Editorial for belper celebrations magazine
There is a lot more to building a wall than you may think. There are lots of different types of stone to work with, Derbyshire has three main types; gritstone, sandstone and limestone. Also for every square metre of wall you will need approximately 1 tonne of stone! You certainly need some stamina! But a well built wall can last for 100's of years. Walls are also very valuable to the wildlife and farm animals. The latter use the walls for shelter in bad weather and the frogs, toads, mice, voles, hedgehogs and lizards use the walls as their homes. They also add to the heritage of the town and the whole area.
Roger Sharpe set up his company 'Sharpestone' in May 2003. He had heard a programme on Radio Derby all about dry stone walling. The Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA) were telling people about training courses that they ran, so the next weekend he went on one of their two day courses at Birchover. Shortly afterwards he started working as a trainee waller in the Peak District. Since then he has set himself up in business and built a wide variety of walls in fields and gardens; rebuilding damaged walls, building new walls from scratch and 'gapping' old walls. He has also joined the DSWA and is a member of the Derbyshire branch. They organise training days, 4 different levels of test, right up to master craftsman standard. They also promote this historical craft for future generations. Every year they do demonstrations at shows around the County and in surrounding counties. This includes Chatsworth Country Fair and also Belper Celebrations Week! If you would like a wall building or repairing, phone Roger Sharpe on 01332 514266.