We had repaired a section of this retaining wall previously, only to be called back a year later when another section along the same stretch of wall had collapsed again. The wall is thought to originally of been built for the Bedford Estate. First we cleared up all the mess that had collapsed into the road and got everything prepared for rebuilding the wall.

Then we got the stonework underway using the existing stone.

The stonework for this was laid in the same fashion as the previous repair we had done on this wall. The stones are mostly laid vertically as opposed to horizontally, which is the traditional way of constructing these types of wall in the county of Devon. It is built on a batter which means to say it leans back into the bank. Any downward pressure causing movement or settlement amongst the stonework only means the stones get wedged in tighter together, similar in principle to an arch.

The original stone that came out of the wall consisted of granite.

Although built as a drystone wall it was backfilled with a lean mix concrete to give it extra strength.