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Northumberland News. July 27 2005

Port Hope Resident Works Hard To Keep The Art Of Building A Dry Stone Wall Alive.

A dry stone bridge measuring 36 feet in length and using 35 tonnes of stone from the Buckhorn area enhances the property of Judy Harris in Northumberland County.

The timeless stone bridge was the work of John Shaw-Rimmington who with a crew 2 men and one woman ( Leigh Bamford, John Storm and Dave Hutcheon) built it stone by stone with a 12 foot span over a creek that runs through the property.

“I knew I wanted a bridge over a portion of the creek and as soon as I saw the one built at Hill and Dale in Port Hope last fall. I knew that was exactly what what I wanted." Ms Harris said

Since moving to Port Hope with his wife Mary and daughter Maddy , from Cannington Ontario the 56-year-old stone mason’s mission has been to repopularise the art of the dry stone wall. This form of building has been used in Europe for centuries and has shown that it stands the test of time.

“When I first started experimenting with building dry stone walls I thought it couldn't be done in Canada due to the frost, but I was wrong.” Mr Shaw-Rimmington admits.

His interest in building dry stone walls took him to Britain where he worked repairing stone work with professional wallers and royal dykers to the Queen.

He is the president of the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada, which has over 300 on-line members and another 200 people who have taken various walling courses.

The Harris dry stone bridge, ‘Cornish Hollow Bridge’ is modelled after a 300 year old bridge in Britain which is still in use.

“When you look at even a recently built wall or bridge made of dry stone it looks like it has been there for 100s of years, “ he said. “It has so much character.”

Mr. Shaw-Rimmington’s love of the dry stone walls in the British Isles drives his desire to create walls and bridges here to add to the beauty of this area.

When I came back from Great Britain the last time , I thought, we have so much catching up to do to beautify this big country of ours,” he said. He sees a dry stone wall as being like a quilt or tapestry where one can "recognize the quality and human element which was put into it, when you look at the way everything interlocks. “

When a truckload of stone arrives from a farmers field or a quarry to begin a project, Mr Shaw-Rimmington spreads out the stones on the ground according to shape and size whether round or square.

“I get the feeling the stones have arranged for me to put them together” he said. “ I’m subject to the will of the stones.”

Just like any bridge or wall the dry stone technique incorporates thousands of expansion joints allowing the structure to accommodate frost and ice, and then come back together again. A dry stone wall is knit together like a basket and so is able to move slightly.

Mr Shaw-Rimmington likes building walls mostly. The arches he does at demonstrations are sometimes what he calls ‘party pleasers’, something to grab people’s attention as to what can be built with just stones and gravity. At the Highland Games in Uxbridge where he built a demonstration wall, a woman passing by stopped and cried when she saw the structure saying she didn't realize how much she missed the walls of her native Scotland.

Even after building many arches and walls, Mr Shaw-Rimmington feels he needs to keep working at it, saying “you’re only as good as the next wall in you. Every time I build a wall I raise the standard. Building walls is a continuing creative process.”

Submitted by Peggy Foster