Beginners/Improvers Course at Silkstone Common

The next Hadrian's Dry Stone Walling Course will take place at Silkstone Common on the 11th and 12th August 2007 - so long as we haven't been washed away by the floods by then! Due to demand we will be running a Beginners and an Improvers course in parallel.

Silkstone Common is situated 5 minutes from junction 37 of the M1 and is also served by a railway station on the Sheffield to Huddersfield line. We are walling in Nabs Wood, which was the scene of the tragic Huskar Pit Disaster where 26 children were drowned, as a tribute and memorial to the children. Everyone who helps with this renovation will have their name displayed on a plaque on the section of wall which they have helped to re-build. You can read more about the Huskar Pit Disaster on this blog site:

http://hadriansdsw.blogspot.com/2007/06/terrible-tradgedy-at-nabs-wood.html

Please refer to our web site (presently undergoing a major makeover!!) for applications forms, terms and conditions, costs and accommodation details

http://www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk


Or contact Les Young on 07952 551025

Attention the British Armed Forces!

Members of the British Armed Forces could be eligible to attend our courses as part of their resettlement package. I am ex Royal and Gurkha Signals myself and I have first hand experience of the difficulties that our armed forces have to go through when their time to leave the Navy, Army or Royal Air Force arrives.

I'm very pleased to say that we have had the pleasure of welcoming serving members of our Armed Forces on our courses, and we look forward to welcoming many more! You should find brochures describing our courses, with course dates, in your Education Centre or Resettlement Centre - if not then contact us and we'll be only too pleased to send you a brochure.

The ancient craft of Dry Stone Walling can be an occupation in itself or can be combined with occupations such as construction or lanscaping or it can be a relaxing hobby! Not only are our walling courses a good way of meeting people from other walks of life, they are also very theraputic, an excellent way to calm stretched nerves, with the end result giving a positive sense of achievement.

For more information check our web site

http://www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk/training.htm

or call Les on 07952 551025.

Terrible Tradgedy at Nabs Wood, Silkstone Common

I'm not apologising for re-posting this blog which first appeared on this site in January (it was written for the Woodland Trust web site) for this is the main reason for holding Dry Stone Walling Courses at Nabs Wood, Silkstone Common i.e. my quest to rewall the whole of the perimeter of the woods as a tribute to the children who died in the Huskar Pit Disaster of 1838.

If you would like to contribute to the rewalling of Nabs Wood then come and join us on a course. Pictures and narratives on the courses can be found further down in this blog site.

Here's a photo of one section of wall which we are working on at the moment.

Course dates at Nabs Wood are:

14/15 July 2007
11/12 August 2007
6/7 October 2008
27/28 October 2007 (hedge laying and walling weekend)









If you would like to join us at Nabs Wood, Silkstone Common please fill in the on line booking form at http://www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk/bookingform.htm or call Les on 07952 551025 for further details.

www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk

Terrible Tragedy at Nabs Wood

On a bleak day in June 1838 Nabs Wood was about to be written into history books as a tragic chain of events unfolded. In the village of nearby Silkstone Common black smoke rose from the engine powering the winch to the Huskar Pit where many of the local men, women and children worked at least 12 hour stints in the hot, damp and acrid coal seams which ran below the village. Early in the afternoon a storm broke out starting with a rainstorm making a hissing sound as it landed on the engine and then turning into a torrent of rain and hail up to 4 ½ inches in diameter.

The deluge caused havoc flattening crops, smashing windows and dousing the fire fuelling the engine to the winch. Disquiet broke out underground when the miners found that they were without a winch to haul their corves of coal to the surface in exchange for a token from the mine owner which could be converted to goods in the mine owners ‘Tommy shop’. Panic started setting in, especially in the children when they found out that their main way out of the mine via the winch was closed to them.

A group of the children had a bright idea. They would head through the mine for the day hole, a drift entrance to the mine in Nabs Wood. They hurried through the pitch-blackness relying on their base instincts and local knowledge to navigate their way through the rough passages. They went through doors in the passages, usually operated by the escaping children which provided ventilation to the mine. They passed through the final door on their escape, catching a glimpse of light from the entrance ahead of them. At their feet a stream of water flowed past them. They hurried on. They looked up to see a wall of water rushing down the shaft caused by a storm ditch next to the drift entrance bursting its banks due to the sheer volume of rainwater gushing down it. The children turned and ran back down the drift but as they ran they were swept away by the torrent and slammed against the ventilation door the sheer volume of water pinning them to it.

