Fourth Annual Northumberland Dry Stone Wall Festival

                Many people have told us that the 2007 Northumberland Dry Stone Wall Festival was the best one ever.

End of the third day of the 2007 Dry Stone Wall Festival in Canada

Ancient Music Trio 

Three days of wonderful early music was provided by the Ancient Music Trio, as wallers from the States and Canada worked together on two amazing projects which were gradually built during the long Canadian Thanksgiving weekend festival. The first structure was an unusual adaption of a sheepfold, nicknamed a Sheepshear, it incorporated a slim gothic arch entrance way into two curved C walls which were designed to be facing each other.

Jon Howcroft

Jon Howcroft works on the key stone for the gothic arch. 

Attempting the 'Rubble Helix'.

Helix

Rubble Helix built by Reid Snow, Stephen Nevin and Patrick Callon. 

The other demonstartion feature was a bold attempt at building the world's first permanent double helix dry stone structure, based on a (first ever) temporary structure constructed last winter at an advanced DSWAC dry stone workshop,held indoors at Ground Covers Unlimited in Bethany Ontario. See 'Latest Submissions page, Rubble Helix article' The vertical walls of this helix twisted around each other held together only by large stone rungs placed every foot up the structure. This Rubble Helix rotated to over 140 degrees and although it looks quite precarious Bob Moss, a well known engineer who lives in Port Hope, assures us that it is quite structural.

stone creation

                Other events at the festival included children's events such as stone balancing and constructing of traditional inukchuks . Elsewhere on the spacious and beautiful Garden Hill festival property, people participated in the beginners dry stone wall workshop and participated in various stone stacking/weight-comparison competitions.

Jo Hodgson teaches a dry stone wall course during the festival

                 In the evenings there were special presentations given at the beautifully restored Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario. Saturday night, stone restorationist Bobby Watt from Ottawa, offered his very candid observations about styles of stonework in and around Port Hope. Norman Haddow, master craftsman and dry stone waller who works at Balmoral castle spoke on the history of dry stone structures in Scotland.

The Capitol Theatre in Port Hope Ontario where dry stone festival presentations were given 

finished festival workshop wall

On Sunday evening Mary Crnkovich who is a trained stone mason and sculptor, spoke on the Iqaluit dry stone projects that she and Jo Hodgson collaborated on in Arctic Canada.
                Elsewhere in Port Hope this Thanksgiving miniatures of dry stone walls appeared in bookstore and gallery windows in keeping with the Northumberland Walling Festival theme.

 miniature helix