Laying traditional stone cobbles at Culgaith, Penrith - 9 April 2011

A new skill for some Guild members was acquired when they enrolled for a course with the Heritage Skills Initiative run through the North East Civic Trust at a barn conversion site at Culgaith, near Penrith in Cumbria.
Many areas of the Dales and North Yorkshire moors have good examples of cobbled areas in barn yards, paths and bridleways, and marketplaces and meeting places in towns and villages.

Wallers would have been used in some cases, but in mining areas much of the work of cobbling and stone pitching(horizontal walls!) would have been done by redundant Lead and Ironstone workers to take advantage of this large and cheap pool of labour to provide a hard and durable wearing surface for centuries - before Robert Macadam inflicted his accursed concoction on the world to pave the way for the internal combustion engine - and many traditional cobbled areas would be ripped up in the name of “progress.”

Four of us made the trek to Cumbria, and were delighted to find the site was in a small picturesque village, working on a house and barn conversion, the original part dating back to 1600. We were to pave a pathway using a tonne of recently purchased white cobbles, mixed with a large quantity of old cobbles which were excavated on the site during the renovation works, and were probably used in the yard area of the old house.

Back breaking work, but very satisfying-it is hoped our efforts will last another 500 years - so we can justifiably earn the title “Cobblers to the Yorkshire Dry Stone Walling Guild!”

Photos: Dave Purvis