in a while. 

Hats off to Christopher Barclay who made it all happen under the auspices of ( and as a support for ) and as a sign of solidarity with, the newly formed, not for profit Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada. 

There was such wonderful a collaboration of masons and wallers and a genuine respect and appreciation of one another's skills. It was just like the good old days in Ontario when everyone got along, before a few troublemakers took a lot of the fun and enthusiasm out of it and felt they needed to belittle everyone else's efforts. 

After seeing the one we built in Uxbridge in 2002 Christopher pitched the idea of doing a temporary dry stone Celtic Cross to Highland Games president Jim Maxwell, and got the green light to design, organize and oversee the building of it. Christopher arranged to have Island Stone Supply lend us the stone material and then got the trucking of the material at half the delivery fee . He called together a great crew of skilled people to work on it including Dan Bird, Gavin Chamberlain, Jose Janecek, Kevin Maloney, and Jordan Hunt. Several other local masons dropped in to join us in the fun during the two-day build.

Christopher and I were able to tweak his original design based on our not wanting the centre post of the cross to interfere with the dynamics of the arch. We reasoned that if it was placed so that it was going through, or supporting (or even touching) the arch it could actually weaken the structure because the lateral line of thrust would be broken. We contemplated leaving a gap at the top of the upright just below the arch centre and then wondered about having the upright actually suspended by the arch (in effect clamping it)  leaving a tiny gap about a half inch above the cross pieces. Then we decided to really raise the bar so to speak, excuse the pun, and have the uprights and even the side pieces separated by several inches.

There was  a great sense of drama towards the final stages of construction as we tried to figure out all the possible things that could go wrong. I had never done an arch with a 'hanging' keystone before. Dan commented that the element of risk we were taking in front of the audience of onlookers made it seem very much like a busker's performance involving an escape trick or dangerous juggling act. We could have passed around a hat and paid for at least some of Christopher's expenses I expect.

The result ended up looking every bit as dynamic as we had hoped.  There was a lot of forethought and careful rehearsing before the final lifting and fitting of the very heavy centre upright between half arches and the two forms. After we had secured it with lots of well tapered shims, we carefully removed the centering. The crowd of about 150 people cheered as we successfully pulled the form out. 

The structure which would likely stand for over a hundred years is only supposed to remain at the Victoria Highland Games in Topaz Park for Sunday ( Gaelic Pride Day ?)  before we take it down. 

Jose took this great shot of the Celtic Cross with the view of the Scottish flag in the background, cleverly aligned to appear in the gap between the four independent cross pieces. Who knows, maybe the photo will become a new promotional image for those rallying for an independent Scotland.

The mystery of the Cross Circle

On Friday morning, the day before the 150th Highland Games in Victoria, six of us arrived at the park to begin assembling the random Basalt stone for the Celtic Cross were are building this weekend.

We sorted the stones, erected the batter frames, laid out the string lines and sank the large 250 pound dimensional stone which would be the main upright of the Celtic Cross into the earth.

The stone slab looked a bit like a grave stone so we held a mock funeral for the guy who originally started the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada

Later on, after a lot of problem solving concerning voussoirs and angles and centering placement, the guys did a little dance gesturing where the proposed Celtic Cross stone circle was going to be built.

At the end of yesterday we completed this much of the circle and were pretty pleased with the progress. (Hope we haven't used up all the good stones)

We are ready to add the horizontal cross slabs now and then begin the top half of the dry stone circle which will complete the Celtic Cross and then we will leave it here on display during the duration of the rest of the Highland Games. Counter intuitively and rather mysteriously the top half of the circle is always much easier to build than the bottom half. Some of you might know why.

Victoria Highland Games

I will be at the Victoria Highland Games in British Columbia Canada this coming weekend to help build a Dry Stone Celtic Cross similar to the one we built at the Highland Games in Uxbridge in 2002.

uxbridge-games

Several professional wallers from the west coast will be on hand to demonstrate the art of walling during this two day event. If you're interested in learning how to build 'walls without mortar' and you're in the area, you might like to kilt some time and watch us, or even try your hand at it. Contact Christopher Barclay at Barclay hows10@telus.net


victoria highland games.com/

May 18 & 19 – Highland Games & Celtic Festival (Topaz Park)

Going the full round.