Twenty-six children aged seven to seventeen drowned. The villagers were distraught and in an age when mining accidents were common, this tragedy made the London broadsheets. The newly enthroned Queen Victoria was shocked and the government of the day set up an enquiry, not specifically into the Huskar Pit Disaster but to working conditions in Britain’s factories and mines. This enquiry was chaired by Lord Ashley (later to become Lord Shaftsbury), well known for his emancipated views. In 1842 this enquiry led to the 1842 Factory Act which was the first piece of legislation relating to working conditions in Britain.

Nabs Wood today is owned by the Woodland Trust. The only visible sign of the terrible disaster which took place under its leafy mantle is a monument erected by Silkstone Parish on the 150^th anniversary of the disaster. Much of the woods are as they were 168 years ago – except that the dry stone walls which form the boundary to the woods are in a serious state of disrepair.

Local dry stone waller Les Young volunteered his services to the Trust to repair or rebuild the boundary walls as a tribute to the children who died and to return the walls to their former glory as a living memorial to their memory. After surveys and risk assessments it became apparent that not only would it take an awful lot of time and manpower to complete the project, but it would also be expensive due to the amount of stone needed to rebuild the walls.

Les approached the local landowners who have a vested interest in renovating the perimeter walls to keep their livestock enclosed. He proposed that he hold dry stone walling courses to rebuild the walls thereby speeding up the rebuilding and teaching novices an ancient craft at the same time. The owner of Westfield Park which shares part of the perimeter walls of Nabs Wood embraced this project, and in fact has kindly promised to donate stone to rebuild part of the walls.

The dry stone walling courses will be run from Westfield Park using it’s excellent facilities. The courses are graded as Beginners or Improvers courses and are either a weekend or a week long in duration. If you would like to be part of one of Les’s courses and have the opportunity to rebuild the walls surrounding one of the Trusts woods, help preserve a piece of Britain’s history and learn an ancient craft at the same time then please contact Les at Hadrian’s Dry Stone Walls, whose contact details can be found at or the bottom of this article or at www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk where more details about the course can be found.

For further reading on the Huskar Pit Disaster read The Children of the Dark by Allan Gallop, ISBN 0-7509-3094-2 which is an excellent book.

Post Script by Les Young

Today I have witnessed how this disaster occurred. Over the past week we have had fierce storms with high winds and lashing rain culminating in a corker of a storm last night. This morning Nabs wood resembled a swamp with fallen trees and streams filled to bursting. After climbing over two fallen trees I eventually reached the day hole. The day hole was filled in many years ago and earth piled some 6 metres away from the entrance to form a dyke to protect the day hole from the stream. Normally the stream is a trickle and does not encroach on the dyke. Today there was a foot of water in the ‘crater’ at the entrance to the day hole and on the other side of the protective dyke the water was about 3 foot deep. I now have a clear picture of this volume of water breaching the dyke and crashing down on the day hole. Devastating.

Contact details:

Les Young

07952 551025

email: les@hadriansdrystonewalls.com

Web site: www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk

Silkstone Common Course 19th and 20th May 2007

After an initial 'classroom' session at the Station Inn we were soon hard at it. We continued the wall started by the last course.

Apart from struggling to find large stones suitable for foundation stones the wall was soon under construction.








Like other courses it wasn't long before the lads on the course were laughing and joking.










Richard looks for inspiration from the 'great coat in the sky'



















Distinguished visitors Barry and Chris Heeley from High Hoyland Dry Stone walls dropped in to see how Ben was getting on. And what a co-incidence that we might be going to the Chilli Lodge for a curry after we'd finshed for the day!!

It was a lovely meal and a good laugh.







Day two starts with Hugo joining us to complete his initial training.

















































The lads admire their handicraft as the course nears its end. A nice piece of walling.

Thank you to Richard, Hugo, Ben and David for their company, wit and repartee over the weekend.

Beginners Course at Colden near Hebden Bridge May 2007

I'd been looking forward to holding this course for some time in the beautiful Colden Valley who's scenery is simply stunning.

We had two late cancellations which left us with a very good pupil to teacher ratio of 2:1!

Saturday started cloudy as Steve and Shaun arrived at Riverdene House for the introduction and theoretical session which we always start our courses with.


Before too long we were out on the hill side stripping down a wall belonging to Phil and Helen Speak, two lovely people. As we started to strip out the wall, which was semi demolished, I began to realise that this wasn't just any run of the mill wall, and a faint sensation of panic started to creep in! Not only was the stone in the wall very big, but when we reached the bottom of the wall I began to realise that the foundations were 3 feet (nearly 1 metre) wide and the wall 4 foot from foundations to wall height or 5 feet to the top of the copestones.





