Pillaton was recorded in the Domesday Book which dates back to 1086. The manor back then was held by Reginald, who was the tenant to Robert, Count of Mortain and half brother of William the Conqueror. William had granted Robert great swathes of land after the conquest becoming one of the biggest landowners in the new kingdom. Robert’s greatest concentration of land was practically most of Cornwall and he was considered by some to be the Earl of Cornwall. In Pillaton there was half a hide of land and land for 6 ploughs. There were 3 ploughs, 3 serfs, 7 villeins and 7 smallholders. There were 100 acres of pasture, 40 acres of woodland, 30 sheep, 10 goats and 2 cattle. The value of the manor was £1 though it had formerly been worth £1-10s. But that was then, jump forward to the present day and we were asked to build a small stone wall to a property in the village. The wall in question required us to close off an entrance into the property that was no longer required.

First we had to cut out a steel gate post and scrape back the ground where the new wall was going to go.

We soon got the stonework underway.

The wall was built to a thickness of roughly sixteen inches wide with natural stone facing both sides.

When the wall was up to height, we put the copings on.

We had to cut and mitre a piece in where the new wall joined into the existing.

The copings we used were ‘Saxon’ textured paving slabs made by Marshalls and were eighteen inches square. This matched in with the existing copings and gave a two inch overhang on both sides of the wall.

The stone we used was a natural rustic slate that came from Yennadon quarry and was built using a traditional lime mortar.