retaining sloped gardens

Dry stone is ideal for retaining earth banks because while it has the weight of stone to hold back tonnes of clay and soil, it is also free draining meaning that water does not get trapped behind it. When dry stone walls are built by craftsmen they are ‘tied in’ to a bank with longer stones and built with an internal batter working as a counterweight to the pressure of the bank. They can cope better with the pressure of the soil and tree roots over time because they can flex where cement walls will crack. However, with enough strenghening and drainage points banks may also be retained with reinforced blockwork and fronted with stone.