I just had enough length on the A frame pole to make it to wall height. Next time I'll have to bring ranging rods or something similar to make sure that there's plenty of height available on the A frames.










As with most courses it wasn't long at all until Stave and Shaun were working well together and enjoying some good conversation and banter. But who couldn't in surroundings such as these?












Foundation stones in, Shaun looks for his next piece of stone.









The New Delight Inn is centre background in this photo, with Riverdene House roof just visible above the wall. Two great places! I enjoyed 5 different real ales over the weekend and some great food at the pub.












Treasure trove! Shaun found this kestrels skull when stripping the wall down. It's amazing what you can find in a wall!









Day one ended on a high with both students saying how much they had enjoyed their day. We left the wall and headed on down the hill to the New Delight for a couple of well earned pints before going our separate ways.

My separate way took me to Theo's Cypriot/Greek restaurant in Hebden Bridge. I've been there before so I was eagerly awaiting this gastronomic delight, and I wasn't to be disappointed! I had dolmades followed by lamb kleftico which I couldn't finish. It was absolutely delicious! So thank you to Theo's chefs and their staff for a wonderful experience.




Sunday started out sunny and very warm despite the weather forecast for heavy and persistant rain. We were all amazed at how red we were from the sun and wind on Saturday.


























The lads were now starting to get their eye in and the wall was making good progress, all things considered.








Just as we were finishing off the rain started - spits and spots to start with but by the time we had cleared up the site and were heading for the pub it was lashing down. Perfect timing!







Thank you Shaun and Steve for your company over the weekend. You did a great job on your first wall!

Thank you to John and Ann at Riverdene house for their hospitality and great breakfasts, to Phil and Helen for their help and co-operation and to the management and staff at the New Delight Inn for a welcoming atmosphere and some great beer!

See you all when we hold the the next course at Colden on 23rd and 24th June.

Steve and Shaun. Great lads!

Comments from the students:

"The course was everything I expected. A very enjoyable weekend. An excellent course. Thank you!"


"The small group size was good and a great venue for holding the course"

The Gathering Swarm!

After two days the swarm was still in the hedge although about 1/6th of it's original numbers. They must have got fed up of being manhandled and gone off to some quieter spot! Head gardner Jessica was by this time having trouble defending our corner with the rest of the community who were rightly worried that someone could get stung. Thankfully their trust in us to find a solution held and early on Wednesday morning I put 'plan P' into action, which had sprung to mind during a sleepless night.


I had decided to put a very sexy box which the kettle for our walling courses came in over the swarm and then pray that the little lovelies would crawl up into it. Later that evening after meeting Alice and Felix we went to see what had happened. All was quiet - no buzzing! They had moved into the kettle box. What was wrong with alternate choice of the a spacious brood box place in front of the swarm is beyond me! Anyway, all's well that ends well.




Alice was very brave throughout this 'crisis'. While Felix watched the snooker championship in Sheffield, Alice had 6,000 angry bees buzzing about her person! She has been a big help to me. Thanks also to Ivor, master bee keeper, for listening and throwing ideas my way; to Jessica for her arbitratory skills; Felix for watching the snooker; Alice for her invaluable help and the good folk of the Pennine Community for keeping faith.

My superstar bee keepers - Alice from New York, USA and Felix from Heidelberg, Germany

Calling all Bee Keepers - HELP!!!!

I have a swarm of bees which have settled on the ground under a 2 meter wide holly hedge. They're showing no sign of moving and despite several attempts (and several stings!) to coax and cajole them into a brood box. Has anyone got any ideas on how to capture them as they're on the premises of a school for young folks with learning difficulties and I'm frightened that one or more of them may get stung? As I said they're actually on the ground so it's really difficult to gather or scoop them into the box.

It's ironic that the swarm hasn't come from my hive! I suspect it's a wild colony which was living in a tree trunk about 200m from where the swarm is sitting right now.

Your help is much appreciated!

les@hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk

Dry Stone Walling Beginners Course at Colden, Hebden Bridge, W Yorks

Today I had the pleasure of doing a reconnaissance trip to the Colden walling site prior to our course on the 12th and 13th May2007.

I popped into Hebden Bridge before I wended my way up the hill to Colden to thank the ladies in the Tourist Information Office for displaying our brochures and being so positive about our courses. A big thank you to Patricia and her team.





Hebden Bridge was basking in spring sunshine with folk sitting outside the cafes and pub's chatting with friends while the street musicians entertained them with classical guitar music. Wonderful! What made the experience even better was a pint of my favourite ale, Deuchars IPA in the Shoulder of Mutton! Just look at these photographs - how idyllic is this?


























































Onto Colden (approx 3 miles north west of Hebden Bridge) and meeting up with the lovely John and Ann at Riverdene House. It's always a pleasure to meet up with them to catch up with their news. The course will meet at Riverdene House where we will hold the introductions and theory session before we move off and start our walling course.

