A Guide to Dry Stone Walling [Hardcover]

Andy Radford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001

Dry stone walling is one of the oldest country crafts. These structures form one of the most striking features of the rural landscape, whether meandering through a field or gracing a home. In this hands-on guide, landscaper Andy Radford explores the history of dry stone walls and explains how and why they were originally built. He also offers step-by-step instruction, enhanced with explanatory photos and diagrams, showing you how to build or repair a wall, whether a hillside boundary or a garden feature. The book’s contents include finding suitable stone; tools of the trade; basic walling techniques; building or repairing a curved wall; walling on slopes; and gapping, retaining walls, and variations. Andy Radford has been building dry stone walls for nearly two decades; he is a consultant, designer, and contractor and runs his own landscaping business in Wales.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Dry stone walling is one of the oldest country crafts. These structures form one of the most striking features of the rural landscape, whether meandering through a field or gracing a home. In this hands–on guide, landscaper Andy Radford explores the history of dry stone walls and explains how and why they were originally built. He also offers step–by–step instruction, enhanced with explanatory photos and diagrams, showing you how to build or repair a wall, whether a hillside boundary or a garden feature. The book’s contents include: finding suitable stone; tools of the trade; basic walling techniques; building or repairing a curved wall; walling on slopes; and gapping, retaining walls, and variations. Andy Radford has been building dry stone walls for nearly two decades; he is a consultant, designer, and contractor and runs his own landscaping business in Wales.

About the Author

Andy Radford has been building dry stone walls for sixteen years. He is a consultant, designer and contractor for a variety of clients including schools and local government organizations. He runs his own landscape business in North Wales. He has written articles on the environment for a number of periodicals including The Guardian. Resident - Wrexham

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Crowood Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861264445
• ISBN-13: 978-1861264442
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Advice, May 14, 2007

By 

Bob Dog "My Thoughts" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Guide to Dry Stone Walling (Hardcover)

I give Andy Radford's book five stars, because now that I'm actually finished with months of off and on reading and I'm now down to actually building my stone walls, its his book (among half a dozen others), that I'm using for help.

Mr. Radford's experience is entirely from Great Britain where he lives. This could have been a big problem, since he works in a different climate with different geology. There is a bit of history over there about stone walls, so perhaps this is why the author ably communicated universal techniques that span regional differencs in aesthetics and stone.

Actually, the value I continue to get out of the book, despite the differences in geography and culture, probably result from Mr. Radford's experience as a teacher. His book (text, photos, step by step, and categorization by type of wall) follows a logical sequence specifically designed for the beginner.

The only thing I smiled about was the front cover photo - of a wall that very much looks like it was a beginner's first effort! Like they say, don't just a book by its cover. Inside is everything you need to know about the fundamentals of dry stacking a nice stone wall in a variety of situations.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good study of the art, August 29, 2009

By 

Todd W. Lamkin "MassMan" (Holliston Mass.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Guide to Dry Stone Walling (Hardcover)

The book had some excellent pictures, and it was a great read on building stack walls.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars keep on stacking stones, February 6, 2010

By 

B. Remia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Guide to Dry Stone Walling (Hardcover)

Stacking stones is an art or a science ??? good books (whatever books on dry stone are good walling should be refunded by your local heathcare system )