Here's one of three projects I've been working on in the last few weeks. This is a nearly completed 50 foot section of a dry stone wall we are building in Alderville Ontario. Massive 16 inch high boulders for copes.

The wall is built mostly from very round granite field stones gathered from the 200 acre property. The rock is very hard and pretty much 'unshapable'. The walls are 3 feet thick and coursed. 

There is a wonderful 'rightness' about round stones laid in rows.

It's strange how deceptively square-ish round stones look when painstakingly laid in courses like this. That's probably why sometimes people who don't know a lot about walls comment that working with such "flat stones" must be pretty easy. They obviously think the stones are flatter and squarer than they actually are. 

Hand Prints

Screengrab

Jake Break

Jake Sandison near Bellville Ontario has completed some more walling at his house. This is his latest and last project for a while.

He writes...

" Hope this note finds you well.  Finally, I am ready to retire the stone breaker and chisels for the year.  The last stone was placed on the 40 foot wall on Sunday . I may be slow... but I am average.  The wall took just north of 30 tons to finish...  all in all, over the last 3 years, I estimate that 50-52 tons of stone have been stacked on the property (including the flag pathway). 

I think I am done for a while. Im going to have  a well-deserved scotch!

The strange world of stone terminology .

In the stone world Culture has become not much more than an advertising concept.

Here are some examples of  cultured rock.

What then does Tasteless rock look like? 

Custom Rocks - Types 1 and 2

The 'Off Road Rock' is very popular with some of the younger, more 'adventurous' wallers who like to get off the beaten track and get stuck into places where more conventional wallers don't get to.

The 'Sun Dried Rock' is sometimes chosen by those who prefer the concentrated goodness of walling without the little pits and stones or any of the unnecessary moisture.

General meeting of the new Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada - May 4 2013

Thanks to Parkwood Estates in Oshawa Ontario for providing the space for the newly incorporated DSWAC to hold their information meeting yesterday. Kudos too to Evan Oxland for securing this very appropriate venue as well as chairing the event (as Dr. Carlan Stants was unable to attend) and then showing us around the grounds of the stately home of Samuel McLauchlin (founder of General Motors of Canada) 

The emphasis of the meeting dealt mostly with the upcoming Stone Festival to be held in Alton Ontario on the last weekend in June 2013. Eric Landman gave a comprehensive report on most of the festival plans to date, which included references to the main moongate feature, engineering requirements, festival workshops, camping, various sponsors for stone and beer and tools, as well as giving us dates for festival pre-builds which will be the two weekends prior to the actual  festival. (contact Eric at landmaneric@gmail.com to let us know if you can help out on either of those dates)

The tour round the sunken garden after the meeting was of particular interest. The dry stone retaining walls were a treat to see, as I had only read about them in an essay about the 'Arts and Crafts Movement in Canada' which Evan had written and submitted for posting on our Dry Stone Walling Across Canada website some years ago. 

Most of the historic walls at Parkdale were obviously done by stone masons, not wallers. The builder stones in the walls were made of squared granite field stone, found locally, with copes being large slabs of limestone bedded in cement.  Every stone was skillfully tooled and shaped . While the stonework was all very impressive, and it is true that I am always delighted to discover any 'historic' dry stone walls here in Canada, I found the sunken garden had an unsettled feeling to it due to the prevailing 'showiness' of this particular style of dry stone walling.  It was interesting however to see how well the walls were 'standing up' over time considering the fact that many of the stones were face bedded (shiners) and there was little or no batter (inward lean) to the walls. 

I wonder how much longer these walls will be able hold back the dense rows of encroaching garden shrubs and trees, which were all presumably part of the original Dunington-Grub garden design

Spring with Plants

The flowers have finally started 'stalking' spring which is very late in coming this year.