If the weather is as good as this we'd better pack the sun block!







This is the actual wall which we will be repairing









Two very important places as seen from the walling site - Riverdene House, where we stay and where the course convenes on Saturday morning, and the New Delight Inn, where we gather at any opportunity and talk walls (and other things!).








If you would to come with us on this course and work in these beautiful surroundings there are two spare places available - a completed application form and the course fee books your place!! You can book on line at http://www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk/colden.htm or by calling Les on 07952 551025.

I am so looking forward to this course! Hope to see you there!

Beginners Course at Silkstone Common 21st and 22nd April 2007

I'm glad that despite the more pessimistic of the weather reports Saturday turned out to be a fine day; warm, a slight breeze and not too much sun. I chose a site away from our previous course site as David warned me that there was an equestrian event happening right next to the wall which would have made it quite a fun time for the horses and riders! As it happened the event didn't take place but the site I chose was just as much of a challenge and just off the main path through Nabs Wood. This meant our activities were very visible to the good folk of Silkstone Common who chose to wander through the woods.

The woods themselves were adorned in their spring time splendour with the bluebells in full flower against the vivid green background of the ferns and grasses emerging from the woodland floor. The woodpeckers were tapping away and the cock pheasants calling out, gathering in their hareem of hen birds.

Our introductions and theory session took place in the Station Inn in the village due to repairs being carried out at the Equestrian Centre. Mark and Julie, landlords of the Station, made us very welcome with tea and coffee while I presented the theoretical part of the course.

Theory over, we made the short trip down the road and through the woods to the walling site where we (or should I say the students!) stripped back 10 metres of existing wall which not only was in a state of disrepair but was also too small to retain any livestock (a wire fence had been erected on the field side of the wall to keep livestock from wandering. When we are finished walling round the woods there will be no need for the fence). We stripped back more of the existing wall than necessary as we needed the stone to build the wall higher and stronger than it had previously been.

Let me introduce you to the course. From L to R: Mark, Paul, Hugo, Geoff and Lee

It wasn't too long until it was time for lunch with the students all chatting about walls and why they were attending the course. It was great to see a group of strangers getting on so well with each other after only a couple of hours in each others company, which just goes to show that our walling courses can be a great way of team building!

Everyone was very attentive to my instruction and transferred this to the wall which they were building. I could tell that there was going to be a few aching muscles on Sunday morning! At the end of day 1 we had put up about a foot of the wall and after standing back and admiring it we headed of to the Station Inn for a few well earned pints and a meal at the Chilli Lodge located in the Equestrian Centre. A great meal with great company!










































































Day 2 dawned with grey skies and a hint that rain maybe on it's way. I had the kettle boiling as everyone arrived full of enthusiasm for the day ahead. Unfortunately Hugo couldn't attend on the Sunday as he had a family 'do' to attend so we look forward to him completing his course at our next session at Silkstone Common on 19th and 20th May.






It wasn't too long until we were at throughstone height. We struggled to find stones long enough to traverse the wall and I thought that we may have to use other methods to build the intrinsic strength which throughstone give us.




Fortunately we found a couple of suitable stones and a few more which were just a tad short. I decided to use two levels of throughs to ensure that our wall would be as strong and durable as possible. This also gave the students the chance to have two chances of laying throughstones which is a very important part of any DSWA examination.










It's amazing how quickly a wall goes up once the first lift is completed! By mid afternoon the wall was at it's height ready for the copestones to be placed on it.
















I think the students did a smashing job for their first wall, which was also echoed by several passers by including Teresa who is our lovely neighbour and Danny Clarke, the internationally renowned artist who lives in the village, to name a few. Thank you all for your kind comments.

Just as we were clearing the site it started to rain. Luckily there was a very nice pub waiting for us at the top of the Lane to which we retreated for the after course discussions and certificate presentation. As usual, I really enjoyed the course and meeting the people attending it. Walling never fails to attract nice folk. Thank you to Geoff, Lee, Paul, Mark and Hugo for coming on the course and we look forward to meeting you on an Improvers Course soon.

Geoff, Mark, Paul and Lee

Participants comments:

"Extremely enjoyable at a pace suited to the individual"

"Opened your eyes up to the whole thing about Dry Stone Walling. Enjoyed it! Hard graft!"

"Wonderful weekend. Nice to meet some nice people and learn the basics. See you for another course soon!"