*

It seems they love being near the warmth and beauty of dry stone walls.

Levels of acheivement

Kenny Tauch has been our east coast field director 

with Dry Stone Walling Across Canada for the last 5 years.

Kenny wrote recently to tell us he passed his DSWA level three Part B timed test. We would like to congratulate him. I am posting some of his work today with a description he wrote for us of the various elements of his test.  The photos below show what a fine job he did and what a skilled waller he has become.  

I first met Kenny some years ago when I was asked to teach at a dry stone wall workshop that he was planning to host in his home town of Corner Brook, Newfoundland. He was very eager to learn and and had lots of questions for me about walling. 

His level of skill was demonstrated  in 2010 when he came to our Festival of Stone in Landon Bay Park Ontario to be tested for his intermediate level certification and passed easily.

  

"This Advanced Level 3 Part B test was taken at the Stone Trust in Dummerston Vermont. A strip and rebuild of 4.5sq meters of retaining wall in 7 hours, no corners required. This particular wall stands about 4' to the base of the copes with one row of troughs at mid-hight. If you look REALLY closely you might make out the blue chalk lines which delineated the limits of the rebuild; the blue chalk stayed untouched and everyting in-between was removed and rebuilt. 

The material is comprised of a variety of types from local sources, mostly field stone with some nice granite through stones."

"The Level 3 Part A feature was built at our stone yard in Pynn's Brook, NL July 2012.  It meets the required special features of high wall and curve and is 10 square meters of face on the outside of the curve.  It has a scarcement about 11" deep sitting on a solid sand base. From the top of this footing the wall stands 7' tall with a batter of 6:1. It has 3 staggered courses of through stones 1m apart. If i remember correctly its weight was calculated somewhere around 22 tons."

"The stone is similar to Pennsylvania Bluestone (a hard sandstone high), which we quarried from the Fished Hills in the Newfoundland Appalachians.  The odd looking cope stones are a load-cast feature which was split in half using feathers and wedges.  One end of the wall is left open as there are plans to extend the wall this summer."

"The Sunken Firepit was built several years ago now and remains among my favored pieces of work. It is made of the same Fisher Hills Bluestone. I like this piece mostly for the intimate functional space it creates.   The smaller wallstone with the large slab benches and paving create a nice blend and contrast in shape and subtle colour."

It is encouraging to see workmanship and levels of achievement here in Canada  coming about in such an unostentatious way.

Rebuilding the Past

A two-day hands-on walling course will again be offered by DSWAC on July 28 and 29,  2013 involving the rebuilding of a section of historic dry laid wall at the Farm on the 'Kingsmere' estate, near Ottawa. Students will learn basic elements of dry stone construction as they dismantl a section of damaged wall and reconstruct a traditional section of free standing wall the way it would have looked originally, back in Mackenzie King's day. 

Kingsmere Farm is one of many properties maintained by the National Capital Commission (NCC). The Farm is the official residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons. It is located at Kingsmere  in Gatineau Park in Chelsea, Quebec, near the nation's capital Ottawa.

The residence is so named because of its history as an old farmstead dating back to the 19th century. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King privately purchased the farmstead as part of his country estate at Kingsmere Lake. When Prime Minister King died, he left the residence and grounds to the Government of Canada  so that future Canadian officials could make use of the area. Many walls were built on the property and now could use some repair. "The Farm" is now owned and operated by the National Capital Commission which is sponsoring this event. 

This is a beginners workshop and requires no previous experience. During the weekend professional waller and Dry Stone Walling Across Canada founder John Shaw-Rimmington will explain the fundamentals of foundation, throughstones, batter, hearting and coping. 

Gourmet lunches will be provided both days. No tools were required. This is a shine and not too much rain event. Though this workshop was fairly labour intensive it is not backbreaking. This will be our fifth time we have organized and run a wall 'rebuild' event at the Farm. Generally the women to men ratio is about 2 to 5.

 

Write john@dswac to register. HST cost will be waived on the $230 workshop fee for those who register before July 1st.